At the heart of a labyrinthian latticework of super-scientific ultramagitech megastructures, one can find a soaring spire of transcendent omni-technological perfection, crafted from the refined polyphasic biomechanical manifestation of progress itself. And at the very pinnacle of this apex of achievement, one can find a chamber, and at the center of that chamber, a circular table, a dark purple disc of polished, crystalized unreality, a flame stolen from the birth pangs of the first Edoric Nega-Sun, ten trillion years after its home plenum’s last star was snuffed out, now frozen for all time. And at that table, surrounded by arching, panoramic windows, through which can be viewed the full, spell-binding splendor of the vast, seemingly endless technoscape beyond, and bathed in the yellowy-green glow generated by myriad crackling arcs of actinic lightning, can be found Doctor Nykannis, the greatest mad scientist of them all.

But she would not be found in a good mood...

“What’s taking them so long?” the Monarch of Mad Science muttered as she fiddled with a transdimensional tesseractic paradox projector, while simultaneously running her one hundred and eleventh omni-spectrum analysis scan on her wounded arm, which had since been detached and placed in a supranumious soultech stasis pod. After all, it was easy enough to regrow a new one, even if the reason she had needed to take such action in the first place was highly alarming, to say the least.

Indeed, she had begun to assemble this “meeting of the minds” as soon as her encounter with the Queen of Hearts had concluded. In light of what she had learned of the Wonderland Monarch’s nature, she knew she would need to confer with intellects approaching her own level, ones who had transcended (or were on the verge of transcending) the fourth stratum of omnidimensional confinement. Such individuals were, unsurprisingly, few and far between, but she still had knowledge of more than enough to hold a proper confabulation.

There was Jennifer, of course, the so-called “False Witch of Time”. Then there was Aria, aka Sharr, aka the original Vermilion Veronica, aka the annoyingly smug bitch. Still, for all her smugness, she held vast quantities of knowledge (even if she’d needed Nykannis herself to help restore most of it), and was even beginning to breach the fourth stratum, if she hadn’t completely broken through it already. Thus, her attendance would be a valuable asset, no matter how much the Mad Scientist Supreme hated to admit it. Of course, even more insufferable by far was Oros, for whom the fourth stratum might as well not even exist. It was a pity such an astounding wealth of insight was coupled with such an astoundingly nauseating personality, but Nykannis had happily struck upon a wonderful solution to the problem the pink-haired pervert posed. It appeared that one of Oros’s extra-plenumic analogs (or perhaps a future/past iteration) had recently visited the local reality plenum, if only briefly, meaning that she might be open to a possible collaboration. Nykannis certainly hoped so, since she was basically the best of both worlds, being just as wise (if not wiser) than Oros when it came to polyplenumic matters, while also being nowhere near as annoying. There were others as well, like that dimension hopping squirrel girl and that Konata cosplayer, but the former hadn’t stopped by the local multiversal cluster in quite some time and the later was a member of Beacon, so fuck that noise.

Yet, while the invitations had all been sent, they had all gone unanswered…

I can sorta understand the others, but where the fuck is Jen?! I would have detected if Queenie gave her the Finn treatment, so what’s the fucking hold up?!

"Behind you, Doc."

Jen called out to Nykannis, walking up to her. Her usual smile was absent. "Sorry for the hold up, wanted to prod the Queen for more info and it kiiiinda took a while!"

“Finally!” Nykannis replied, turning to face the false witch. “So, learn anything useful?”

"Which one do ya wanna hear first? Her weak point, me convincing her to work together with me, or the whole her being aware of the magistrates deal?" Jen tilted her head.

“I already know she has knowledge of the Magistrate,” Nykannis replied. “For all the good it’ll do her, and while I’d love to hear about this deal you’ve made, if you’ve really discovered an exploitable weakness, then that takes precedence.”

Knew it. "Alice."

Eugh. She had to jinx herself.

"For how much the Queen may insist she's doing what she does for the sake of everyone, me mentioning her kid provoked quite the reaction from her." The corner of Jen's mouth quirked up. "As much as she believes Mariette is her Alice, the real one must still be somewhere, right? Find out what became of her, and we can use that as leverage against Queenie. A little bargaining chip, if you will."

“I figured as much…” Nykannis muttered. “Although locating her might be something of a challenge, especially if Queenie herself has no idea who she is and just latches onto anyone who vaguely resembles her…” she added with an annoyed scowl. “Then again, there’s still the, admittedly slim, possibility that Mariette really is her daughter. Regardless, it sounds like a job for Kate. I’ll set her to work on it as soon as she gets back from her current assignment. Now, tell me about this deal you made. Gotta say, I was actually planning on striking up a little deal of my own, have her fake her death, lull the Penrose Pack into a false sense of security, and then set her up in a nice cozy adjacent reality layer on top of Bolorton, but she obviously had her heart set on showing off her toys from the Magistrate, proving to all and sundry just how unbelievably scary she is. That’s fine by me, though, since the more of her power she demonstrates, the more knowledge of it I have for round two! Nyahahahaha!”

"Maybe it was less that she was showing off her toys, and more that she was marking her presence as a threat." Wisdom was filing her nails while leaning against one of the windows. "I got your invitation, and while I could have been here first, I get distracted easily, and it’s simply impossible to walk past the germanium quantum shift replicator or the neogenic converter without gawking at them like old flames." She tucked her file in her blouse before approaching the duo. "Even if this is the first time we met, I feel like we can probably skip introductions, right?" She smiled. "I’m actually quite interested in her psychological makeup. Why does she want to rebel against the system so badly? It’s dealt her a pretty nice hand all things considered.”

"A puppet wishing to be free from her strings takes on the role of the villain, all to steal my job- I mean draw the story into its conclusion." Jennifer hypothesized, looking towards Wisdom first. She then looked back at Nykannis. "I basically brought up that getting rid of Penny could cause enough of a cataclysm to draw the Nexus she's looking for out of hiding."

“That would definitely do the trick,” Nykannis confirmed. “And someone with her level of Magistrate-granted power could probably even be able to accomplish such a feat, but like the aptly-named ‘Wisdom’ here pointed out,” she added, gesturing to the new arrival. “The real question is why? Although as far as I’m concerned, it’s not so much a question of ‘why does she want to destroy the Magistrate?’, as opposed to ‘why does she even think she can?’ Aside from being completely batshit, obviously,” the mad scientist clarified with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Oh, and apology accepted,” she told the cat-eared brunette. “After all, admiring the fruits of my incomparable super-scientific genius is always an acceptable reason for being late, though something tells me Aria won’t have nearly as convincing an excuse, if she even bothers to show up in the first place…”

”I was just waiting for the perfect time to show myself!” Aria curtsied in Nykannis’s direction before reaching into the portal behind herself. ”If I was going to be honest, most of what you people talk about goes over my head. So I thought I’d take the extra time to grab someone who understands the situation better than all of us.” Aria winced. ”Come on now, you can at least act like an adult. I know you want to see everyone.” With one final tug, Oros toppled out of the portal and landed on the floor. Her pink hair obscured her face.

”Humph!” Oros folded her arms.

”Sup?”

Aria raised an eyebrow when she saw Wisdom standing beside Nykannis and Jen. ”You invited a Mint agent?”

At the sight of Oros, Nykannis’s visage turned completely livid, her eyes narrowing into an intense glare behind her glowing goggles. “I invited someone who has all of Oros’s knowledge and almost none of her infuriating personality traits,” the mad scientist replied. “So you can toss Pinky’s perverted ass back through that portal, ‘cause she’s clearly surplus to requirements.”

Wisdom folded her arms behind her back. "I haven’t met Oros yet, but I’m sure we’re all here because we have one contribution to make or another. Regardless of who our employers are or how much we enjoy pleasures of the flesh. I for one would love to hear-”

”I knew you all despised me!” Oros rose to her feet while swinging her finger around. But when it stopped, she was pointing at Nykannis. ”And trying to replace me with Oros the Wise is just sad and pathetic. I thought you had more pride than that.”

Aria placed a hand on Oros’s arm and pushed it down by her side. ”You can call Nykannis names later, as ill-advised as it is. Why don’t you show them what you showed me?”

A shark-like grin crossed Oros’s face. ”Fine. I’ll just prove I deserve to be here.” She turned her head to Jen. ”I think of everyone here, you probably see the world the closest to the way I do. But don’t you think it’s weird? The Grand Magistrate creates this entity that wants to destroy its makers? It doesn’t make sense. Unless…” Oros pulled two sheets of paper out of her kimono and handed them to Jen. The first one Showed the Grand Magistrate making a request for someone to take over the Reality Plenum about seven years ago. The second one showed the Grand Magistrate offering to take up the mantle just a day later. But Oros said nothing else.

"Ground Zero!" Jen grinned once she recognized the information she was given. "Back when things were simple, and not running on power creeping and meta narratives. The original Grand Magistrate disappeared without a word TWO DAYS after things got into motion, and hasn't been seen since! Our current one had to pick up where they left off." She went into detail.

“So that’s it, huh?” Nykannis muttered, even as she sent an optic-tipped mechadendrite to peer over Jen’s shoulder as the (false) Witch read over the Omniscient Observer Chronicle transcripts Oros had provided. “The Grand Magistrate’s finally gotten fed up with presiding over the complete clusterfuck his reality plenum’s turned into, so he just decides to orchestrate a way to end it all. Pretty pathetic, but not all that surprising,” the mad scientist noted with dull disinterest. “And even if he does pull the metaphorical plug, the energy generated by such a cataclysmic event will be more than enough to serve my purposes. After that, I’ll be on my way to greener pastures, and I’m pretty sure the rest of you have no great attachment to this place, either.”

“Indeed,_{(italics employed to denote an otherworldly voice)}” an otherworldly voice concurred. “Although I believe the most intriguing pair of potentialities to ponder are whether the Grand Magistrate shall actually allow his creation to claim victory in a climactic confrontation, thus annihilating this plenum in its entirety, or, as has previously been the case, shall he instead once again bestow his munificent favor upon his chosen champion, thus allowing this plenum to persist, even if its further tales go unchronicled.” As the voice went on, a prismatic polyhedron, covered in glowing technoglyphs, would waver and warp into being over the table, where it would continue to hover in midair. “Please pardon the intrusion,” the new arrival requested. “I simply could not help but overhear.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Nykannis told the strange being with a nonchalant wave of her hand. “I actually considered inviting you to join us, but then I remembered that you usually couldn’t care less about this crap.”

“Quite true,” the bizarre entity agreed. “Yet, as it transpired, I was deeply immersed in my contemplations of the Micro and Macrocosmic ALL, when, suddenly, your conversation became the dominant aspect of my perception. Thus, unable to proceed until this pressing matter was addressed, I resolved to make my presence known among you. Ah, but I am once again getting ahead of myself,” the being added with a chuckle. “We nonlinear entities tend to do that from time to time. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Xozooth the Xorcerer, Paragonarch of Polymathamagicians and former Master of Xhar’doth. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintances.”

“Technically that’s just his brain,” Nykannis clarified, before looking up at polymathamagician. “And I see your sense of humor is as awful as ever…”

“I am pleased you noticed.”

”Yea…” Oros’s eyes shifted around the room. ”But the possibility that the bad guys might win is pretty cool. It would be fitting revenge from someone who spent the last six or so years doing the thankless work keeping the world running. From my understanding they didn’t do the best job. I mean in particular why let Penny be so OP? I just think I’m a lot more interesting and a huge crowd favorite.”

”Please don’t respond to that.” Aria encouraged the others.

”I was gunna do an epic monologue but it just doesn’t suit the mood, you know?” She approached the rift she had walked out of moments earlier. ”Anyway, there’s too many people here. I guess I’ll leave you girls and brains to gush about the queen. Can’t say I find her that interesting. Do keep an eye on me Nykannis, I think you’re gunna love what I do next!” And with that, she stepped out.

Aria raised her eyebrows. ”This conversation is already way over my head. I’ll take my leave. It was nice to meet you all again, as well as you, Xozooth.” Aria bowed one last time before following Oros. This time the rift snapped closed.

Jen comically blinked, then glanced towards Xozooth. ”I think you spooked ‘em off.” She casually commented. ”... Nah. They’ll be back.”

"What a charming couple! I hope to meet them again!” She walked over to the table where the brain hovered and sat in one of the chairs. "So what will you all do with this information? As Xozooth the Xorcerer pointed out, we don’t know what the magistrate’s exact plan is. I feel like this queen might actually just be another pawn in their plans.”

”There is no might. But you make a good point. I do have a plan in the works, but it’s rather barebones. Hopefully my deal can coax her into giving me more information.” Jennifer spoke up again. ”BUT the Queen isn’t the only concern we gotta talk about, is it?”

“Correct,” Nykannis confirmed, not seeming overly perturbed by the pair of departures. “Though patching up our favorite perpetual failure shouldn’t be particularly difficult, especially since Queenie was kind enough to provide me with a researchable (and thus replicable) sample of her power,” she added with a maniacal grin as she gestured to where her wounded appendage floated in its stasis field, the stream of thick black ink gushing from it frozen in midair. “The real question is, does any of this new information affect our plans for him? Like I said, I don’t much care one way or another how this all ends, although seeing Penny actually fail for once would be an interesting novelty.”

Wisdom let out a lighthearted chuckle. "I’ve honestly given up on Penny. I don’t even know why Mint is interested in her. We have her genetic makeup and can more or less clone her if we want, and she seems poised to load her sanctuary up and leave Penrose should anything happen. Almost feels like she cares as little about the place as you two do.” Wisdom spun to face the other magical girls. "I’m sure Mint would love to collaborate on an operation with you. I’d understand if you were apprehensive about trusting a cut throat like Al, but word on the street is that Chloe is trying to become a coin broker, and I think she’s smart enough to not betray potential business partners.”

“Great, another sex-obsessed pervert…” Nykannis sighed. “Well, I guess I’ll just have to take your word for it, although I don’t really see what help the Mint can be. I mean, it’d be laughably easy for Penny to take control of those stupid knock offs they made of her, and from what I hear they’re just as terrified of Wonderland as Beacon is.”

“Perhaps Miss Irving brings additional resources of her own into the equation?” Xozooth suggested. “And even if she does not, I believe her mere presence alone will prove considerably disruptive as far as Miss Asimov’s stability is concerned.”

"Chloe is a walking, talking, ball of entropy.” Wisdom nodded at the brain’s projection. "It would be giving her too much credit to call her a mastermind, but she is primarily responsible for the rave. She also had the salt to steal Divina right out from under Beacon and continues to work with a mysterious patron on a plan in the shadows. She’s no Veronica, but is even Veronica Veronica these days?” Wisdom held her chin while rapping her fingers on the table. "How do I put it? Chloe is a rare and beautiful type of plant, but she’s just a seedling. If she’s nurtured, something good will surely come of it. As for the Penny knockoffs, I think a certain scientist might be mad enough to fix them in such a way that even her highness couldn’t hope to hack them.”

“Okay, first off, the rave was a complete clusterfuck,” Nykannis replied flatly. “I mean, what did it even achieve? Secondly, fucking over Beacon is as easy as stealing candy from a blind, deaf, and paralyzed child, so I wouldn’t consider that a major accomplishment. And finally, while I could easily prevent the Brave Little Toaster from hacking into her dumbed-down doppelgängers (or, better yet, allow her to succeed, but install a hidden override to take back control at an opportune moment), would doing so even be worth it? This is the Grand Magistrate’s pet we’re talking about here. Just like Queenie, she gets special treatment, so not only would it probably fail to work, but she’d also find out who did it, and the last thing I want is to get on her bad side. That said,” the mad scientist added after a moment. “As long as I ensured nothing could be traced back to me, it could serve as an excellent test to see if her Protagonist Power is as strong as it used to be, especially in light of Queenie’s recent revelations…”

Wisdom raised an eyebrow at Nykannis. "I hadn’t realized Penny was a risk to your plans.” She folded her hands in her lap. "And my point was not that Chloe had done anything spectacular. I said myself she wasn’t a mastermind. It’s her legacy that makes her interesting. There are few magical girls around that have been around as long as she has. Penny, Alicia, and Mariette are the only ones that come to mind. Granted, she’s changed patrons since the rave. Old Lesud got what was coming to him in the end. Maybe the rave was more beneficial to Chloe than I originally anticipated.” She chuckled. "Do realize that Chloe has been working on a few machinations and I’m not liable to talk about them at this time. Let’s just say she’s gotten a bit of practice since her days of unleashing spirits on the street.” Wisdom stood up and strut towards Jen. "I understand you’ve decided to make Cradle your pawn. They weren’t my first choice, but they certainly aren’t a bad one.” She placed a hand on Jen’s shoulder. "I guess that makes us enemies for the time being. I doubt it will last forever, being as whimsical as Mint’s alliances are. But should our pawns come in contact with one another, let’s agree to let the children fight it out. Because if you help your pawns, I’m going to have to help mine.”

The false witch, having quietly been listening along to their conversation, grinned. "Undoubtedly! Would be less interesting if we didn't let them bicker amongst themselves!" For what Wisdom implied, she didn't seem to care much. "Someone's gotta salvage what they can from Cradle. Unless we somehow make it to where our little 'project' becomes the new leader?"

“Our ‘little project’ has a long way to go before he can even hope to do that,” Nykannis replied. “In particular, he needs to cultivate more Protagonist Power, a LOT more. And you can bet your ass Penny’s a risk to my plans, and anyone else’s for that matter! She has the favor of the Grand Magistrate himself, so naturally her Protagonist Power is off the fucking charts! The only way we can hope to get the one-eyed-reject anywhere close to her level is to ensure that he appears in more of the Incident Chronicle’s Patron Observable Event Transcripts than her mechanical majesty, which is why Jen and I have been arranging so many ‘tutoring sessions’ for him. It’s less about the training and knowledge he’s gaining and more about the Protagonist Power he’ll build up, since, when it comes down to it, that’s the only statistic that really matters,” the Monarch of Mad Science went on. “Physical and magical ability are essentially meaningless when going up against the magistrate’s chosen! Hell, even superior strategy and clever tactics count for jack shit, as what’s-her-tits illustrated so nicely during that ass shoving contest last month! No, Protagonist Power is where it’s at, and even then, I doubt he’ll stand much of a chance… ‘A’ is ‘a’, after all, and it seems like no matter what plenumic iteration you’re dealing with, Finnegan Vanhorn is always going to be a failure.”

"I couldn’t agree more, at least in regards to ‘protagonist power’ as you call it.” Wisdom ran her hand through her hair. "Like all the legacy magical girls, Mariette and Alicia have been showered with gifts from the divine, but they squander them on selfish ends. Alicia is unable to care about anything outside of Beacon, and Mariette is a brutal reminder that you can scheme for months and not have it go anywhere. Penny’s only advantage is that while her aims are no less selfish, she involves as many people as possible. Until very recently, she had allies all over the magical girl spectrum.” She shrugged her shoulders. "This is where Cradle as a whole fails. They change members faster than I change underwear, and their leader is a timid mouse that needs to take suggestions from a false witch to make any interesting plays. There’s no reason anyone would want to interact with them.”

Jen allowed the two to say their pieces, essentially coming to the same conclusion as last time: That there's no point in this hopeless endeavor. Her grin slowly dissipated, and a drawn-out groan slipped from her lips. "Dunno what the hell you want me to do then, not my fault she's been flanderized. I was hoping to knock some sense into her soon, but it ain't like we've been seeing any hooks for her to, y'know, actually be able to do shit! Bad-luck magnet or not, at least Finn put some effort in communicating to the other agents and all that crap. _{Until he got beheaded.}" Well, she suddenly wished she brought some whiskey now.

"Unfortunate I can't exactly skip to putting a bullet between Maura's eyes, apparently that's frowned upon. Kinda have to play nice." Jen shook her head in disdain.

"Yes, because sudden, unexpected shifts in leadership have been historically good for Cradle.” Wisdom giggled before glancing down at her wrist. "Well, it was fun to take in the sights and hear about how utterly screwed Penrose is, but I do have a little one to look after. So if you excuse me, I think I’ll take my leave.”

“Fine…” Nykannis grumbled. “I guess we’ve gone over everything that’s needed to be said, although I will note that an intelligent person doesn’t just wait for shit to happen to them, they make shit happen to other people. You need to be proactive, which is why ‘Wisdom’ here is doing all the legwork of visiting multiple reality plenums to cultivate potential agents,” she added with a smirk. “Yeah, I’ve been keeping up with your recent exploits,” the mad scientist confirmed with a smug nod. “And while I still don’t know what your ultimate goal is, I trust it’ll be suitably entertaining.”

“Fair travels, Miss Fang,” Xozooth bade the departing young woman. “If you happen to cross paths with my former apprentice, do pass on my regards.”

"Will do!” Wisdom walked backwards as she spoke to Xozooth. "He enjoyed your letter, if I recall. He’s grown accustomed to your sense of humor.” And with that, the agent faded from view.

Jen had held a finger up and opened her mouth to speak after Nykannis, but frankly? How was she supposed to argue with that. Soon as Wisdom took her leave, she soon deflated with grace. _{"Fuckin' hell..."} She mumbled.

“So, I guess that’s that,” Nykannis muttered. “You gonna be okay?” she added, turning to Jen.

"Eh?" Jen glanced back at her. "I mean, yeah? Can't exactly afford not to be."

“Just checking,” Nykannis replied. “And don’t worry,” she added. “Even if this reality plenum gets totally fucked, I’m sure you’ll still make out just fine. Like me and Xozooth here, you’re a survivor.”

Survivor. Right. Jen nodded in response, a more genuine smile on her face this time.

“Speaking of survival,” Xozooth spoke up. “It has come to my attention that your acquaintance, Miss Natalie, has attracted the attention of no small number of ill-intentioned and considerably powerful parties,” the eldritch brain added. “I trust that you and Doctor Kannis have formulated suitable protective measures for her, yes? Or would it better serve your interests if she were removed from the equation?”

"Oh, that." Jennifer blinked. "Weeeeeell as much as I can pull a few strings behind the scenes, I doubt any of her agents (or the other witches) would be happy if they had to go a damn month without access to the Cradle, asides from any emotional attachment they may have to their boss." She shrugged. "Besides! I heard the pay's gonna be quite handsome! If they play their cards right, they can swindle some coin from whoever-the-hell decided to send the hit out!"

“You really think they’re gonna be so dense as to not know they’re hiring her own agents?” an incredulous Nykannis sneered. “Then again, both the Mint and Beacon have proven themselves to be run by a bunch of complete morons, so I guess it actually could work…” she added, thoughtfully tapping a finger against her chin.

The false witch merely shrugged again.

"So now what?"

“Well, since it looks like our little meeting is over, I’m gonna get back to discovering all the secrets this thing has to share,” Nykannis replied, gesturing to where her amputated, mystical ink-leaking appendage floated in its stasis field. “But you can stick around and watch, if you want.”

"Hm... Eh, got nothing better to do."

“I believe I shall take my leave of you now,” Xozooth announced. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Jennifer,” the polygonal polymathamagician added, before wavering out of existence.

“Yeah, whatever,” Nykannis muttered as she got back to work, an arc of holographic display screens and multi-spheroid meta-molecular models winking into place around her. “Just you watch, Jen,” she told the false witch. “Soon I’ll learn everything there is to know about Queenie’s precious Storyslayer. Then I’ll reverse engineer it, improve upon it. I’ll show that cocky bitch just how big a mistake she made when she decided to mess with the Monarch of Mad Science! Nyahahaha! Yes, she’ll learn…” the mad scientist added, a maniacal gleam in her eyes. “It’s simply a matter of time…”

The bombing of Beacon HQ had been a low point for the Beaconers. The event had been bookended between Justine giving them bad PR and the Bate Twins abducting their “Beacon Buddy” squad. Since then, Beacon had done much better to beef up their defenses. Between their new location, the Shine Spark, and the Ascendancy, they were sitting pretty as the most powerful faction in Penrose. Nothing could rival them save the queen of hearts.

But this added security came at a cost. Beacon’s security was a byproduct of how paranoid they had become. Old habits die hard, and that goes double for a faction that prides itself on traditional values.

An unidentified entity was closing in on Beacon HQ, and they would spare no expense in driving it off. It was difficult to track, but its magical footprint was visible to Beacon’s scryers. All they could tell about the magical entity was it had an unsafe level of corrupted magic. It had to be a monster girl.

Four magical girls were more than enough to deal with the issue. Excess might have been a sin, but nothing sends a message like bringing unnecessary havoc down on those that would oppose you.

The teleporters powered up and transported the squad outside.

'Hope for the best but expect the worst'. It was a mantra that Alicia had been left with after months of hard fought experience. Certainly she hoped that good and justice would prevail, that monster girls and dark magical girls could overcome their darker natures, but too often she found that her efforts prevented disaster only to enable some sort of nefarious scheme that she would have to face later. There were no clear cut victories.

Still, she was the most diplomatic of the Penrose branches leadership, and so the news of an approaching monster girl brought the Ascendancy members to her. SHe would lead the first encounter, and they would come in if things went badly.

Appearing in front of the HQ, Alicia held Star Seraph at her side rather than in a combat stance. Whoever was coming was clearly doing so to meet them. Hopefully it was with relatively benign intentions. "Alright," she said to the others. "Stay alert, but do not strike first. If they want a fight then they can start it. But we will end if it comes to that."

Alicia then turned and faced in the direction that their guest was coming from. All they could do now was wait.

Aurelio stood back and to the right of Alicia his cane tucked under his arm with his other hand in his pocket. He was likely the most relaxed person that was sent to out to deal with this newcomer, less from naivety, and more from knowing that keeping things relaxed at the start went a long way towards keeping them that way over all.

He kept his senses outward, hoping to get a hint of the intention on who ever it was coming their way.

Whoever was approaching was doing a good job of remaining hidden. That, or they were not feeling especially emotional at the moment. Regardless, Aurellio was able to pick up some determination. There were hints of other emotions, such as annoyance, hatred, and even fear, but these were being held back. Though more interesting than the emotions themselves was their source. Even though they felt far away, he could see someone was appearing.

Suwako faded into reality. She was kneeling before the Beacon kids with her head held low. She didn’t stay like that long. The illusionary Beacon girl pulled herself to her feet and looked at everyone present.

"Oh good, they sent out everyone I wanted to see.” Alicia didn’t need to activate her third eye to know this was an illusion. "I have something I’d like to discuss with you. Given the relaxed position of your weapons, I assume you find that acceptable?”

Ah. It did not take a Third Eye to realize this was an illusion as she watched it fad into reality like it was a loading screen. At the same time, however, Serenity felt a certain nervousness about the occasion as well that she couldn't quite put a finger on. However, this being the same figure who had tried to goad them into battle with Wonderland (before the latter party ruined the treaty on its own accord) did make her feel a bit defensive at the same time. In other words, this would seem to her to be someone who was out to serve their own devices and purposes even if Beacon was made to be a pawn in the process.

At the same time, the magical maid would remain on standby with a duplicate of her knife already in one of her hands. She would have restraint as ordered, and she trusted Alicia more than anyone else frankly, but she would remain prepared just in case. Hopefully this wasn't someone in the service of Thos though. Please, please, please let this not be another one in the service of Thos.

Anaya, having not been out on the field in a long while, was the odd one out. She didn't exactly know who Suwako was; her own third eye telling her that the figure before them was nothing but an illusionary proxy, and she heard about what happened at Bolorton, but details were still vague. At least to her.

Despite the twin pistols in her grasp, Anaya stood back and let the others talk. This was something she wasn't actively involved with.

Eying Suwako with a justified suspicion, Alicia was forced to acknowledge that what had happened back in Bolorton was, perhaps, not an attempt by Wonderland to trick them into breaking their deal. But it was too soon to tell. "If we intended to fight, they wouldn't have sent me," she replied. "What do you wish to say?"

"I don’t want to just ‘say’ something, I’m hoping for something more along the lines of a friendly debate.” With a sigh, ‘Suwako’ looked over at the girls again. "Beacon is a controversial group. Even the lot of you see that. No one can deny that many monster girls struggle with their mutations. Even the most resolute ones can’t help but hesitate when their desires run wild. It’s a problem, and it needs to be dealt with.” She thumped her bow into the ground. "But must Beacon be so cruel? A single glance at the Ascendancy is all it takes to see what happens when you take your ideas too far. They have a weapon that can wipe out cities. They eliminate monsters with impunity. They don’t even follow their own code. They’ll happily work alongside Justine, someone who nearly ended the world, to get at Mariette? I understand she’s ruffled some feathers, but she’s nowhere near as horrible as Father’s chosen.” She extended her arms. "I know you don’t like them either, so why do you continue to tolerate them? Why work with people who have no respect for your ideals?”

Hmm.

"Indeed, Beacon is a controversial group in general. The Ascendancy even more so for what would look and sound and act like a dogmatic purge cell sent to destroy all in their path. When looking at working with the likes of Justine and others as well, it isn't hard to look at that and call it hypocritical for sure when regarding the target they sought by working with her.

On the other hand I would pose you similar questions in turn, not to distract from the matters you brought up nor trying to make some clunky defense. In truth I want to see more of your own mind and perspective on these matters in this 'friendly debate'. Some more insight into that mind of yours for purposes of discussion about this topic, if you are willing of course."

As she spoke, folding her arms and her brows furrowing a little as her mind focused on the matter, the magical maid felt some of her nerves settle down as she focused on what the illusory stranger had to say. Or rather, what she seemed to challenge them with. It was easy to criticize Beacon and the Ascendancy, to point the finger and say how one did more harm than good. Etc. But at the same time, what was the perspective of this person on the matter beyond that of making criticisms? That Serenity was more curious about.

"How would you seek to approach and handle the existence of monster girls in general? As you said, even the most resolute can't help but hesitate when their mutations run wild. There are also those who give in to them whole-heartedly, those who try to resist but can't, and otherwise if we are to look at the overall situation.

Furthermore, would you make distinctions based on how they became monster girls? Would you try to figure things between those who did not choose the life of a monster girl or were forced into it from the start, or who maybe otherwise who sought a Black Coin or greedily become one to gain more power and paid the horrible price for it?

And finally, what would you be willing to do or compromise or so forth along those lines in order to see your ideas, approach, and methods in this scenario come to fruition?"

‘Suwako’ blinked exactly once during Serenity’s speech. "I think that someone should be judged by their actions and the strength of character. Dark magic is powerful, and power warrants responsibility. If someone can’t handle their responsibility, it should be taken away from them. I think everyone should be treated like humans, with a fair trial for their wrongdoings. As for how far I’d be willing to go…” Suwako smiled. "I don’t think you want me to answer that. But I think risking discovery in enemy territory should put my determination on display, no?” The grass under her feet parted as she walked closer, but she stopped after a few steps. "I'm aware Penrose Beacon is less trigger happy than the rest of your organization. That’s why I’m curious why you’re letting the Ascendancy run your lives.”

"I'd not go so far as to say that the Ascendancy is running our lives, The Paladin here was the one to push though the evacuation effort for Bolorton after all." Aurelio would comment. Tilting his head at the illusion for a moment before glancing back off into the distance. "But I can see why you'd think that."

"Alright, maybe I was being dramatic.” the false Beacon girl conceded.

"And it's not like the Ascendency is the end all be all of Beacon. They too still answer to the same higher ups that we do at the end of the day. And those higher up are supporting us as well."

Eying the illusion once more, Alicia was silent for a few moments as she formulated her own thoughts. It wasn't quite what she expected to come of this encounter, but it was hardly the worst thing she could envision. Very well, she'd play along with it.

"I work with them because Beacon provides more good than it does harm. And because I still think that we can show our way works, and prompt a greater change. Maybe not as fast as I'd like, but it's better than the alternative."

Suwako appeared to be forming her thoughts when Alicia spoke up. "And I’m glad you feel that way.” She turned towards her. "But what sort of change are you hoping for? Is it Penrose that you want to change, the organization? I’m curious. Lay it all out for me. But while you’re thinking on that…” She turned to Aurelio. "You’re bringing the Cardinal into this? I hope you don’t take offense, but she is far more wallflower than supreme leader.” Suwako’s bow faded away so that she could fold her arms together. "The reason why the Ascendancy gets away with so much is because Rachel just has to point to some clause or rule in your code that supports her actions. I don’t doubt that she wishes to see Penrose Beacon succeed, but she will never challenge Beacon’s codex. Thus, you’re all more or less allowed to do what you like so long as it agrees with Beacon’s core principles. It is, quite frankly, a mess, and just a matter of time before infighting starts.”

"I'm meaning their bosses, more than anything." Aurelio would clarify, his attention notably split between the illusion and what he was feeling off in the distance. "The Beckoners and such. And with any sufficiently large organization there is going to be some level of infighting. Beacon's core principle is 'To safeguard Magical girls and Humanity' and there are a lot of ways to do that. Some, like the Ascendency, feel that means retribution and vengeance are the right virtues. Some think that it means mercy and salvation are better. But no one answer works for all circumstances."

"Just because we disagree doesn't mean we have to be at each other’s throats over it. Even Rachel has been willing to show understanding towards us and our methods."

Serenity's arms came to her sides, resting on her hips as she spoke as she tried to change her posture to stay comfortable as she talked. Even so, her voice was that of a polite yet determined tone as she tried to verbally lay out her next thoughts clearly. Hopefully it all came across as she meant it at least.

"...On that note, I think there is also an observation to be made maybe.

You insinuate I wouldn't want to know how far you would go...even just to see what you laid out in my scenario to be made manifest then. This insinuates a great deal of what you are willing to do for them then in general, and you've seemingly implied such a drive applies to you own goals and desired ends currently at that. Your brazen display of 'guts' here in risking discovery in enemy territory, as you so noted to me, and what you did before back in Bolorton have shown that at least in some capacity thus far.

At the same time, however, I notice how hard you are on the Ascendancy simultaneously for their actions and tools and methods. Not wholly unjustifiably by any means, but also not entirely rightly either I believe.

You bring up examples of what they have done and do, of what they are capable of even, before in turn talking of infighting and asking us why we align with them and so forth. I feel a bit like it is the pot calling the kettle black a little bit as well in this instance.

Criticsm is something we can indulge in no matter who we are, and none of us are free of it. Especially myself, as I'll honestly admit. Yet if you would potentially stain your hands bloody red to no end to see your end goals in sight, or do whatever else you think 'nessecary' by means of your insinuations, then can you truly regard yourself as any different than you regard the Ascendancy to at least a certain extent? Could you say you would never stoop to similar or same lengths, even if you had the same resources, same capabilities, and potentially even same type of experiences as they have had in pursuing and trying to enforce what they beleive is best?"

While Suwako appeared to be relaxed, Aurelio could feel the distant vestiges of fear and annoyance growing stronger. But determination was still winning out. Even more interesting was that they seemed to be approaching, albeit slowly.

"I have already stated that I believe that some dark magicals cannot be saved. They should be put out of their misery or purified, ideally after a fair trial. I haven’t said anything about my intentions, so I’m not sure where my hands being stained ‘bloody red’ is coming from. If I was an Ascendancy girl and you were all monster girls, I’d attack you no questions asked. But here I am trying to reason with you so that I can understand where you’re coming from. Have you ever met an Ascendancy girl who’s first impulse wasn’t to attack? Is the first idea in their head anything other than ‘exterminatus maximus’, or do other ideas always have to be pitched to them? The core difference between the Ascendancy and myself is that killing is always a last resort for me, not the first. And that’s why I find their views so dangerous.” She shook her head. "But Aurelio, you aren't bothered by them because they don’t interfere with how you do things. Is that correct?”

"Not correct at all." Aurelio would say with a shrug. "I've gotten into more than one heated discussion over how we should deal with things with various members of the Ascendency, Rachel included. Just becuase I disagree with them doesn't mean they have to be my enemies."

Suwako nodded with a smirk.. ”Thank you for the clarification.”

Crap. The magical maid would dissipate away the knife in her hand, though a certain look of controlled embarassment would come to her face before she spoke futher.

"My sincerest apologies to you, then, for the ultimately unwarranted comparisons and so forth I made there. Genuinely so.

I am not fully accustomed to circumstances like this in my life experiences in the overall sense, mostly having been familiar with...well, let's call it 'horrible experiences' as a start. The terror of potential death and being obliterated since my 'birth' has likewise been a thing I perhaps haven't fully shaken off either when it comes to strangers and assumptions. So when you spoke before I read into things with what first came to mind for me.

It isn't an excuse, but I will freely admit my wrongs there. I hope both of us will continue to keep killing as a last resort as well..."

”It’s fine. I could have been more clear” The illusion reassured her.

Letting the others speak in the short term, Alicia considered her next words another time. "My goal is to change Beacon as an organization," she said at least. "You're right, the Ascendancy's first instinct is to attack, or to prevent threats for developing further. That's how they've been trained, that's what they know to do. We haven't even managed to convince them we can keep a handle on things here yet."

She held back a sigh as she continued expressing her thoughts. "Still, I'd like to take the fact that they're more willing to listen to us now than they were before as a good sign. Especially with how...not normal things have been."

Suwako thrust a finger at Alicia while looking at the other Beacon girls. ”This! This right here is what I was hoping one of you would say!” She turned to look at Alicia. ”And I’m glad Alicia was the one to say it. The Ascendency do not need to be put to the knife, they only need to be reformed, much like you’ve been doing with corrupt magical girls. People can change, and those that can’t should part with positions they aren’t fit for. Oh but I know I’m preaching to the choir here!” She waved her hand at Alicia. ”Do you have any plans to make such changes come about? Or is that why this development with Rachel is so good, because you may be able to break through to her and change that side of the organization?”

But as jubilant as Suwako seemed, the distant emotions weren’t changing at all.

As pleased as Alicia was to have the affirmation, something tugged at the back of her mind. Something that indicated this was, perhaps, a bit too easy. Most people didn't just swing by for a chat on philosophy,

"Perhaps I do," she replied with a nod. "But forgive me if I don't see why I should lay it all out in detail for a stranger hiding behind the image of a friend."

Suwako smirked. ”I didn’t figure you for a cautious sort, Alicia. But alright. You can tell if I’m lying or not without fail, so just stop me if I’ve said something dishonest.” She turned to look at Alicia. ”My name is Tonya, though I have not used that name in a very long time. Like most of you, I became a magical girl to defend my home from an oncoming apocalypse. Only my patron filled me to the brim with as much magic as my form could bear.” She looked into the sky. ”It’s been a good decade or so now. What happened at Bolorton reminded me of the day I was turned into a monster. The overwhelming forces, the need to retreat in the blink of an eye, the carnage. It was everything I wanted to prevent. But I’ll be honest with you, I was numb to it this time. It almost felt expected. Penrose can’t go a few weeks without having a cataclysmic event, and the city’s magical girls are more divided than ever. It all looks a little grim.” With a hop, she landed in front of Alicia. ”The old world fell because of a feud between Beacon and Mint. I’ve been wary of your lot since I got here. I’ve even conspired against Beacon a few times, like any dark magical would. But I’ve realized the Penrose branch is not like the others. I think this incoming threat will require everyone’s cooperation. I don’t need to know your plans Alicia. But if I did, it would make uniting Penrose easier.” Suwako shrugged. ”But if you must keep your secrets...”

"Hmm...no wonder you wished to prod our minds using this 'friendly debate' style of approach then.

Fair enough I suppose, but Alicia really is the best one to haved asked more directly in the first place if we had a plan for all this I believe. I was metaphorically speaking 'just born yesterday' after all, and my life hasn't lent me to come to such a response as you seemed to wish for quickly really. Beyond that, though, I'm here with her even now because I both believe in that goal and in Alicia herself more than anyone."

The magical maid simply let a smile come to her face as she spoke with nothing but a purely honest conviction and determination of her own. A sincere expression both emotionally and verbally to boot. At the same time, however, she hoped it wasn't as 'foot in mouth' as her words at times had been in a prior meeting with another friend after the events of Bolorton had been. Maybe. She'd been practicing!

Yet before she would continue, her expression and mood would slide gently back into what it had been prior.

"Though my own issues and faux-pas of not long ago here aside, I do remain on the cautious end of things myself as well. You are still a stranger to us who hides behind the image of someone else, so even your expressions given via illusion can be called into question potentially as well. Or perhaps in this case it is properly expressing your feelings on your behalf. Either way we cannot know for sure.

Likewise, it seems what you wanted was a bit easy to get ahold of as well...conceptually as well as comparatively in this case now. So was this all you wanted out of us this evening, if I may ask?"

The Illusion continued to stare in Alicia's direction.

"Considering you're the fourth person to try and get on her good side with potential shady reasons can you really blame her?" Aurelio would ask his attention focused out towards the emotions he felt.

"Also, as an aside, do words spoken through an illusion still register as true or false to Light magic?"

”Of course it does!” Suwako continued to look at Alicia with the same level of intensity Aurelio looked at the approaching emotions. ”Even if I'm communicating to you through an illusion, my words are still my words and be true or false. The only known way to trip up someone like Alicia is to say something with the intent to misdirect. Isn't that right, Alicia?”

"Good to know." Aurleio would say with a nod "I mean I figured it would seeing how your emotions still carry though, but I havve not had much time to play around with illusions myself."

"...Then what if you do not speak with intent to misdirect, or truly believe what you speak to be the truth? Could you get around those restrictions and still try to direct or misdirect another to some end or another?"

"Relax guys, this isn't our first time on this ride," Alicia assured them. As unfortunate as it was, she knew full well that even the truth could hide layers of duplicity behind it. They would deal with the schemes as they arose.

Her focus then returned to Tonya, now that she knew a bit more about who she was dealing with. "It's a flexible plan," she replied. "Use diplomacy and cooperation to defuse conflicts, support neutral girls, and show the Ascendancy that we can restore stability to the city without indiscriminate violence. Bring back members who lost hope, train new recruits with more modern sensibilities, and then push to convince those at the top."

A wry smile then graced her features as she thought. "Of course, this is Penrose. After what happened at the Rave. I doubt it will all go quite that smoothly. But it's what I have right now."

Suwako gave Alicia a blank stare that lasted just long enough to be awkward. ”Holy mother of Moses! It’s a miracle!” She cast her arms up in the air. ”What a concise yet sensible plan that is! You really earned that Paladin designation Alicia, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Unfortunately, I don’t have a way to confirm that you’re being truthful. And because of that…”

And then it happened.

That surge of emotions that Aurelio had been tracking were finally in the area. It was too late to intercept them, they had already discovered them. Fortunately, the person harboring those emotions was plainly visible. It was a little girl with brown hair and Barbie girl pajamas. Regardless of how many third eyes were directed at her, she appeared to be a normal little girl. She was holding a piece of paper that seemed to be a map.

“Treasure?” She said while looking over the group. Her fear was growing, but her determination was still holding out strong.

She didn’t wait for any of the others to approach her. Her eyes scanned her surroundings and eventually fell on a nearby tree. She approached it and discovered a pile of stones. After moving the stones aside, her determination and annoyance subsided in the presence of wonder. She reached into the pile of stones and pulled out a bag of chocolate coins. Or at least, the label said it was chocolate coins. It also looked like there was still a price tag on it. Shortly after getting her treasure, the little girl walked back the way she came.

”Well that was random. Now where was I? Right.” Suwako lifted her finger. ”So basically, just as you can’t fully trust me, I can’t fully trust you. But all the same, I really want to believe Beacon is headed in the right direction. In fact, I have to, because we aren't going to get anywhere being at each other’s throats. Especially with that extra queen headed to Penrose.” She pretended to look at her wrist watch. ”I feel like we should do something significant while we’re all here, but I’m running out of time. But hey! I’ve got a lot of connections to people and venues that would be off limits to Beacon, so if you need me…” She tossed a cell phone at Alicia, only for it to fly through her chest. ”Right, uh, maybe just hit up ‘High Priestess’ On Glimr.” She turned back to Serenity and pointed at her. ”And you!” She thrust her finger. ”Magical girls have light magic, mystic artifacts, scrying, and various other forms of divination magic. Figuring out what you guys are doing hardly requires me to appear in person. But to change their minds or forge alliances? That’s always going to require interacting with people face to face.”

Alicia got the strong suspicion that she was being flattered, though it was exaggerated to the point where one could consider it as parody too. As Tonya was reacting another girl appeared on the scene, locating a bag of 'treasure' under a tree nearby. That was probably more important than she knew for it to happen in such a narratively random manner, but for now she decided to ignore it.

Back to the matter at hand, it seemed that things were going alright. She supposed she couldn't blame Tonya being suspicious. It wasn't the first time she'd had to handle such things either. An attempt to provide communication ended in failure though, since the phone she provided was also an illusion. "I can do that. We'll be in touch to see about proving that trust, in both directions."

”Sounds good. Remember! High Priestess on Glimmr.” And then Suwako’s form faded away.

Aurelio keep his focus outward even after the little girl made her apperance, if anything his focus ramped up at her apperance, though he wasn't looking at the girl at all as she found and made her way out with her prize.

That said a clone would pop up behind him with phone in hand to get started on adding this High Priestess to his contacts.

But while Aurelio didn’t notice any far off emotions, he did notice the little girl was throwing off far more joy than he would expect.

Michelangelo, a famous sculptor, is famously known for describing the art of stone sculpting as the slow release of a form as it emerged out of the marble block. It was his role as an artist to liberate the human form trapped inside the block by gradually chipping away at the stone surface. Removing what wasn't a human, and leaving what was. Something most Ascendancy girls can get behind.

This look into Michelangelo's mind reveals something about how he thought. As an artist, it was not his duty to create. The sculptures that he made were always there. He simply had to reveal them. His creations were always there. By his own description of his art, he could not take credit for creating them, only being the one to free them from their marble prison. Either Michelangelo never created anything during his professional career, or the world's greatest stone sculptor said something untrue about his own craft.

Are patrons different than sculptors? At first, you might not think so. They type words on a screen, put ink to parchment, they add to their canvas, not remove from their block. Not initially, anyway. But writing is just the first step. Afterwards, a patron who wishes to perfect their craft will comb their Positional-Orbital-Stalion-Transcript for weaknesses that can be purged from their work. Typos, unnecessary words, imperfections. But those are just small surface details. More drastic things can be carved away too, such as characters with no weight, weak plot points, and other such improvements can be made. "Kill your darlings" is dreaded, but important advice for anyone with an interest in storycraft, and is often the most ignored.

The short version is, less is more.

But removing things was not always the duty of a patron. Sometimes their champions were more than willing to help.

”I think, I'm all, set, my guy.” P.T. loaded a crate ten times as big as they were into the center of a magic circle. ”We ready, to boogie?”

Binky was looking out the window of Boteg's office. Allegedly, one of the last golden dragons would sit here and monitor Penrose. Well, less monitor and more ensure no harm could come to them. Binky felt a connection to this creature she had never met. One was a dragon, and the other was a frail magical girl, but both were powerless to do anything meaningful. If anything, it was Binky's coins that had a larger impact on Penrose, even if the outcome itself was undesirable and made things worse in the end. ”Yea, just, let me get the rest of my things.” Binky stepped away from the window to head towards her bedroom. A napsack in the corner of the room. Some things never changed.

"...Huh. They're still preparing to head out? Then again, time gets weird in places like this. Welp, let's go say hello!"

Not feeling like just going through the front door, Jennifer teleported inside Boteg's old haunt and into the floor other people were in, Finn in tow. "_{Wait. Shit. She might not be in actually.} Hellooooo??? Oros??" She called out, both looking around for the false witch's contact.

Or Finn was just looking for Riona. He hadn't had time to catch up with the bar owner, after all.

When hunting or being hunted by OP pieces of shit, it is common to assume that they will take the nuclear option. There’s no reason not to. Just as Penny will always use her strength and “connections” to solve every problem, Oros should be expected to use Endless Eclipse to spot any potential hazards. Though a wise person uses all the tools available to them instead of just their strongest ones. While Oros does have a sword that lets her see the past, present, and future, even she is capable of taking action in spaces and times that patrons don’t have access to. This was why Jen was unaware of Oros's presence, presumably. In fact, P.T. and Binky had left Penrose for a time, and this was them going on their second outing. Haha, oh how wild it is to play head games with seemingly all-knowing characters.

Though this wasn’t actually a mind game. Oros was just occupied.

With a flush, Oros stepped out of the restroom and rubbed her nails against her stomach. ”Mmmmmm.” She turned to look at Finnegan ”So are you Finny, or are you someone disguised as Finny for the express purpose of messing with me? Because I have a lot more time to entertain one of those people.”

...Well what did you expect? The woman didn't have her powers running 24/7.

What a pleb, not running her powers all the time, haha!

Finn rose a brow, especially at the nickname. "No need to use my disguise artifact right now, is there?" he spoke up, turning to face Oros. "Anyways, this lady...Jen, was it? Said you'd be willing to help me with fighting Penny?" he asked, pointing a thumb at Jennifer when he mentioned her.

Oros snorted, then cracked a smile. ”She said that?” The pink haired woman pointed at Jen with her thumb. ”First of all, she lied to my face and actively participated in sabotaging my plans. Worse still, she was successful. Out of principle I ain’t doing shit for her and certainly not for free.” Oros folded her arms. ”And secondly, I’m sure you’ve had everyone and their mother tell you that Penny is invincible. What makes anyone think I can offer you anything at all? The rinnegan upgrade and everything else from that wannabe mastermind too weak for you?”

With that, the boy's expression blanked out. "Wait what. What'd you do?" His head turned back to look at Jen. She was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. She chuckled.

"I owed a friend a solid and made sure to see it through. Surprised you're still not over it." Jennifer explained to him, then turned her attention to Oros. "Look bud, I already know I'm a piece of shit. But the fact is, there's nothing stoping the Grand Magnus from nerfing the poor kid the moment he makes a move against her. Not to mention Doc's upgrades are just a temporary thing at the moment." She explained. "As much as an anomaly Designation: Iron Maiden is turning out to be, I can't confront her myself. Not yet. If Finn can't kill her, I at least want him to be able to weaken her enough for me to step in. And if he's about to die, stall her long enough to get him the hell out of there."

The false witch moved away from the wall with a huff. "I dunno what the hell you want me to do to make it up to you, but the least you can to is just balance out some of his new powers, and we'll be on our merry way."

”The least I can do is nothing.” Oros said with a grin. ”Don’t get me wrong, witch. The date went better than expected. She can make me look like a bloated tic, point a cannon at the back of my head, and make our butler a robot, but I really don't care. I mean really, I commissioned a maid and a fem-fatale: Jailbait erotic robot edition. But I’m glad Nyakannis had a good time. That was what I wanted. She can pretend she hates me all she likes, but we went on a romantic outing and she enjoyed herself.” Oros crossed her brow. ”But that doesn’t excuse you of delaying a process I was trying to expedite. The fact of the matter is that there’s nothing you can offer me. You’re worthless, and the only thing that gives you value is ferrying around this shambling mess of a man.” She turned her gaze to Finn. ”Though maybe, maybe I can have some fun with you while you’re here…” Oros tapped the wall, and a shimmering portal appeared. ”Let’s go Finny, in and out, twenty minute adventure. Oros walked in without uttering another word.

Despite her words, Jen was unphased at being called worthless. She simply shrugged and left the other two to their own accord.

Finn himself was unsure if he should follow Oros through the portal. He took a moment to think, then stepped through.

And what resided on the other side of the portal? Was it a strange lab of the likes that no one had ever seen? Perhaps it was world zero, the first of several hundred worlds to fall to calamity? Maybe it lead to a japanese pagoda at the edge of the universe? No, it was stranger than all of those.

Finn’s shoes would click against the floor. White and gray tiles were illuminated by strips of fluorescent lights. Pedestrians pushed carts around, opening freezers and grabbing canned goods off of shelves. There was a palette stacked six cases high with soda, all while some country music droned softly in the background.

Wait, this was just a supermarket!

”And that, Finn, is how you should avoid acting.” Oros was looking over a can of beans before returning it to the shelf. ”There is an unspoken rule that if you’re well liked, good things will happen to you.” She walked towards the lad. ”The power that Nykannis gave you should be more than sufficient for defeating anyone, even Penny. But this world does not conform to logic. Being stronger than someone on paper is not an indication that you will win. People need to want you to win ” She shrugged her shoulders. ”Oh sure, the same tired faces will get propped up as “oldies” and “legacy champions,” and they’ll continue sucking on the silver spoon like little toddlers. But not everyone with power is so old. Sometimes the Grand Magistrate takes a shine to people for other reasons.” She stopped in front of Finn. ”I cannot give you power, or grant you the wisdom to defeat Penny. But I can teach you charisma.” She placed a hand on his back. ”Not the sort of charisma that makes people like you, but the sort of charisma that makes gods like you. What will make patrons covet your company, and long to see you succeed.”

Charisma? Not what he expected, but hey, Nykannis said he'd needed to think smart for this ordeal. Guess this is part of that. "Here I was thinking both you and Dr. Nykannis didn't like me that much." Finn said. "Whatever it takes to put the odds in my favor I suppose. What'd you have in mind?" He tilted his head slightly as he asked.

”No one likes a beggar.” Oros grabbed a shopping cart and started pushing it to the back of the store. ”So! Attaining the interest of patrons, especially powerful ones, is not the same as seducing your love interest. It’s easier to think of yourself as a storybook character. What would you like to see someone else do if they were in your shoes? That sort of stuff. But it’s made more complicated because those people also have their own champions that they are actively trying to prop up. So applying standard storytelling practices to yourself is not the full answer!” The cart had a lazy wheel, but Oros was able to force it over to make a turn down one of the center isles. ”In order to see where you’re lacking, I need to ask you some questions.” She placed a hand on Finn’s shoulder. ”Personal questions.” She leaned into him. ”You need to talk to me like I’m your therapist.” After they gazed into each other’s eyes for a moment, Oros released Finn and looked ahead. ”There are five aspects of your ‘character’ that can determine how quickly you will be endeared to these patrons. Not everyone cares about each aspect, but having all five really helps. Well, in normal situations it would.” She picked up a can of corn and held it out to Finn. ”The first is the ‘Character Arc,’ one’s ability to mature and develop over time. But I’m going to be honest, nobody really cares about this one. It’s been over four years and everyone’s still carting around the same baggage, or they left Penrose. We can just skip it.” Oros dropped the can into the shopping cart and shoved it as far back as she could. ”Motivation, on the other hand, is something that matters dearly to many. It is one’s reason for making the choices and taking on the tasks that they do. The ‘why’ rather than the ‘what.’” She let go of her cart and picked up two large jars of pickles. The special seasonal ones that were extra big for family get-togethers. ”Why is removing Penny from power, or even remaining in Penrose, so important to you?”

The boy idly followed Oros, making sure to pay attention to what she was saying. The idea of talking to her like she's his therapist did make him rose a brow, but he didn't question it. When asked about his motivations, he took a moment to think of the right words to explain.

"From what I've learned about Penrose, it's been locked in some weird cycle of conflict between everyone's favorite higher ups. And no matter what people do, nothing changes. The Mint is still at large, and Beacon is Beacon. So why hasn't anyone made a better effort to restore order?" He began to explain, looking over the contents of the isles. "The Ascendancy? I'm not concerned about them. For however long I've been on their shit list, I continue to evade capture. As much as I want to prove I'm more than the Sinner of Wrath they know me as, I don't exactly have a choice to do so sometimes. Hah, not to mention I'm still trying to settle my anger issues with my actual therapist...."

Finn picked up and looked over a bag of chips. "Anyways, for someone who calls herself a "Queen", Asimov hasn't really done anything to deserve that title. At least from what I can tell. She hasn't made an active effort to find the source of the Mint's activity, and I doubt she'd ever go against Beacon unfortunately. Instead she, what, makes one bunker and hides a quarter of the population in it?" He looked back to Oros. "A leader shouldn't just...let their people live in fear, y'know? They shouldn't have to just hide and hope things will turn out better on their own. And what of the mundane side of Penrose? If it's your city, then why not protect that side too? I wanted to focus on restoring that end but...I dunno." For a moment, he appeared a bit lost.

"I don't have a choice in this either. The only way she'd be rid of her crown is if I kill her. I don't want to resort to assassination, but if I have to be the bad guy, might as well. And I know, Maura hasn't helped much either, and now there's Wonderland causing stuff like what happened at Bolorton, but perhaps getting rid of one of the top dogs will finally cause something to change here." Finn then shrugged. "Or all of this will be pointless and we can just leave the town to the dogs, I don't fuckin' know anymore. What I'm trying to say is people are being useless and if I topple one down, the rest hopefully will follow suite like dominos."

”Oh, do we have some work to do here!” Oros continued to pick up jar after jar of pickles and loaded them into the cart. ”It’s fine to hate on people for doing a less than adequate job. Your concerns about Penny’s leadership are valid, but let’s be real, what have you done?” She gestured for Finn to push the cart. ”Maybe Penny gets everything for free, but she’s also one of the only person with her hand out. Ya gotta move that cute little butt of yours if you want to make change, Finny.” Oros whipped a deed out of her vestments. ”Just so happens I’m the proud owner of the Golden Trove. Prior to me leaving it, I was trying to get more human occupants. I’ll charge you exactly what Su charged me for it. ” She shoved the deed into Finn’s chest. ”Merry Christmas, you can wipe your tears with it if you like, it’s laminated. But that does bring us to the third aspect: Activity Level.” Oros plucked up a box of pop tarts and turned to look at her apprentice. ”It’s not quite what it sounds like. People like proactive champions over reactive ones. Again, this is something that Penny has over a lot of other patron champions. She doesn’t wait for shit to happen, she is constantly looking for things to do. I could question the validity of a lot of things she does, but by golly, the grand magistrate isn’t about quality, it’s about quantity!” More poptarts rained into the cart. ”Am I correct in assuming everything you’ve done since you’ve come to Penrose has been a reaction? Do you just follow orders and go with the flow, or do you spot problems and come up with your own solutions? Does life happen at you, or do you happen at life?”

Finn's brows rose as the deed was handed to him. Okay then. Atleast this won't stop Riona from reopening the hotel. Then they moved on to the next topic, and he tossed the bag of chips into the cart.

"I mean, I'm always looking out for new cases!" The boy seemed to perk up once he mentioned it. "The one of Mariette's missing mirror kinda went dead, but the Wonderland court has been something of interest recently. _Obviously." He explained. "Maybe I may have followed orders when I first became a full-time magical boy, but with how long I've lived I eventually just do what I want. What I have to. Yknow, odd jobs!"

”Right, you know who else sought out new cases? Sammy. You know what she’s doing? Running away from the Mint. If you’re serious about one-upping Penny, you’re going to have to make sure you take on jobs that help with that aim. Forging alliances with other patron champions, discovering powerful artifacts, not, ‘odd jobs.’” Oros pulled the chips out of the cart and tossed them into the next aisle over. ”There’s no room for garbage in the metaphorical character cart! Now, let’s go to the meat section.”

_{"My chips..."}

Oros guided Finn along, keeping an eye on the cart and its contents. ” Which just leaves two facets left. There’s the struggle. You mentioned that you have anger issues, which sort of works. Some would argue that in order for a flaw to be real, it has to hamper the champion a bit. But I don’t think flaws are really in the grand magistrate’s interests. Penny can turn on and off her monsterous urges at will. Furthermore, she can befriend people easily despite the many times she's been used by others. Even Mika's flaws went largely ignored. It’s just not something you need to concern you with. But the last one, ohhh the last one. This one is a doozy, but it’s the most important facit.

Likability.”

By this point, they were at the deli counter.

”There are many ways to decide likability, but let’s take a short list from a well renowned story consultant. Michael Hauge consults on a lot of Will Smith’s movies, and since that guy is a huge ass hole that plays likable characters, mister Hauge must know what he’s talking about. According to him, there are four traits you can give someone to make them instantly likable.” She started pointing at cuts of meat. ”They need to be good at what they do, they need to be funny, they need to be the recipient of an undeserved misfortune, and they need a strong moral code. Would you say you have any of those?”

He took another moment to think. "Now some of that's just subjective. I mean, I think I'm better at what I do than how I used to be. Not sure if people find me funny, and I've done my best to keep my moral code strong. Misfortune wise?" Finn then went silent. He frowned, glancing away. "There are some things I'd rather not dwell upon from the past, yeah. But that was then, and all I can do is just press on and not let it burden me."

”Being good at something isn’t so subjective, but it’s whatever. There are lots of ways to be likable. The possibility is there for you, certainly.” With an exhausted sigh, Oros leaned on the cart. ”The problem is, however, that our story is not a traditional one. When someone watches a movie or reads a book, they want to be able to relate to a character. Especially the protagonist. But for patrons, it’s more like a multiplayer video game. Champions they don’t control do not serve as their point of view into our world. While it is still important that you are strong in the aspects we discussed, you also have to appeal to their ego. And by that, you need to interact with the patron’s champions.” She looked side to side. ”I mean just look at us. I have no real reason to give the Golden Trove to you over anyone else. There are plenty of people who hate Penny. But none of them came to me for assistance.” Oros poked Finn in the chest before walking off. ”Follow me, let’s check out.”

Though as Finn would soon discover, there was quite a line.

”I think the reason why the Grand Magistrate loves Penny so much is because even though she’s just a blatant power gamer with a god complex, it’s the closest thing they have to someone who’s trying to stitch together this shithole. There are a few choice words I have about that, but I’d like to keep this conversation under thirty pages.” Oros grabbed Finn’s shoulders. ”So here’s what I think. If Penny is going to be scrounging up Beacon and as many magical entities as her cold, greedy, metallic hands can clasp, you need to do the same. Round up the mundane people, make alliances with the people she’s ignoring. And you can mingle with mint agents, but for the love of god, make sure they aren’t Grand Magistrate controlled ones. Unless they are controlled by the Lord of Flames, but do be on your toes.” She leaned over Finn’s shoulder. ”Oh here’s an idea! You have anger problems right? So you want to kill Penny, but part of you wants to shy away from your dark past and give Penny a chance to share her monopoly of power. Offer a bipartisanship or an election type deal so that it isn’t always ‘Queen Penny’ at the helm. Don’t kick her ass with violence, make her confess that she’s obsessed with power, otherwise she would relinquish that power knowing how easily it can corrupt herself and others. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that Beacon and Mint are the two most fucked factions in this city. I wouldn’t be surprised if Penny is still La’at’s dog, secretly setting herself up to bring about a great and terrible change.” She leaned closer. ”Whaddaya think? Sounds sexy, right?”

"One of Maura's coven sisters already suggested Penny and I work together, yes." Finn mentioned. "Though somehow I doubt she'll want a shared ruling unless I'm one of her girlfriends." He sarcastically quiped, glancing back at Oros. "So that just leaves the election route. Sounds better than having to resort to violence, honestly."

"Well yes, as I’ve said several times already, she’s really just out there to get as swole as possible. She won’t share a crumb of power if she can help it. You will have to fight her, and you will do better if you have people who want to help you. Even if you can somehow defeat Penny, you have the rest of her harem to deal with." The lane was moving slowly, so slowly. It was only a matter of time before she spoke up again. "So little hitler gave you some powers, huh? And a nightmare cannon?"

The boy nodded. "Invincibility, Avatar, and Killing Blow. Dunno if the Nightmare Cannon thing could be concidered a Third Eye adjacent power, but that's mostly to throw a hit at Asimov's mental state." He explained. "I also have access to a strong Mana Font so I can make the best of this."

"Well that sounds impressive. I think we should test them." Several kanji burned through Oros’s sleeve, before the sleeve burst into flames. Her right arm had swollen with muscle, covered in blood vessels the size of pencils. "Let’s try out invincibility first!" She swung her palm at the side of Finn’s head.

Wait, we're fighting now?!

And in a supermarket of all things. How impractical. Finn visibly tensed up as Oros prepared to attack with an unnaturally buffed arm. He held back the instinct to block, instead focusing on activating his invincible state before she struck.

...Sadly that wouldn't stop him from getting knocked down like a bowling pin. But other than that, he remained unscathed.

While a few people turned their head to see what was going on at the back of the line.they noticed that the man hadn’t been roughed up, and seemed oblivious to how powerful the attack really was. To them, this was probably just a street performance. Indoors. In a supermarket.

"Man, that is impressive!" Her arm turned back to normal, and her robe stitched back together over it. "And your mana font is going to help you recoup that lost mana pretty fast! And you have an avatar one too? What’s that like?"

Finn practically bounced back up to his feet. "Right, gimme a bit to focus." He dusted himself off, and took a deep breath to enter the Avatar (Omnispec??) State. Instead of the usual pure red people seen while he's active, his visible eye became a bluish-silver, and his pupil turned into a slit.

"Appearance wise, not exactly as vibrant as the next guy's. But that never matters when in battle, does it?" He held a hand out, and a small orb of light appeared. He then formed another orb, one of water, but then let the water move around his hand like a serpent.

Oh, it actually was. Adding a bit of his usual beast magic, he had created a snake out of water. "It's interesting. I know I can't stay in this state, but it's fun trying out which magic combos work best with what." The orb of light then formed the shape of an owl, and it flew around Oros' head for a moment. The two elemental constructs caught glimpse of eachother, and tried to attack. To which, they simply went back to their previous shapes before anything else happened. "Can also do neat stuff like this, The orb of water thinned out, and he moved it to where the light orb reflected off it, creating a prism effect. "But this is just a brush of what this is capable of!"

"Oh cool!" a few more of the shoppers were taking notice of the magic show happening behind them. It was becoming harder and harder for them to peel their eyes away. "And you have a killing blow power too, you said?"

Finn's brows rose once he realized people were taking notice. Should he keep going? Did they think he was an illusionist? "Yeah! Haven't figured out a name for it yet, but..." He called off the orb of light and froze the water "mirror", letting it fall into his palm. He then flicked it back up into the air like a coin, and let it shatter, turning the pieces into falling snow. "I really don't think I can demonstrate here without severe colateral damange, hahah..." He let out a nervous chuckle.

"I don't follow. Isn't a killing blow like, a powerful, single target attack? So the damage should be minimal." Oros raised her brow. "Riiiiiiight?"

He looked from side to side, then heaved a quiet sigh.

"Well, if you say so. Mind backing up if you can?"

"Suuuuure."

When there was enough space between the two, Finn snapped his fingers, then casted his arm out. A large flurry of vantablack ravens; or the silhouettes of ones, shot out from his shadow behind him. The corvids viciously barreled towards Oros. And with a loud caw, a battle cry, they formed together into one. The giant shape closed in, talons primed to strike.

Oros flicked something out of her hand and at the approaching murder of crows. What Oros threw wouldn’t matter nearly as much as its effect. Whatever it was, it caused her to blink directly in the flight path of the killing blow.

"Yes! Come take me sweet embrace of dea-!" …Was all Oros was able to get out before she was pulverized by the grim attack. As far as survivability goes, few girls had more tricks than Oros. She was immune to pain, most forms of harm, could function even if all of her arteries were removed, and could even resurrect so long as she had enough mana to do so. But once the murder of crows hit her, there was nothing to grow back from. Her flesh and bone had been devoured almost instantly by a thousand tiny beaks. The only thing that remained of Oros was her sword, which clattered to the ground before disappearing in a puff of black mist. When the crows dispersed, there was nothing left.

The shoppers clapped their hands, clearly enjoying the vanishing act, if not understanding exactly how it had been done.

Further down the isle, Finn noticed the bag of potato chips that Oros had thrown earlier. It looked like they had landed on top of a few loaves of bread.

Once the wave of corvids finished their feast, they dispersed from their formation, and faded as they flew away. With a huff, Finn went out of his transformed state...

Then his eyes widened once he realized what happened.

It hit? She let it hit?? It killed her??? There wasn't a cadaver or anything that've prove it, but concidering they were in a public area, that might be for the best.

...

Well then. Nothing much to do now than to finish up and head back. And then he saw where the bag of chips landed.

"Hm?" He grabbed the bag again, glancing around before he...didn't put it in the shopping cart. Instead he held it in his free hand.

---

It was not long before Finn returned through the portal.

”Seems, you finished, the lesson.” P.T. inhaled deeply, allowing the yellow dust from her gun to whiff into her nostrils. ”Do not, worry, about, your teacher.” P.T. exhaled, but it was clear. ”This isn’t, her first, time, heh!”

Binky rubbed the back of her head. ”So what’s the plan now?”

Jennifer looked up from the book she was reading. Looks like she took a seat while she was waiting. "Wait till she pops in good as new? Not sure if the reincarnation process applies to espers. And even then, it can always differ from here's methods." She thought outloud.

”Just sayin'. This, is what, she wanted. Comin back, doesn't even, factor in.”

Finn looked between the trio, then the two newcommers. "And you two are...?" He rose a brow.

”Seriously?” Binky huffed. ”I'm Binky, Maura's head, possibly only researcher. I've been working with Oros up until, well, today. I guess it makes sense she wouldn't say much about me, given how people tend to react.”

P.T. snorted. ”Just the, personal, trainer.”

"Oh yeah, she did mention you once before! I had to get caught up to speed back at Christmas." Finn told Binky. "Just never saw you in person and all. Nice to meet you both!" He smiled.

P.T. totally fogged Finn and turned to Binky. ”Guess this, changes things.”

”Yea, I’ll continue my training without you. You can go set up whatever it was she wanted you to.”

”See ya around.” The pale woman nodded at Binky before departing, Once she was gone, the coin minter turned to look at Finn.

”I’ve gone through something of an awakening recently.” Binky closed her eyes. ”I was getting kind of depressed, but I’ve broadened my horizons a bit. Aria gave me her spell book on artificing, The beacon twins created the white coin with me, Oros hired P.T. to help toughen me up. The red coin wasn’t the magic bullet to fixing every magical girl’s problem. I was kind of down on myself for a while because of that, but it’s like a certain black clad, white haired, katana wielding school girl once told me,” She opened her eyes and smiled. ”I’m fine just the way I am. I just had to dig deep enough to find the person she was talking about. I’m here to make other people better ” She eyed Finn up and down. ”And for you, I think I can do something.” With a wave of her hand, she beckoned the witch and Finn to follow her.

---

Binky brought those present into her lab, which looked like a combination between a library and a minting press. On one side of the room was a laser cutter, only with the laser diode replaced with a magic wand. There was the coin press, and then a few tables covered in books and notes.

”Oros dragged all this stuff from dead dimensions for me, or so I’m told. It was in rough shape, but with some polish I was able to get it in shape. ” She reached inside the coin press and pulled out a red coin. No, it wasn’t a red coin, it wasn’t quite a ruby coin either. It was a bright red color though, vibrant enough that it left no shadows in Binky’s outstretched hand. ”I call it the Vermilion coin, after Cradle’s founding mother.” She placed it in Finn’s hand. ”It’s my greatest creation, for the moment, heh.” She rubbed the back of her head. ”It’s the only one in existence, at least for now. But the magic that went into it has all been tested, so there’s no reason it shouldn’t work.”

"Curious..." The boy uttered, holding up the vermillion coin inbetween his fingers. Seeing as Nykannis' coins didn't have any unsavory side effects he was aware of, one more couldn't hurt, right? He flipped it up into the air, using the coin as soon as it landed back in his palm-

Only Binky caught it just before he could.

”Hold on now! don't you want to know what it does first?” She shook the coin in front of his face. ”This coin is based on the same magic that spawned the shine spark as well as the red coin.” She placed it in Finn's palm. ”If you use it, you will aquire the same resistances the shine spark grants... without being converted to Beacon! It's more or less why anomolies like 'pure monsters' can exist. You can thank Penny for testing out the prototype. B-But let me skip the techno babble and get to the important part.” Binky tapped the coin in Finn's palm. ”It is a red coin. It could alter you in any number of ways, so you may want to hold off on using it right away.”

"Eh, don't blame 'em. He's been just going along with this." Jennifer spoke up with a shrug.

Finn himself was caught off-guard when Binky stopped him, but listened closely to her explanation of the Vermilion coin regardless. "Soooo hold off until I need the extra ace, yeah?" He asked, instead pocketing the coin.

”You should at least be aware of what it does before you use it, I think.” Binky folded her arms, and the corners of her mouth were curved to the floor. ”The ‘velvet spark’ as I’ve named it is a desirable feature on its own, but if you don’t feel that you need it, then waiting would be better. Especially since it will have an irreversible effect on your magical form. It’s not something I would do lightly. I’ll add that like mint coins, they cannot be detected by forms of scrying. So there’s no reason to use it immediately if you want to think it over. But once you use it, the genie will be out of the bottle.” She rubbed the back of her head. ”As for decisions that should be made swiftly, I understand this is now your establishment. What do you plan on doing with it?”

"Well a friend of mine has been looking into starting a business here. She could probably set a bar up, let it serve as a front for a weapons shop for other magicals." Finn thought outloud. "Other than that, probably just make this a normal hotel. For anyone. Even normal people concidering someone's gotta look after them. Just gotta be more discrete when it comes to any magical girls and guys that wanna stay there for a night or two. Might need a rebranding though..."

”That sounds reasonable. And what about me?”

"Far as I know most of your side of the team left town, so it's up to you whether you want to stay or go too. He explained.

”My side? I believe we all work under Maura now.” She nodded. ”But fair enough, I will talk with Maura about it later.”

"I meant- Ah, nevermind. Thanks for the coin!" Finn waved it off, and took his leave.

Penrose had few places that were good for magical girls to speak. Sometimes it felt like every wall in Penrose had an ear that reported back to Ebon Mint. Most magical girls found it prudent to use more secure places to speak. Inside the hull of a starship, a sanctuary, any number of inter-dimensional lairs with each one more exotic than the last. Though these too were simple enough to bypass with divination magic. Anything spoken anywhere was bound to get picked up somewhere. With that in mind, deciding where to speak was less a matter of security and more a matter of function.

And in Aria’s opinion, few places were as functional as the Golden Trove.

It wasn’t as fancy as Nykannis’s lab, nor as whimsical as Jen’s observatory. But it was practical. In particular, this was the last place Aria had seen the person she wished to speak with. And while she was ready to bust out her divining gear and go on a search across the omniverse, she figured it would be best to start at her last known location. She rapped her knuckle on one of the doors.

”Makoto? Are you in?” She smiled before placing a hand on the door. ”It’s been a while since I’ve seen your tail.”

There was a deafening silence in response, for several moments. Officially, in the sense of whether or not it was being used, Makoto had abandoned the room, but on the usual kind of underhanded basis that she usually worked, she had something set up for just such an occasion. A slight *pop* came from behind the door, followed by a certain squirrel-girl opening the door wide open. ”Waaaaazzzzzzaaap?” she asked, before even looking at who opened the door. Honestly, she could use a break, and someone triggering what amounted to a magical doorbell seemed like as good an excuse as any.

”Ara ara~” Aria immediately pulled Makoto into a hug. ”I thought that you were gone for good. But I’m glad I was wrong.” Aria glanced at Makoto’s tail with a grin before releasing her. ”I’d like to know how your projects have been coming along. But a doorway hardly feels like a place to talk about such things.” She lifted a hand to her lips. ”May I come in?”

Makoto looked behind her at the room. It wasn’t a total mess, other than the bedding that she never properly managed. ”Sure, come on in.” She stepped back a few feet before turning and going to sit on the bed.

Aria stepped inside the room and closed the door. ”Thank you.” The rooms were all designed to accommodate two guests, and little else. But it did mean that there was a second bed that Aria could use to sit across from Makoto. ”Oh, we have so much catching up to do.” She kicked her feet in the air. ”Last thing I remember you were trying to create a device, or I guess it was a giant engine that could free magical girls from their ties to their patrons. You’ll have to refresh my memory, but I recall you having difficulty procuring a power source. Have you made any progress?”

Makoto sighed deeply. ”Well… the ultimate goal is the same, but ever since a certain person found out about it, we’ve… let’s say ‘re-contextualized’ things. The big goal is still to bring Magi and Patrons to the same level, my personal goal is still to bring back a few people, but…” she trailed off, looking into nothing for a moment before continuing, ”The new goal is to cut us off from something even worse. We’re not so sure that the same method will work for that one like it should for the other two. We’ve got so much mana that we practically can’t count it all, but theory and practice are different things, ya know? Actually getting started has been more difficult than expected by the big brains who thought this up, and Shiki is busy fighting off the other Magi of her Patron now that it found out about us working together. That makes things harder since she’s the best diplomat we had, and I’m not so great at politics, heh.”

Makoto took a small marble out of her pocket and started playing with it in her hand. No light bounced off of it, leaving a black void where it was. The squirrel was thankful to have a break from the headaches she’d been dealing with, but she was nervous to be away from things. The texture-changing marble was a nice anxiety toy to help her calm down. ”Honestly, I probably shouldn’t be talking about this stuff, or at least I’m sure Shiki would say that, but you already know the basics, so I don’t see the harm in revealing things. It helps to talk through things with someone, right? That’s how you gain new insight on things you’re stuck on, I think.” Her eyes opened wide. ”Oh! Right, I forgot to ask, how have you been lately? What’s been going on in town?”

It took the lavender magical girl a moment to break her gaze from the marble. ”Oh me?” Aria giggled. ”I’ve been fine. You live long enough and you start to realize how pointless it is to get upset with anything. But where to start?” Aria took a deep breath. Not to gather her thoughts, but to gather air. ”I’ve been here workshopping some devices to delve into Glexaroth’s realm. They don’t call him the lord of unreason for nothing. I have everything I need, but there’s been a setback as the one magical girl strong enough to make the trip went and died on me. So I’m going to need to find a replacement or wait for Oros to resurrect. Fortunately, I have a replacement in mind. I just need something they want.” Aria tipped backwards and leaned on her arms. ”Also wonderland is preparing to attack Penrose. They have a massive army, and the queen of hearts is a magical girl that seems to have it out for the ‘Grand Magistrate.’ I believe that was what Oros used to call fate. I guess she’s going to be this month's existential threat everyone has to group together and fight. Or maybe fate is tired of existing and wishes to bring an end to everything.” She looked at the ceiling. ”I’ll confess, that’s a big part of why I wanted to speak with you. Your entire plan goes against fate’s designs, yet if fate is going to get obliterated anyway, this might have a chance to work.” Aria threw one of her legs over the other.

Makoto jumped slightly at the news. ”Fate, as in… the concept or the Lesser Force? That’s, uh, concerning to say the least. I guess, if things are coming to that, then maybe it’s worth it to just come out with the plan, go public. Maybe save a few lives by doing so.”

Makoto took out a small flip-phone and pressed a sequence of its keys. ”Do you mind if I make a call quick?”

”I don’t.” The smile ran from Aria’s face as Makoto started navigating her phone. ”But I do think it’s a little early to fly into panic mode. I mean, what are you thinking about doing?”

”I’m going to ask if making the plan public is smart or not.” Makoto paused, not yet having hit the call button. ”Actually, I could just run it by you first. Do you mind that?”

”I think that would be very wise, given my connections.” Aria leaned forwards and folded her arms. ”Let’s hear it.”

Makoto took a deep breath, ready to give the usual spiel she’d said so many times before, but then thought better of it and decided to start small. ”Alright, I’ll start as if you didn’t know anything about it. This is quite the ‘info-dump,’ so please bear with me.” With that disclaimer out of the way, she continued. ”There are many Lesser Forces out there. Of them, seven are special. Those are ones that embody concepts, specifically the concepts that the standard type of reality are based on. You’ve got Heat, Gravity, Causality, Fate, Energy, Space, and Magic. My personal Patron is Causality. These forces aren’t really… sentient, per se, but they’re still sort of entities? It’s hard to explain. The point is, can you imagine what would happen if all seven, which oppose each other, worked together? Sure, you’ve got other Lesser Forces that embody concepts, but these ones are fundamental, so if they all worked together, they could change nearly anything. The plan is to trap them, all seven, in a small object. Jumpstart it with tons of mana, then use the energy from them being stuck together to make miracles happen. At least, that was the plan, to get their power to allow Magi to break free from the abusive relationship that is the Magi and Patron system.” Makoto got a distant look in her eyes as she looked back at the marble she was playing with.

”That’s the part I’m familiar with.” Aria grinned.

”I went and became friends with someone. They died, and Fate decided that because they were friends with me, and their ability to influence fate, their “Luck,” was too high, that it would remove them from the cycle of reincarnation for Magi. So I wanted to use the power we were making to bring them back. I met their sister, and she became very helpful for the same goal. But that girl met another Magi, one who she told this story to. That Magi gave her some help, and we decided to let her in on the whole plan as thanks. Turns out, she had a rather unique type of magic. We think it’s a mental mutation of some kind, but those who can see a Magi’s type of magic assure us that she’s not totally crazy. Point is, she thinks we’re all just… Have you seen The Matrix? Sort of like that. She knows things she shouldn’t, so we can’t discount her when she says insane things, like that we’re all inside some sort of simulation, or story, or game. This girl got us thinking about a lot, and made us want to hurry up in order to finish our plan to not only save Magi from Patrons, but also to end this influence from whatever is out there controlling everything. We’re not sure that’s possible, but our original plan is the best we can come up with for doing it, if it is possible after all.”

Aria shrugged her shoulders. ”It seems like more and more magical girls are turning up like that.”

”Originally, it came down to this: which is better? The current state of Patrons fighting proxy wars using innocent mortals that they often enslave, often trick, often take advantage of, and rarely help? An endless cycle of magical girls killing, suffering, and dying? Or the possibility of Patrons fighting their own battles, magical girls helping or hindering based on their own values? But now, if we’re all just puppets, what’s even the point of that? Would the ones pulling the strings allow such a thing? And if we get rid of the ones with their hands on the controls, what happens to us then? Are we free, or do we cease to be? Is it worth the risk?” Makoto shook the downcast look off her face and smiled. ”Honestly? As of right now you know more than most of the people even working on the project. But if someone is going to do something stupid that gets a lot of things killed, then maybe we should make it so everyone knows what I just told you. Maybe that would be for the best? I don’t know… And I don’t think Shiki will either, so I guess it’s better to not call her.” Makoto closed the flip-phone and put it back in her pocket. ”What do you think?”

Aria stood up and walked towards the window.She pushed the blinds to the side and looked out the window at the rest of the city. It looked peaceful now, nothing like how it was post summer vacation.

”It’s been a while since I watched any television. Something I recall seeing was a small bit from a talk show. I think a member of the audience was asking how she could fight pollution. She had to be in college, you know the type. But all I could think when I saw this woman was that she wanted to clean the world, but didn’t look capable of keeping her room clean.” Aria turned on her heel and looked at Makoto. ”And here you are with the choice to do something or not. Save everyone or potentially damn everyone. It’s something you’ve worked hard for, but even now you’re having doubts.” She hopped over to Makoto and looked down at her. ”You’re a rare breed. A true beautiful soul. I have the same information as you, but I can’t force myself to care about the outcome. Regardless of what happens to Penrose and its neighboring dimensions, I’m going to be alright. Even if I did, the sheer number of souls that are going to be affected by what you want to do is impossible to comprehend. I have difficulty thinking of five people I’d want to save, let alone a multiverse filled with them. But maybe I can give you some assistance.” She placed a hand on Makoto’s shoulder. ”If your plan is successful, then everyone is free or everyone ceases to be. Either way, the suffering comes to an end. If you do nothing, then everyone’s suffering continues indefinitely. But that’s not right either, is it? We know that the queen of hearts came into being by the will of the ‘grand magistrate,’ so that alone is an indication that things may be coming to an end. If they wish to relinquish their hold on the world so badly, maybe enacting your plan is the right thing to do.” Aria removed her hand and sat beside her. ”But to ask the world if they think it’s okay? They’re like that collage girl that wants to save the world. Their opinion doesn’t matter. If they were interested in the fate of the world, they wouldn’t be trying to pull one over on each other every second they got. They would rise above the hate between dark and light magic, and focus their sights on something bigger than just Penrose or their own bottom line.” Her grin got a little wider as she leaned closer to Makoto. ”The only people that need to know about this is the people you’d like to help with it.”

Makoto thought for a moment. She was stunned by what the other girl had said, but it made a kind of sense. If things were going to end anyway, why worry about things ending a different way? ”Thank you.” she finally said, after a moment. The marble in her hand had stopped moving, and she was a little more at peace than she was earlier. She smiled at Aria. ”Well if that’s settled, anything you need from me? I can let you know when we’re ready to kickstart it, but if there’s anything you need help with before that, just let me know. You really cut through my doubts, and I appreciate that.”

”Glad I could help a former business partner.” Aria pulled back with a nod. ”But no, I have things well under control here. Having said that, I wouldn’t mind taking a closer look at your setup. If it wouldn’t be an inconvenience, of course.”

”Mhm! Sure!” Makoto jumped up and looked under the bed, pressing a small button on a disc that sat on the floor. Once it clicked, a door appeared on the wall to Aria’s left, and Makoto stood back up and stretched. ”Ready when you are.”

Aria also stood up. But instead of stretching, she just marched towards the new door that had opened up. ”I have no other obligations today. Let's get started.”

It is not often that Beacon is attacked openly by other Patrons. Huld, one of Odin’s mistresses, has done just that. Beacon’s New York branch has had some of its magical girls come under a horrific spell. Regina, Abigail, and Tonya have all fallen into a deep slumber. Attempts to access their minds don’t work, almost as if they aren’t dreaming or thinking. The only sign of the contrary is that Regina occasionally calls Alicia’s name. Enter Huld’s layer and get her to remove her curse from the beacon girls. Losing the girls or failing to awaken at least one of them will result in failure.

This hunt can only be undertaken by Alicia, but she may bring one other magical girl with her so long as they are not a dark magical girl, a monster, patron a horror, or are otherwise an enemy of Beacon to conform with the Ascendancy’s policies. Ideally it would be another member of Beacon.

Challenge Rating: SS
Notes: Huld’s primary agents are mares, but she also employs magical girls with empathic magic.

---

Under normal circumstances, Bonnie would personally brief magical girls that accepted her hunt, but Beacon had its pride. They might use other networks to bring in reinforcements, but there was no way Beacon was going to let some monster brief Beacon agents.

Lilium Blue was the head of the New York branch. Normally she would be tending the paperwork at her desk or managing her forces. But with things spread so thin, she had to also see who Bonnie managed to summon.

Before long, Alicia and Hyun were teleported directly into Lilium’s disorganized office.

“Serraf Alicia.” She squinted her eyes a bit before looking at her companion. “And Hyun, former monster queen.”

Hyun saluted with her feet firmly in place. “Reporting for duty, ma’m.”

Neither of the agents had heard much about Lilium Blue, but what they had heard was extraordinary. Lilium was formerly inquisitor, but her title was passed to Rachel when Lilium was reappointed to her current position. It must have been humiliating to request help from the CAPRICORN.

Alicia kept her expectations open as she and Hyun arrived in the Penrose branch here. It wasn't too often that she operated outside of the city, so she didn't want to assume all the same norms applied here. Admittedly her presence here was a bit odd. She didn't think that she and Regina had been that close, but apparently the other girl differed.

Of course, any sort of psychic related incident with Beacon was enough to catch her attention. And so she had come up here to the New York branch, intent on solving this latest mystery. "Seraph Lilium," she replied with a nod. "I was given the impression that it was a serious situation, not that anything involving our branch ever isn't. What are we dealing with?"

Lilium snapped her fingers. Some white medical drones pushed three floating caskets out of a nearby room and into the office. Each was padded on the inside and held one of the afflicted magical girls. Abigail, Tonya, and Regina all looked like they were in a peaceful slumber.

“They appear to be under a powerful curse. They’re older Beacon agents, and none of them received the Shine Spark upgrade. We anticipated that Soth might have returned, but the magic clearly belongs to Huld. ” Her eyes moved towards the caskets. “I was told you were the best, so I’m sure you already know she was Odin’s mistress. She practices witchcraft, can give people nightmares horrific enough to kill, and can read the future. She’s an assassin and an all around unpleasant person. I do not know who put her up to this, and quite frankly, I don’t care.” She looked back at Alicia. “Huld must know how to reverse the curse. The two of you will take the affected Beacon girls into Huld’s lair and cure them. ” Her brow crossed. “Bribe her, threaten her, kill her and look for an antidote. I need these girls back in action ASAP. ”

"Mmph.” Regina’s head turned to one side, but she didn’t open her eyes. "Ah, Alicia…"

Lilium closed her eyes and sighed. “We don’t understand how she can speak in that state. Her mind is just as empty as the others. If I had to guess, I’d say Huld was trying to set a trap for you specifically. But that’s just a hunch.” She placed her hands on the desk before looking between the two conscious beacon girls in front of her. “We’ll be teleporting you right outside her lair, which seems to be a cave. The medical robots will be there to move the caskets around. Any questions before I send you off?”

Hyun raised her arm straight up, and once given permission asked: "Ma'm, will we receive communications assistance while on the mission?" She said, and lifted her other hand up to her ear. This caused Lilium to raise an eyebrow, if only momentarily.

“You will be able to communicate with me directly. I have no one else to run operator on such an important mission. Though I don’t I’ll be of much help.” She looked out a window. “We don’t know what her layer looks like, but she likely has a magical girl under her command and a few mares. She’s also the cunning sort so I wouldn’t expect her to fight you directly. Like most lesser forces, she’s survived as long as she has because she kept a low profile. That made getting details on her difficult.”

Alicia held back a wince, not sure who was going around calling her ‘the best’ but sorely desiring a chat with them. Now wasn’t the time for that argument though, and she listened carefully as Lilium explained the situation they were dealing with. “Oh boy, more Norse,” she grumbled. “As if the one champion we met wasn’t crazy enough.”

Lilim closed her eyes. “Huld will not be much better. In fact, she may be worse.”

She paused as Regina spoke her name, and shook her head after a moment. “I’d bet on it being a trap too,” she agreed. She wasn’t too surprised that local support would be limited, so it seemed they would just have to make the most with what they had. “So, there doesn’t seem to have been anything that would prompt this?” That made her all the more suspicious of it being a trap if it was true.

“She is an assassin.” The Beacon head folded her arms behind her back. “Our best guess is that the local monster girl gangs put together enough coin to hire her, or it was a hit put out by the mint. But it could have happened for any number of reasons.”

"Ah, Alicia…" Regina’s arm twitched.

“If you have no more questions, Bonnie will take you to Scandinavia.” As soon as Lilium said this, a giant hunk of ore fell in front of one of the windows. A portal opened on the side of it that led to a sea side cave. It was dark, and there was about a foot of water inside of it. But there were a few glowing runes etched here and there that provided some light. The medical bots took the unconscious beacon girls and carted them through the portal. Where they hovered in place outside the cave. “The bots are capable of following your commands, and will take evasive maneuvers with their cargo when necessary. Don’t lose sight of them, though it may be wise to keep them out of combat.”

Hyun nodded, and turned to Alicia. "Paladin Seraph, let's do our best for our fallen sisters of battle!" She stepped into the cave, and smashed her fists together while standing one knee. She breathed in, and performed a slow motion with her arms, like drawing a circle into the air. She then breathed out, and released a large ball of fire to drift up into the air, circled by a flame dragon. The sphere of flames cast a bright light, and illuminated the dark cave up to a decent distance.

"Paladin Seraph, allow me to take the first turn to light the way. That way we can conserve our mana better."

“I see.” All of this merely convinced Alicia further that this was probably a trap. The threads tying everything together seemed a bit too circumstantial to be otherwise. Still, this was something that they had to do regardless. As much as she might not have gotten along with Regina in the past, she wasn’t going to leave a fellow Beacon member at the mercy of a Patron’s devious intentions.

Turning to the portal, Alicia joined Hyun and the drones in moving through it. “Rest assured Seraph Lilium, I will do my best to put an end to whatever is going on here.”

“I expect nothing less.”

Having given her last words to the fellow commander, she turned to the task at hand.

She watched as Hyun generated a ball of flame to light their path. “Alright, that’s fine with me,” she agreed. Summoning Star Seraph to her grip, she directed the drones to follow them as the duo made their way into the waiting cave.

The deeper they went into the cave, the stronger Hyun’s “torch” seemed to get. Or maybe it was just the dwindling daylight that made it seem that way. The cave path was mostly straight, with a few irregular curves here or there. They must have walked a few hundred feet and were still walking in the same direction. There was no sunlight anymore, and the dull glow of the runes was washed out by the orange light of Hyun’s fireball.

The cave opened up into a massive room. Stalagmites rose up from the wet floor, and stalactites reached down from the ceiling. Hyun’s fire cast large shadows on the walls, but it was still possible to make out a few openings in the walls. Few of them were large enough for a human to fit through. Though at the far end of the room was a large opening into another cave system. They could hear a woman with a beautiful singing voice in that direction. No words, just an opera performance without an instrumental.

Alicia could feel something touch her shoulder.

"Alicia! Long time no see!" Regina was still laying in her coffin, but had propped herself up to poke Alicia in the shoulder. "What are you doing, huh? Why are we in the sewers? Who’s the dragon girl over there? Why do the sewers split up in so many different ways?"

When Regina pointed back, Alicia could see that the path that they had used to get in here was not so obvious anymore. There were twenty different openings, and it wasn’t clear which one they had come out of. Perhaps if any of the beacon girls were more aware it would have been easy to figure out. But finding a way out was not the most pressing thing on Alicia’s mind.

Hyun immediately ran over to Regina and waved at her to cut off her touch on Alicia once she noticed her presence; she had placed an enchantment on her own arm that briefly emanated intense heat without actually burning, to shock Regina quickly away without allowing herself to be touched.

"Ow!" Regina retracted her hand, which by the time Hyun had arrived, was nowhere near Alicia’s shoulder. "What was that for?"

"Paladin Seraph, this must be a trap! Regina should not have woken yet, so she could be under enemy influence! Furthermore, the passages have multiplied at alarming rate! We need to confirm her standing by asking her something only the real Regina and us would know." She then looked around, and focused her mind on her Spark. "I choose to not believe in these illusions!" She shouted, and actively disbelieved her surroundings.

Regina groaned. "If I was brainwashed, wouldn’t I still know the details of my past?" She shook the pain out of her finger.

The sudden contact caused Alicia to spring forward, her bow rising by reflex. That tension eased as she realized that it was Regina, who seemed remarkably peppy in spite of the situation that she was now in. Though she did call the place a sewer, which was a bit weird.

"Calm down Hyun," she said as she relaxed. "If she intended to hurt me she would have done it instead of grabbing my shoulder." This could be part of any trap, but she didn't think it was the trap itself.

Her eyes widened at the sight of the multiple pathways, yet all it earned was a sigh. "Somehow I'm not surprised," she mumbled. As if it would have been as simple as walking in and walking out. At least they knew trickery was in the cards beforehand. As Hyun tested the validity of their surroundings, she turned her focus to Regina. "A Lesser Force cursed you and these two-" She nodded to the other coffins "-into thoughtless slumber. Except apparently you were able to say my name. So we're here to get them to break the curse."

Glancing forward once more, she acknowledged the obvious. "I suppose the singing lady is our first stop, unless you have a convenient clue for us."

Regina placed a hand on the back of her head. "Well, let’s see-"

(this is going to be a nightmare to edit lol)

Hyun tried to disbelieve her surroundings, but nothing suggested that anything she saw was an illusion. The wet floor, the stony walls, even the small holes all felt fine. Hyun could rule out mental interference thanks to the new and improved shine spark. The only logical conclusion was that they just didn’t notice the extra pathways when they walked out from them, or that they had been hidden by an illusion that went away just now.

"...Um, yea. Last thing I remember was being on patrol with Abigail and Tonya. I want to say I remember someone doing the ‘phu phu phu’ laugh from behind us, but it’s all really hazy." She sat upright. "I do remember having a dream about you though. You were sinking into a black puddle, but then I realized I was the one sinking? It was weird. But um." She lifted a finger to her chin. "Thanks for helping me in the beach dimension. That gambler girl was impersonating me, and I think you were the only one in Beacon that didn’t treat me like a second rate citizen. B-but anyway!" She hopped out of the coffin. "What do you want me to do? I’d like to form up with you, but if you think I’m a liability I can uh-" She looked at her feet. "Wow! That’s really cold! Don’t slip anyone!"

"I am calm!" Hyun shouted as she squinted for a while at a wall, but then gave up once she realized her efforts were for naught. She then addressed Regina. "My apologies for the red-handed approach. I acted on reflex there. However, if the Paladin Seraph deems you a risk, I will take all necessary measures. In any case, we should decide on where to go next."
She looked at the floor after Regina's remark, and casually dropped a tiny fireball, just to see if there was something unnatural about the moist terrain. If successful, she would have the fireball scorch the floor and leave marking. "Now we will know we have already come here if the way forward doubles back here."

The flame turned into steam once it was lowered into the water. Given that it was fed by the ocean, there was no noticeable difference in the water level inside the room. But Hyun would have little difficulty scorching any of the stonework in the cave should she desire a path marker.

Despite some initial tension, things soon began to smooth out as Hyun apologized to Regina. The girl herself didn't have too much of note to add, though the dream was interesting in a 'therapist analysis' sense. For now, they would just have to keep moving forward.

"Nice thinking," she said to Hyun as she used her powers to make visible markings for them, in case the cave decided it wanted to change its appearance again. it wasn't a foolproof method if magic was involved, but it was better than nothing at all.

Turning to Regina, she shook her head. "It's fine. We Beacon members have to look out for each other, especially these days." But she was quick to move on from that, as they had more pressing concerns at hand. "I've got no objection to you helping. Our first stop should probably be whoever is singing, so let's get going." With that she began moving forward once more, now more prepared than before for any weird things that would likely occur as they got further into the cave system.

The next tunnel was not that long. It couldn’t have been fifty feet of wading through knee deep water.

The tunnel led the Beacon girls into the center of a single round room. It was comparable to an auditorium, only the lavish seats were replaced with stone benches, and the floor between the seating area and the stage was covered in water. The floor sloped upwards behind the beacon girls, which allowed all of the seats a view of the stage. They were filled with strange ape-like creatures. Short, naked, genderless apes with squashed faces, banana-like noses, and horn-like protrusions coming out of their head. Most of them were looking at the stage, but many found it hard to ignore the giant ball of flame Hyun was carrying around.

Despite this distraction, the show had to go on. The subject on stage was being lit both from Hyun’s flame, but also from sunlight that poured out of the ceiling. She didn’t just have a great singing voice, she was plenty beautiful to boot. Her blond hair seemed to sparkle in the sunlight, as did the robes that clung to her body. Her curves were voluptuous, her skin was as white as marble. There were a lot of bad things you could say about Huld, but you couldn’t call her ugly.

After one last crescendo, she opened one of her eyes and gazed in the direction of the not-so-subtle ball of fire burning in her theater. Without Huld’s singing, the cave was eerily quiet. ”Ah, it looks like some children have decided to explore my castle.“ She drew a crown of flowers from her robe and placed them on her head. ”I don’t mind entertaining guests, but do remember the proper etiquette when entering someone else’s home. In particular, you should only handle fire with adult supervision.“ She folded her hands behind her back and approached the edge of the stage. ”Oh well. What brings so many children into my home?”

Hyun did not falter even as Huld commented on her pyromancy, and kept a stoic look on her face, only occasionally glancing at the other creatures present. When it became clear that the goddess would not meet them with hostility, she returned the favor and shrunk the fireball, letting it illuminate only in their immediate vicinity. However, this didn't mean she would lower her guard; she knew their adversary would be devious, and prepared for conflict by subtly enchanting Alicia's arrows with explosive payload.

Entering the large room, Alicia’s gaze swept the seats and the stage beyond. It was impressive but also a bit odd, though she supposed that as a Lesser Force in seclusion one needed to make their own fun. Her gaze was then drawn to the person on stage, with a singing voice that was as beautiful as any she had heard, and an appearance to match.

Soon the song came to an end, and the singer acknowledged their presence. Stepping forward, Alicia did not falter in approaching the Lesser Force. “Hello. My name is Alicia, and I am a member of Beacon. You put a curse upon my comrades here, and I have come to negotiate for its removal.” She gestured to the sleeping girls, just in case there was any doubt.

She folded her arms and gave Alicia a stern glare. ”Really now?” She looked at the sleeping girls, then turned to look into the darkness behind her. ”Come here, girl. I need you to identify your playmates.” A moth girl flew into the sunlight and landed beside Huld. Her green fur, the shape of her face…

"Divina?" Regina took a step forward.

The moth girl did not react to Regina’s words, and instead looked over the sleeping magical girls. ”Yes, those are the ones I poisoned. But I also got that one.” She pointed at Regina. ”I’m sorry, she was towards the back and she must not have inhaled as much.”

”It’s alright dear, I’m not mad.” Huld continued to hold her chin as she looked over everyone again. ”Well Alicia, it is as my apprentice says. She did attack those girls with poison that I made. Our client paid extra for that attack, and I don’t think it would be in my best interest to just reverse it. I have my reputation to uphold. So! Tell you what?” Divina’s eyes lit up, as did hundreds of runes buried under her fur. Tonya and Abigail rose from their caskets like zombies and started to shuffle towards the stage. ”How about I just keep these two, and I’ll let you keep the one that woke up? In addition to that, I’ll let the three of you leave in one piece. Deal?” She took Divina’s hand in her own.

Hyun blinked upon seeing Divina, surprised at her presence here. She then grimaced at the offer, her fists clenched as her comrades shuffled like the undead away from them. She looked at the stage, and then glanced at Alicia. "She is mocking us, but we mustn't let anger control us, Paladin Seraph," she whispered to her. "We would be at a disadvantage were we to force the issue. But I also loathe having to bow down to a blackguard like her…I trust your judgement on this."

Alicia waited patiently, watching as Huld produced the subordinate Lilium had mentioned to make sure that she was telling the truth. It was quickly confirmed, and she seemed surprisingly open about it. It might not have been intended as a trap after all, though it did not remove the danger Huld served as.

Her eyes widened as Tonya and Abigail arose and began making their way over to Huld’s side. Her feet shifted, moving into a stance that was visibly less relaxed, whilst the Lesser Force made her ‘offer’. Listening to what Hyun had to say, she nodded in return. Yet in the end there was little choice. “No deal. We don’t abandon our own.” If that meant a fight, then so be it.

Huld’s eyes widened with mock surprise. ”Unbelievable! I thought for sure you would accept!” She slid behind Divina and placed her hands on her shoulders. ”Looks like you have some more playmates, darling. Finish up quickly and we can have lunch together.”

Divina was not a powerful magical girl, or at least she wasn’t. Her powers were much better suited to utility, such as her third eye or supportive use of her beast powers. But now that she was a monster girl, her magic had gained empathic properties. And even if the hundreds of runes on her flesh were just for show, the mares seated above them were a great source of emotion. Hundreds of disgruntled mares had their performance interrupted by Beacon’s intervention, and that annoyance fed Divina with power.

The moth woman cast her hands into the air, and a veil of hatred erupted from the edge of the stage. The red veil occasionally twisted into the annoyed visages of the mares, who only wished to be entertained.

Tonya and Abigail had just gotten on stage when the veil went up, and they commenced their attack immediately. Tonya stuck her umbrella through the veil and bombarded everyone with trash. Soup cans, rubber boots, and other refuse piled out of Tonya’s hammerspace and into the cave. Meanwhile, Abigail used her impressive magic to bring down a giant stalactite. Once it broke free, she turned it sideways before thrusting it into the ground, threatening to crush the three of them.

That wouldn’t be the end of their troubles, either. Back the way they had come, they could hear splashing. something was coming out of the walls, and it was headed straight for them.

And Huld only grinned at the display.

"Lunch is canceled; all you're having now is barbeque!" When Alicia announced their defiant decision, Hyun grabbed the fireball floating above them and threw it like a professional baseball pitcher. As she did so, she infused it with a delayed spell, and sent it hurtling up towards the stalactite, blowing it up in an explosion and scattering the tiny pieces of gravel.
Once she was done, she turned her head upon hearing the splashing sounds rushing in, and had an inkling of what it could mean.
"Shoot the passage behind us with your explosive arrows! We need to block off the exit before the water reaches us!"
She was hit in the back of the head with a rubber boot that amusingly landed opening first on her head and flopped around before it fell off.
Annoyed, she then started running in the direction of the stage where Divina was, her fists at the ready to deflect incoming trash shot her way. "For Beacon!"

To little surprise, it seemed that a fight would be necessary. What was more alarming was how the other two began sleepwalking over to where Huld was. Images of a mind controlled girl with a blazing sword through her chest flashed through Alicia's mind before she tried to dispel those thoughts with a shake of her head. She was better than she had once been. Things would be different here.

Things quickly escalated, with Divina utilizing empathy magic to cast a red veil across the stage. It was probably some sort of shield, from behind which the two girls attacked. A literal barrage of junk was unleashed, though this was more distracting than harmful. The stalactite was more dangerous, though it seemed Hyun had that danger in hand as she employed her own magic to blow it up.

“I think we have a bit more to worry about than water,” she replied, though that did not stop her from quickly turning and firing at the entrance they had come through. Some part of her did not expect that to solve the issue, but at least it bought them some time. Returning to the fight, she fired a couple of additional arrows to test the barrier. These were not aimed directly at Tonya or Abigail though, to minimize the possibility of accidental injury. She wouldn’t put it past Huld to do something like that.

The arrows pelted against the veil. It rippled and flexed like a plastic sheet, but the arrows failed to penetrate. Perhaps a larger projectile was needed. It was a theory that Hyun put to the test as she crashed through the veil. It opened its mouth to scream, and Hyun tumbled inside. But the hole didn’t remain. It closed behind her, trapping her inside with the other controlled Beacon girls.

"There’s a lot of them back here!" Regina fired down the corridor the way they came, but the mares were a tough lot. They weren’t simple minions to be dispatched in a single blow. They were creatures that armies feared to contend with. Regina used her own empath magic to create a grenade of pure hatred and lobbed it down the path. The explosion parted the hoard like the red tide, but they were still coming. It didn’t look like they had killed any of them.

Huld pointed at Alicia. ”Attack their back line.” Tonya and Abigail immediately ran through the veil, which did nothing to stop them. Once they had departed, she turned her gaze back to Hyun. ”As for this one, why don’t you show her why that was a very bad idea?”

The mares in the tunnel were quite mad, but the mare spectators were starting to enjoy the show. This excitement was an energy Divina began to draw into her own body. Every muscle on her body expanded and twisted. Her slender form was now covered in grotesque muscle. Even her fingers looked closer to sausage links, but somehow her runes kept their shape. She pounced on Hyun and closed her fingers around her head. She wasn’t just strong, but fast too.

On the other side of the barrier, Tonya didn’t stop blowing trash everywhere, but Abigail was using her gravity magic to lift up the broken stalactite. The stone fragments swirled like a dynamo, and they honed in on Alicia’s position.

Hyun recovered from her tumble with a handstand-launched cartwheel, and looked behind her, surprised by how easily she passed the veil. She realized too late that it was purposefully opened to trap her inside as Divina hulked out and clamped her cranium.

"Rrgh! Snap out of it, Divina!" She screamed, and accelerated her foot with a burst of ignition into a high-velocity kick at her ribs, breaking her hold on her. "This isn't you! You've gotta fight it!"
Knowing mere words wouldn't be enough to beat sense into her, she took up a kung-fu pose, her flaming fists ready to unleash fury.

Alicia frowned as her arrows made no impact on the barrier, while Hyun tumbled right through it. That separated their party, something Huld took advantage of as she had the two controlled girls come out from the barrier to confront her directly. At least that made facing off with them a bit easier.

Her bow rose as Alicia tapped deeper into her magic. To the incoming stone shards she unleashed a barrage of arrows, meeting the hail with one of her own that would, ideally, smash the rocks down to nothing at all. With the last arrow fired she darted forward, and lifting her free hand she unleashed a blinding burst of light upon the duo. Hopefully it would jog their Sparks and remove the control they were under, a tactic she had used successfully in the past.

A different mood fell over the auditorium. Hyun disengaged with Divina, Alicia intercepted projectiles with some of her own. Excitement and anger died down as anticipation took hold. The spectators weren’t afraid, but the nail biting tension caused many to lean in their seats. Some might even say they were afraid.

Divina’s body deflated, the veil of hatred vanished, but the runes on her body glowed a bright green. Hyun would have just enough time to see Huld brandish a dagger before the stage was filled with green smoke. She could see nothing but the faces of terrified specters, and her ears were filled with the cries of the damned. Could she remain vigilant with her opponents poised to strike?

When the flash went off, Tonya hid her face behind her open umbrella. Abigail stumbled backwards through the air, blinking as her eyes readjusted to the dark conditions of the room. Light magic could purify almost any corruption, but it would take more than a single purifying flash to bring Abigail to her senses. She needed stronger medicine.

Abigail was stunned for only a moment, and when she came to she held Alicia in place with her gravity magic. Tonya closed her umbrella and charged towards Alicia’s exposed back, preparing to run her through.

Regina was still dealing with the incoming mare hoard. She launched a fear grenade down the tunnel that detonated with a shriek. Some of the mares went skittering back into the darkness, but many of them pressed forward. "They’re breaking through! Any ideas, Alicia?"

"Hit them, and hit them hard!" Hyun yelled over the shriekers, and with a clap of her hands caused an explosion, burning the green smoke out of the air. With visibility restored, she then drew her fist back, took aim, and with a mighty blow launched forth a sinewy, serpentine dragon made of red flames. The searing summon roared as it lunged for Huld, attempting to snatch the dagger in it's jaws and disarm the goddess.

Sadly her effort did not result in the corruption being immediately undone, though Alicia was not entirely surprised given the foe they were up against. Maybe if she had had the opportunity to set up a Purification Field, but that sort of time investment had never been in the cards.

Things were growing ever more desperate, with Regina struggling to hold back the horde of oncoming minions, and Hyun struggling in her own fight. Gritting her teeth, Alicia found herself suddenly seized by a gravity spell that rooted her in place. Lifting her bow upwards, she unleashed another barrage of arrows above her head, so as to arc down in the space Tonya was moving into for her own attack. Little explosions rippled along the ground, making the approach even more daunting.

Now was the time for more desperate measures. Her eyes glowed as she activated her Third Eye, seeing through the fog regardless of whether Hyun dispelled it or not. She sighted in on her target, strung a real arrow, and fired. She wanted to save Tonya and Abigail, but she held no such compunction for Divina as she unleashed a long saved Arrow of Temporal Displacement upon her. “Give me one second and we can trade off,” she called to Regina.

As Alicia had predicted, Hyun’s attempts to burn away the smoke were in vain. While she could give herself a brief amount of clarity, it only took an instant for Divina to fill that space with smoke again. Not only that, but Alicia’s eye was almost overwhelmed by the amount of empathic and rune magic in the air. The runes on the walls prevented divination magic that wasn’t Huld’s from working, and the runes on Divina’s flesh were designed to increase her reception to certain kinds of magic. Even Huld’s dagger had a sort of enchantment that made it emit a massive shockwave on penetration, rupturing whatever it entered.

Despite her lack of sight, Hyun attempted to snatch the dagger away from Huld. But she not only had to contend with poor visibility, but Divina herself. She was able to block the blow with one of her wings, and Huld moved in to strike. Her own divination magic was running, which let her see a few seconds into the future. She wasn’t going to get hit by any stray attacks.

Decisive action was necessary.

Alicia had managed to stop Tonya long enough to fire her special arrow at Divina.. It flew fast and true, and struck its target. Her eyes looked like they were going to bulge out of her head before she vanished, taking the cloud with her.

Alicia may have wondered why Huld did nothing to prevent the attack, but that would become evident shortly. When Hyun’s vision returned, Huld’s dagger scraped the crest of her shoulder. Initially it seemed like a shallow cut, but then Hyun could feel an immense pressure as something forced itself inside the cut. Water, air, it was so great it caused her shoulder to rupture and burst out of its socket. Huld pulled away from Hyun, the side of her face bathed in crimson. She caught Hyun’s arm as it flew through the air and tossed it into the crowd of mares.

”Your move, brat.”

The mare audience was going wild, equal part excitement and confusion. There was blood! But where had the lead actress gone?

Tonya may have been momentarily deterred, but nothing was stopping Abigail from ramping up her gravity magic. Alicia could feel the wind leave her lungs as invisible forces worked on all sides of her. But then one of Regina’s grenades collided with the gravity specialist’s head and detonated in a mist of confusion. Alicia fell to the floor as Abigail wobbled around in a daze.

"They’re getting pretty upset, I don’t think we can hold them back forever!.” Regina fired a few more rounds before stepping beside Alicia.

But the hail of arrows had ended, and Tonya was charging forward once again. She was close now, and likely wise to Alicia’s last trick.

Hyun screamed as her arm was ripped and tossed away, splattering the goddess as well as a crowd of her servants in her blood. Any normal Mahou would have surrendered at that moment, or otherwise dropped to their knees and faltered. Nobody could have blamed her, opposed as she was against a goddess. But not Hyun.

She clutched her bloody stump at first with her other arm, her teeth bared as she let out a growl.
"I've tempered my heart with Beacon's gentle light, but…I haven't forgotten."
Slowly, the blood started to boil and sizzle, like water heated over a fire.
"The hunger that eternally gnawed within me…the voracious appetite, unmatched by any other desire." Soon, the blood caught fire, searing Huld's body and face. But even if she tried to put out the flames, they wouldn't quench; they were living flames, like tiny serpentine dragons that burrowed under her skin
.
Huld then saw Hyun’s torn arm violently explod, blowing up most of the mares and setting the horde on fire, unable to end the flames.
"I was purified, but my heart remembers the hunger! And you will suffer it's deepless abyss!"
Huld saw as Hyun transformed; she was enwreathed in red scales of fire, and from her stump grew three long tentacles of purest fire, each topped with a draconic head and fangs that could melt any matter. This was no normal Monstrous Metamorphosis, for Hyun was fully cognizant. She was purified, yet wielded power only the corrupted could dream of, having mastered both. It was a Titanic Transformation.

"I am Jormungand, former monster queen, and the hidden Sinner of Gluttony!" She roared, and her tentacles, guided by her burning blood, bit on to Huld with unbreakable power.

"I AM YOUR RAGNAROK!"

And then, she unleashed her final fireworks, and poured all of her mana and life energy into a mighty spell; the fiery dragons in her body began to consume her blood and mana, multiplying with each drop, until she had turned into a draconic serpent of fire.

Having turned herself into an Ouroboros, a serpent of endless hunger, the flames consumed her body. But even in the end, Hyun smiled towards Alicia. "I'm leaving the rest to you, Alicia. Hold Beacon's banner high, no matter what happens…" And so, Hyun conflagrated into an explosion directed at Huld.

Any satisfaction Alicia had over taking Divina out of the equation for a few moments was quickly undercut by what happened next. Both the violence inflicted upon Hyun, and then the dramatic move she made, sacrificing herself so as to deal a hopefully grievous blow to the Lesser Force. As much as she might feel responsible, there was no time to mourn. Not with enemies still around them.

As for their part of the fight, Abigail was dazed by Regina as Tonya came in for another strike. What she forgot in doing so was that Alicia’s bow was also a sword, and now that Abigail’s gravity magic had lapsed the Seraph was free to use it. Her blade struck the spear to knock it aside before moving closer to Tonya. That way she would not be able to use her spear as effectively with its longer range. “Well then we’d better wrap this up fast. Make sure Abigail stays down for the count.”

She followed it with another flash of light aimed at Tonya. That was merely intended to blind or serve as a distraction, since she had little expectation of it working a second time around. That was what the flat of her blade aimed at Tonya’s head for a knockout blow was for.

Tonya’s umbrella wasn’t quite a spear. Its length made it more comparable to a sword, in fact. But it didn’t really matter because at the end of the day, Tonya was still a joke regardless if she had been brainwashed or not.

It wouldn’t cure her, but at least a deft blow from her weapon would knock her out for a moment. Regina followed up by mirroring Alicia’s tactic, only using the butt of her gun to knock down Abigail. She was one of those min-max sorts, so striking her in the face with the butt of her magical weapon was an effective way to knock her out.

"Sorry!"

And just like that, the front of the stage area had been cleared out.

…

…

…

Or at least, it had been.

But between no one tending to the tunnel, and Hyun doing what beacon girls do best (that would be sacrificing themselves for the greater good) the crowd was thrown into a frenzy. Many of their brothers and sisters had died, and it looked like the same fate had befallen their mistress. Even if someone had tended the tunnel, the mares on the upper balcony were diving into the area below. Hundreds upon hundreds of mares, the greatest assassins in Scandinavia, would soon be upon the remaining beacon girls. Their only choice was to flee to the stage area.

The medical caskets flew up beside them, allowing Alicia and Regina to deposit the now recently unconscious magical girls to their caskets. The mares, frenzied as they were, did not advance onto the stage. In fact, they became quiet and stood at attention.

Hyun’s final sacrifice had created a lot of heat and flames, but also a lot of smoke. Smoke in a dark cave with a small opening overhead to let light in. It was hard to see much of anything at first, but Hyun’s remains started to clear out. Alicia could see the pile of ash that may have been Huld. But as more of the smoke cleared, she saw something else.

Standing at the back of the stage was a tall woman brandishing Huld’s knife. Unlike Huld, she was the opposite of beautiful. Her body had burn scars over half of her face and her flesh was covered in blisters. One of her shoulders ended in a charred stump, and her white dress had adhered to her flesh, and she was nearly bald.

It didn’t take Alicia long to realize that probably was Huld.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise. Huld had divination magic and likely saw the attack coming. A two millenia old assassin came across a lot of different targets, and she survived all of them. Though one had to wonder how many of them left their mark on her like Hyun had.

”You know, this probably looks like it hurts.” Huld raised her dagger. ”But I’m feeling refreshed now that she’s stopped shouting your rhetoric. Gods she was annoying.”

Regina groaned. "You’re mean!"

Huld grinned. ”I was once commissioned to convince a king to return home, and to kill him if I failed. I skipped trying to seduce him and sent a mare to crush his head. You really shouldn’t be surprised.” Her one good eye turned to Alicia. ”Well? Are you going to re-negotiate? Now that there’s fewer of you I might be able to work something out.”

Regina answered for Alicia by opening fire.

Of course, not a single bullet would hit its mark. Damaged as Huld was, her divination magic and speed were still functioning. But if there was something that Hyun’s sacrifice told Alicia, it was that her powers weren’t perfect. She could be harmed.

But while Huld charged the two girls, the mares climbed onto the stage. Something needed to be done {i]very[/i] soon.

A lot happened at once. On the positive side, Tionya and Abigail were dealt with. THey were returned to their pods, where hopefully they would not provide any trouble in the short term. In a more distressing turn of events, Hyun dramatically sacrificed herself to try and take out Huld. Alicia felt a pang of guilt, but the situation was still desperate enough that she knew there was no time to really process it. They would mourn later.

That point was made all the more clear as mares swarmed them from all directions, with a casual disregard for their own safety. “On to the stage, quick!” Alicia’s bow fired as she moved, practically on a swivel as she fired at the nearest mass of mares.

Clambering on to the stage, surrounded by smoke and lingering fires, Alicia only shot a few more arrows before realizing that the mares were not following them up here. “That’s probably not a good sign,” she said aloud to herself, and as she turned to survey her surroundings she witnessed Huld’s emergence from the ash. She winced at the sight and could not escape a moment of sympathy for the harm that had been inflicted.

Then Huld spoke, and reminded her why they were fighting in the first place. She might have considered negotiating now with how battered their foe was, but Regina answered that question in a fairly succinct manner. Even as injured as Huld was, was it possible for them to even kill a Lesser Force? But fleeing was just as unlikely an option, so it seemed there was no other choice but to fight.

Forming glyphs in the air, Alicia unleashed another storm of light upon the mares that were seeking to climb the stage. That would buy them a couple of moments from the swarm of minions. Turning to Huld, one hand held her bow whilst the other grasped a sword made of light. She waited for a break in Regina’s firing to move in, focusing on keeping Huld out of easy stabbing range whilst her dual blade sought to remove the knife from the Lesser Force’s control. They would see just how much her Divination could keep up with that.

So Alicia waited, and Regina kept firing. What made Huld hard to hit wasn’t her speed, but just how erratically she could move. She moved with a bumbling motion, jerking her limbs in erratic ways. Even when Regina fanned the bullets at her, they never hit anything vital. With all the burns she had sustained, she had moved past being fazed by stray bullets. It wasn’t long before Regina emptied her clip. She stepped backwards as she struggled to reload as fast as possible. But Huld was already there. She was fortunate that Alicia was as well.

Alicia’s attack was a gambit. She had no idea if this was going to work or not. The mares were relentless, as was their leader. The only one who knew the outcome was Huld, and she was already scowling.

Even with a shorter blade, Huld’s foresight enabled her to parry the first incoming weapon. Alicia’s blade of light was shoved off to the side by Huld’s swing. But as swift as Huld was, she had no way of escaping Alicia’s second blade. Alicia’s swing came right over the top of her light blade and knocked the dagger out of her hand. It tumbled through the air before embedding itself in her calf. The blade activated, and the burst severed her leg above the knee. With only half of her limbs, Huld fell to the ground. She didn’t even have time to reach for her blade before Regina kicked it away with her foot. The mares were about close in when Huld raised her hand.

”Stop, you imbeciles!” Huld shot a glare at Alicia. ”If you back them into a corner, they’ll just detonate like the last one!” The mares stopped in their tracks as Huld turned her attention to Alicia. A wry smile crossed her face as she laid in her own blood. ”So, about renegotiating. I assume that’s still on the table? Your friend hasn’t put a bullet in my head yet.”

Regina pressed the barrel of her gun into Huld’s neck. "She’s thinking about it."

Huld groaned. ”In light of recent events, I have decided that going against Beacon is not a worthwhile business proposition. I’d like to extend an olive branch and undo the mental interference on Tonya and Abigail. Not only will you have safe passage out of my lair, but it will be forbidden for a mare to attack a Beacon magical girl ever again. Do you find these terms acceptable?”

Truth be told, even Alicia was a bit surprised by the sudden turn of events. She certainly had not expected things to work out so…succinctly. That was practically Sally levels of luck right there as Huld’s dagger fell and cut through her own leg, destroying the limb as it had done to Hyun’s arm.

Stepping over to Huld as the mares advanced, Alicia did nothing to disabuse her of the idea that she would blow herself as Hyun had. “I’m listening,” she replied as Huld opted to talk things out. With the mares no longer advancing, they could think clearly.

The terms seemed as good as she could hope for, and Alicia did not see a reason to overreach. Still, she was also on the lookout for any loopholes that might be abused by the Lesser Force. “If it’s forbidden for Divina or any other magical girls you end up recruiting too, then yes we have a deal.” She’d probably reappear in a minute or two, and Alicia didn’t want the tables being suddenly turned for a second time.

Huld chuckled, even as her blood pooled around her body. ”Very well, then-” Huld was cut off when Regina shoved the muzzle of her gun deeper into her neck.

"And Divina isn’t going to attack us because you’re sending her back with us!"

Huld growled. ”Do you have any idea what you’re doing?”

"Do you?" Regina’s hair and flesh started to lose their color as her metamorphosis was starting to take over. "Are we supposed to forget that you killed one of our own and are keeping another captive? Divina is a member of Beacon, one of my friends, and you will surrender her at once! Five of us came here and I’ll be damned if some disgusting corpse like you thinks she can hold onto even one of us!"

Huld growled louder and louder until she was screaming.

---

Lilium looked over the medical caskets. Each one was filled by one of the former “Beacon Buddies.” Tonya and Abigail were awake, and they were having a conversation with Divina.

“Hmph.” She turned to look at Regina and Alicia, who had just concluded their debriefing. “I suppose congratulations are in order. The mission was a success in no small part thanks to you, Alicia.” Lilium sighed. ”It is unfortunate Hyun had to sacrifice herself, but it was for a worthy cause. Her life has brought four of our own back to us.”

Alicia nodded in agreement, her arms folded as she watched the gathered trio of reunited magical girls. “It was her choice, and I won’t forget it. I’m just glad it worked out in the end.”

"You seem a little down, chief." Regina tried to put her hand on her captain’s shoulder, but she brushed it aside.

“I’m not, I assure you.” She folded her arms. “I’m just surprised that two former monster queens ended up helping Alicia complete her mission. It’s just an interesting observation.” She prepared to walk down the hall. ”Medical is going to look them over, but I need to show you something, Alicia, so I hope you’ll wait.” The caskets followed Lilium out of the room, leaving just Regina and Alicia together.

Alicia wasn’t sure what it was that Lilium wanted her to see, but she was in no rush to return home just yet. “I’ll be here,” she assured her counterpart.

"So that’s it then, all the Beacon Buddies are safe again." Regina smiled. "Kinda weird, knowing that I’ve fought both to enslave and free them."

With the caskets departing, that left Regina and Alicia to talk and wait for Lilium’s return. “You did good out there,” Alicia assured her companion. There might have been issues in the past after Regina’s conversion to Beacon, but there was no point in holding on to those grudges. She then shrugged. “Sometimes things just work out like that. Clearly it’s all because of your naming sense.” What was intended to be mockery at first had circled around to become truth, after all.

"Yea, hah! The name was Elroy’s idea, but I guess we’re both the same person now." Regina’s eyes trailed into the distance before returning back to Alicia. "I had been envious of you guys ever since I learned about you. Beacon was this giant organization of magical girls that wanted to work together towards a common goal. I understood that much, but I didn’t understand the hate Elroy and I were getting. I’m not saying my actions in the past were ideal. But, um..." She folded her arms behind her back and grinned. "I’m glad I did good! I always wanted to fight alongside you at least once. At least since I joined Beacon."

Regina’s words were unfortunately true, though it was hard for Alicia to claim that one side had come out looking particularly well from the previous clashes with the Bates Twins. “That’s why I’ve stuck with it. For as much as it might frustrate me, this sort of organization, this community, it’s unique in our world.”

" I just wish we could have done something for poor Hyun. You guys weren’t close, were you?"

With the conversation turning to Hyun, Alicia found herself frowning. “Not close, no. But she was one of us. At least we made her choice count.”

" Yes we did!"

Lilium returned with what appeared to be a crystal shard inside a vial. But it was flexible, as her footsteps were enough to make it bend and bounce inside its glass prison. “Even though this was a Beacon sanctioned mission, we did go through the C.A.P.R.I.C.O.R.N .to make the request.” She offered the vile to Alicia. “Bonnie wanted to pass along this strange token. It appears to be a magical coin of some kind, but none of us have any idea what it does. I was going to dispose of it, given it was gift from a filthy monster, but Bonnie did well by us. Between her and what Penrose Beacon was able to accomplish with Penny, I’ve decided that you should ultimately decide what happens to it.”

Alicia turned to Lilium as she returned, bearing a strange crystal. Her brow furrowed in thought as she considered the object, wondering what it did and what it might mean. "I'll look into it. It wouldn't be the first time we had to investigate weird new Coins," she replied. Sure, it might not be as easy as it was at one time, but they were hardly helpless.

“So long as I don’t have to look at it anymore, you may do as you wish.” Lilium turned to Regina. “At present, you’re my only active agent. No rush, but do see me when you’re done speaking with Alicia.” She turned on her heel and left.

"Um…" Regina turned to look at Alicia. "She’s not nearly as uptight as she seems, heh!"

Carefully placing the vial with the rest of her stuff, Alicia nodded as Lilium departed. "It's fine," she assured Regina. "It sounds like she's under a lot of pressure.” Alicia was not so thin skinned as to take a curt attitude too personally.

With a sigh, Regina held her chin. "But you know, something doesn’t feel right about this." She shook her finger. "Huld attacked Abigail, Tonya, and me, but then where did she get Divina from? Last reported sighting of her was in the vacation dimension. I thought Chloe had her?"

Regina's observation was certainly intriguing. "Maybe that was her price for the job," she speculated. "Unless Divina remembers, we may never know."

"I wouldn’t put it past Chloe to do something like that." Regina twiddled her thumbs. "Um, I’d be up for talking with you longer, but I don’t think now is the best time." She patted Alicia on the shoulder. "I have your number, so I can let you know if there are any new developments with my buddies."

“Sounds good. I’ll keep in touch. Let me know if Huld finds a loophole in our deal and comes after you guys again too.” Alicia assured Regina. If she needed to come back and handle things a second time, she was more than willing. For now, she headed for the teleporter to return to Penrose.

"Will do! Take care, socks!" Regina coughed. "Erm, Alicia!"

As the group started to head out, Alicia faintly smelled something burning, and noticed that the back of her hand had been stained by grey ash. As she wiped it, she saw that a mark had been left behind, as if burnt into her skin: a circle lined with fangs in a jagged pattern. Was this one last memento from Hyun? Or was it just a coincidental scar? Whatever it was, Alicia couldn't help but suspect that she felt traces of magic emanating from it.

Starring:
‘The Anti-Batman’ Connie
‘The Good One’ Emily

Having taken the unusual bounty, Emily and Connie found themselves summoned to downtown Penrose in the early morning. According to the one who had placed the bounty, that was the best time to catch the culprit in the act and make them stop their activities. Or at least limit them in a way that would prevent harm to the public.

The dark sky was streaked with purple and red as the sun began its struggle to ascend from below the horizon. Street lamps illuminated their path, and there was little in the way of people to obstruct their path. Not when it was this early and this cold out. Sadly they could not do the same as those people taking shelter, but that was the price to pay as a magical girl.

It was time for the hunt to begin. They’d have a limited window, and if they weren’t able to find the subject of the bounty then they’d need to come back tomorrow. Hopefully that could be avoided. Their first step was to find the person doing this, and it remained to be seen how they would go about that.

“T-Thanks for a-asking me to h-help you w-with this, E-Emily,” Connie told her friend as the pair walked along, the masked girl hugging her cold weather robe close to her trembling body. “I-I always l-like t-to use my p-powers to h-help people i-if I c-can, b-but, um, I-I’m s-still too n-nervous to a-accept one of t-these requests i-if I d-don’t have a f-friend to g-go with me…” she added, the mouth of her mask forming a slight frown.

"Yeah. It's so much more fun and safe to have a friend to tackle these with you. I'm glad you came, Connie," Emily exclaimed, ambling alongside Connie, clad in only her magical girl outfit despite the colder weather. With the contrast between the two, it wasn't long before she noticed Connie seemed a bit chilled. "Are you feeling warm enough? Here, I'll try to help a bit."

Emily concentrated on increasing her own temperature enough that she began to radiate warmth. "Um," she started to look as though she was steaming, but it didn't appear uncomfortable at all. "I hope that's better. Ironically, I'm more comfortable making the area colder than I am making it warmer."

“O-Oh, wow! T-Thanks, Emily!” Connie replied with a smile after her friend had heated the air around them. “T-That f-feels a l-lot better!”

After walking a bit further, and due in no small part to the soothing warmth she was feeling, Connie finally worked up the courage to voice a question she’d been wondering about the past few weeks.

“U-Ummm, E-Emily?” she asked hesitantly, her fingers nervously playing with her hair. “I-I, uh, n-noticed you s-seemed to be k-kinda upset a-about s-something at the C-Christmas Party, a-and, um, I d-didn’t want to pry, b-but, w-well, I w-was s-still concerned a-about you, s-so, um, i-is everything o-okay?”

It wouldn't take Connie more than a second to realize she had brought up something Emily wasn't expecting. "Huh? A-ah... uh, um... yeah!" she tried putting on a more confident front but failed spectacularly. Unable to look directly at Connie, she wore a strained smile. "...It's a bit embarrassing thinking about it since there were definitely more important things to be concerned about during the Christmas party..."

It took about a dozen seconds before Emily was able to attempt to articulate the event. "...See, there was just a minor... misunderstanding that happened... and I kinda overreacted and let it get to me..." she found herself glancing at her dominant hand and frowned momentarily. "But I'm okay! Sakura is-...! Everything is okay! Or... well, when I can talk to Sakura it will be! I'm sure!"

Whether she was trying to convince Connie of this or herself was anyone's guess.

"...Um... well, how about things on your end, Connie? Are you and Mia getting by fine?" as she asked, she retrieved her special locket and tried to see if it may give her any indication on where their target may be.

“O-Oh, uh, t-that’s good,” Connie replied after Emily had (sorta) explained what had happened. “A-And Mia and I are d-doing great!” she added with a smile. “W-We got adopted b-by a v-very nice m-magical woman n-named Kayli, a-and w-we’re l-living w-with her, a-along with o-our f-friends Rose and Iris. Oh! A-And we just s-saw Miss S-Sakura the other d-day! S-She looked a b-bit different, t-though…”

Emily's expression betrayed nothing but joy for her friend's fortune. "Oh, that's wonderful! Being adopted was the best thing that ever happened to me, so I'm so happy for you!" she congratulated. "Does this mean you have a few sisters now?" Emily asked, perhaps a bit more excited than she needed to be. Sakura being brought up did draw her attention, however. "Oh?" she almost seemed hesitant to continue. "H-how so?"

“U-Um, well, s-she looked a b-bit older, a-and she h-had a d-dragon t-tail instead of l-legs,” Connie replied. “B-But it d-didn’t make her l-look l-like a m-monster, or a-anything!” she hastened to clarify. “I-I actually t-thought she l-looked very p-pretty. A-And yes,” the masked girl added with a smile. “R-Rose and Iris are n-now Mia and I’s s-sisters! I-It feels s-so nice being p-part of a f-family,” she continued. “I-I mean, M-Mia has a-always been l-like a b-big sister to me, b-but having f-family d-dinners in m-my own h-home, well, i-it’s like a d-dream come true!”

“Yeah, it’s really something else, isn’t it?”

Turning to their powers to find what they were looking for, Connie was soon rewarded by the brush of a nearby mind. It was an active one, thinking about how colors combined, proper strokes and techniques. No doubt it was the mind of their target going about their next devilish act, or something suitably dramatic.

Meanwhile, Emily was able to determine that their target was nearby thanks to her Absolute Direction artifact. It appeared to be nearby in a courtyard between buildings, connected to the street by an alleyway. With a general direction to work from and a limited range, that would make things easier too.

While she would have loved to do little more than make small talk with Connie for as long as they could, they did have some business to attend to. Ideally, the two of them would simply need to meet the person performing this aggressive graffiti and tell them to put an end to it and then they would realize their folly. Emily only wished she was naive to think this was the most likely outcome and not that the perpetrator was going to get angry and fight or scared and flee. But hey, with a friend nearby, she didn’t feel the least bit nervous! “I’d love to hear more about your new family. But for now, let's see who we’re dealing with.” Emily wasn’t exactly frontline material but unless Connie encouraged otherwise, she would start to lead the duo by a few steps as they approached the supposed location of their target.

“R-Right!” Connie agreed, trying to sound as fiercely determined as she could (which wasn’t very). Following along behind Emily, the timid girl found herself hoping that she and her friend would be able to resolve things peacefully. Still, if the vandal decided to put up a fight, Connie was prepared to do whatever she could to incapacitate them, before anyone got hurt.

Around the corner and down darker pathways they went, following the guidance of the artifact they possessed. There were no mundane obstacles in their way, not that much could have stopped a magical girl anyways. Passing by small piles of trash scattered along the side of their path, they soon arrived at their destination.

The courtyard was not all that interesting. The ground was covered in concrete with small weeds making their way up through the cracks. There were a couple benches and a table whose wood was starting to become very warped. Doors allowed access to the courtyard from the various other apartment buildings surrounding it. Because of this it was not hard to find their target.

A girl stood on the Eastern side of the courtyard about equidistant between the way they had come in and the other exit on the opposite side. She wore a green jacket which bore paint smears both old and new. In defiance of the cold weather she had a skirt on, and wore sneakers too. In one hand she had a painter brush while the other idly shook a can of spray paint. The clicking it made clashed with her humming as she eyed the half finished art in front of her. It had vibrant colors, mixing clean lines with smooth transitions from one part to the next. She hadn't noticed then yet, giving them the element of surprise for however they chose to proceed.

As they approached the girl in what Connie hoped was the most non-threatening manner possible, she greeted her with a small wave, while her mask formed the friendliest smile she could muster, “U-Um, g-good morning,” she called tentatively. “T-That’s a v-very p-pretty picture y-you’re m-making.”

Surprisingly, Connie took the lead when it came to interacting with the girl. Emily decided to wait to see how this individual would react. After confirming with the compass she had, she tucked away the locket and looked at what was apparently their culprit with anticipation for a friendly encounter.

The clicking came to an end as the artist found herself addressed. Arresting the motion of the spray can, she turned to eye both Connie and Emily before breaking into a confident grin. “Thanks. It’s not quite done yet, but I think people will get the message clearly enough.” The technicolor angel being skewered by a horned beast was pretty unsubtle.

Now that they had gotten closer, Connie finally noticed the dark beast that was… impaling the brightly colored angel she had initially seen. Needless to say, she was less than happy about this fact, and after gasping in shock, the timid girl tried to muster a reply to the artist. “Y-Y-You’re v-very w-welcome,” she stammered. “B-B-But, u-ummm, I-I’m s-sorry, b-but, u-uh, I-I d-don’t r-really u-understand…” she confessed, the mouth of her mask drooping into a frown. “W-W-Why i-is t-that b-beautiful a-angel b-being… b-being…” the poor girl felt such shock and horror at the gruesome sight that she was unable to finish, nervously playing with her hair as her whole body began to tremble.

"...completely destroyed?" Emily finished Connie's sentence with gusto. She appeared utterly entranced by the painting unlike her companion and her eyes shone with adoration. "So visceral, leaving nothing to the imagination! It always surprises me to see how detailed and vibrant people can get with a can or few of spray paint." There was no mistaking her tone -- Emily was genuinely amazed by the piece of artwork rather than repulsed. "But..." her expression became tense. "...the 'message' isn't a very kind one, is it? Um, why create such destructive pieces?"

Still grinning, the girl mostly ignored Connie and instead turned to Emily as a more appreciative viewer of her art. Even if there was some disagreement with the message, the compliments had soothed any offense that might result. “I’m protesting,” she explained simply. “Those Ascendancy guys keep ruining the city, and nothing that happens makes them go away. I figure it can’t hurt to make their stay unpleasant.”

“O-Oh, I-I s-see…” Connie said softly. She had to admit, the Ascendancy did seem to cause a lot of problems, and she had been present when they declared their intention to destroy Dan’s dimension, but still, was what this girl was doing really the best way to go about opposing them? “B-But, u-umm, w-why d-does it h-have to b-be s-so… v-violent?” she asked hesitantly.

“Um, yeah…” Emily was likewise generally against violent methods, even towards the Ascendency who had been built as nothing more than a font of misery as far as most people she asked about it were concerned. But she didn’t think their ideals would resonate with this girl considering how far she went to cause them what she more or less admitted to as being ‘minor inconveniences’. “...isn’t there another way you could try to go about this? It’s just that… well, those paintings don’t seem to discriminate. Even people who aren’t related to the Ascendancy are, well, not having a pleasant time.”

“That’s the point!” the girl declared, agitatedly waving her paintbrush towards the drawing. “We’ve got to make people feel uncomfortable, get angry, challenge the status quo! All of the big players in Penrose are just in it for themselves, so we have to do something before it’s too late. That’s what art is all about!”

“U-Um, w-well, I-I’m s-something of a-an a-artist, too,” Connie added with a slight frown as she pressed her fingers together. “A-And I-I’ve always t-thought t-that art s-should b-bring p-people t-together and m-make them h-happy. I-It s-should f-fill them with g-good f-feelings, n-not b-bad ones…”

"Um... I don't draw aside from a doodle every now and then, so I won't comment on what art is about. It would be rude of me to try," Emily placed a hand on her chest and she gave a pleading look to the girl. "But I can't stay quiet when innocent people are in danger. Could we ask you to stop?" she bluntly asked. “There must be a better method, I’m sure!”

The girl huffed, shaking her head. “Art’s what I’m good at, so art is what I’ll do. Now’s not the time for touchy feely kumbaya, it’s time for resistance!” After a few moments she turned back to face the wall. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some work to finish.”

To say that Connie was troubled would have been an understatement. She didn’t want to fight this girl. Indeed, she empathized with her. And yet, she knew what the rebellious artist was doing was wrong. As Emily had said, there had to be a better way for the girl to accomplish her goals, they just had to find it….

“B-B-But, w-what i-if y-you p-painted t-things t-to m-make p-people s-stop f-fighting a-and w-work t-together?” Connie suggested, the timid girl using all her willpower to find the courage needed to speak up in what was clearly a tense situation. “I-I d-don’t k-know m-much a-about the A-Ascendancy,” she conceded with a frown. “B-But a-aren’t t-they just h-here to s-stop a-all the v-violence? M-Maybe i-if t-they s-saw people g-getting a-along p-peacefully, t-they’d l-leave…”

“Sure, you try that,” the girl replied distractedly. She had already returned to painting, using her brush to shape the paint delivered onto the wall by the canister. She had ceased paying attention for the most part, and it seemed she would not be swayed by words alone anymore.

"So you won't stop?" Emily frowned, and then took a long, drawn-out exhale. She gave Connie a solemn shake of her head, a signal that she had realized this wasn't going to end peacefully. She almost seemed to be in pain judging by her expression.

Lucifer took a step forward and created a blue flame in the palm of her hand. She pointed it at the artist but did not fire.

"I told you that I can't ignore this. That innocent lives are in danger. Knowing this, you would still continue to place them in harm's way. I can understand strong feelings against the Ascendancy. I'm sure they are warranted. But that doesn't mean you can use such reckless, selfish means to enact your revenge," Emily now looked determined. Determined to stop the villain before them, even if... "...even if you are a sister, I can't let you continue!"

The mouth of Connie’s mask drooped into a frown, the gentle girl’s heart sinking, as she, too, realized that the artist wouldn't be swayed by their words. With a nervous gulp, Connie readied her own magic, and although she still hoped that this show of force might yet convince the artist to stand down, she knew she needed to be prepared for anything.

The sudden turn by Emily caused the artist to pause. Her head fell slightly, though the fire in her eyes did not diminish. After a moment she shook her head and turned to face both magical girls. “I thought you understood. But I guess you’re no different from the rest of them. Fine then. Try your best, but you won’t stop me!”

As she said that her hand shot out and came to rest upon the painting she had just made. Magic flowed from her to the painting, activating the dormant power therein. It responded, spikes of magical energy erupting from the brick surface to lance out at the duo from the side. Having done this she then stepped back, keeping her tools at the ready as she faced the fight that had now arrived.

Emily quickly took a vertical approach towards avoiding the impending attack the artist had thrown their way, boosting her way only a little over a dozen feet into the air. "Connie! Let's fight from different angles, that way she can't deal with both of us so easily!"

...Unless the artist terraformed the area.

That wasn't impossible with a magical girl, but hopefully the girl's hatred outweighed her experience in a fight, or so Emily wished as she flew her way to one side of the girl. Emily did not engage in a melee, but she wasn't very far out either. She conjured a blue fireball on the smaller side which she lobbed at their foe.

Sadly, the girl didn’t stand down, but rather got ready to fight, sending spikes of mystic energy shooting out of her painting. Instinctively, Connie’s tentacles manifested to shield her from the attack, while Emily used her magic to dodge the spikes completely.

“R-Right!” Connie acknowledged after her fiery friend suggested that they split the painter’s focus, moving to place herself opposite her pyromantic partner. While Emily conjured a small fireball to throw at their opponent, Connie prepared a small, focused nightmare pulse, which she’d fire just as the painter attempted to dodge her ally’s attack. With any luck, the girl would escape the flames, only to plummet headfirst into a realm of her deepest fears made manifest…

The girl’s brow furrowed as the fight began, not surprised that they had dodged her initial attack. So they had some experience at combat, but that would not be enough to stop her. She waved her paintbrush in the air, forming a fireball of her own that she launched at Emily a moment after the blue one was launched at her.

Dodging to the side, she was already lifting her spray can. A hiss filled the air as she pushed down on the trigger, emitting a green cloud into the air. In addition to obscuring vision, it would have a negative effect on Connie if she breathed it in. It threw off things enough that the girl was able to backpedal and use her magic to fend off the nightmare pulse. At least this time around. For now she simply sought to keep them from closing in, so she’d have the space to manage the two opponents.

Emily had to avoid the retaliatory fireball before she could continue their attack, which she had done by sharply increasing the thrust in her ‘boosters’ and pointing them to the side. She suddenly jolted to one direction just in time and then corrected herself before returning her focus to the hostile girl, who was now enshrouded in a green cloud, which Emily kept herself out of.

Blinking, Emily’s pupils appeared to light up as she began to focus on the heat everything was giving off. Both Connie and the hostile Esper’s heat signatures were clearly visible to Emily and she used the confidence from the vision to accurately fire another one straight at the girl, similar in size and power as the last.

Meanwhile, Connie was forced to stumble back as she shielded her masked face with the sleeve of her kimono in order to block the enchanted spray paint. This unsurprisingly caused her nightmare pulse to miss the painter, although once she’d gotten some literal breathing room, the timid girl prepared to conjure a second beam of nightmare magic, ideally timed so that it would cross the path the agile artist took to doge Emily’s second fireball. She also readied her tentacles to wrap around their adversary, and so prevent any further attempts at evasion.

Emily had no difficulty reading the heat coming off of the girl, as the cloud was more emotional than elemental. At least for now. That allowed both girls to continue their offensive as they sought to press the artist from two sides.

Just as clearly, the girl intended to remain on the offensive. SHe shook her spray can again before pressing the trigger. Unlike the cloud of mist, this time it unleashed a crackling burst of blue lightning. It struck at the incoming fireball and then wrapped around it to lick at Emly directly. Her brush also twirled, creating a barrier of Hope to try and block the second nightmare pulse, but Connie could feel that it was relatively weak. All the same the girl kept slowly backing up, edging nearer to the closest exit from the courtyard as the back and forth continued.

“Woah!”

The sudden lightning strike from the paint can was a bit too fast to evade, so Emily brought up Purgatory, her gauntlets, to defend as best as she could.

Wait, I’m airborne, how does electricity affect me? There’s nothing grounding me, is there? This is what I get for skipping school to watch War of the Worlds… Well, it’s magic so I’m just gonna assume it hurts!

“Emily!” Connie gasped as she watched the artist fire a stream of crackling lightning at her friend. However, there was little the masked girl could do to help, other than continue to press her attack and hope it was enough to draw the painter’s attention away from Emily. Although her second nightmare pulse was blocked by a mystic shield, the protective barrier shattered upon the pulse’s impact, meaning it was rather weak. Sending her dark tendrils shooting towards the retreating artist in an effort to bind her in place, Connie charged up a third, and significantly stronger, nightmare pulse. Once it was ready, she would fire the horrific beam at the painter, and, with luck, finally bring their battle to a close…

The girl did her best to dodge the tendrils as they swept in, spraying corrosive mist like a poisonous flamethrower to dissolve them. Yet she was not a fighter, and it distracted her enough that she had barely any time to react to the nightmare pulse as it came racing in.

A shield came up as before, only to be shattered like so much paper without slowing the powerful blow. The girl’s eyes widened in shock, just as she was struck head on. Illusions quickly took effect as the magic fed on her fears and phobias to craft and cast her into a nightmare. What this was quickly became apparent as she sank to her knees, spray can and paintbrush left to clatter to the ground. “M…My hands,” she whimpered, tears rolling down her cheeks as she seemed to stare at them like they weren’t there. “Now w-what good am I?”

Deeper she sank into the nightmare in her own mind, curling into a ball on the ground as her crying intensified. The fight had ended, though it was debatable as to whether the duo had solved the problem they had been sent to fix.

Emily touched down near Connie and the girl, the areas on her arm where her gauntlets did not protect would be blackened, and there was a whiff of something burning. Yet despite this and the apparent discomfort, Emily observed the pitiful wreck of a girl their target had become.

"O-oh!" she stifled her surprise and turned to Connie before offering a huge grin. "Nice job, Connie!" she congratulated through the increasing volume of the sobs. Her words lost a bit of its intensity as they went on. "That's a lot safer than having to hurt her until she can't fight back. For everyone involved."

While Connie was certainly glad that her nightmare pulse had found its target, her kind heart still ached at the sight of the sobbing artist. She always hated to see the effects of her nightmares, and even though this girl had fought against them, she didn’t feel the painter deserved the anguish they were now clearly suffering.

At the sound of Emily’s words of approval, the masked girl’s attention was brought back to her friend. “T-Thanks, Emily,” Connie replied softly, her mask forming a fragile smile. However, despite her pyromantic partner’s jubilant demeanor, her expression soon returned to a somber frown once more, while her trembling hands remained clasped over her chest. “I-I g-guess…” she conceded after Emily noted that this was better than the alternative. “B-But I-I just w-wish we d-didn’t n-need to f-fight her a-at all…” Indeed, each of the painter’s pained sobs seemed to send an equal spike of agony through Connie herself.

The fire-based girl kneeled down next to the catatonic spray painter and even brushed her hair with a hand, almost like a mother would when comforting a child. "I'm sure she has suffered a lot before becoming obsessed with the Ascendancy like this. It's not like I can't understand or sympathize. Most of Penrose has a bone to pick with them, after all. Maybe she'll be more receptive to changing her ways now. I really hope so."

“M-Me, too,” Connie agreed, kneeling down next to Emily, her masked visage filled with concern for their former opponent. She would allow the artist’s nightmare to continue for a short while longer, but if it didn’t end on its own after that, then she would bring the nightmare to a conclusion herself. “W-Why can’t p-people just s-solve t-their p-problems b-by t-talking t-things out?” the timid girl asked her friend. “W-Why d-does everyone h-have to f-fight all the t-time? A-And w-why does the A-Ascendancy have t-to be s-so cruel? I-I t-thought B-Beacon was s-supposed to h-help p-people…”

Slowly the sobbing began to dwindle as the nightmare faded. Even though reality returned for the girl, she did little to shift from the position she had ended up in. There was no attempt to fight, nor was there an effort to flee. It seemed the drive she had so recently displayed had been drained out of her by Connie’s attack.

“L-Leave me alone,” she muttered, her voice cracking as she avoided meeting their gaze. “You w-won. I’ll stop p-painting. W-what more do you w-want from me?”

Emily didn’t seem to mind and remained where she was as she answered. “Nothing at all, if you’re being honest about not painting anymore. But maybe we can do something for you? I’m not sure what yet, but your strong feelings about the Ascendancy won’t go away just because we won the fight and told you to stop. If you’re willing to accept the help, that is.”

“Y-Yes! W-We’d l-love to h-help!” Connie quickly agreed with several rapid nods.

Looking between the two of them, the painter’s eyes trembled as they offered their help. It was difficult for the girl to trust that they were being truthful. But she didn’t have much of a choice anymore. “I don’t know what to do now,” she muttered. “I just wanted to convince people to take a stand, since I couldn’t make a difference alone.”

She looked between the two of them seeking an answer to her question. “I-If you know something I don’t, I guess I’m willing to listen.”

As she had just mentioned, Emily didn't have any immediate idea of how they could help, but she was genuine in her desire to make sure her sister was happy in the end.

She looked to Connie and then back to the painter. "Is it possible that you could still paint, just without the 'flair'?" she asked. "I don't think it needs to be magical to have the effect you want, it just needs to speak the right words to people," her face loses a bit of tension and she becomes a bit sheepish. "U-um... well, I don't really have artistic talent myself so I'm not sure how much help I can be... but I'll do what I can!"

“Y-Yeah, I-I think t-that’s a g-great idea!” Connie added, her mask forming an enthusiastic smile. “I-Instead of c-causing division, y-you could m-make paintings that b-bring p-people together! A-And i-instead of v-vandalizing p-private property, y-you could p-post them on G-Glimmer!” she suggested, clasping her hands together. “L-Like I m-mentioned earlier, I-I’m p-pretty sure the A-Ascendancy’s only h-here to m-make the city more p-peaceful, s-so if y-you encourage e-everyone to w-work together p-peacefully, t-then they should l-leave, r-right? O-Oh!” she added as another idea occurred to her. “A-And if you need a place to s-stay, the n-nice lady who adopted me and m-my b-best friend has a r-really big h-house w-with lots of room! T-Then we c-could p-paint together!”

Glancing down at her hands once more, the girl bit her lip in deep thought. “I’ll…I’ll try. But sometimes it just slips in when I don’t mean to. When I get in the groove, you know? I don’t know how well I’ll do in avoiding it. Still, I’ll do my best. Both that and the Glimmr thing. I just figured this was more noticeable.”

As much as she might or might not truly believe what Connie and Emily were saying about peaceful cooperation, she did not provide any further arguments against it. “I have a place to stay already, but thanks,” she told Connie. “We can still hang out there though.” She had the feeling that neither girl would be particularly opposed to the idea.

“I-I’d r-really like that!” Connie replied, her mask forming a happy smile. “A-And if y-you have s-someone with you w-while you w-work, t-they can l-let you k-know if y-you s-start making something d-disruptive,” she added, really hoping such a solution would work out.

Emily couldn't help but smile at how positive things were looking now. If things worked out, they'd have a new (and pretty talented) sister. The mulling over the situation with Sakura was something she wasn't doing more than an hour ago, but it already felt like it'd been a year since that point.

She nodded when Connie pointed out they could keep an eye on the painter's excitement while she was drawing. "Exactly! You can count on us! I'm sure your message will reach and inspire a lot more people this way..." her sentence hangs somewhat awkwardly for a second as she realizes that no names come to mind. "Oh! I don't think we ever caught your name...or introduced ourselves..." she turned a bit red. "A-anyway, I'm Emily and I'm not super good at drawing or anything but I doodle here and there," she looked to Connie. "And this is my friend and much better artist, Connie!"

The cheeks of Connie’s mask turned a bright shade of crimson at the sound of her friend’s compliment. “T-Thanks, Emily…” she whispered, more than a little embarrassed, but also happy she had such a kind and caring friend.

Looking between the two girls, the artist seemed to reclaim some glimmer of the enthusiasm she had previously espoused as the hostilities between them faded into memory. It wasn’t as if Connie and Emily were the true focus of her ire. “I’m Adeleide. Thanks for helping me see sense. An empath swept up in her own emotions, who would have guessed?”

The group would linger for a bit longer, discussing details and arranging another meeting in the near future to help spark this newfound friendship into bloom. The danger was at an end, and both Connie and Emily could be sure that Adeleide would not intentionally put the public in danger again. As they prepared to depart, Adeleide looked to the painting and let out a sigh. “I hope they leave some of it up.” Misguided though she might have been, she was nonetheless sincere in her hopes for the future.

It's not often the coin broker of New York comes out of hiding, but she always has time to punish defectors. And not only is Nuncio former Mint, but he's traveling with two people of interest. That's just too irresistible for the "Beast of the north" to ignore. Slay the Beast and her vanguard or drive them out of New York. She will go back into hiding if she captures/kills all of her prey.

Challenge Rating: SS
Notes: The Beast can use her Killing Blow with near impunity, but is vulnerable for a brief time after using it. Be careful.
This hunt can only be undertaken by a party that contains Connie and/or Mia.

…

…

…

Bionic Bonnie was on the CAPRICORN. She always was. If someone saw her outside the CAPRICORN, she wouldn’t be Bonnie.

She was sitting in a lobby reading a newspaper. Her surroundings were mundane even by non-magical standards. It looked like an american dinner, only smaller and devoid of people. The windows also looked out at different areas. Some showed bustling cities while others arid countrysides. Perhaps this place wasn’t as normal as one might think at first glance.

But Bonnie wasn’t here to read the paper or enjoy the view. She had invited some mercenaries to come aboard for one of her jobs. Any moment now, they should have followed her instructions and located a portal to board her “ship.”

…

…

…

This is bad… Mia thought to herself as she looked over the glimmer post displayed on her phone, a nervous Connie peeking over her shoulder. It was the details of a new hunt, one personally addressed to the two of them. That alone would be concerning enough, but then there were the details themselves…

“N-Nuncio’s o-one of F-Faith’s friends!” Connie gasped in horrified realization. “T-T-That m-means F-Faith’s in d-danger, t-too!”

“It sure does sound that way,” Mia agreed. “But it also sounds pretty fucking suspicious. I mean, it mentions both of us by name. Plus, even if it isn’t some kinda trap, look at the challenge rating. This is the first time I’ve ever seen anything as high as SS, and you’ve never been on anything higher than B rank,” she added, turning to Connie with a concerned frown.

“I-I k-know…” her timid friend replied, while tightly hugging a frog plush that was almost as large as she was. “B-B-But i-if s-she’s in t-trouble, t-then we h-have to h-help her!” the kind-hearted girl added, tears beginning to well up. “A-And m-maybe t-that’s why she d-didn’t c-come to the C-Christmas P-Party, b-because she was h-hiding f-from this B-B-Beast p-person!”

“Y’know, when you put it like that, it does kinda make sense,” Mia conceded with a sigh. “Still, are ya sure you’re up for this, little sis?” she asked. “I mean, I know we’ve done some crazy stuff before, but we did those missions with a group. This’ll just be the two of us.”

Connie swallowed and hugged her plush even tighter, clearly doing her best to keep from having a panic attack. “I-I’m n-not j-just g-gonna a-abandon them!” she said after a moment and with as much conviction as she could muster. “B-Besides, F-Faith's a m-magical g-girl, t-too, a-and I-I’m s-sure her f-friends c-can f-fight as w-well, s-so, we w-won’t b-be c-completely alone!”

Although she considered herself fairly tough, Mia could feel her heart breaking more and more with each passing second she looked at her closest friend. Connie was obviously terrified by what this mission entailed, but the meek girl cared so much for her friends that she was willing to take any risk if that meant she could help them in some way. Still, even though Mia hated seeing her friend in so much pain, the tomboy couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride at Connie’s efforts to overcome her many weaknesses. It was really quite inspiring.

“Okay, if you’re set on doing this, I’m not gonna try an’ talk ya out if it,” Mia replied. “But this sounds like it’s gonna be the hardest thing we’ve ever done, so just promise me you’ll be careful,” she added.

“I-I p-promise,” Connie whispered.

“Now, let’s save our friend.”

…

…

…

Twenty minutes later, and the pair found themselves standing in what looked like a diner.

“I take it you are the one who posted the bounty?” Gaia inquired of the room’s only other occupant.

If Bonnie were to look up from her paper, which she did, she would see a nymph-like young woman with green skin and verdant hair, which cascaded down to her feet. From behind her peeked out a masked girl, who, in stark contrast to her serene and focused companion, was nervously looking in every direction, as if she expected a jump scare at any moment.

”Yes, that was me.” Bonnie folded her paper in half, stood up, and cast it on one of the counters. ”In a way, at least. I’m just a bounty broker. The request itself was put through by Nuncio. Though most people who get in touch with me aren’t able to request help themselves. That is why they make use of my services.” Bonnie looked out one of the windows, one that showed a bustling intersection. It was mid day, but the skies were overcast enough that the street lamps had turned on. ”No threats yet. Seems you still have time.” She folded her arms behind her back. Her weapon swung like a pendulum behind her back. ”Anything you’d like to know?”

“If it was Nuncio that made the request, then am I to assume you will be depositing us at his current location?” Gaia inquired, while taking note of the unique properties of the establishment’s windows. “Or are we being sent directly into battle against this so-called ‘Beast’?”

”The Beast of the North has yet to make an appearance, at least, not near her mark.” Bonnie pointed at the window. ”You will be deployed here, at this intersection. Nuncio, Faith, and Sammy are hiding out at Susana Inn right on the street corner.” She retracted her hand. ”I believe that the mint has caught wind of my interference, and likely expect me to bring reinforcements. I suspect after the mission commences, the Beast will reveal herself. I suppose what I’m saying is that I wouldn’t plan on a long reunion with your friends.”

“I see…” Gaia noted, frowning thoughtfully. “Would it not be more advantageous to simply transport us directly into their hotel room? Not only would it serve to conceal our arrival, but it would provide additional time to compose a battle plan.”

”I could, but they are not held up there at the moment.” The window changed. Now they could see their friends walking up a flight of stairs. Likely located in the inn. ”The issue is that the Mint will likely know where I teleport you in. If I put you some distance away, they could follow you, sure. But if I place a portal right in front of them, I may give away their location.” Bonnie leaned against the counter. ”But it’s your call in the end. The mint are a hard organization to hide anything from.”

“You make a good point,” Gaia conceded. “If they haven’t been discovered yet, we don’t want to give away their location. Of course, that’s all meaningless if the Mint already knows where they are and is preparing an ambush as we speak,” she added, even as Connie’s grip on her shoulders tightened. “Did Nuncio give you any additional instructions to impart?”

”He did not.“

“In that case, perhaps it would be best to arrive in the alleyway next to that restaurant on the corner opposite the inn,” Gaia observed, pointing to the location in question. “If we revert to our mundane forms, we can enter the restaurant, blend in with the patrons, and observe the situation from there.”

”Very well, let me lock in the coordinates...“

…

…

…

The CAPRICORN, with freakish speed, fell out of the clouds and descended to the city streets. It was there just long enough to boot Connie and Mia out the front portal before flying into the clouds. If you blinked or looked away, you’d have assumed two girls just appeared out of thin air. If you didn’t, you’d look at the sky and assume you had too much to drink.

They knew where Nuncio and the crew was, but there was no sign of any mint agents. At least, no obvious ones. The swaying crowds could hide anyone, even a powerful coin broker.

On the upside, the food from the restaurant smelled really good.

Connie held Mia’s arm in an almost vice-like grip as the pair emerged from the alley and into the crowded street.

“So, this is New York, huh?” Mia noted as she took a look around, not sounding particularly impressed.

“T-There’s s-so m-many p-people…” Connie added. “W-Way m-more t-than in P-Penrose…”

“Yeah…” Mia agreed. She could see that being either a benefit or a hindrance, depending on how things played out. “Definitely makes hiding a hell of a lot easier.”

Thankfully for Connie’s sake, they soon left the bustling streets and entered the restaurant, a medium-sized pizzeria.

“Let’s order a couple of slices while we wait,” Mia suggested as she headed for the front counter.

“O-Okay,” Connie whispered back, while giving a small nod.

As it happened there were already cheese and veggie slices warming in the counter display, and the two friends were soon seated at a window table with a slice apiece.

“H-How l-long do y-you t-think i-it’ll be b-before s-something h-happens?” Connie asked in a quiet voice after taking a few nervous gulps of her lemonade.

“Hard to say,” Mia replied in an equally low tone, before taking a bite of her veggie pizza. “Still, at least we get to try some genuine New York pizza while we wait,” she added with a grin.

“Yeah,” Connie agreed, trying to muster a smile of her own. “T-This p-pizza is r-really delicious!”

The duo would have a few minutes to converse and enjoy their pizza when their ears were assaulted by a scraping sound. Something akin to a teacher dragging their nails across a chalkboard. A teenage girl was dragging a cast iron chair down the narrow walkways of the pizzeria. It was hard to tell if it was the chair that weighed so much, or the woman’s hand. Her delicate fingers were lined with rings, and the bulge in her sleeve suggested she might be wearing a bangle as well. Her silver pendant swung with every tug. It was impossible to see the girl’s face. Her head was downcast, and the beret on her head hid everything above her nose.

Once she got to their table, she pointed the back of the chair towards the window. She sat down and rested both of her hands on the back of the chair.

”You know.“ She started. ”’Vegetables are kind of inexpensive. It’s not like you’re saving that many calories by skipping out on meat.“

Just when Connie was starting to feel a little more relaxed, her ears were assaulted by a cacophonous screeching sound, which steadily increased in volume with each passing second as if it were the harbinger of approaching doom. Looking up in an attempt to find its source, she stifled a gasp when she noticed that it was a girl dragging a chair their way. Sure enough, the girl stopped next to their table and promptly took a seat.

Who was this girl? Was she a Mint agent? Was she The Beast?! Or was she just a normal girl? All these questions raced through Connie’s frantic mind, even as the mystery girl began talking.

“Well, I don’t really like meat on my pizza,” Mia casually replied to the girl’s comment, while Connie tried her best to keep from hyperventilating. “So it isn’t a weight-loss thing, just a personal preference.”

”Really now?“ Two more girls in similar outfits stepped out from booths on either end of the isle. ”You know, it really bothers me how ‘on brand’ you are. Of course someone who fancied themselves as ‘Gaia’ would be a vegetarian. Your favorite video game is plants versus zombies too, isn’t it? You see what I mean?“ A fourth one sat up from a bench just outside the pizzeria. They all looked directly at Connie, which likely made her feel even more insecure. With a huff, the girl seated before them folded one leg over the other. Despite wearing a sweatshirt that was a size too big, she wasn’t wearing much for pants. Her shorts didn’t really have legs. ”That was a pretty flashy landing though. Not at all the sort of transport I’d expect you to use.“ She raised the brim of her hat and peeked at Connie with her sapphire eyes. ”Are you waiting for Nuncio to show up?“

​​As the strange girl gave her increasingly alarming reply, Connie felt her eyes going wider with each syllable spoken. Her pulse was also starting to race, and her breathing was now coming in a rapid string of short, sharp gasps. The poor girl’s condition only worsened a moment later, when several more young women stood up and began staring directly at her. Indeed, before the mystery girl had even finished speaking, Connie’s heart was pounding like a jackhammer, and she was beginning to hyperventilate. However, in stark contrast to her own panic attack, she saw that Mia remained surprisingly at ease.

“Okay, first, my choice of pizza is just coincidence,” the tomboy told their uninvited guest. “Second, I’m not a vegetarian. Third, PvZ isn’t my favorite game. Fourth, I didn’t choose that name, my Patron did. And finally, I couldn’t care less about Nuncio. My friend and I just took the stupid job so we could get a free trip to New York. Sorry to burst your bubble, but we’re only here because I heard this place had some good pizza.”

”Really now?“ She fished a pack of cigarettes out of her pocket and stuck one of them in her mouth. None of the other patrons or waiting staff seemed to care. She tucked it into her mouth before pushing her hands into her pocket. ”The CAPRICORN selects the most diligent people for a job. You’re not here just to eat pizza.“ the cigarette lit up without her doing anything, and she furrowed her brow. ”I don’t know how the Mint is back in Penrose, but we’re not stupid. We’re well informed, efficient, and don’t like to waste time.“ Then she gave a signal.

A simple snap of her fingers.

One of the girls transformed almost instantly and rushed up behind Mia. Were Mia transformed she might have been able to stop the agent. But no human could react as swiftly as a magical girl,. She slid a knife out of her sleeve and held it to the girl’s throat, drawing just a bit of blood.The girl who had been talking did not look at Mia. She almost seemed more concerned with keeping her cigarette lit.

”We haven’t been able to find Nuncio. No doubt Sammy’s clairvoyance is keeping him one step ahead of us. But I think I know how to lure him out.“ She looked at Connie. ”If Nuncio is headed here, we can all sit tight and wait for him. If he’s not coming, I want you to bring him here. We’ll hold onto your friend for collateral.“

“Mia…!” Connie cried, a look of pure horror on her face. “P-P-Please!” she pleaded, tears streaming down her cheeks. “P-Please d-don’t h-hurt her!”

“I-It’s okay, little sis,” Mia reassured her hysterical friend through gritted teeth. “If these assholes want Nuncio so fuckin’ bad, then they can have him.”

“B-B-B-But…!” Connie whimpered.

“You can do this, Connie,” the tomboy told her with a warm smile, even though a blade was pressed against her throat. “Just try to calm down,” she instructed. “Deep breaths, like we practiced, alright?”

The panicking girl swallowed and gave a nod of acknowledgment. Her body was shaking so violently that it was causing her chair to rattle and she felt as if she might pass out at any moment, but with all her remaining strength, she forced herself to close her eyes and take a single deep breath. In… And then out. In… And then out. This continued for several seconds as, slowly but surely, Connie began to feel her anxiety drain away. She wasn't anywhere close to being as relaxed as Mia seemed to be, but at least she was no longer in danger of having a heart attack.

“There, feeling better?” Mia asked.

Connie gave another nod, although her trembling hands were still pressed tight against her chest.

“Now, go find that dumbass Nuncio and bring ‘em back here, okay?”

“O-O-Okay…” Connie acknowledged, her voice a meek whisper.

While Connie struggled to stand up on trembling legs, Mia’s eyes shifted to glare at their table guest. “So, are you the infamous ‘Beast’?” she asked with a mocking sneer. “Gotta say, I’m not all that impressed. Ya look more like a cheap hooker than a great and powerful coin broker.”

”Really now?“ She raised an eyebrow as her gaze shifted back to Mia. ”As amusing as it would be to continue sparring words with you, I think I know a better way to pass the time.“ She pressed her lit cigarette into the back of Mia’s palm.

To her credit, the tomboy barely flinched when the hot cigaret was pressed against her skin, but she couldn’t keep a hiss of pain from escaping through her grit teeth. She was just thankful that Connie had her back turned by that point.

“I once fought a flame behemoth inside a fuckin’ volcano,” Mia informed her would-be tormentor with a fierce grin once Connie was safely out of earshot. “This shit’s just plain pathetic.”

That’s it jackass, just keep tryin’ to torture me. You’re gonna seriously fuckin’ regret it when Connie gets back here…

---

Connie didn’t have a lot to go off of, but she did remember seeing Nuncio, Faith, and Sammy walking up a flight of stairs inside the Inn. The only issue was that she had to get inside. That wouldn’t be an issue for most, but this meant that Connie had to speak with people.

The marble walls and red carpet funneled down a massive corridor to the reception desk. The main lobby may have been empty, but the walls were filled to the brim with portraits. Lords and ladies of millenia past watched Connie. But at the end of the lobby was the receptionist. In the sea of old, thin, white faces, the younger, rotund, black man with half an afro stood out. But there was no mistaking it. His name tag was a gold plate that read “Irvine, Receptionist” After all.

”Oh hey there!“ He waved his hand like it was made of jello. ”What’s happenin’ girl?“

After a staggeringly stressful trip across the street, Connie finally found herself within the hotel’s lobby, yet even that accomplishment granted precious little reprieve. She could feel dozens of eyes boring into her, even if only from portraits rather than actual people, but still she pressed on. After all, Mia was counting on her. Everyone was counting on her. So she would do this. She had to.

“O-Oh!” Connie gasped when the receptionist greeted her. He seemed an amiable sort, but then, looks could be deceiving, as Connie knew only too well. “U-Ummm… H-H-Hello…” she replied between nervous inhalations, her voice barely rising above a faint whisper. “I-I-I’m… h-here to m-meet… m-my f-friend,” she explained. “S-She’s… s-staying h-here w-with… s-someone n-named N-N-Nuncio. D-Do y-you… h-happen t-to k-know w-what… r-r-room t-they’re s-staying in?”

”Nuncio? Don’t think we have too many of those here“ He turned to a computer and started typing. His pace was quite relaxed. It wasn’t like he understood the gravity of the situation. ”He’s staying in room fourteen-o-eight. Should be right by the staircase on the fourteenth floor.“

“O-Okay,” Connie acknowledged, while nervously gripping the strap of her handbag. “T-Thank you v-very m-much!” she added, before making her way to the elevator. However, once inside, she didn’t press the button for the fourteenth floor, but rather, the floor above it, and when the elevator finally arrived there, it would not be the visibly nervous Connie Williams that emerged, but the still visibly nervous Empress of Nightmares. After cautiously looking both ways, the masked girl hurried out of the elevator and over to the stairway door. Slipping inside the stairwell, she crouched down with her back to the wall, waited ten seconds, and then sent out a localized nightmare pulse. It was only big enough to affect the immediate area, but it would hopefully deal with any invisible Mint agents that might have been trailing her.

”SAMMY!“ Nuncio cried out.

”What?!”

”Oh!“ Nuncio cleared his throat. ”Thought somethin’ happened to ya.”

The tiny detective pouted. ”As if anything could happen to me! I assure you that if there were any mint in the area, I would deduce their location immediately. But that was strange, wasn’t it? If I had to make a deduction…” Sammy hummed ”Yes! You were affected by a spell originating from the fifteenth floor! Maybe the Mint is onto us.”

Then a third voice spoke up, this one more familiar to Connie. ”I’m not so sure. That magic seemed awfully specific, didn’t it? I don’t think one of those dreadful agents would give themselves away like that.”

At the sound of familiar voices, Connie gave a startled gasp and leapt to her feet. “I-I’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorry!” she cried as she hurried down the stairs. “I-I j-just w-wanted to m-make s-sure t-there w-weren’t a-any M-M-Mint agents f-following me! I-I’m s-sorry!” she added again when she finally reached the trio, clasping her hands together and bowing her head.

Connie didn’t have to go far before seeing all of her old acquaintances, as they were all on the stairs. Sammy moved ahead of everyone and folded her arms. ”Those dullards will have to try a lot harder than that if they think I can’t deduce their every move!”

Before Sammy could get anything else in, Faith raced past her allies and gave Connie a big bear hug. She lifted the girl off of her feet and spun on her heels. ”Connie! It’s been so long since we sa-aaah!”

She lost her footing on the narrow steps, but Nuncio’s hand prevented the duo from falling down the stairs. ”Whatcha doin’ here anyway? Where’s Gaia?”

“I-I’m s-so g-glad to s-see you, t-too, F-Faith!” Connie replied in happy relief as she returned her friend’s hug with equal force, black tears streaming down the cheeks of her mask. “M-Mia’s in t-trouble!” she added, before further explaining the situation in a rapid flow of words. “W-We c-came h-here to h-help you, b-b-but w-we d-didn’t want to s-show the M-M-Mint w-where you w-were, s-so w-we d-decided to w-wait in the r-restaurant across t-the street until s-something h-happened, b-but t-then this M-M-Mint girl who m-might be the B-B-Beast s-showed up at our t-table and t-then another girl h-held a k-k-knife to Mia’s t-t-throat and t-then the f-first girl t-threatened to d-do something t-t-terrible to her unless I b-brought N-Nuncio b-back with me, s-so I c-came over h-here, a-and I t-tried to be c-careful, b-but they s-still might know w-where you are now a-and I’m s-so sorry!”

It took Connie’s friends a moment to process what she was trying to say.

”You need to stutter less.” Sammy put her hands on her hips.

“I-I’m s-sorry!” Connie apologized again, this time sounding even more distraught.

”They found a way to get to us.” Nuncio rubbed the back of his neck. ”Guess we ain’t got a choice. We back out now, Mia’s dead.”

Sammy was waving her magnifying glass around in the air. Her eyes were squeezed shut, but they opened soon enough. ”It’s that chav, Lexi. The one with the shape changing duplicates. I don’t sense the beast, but according to my deductions, she can’t be far away.”

”It’s a shame we couldn’t have met again under better circumstances.” Faith sighed. ”Do you have any way of communicating with Mia?”

“U-Um, y-yes,” Connie confirmed, retrieving her incongruously cute phone from the dark folds of her voluminous robe and holding it in her badly shaking hands. “I-I can c-call or t-text her, b-but I d-don’t know i-if she’ll a-answer, s-since…” Her voice trailed off and the eyes of her mask drooped downward, before suddenly opening wide as something occurred to her. “U-Ummm, N-Nuncio…?” the timid girl inquired hesitantly. “W-We were t-told that y-you were the p-person who r-requested our h-help. I-Is t-that not t-true?”

All eyes fell on Nuncio. He looked at each of them before correcting his posture. ”I did make use of an old connection ta ask for help. Wasn’t expecting to fight a coin broker myself. Certainly not with you two.”

”This is why I was against contacting Bonnie!” Sammy shook her head. ”She targeted these two for your job exclusively! Now we’re really in a pickle!”

”Well, they did come to help us. All we can do is make the best of it.” Faith kneeled in front of Connie so that she was eye level. ”It doesn’t sound like we can contact her discreetly then. We do need to rescue her, but in such a way no harm comes to us or you. What do you remember seeing? Is there anything we could use to our advantage?”

Connie frowned and took a moment to think. The memory was far from a pleasant one, but if she was going to help Mia, then she knew she had to push through her discomfort.

“U-Um, w-well, t-the f-first girl was w-wearing a l-lot of j-jewelry, a-and a b-beret,” Connie began. “I-I d-don’t t-think she w-was t-transformed… O-Oh, b-but she had a c-cigaret that s-she lit w-without a l-lighter o-or a m-match, s-so m-maybe she w-was transformed… A-Anyway, I t-think t-there were f-four other g-girls w-who looked s-similar to the f-first one. T-Three of t-them were i-inside the r-restaurant, and o-one was s-sitting on a b-bench j-just outside it. O-One of the f-first three t-transformed really f-fast a-and h-held a k-k-knife t-to M-Mia’s t-throat b-before I even k-knew what was h-happening! T-That’s when s-she said I n-needed to b-bring N-Nuncio to her, o-or else s-she’d h-hurt Mia… I-I d-don’t know i-if any of t-that h-helps,” she added. “B-But b-before we a-arrived, Mia s-said that if a-anything h-happened to her, I-I should g-get away, t-transform, a-and t-then use my n-nightmare m-magic, s-so, u-um, m-maybe I c-could just b-blast the r-restaurant f-from up h-here,” she suggested. “T-That would t-take c-care of all t-those h-horrible M-Mint girls, a-and I-I’ve been w-working o-on b-better c-controlling my m-magic, s-so I t-think I s-should be able to k-keep it f-from affecting M-Mia.”

The escapees took turns exchanging glances before Faith smiled. ”Your magic did a number on Lotus! That sounds like just the distraction we need to rescue Mia~! Just, you know, watch the poor pedestrians too. I wouldn’t want to drag them into this.”

“O-Oh! U-Um, of c-course!” Connie agreed. “I-I’ll do m-my b-best t-to m-make s-sure o-only the M-Mint girls g-get hit, b-but, um, h-how will w-we know for s-sure w-who isn’t s-secretly an e-enemy?” she asked with a frown.

”I have no idea.” Faith placed a hand on Connie’s shoulder. ”But if you think it’s a good idea to use your nightmare magic, I think you should go for it!”

“O-Okay!” Connie declared, raising a clenched (but still badly shaking) fist with all the determination she could muster. “T-Then l-let’s do it! L-Let’s go s-save Mia!”

Normally the magical girls would make their way over to the roof of the adjacent pizza joint before commencing their operation. However, few of the buildings in the heart of the big apple made that viable. The pizza joint was a proverbial wall of steel and concrete. Standing on the roof of such a building would put them too far away from the ground floor. They were able to look out of the inn however. Connie could see the mint “guard” was still standing in front of a window, but it looked like the other girls had taken Mia deeper inside.

“I-I, um, I-I t-think I m-might h-have a w-way to t-tell w-who the M-Mint a-agents are,” Connie told her friends, although she seemed hesitant. “M-My m-mystic a-artifact l-let’s me s-see what p-people are a-afraid of, s-so m-maybe that will w-work?”

She knew it was far from ideal, and she hated using it, but she also knew it was the best option they had. Retrieving a dark crystal pendant from the folds of her robe, Connie gripped the eye of fear, her mystic artifact, in her hand. It seemed that the agent standing out front had a fear of drowning. They had attempted to commit suicide by driving into the harbor. In the cold depths of the sea, they discovered how horrible the water could be and realized they wanted to live. An observing Puchuu offered them salvation as a magical girl.

Connie gasped as she watched the shocking scene play out on a mystic window above her pendent. Seeing someone try to drown themselves would be traumatic for most people, but for someone like Connie, it was a thousand times worse. Yet, the timid girl resolved herself to press on. Charging the artifact with more power, she attempted to probe deeper into the building, looking for any other fears of a supernatural nature, and, of course, any that dealt specifically with the Ebon Mint.

It seemed like everyone in the building had a deep fear of drowning. It wasn’t an uncommon fear, but for it to be shared with nearly everyone inside was unusual. But Connie's probing would prove a few smaller fears that she could work with. The disguised magical girl out front was also afraid of being “discovered.” Likely a fear that most mint agents possessed, though no one possessed a fear of supernatural entities specifically. Could the Empress of Nightmares do anything?

Well, if the Empress of Nightmares was a cruel and heartless being befitting such a title, then she would simply envelop the entire restaurant and the sidewalk outside it in a bubble of nightmare energy, uncaring of guilt or innocence. As it was, however, the Empress was a gentle and kind-hearted girl who hated the thought of causing harm to anyone, and although she knew it was preferable to strike fully and indiscriminately, she simply couldn’t bring herself to do so. Instead, she decided to work with what she knew for certain. The Mint agent out front was also scared of discovery, so she crafted a focused nightmare that would prey upon that fear. With any luck, it would cause the disguised girl to call her partners for help, and maybe even get them to vacate the building completely, making them easy targets for a followup attack.

“O-Okay,” Connie said after taking a deep breath. “H-Here g-goes…”

It did not take long for the nightmare to manifest. Spectral magical girls that only Connie and the agent could see approached the pizzaria. The pointed at the mint agent as they drew closer.

”That’s her! It’s Lexi!”

”She’s the one who tried to kill herself, right?”

”And now she’s part of the mint!”

”How low can you go?”

Even though the girls comments would feel right at home in some B grade TV show, “Lexi” was visibly agitated by the heckling. She was holding her breath. Her heart was racing. But she didn’t move from her spot. She looked at the ground and pulled out her phone.

”Boss? I think we’ve been discovered. Some girls-” She flinched as someone on the other end yelled at her. ”That makes sense, yea. You’re right. Do you know her number?” She wiped some sweat off of her head while her boss continued to speak with her. ”I’d rather do it myself actually, can I- Okay, yea, thank you. It won’t happen again. Bye.” As soon as she hung up, she dialed another number and held the phone to her head.

Connie’s phone rang.

”Do you think this is a game?” Her voice was cold. ”Well while you’re out there having fun, so are we. We’ve decided to start eating Mia’s fingers while you fuck around out there!” Not only could Connie hear her growl into the phone, Lexi was starting to lose her composure. ”If you still want your friend to have a few opposing digits, you’ll bring that god damn traitor and his friends right now!” She cocked back her arm and launched the phone through the spectral magical girls.

Connie jumped when she heard her phone ring. Pulling it out of her robe with trembling hands, she almost dropped the device when she heard the voice on the other end. “M-M-Mia’s h-h-hands…?” she whimpered incredulously, the dark eyes of her mask going wide.

They thought that was having fun? They thought any of this was fun? Her breaths were once again coming in short, sharp gasps, but this time, it wasn’t due to steadily growing fear, but anger… In that moment, she realized with soul-crushing certainty that she couldn’t hold back. For Mia’s sake, for her friends’ sake, she had to end this now…

“I-I’m s-sorry,” she whispered, the eyes of her mask closing as mystic power began to build.

A moment later, and the entire restaurant, along with the sidewalk around it, was encapsulated in a crackling nightmare bubble. Significantly stronger than the small pulse Connie had employed against the agent on the sidewalk, everyone within its confines (except for Mia) would feel as though they were being plunged deeper and deeper into a watery abyss from which there was no escape.

“O-Okay!” Connie told her friends, her voice filled with urgency. “L-Let’s get d-down there and s-save Mia!”

Faith strummed her harp, causing musical note to make an impromptu slide. The escapees and Connie slid down and ran into the pizzeria. All of the occupants were trying to “swim” above the “water” that filled the establishment. Everyone was gasping and crying for help, but they just had to tune that out and venture further inside.

They wouldn’t spot Mia until they pushed into the back of the restaurant. In the kitchen, all of the chefs were behaving much like the patrons in the lobby. But Lexi was seated towards the back of the room with Mia. The mint agent was clutching the side of her head while shooting dagger eyes at Connie, and Mia…

Mia didn’t look so good. She was still in human form and covered head to toe in bruises. They must have started beating her shortly after Connie left to get the others. It was hard to tell how she was doing as she was curled up in the fetal position with her back to connie. But the table Lexi was seated at had its white tablecloth stained with blood. Among the plastic cutlery before her was a blood soaked cleaver, which Lexi grabbed before standing up from the table.

As the quartet made their way through the restaurant, Connie hugged herself tightly and tried her best to block out the sounds of suffering around her, suffering she had caused. “I-I’m s-sorry,” she whispered, unable to bring herself to look at any of the frantic patrons. Instead, she focused on the floor, on simply putting one foot in front of the other, at least until she reached the kitchen…

“M-M-Mia…?” Connie asked in a quivering voice, the sight of her best friend’s bruised and battered body causing her to freeze in her tracks. “W-W-What… W-WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?!!” she screamed, her voice filled with fury and pain as she sent several midnight-black tentacles darting out to coil around Lexi’s wrists and throat. Even as they began rapidly constricting, an enraged Connie sent a massive blast of nightmare energy surging into the Mint agent, like a spike being driven into her brain. The girl would feel her fears of drowning amplified a hundredfold, with water filling her lungs as thorny tendrils pulled her deeper even as they dug their spines into her flesh. The Mint agent suffering serious injuries, or even a heart attack, as a result of this was a very real possibility, but Connie was far too infuriated to care. This piece of trash had hurt her dearest friend, and now, she would make them pay…

Before any of Connie’s allies could even respond, Lexi collapsed into the tentacles. The cleaver skid across the floor as the agent struggled to remain conscious. Without so much as a whisper, she went limp.

”Yeeesh!” Nuncio looked between Mia and Lexi. ”No idea who got it worse. Can’t imagine the beast is gunna take this sitting down though, let's grab Mia and scram!” He was about to go pick her up, but he took one look at Connie and hesitated.

Sammy was at a loss for words. She was frozen in place, still processing what was happening in front of her.

But it was Faith that set a hand on Connie and Sammy’s shoulders. She looked to the empress of nightmares. ”Connie, I couldn’t possibly understand how you feel right now. But you need to set your emotions aside for a moment.” She gave her a light squeeze. ”As much pain as Mia must be in, she’s a magical girl. All of her wounds will heal so long as she draws breath~!”

At first, Connie was so fixated on making Lexi suffer that she didn’t even notice her friends’ reactions. It was only at the touch of Faith’s hand upon her shoulder that the enraged Empress of Nightmares snapped out of her frenzied trance, the aura of dark energy which surrounded her now swiftly dissipating. Releasing her tentacles’ grip on the passed out Mint agent, Connie gave a tired exhale. “Y-You’re right…” she conceded softly. “I-I’m s-sorry I l-lost c-control,” she added in a sullen voice as she knelt down to check on Mia’s unconscious form. “I-It’s j-just… s-seeing M-Mia like t-this… i-it just… h-hurts s-so much…”

Thankfully, Mia was still breathing and, holding the injured tomboy close, Connie gently lifted her up off the floor.

“W-We need to g-get Mia s-someplace safe, b-before a-any of t-these M-Mint agents r-recover!” Connie declared, even as black tears continued to stream down her cheeks.

As soon as Connie felt the warmth of Mia in her hands, something was off. She felt heavier than she should have. Not only that, but her unconscious form seemed to move in Connie’s arms. When Mia turned to look at Connie, she could taste it.

The copper flavor of blood in her mouth.

She winced as something heavy struck the side of her face. The world spun, and she collapsed onto her back. “Mia” stood up, now holding an iron pipe in her hand. Connie was on the verge of consciousness. She could feel Faith’s magic coil around her shoulders and drag her back to them.

”Connie!” She reached for her fix-it-bandaids and started placing them along the side of her head. Nuncio had summoned his tiger Rosa to stand between Mia and Connie.

”You ain’t Mia.” Nuncio folded his arms.

”That’s obvious now, isn’t it?” The illusion magic faded away, and Lexi stood in Mia’s place. The true Lexi one might assume. She was wearing gym clothes and held a silver pipe. Though her outfit was noticeably more over the top than her disguise. Not only had she retained all of her jewelry, but now she had a hoodie that was spiked like some goth accessory, and her fingernails appeared to be made out of silver. ”We were expecting you to retaliate, so of course I set things up to prepare for it.” The false Lexi that was laying on the floor also had her illusion dispelled. It had been Mia the entire time. Her wrists and ankles had been bound together. Aside from a few missing fingers, most of the damage that had been done to her was a result of Connie’s nightmare magic. ”You’re losing your edge, ‘Vermin Killer.’ Was it Penrose or finding Sammy that made you so soft?”

Before Nuncio could respond, Sammy’s eyes shot open. ”A-according to my deductions, everyone in the building is one of her duplicates!”

While Connie still had a bit of vertigo, Faith had just enough time to place a bandage on Connie’s head. This was enough to close the wound on her head just as hemorrhagic shock set in. She only had three more bandages that size, so hopefully this wouldn’t happen again. ”If we can rescue Mia, maybe I can get her in fighting condition.”

But the door they had come through was knocked off its hinges. A hoard of angry Lexi clones was spilling into the room. Connie’s lapse in consciousness was just enough to allow them to shake off the effects of her nightmares and start a counterattack. The escapees immediately turned towards the hoard and started fighting them back.

Even with Rosa poised to strike, Lexi had her eyes set on Connie, and moved towards her with her pipe resting on her shoulder. Or at least, that was what it looked like she was doing.

”Go ahead.” Lexi’s voice reached Connie’s ears despite the sound of combat erupting behind her. ”Run amok.”

It all happened so fast.

Before Connie knew it, her head was swimming, her vision spinning. She was vaguely aware of Faith pulling her back, and then applying a bandage to the side of her head, but mostly, everything was just an incoherent, confused jumble of movements, sensations, and sounds. However, it wasn’t long before her vision cleared enough for her to see what had happened. What she had thought was Mia, was, in fact, Lexi. And Mia… Mia was…

“N-No…” Connie whispered as full, dreadful understanding dawned.

She had seen Mia get hurt before, while protecting her from bullies, and she had always blamed herself, had always felt that her friend’s injuries had been her fault. But this time… This time, she was directly responsible for Mia’s suffering. She had used her nightmare magic on her best friend… Seeing Mia in pain was bad enough, but knowing that she had caused it? That was far too much for Connie to bear. Far, far too much…

“Y-You…” Connie hissed, her voice raw and ragged, the visage of her mask contorting into one of utter fury. “Y-You m-made me…

With a wordless scream of anguish and rage, a crackling aura of dark amethyst energy surged from Connie’s shuddering form to encapsulate the entire room in a terrifying nightmare barrier. Shadowy, twisted tendrils writhed at the edges of that horrific space, sprouting wicked, scythed spines, segmented insectoid legs, and monstrous, bulging eyes in a frenzy of chittering, churning movement. This was the dominion of the Empress of Nightmares, and all of its myriad aspects were focused on one target…

Descending upon Lexi in a hellish deluge, dozens of dark tendrils wrapped around the Mint agent to hold her in place, the fully unleashed power of Connie’s nightmare magic allowing them to supersede their normal limitations and spawn hundreds of secondary and tertiary needle-tipped tentacles, which swiftly wormed their way under Lexi’s fingernails and behind her eyeballs… Simultaneously, a much larger tendril forced it’s way down her throat, knocking out her teeth and shattering her jaw. No sooner had it done so, than it disgorged an ocean’s worth of water with the force of ten pressure washers, while additional tendrils that had worked their way up her nostrils and into her ears did the same…

The Empress of Nightmares screeched, her voice warped and inhuman.


Lexi’s body twitched and shook as Connie’s magic tore into it. She didn’t scream or flinch, much like one would expect a doll to do.

”That looks like it hurt.” Again, Lexi’s voice seemed to come from right beside Connie. ”Almost what Mia had to put up with. She’s a strong one, but she couldn’t bear to watch as the meat was sucked off her fingers. All that fire and brimstone turned to ash pretty quick.”

Rosa had just narrowly dodged the tendrils meant for Lexi and joined Nuncio in his fight. It was difficult for the escapees to focus, but fortunately the duplicates were equally unnerved. Sammy turned to look past Connie. ”According to my deduct-”

Sammy’s body burst into flames. She ran past Connie screaming, trying to reach the water at all costs. But she was struck by an invisible force and fell beside Mia. There was nearly an inch of water on the floor now.

”Come on.” Lexi phased through the tentacles and barbs before stopping in front of Connie. ”You can do better.”

The eyes of Connie’s mask widened when she heard Lexi’s condescending and all-too-calm voice coming from beside her. Then she saw the girl’s “body” effortlessly phase through her various tentacles. Clearly, she was dealing with yet another illusion… Giving voice to an enraged snarl, the Empress of Nightmares swung her hand at the spot where the voice emanated, her fingers tipped with wicked claws of pure nightmare magic. However, they found only empty space, and now Sammy was on fire? Almost on instinct, Connie directed her water-spewing tendrils to douse the diminutive detective, even as she frantically sought out the real Lexi.

And the smug bitch still kept talking…

Even in her frenzied state, Connie quickly realized that the only way to truly find the illusive agent was to suffuse everyone and everything in the entire restaurant with nightmare magic. Only then would the true target of her ire be found…

Giving voice to yet another agonized shriek, the Empress of Nightmares unleashed the full fury of her horrific power…

Nuncio fell to one knee, Rosa whimpered, even Sammy and Mia seemed to twist and turn in torment. The clones ceased their advance, shrieking as the nightmares overtook their minds.

”Connie!” Faith shouted. Her eyes were squinted shut, and she had a hand on either side of her head. ”I can’t take it, we need to-” She suddenly combust into flames. Though unlike Sammy, she had the wherewithal to throw herself into the water. ”Connie! Connie-Con=” She inhaled. ”Mother! Mother!”

The ground shook with thunderous applause, and dryad wasps began pouring in from every entrance. Minions of horrors were normally no match for a magical girl, but the unthinking, unfeeling wasps were impervious to Connie’s nightmare magic. They also didn’t discriminate between the escapees and the clones. Their champion was in trouble, and they had been dispatched to eradicate anything that might be a threat.

Lexi groaned. ”How bothersome.” Her form waved and vanished just as a dryad wasp drove its stinger into Connie’s shoulder.

Despite Connie’s greatest efforts, despite all her sacrifices, which even now were tearing a gaping hole in her aching heart, things still hadn’t improved. Her friends were still in pain, Faith had still erupted into flames, and Lexi was still talking in that calm, almost disinterested voice that made Connie want to rip the girl’s tongue out and shove it down her throat. Yet, that wasn’t the only voice Connie heard. Faith was calling out, calling for her…

Mother…?!

The next thing Connie knew, a swarm of monstrous wasps had poured into the room, one of them even managing to drive a stinger into her shoulder. Crying out in a mixture of frustration and pain, she lashed out at the creature with a spiked tendril, pinning it to the wall like some twisted insect display case. But there were dozens of additional creatures remaining, making the entire situation more untenable by the second.

Faith… Connie realized. Faith called them because she was in danger, which means…

She had made yet another mistake. Indeed, that seemed all she was truly good at… Roaring with fury, the Empress of Nightmares sent several tentacles shooting out with lightning speed to wrap around Mia, Faith, Sammy, Nuncio, and Rosa. Then, with a mighty heave, she flung them all through a just-opened door in the dimensional fabric, before slamming said door shut with great force.

“O-Okay…” Connie seethed, her spiked tentacles spinning around her like a buzzsaw as her nightmare energy built to even greater levels. “Now it’s just you…


Perhaps if Connie was fighting a group of normal mint agents, things may have played out like that. Opening the gate to an interdimensional home had always been a time consuming and risky endeavor, one that few would attempt in live combat. But there was no reason to think things wouldn’t play out differently. Lexi obviously wasn’t here. Between the dryad wasps and her nightmare magic, there were no clones to oppose her. She was winding up for her friend toss, the gate was opening…

A throne phased through the wall.

The golden comet was adorned with plush red pillows and a gaudy amount of gemstones. It crashed into Connie before the portal could open all the way up. She had been saved by her barbed tentacles, but their sudden rending flung her friends everywhere. They slammed into the walls and fell about the floor. When Connie turned her hate filled gaze towards the throne, she could see the one holding it.

A regal looking magical girl with fur shoulders.

This had to be the beast.

Who else would dress like a literal english king?

”Afraid I can’t let you run off with my prey.” She grinned.

The entire wall of the kitchen waved out of existence. Just beyond was an empty street that had been sectioned off. There in the distance was Lexi, and another girl. One who was dressed similarly to the Djinn twins. Unlike Lexi, her emotions were plain on her face. She was enjoying this far too much. The fires in her hands were bright enough to cast shadows all the way down the street.

”I’d let you and your other leave.” The beast hoisted her throne over her shoulder. ”But you’re going to continue this fruitless pursuit, aren’t you?”

Connie was momentarily stunned when a gilded throne, of all things, slammed into her, just as she was about to fling her friends to safety. If there was a bright side to this unexpected turn of events, at least now she could clearly see Lexi’s accomplice, as well as what had to be the infamous Beast of the North herself. Yet, where once the sight of this foe would have brought Connie to her knees in terror, now it only augmented the Empress of Nightmare’s seemingly unquenchable rage…

The Empress screeched, her tortured voice like sounding like a thousand nails scraping across a chalkboard.


She ranted, even as she unleashed an unrestrained torrent of raw, roiling nightmare magic upon the three Mint agents, the dark energy surging from her hands, as well as from the mouth, eyes, and glowing amethyst diadem of her mask.

She declared, her voice suffused with unbridled hatred and malice as she sent wave upon wave of her tormentors’ greatest fears made manifest crashing against them over and over again in an unrelenting tide.


An ocean filled with school boys surged towards the mint agents on the street. Lexi grit her teeth as the tidalwave threatened to wash over them. But her companion’s grin didn’t drop for a second. She raised her hands and the pavement cracked open. A red glow shined out before a roaring fire reached out towards the heavens. Such volume of water should have extinguished the flames, but instead it slammed up against it. The water, and the boys floating inside it, flowed off to either side.

”Keep tryin’!” The pyromancer taunted.

But this did nothing for the beast, who was right beside Connie as she shrieked and threw her magic around. She had been totally submerged in the nightmare sea. The undertow was especially strong given her proximity to connie. The beast gripped her throne tight and sneered. Without such a heavy anchor, she might have been blown away. But as it were, she had little difficulty lifting her knee up to her chest.



The water did nothing to slow the beast’s kick, nor did it slow Connie as she soared backwards through the kitchen. She flew through a pair of double doors and fell onto her back. Something inside her chest had broken, and she couldn’t breathe.

”Fear magic? really?” The beast scoffed. ”I am untethered by such things. Fear belongs to prey, not the predator.” She cracked a smile. ”I long for the day I can feel something so exhilarating! I had thought today might be that day, but what are the lot of you but weaklings and cowards?”

By this point, Sammy, Nuncio, Rosa, and Faith all had ample time to get to their feet. Faith had finished bandaging up Mia and helped her to a sitting position before rushing off to help Connie. But she was cut off when the Beast stepped in front of her.

”I run a tight ship, and we’re all on the clock. And when something needs to get done fast, well, I need to do it myself.” The beast didn’t flinch when the ground shook. Somewhere, three pillar druids had just descended into New York. ”But if you insist on calling for reinforcements, maybe I’ll call some of my own.” With a snap of her fingers, several giant chess pieces fell from the sky. Eight pawns, followed by a pair of rooks, knights, and bishops. There was even a queen that stood just a bit taller than the beast did. But there was no king piece. ”Now, let’s get this started properly…”

It seemed almost habitual by this point that Alicia and Penny would meet after a major confrontation. They hadn't even encountered each other directly, but Alicia knew that Penny had been involved. It seemed to have affected her friend pretty heavily, if the business with the earpiece was any indication. That made a meeting all the more necessary.

And so they had arranged to take some time out from their schedules and meet. Normally it might be for food, but in this case Alicia wasn't sure that was something she wanted to delve into right now. They had grown a bit more distant with Penny being more devoted to Sanctuary now, plus her other identity changes, so Alicia didn't want to push things when her friend might no longer be comfortable with it.

Instead, she opted for the other meeting spot. A rooftop in downtown Penrose, one that gave a good view of the winter skyline to accompany them hanging out. Alicia stood patiently, waiting for Penny to arrive as the moon rose higher in the sky, peaking through the scattered clouds. She didn't expect to be kept waiting long, so hopefully Penny was doing alright. She'd know soon enough.

The atmosphere atop the roof would suddenly have a heavy feel to it as the air suddenly felt charged. A few short moments after the feeling appeared the space a few feet away from Alicia would suddenly tear open into a portal.

What lay beyond the portal was difficult to see due to the late hour and lack of light but there was a figure that the Seraph could see. She wouldn’t be left wondering for long as soon after the portal stabilized Penny would come walking out of it.

Though almost immediately it was easy for Alicia to tell something was wrong. Penny seemed wrong, everything about her was just off. Normally Penny could pass as relatively human easily, discounting her robotic accessories, but at the moment she was sitting at the bottom of the uncanny valley. The bleeding red of her eyes didn’t help either.

“Fuck” Penny would let out a curse as the portal closed behind her with a snap. Penny closed her eyes and very visibly went through the motions of taking a deep breath before letting it out slowly. She repeated the process a few times, each time she seemed to pull herself further and further out of the uncanny valley.

When she opened her eyes again they looked like they normally did, but there was still an edge to Penny’s presence. Some subtle thing that made it impossible to forget that Penny wasn’t human. “Sorry about that.”

Looking over as Penny emerged from the portal, Alicia was both impressed at the display of magic while also concerned by her physical appearance. Even if she put a quick stop to it, the fact that it had happened at all was indicative of her friend’s emotional state.

“That bad huh?” she asked with a raised eyebrow. Physically she looked alright, but with how quickly Penny could repair herself that wasn’t indicative of much.

“Worse” Penny would admit readily. Wasting no time in finding a place to sit down. “I’m learning the hard way just how much of a help the Spark was for maintaining a human perspective.” She’d explain. “Redlined back in Bolorton.” She ran a hand through her hair as she spoke. “And I’m still not fully back to zero from it.”

“Remote accessing the Bastion caused me to slip I think,” She’d gesture towards the air where she had walked though. “And I lost track of time trying to zero out in the first place.” Fixation wasn’t something that Penny often suffered from due to her inhuman ability to multi-task. But this current mess wasn’t something she could deal with without devoting a large amount of attention to.

Not that she had a solid explanation for what was going on at the moment.

“It’s why I wasn’t sounding all that well over the com. I had just pulled myself out of an even worse tail spin.”

Once Penny had sat down, Alicia took a seat next to her. Her hands rested on her knees as she listened to the explanation, which was admittedly not the strangest explanation for a thing Penny had ever given her. But she treated it with the seriousness that it deserved all the same.

“Oof. Sounds rough,” she agreed with a small nod. “Also sounds like there was a pretty tough customer on the field if that’s the case. We mostly had to deal with enough tanks to outfit a third world country. You’d have loved it.”

That comment cracked a smile out of Penny. “I was out in the field with them. They looked like Wizard of Oz rejects. Not sure who dealt with the Tin man or the Scarecrow but I took out the Lion and saw Dorothy getting taken care of.”

“Took a chunk out of their forces, mostly APC’s, before the Queen of Hearts showed up in person.” Penny would shake her head at that. “But I redlined before most of that. A lot of my systems were propped up by the Spark, and I more or less slipped into the morph on accident. I felt it coming on, but keeping it at bay was magnitude more difficult than I remember it being.”

“Kept me safe enough out there, but pretty sure I pissed off Iracebeth by chucking a bomb through her portal when she showed up.”

An eyebrow rose as Penny related her experience in Bolorton, with the clashing of the stories in addition to the actual fight itself. “Wizard of Oz? I wonder how many other things like that she has in her back pocket?” That was something she was curious about, even if she didn’t actually want to find out.

Penny’s ending earned an amused snort from Alicia. “That does sound like you,” she agreed. “Too bad we could never pull off that sort of trick against Mariette. It would have made a lot of things easier.”

“Mariette would likely just portal the bomb back at us if we tried.” Penny would agree with a wry smile. “But at least she seems to be against Wonderland as well. Since I saw her dragon girl ally there assisting with fighting off the invasion.”

“Honestly though, this whole thing makes me wish I knew how to shut down the Nexus.” She would go on to say. “Like I’m really well disposed towards active warfare, now more than ever, but I really don’t want to turn the Sanctuary into a fighting force. No one there deserves that, same with the people at HQ.” She’d draw her knees to her chest resting her chin on them as she did. “Punching these problems never really seems to work in the long run. But rarely are we given another option.”

"Probably, but it would have been satisfying if we pulled it off. I mean, Justine almost did." The more serious mention of her former-rival caused her smile to shift into a more serious frown. "I'm not surprised. Her patron won't be able to carry out his plans if Wonderland conquers the city."

Alicia certainly could not object to Penny's next sentiment, though she was a bit surprised with who it was coming from. "I'd like that too," she agreed. "But if there's one thing I learned here, there are just some people you can't talk down. At the end of the day, some people are just too crazy to respond to anything but force.”

“Oh trust me I get that. Hell, on my bad days I’m one of them.” Penny would reply with a soft chuckle “The problem, at least how I see our current situation, is that we are going to get swept up in Wonderland’s tempo. Few of us are prepared for open warfare. Rachel is, I am, you might be, though I sorta hope you haven’t been messed up that badly by the magical world already.”

“It's going to be the tension of after the Beach again, with an active threat bearing down on us all until we break or they break against us. It’s going to be a nightmare.” She would explain as she leaned back casting her gaze upward, to what stars could cut through the light pollution of the city. “Hope dies a lingering death in war, and I’d really rather we had some way of stopping it before it really starts. Killing Iracebeth might work, though I’ve my doubts about that seeing how Bolorton ended.”

She would let out a sigh “Which means the only other option would be removing the reason for why the war is starting. But I hadn’t been able to do much research into that before I got excommunicated.”

“Would simply be nice to have that as a goal rather than just war prep.”

“I suppose,” Alica agreed, resisting the urge to sigh as well. It was hard to argue with what Penny was saying, especially with how much of an unknown Wonderland still was at this point. Needless to say, the army present at Bolorton had been an unpleasant surprise, and a possible precursor to what could happen in Penrose.

After a few moments, she substituted the sigh for a shrug instead. “Well, we can either figure out the reason for the war or look into the Queen herself. Scrying is a wonderful thing. Or we figure out who Wonderland is worried about, and see if we can make a deal with them. I don’t have many good suggestions.”

“Same, any ideas I’ve had border on the heretical at the moment.” Penny would comment herself. “Like slipping into Wonderland with the Bastion and just dropping all the explosive ordnance I can store in it on her castle. Or dealing with the Mint” She would give an exaggerated shudder at that.

“Honestly, finding out more about the Queen might be the best idea. Know your enemy and all that.” She would say on a more serious note. “Finding out who the VIP’s she’d be targeting isn’t a bad idea either. I’d be willing to wager that I’m one of them though. She seems to be the vindictive type.”

Alicia nodded in agreement, hardly needing to say why those suggestions were a bad idea. “Yeah, I’m gonna save that for when we’re truly desperate.” She was willing to compromise to some extent, but cutting deals with the Mint was a whole other level.

“Makes sense,” she agreed. “I’ll have to see what we can do as far as scrying goes. Poking around the Overcity might be worthwhile too. A faction as big as Wonderland probably has its fair share of gossip making the rounds.” As they both knew, listening in on people was something that Penny was quite good at.

“Now that is an idea.” Penny would admit with a nod. “Curious if there are any factions out there that want to take a shot at Wonderland but just lack any actionable intel.” She would muse to herself as she contemplated the idea a bit more fully.

“An idea that is a bit more in line with your good ones is seeing if there is some way we can get open cooperation between Beacon, and by that I mean the Ascendency, and the Sanctuary.” She’d propose. “Open lines of communication beyond more than just us would go a long way when the fighting gets into Penrose proper.”

Penny’s suggestion was hardly unusual, and one that Alicia had no objection with either. “I’ll look into it,” she told her friend. “With what Rachel said earlier about needing to work together, she might even be willing to do it. Who’d have thought that a fairy tale could bring together all these factions who hate each other?”

"A fairy tale bringing people together to deal with a bigger threat sounds about right for a storybook. Fitting considering that seems to be Wonderlands shtick." Penny would say with a chuckle and shake of her head.

"I've also got some information on Wonderland as well if it'll help smooth things over with the Inquisitor." She would add. "Ended up overhearing your debrief. And though I was tempted to cut in, I didn't want to burn any bridges for you."

“Go for it,” Alicia replied quickly. She could appreciate Penny’s discretion, and she was hardly going to turn down the help. The more everyone knew, the more likely it was that they would figure out what Wonderland really wanted and how to stop them for good.

Penny would reach into her leg for a moment before pulling out a thumb drive and handing it over. “Everything I gathered is here. The entrance of Oz troops, some insights into their tanks and APC’s compositions, a decent recording of Iracbeth’s fighting style, as well as some data in relation to the mana gems they power everything with and a read on Iracbeth’s sword.” Penny would explain. “Let me know if that works to open the comms. Though fair warning it’s very obvious that I was the one who collected the data.”

Alicia nodded, whistling a little bit at the bevy of data Penny was offering up. She was more surprised that she had managed to get this much than anything else, as it was hardly the most unusual thing they had gotten up to. “Somehow I don’t think they’ll be all that surprised,” Alicia replied as she slipped the thumb drive into her pocket. “You are nothing if not distinctive.”

“That” Penny would agree with a nod and a smile “But also because the recordings are mostly from my POV.” She’d explain. “As I said, I am well dispositioned towards warfare. That is a glimpse into how my mind works in the middle of a fight, I trust you with knowing that, I’m just hoping that it will help.”

Glancing down once more at the thumb drive, Alicia looked between it and Penny. She nodded, still relatively unbothered by what she was hearing. "What, does it have your internal monologues in it?" she asked in jest. Though she could see how it would be embarrassing if it did.

“Not like that” Penny would roll her eyes and give Alicia a light shove. “But not far off either.”

After a moment Alicia let the levity pass. "Still, this is pretty helpful. Otherwise I'd say that the thing making Wonderland different is mostly a matter of scale. Their tanks went down to my arrows as well as any other bad guy." She'd like to say that this was the weirdest thing they had faced off against, though so far it had not yet claimed that valued position. "I can't imagine how things will escalate from here."

“No idea. Which is a worry, because we know what Beacon’s got in reserve, plus there are the options I’ve got that I keep locked away, to say nothing of the Mint and Cradle. If they are even planning on staying and fighting against Wonderland.” Penny’s gaze would drift upwards once more. “Whatever it is that is coming, is going to be big though. That’s what it feels like at least.”

“Well, whatever it is has another thing coming if they think they can mess with us,” Alicia proclaimed. “I mean, we beat up a manifestation of a Horror, and they were pretty powerful too. I’d say we still have decent odds of success.”

Penny would take a moment before shaking her head, a small smile gracing her lips. “I must still be out of it. You're holding my Vow better than I am at the moment.” She’d say looking over at her friend. “You are absolutely right though. We did that at the drop of a hat with no warning. Wonderland isn’t going to know what hit them when they get here. There is me and you, the girls at Beacon and the ones at Sanctuary, plus everyone else that lives here.”

“Penrose chaos is something we are all familiar with, these out of towners aren't going to show us up.”

Penny's amusement prompted Alicia to shrug, not too bothered one way or the other. "Maybe I'm just jaded, who knows?" As Penny noted, they were well used to patented 'Penrose Chaos' after all. Unexpected nonsense and evil plots were kind of in their wheelhouse.

"Still, imagine how boring it would be if Wonderland took over and made us all move somewhere else. I don't know what I would do with all that free time." There were worse fates of course, but it was hard to say that things here were not interesting. "Maybe I need to get a hobby."

Penny would poke Alicia in the side. “Hey now, I did just say you were holding on to hope better than I was. No getting self deprecating after that.”

“And we’d end up taking over any city we got moved to.” The robo girl would muse, “Not intentionally, just with free time we’d be too powerful.” She'd let one of her legs stretch out, as she let herself finally relax. “I’d probably get into model kits as a hobby, I’ve never had the time for them so far, but they look fun to put together and paint.”

“Any ideas for what hobby you’d pick up when we finally get the time?”

Alicia nodded, not doubting Penny’s observations for a second. “Yeah, that sounds like you.” She paused when the question was turned on her, tapping her chin in thought as she considered the options. “Not sure. I might need to work on that. Maybe whittling? That always seemed neat.”

“Really?” Penny would reply with a raised eyebrow. “I figured you more as a guitar kinda gal if you found the time.”

“Nah. Listen to music, yes. But playing music isn’t something that really caught my interest,” Alicia admitted. The conversation went on into the night, shifting to less serious topics as they rested in their temporary rooftop perch. It was just another night in Penrose as the temporary break between responsibility went on.

After that totally pointless clusterfuck, Mac was ready to call it a day. She wasn’t up for continued sexual harassment from Nefer, nor did she want to bother Oliver. He probably needed some time to process what had happened. Hell, Mac needed time to process it. But that could happen later. She actually liked this Iron Mouse persona, and figured she could hold it up a bit longer and have some fun too.

"Okay Mayra, this is it!” Iron Mouse had Nefer drop her and Mayra off in the old abandoned warehouse district. Penrose was recovering, but there were still many areas that hadn’t recovered post Ascendency. Iron Mouse guided Mayra to a pair of double doors that were covered in graffiti. There was nothing artistic here. Just some random tags that had been covered by gang signs, then expletives, and then more gang signs. "This cult business isn’t for the faint of heart. Are you sure you know what you’re getting yourself into? Are you sure you wish to join the Sisterhood of the Black Behemoth?”

‘Ooooooh! Wall paintings!’ Mayra called with excitement as they came up to the doors of the supposed cult. She listened with full attention to Iron Mouse, and looked so excited as she heard the name of the place. ‘The Black Behemoth… Yeah! I wanna see what’s up! I’ve already confronted my nightmares’ _{and lost} ‘, I can handle whatever this throws at me! Just let me-’

Mayra went up to the doors, superheated her fingers, and started drawing with them.
‘I wanna add some fire dragons!’ Mayra said excitedly as she started burning the door over the drawings of whoever else had drawn first in order to draw a crude drawing of a big and pretty ugly dragon, done by burning parts of the door instead of actually drawing with any kind of paint.

"That’s the spirit!” Iron Mouse pumped her fist in the air. "Once you’re done there, I’ll-”

The door swung inward while Mayra was drawing. It appeared that a young cultist girl had opened the door. Alternatively, maybe some gravity magic was used to open the door while an illusion was placed behind it. Who could say? Regardless, she looked very cult like. She was wearing ropes, she held a golden mask that had to be of a behemoth, and an alluring beauty that only a cultist could possibly possess. She had to have bathed in the blood of some virgins at least once.

”Mouse?” The cultist looked at the rodent magical girl with a raised brow.

"Finn and I ran into a snag, But Mayra here got us out of it. She’s one bad bitch, and I think we need her on the team!”

”Really now?” The cultist looked Mayra up and down.

‘Yepp! Finn got his head cut off, but I saved him from it!’ Mayra replied with zero hesitation, holding her superheated fingers that she’d been using to draw on the door up in salute. ‘´Sooo, what do you do here? Do you feed the Behemoth? Is it a big Behemoth? Would it win against a fire dragon? Is it like a deity or a horror? Does one need to wear robes? ‘Cause, you know, I am pretty sure I would light them on fire, hahahaha!’ Mayra laughed as she finished what she was saying.

‘Anyway! In here?’ Mayra asked and is already about to walk in. She had potentially already forgotten the questions she’d previously asked.

But before Mayra could get much further, the cultist placed her hand on Mayra’s stomach and pushed her back. ”I’m sorry, but what makes you think you can just waltz in here?!” She looked at Iron Mouse. ”Did you tell her about the trials?”

"Woops! Slipped my mind!” Iron Mouse chuckled. "Sorry about that Mayra. You did good helping Finn out, but Korone here is really serious about the trials.” She scooched over to Korone and patted her shoulder. "Mayra is interested, so just give her the spiel.”

Korone cleared her throat. ”The Black Behemoth will only be served by those untethered by human morality. To this end, we have created several trials for you. The trials are Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, Pride, Acedia, and Vainglory. Only after you have displayed these dark virtues may you walk past these doors. Iron Mouse may act as a witness to your trials.”

Iron Mouse placed her hands on her hips. "In that case, consider Acedia and Vainglory as good as done. She rescued Finn from a very dangerous magical girl and her plan worked without a hitch. Can’t get more vainglorious than that. And for Acedia, well, it’s kind of built into her personality isn’t it? She’s the embodiment of ‘a lack of care’ wouldn’t you say?”

”Two down, then.” Korone’s eyes didn’t move from Mayra.

‘Trials? Oh, oooh! Like challenges!?’ Mayra suddenly looked quite excited. She did like challenges. She listened to the rest of that, and…

‘Huh. Okay, so the trials are created, it’s not just that I have to go around proving I’m, er, all of those things? I don’t even know what “acedia” and “vainglory” is, but I kinda want to see the trials for them, haha,’ Mayra said, then clutched both fists, lizard-tail swinging a little as she took a prepared stance.

‘Alright! Lead me to the trials, or tell me how I otherwise accomplish them! I got a few ideas, already…!’

Iron Mouse chuckled "I’ll let Korone tell you the details, but as for the ones you completed, Vainglory is characterized as an excessive belief in one’s own abilities. So to clear that trial you just need to prove that you can do something extraordinary without any screw ups. That’s why rescuing Finn worked. Acedia is just a latin word that means ‘without care.’ This is shown by having a willingness to do something dangerous. It was good that we got those out of the way first, because they are easily the hardest.”

"Quite.” Korone agreed. "The nine dark virtues aren’t created. Iron mouse was just being coy when she said you embodied Acedia. You’re a very, hmmmm, carefree sort is all. The trials have nebulous clear conditions, but that’s mostly to let the one joining demonstrate their creativity when displaying their virtues. As for the trials themselves, the first one is Lust, which-”

"We’re going to do Lust last, so just skip that one for now.” Iron Mouse winked.

Korone had been fairly stern so far, but this made her crack a face wide grin that curled all the way under her cheek bones. "If you insist, very well.” In the next instant, she went back to normal and looked at Mayra. "Gluttony is consumption in excess. Greed is taking more than you need, Sloth is completing a task with little effort, Wrath is based in revenge, Envy requires you to mimic or take from someone you admire, and Pride requires you to demonstrate that you are the best at something. ”

Iron mouse approached Mayra. "So! Got any ideas?”

‘Er. Gluttony. Eating a lot, right? Greed. Taking more than I need. I mean, I don’t really need a lot, but. Hm. Revenge…’ Mayra had to think back if there was anyone in particular she wanted to take revenge on… ‘Oh, yeah…’ An idea clearly occurred to her, as Mayra started smiling again, as she thought of it.
‘I got something. We’re gonna need to jump dimensions to get there, but…’

~~~ Later ~~~

After a brief shaking down of some people in the Overcity…

The two arrived in a new dimension. It was one devoid of human civilization, one where monstrous lifeforms ran plenty, gigantic creatures were a relatively common sight and so on. After all, as Mayra might have told, it was the dimension she was from.

Within the crater of a mountain Mayra excitedly climbed was a lake. A still, beautiful and shimmering lake beneath an open sky, and standing atop the mountain looking out across that lake Mayra stopped her trek.

‘Here we are!’ Mayra announced happily, as she rolled her shoulders and smiled with anticipation, then kneeled to stretch her legs as well.

Iron Mouse stretched once she got to the top. "Fun hike, but why are we all the way up here?”

‘Okay… so… to achieve one of my trials…’ Mayra looked over, and located a giant boulder. ‘That one will do!’ she said, and leaped up on the giant boulder. Kneeling down on the boulder, she slowly, surely superheated the thing, the entire boulder starting to glow and smoke as it grew hotter and hotter, Mayra smiling as she did… Then she leapt backwards, blasting out with her feet as she did, and the entire giant superheated boulder flew down towards the lake…!

‘HERE’S FOR ALMOST DROWNING ME, YOU ROTTEN MERMAIDS!’ Mayra screamed at them as the smoldering rock hit the waters and immediately caused a cloud of steam and shaking… not just where the rock hit, but all over the lake. It was as if the whole lake came alive at once, creatures splashing out of the surface. Creatures that only kinda looked like what came to mind when the general public thought of a “mermaid”.

Like this.

"Oh wow! They have so much personality!”

‘Brace yourself, they’re gonna start shooting water,’ Mayra said, and just then she had to dodge aside because a shower of water-projectiles came shooting at her from the clearly agitated lake of mermaids…!

"Please, Mayra! I’ve been to my share of parties.” Iron Mouse twisted her body side to side as some streams of water flew past her. Of course, they would only be able to fight back for so long. The water that they relied on to live was boiling all over. That didn’t stop Iron Mouse from drawing her machine gun and firing a few rounds. "It’s too bad they aren’t crabs, they might have tasted good boiled!”

A couple of them definitely fell from Iron Mouse shooting at them, albeit they’re also strong enough to dodge relatively well, mid-power-level creatures and such. Mayra wasn’t shooting at them, however.

‘Well, they’re not gonna be our meal, anyway,’ Mayra shrugged. ‘See, they survive pretty well on land, too, just only for a limited time,’ she continued, and as she said, the mermaids were leaping out of the water, gathering as a decently huge army on the shores and also turning to look very angrily at Mayra and Iron Mouse…

‘Hey, can I do more than one of the trials at once? Because, sure, I could fight these guys in a probably pretty cool fight, but that would be a ton of effort. Instead, I could just…’ Mayra breathed in… and then roared. A very inhuman monster-like roar. A roar… that made the mermaids panic, and a couple of them even decided they’d rather jump back into the boiling water.

Mayra turned around and put her arms behind her head. ‘Aaaaaaaand now they’re not long for this world. Let’s go~’ Mayra said with a smirk as she started casually walking away, while the skies in the opposite direction were starting to darken with the wide wingspans of airborne creatures…

Iron mouse skipped beside Mayra. "So that was definitely a very ‘wrath,’ but what was the scream for? What trial were you trying to clear with that one?”

‘Sloth. I could have fought them all myself, but why do that when I can just summon the denizens of this world to do the job for me?’ Mayra asked, then chuckled a little. ‘Man, I wish I could do that in any world, hahaha.’

Iron mouse hesitated, but she eventually raised her eyebrows. "Yea! I see it now! That is a fitting one for sloth!” She drew a small list from her jacket and crossed something off. "Gluttony, greed, envy, and pride are the only ones you need to do before we report back.” she ignored the sounds of winged creatures diving into the pool behind herself, as well as the final cries of the mermaids. "Where are we going next?”

‘Hmmm, lesse…’ Mayra thought about it. ‘Greed and gluttony… I just need to take a lot, right? Huh, how would I do that…’ she tilted her head and thought about it. ‘Envy, take from or mimic someone I admire. Who do I admire?’ She thought about it a little. ‘The Matriarch, kinda. That is, the leader of the tribe I was in. Oooh, there’s also old man Dronach, the biggest and toughest of all of dragonkind, hahaha. Messing with him is kinda dangerous, though. Otherwise, hm…’ She thought a little more. ‘Penny. Sanngridr, a little. As for pride…’ Mayra grinned a bit. ‘I just need to win a contest of some kind, right?’

"That’s the easiest way to prove you’re the best at something. Though getting recorded in Guinness would also qualify. That’s just, you know, above and beyond what we expect from our followers.” Iron Mouse stepped in front of Mayra. "Whatcha got?”

Mayra thought some more… then her eyes lit up. ‘Oh. Ooooh! Wait, that works!’ She then spun around and grabbed Iron Mouse’s arm. ‘C’mon, let’s go!’ she requested, and then pulled hard to break into a run…

~~~ Later ~~~

As was often the case whenever she had some free time, Connie was in her room, working on yet another tranquil landscape painting. Such work was quite soothing for the nervous girl, and she hoped it would help her relax after the distressing battle and follow up interrogation she had just returned from. This particular painting was a springtime scene with lots of colorful flowers. She was just putting the finishing touches on a vibrant lilac, when she heard someone call her name…

‘CONNIE!’ … And not in a calm way, or anything, it was Mayra, suddenly having inserted her dragon-self through the window, beaming excitedly at her.

“Eeep!” Connie yelped, before calming slightly upon realizing it was just her friend. “O-Oh! H-H-Hi, M-Mayra,” the nervous girl replied once she’d caught her breath. “D-Did you, um, w-want to c-come in?” she asked with an awkward smile.

‘I did!’ Mayra called happily and slipped inside. ‘So, I came here because- ooooh, painting!’ Aaand she's distracted. ‘I draw, too! Though, mostly by burning images into walls, hahaha!’ she said, then wandered over to inspect. ‘Oooh. Really good! But, hm,’ she made a thinking expression.

‘Needs more dragons,’ she said, grabbed a spare brush, dipped in black color, and then started happily drawing a badly drawn black dragon in the top right.

At first, Connie was taken aback by the suddenness of it all, but she was only too happy to allow Mayra to contribute to her painting. After all, she had always wanted to work on a painting together with a friend, and now she was finally getting the chance!

“O-Oh! U-Umm, I-I n-never would h-have g-guessed y-you l-liked artistic t-things, M-Mayra,” she replied as she watched her friend paint an admittedly crude dragon in her peaceful painting’s sky. “I-It’s r-really c-cool to k-know I h-have a f-friend who l-likes t-that s-stuff, t-too! A-And, uh, t-that’s a v-very n-nice d-dragon y-you’re w-working on,” she added as encouragingly as she could, even as a small sweat drop appeared on her forehead. “U-Umm, t-that is a d-dragon, r-right?”

‘Yepp!’ Mayra said, finishing her not-really-matching-the-rest-of-the-painting dragon. She took a step back, admired her handiwork, and then nodded. ‘I like it. Good job!’ she said, unclear if she meant to herself for her dragon or Connie for the rest of it.

‘ANYWAY!’ Mayra now spun around to face Connie. ‘You're awesome, you know that, right? You command those powers that can best even me, yet you're also so nice to me! I've realized I admire you!’ Mayra said with a grin.

“O-Oh, g-gosh! U-Umm, t-thanks, Mayra…” Connie replied, her face reddening considerably in response to Mayra’s praise. “T-That r-really m-means a l-lot…” she added with a smile, while nervously playing with her hair.

‘Good! Now, with that said,’ Mayra said, grinning as she lifted the brush in her hand, ‘I'm keeping this!’

So she said, before turning around and promptly leaping out the open window. With the brush.

“O-Okay…” Connie replied even as Mayra darted out the window. “U-Umm… S-See you later…” she added as she hesitantly waved to the draconic girl’s departing form. Connie was more than a little confused by everything that had just happened, but if her friend was in need of a paintbrush, she was only too happy to provide one. She also very much hoped that they could paint together again sometime. Smiling at the sight of Mayra’s slightly deformed dragon, she got back to work on her painting.

Outside, Mayra did a combat roll and then landed right next to Iron Mouse, and then triumphantly held up the brush she’d taken. ‘Envy!’ she said with a happy grin. Not that she’d taken it while particularly representing said sin.

Iron Mouse let out a deep, nearly infinite sigh. "That just barely qualifies. But you saved Finn’s life, so I’ll count it. Not everyone can school these trials as hard as I did.” Her smile returned. "Just three left, then we return to the meeting place. Where did you want to go next?”

‘Huh? Barely? But I did what the challenge told. I took something from someone I admire,’ Mayra asked, but then just grinned. ‘But, eh! If it counts, it counts! Alright, then, from here…’

~~~ Later ~~~

It was a separate dimension again. One that harkened back to Earth one or two thousands years ago. There was an arena, surrounded by a city, inside of which the audience were cheering loudly. Numerous tough-looking men in armor and with shields and weapons of varying kinds were bashing against one another until either one surrendered or died. Certainly a barbaric practice that the audience was being entertained by…

‘So, for Pride, I just have to prove I’m the very best, right?’ Mayra asked with a grin in the staging area as she pulled a halberd from the array of weapons prepared on the wall, spun with it a bit with her arms before it ended up behind her head as she held the pole between her neck and two lazily raised hands as she turned and smiled towards Iron Mouse… in her human disguise, without her regular dragon-boosts. Wearing something that had been provided by the arena staff as appropriate wearing for fighting in the arena.

‘I’ve been practicing doing stuff without all my fancy powers. It’s pretty fun, it means I can face epic challenges that would normally have been trivial! Like, for instance, fighting a bunch of big men…’ Mayra chuckled. ‘I’d like to see Penny pull this off.’ She took a very brief break. ‘No, really. I am super-confident Penny could do it and look super-cool while doing it. I’d like to see it.’

Iron Mouse didn’t bother giving herself a disguise because, obviously, she was a magical girl and not a monster girl. "You know, I thought that we were going to just go down to a bar somewhere and have a few drinks, maybe arm wrestle a few guys, play some pool… But this works!” She leaned against one of the walls. "Even if Penny could, it doesn’t really count for pride. I take it you plan on fighting the reigning champion?”

‘Of course! The idea is that I’m gonna show I’m the best magical monster girl at fighting without my powers, and since nobody like me has tried beating this arena this way before, doing so will prove I’m the best!’ Mayra nodded at her fool-proof logic.

"It’s certainly the most out there way of tackling pride.” Iron mouse folded her hands behind her back. "Guess I’ll head up to the grand stands so that I can cheer for you!”

‘Great! Thanks! Now, I’m off!’ Mayra grabbed one of the nets on the side (because I seem to remember there being nets in gladiator arenas) and then ran off up the stairs towards the arena…

‘Hold on, it is not your turn yet,’ said the guard standing in the way of the stairs, looking like a typical legionnaire with shield and sword frowning somewhat at the strange contestant that had entered herself into the game.

‘Even better!’ Mayra said, and promptly attempted to jump above the guard. However, due to her complete lack of dragon powers, her jump was entirely insufficient and she jumped just straight into his shield instead.

‘H-hey! Stop!’ the guard said, but Mayra would not be opposed. If she could not jump over him, she would simply climb over him instead. Still with net in one hand and halberd in the other, she swung one arm up and got it over the top of the shield, heaved herself upwards so she could get the other hand over his helmet, pulled herself over him and raised her leg so she accidentally kicked him in the face trying to climb over him, causing him to fall backwards as human-Mayra jumped from his falling armored figure and dashed on into the arena upon landing…!

Once Mayra left the staging area, a massive wooden gate fell behind her. It shook the earth when it closed, but the spectators hardly cared. All one-hundred-thousand of them had been shaking the coliseum with their cheers. As distinct as Iron Mouse should have been, she was impossible to pick out of the crowd. She might as well have been a single speck of sand in the arena itself.

Things looked a lot different now that she was standing there. The sand looked pure and clean at a distance, but constant battle had stained it a shade of red. It shifted under her feet and spilled into her sandals. It was a lot easier to pick out the bones of slain beasts nestled among the dead sands.

But the previous fight had not concluded, but it looked like the champion was just finishing up.

Now, there was a part of Mayra that wanted to allow a duel to conclude. She knew that, if she fought someone, she wanted to be let to finish on her own. That said, she had a couple sins to knock off. Mayra grinned and hoped the following would count for Greed, seeing how she had forgotten the actual requirements.

‘HEY, LET ME HAVE SOME!’ she shouted out and dashed to join the fray… against the champion’s opponents. Because they needed picking off, first.

Mayra might as well have been whispering amongst a group of protesters, as her shout didn’t carry very far with all the cheering. The champion wouldn’t need any help either, as he knocked down his last opponent with a swing of his trident. He was a big guy. He had to be at least eight feet tall and clad in gladiator armor. The only thing more impressive than his size was that there were those that were willing to fight him. But at least they had numbers on their side, who was this thin girl charging at him from across the arena?

The crowd’s cheers changed from excitement to outrage, or was it concern? It was impossible to tell from inside the arena, and the champion didn’t seem to care. After you fell a hundred men, killing becomes natural, and after a thousand, it’s as natural as breathing. He had a new opponent, and so he would charge.

Mayra let out a little noise of disappointment when the champion finished off all the enemies without her help. She totally wanted to co-op the last few before they had to contend with each other. Oh, well!

‘Well, okay!’ Mayra said and threw the net aside for the moment (because honestly it was kinda heavy) ‘Let’s tumble!’

With that, she dashed at her opponent… somewhat sideways, because there was a bunch of downed guys in that direction, and forcing him to walk over those sounded amusing. Still, it was the champion, so she expected him to handle that pretty well. She bent down quickly and fished up a dropped shield, probably good to have. Still, she couldn’t let this end without a straight clash at least once, even if she probably had a severe disadvantage~! So she swung the halberd in his direction at least once, diagonally, ready to probably need to dodge a counter!

As Mayra suspected, the giant had little difficulty walking over the slain. He easily pressed them into the sand as he stepped on them. Though it wasn’t like the champion got this far being a mindless brute. If he could hop over them, he did.

But before long, they would be in striking range of each other. Mayra prepared to strike, and so did he. They seemed to be going for the exact same move. Both warriors timed their swings and attacked at the same time. Though reflex, they both anticipated getting hit and leaped backwards. The heads of their weapons collided, and the halberd and trident became intertwined. At the moment, it was like they were holding either end of an unusual nunchuck.

Both fighters were strong, but the champion was taller than Mayra was. He was able to lift her into the air and start spinning. The centrifugal force lifted her into the air as he continued to spin and spin.

‘Woh…!’ As fun as being flung around could possibly have been, Mayra had better plans. As soon as she realized what the champion was doing, she let go of her halberd before gaining enough speed to break bones upon landing. Instead, she ducked down among the bodies of fallen challengers and fished up a sword and shield!

‘Hey, big guy! What does fighting mean to you!?’ Mayra asked excitedly, as she bounced forward to clash one more time, probably aiming to avoid taking a direct attack and do some quick stabs if possible.

While Mayra was as bubbly as ever, the champion did not share her sentiment. He remained mute as he twirled his trident in his hand. Her halberd was cast aside as he attempted to bather sword off course. Most of her thrusts missed, while the rest grazed his thighs. Even if the wounds were superficial, she had drawn first blood.

He stopped spinning his trident and thrust it into the ground, trapping Mayra’s sword in the sand. She had just enough time to stop him from stepping on her by raising her shield. Her arm was strong, but there was a lot of pressure under his heel. The shield was starting to buckle and splinter.

Mayra blinked a bit as her sword got stuck to the ground, and her arm hurt as his muscular leg broke into her shield. Without being transformed, Mayra was at a strength disadvantage. She let go of the sword so that she could leap back and let his boot back to the ground before it broke through her arm/shield.

‘Stoic dude, eh? Well, I admire that, too!’ Mayra shouted as she rolled back and fished up another sword from a fallen gladiator. Now, then. How to end this.

However it was going to end, the gladiator wasn’t going to give her much time to think. It didn’t take much effort for the champion to wrench his trident out of the sand and lunge for Mayra. This time she could hear a beastial roar as he closed in.

‘Woa-!’ Of course, in her untransformed body, her body wasn’t quite as fast as her normal self. Mayra felt forced to simply lift her shield-arm… and the trident basically broke through it and pierced her arm. The untransformed dragon-girl gasped in the pain, and also had to restrain herself from just accidentally releasing the transformation then and there. That said… Mayra might have met the champion’s eyes… and her eyes grew momentarily beastly before she grinned.

‘CHA-!’ Mayra kicked up with one of her feet. Her leg wasn’t long enough to hit anything, but her intentionally loose metal boot sure flew straight off and into his face. She tore her arm off the trident to just charge straight into him, trying to knock him just the slightest diagonally back and right… because that’s where she’d thrown the net earlier. He’d never step into it and get trapped on his own, but now Mayra planted both her feet on him and kicked off!

It wasn’t possible to see the champion’s face, but his unsteady footing had to be a result of iron boot enacted vertigo. He fell backwards into the net, and Mayra wasted no time pulling it around him. But a mere net wasn’t going to hold him for long. Every muscle in his body flexed as he attempted to tear out of his confines. The champion was not going to surrender. His body would give out before he did.

So Mayra did the only sensible thing and swung a shield at his head.

The massive object slammed into the side of his helmet. It cracked so loud that even the spectators could hear it. Not long after, the champion’s body went limp. As soft as sand is, Mayra had little difficulty hearing her opponent fall over. That wasn’t because it was loud, but because the spectators had gone silent.

It was almost eerie. Mayra couldn’t even hear herself think just seconds earlier, and now she could hear the sand under her feet.

‘… Phew!’ Mayra stumbled back from her accomplishment, panting, still feeling the pain in her arm. ‘How’s that, Mousy!? I don’t need no… ow…’ With mere human endurance, that wound to her shield-arm was pretty serious, and she went down on one knee to balance herself and clutch the wound a bit. Still, she grinned, looking to where the champion lay. ‘Good fight! You make me proud to have this human form! Now, I’m… ow,’ she shuddered, but chuckled.

‘Heeey, isn’t this where you’re supposed to cheer for your new champion!?’ Mayra grinned as she looked up at the audience.

The colosseum came alive with noise, but it wasn’t happy. Mayra’s ears were assaulted from all sides with outrage. She was called a cheater among other much more harsh things. Some of the onlookers threw their half eaten chicken legs into the arena in protest. It wasn’t long before the guards had made their way into the arena.

"Well! That more than made up for the last one!” Iron Mouse phased into existence beside Mayra. "Just gluttony and greed now. Oh! And maybe some way to escape!”

‘… Huh,’ Mayra made a curious noise as she looked at the audience being really angry. It wasn’t the reaction she was expecting, neither did she really understand it. Did she break some rule she hadn’t realized existed? Still, just escaping and all that…

‘… Hey, saaaay…’ Mayra asked, smirking a little. ‘If I were to transform right now and play a bit with these guards for just a bit and enjoy playing with my food, would that count for gluttony? It’s certainly not something I NEED to do, but I sure could. Or maybe it’d be greedy of me, to fight on when I just don’t have to?’

"That’s…really something you want to do?” Iron mouse looked over her notes. "Let’s see…” While she looked things over the guards got closer and closer. "It could qualify for both! Really depends on how you go about it.” The guards had started to slow down, and were drawing their weapons. "Whatever you do, I’m sure it will be entertaining!”

‘Hehehehehe… Alright…’ Mayra grinned, and then bent down. She placed one hand on the ground, holding herself up and bending her knees, looking significantly more animalistic already with just this pose.

‘Don’t you worry, normies, later on your minds will come up with some explanation for what you actually saw, or something, point is, as long as I don’t kill ya I will be a-okay!’

Somehow, that doubled as Mayra’s magical incantation as a flash of fire and darkness enveloped her form, and then scales popped up from underneath her human disguise. The human guards staggered, unable to believe what they were seeing, before Mayra suddenly blasted forward.

She kicked a guard’s sword clean out of his hand with an upward kick. The same upward kick sent her up slightly into the air. A blast of fire spun her around so she could deliver a light kick (from Mayra’s perspective) into the same guard, sending him flying into one of his allies.

A spear was thrust at her, and Mayra caught the tip with her teeth. She grinned at the wielder, melted the tip in her mouth, and then spit it at the guard’s shield. The guard screamed in terror before a sudden punch knocked him out. The molten spear-tip didn’t hurt him physically. Maybe mentally.

A couple more like that and the remaining guards started retreating or fleeing, clearly not geared to take on a monster of this caliber. But when they spun around… a burst of fire delivered Mayra straight past them, where she rolled twice before getting back up on her dragon-feet. She turned and smirked at them.

‘Just so you know, I used none of this strength against the champion. That was aaaallll human-level strength. No cheating. So I won fair and square, alright?’ With that and a friendly grin, she then dashed at them and continued playing with her food…

Later, but in the same world…

‘Aaaah, that was fun. Sure, I prefer fighting worthy enemies, but playing with weak ones is also fun sometimes,’ Mayra sat in a tree outside the city in a nearby forest and laughed, as they had escaped that dimension earlier and left quite a mess behind them in that dimension. She’d avoided killing the guards, though. They weren’t ready to die. Not to a monster dragon, anyway.

‘So, what’s next? Did I get them?’ Mayra asked, grinning towards her companion.

Iron Mouse was checking things off in her notes. ”Alllll but one. Let’s get out of here.”

---

Once they had returned to the temple of the “Black Behemoth” Korone went over the trials with Iron Mouse.

”It sounds like you went on quite the adventure.” Korone nodded. ”You have a creative and wild mind. If you pass the final test, I’m sure you will be among our most prestigious members in no time.” She turned around and gestured for Iron Mouse and Mayra to follow. The path ahead was dark, and the flames from Mayra’s tail and the torches weren’t throwing a lot of light. ”Before we begin the final test, I have a question to ask you. I would say it is personal, but as a sisterhood we share information freely between each other. Have you been in many… romantic, relationships? And if not, have you ever wanted to?”

‘Oh, yeah, one!’ Mayra said, walking along with them with her hands behind her head, elbows in the air and tail swinging excitedly behind her. And yes, she was acting very much like a living torch, with that hair and glowing lines so. ‘My current one, in fact! I have a boyfriend!’ she said, in a happy tone that implied pride in the fact (and not the way one usually imagines that phrase being said). ‘I’m keeping him a secret, for his sake, buuuut since you asked, I guess it’s fine!’

Iron mouse elbowed Mayra’s arm. ”A boyfriend huh? You must really like him. Given how impulsive you are, I’m surprised you only have one! Have you been together long?”

Korone placed a finger over Iron Mouse’s lips. ”She said that she was keeping him a secret. Which, for the moment, is probably for the best.” She turned to look at Mayra. ”Because she’s probably going to want to keep us a secret from them, too.”

‘Hehe, maybe. But nope, only one. Because he’s the best, most handsome, and he’s mine, hehehe,’ Mayra replied anyway, looking very happy as she did. Still, moving on.

By the time they had stopped, they were in the center of a square chamber. One by one, more robed girls surfaced out of the darkness and looked to Mayra. They were all different shapes and sizes, ranging from quite short to very tall. They also had nearly every hair style imaginable and in every hue. Their cloaks were the only things that made them look the same.

”Unless he’s into stuff like this?” Iron Mouse scratched the back of her head.

But Iron Mouse went ignored as the droves of cultist magical girls closed in around Mayra. Dozens of hands clung to her as she was embraced on all sides. Even Korone moved in to wrap her arms around Mayra’s neck, which pressed a shorter girl’s head into Mayra’s stomach. ”You’re practically one of us now Mayra.” Korone pulled herself closer to Mayra. ”I trust you find the situation, agreeable?”

‘Huh, this is kinda your initiation, I suppose?’ Mayra asked, looking a bit confused with the cultists that had wrapped themselves around her. ‘Eh, sure!’ With them hugging her like this, Mayra did her best to wrap some arms around them in turn, albeit they were a bit too numerous to manage that.

Even more girls clung to Mayra, and then girls clung to the girls clinging to Mayra. But before Mayra could become three layers deep in girls, the uneven weight distribution of the girls caused Mayra to topple backwards. But she didn’t fall, but rather sunk deeper into what seemed like a giant harem.

---

‘Humans are weird,’ Mayra said, standing and scratching her cheek. If she could blush she probably would. Now, Mayra's always open for trying new things, but that one was out there.

”You are officially one of us.” Korone adjusted her robe. ”As you likely guessed, we’ve infiltrated Cradle, who we have vested interest in both protecting and learning more about. Helping them is helping our cause. That’s why Iron Mouse here is among their ranks.”

The aforementioned mouse was cleaning her ears. ”Sorry, all I can think about is that huge girl ball Mayra was a part of.”

”You could have been a part of it too. Though there’s only so much Mayra to go around, isn’t there?” Korone folded her arms together. ”You are presently an acolyte. Once you reach the rank of black apostle, I’ll show you the black behemoth itself.”

‘Oh, I can’t see it yet? Huh,’ Mayra commented. ‘What’s needed to become one of those?’

”Just continue to serve us. If you continue to perform well, you will get promoted eventually.” She nodded to Iron Mouse. ”If you have any other questions, just speak with the mouse.” Korone departed with the other girls.

Mayra kind of lost interest there, when it wasn’t really defined what she needed to do for the next step.

”I did warn you this cult stuff could get weird.” Iron Mouse patted Mayra on the shoulder. ”I know you had chicken wings already, but did you wanna have some pizza? Though I won’t stop you if you have something else to do or want to snuggle with the cultists some more.”

‘Oh, yeah, pizza, sure!’ Mayra shone up. ‘Jelena introduced me to pizza! It’s really good! Let’s go get some!’ she called, grinning and jumping up.

---

‘Hehehehehe,’ Mayra chuckled as she approached the warehouse “temple” once more, this time without any companionship because she’d made sure to come alone. ‘Gotta reach the rank of black apostle, eh? That, or I just sneak in myself and skip all the hassle,’ the dragon-girl chuckled, hidden by her darkness magic. She sought up the entrance that she knew was there…

And found nothing. Not even an entrance. You know, into those rooms she remembered walking just yesterday.

‘… Uh.’

She searched around, but all she could find was old normal warehouses. It was like the place she’d been to had just gone up in smoke. Confused, she jumped up on a roof and surveyed the area once more in a crouched position.

‘… Whelp, guess they have pretty good security. Oh, well. Guess it’s not the end of the world if I can’t find it. It’s a bit disappointing, though…’

But, with that, Mayra shrugged and jumped off somewhere else. Plenty of other things to hold her attention.

“…and over there, we’ve got a Mark XXVIII Technorganic Mezomorphazoid,” Doctor Nykannis pointed out as she continued the tour she was giving to her Lab’s latest visitor, a tall, aristocratic-looking man in extravagant attire. “He actually managed to last a whole ten minutes against Detroit’s legendary Mechamagicals. That’s a new record!” she added with a slightly unhinged grin.

“I take it that’s supposed to be an impressive achievement?” her guest inquired with a raised eyebrow, as he turned from the biomechanical kaiju to stare down at the diminutive young woman in an oversized lab coat that was walking beside him.

“You really don’t get out much, do you?” Nykannis replied with a smirk. “They’re a team of giant robot magical girls. Not magical girls who pilot giant robots, mind you,” the mad scientist clarified with a raised finger. “Magical girls who are giant robots, full Ultraman style! Just imagine if Madoka Kaname and Wing Zero were one, singular walking apocalypse, and you can start to get an idea of just how insanely powerful these things are. So, yeah, it is an impressive achievement,” she concluded, giving her guest an annoyed glare.

“If you say so,” the man replied, not even attempting to hide his disinterest. “Tell me, Doctor, did you invite me here for any particular reason, or was it simply to bore me out of my skull?”

“Two reasons, actually,” Nykannis noted, holding up a pair of bony fingers. “First, I was impressed by how you realized that even someone as powerful as yourself didn’t stand a chance against the Protagonist Power of two Patron Champions, and so you decided to set up one of your thralls to die in your place. That kinda genre savviness is pretty rare, and I enjoy learning about rare things. Which brings us to the second reason,” the mad scientist went on. “You’ve got all the strengths of a vampire with none of the weaknesses. That alone makes you quite the interesting specimen, but coupled with your knowledge of the rules governing this reality plenum, well, I just had to meet you!” the Monarch of Mad Science explained with a grin.

“Y’know, you actually remind me of this one universe where a so-called ‘super genius’ used a biomechanical nanovirus to turn the Earth into a generic fantasy world, all because of some childhood trauma, or some shit,” Nykannis continued, using air quotes when she said ‘super genius’. “See, she was so faithful to the concept that even if she could engineer what was, for all intents and purposes, a vampire, with none of a vampire’s weaknesses, she actually chose not to! Can you believe it?! Not only that, but for all her supposed brilliance, she was also a total fucking Luddite! She wanted this to be a medieval fantasy world, so she had the nanites eradicate any technology more advanced than what was around in the low middle ages. They couldn’t even build fucking crossbows, for shit’s sake!” the mad scientist ranted, becoming more annoyed with each passing second. “ANYWAY, since I already know how those vampires were made, I wanted to find out how you compared, see what made you tick,” she explained, her fingers morphing into an array of advanced surgical instruments in a swirling cloud of shimmering nanites.

“A fascinating story,” the vampire noted in a snide tone that clearly conveyed he found it to be anything but. “Although I warn you, Doctor,” he added, his eyes taking on a dangerous gleam. “If you dare to lay even a single scrawny finger upon my august personage, I shall drain you dry.”

“Nyahahahaha! I’d like to see you try!” Nykannis retorted after a burst of deranged cackling. “Oh, and you’re a little late to be making threats, since I completely dissected and reassembled you two seconds after you got here,” she added with a twisted grin.

“You do not seriously expect me to believe…”

“The whole process took less than half a nanosecond,” the Monarch of Mad Science explained. “At those speeds, even your impressive reflexes don’t amount to jack shit. It was all over before you could even comprehend it was happening, and if you want proof,” she added, conjuring a holodisplay detailing the vampire’s full internal makeup. “Just take a look.”

“Very well, Doctor Kannis,” the vampire said after a moment of stunned silence. “I must concede that I am impressed. Yet, if you have already attained what you sought, why continue to host me? After all, I am well aware that my charms have no effect on one such as you.”

“I enjoy showing off how amazing I am,” Nykannis replied nonchalantly. “Besides, I meant it when I said I thought you were pretty impressive, and so, I wanna help you out,” she added. “Y’know, get you set up in another city. I hear Hydrangopolis is particularly lovely this time of year. Now, most places in this plenum have annoying magical girls to contend with, and Hydrangopolis is no exception, so you’re gonna need a way to deal with ‘em. That’s another reason I was showing off my creations, although I get the feeling that you probably want something more suited to your particular aesthetic, so we can just…” Her voice trailed off as a notification appeared on her goggles’ HUD. “Hmm… It seems my other guest has just arrived…” the mad scientist noted. “I’ll need to attend to them, but you can just peruse around until I get back, see if anything catches your eye.”

“You expect me to be able to navigate this labyrinth unaided?” the vampire inquired pointedly.

“Not really,” Nykannis conceded. “Which is why this little guy will be serving as your new tour guide,” she added as a multi-limbed robot materialized next to her. “Just tell him the kinds of stuff you’d like to see and he’ll take you there. That said, if I were you, I’d definitely check out the genetically enhanced cyborg dinosaurs growing in vat cluster seventy-three,” she noted with a grin. “That’s the one next to the S-class Void and Apex Pageless. Anyways, I’ll see you later,” the mad scientist told him, before stepping through a just-opened rectangular portal of glowing yellowy-green energy.

On the other side waited an unremarkable girl in casual clothes with short, dark hair and equally short stature. She was conversing with a glowing polyhedron, which hovered next to her.

“Kate!” the Monarch of Mad Science greeted with a big grin, spreading her arms wide in jubilation. “So, I take it your trip went well?”

“For the most part,” Kate confirmed. “Like I was telling Xozooth, here, I had a little run in with some Pageless in an alleyway, but it wasn’t anything a pair of APEX-Grade Armored Gorelions couldn’t handle,” she added with a smirk as she twirled an ornate golden whistle around her fingers.

“You sure are getting a lot of milage outta that thing, huh?” Nykannis muttered, giving her friend an annoyed scowl.

“You better believe it!” the photographer replied. “I mean, it sure beats the hell outta havin’ to turn into Rapunzel on her wedding day every time I’m in a jam…”

“I’ll bet,” Nykannis snarked. “Anyway, if you two are done chatting, I was wondering if you wanted to unwind for a bit. Y’know, check out some entertaining interdimensional happenings?”

“Sure,” Kate replied with a chuckle. “Xozooth was just about to give me my payment.”

“Indeed,” the eldritch brain confirmed. “You did an exemplary job, Miss Carson, and I’m told my former apprentice greatly enjoyed my letter. Thus, as renumeration, I bequeath to you a polychronal reality shard,” the polymathamagician declared, the shimmering, prismatic shard wavering into being next to him before falling into Kate’s outstretched hand. “This shall allow you to perceive several pertinent facets of the Micro and Macrocosmic ALL in relation to any query you pose to it.”

“Sweet!” Kate exulted with a grin. “Magic 8 ball on steroids, you are gonna make my life a heck of a lot easier!” she told the shard, before placing it in a jacket pocket.

“Can we start now?” Nykannis inquired, while tapping her foot impatiently.

“Yup!” Kate confirmed as she hopped into a newly created and heavily cushioned reclining chair. “So, whatdya wanna watch?”

“Oh, just a little something you helped set up,” Nykannis said with a sly smirk as she plopped down in her own chair, with Xozooth floating over to hover beside her. “Should be pretty hilarious, and I know how much you love comedies.”

“Ah, I see you’ve even created a title card for it,” Xozooth observed as the interdimensional viewer’s panoramic display activated to reveal the elaborate title card in question.

“Have I ever told you that you put way too much effort into these things?” Kate asked with an amused chuckle.

“Once or twice.”

---

Finn would find himself sitting at a table in the Overcity’s Taste of Heaven Tea Shoppe as he waited for the next stage of his training to begin. The atmosphere was certainly pleasant, if a bit whimsical, what with the giant teddy bears serving the tea, but Finn was someone with many an important task to complete. Thus he wasn’t particularly fond of wasting time in such a manner. Thankfully, after about ten minutes had elapsed, his new “instructor” appeared.

The ringing of a small bell above the establishment’s entrance heralded the arrival of an energetic-looking girl with bright red hair. “Hey, hey!” she called out with a wave when she caught sight of Finn, her cheerful smile broadening until it spread from ear to ear. A moment later, and the one eyed young man would find her standing next to his table, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “You’re Flynn, right?!” she asked as she dropped a chess box on the table, barely missing the appetizer Finn had ordered. “I’m Stacy! Some girl named Kim… or was it Kat…?” she wondered, her gaze drifting towards the ceiling as her smile drooped into a thoughtful frown. “Or maybe Nate…? Yuzuru…? Well, anyway!” she continued, refocusing on Finn, her eyes having taken on an even more excited gleam. “She told me you wanted to challenge me at chess, so, like, here I am! Now, I know I don’t look all that much like my Glimmer avatar,” she added. “But that’s ‘cause I’m using a super fancy holographic disguise thing to make me look like how I did before my accident! ‘Cause, like, I’ve heard some people say how I look now kinda scares ‘em? I mean, I think I look crazy cool, but whatevs, I guess! Oh! And speaking of Glimmer, I’ll bet you saw my post where I explained my super awesome zoo strategy! But that’s not gonna help much, ‘cause I’ve totally changed tactics since then!” she declared with a confident grin, before sliding into the seat opposite Finn. “So! Wanna get started?!”

Frankly the boy didn't know how a game of chess was important for his little preparations, but he figured it'd be a nice break from...well, everything else going on. The girl acting as his next instructor seemed a bit scatter-brained, but harmless. Though what the heck does she mean by zoo strategy??

"I guess." Finn answered with a shrug, moving his appetizer to the side to prevent it from getting crushed. "Might be a bit rusty though, hope that's alright."

“Oh, that’s okay!” Stacy reassured Finn when the magical boy noted that he hadn’t played in a while. “I just remembered that girl actually said the real reason you wanted to face me was so you could get some practice before goin’ up against some super amazing player named Kenny. Or was it Lenny? Well, anyway,” she continued as she placed the board between them. “Let’s get to it!” Once the board was in place, she reached into her jacket pocket and retrieved what looked like a green… toe…? “So, what color do ya wanna be?” she asked, placing the toe on the white square on the corner of her side of the board. “Oh, and how do ya wanna work Free Parking?”

"Is that real?" Finn, dumbfounded already, couldn't help blurting out as he pointed to the eccentric choice of a game piece. "And what do you mean by 'Free Parking'?? Isn't the goal of chess taking the other's king piece???"

“King piece?” Stacy echoed with a frown. “What’s that? Oh, and yeah!” she added with a giggle as she picked up the toe so Finn could take a closer look. “It’s totally real! This is my pinky toe! I always use it as my playing piece! So,” she asked after returning it to the board. “What do you usually use?”

"Definetly nothing like that... Uhm." Finn scrounged through both his pockets and hammerspace to see what he could use. As confused as he is, might as well roll with it for now. Soon enough he decided to just use one of his hero tokens; a rose gold coin with a rose carved into it, to match with the theme of his weapon. "This'll have to do."

“Ooooh! That’s cool!” Stacy noted approvingly. “Kinda pretty, too! Oh, but, um, it sounds like you could use a refresher on the rules,” she added. “Did ya want me to go over the basics?”

With a huff, the boy let one of his elbows rest on the table. "Might as well."

“Okay, so, like, the white squares are one player’s properties, and the black squares are the other’s,” Stacy began. “Except for the ones on the outer edge, which is where our playing pieces move. Now, the white square our pieces are on is called Go. The black square on this other corner here is the Jail,” she explained, pointing to the space in question. “That black square on the corner to your left is the Cop. Ya gotta watch out for him, ‘cause if ya land on him, he’ll send you to Jail! The only way to get out of there is to pay the fine or roll doubles. Then there’s Free Parking, that’s the white square to your right. There are two different ways to play with that space, so we’ll have to decide which way we’re gonna play with before we start. Then we have the buildings,” she continued. “First are the houses,” she explained, taking out a pawn. “They only give ya a tiny bit of money if another player lands on their row, but they’re super cheap! Then there are the zoos, which cost quite a bit more, but they give ya lots more money, and they even force the other player to lose a turn, ‘cause they’re spending so much time lookin’ at all the animals. Next up, we have the cathedrals. They’re crazy expensive, but they make your opponent give ya tons of money in return. Forts are cool, cause they cancel out the effects of all the other player’s buildings in their two rows, but if they also build a fort, the two cancel each other out, and nothing happens. Finally, there’s the mansion and the city hall. There’s only one of each of them, ‘cause the mansion’s crazy powerful, and whoever puts the city hall out first wins the game! So, is it all starting to come back to you, now?”

"Monopoly."

“No, no, it’s nothing like monopoly,” Stacy corrected. “For one thing, our playing pieces don’t have any special abilities. And there’s no direct combat in this either, which is kinda a shame, but it doesn’t make it any less fun!”

And with that, Finn's expression comically blanked out. Who in Grimm's legacy taught her all this misinformation??? They oughta get a damn earful! Whatever, the quicker they get on with this, the less time he could get a headache finding rhyme or reason in it. "Nevermind, let's just get started."

“Okay!” Stacy replied cheerfully. “So, what color do you want?”

"I'll stick to white."

“In that case, you get to go first!” Stacy declared, handing him some starting money and a pair of six-sided dice. “Good luck!”

Finn quietly set the not-monopoly money to the side and rolled the pair of dice. Oh, he got a nine. Decent start. He moved his piece over that amount of spaces.

“Oooh, a nine!” Stacy exclaimed. “That puts ya on a black space! I forgot to mention earlier, but if ya land on a space of your opponent’s color, it’ll cost twice as much to build on that row, plus if they have a building there, the money it charges you is doubled as well! Oh, and we never decided how we wanna play with Free Parking,” she added. “The boring way is to just have it be a space where nothing happens, but the fun way is to have it double your next roll, ‘cause you get to use one of the cars there, or something.”

"Oh, my bad." Finn apologized, scratching his head. "Guess we can go with the fun option."

“Okay, cool!” Stacy replied with a pleased grin. “And I’m such a dummy!” she added with a giggle, smacking the side of her head, before digging through the box’s various contents. “I shoulda given ya one of these to start with! Here!” she said, presenting Finn with a small piece of paper with some notes scribbled on it. “This is a cheat sheet! It’s got the rules for all the buildings on it in case ya forget!”

"I'll take a look at it, thanks."

After waiting a short bit to let Finn read over the cheatsheet, Stacy asked, “So, are ya gonna build anything, or can I go now?”

With that, Finn couldn't help but pinch the bridge of his nose. "Ah geez, where's my brain today? My apologies, I'll go ahead and buy the square." He told Stacy, taking out the needed money for it.

“Which square?” Stacy asked with a slightly confused expression. “And what do ya wanna build on it?”

Finn comically blinked, dumbfounded once again.

"The square I landed on???" He tilted his head, the checking the cheatsheet. "And ah, a house seemed like a good start."

“Oh, uh, you can’t actually build on that space,” Stacy explained. “Or any of the edge spaces. Only on the center ones. So, like, any of these three white squares on this row here,” she added, pointing to the spaces in question. “But, yeah, a house isn’t a bad choice for your first building, especially when you don’t know what the other player’s planning to do.”

...

What even.

He was slowly starting to realize why this was concidered a test. The boy took a deep breath. "My mistake. Gonna go ahead with your turn then?" He asked her.

“Well sure, if ya don’t wanna build anything,” Stacy replied, rolling the dice. “Oh cool, I got a five!” she announced, moving her toe the relevant number of spaces. “That’s a black space, so I don’t have to pay extra! I’m gonna build a house on the second black space above me,” she added, paying the required fifty dollars and placing a “house” on the space in question.

Wordlessly, Finn rolled the dice once it was his turn.

"Got a four."

“Oh wow! You landed on another black space!” Stacy noted. “I guess ya really don’t have the best luck, huh?” she asked with a giggle. “So, did ya wanna build something, or is it my turn again?”

The side of his mouth quirked down slightly, then he shook his head. "I should probably go ahead and build something. Can I place a house here?" Finn asked her, shuffling through his game money.

“Okay, since you’re on a black space, that’ll cost $100,” Stacy told him, before picking up the dice and rolling… “Six! Another black space! No double cost for me! But, uh, I don’t think I’m gonna build anything else for now, so back to you I guess!” she added with a giggle.

With a hum, he grabbed the dice and rolled again.

"Got seven."

“Oooh! That puts ya on a white space! Buildings’ll cost normal price for ya there!” she added. “Looks like your luck’s improving!”

And so, over the course of the next hour, the strange game continued. While Stacy began building rows of houses on each diagonal line, Finn constructed a hodgepodge of buildings in seemingly random places. Although things looked rather grim at first as he struggled to learn the odd rules and keep from showing his disgust whenever Stacy’s toe landed atop his coin, things eventually began to turn around for the magical boy. Ultimately, thanks to a few key building placements, coupled with a few terrible rolls on Stacy’s part, Finn emerged victorious.

“Wow! Nice job!” a wide eyed Stacy commended. “Ya might’ve started off a little rough, but what a comeback! Ya really kicked my butt!” she added with a giggle.

Finn nervously chuckled. "Honestly, I was just winging it for the most part." He explained, reclaiming his hero token while making note to disinfect it later. "But something told me I wasn't going to win through normal means, so I figured I'd take a gamble and whittle down my opponent to nothing." His smile then turned a little more smug.

“Well, it really paid off!” Stacy replied. “And my new strategy looked so cool in my head, too…” she added with a slight frown, before brightening back up again. “Guess I’ll just have to come up with somethin’ even cooler! So, are ya feelin’ more confident about your odds of beatin’ this Jenny chick now?”

"Penny, you mean?"

“Yeah! That’s her name!” Stacy confirmed with a giggle. “Your friend said she has crazy skills, but I’ve never heard of her before. Is she just one of those types that doesn’t like attention, so she keeps things on the DL?”

"I mean, if she didn't like attention she shouldn't have made herself the so-called Queen of Penrose." Finn crossed his arms and shrugged.

“Queen of Penrose?!” Stacy echoed. “Holy crap, for reals?!” she added, her eyes going wide. “I mean, I don’t know where Penrose is, but that sounds crazy important! Hey wait… Is that where that super crazy cool rave was?!” she inquired, her eyes going wider still.

His eyebrows rose. "If you're talking about the rave incident that took out a whole fleet of Beacon and then some and somehow spawned a Horror to boot? Yeah." Atleast from what info he could gather from other Cradle members and witness accounts. "But I wouldn't get your hopes up. Penrose is no kingdom, and not one you'd want to trouble yourself with."

“Wow, a Horror showed up, too?!” Stacy exclaimed, looking far more excited about that fact than a sane person probably should have been. “That’s so freaking awesome! It totally sucks that we had to leave early ‘cause of that crazy powerful lightning dragon thing…” she added with a frown. “We missed all the cool stuff… Hey! Was Penny the girl who summoned the lighting dragon?!” she asked excitedly. “‘Cause it would be crazy cool to play a game of chess against her sometime!”

"Honestly? I dunno. I wasn't there, I only know about it through gathering info." Finn explained.

“Oh, well, anyways, ya think ya got a better shot of winning against her now?” Stacy asked.

"Well I'm not sure how a game of 'chess' is supposed to help me win." The boy rose a brow. "But I guess if I'm able to beat this, then sky's the limit."

“That’s the spirit!” Stacy cheered. “But, uh, aren’t you challenging them to a chess game?” she asked, tilting her head in confusion.

Finn's eye widened in dumbfoundment. "Of course not, I'm preparing to fight her 1v1, not play board games! Wasn't even sure what the point of this was at first!"

“Wait, really? Well, in that case, did ya wanna have a practice fight against me?!” she asked eagerly. “We could do it right here! I’ll bet these big teddy bears would look really hilarious running around on fire!” she added with a giggle.

Finn's eye widened further. "H-Hey, let's not act like bulls in a china shop here! If you wanna fight me, let's atleast do it somewhere less risky??" He asked of her, really not wanting the stuffed bears to get hurt cause of them. They're too cute!

“Awww… You’re no fun….” Stacy pouted. “All right, fine,” she added. “Where do you wanna do it?”

After a taking moment to think, the boy stood up from his seat. "Think I know a place, follow me."

“Okay!” Stacy replied, quickly packing up her chess game and following after the magical boy. "Just lead the way! Aye, Aye, Cap'n! Full speed ahead!

...

Admittedly, there wasn't much space in the overcity they could spar in peace at. So Finn decided to go with empty parking lot on the quieter side of town.

"Alright, so how are we doing this? No magic? Only magic?" He asked Stacy.

“Let’s go all out!” Stacy declared with an enthusiastic grin. “That way, I can show off all my crazy cool moves!”

All out? Oh boy.

Finn drew his canesword out. "O-Okay, but tell me if I go too far!"

“Too far…?” Stacy asked, tilting her head. “Um, I thought we were just gonna be fightin’ each other? I mean, you’re, like, pretty cute and all, but I’m really not ready for a serious relationship just yet, plus, there’s someone else I kinda have a bit of a crush on, so, yeah…”

It took a moment for him to piece together what she was confused by. With a flinch, he quickly shook his head. "Nonononono- I-I didn't mean THAT! I meant if I accidentally hurt you badly, n-not THAT! Never!!" He tried to clarify.

“Oh, okay!” Stacy replied. “That’s a relief! And, like, don’t worry about me! Ever since my accident, I’m, like, totally unkillable!” she added with a grin. “Oh yeah!” she exclaimed as something important occurred to her. “I should probably show ya what I actually look like now huh?!”

Accident? Unkillable? Finn rose a brow. "Might as well?" He tilted his head.

“All right, Flynn!” Stacy announced. “Check this out!” A moment later, the girl was enveloped by a burst of crackling lighting, and then… “KA-ZOW!!!” the transformed girl shouted, gleefully creating her own sound effect. “Whatdya think?!” she asked eagerly. “Pretty awesome, huh?!”

Oh, a monster girl! A zombie no less! Finn's eye seem to light up with intrigue and definitely not cause the reveal was sick as hell. He nodded eagerly.

“So, wanna get started?!” Stacy asked, still grinning from ear to ear. “I’ve got some super sweet new moves I’ve been wantin’ to try out!”

"Right!" He nodded again, getting into a fighting stance.

“Hells yeah!” Stacy cheered as she struck a dramatic action pose, her razor-sharp claws crackling with electricity. “Ready or not, here I come!”

An instant later, the patchwork girl shot forward in a burst of speed, the wicked Zinethonium claws of one hand darting out to slash Finn’s chest.

Finn quickly lifted his weapon up to block the initial strike, forcibly pushing the claws out of range to deliver a powered roundhouse kick in return.

The kick pushed Stacy back, but she quickly recovered.

“Nice moves!” She commended with a grin. “Like, you’re not related to that Errol Flynn guy, are ya?!” she asked. “Cuz that would be crazy cool!”

He rose a brow. "Errol? Who are you talking about?" Granted, dialogue mid fight would impede him, but he was curious.

“He’s, like, this super cool movie star guy!” Stacy explained, while shooting a few lightning encased fireballs at Finn. “He was, like, crazy awesome at sword fighting and stuff! And since ya have the same last name, I was thinkin’ maybe he might’ve been your dad or grandad, or, like, maybe even your son! Cuz, like, I know looks don’t mean much to magical people, so you could totally be, like, a thousand years old!” she added, obviously quite enthusiastic about the prospect.

Okay then.

"Right, one: I don't go by my surname, and that's not even my surname!" Boosting his speed with beast magic, he broke into a sprint to avoid the barrage of fireballs, circling around Tracy. "My name is Finnegan Vanhorn, I usually go by Finn, and as far as my family tree goes?"

...Wait, when was the last time he even thought about that? His family? His expression turned into an uncertain frown for a second.

"Nevermind that, you at least got close with the age bit!" Right, time to close in. Using one of the streetlamps, he launched himself at his opponent.

“Holy freaking crap!” Stacy exclaimed as she used a pair of flame jests to somersault over the charging magical boy. “Your name ain’t Flynn?! Dang…” she added with a frown as she shot an arc of lightning into Finn’s back. “Sorry about that… I can be really terrible with names sometimes… Oh! Hey! I know! You can call me ‘Tracy’ from now on to make up for it!” she declared, rapidly returning to her typical cheerfulness. “Sound cool?!”

Finn hissed in pain as the lightning strike hit its target. It burned. Thank god for regeneration. He hit the pavement and swiftly bounced back to his feet.

"I'd rather not be rude. But, you mean like a nickname?" He tilted his head, his visible eye turning silver. He was going into Avatar mode.

“Yeah, sure, like one of those!” Stacy agreed with a series of rapid nods, eagerly going along with that idea. “I mean, lots of people call me all sorts of stuff like ‘Stupid Stacy’, or ‘Stacy Stitches’, but this one’s extra cool, cuz it’s like a secret codename, or one of those alias things!” she added, before lunging at him again, her clawed hands sheathed in both lightning and flame.

The claws would end up striking a rather large chunk of the parking lot Finn had lifted up to block with. Gritting his teeth, he swung the concrete pillar a distance away, and fired a blast of gravity magic to obliterate it; hopefully hitting Stacy along with it.

“Woah!” Stacy exclaimed as she stumbled back from Finn’s counterattack. “You’re really strong!” the patchwork girl commended with a smile, clearly impressed. “I think it’s time for a surprise attack!” she declared, before pulling her head off and chucking it at the magical boy. “Heads up, Finn!” she called as her cranium hurled through the air. “Get it?! Cuz I’m throwing my head at—” The next instant, there was an audible thump as Stacy’s head hit the wall behind Finn and bounced onto the ground, having missed its target by several feet. “Ooof…” Stacy groaned. “Ramona’s always telling me I should work on my aim,” she noted glumly. “Guess I should’ve remembered to do that, huh?”

"It usually helps." Finn nodded, lifting Stacy's head off the ground with more gravity magic, and moving it back to her body with a gentle gust of wind magic as well. "You alright?"

“Yeah, I’m fine!” Stacy replied enthusiastically. “But holy freaking crap!” she added as her head was floated back to her waiting body. “Like, that gravity magic of yours is pretty useful, huh?!”

"My magic spec's Beast, actually." He explained, pointing to his eye. "Avatar mode. Or, Omni-spec, however it's called. Need to practice these new powers more."

“Oh wow!” Stacy exclaimed, her eyes going wide. “I’ve never even heard of anything like that before! That’s really awesome!” she added with a big grin. “You must have won the magical lottery or somthin’, huh?! Holy freaking crap! No wonder ya beat me in Chess!” she added, as if she had finally solved some ancient mystery. “Your luck must be crazy good! Heck, you’re probably some awesome gambler who’s made trillions, am I right?!” she asked excitedly as she leaned in close, completely oblivious to how much she was invading his personal space.

As much as Finn would lean away in response, he didn't want to come off as rude. "U-Uh, I wouldn't say my luck is...good...I just happen to have the proper connections." He tried to explain.

“Oh, wow! So, you’re like some shady mobster guy?!” Stacy asked. “That’s even coolerWoah!” she yelped as she tripped on some of the jagged concrete and fell on top of Finn.

The next thing she knew, their lips were touching…

“Gah!” she cried, leaping back up. “S-Sorry! Sorry! I didn’t do that on purpose, okay?!” she apologized hastily, her cheeks beginning to turn red (despite not having any blood circulating through them).

It….took him a moment to process what just happened. His eyes were widened in a stunned surprise, that much was expected, but was that a hint of fright hidden beneath his reaction? He silently sat back up. Seeing how Stacy reacted, he frowned and tried to wave it off, hopefully reassuring her that she's fine.

“Oh, phew, that’s a relief,” Stacy exhaled. “I didn’t want ya to hate me for life just because of a little accident, y’know?” she added with a lopsided smile. “Although… It’s kinda your own fault that I tripped,” she added after thinking things over a moment. “I mean, if ya hadn’t been so rough with the pavement, it might have been easier to walk on. Just sayin’.”

The boy visibly flinched, his frown stuck around. _"M'sorry." He mumbled, wrapping one arm around his knee and resting a hand against his neck "scar". He was lucky that didn't send his head rolling.

“Hey, it’s cool!” Stacy hastened to reassure him. “I don’t mind if you don’t,” she added. “So, uh, I guess you win this round, huh? I gotta say, if you fight like this when ya go up against Kenny, you’ll win for sure! Oh, wait… Or was it Jenny…?”

"Penny."

“Oh, yeah!” Stacy exclaimed, slapping a palm against her forehead and sticking out her tongue. “I told ya I totally suck at names!” she added with a giggle.

The corners of Finn's mouth quirked back up into a smile. "It's fine. I admit, this was kinda fun." He got up off the ground and dusted himself off. "Maybe when all this blows over we can rematch, yeah?" He offered as he glanced at the rather large pothole he made. "I should probably fix that while I'm still in this state. See you later, Tracy."

“See ya later, Finn!” Stacy called with a departing wave. “And you bet!” she added. “We totally gotta do this again sometime! And next time, we can play Monopoly!”

---

“What an amusing pair,” Xozooth noted once the “show” had ended.

“No kidding,” Kate agreed with a laugh. “Gotta say, I wasn’t expecting them to actually fight each other,” the photographer added, turning to Nykannis. “Honestly, I’m kinda surprised Stacy managed to hold her own against your overpowered Anti-Penny science project. Well, at least for a little while.”

“She fared better than Oros, that’s for sure,” Nykannis noted.

“What happened to her?”

“She got herself killed,” the mad scientist replied flatly. “But there’s no need to look so shocked. I’ve got a distinct feeling we’ll see her again soon enough…”

“My condolences,” Xozooth intoned solemnly, before his polyhedral form began to waver out of existence. “I thoroughly enjoyed the entertainment, Doctor,” he added. “But, alas, I must return to my cosmic contemplations. Farewell for now…”

“So, any other interesting stuff happen while I was gone?” Kate inquired once Xozooth had departed.

“Well, I gave Phase Two that field test I’ve been preparing them for,” Nykannis replied.

“Oh shit… So how did that go?”

“Better than expected. They managed to comprehensively kick the shit out of Princess Glittertits, and then after they brought her here, I tried out my new Nightmare Cannon on her. Ultimately, she was able to overcome its effects, but I was able to glean enough data from the process to correct that particular deficiency. Oh, and that’s not even the best part! She actually apologized for disrupting my work and honestly said she thought I was awesome!”

“Clearly your incomparable super-scientific genius was too much for her,” Kate noted with a wry smirk.

“Nyahahaha! Of course it was!” Nykannis replied. “And after that, I gave her a little tour, culminating with a viewing of my epic portrayal of Doktor Xylannis in the cataclysmic conclusion of Beautiful Guardian Gunslinger Alexis!”

“Wow… What did she think of it?”

“She loved it, of course!” Nykannis responded, as if it should have been painfully obvious. “Thanks to being blessed by my amazing awesomeness, Beautiful Guardian Gunslinger Alexis is the greatest magical girl show ever made! I mean, Divine Magical Maid Altea doesn’t even come remotely close! ANYWAY,” she added. “The only other thing of interest is Wonderland attacking a nowheresville town named Bolorton and taking it over as a staging area for their inventible assault on everyone’s favorite shithole.”

“Guess Queenie’s serious about using the Nexus there, huh?”

“You could say that,” Nykannis replied dryly. “And speaking of, I’ve got a new job for you.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, Jen and I were thinking it might be advantageous to determine if Mariette really is Queenie’s daughter, and if not, to locate the actual ‘Alice’, if she even exists,” the Monarch of Mad Science explained. “Doing so would give us a substantial amount of leverage over her, which I think you’ll agree is a very good thing, considering how pivotal a player she is in regard to current events.”

“So, you want me to do some digging, huh?” Kate asked. “Find out the real story?”

“Exactly,” Nykannis confirmed.

“Heh, brings me back to my news agency days,” Kate noted with an amused grin. “And it’s definitely gonna take some time,” she continued. “I mean, from what I know of Mariette, even though her current name’s an alias, her original name wasn’t Alice, and her mom looks like an ordinary person, so I’m pretty sure she’s not actually the Queen’s daughter. Still, it doesn’t hurt to investigate a little deeper,” the photographer added.

“True,” Nykannis conceded. “But I agree, her being Queenie’s precious Alice is highly doubtful, which means you’ll have to investigate Queenie herself.”

“Yeah…” Kate agreed, not sounding particularly pleased by the thought. “‘Cause just checking out every person named Alice isn’t really the most feasible course of action. Heck, I know this one girl named Alice who’s part of a support group that meets at Vanessa’s place,” she noted, pulling up the girl’s profile on her camera’s holodisplay. “Alice Vanderbeck, chronologically seventeen years old, actually has blonde hair in her mundane form, Randomness Spec, became a magical girl six months ago, lives with her grandparents in Seayoto.”

“And her parents?”

“Her father died in a bank robbery when she was three. He was the robber. Her mother went nuts and was placed in an institution when she was nine.”

“Is she still alive?”

“The mother? Yeah,” Kate confirmed, giving the display a few taps. “Megan Vanderbeck, patient 371, Seayoto Sanatarium.”

“Hmmm… It’s a long shot, but see if you can find out what exactly drove her insane.”

“You think Queenie might have had something to do with it?” Kate asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Probably not, but since Her Royal Bitchiness is going around investigating anyone who vaguely reminds her of her daughter, then it’s worth taking a closer look at,” the mad scientist replied. “Anyway, you have some starting points, at least,” she added. “And once you’re done with that, there’s something else I want you to look into…”

“Really? What?”

“Well, since you’re so proud of those new pets of yours, I was thinking we could really put them to the test,” Nykannis told her with a maniacal smirk. “What do you know about cross-dimensional caustic bovines?”

’Guess I am early…’ Penny would muse to herself as she looked around. Though that fact wasn’t one she was unaware of even before her arrival. The thought was superfluous, and she knew it, but she refused to cede having it.

Regardless it did mean that the roof was empty. Again not a terribly surprising thing all in all, it was one of the corporate buildings in downtown Penrose after all, and at this time of night there wouldn’t really be any reason for anyone normal to be up here. Which was all the better for the meet up.

That’s not to say it was a bad spot by any means. The overlook here across the rest of the city was one of the best in Penrose and was one of Penny’s favorite spots to come when she had a spare moment.

With ease Penny would make her way over to a mostly covered nook, one of the corners of the building was walled off in effect by the maintenance storage hut and one of the AC units. Giving a semi private space to relax. More than once Penny had been tempted to keep something up here more permanently, but the odds of someone finding it and removing it was too high for her to actually follow through on.

Sitting down against the wall of the maintenance hut Penny would cast her gaze off over the city below. Letting the glimmering lights below soothe her as much as they could.

---

Soon enough, after perhaps a bit of time to spend in silence there on the roof, the door to the rooftop would creak open on its aging industrial-grade hinges. Two sets of footsteps would then follow as two people emerged from the dusty stairwell and onto the roof proper-

“Mistress Serenity, please be careful with those bags! You’ve already struggling as it-”



“Oww…they need to fix…that stupid…last step…corporate cheapskates…”

“Oh dear! You must be more careful, Mistress! Here-”

After the Bolorton situation, Serenity had sought to ask after Penny, to which she’d been greeted with a measure of surprise after finding the answer.

To say that getting the news about her mechanical friend having been booted out of Beacon, and becoming the self-declared “Queen of Pensorse” at that, was definitely something. Well, perhaps it wasn’t too extreme a surprise, but a surprise nonetheless given her own existence as a ‘literal former horror’ and still being a member of the faction at the same time. But even with her desire to talk to Cardinal Ishtar yet still…she had first and foremost tried to get into contact with the robotic monster girl before arranging a meet-up for lunch.

Penny’s choice of location, of course.

As Vivianne helped her off of the ground with an anxious expression, trying to dust the dark-haired schoolgirl off, Serenity tried to pick up a couple of bags off of the ground before turning to the side and finally noticing her quarry. Well, more like noticing her standout robot friend with blue-and-white armor plates, seemingly golden robotic eyes, and four weaponized limbs attached to her back. That all wasn’t hard to notice in the general sense, really.

“Penny!” the untransformed magical girl called out, smiling but excitedly trying to wave at Penny with a hand that had a bag of heavy-, “Come on-.…ok, I kinda’ deserved that one.”

Serenity would rub the side of her head gently after lowering the hand, and the weighty auto parts branded plastic bag it held that had bopped the side of her head when waving, before moving to approach the monster girl. Behind her would walk a red haired girl in a maid outfit, carrying a couple of bags from a local restaurant in stark contrast.

Penny for her part was obviously stifling a laugh at Serenity’s misfortune, both with the step and the bag of auto parts. “Serenity it’s been a while” She would greet with a wave. Her gaze flicked over the unfamiliar redhead for a moment, assessing her but ultimately moving on. “You want a hand with those?” She’d go on to ask, nodding at the heavier laden bags of supplies that the Beacon member had brought with her.

It would also be notable to Serenity when she got a moment that something was off with Penny. Something about the mechanical girl was sitting just shy of the uncanny valley, and her aura was much closer to the monster part of monster girl. It was ever so slightly disconcerting, enough to make the maid magical girl’s brows furrow in worry for a moment before returning to the present situation as Penny asked if she needed help.

“Sure, before I hit myself in the head with them for the third time this evening, and give my maid Vivianne here a heart attack-

Oww!”

The attentive maid gave her mistress a light chop on the back of the head for her troubles, though afterward the former horror couldn’t help but have a small chuckle at her own expense regardless.

Letting out a soft chuckle Penny would extend one of her spider-like limbs over to Serenity to relieve the girl of some of her load. Taking whatever it was Serenity was willing to offload, the bag in question was a tough plastic bag of sorts, which when the robotic girl looked into would see a brand-new car battery sitting inside. A contrast to the contents of the other bag Serenity still carried, which on any sort of closer inspection would seem to be filled with smaller metal parts, a small plastic container of ball bearings, and a couple quarts of premium car oil.

“Seems you broke out the black card for me.” Penny would say with a grin as took note of what exactly it was the once horror had purchased.

“For a friend? Pfft. This is nothing! I owe you and Alicia and the others more than that…much more. This was from someone giving me the winnings of a betting pool a few girls had back at base after I got sent off to HQ some time ago. This is just putting it to good use!

Besides, I was going to get some fast food for myself to compensate for the costs…but Vivianne insisted we get something decent. And truth be told, I’m very thankful for it.”

Vivianne would seem to perk up at the mention, though aside from a brief but noticeable frown that crossed her face at the mention of the ‘betting pool’ Serenity would sheepishly smile at Vivianne for a moment upon mentioning the other maid. The duo would sit down around Penny on the rough concrete, next to the little wall of the roof shed, with crossed legs. As Vivianne began to try to get herself and Serenity’s food ready, however, Serenity set the other bag she was still holding next to Penny and let her arms rest on her own folded legs.

“I hope you got just as much of a treat for yourself, and for Vivianne.” She would once again shift her gaze over to the maid. “Pleasure to meet you. As you know I’m Penny, and I can’t help but feel there is a story behind the two of you meeting.”

The redheaded maid would lightly chuckle at the robot, even as she pulled out and checked the various to-go containers in the bags she had been carrying. From one of the bags she had brought she even withdrew a nice, folded, and small picnic blanket, placing it between herself and Serenity to neatly set their food out on. Vivianne then looked back up at the robotic girl who had addressed her.

“Mistress Serenity and I met over the magic of a red coin, as it were, at Beacon HQ. My loyalties, however, lie with Mistress Serenity alone.

And I must say, I could not have found a more interesting employer than her! Hehe.”

“Praise to Alicia” Penny would agree absently, she had similar feelings towards the angelic themed Beacon member herself after all. “And honestly I’m just glad I can be counted alongside her. Penrose hasn’t been the kindest in regards to free time.”

“And yeah Red coin magic makes as much sense as it ever does.” She would say giving Serenity a more assessing look. “Had the fortune to give one a whirl myself, but didn’t go very extensive with it. I’m guessing you went for a more full refitting however?” She would state more than ask. “And was that at their Overcity HQ or their real world HQ?”

As she asked she would open the packaging of the ball bearing and pop one into her mouth. The small parcel of steel audibly crunching as she ate it with ease. A small hum of content audible underneath the crushing of metal.

“I honestly could not tell when it came to which HQ, I was blindfolded on the way there so I wouldn’t know and then eventually sent back via teleporter. Had an Inquisition facility nearby, a really big underground place filled with the worst of the worst. Things and staff there that’d make Penrose’s magical community look like the most friendly place in the world…”

Serenity drifted off in the words, her tone almost unpleasant as well near the end, before absentmindedly reaching into an opened container in the center of the opened blanket herself and gnawing into a chicken wing from said container. Indeed that particular container seemed to be filled with wings covered in some kind of golden sticky sauce from the looks of it. It seemed palatable enough for non-robots indeed, but the portion size screamed ‘appetizer’ just from the looks of it. Kind of like the size of that ball bearings container they’d brought for Penny to be honest.

“But the Red Coin? I went for a bit of a refit, but not totally. Untransformed appearance got tweaked as a side effect, and my outfit apparently got ‘updated’ from the wrong kind I somehow had in the first place. That and a certain someone-who-should-not-be-named Patron has decided to pursue convincing me to willingly join her ranks and be ‘besties for eversies’ at any cost.

But HQ said something about ‘my unique situation’ maybe having something to do with some of that, and the coin doing the rest, and with what I know about the universe I’m content to agree with that. Vivianne came out of it all as well, the one good outcome from that Red Coin from the compensation they tried to give me after I got kidnapped for two weeks.

The Sapphire Coin let me get neck-deep in an “Advanced Image Magic” course, done remotely, at the magic college in the Overcity. That’s actually been pretty fun to take, actually, even if one of my professors keeps asking me horror-related questions once in a while. Ugh.”

Coming back to her senses as the heat of the wings she was starting to dig into without thinking kicked in, the maid magical girl grabbed a nearby bottle of opened water Vivianne had seemingly been waiting to hand her. The redheaded maid seemed to sit there nicely, if not somewhat daintily and formal-like at that, though she almost seemed a bit amused to listen to Serenity’s recounting about the magic coins. Well, aside from the maid frowning at the ‘kidnapped’ part without saying a word.

“I’d place the blame ninety on the coin, ten on you personally” Penny would say as she rolled the rest of information around in her head. “And I’m guessing that you got taken to their black site HQ. Which, first of all, fuck them for that, and thankfully they let you go. Second, they are lucky that Penrose is a dumpster fire filled with dumpster fires more often than not, as I’d have started knocking down walls to find you if I had known you had gotten black bagged.” The mechanical monarch would assure her friend, a dark promise lingering just beneath the annoyed tone she maintained. “Their Overcity HQ isn’t bad, but they go all in on the holy theme.”

“First time getting bagged, that’s for sure, but it’s good to know someone would come looking for me at least.

Two weeks of constantly cleaning the Inquisition’s lockup facility, Soul Gem in a vicegrip in case I ‘got out of line’, with invasive psychic probes into my head for hours on end and a cool floor to lie down on each night in the Inquisition’s facility.

Actually, speaking of that I don’t have a Soul Gem anymore due to that Red Coin I was given. A breath of fresh air that’s been for sure.”

A low but somewhat dark chuckle came out of the magical girl maid’s mouth.

“And I wanted to use my Sapphire coin for college, but honestly I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to maintain the class schedule. Anything I’d want to do would be a shop class so not like I'd be able to do it all remotely either.” She grouses as she eats a few more ball bearings. Perk of being a machine is that she could eat and speak without worrying about overlapping functions, though she did still end up sounding a bit muffled regardless. “Ended up using it to update my ship with auxiliary vehicles instead, but still, envious of you.”

“Still, due to aforementioned dumpster fire tendencies, you are probably outside the loop on things around here huh?” She’d ask knowingly. The fast pace of Penrose was both a blessing and a curse at times. But trying to keep up when you weren’t a part of it definitely had to suck.

“To say the least, yeah. I’ve been out of the loop for a little while taking ‘remediation classes’ to help me better learn to be human at HQ. Turns out I’m the only former horror, but not the first thing or creature to become a human somehow in Beacon history. Even a few familiars who became magical girls are out there, it seems.

But apparently not everyone at HQ had the time to catch up fully on things either, given the constant stream of dumpster fires here to try to keep up with too. Hence my being summoned there to be before a Council of Cardinals to testify and have my memories of my transformation and the previous few weeks before that put on display for them to boot.”

Despite her own somewhat annoyed tone, the magical girl maid seemed to restrain herself to a certain extent as well. Not laying into it too much. Still, she would chew into a couple more chicken wings before taking another sip of the water bottle she had and continuing on.

“Was supposed to be as simple as that, actually, get me to HQ and then put me in front of the council and then judge from there. But it seems someone in the Inquisition didn’t agree on their end. Small Inquisition group intercepted me at HQ, with a few armed guards in tow, and said they’d lead me to my room. Instead they took me to their facility for those two weeks.

Then, with HQ apparently panicking and still trying to find me, some weird letter shimmers in golden light into existence on the front desk and leads them right to me. A Cardinal eventually took it with them and escorted me out of there personally. Then I got doctored up and put in a comfortable room, and two days later I testified and my memories were examined by the council before I was declared innocent.

Then came the coins and remediation classes after that, which aside from a couple of red coin effects was all far more pleasant before I got to come back home to Penrose.”

Serenity let out a small, but notably exasperated, sigh. What more could she say? At least she hadn’t been the strangest-acting individual in her remediation class either. That was certainly saying something.

“All that in mind I could certainly use a catch-up on things, aside from seemingly the looming threat of Wonderland I suppose, and I want to ask Cardinal Ishtar a couple of questions about what happened back there at HQ.

But enough about me! What’s new in the life of Penny, and what’s the latest fuel thrown onto our dearest dumpster fire hub known as Penrose?”

There was a little emphasized sarcasm in the ‘dearest dumpster fire known as Penrose’ bit specifically, followed with a small but joking grin from the former horror as she tried to pass the torch of conversation back to her robotic friend. She’d rambled on enough about her own crap, or whatever it was, she wanted to hear more from Penny as well. Give her friend a chance to lay some things out, etc.

“I’ve met with Ishtar before, same with Rachel, and I get the feeling that the Cardinals and the Inquisitors don’t see eye to eye on most things.” Penny would say as she contemplated how to answer about the latest goings on in Penrose.

“I guess the best place to start would be asking what the last bit of news you remember was before you got bagged”

“I think it was some while after the rave? Feels like that was forever ago by now,” Serenity said, a hand coming to her chin as her brows furrowed in thought as she spoke, “It was a bit of a messy time from what I recall. But I figure that’d be a good starting point.”

“Oh, yeah that would have been a good time to nab anyone” Penny admits with a frown. “You might have heard of the riots that spawned after that, or nearly spawned. That night was a near catastrophe. Cindy got killed that night as well, which honestly didn’t help.” Penny would start leaning back against the wall as she spoke.

“That’s the main reason I ended up becoming Queen actually, which if you haven't heard. Surprise, I’m the declared and recognized Queen of Penrose.” A shallow smirk would splay across Penny’s face at that declaration. It was a title of merit, and she knew that, but it chafed at times. She could lead, she knew that well enough, but it wasn’t always a comfortable fit.

“Next major event took a while to strike. Justine kicked it off actually, her not being dead meant she came back for revenge, but she was after Mariette. I don’t actually know all the details behind that, wasn’t there for it, but it more or less came down to Beacon and the Mint being used as proxies for a Horror fight. With no one really walking away as a victor.” She wondered at times how things would have gone had she been there. But the thought of not being at the Sanctuary was worse. “She got trapped and purified somehow, and I think the Cradle has something to do with her getting free, but not one hundred percent on that.”

“The proxy thing isn’t surprising. On the other hand, Soth did look into Justine a little before he came to Penrose as a potential ‘candidate’. More of a ‘whim’ on his part, but still. So I do have the idea of what she did before, if nothing else. Etc.

Though I never got a good chance to talk to Mariette even before I left. Her Horror patron is something that…well, perhaps we’ll get to talk to each other one day about things in general. Maybe. Call it a stupid personal thing I’d want to do on my end, I guess. But that’s not for right now.”

Those were mostly side thoughts, however, and Serenity would stop herself to allow the robot girl to continue talking afterward.

“I was preoccupied by The Sanctuary being attacked by a different Mint squad. Sanctuary is my home turned shelter.” There was pride in her voice at that, as she truly did take pride in the foundation of the Sanctuary. Building up something like it was satisfying like few things ever had been. “The damage was harsh, but no one got too badly hurt, and no one died.”

“After that, there was a bit of a breather. Dan showed up again. And sent out invites to a Christmas party. One without the time warping that the beach had. It went well for the most part. There was white elephant gift exchange held by Ruby, and a few other attractions.” She let a smile play across her features as she recalled the early parts of the celebrations. It was a moment of peace that she didn’t take for granted. Though her scowl at recalling the latter half wasn’t pleasant. “It started going downhill when Dan revealed he was going to give Mariette a horror artifact in front of Rachel. Tempers were cooled by it going up for grabs in a Keijo tourney, but flared up again when someone stole it out from under Dan’s nose.” She gave a shake of her head. She knows that her gambit failed, but she is still of the opinion that the extra time for diplomacy wasn’t wasted. Rachel had stepped back from ending Dan’s realm, and Penrose magicals all had evidence that they could come together without outside peril. “Connie, another magical girl, The horror movie ghost looking one you might have seen at Bolorton, held a sort of makeup Christmas party so it still ended on a high note.”

“Sadly shortly after that was the invasion of Wendigos. All told the count of them was nearly a hundred, different breeds of them as well. It also wasn’t a freak accident, that was the first time anyone had heard of Wonderland as it was discovered that they were the ones behind it.” Stirrings of hate could be heard as she mentioned that event. A soft bleed of red at the corner of her eyes and a violent tinge to her eating show that, to her at least, the wound was still fresh. “The brains behind the attack nearly dropped a pack on the Sanctuary, and even after they had the gall to send a diplomat to break in and talk to my Regent.” She snarled softly. Before forcing herself to relax. Taking a moment to let the red fade from her eyes before continuing on with the update.

The magical girl maid grimaced at the words, as well as at Penny’s reaction when she told it all to her. At the same time, however, she didn’t seem any bit surprised either.

“That sounds about par for the course when it comes to Wonderland, as far as I can remember or what little bit I know at least. Whatever tactic gets the job done of softening up the place for conquest. I’d take a guess that Bolortron was just the start to some means of trying to take out Penrose proper. Establish a perimeter under their control, no escape and no route for supplies or possible allies to come in. Et cetera.

Then Dan still being an idiot enough so to bring up a horror artifact, whatever it was, in front of the Inquisition isn’t any bit surprising though. A servant of the Lord of Nightmares hosting a make-up party after Dan ruined his own party is a little more surprising, really, but I guess was pretty welcome after that prior mess?

Sad I missed the parties though…didn’t have much of a choice really on my end of course.

Much more important than that, though, you’ve been through a lot it seems. Would have been there to help you if I had been around, you could count on that much…not that it matters at all now in hindsight…”

Serenity’s words trailed off before she gave off a light huff of frustration to end her speaking this time. Being gone for long enough to miss all of this…it was ‘vexing’, to try to find a more suitably polite word to use in her mind for the occasion. She knew plenty of words in so many other tongues of a ruder nature otherwise.

When Penny spoke again, however, there was no trace of any prior emotion, sort of like she reset to her default calm friendly tone. “I went with Alicia and Ishtar to Beacon’s Overcity HQ to deliver a report about Wonderland’s attack, because apparently the upper echelon of Beacon has some sort of no-go order against Wonderland. No idea why that is. Alicia might know at this point, not being able to ask myself really, as that meeting led to me getting called in for one of my own. Where I was given an ultimatum. Get a full purification or leave Beacon. I think what my answer was is obvious.” She would wave one of her spider limbs for unneeded emphasis. “I’ll admit to a bit of surprise that they just let me leave, but wasn’t in a position to ask about that at the time. What with being in the middle of Beacon HQ and being a lone monster girl at that.” She gave a shrug, it was a question that she pondered now and then, but it wasn’t one that really kept her up at night.

“Not long after that, a week and a half, Bolorton happened.” Which really didn’t need anything else said. Serenity had been there after all. “And that’s all the major events that happened here.” She’d reach into the bag of goodies that Serenity had brought while she let all the information she just deluged settle. Pulling out one of the quarts of oil Penny was quick to pop the cap off and take a long pull from it.

Sometimes the magical maid almost forgot that Penny was a robot, the sudden shift in mood being somewhat jarring compared to a normal human being. Then again, neither of them were normal human beings, were they? Not by a longshot, and in different ways to boot at that.

“Whew. At least that was everything pre-Bolorton then. I swear since I became like I am now, I find a lot of big things not very surprising. It’s usually the little things these days that really…I guess…get to me more than anything else? Genuinely.

Call it a perspective-changing-related thing, I guess, since becoming like I am now. It’s hard to put into words.”

The former horror would pick up her remaining bottle of water once more, starting to drink slowly once more as the robotic girl would continue speaking.

“The minor things of note are my reforging, last time you saw me I was split in halves. That got resolved, as you can no doubt tell. Though it wasn’t quite as harmonious as I was planning on it being.” She would mention with a frown. “My crowning, but that was already covered. Alicia started dating Kimble. They are cute together, but I don’t think it’s going to last. I started dating Magical Dream Princess. I met her when she showed up to help defend Sanctuary. And lastly I got my ship moved to Penrose.”

As she listened to Penny talk about the ‘minor things’, Serenity would suddenly stop mid-drink in total shock at the mention of who was dating who. Choking and half-snorting her water as it tried to go down her windpipe, she tried to throw a hand over her mouth to avoid spraying Penny only for the water to be forced out of her nose and slightly into her own lap. As she roughly coughed into her hand afterward, Vivianne quickly and somewhat worriedly skittered around to Serenity’s side with a hand towel in tow to try to help clean her up.

It would be a few seconds, however, before the former horror was in the state to be able to talk again. Not that the shock had worn off as she stammered and stuttered into the next thing that came out of her mouth.

“...I w-w-wasn't expecting that, I’m n-not u-used to such topics I mean.

I-I mean I didn’t ever think either of you couldn’t find someone, of course, I mean you’re both g-great people! Who wouldn’t want to date someone like you or Alicia, I mean? You’re both great people in your own ways, so as a friend of you both I wouldn’t be able to imagine why someone else wouldn’t want to be with either of you. That’s what I mean.

Take A-A-A-Alicia for example! Strong, beautiful, brave, kind, and cool leader-type! She also has the cutest little laugh, works harder than anyone else and stands by her friends no matter what, and is kind …kind…kind to even those who don’t deserve anything good in this world. Also how she always tries to look on the brighter side of things even if it all looks so very bleak at the time…even how her eyes ever so softly seem to catch the moonlight when the sky is clear on a moonlit night, really…”

Serenity’s words trailed off as her mouth moved but words began to not come out, and it all ultimately gave way to total silence in turn until her mouth stopped moving. It was all going pear-shaped in her mind, and desperately seeking an out she looked to Vivianne silently. Then upon seeing Vivianne quietly offering her a newly opened bottle of, and not nasally-ejected and spilled on herself this time, water, she grabbed it up and began to chug the bottle with all the haste of a thirsty camel in the desert.

Ah. Was it hot out here, or was it just the blood in her face and head trying to cook her brain and end her existence as a mercy? It felt less like the attempt to congratulate her friend on the new relationship and more like a total word salad and spitting some totally random things out there. Too weird? Or was she digging her own grave?

Please no more graves, she didn’t like graveyards at all after the last time she was involved in one. Heck, no one else there had liked it last time she was in a graveyard either. Except Soth. Well not-her Soth that is.

“…also congrats on getting your tank moved here, and literally pulling yourself back together somehow as well. Split existences are not good. Yeah.”

Penny gave a light chuckle as Serenity tripped over herself. She leaned her head against the wall behind her, her eyes tracing up to the few stars that could cut through the city’s light pollution.

She agreed with the assessment of Alicia after all. But that wasn’t here or there.

“Humans do like the acknowledgement when they find a personal match.” Penny would say, though her tone was slightly distant. “Blanket congratulations are acceptable, follow-up inquiries in regard to first meetings, duration of the coupling, or reason for it, are also applicable.”

“Anxiety over misunderstandings in regards to verbal affirmations understandable, but unnecessary. Close interpersonal relations will perceive the preferred subtext in most circumstances. Expressed anxiety in said circumstances will be often viewed with endearment by close interpersonal relations regardless of potential embarrassment felt.”

“Over stating opinions regarding the subject’s positive qualities will lead to an assumed deeper personal feeling of them regardless of fact. Can cause long term conflicts depending on the presence of the subject in question or their significant other. Straightforward and concise communication required at that point.”

Penny would let that hang in the air for a moment before snorting. “Congrats, you would pass as a sheltered human easily.” Her tone was back to normal. Shaking her head she’d take another draw from her bottle of oil. “Drop the part where you are singing Alicia’s praise entirely, and a generic ‘Congratulations, I’m happy for you!’ after the opening apology about not expecting the topic and keep the part about how they are a great, and possibly lucky, person and you’ll fit in as normal.”

Serenity listened on, eventually putting the water bottle down, before eventually nodding silently in agreement with the robotic monster girl’s assessment all the same. She let out a small sigh as she ran a free hand through her hair and took a smaller, far less desperate sip from her water bottle this time. Vivianne, for what it was worth, would return to her original seating once she seemed satisfied with her mistress having calmed down some and been cleaned up enough.

“Not a terrible recovery with shifting to the other topics, but it draws more attention to the prior topic after the stumble.” She’d go on to add “Plus people like to share when they’ve gotten into a relationship, show their joy off. Not everyone will let the topic change without saying something.”

“Normal? For humans, perhaps, but by dumpster fire Penrose standards I figure the two of us are about as normal as it gets sometimes. Though I’ll work on the recovery next time this topic comes up in personal conversation with someone.”

The magical maid let out a small, low chuckle at the thought. But the jab at what was ‘normal’ in Penrose felt true enough at the same time, even if now wasn’t the time to really dig into that topic any deeper than a lighthearted joke. Perhaps it would be enough to lighten not just her own mood, but also for-

“That said, split existence is a pain, and my fixing of that was due to a Red coin. Got the original craft to tweak one for me. It worked, but the circumstances were hardly the best.”

-...oh. Serenity would feel a light frown creep its way onto her face, mostly as the manner of Penny’s analysis and speaking came back to mind after that last bit the other girl had said. Penny has said it already, but her own fumble had taken her mind away from it for a moment. The other girl had indeed been a split existence for a time, of which she herself had a brief personal experience and (dare she say it) an otherwise rather good understanding of in both the technical and magical senses due to what she had once been a part of.

“I don’t doubt you on the circumstances being bad…personal experience and knowledge about such things on my end notwithstanding.”

Her eyes looked over dead into Penny’s own robotic ones before she spoke next, a fair amount of concern at least visible in them as her brows slightly furrowed in thought. Her friend was seeming indeed a bit different in ways in the behavioral sense, more robotic analysis, and so forth. Which as much as it made sense, she could also tell something was not entirely right either. Call it a ‘gut instinct’, or whatever it was.

“But given how things seem to be, and after Bolorton and all, I do want to ask you something as a friend…

What are your current circumstances now?”

"Pretty sure I'm fraying at the edges" Penny would admit with frightening ease as she met the other girl's gaze. Because if there was any one that Penny knew who could understand it was Serenity.

"When I was split, I was split along human and inhuman lines." She would begin, her voice steadfast. Not wavering in the slightest. "Neither half fully blended when I was first pulled into the magical world, I'm pretty sure that was the only reason we were able to force the split with such little assistance."

“The Red Coin I got tweaked was designed to help facilitate a more complete blend for when we did remerge, as it was painfully obvious that if we didn’t both halves would bleed soul and die.” The normalcy of her tone, as if she was talking about any other conversation topic. Lent an air of creeping horror to what she was saying. “Jason, just wanted out. Too broken by everything to care anymore. Gave me everything he could to sustain me and let the last dredges just fade away. It left me in a rough state for sure, but I thought things were fine. And they were, the fractures on my soul were healing.”

“But that doesn’t mean that I am inherently stable. I lost the natural human elements of my soul. Add on the overuse of a Mimicry Power which tore chunks though my code, that even repaired there are things that are just missing now. The Spark was such a massive stabilizing element I couldn’t begin to explain to anyone. Not that I realized it was doing so much for me until Bolorton.” She let out a forlorn sigh before finishing off the bottle of oil, going so far as to eat the bottle itself. Before digging out another snack from the bag to chew on absently.

When she spoke again her tone was weary. “I Redlined within minutes of active combat there and I’m still not fully recovered from that. My Human sentiment is eroded, and piecing it back together with a damaged memory bank and lacking a source code to observe is… Difficult. To say nothing about the added mental mutation that developed while I was there.”

“So as you can probably tell from all that, I’m not doing so well.”

The magical maid grimaced a bit as she listened on, though her attention seemed absorbed more so into what Penny was saying than in anything else prior. A look of determined focus on her face, or perhaps a slightly inhuman level of focus and patience being put to use where she wished it to be. Whatever the case, when Penny finished Serenity would take a deep breath, chew down a fancy beef short rib or three from one of the other open containers, and then start speaking again after a brief silence as her tone became rather somber and deadly serious.

“...So that’s it. I could tell something is amiss, but I’ve no Third Eye or anything either.

Some of that is personally relatable in a more intimate way for me, I’ll confess. When I was severed from the rest of Soth, but before my incarnation. A rather short time frame, but one I can remember to the detail even now.

The rest? Before I became human, before…all of this really, I as Soth fiddled with souls aplenty as a horror. Did things to them that would make the rave look like piddling nothing, a mere mortal trifling even, in comparison.

I can try to diagnose your situation if you so wish. Bluntly, softly, with emotion, as heartlessly as possible, whatever you choose.

The only question is…would you want me to?”

“Yeah I think I would,” Penny would respond as she let her gaze return to the sky above. She missed the full expanse of stars that could cover the night sky. “Carefully. I trust you, because you know just how precious the Spark is. But that trust won’t amount to much if you trigger my self preservation protocols. Death isn’t a worry, loss of autonomy is.”

Serenity silently nodded back at Penny, before downing another couple fancy beef ribs, and cleaned off her hands with a Vivianne-provided napkin before standing up. She placed her right hand over her heart before she’d speak again.

“As I of Sacred Light descend, now evil’s time is at its end.”

And like that, the “Maid In Heaven” would transform in front of Penny into her-...oh. She had mentioned the use of a red coin before, so perhaps her new appearance wouldn’t be too surprising? Maybe? Truth be told she hadn’t much considered it all in the heat of the moment. Really, her mind was on more important things.

“No worries. This will be a simple enough diagnostic that it shouldn't be invasive. Or rather, invasive in the sense of presenting a danger. It will be just some runes arranged around you and a bit of my magic, and then I’ll be able to see the state of your soul across a span of time as well as its current condition.

All I need is for you to sit still.”

With that, the magical bunny maid would use her magic and a finger to etch runes on the ground around Penny. She would work to carefully place and arrange them, trying to get things just right for what she intended to do. But unless something happened to mess up or interrupt the process, eventually Serenity would be finished with her work and stand back a short distance from the robotic girl before casting a Time spec spell to kick off the diagnostic.

The runes around Penny would begin to softly glow with a faint light, a light that eventually began to ripple some as it took on a light blue-ish hue. A couple of feet above the robotic girl’s head, a similar blue light would begin to coalesce until it took on the shape and form of Penny’s body in seemingly exact detail. It was, however, see-through in nature and likewise would rotate like a hologram in the air. At the center of this magical hologram of sorts would lie what looked like a spherical glowing orb, which would eventually remove itself from the hologram and split into three parts. Two parts would go to the left (from Serenity’s point of view) of the original hologram, whilst the other one would sit on the left.

Each part would itself turn into another hologram, those on the left taking on the form of ‘prior’ versions of Penny and the latter turning into…something else? No, something similar to how she was now, but it seemed more warped. Monstrous to a certain extent. Or perhaps it seemed more damaged and degraded as well? It was hard to tell, but it seemed a bit more blurry than the other holograms for a bit until it finally took on a sharper image. It would then occur that various numbers and data in some alien tongue would display themselves using the same magical blue light, arranging themselves neatly next to each hologram-like image.

It would be at this point that Serenity stepped a bit closer again and examined the images, using her left hand to point at and rotate them seemingly at will as her eyes flashed over the images and mysterious language she seemed to grasp. Whilst her gaze seemed at first most fixated on the final projection, as she looked back down the line she would make a motion with her hand at the hologram immediately to the left of the one above Penny’s head as it split into two distinct “Penny’s” with their own sub-data. Then her gaze would turn to the farthest one to the left, before abruptly taking pause as she looked at it closer…and then her mouth would silently open before closing once more in a small grimace.

Penny stayed seated as Serenity cast her magics. Near motionless in the way that only machines can get, only her gaze moving as she too tracked the holograms above her. If it wasn’t for the sudden blood red tinge that had overtaken her eyes one would assume that all was fine. The wrath that pooled in her eyes didn’t come from the prognosis above her though, no it was called forth by the feather light touching upon her soul. A step further and Penny would have tried to kill Serenity.

She was mostly preoccupied by the potential future that was before her. Her history was something she was already intimately familiar with. And while she could extrapolate her future at the moment, more data would always be appreciated.

“Are the readouts maintaining my silhouette out of design principle or because of outward expression based on the readings?” She’d ask, tone relaxed in spite of the rather bleak outlook of the readings.

Serenity would take pause, but then give a small nod to the robotic girl before responding to her question.

“Both, essentially, at the same time. Also a bit more at that, but I’ll avoid the extensive explanatory bits I could tell you about this ritual right now.

Safe to say, mortal hands could not reproduce the process I’ve used on a technical basis. I also had to borrow some carefully selected very alien sigils used by Soth before, mostly to add in certain key places where my knowledge of Runes and such hasn’t progressed enough to cover all of the ritual. Nothing dangerous to us at all here, just…not something one should teach mortals either, since there is a danger there in recklessly using such things without proper care and placement in something like a ritual.

But that’s all the rambling you’ll get for now on this, unless you want to listen to it later.

What you see above you is simply a double-mirrored and analysis-forged reflection of your soul’s past states, current state, and…a potential future state that has been calculated. The physical visualization around each state is a reflection of you at the point in time your soul is being observed at, both by design but also by consequence of the unique method of how I analyzed your soul.

The script next to each of these visualizations, though, is the harder data the ritual is providing to me about the state of your soul.”

The magical bunny girl would begin to slightly pace back and forth about where she stood, brows furrowed as she spoke in a neutral-ish tone that seemed to carry on more as she would continue to speak. Even her face would seem to dumb down her expressions into something more detached. It was all as if she’d become absorbed into the data and such that she was forgetting to try to sound like a normal human being somewhat….at least in the heat of the moment.

“Yet even by my standards and what I’ve seen as something else before, however, this data is aberrant and would be nonsensical to most save for what I at least know more intimately about a certain something and a certain realm I’ve looked into as Soth before. That and knowledge of primordial creation methods used by deities to make living things helps by filling in any of the knowledge gaps otherwise.

...What I can say for certain is your creation was a slipshod job by some half-assed deity not in their right mind. An asinine method of construction that simply wouldn’t survive without a certain key part, a key part which seems to be missing by its own volition in helping you if that ‘Jason’ you talked about helping you before is of any indication.”

“You’re drifting” Penny would state absently. As she reviewed what information that she could parse. The silhouette of her future potential would shift and waiver a few times as she did, the readings wouldn’t change significantly, but the fact that seemed to change at all would be notable.

The magical maid would suddenly go silent, quietly closing her open mouth halfway into trying to say something. She would, however, give a nod to Penny as a small sigh escaped her lips.

“Also I’m pretty sure that my creation was an accident” She would go on to say shifting her gaze back to Serenity. “Making something new is against his divine mandate after all. So something had to have gone wrong for me to come about in the first place, and because we are talking gods here, it was going to cascade eventually.”

“Only he’d have the actual answer I’d suppose” She’d grimace at that obviously not liking the idea of needing to talk to him about it. “I’m guessing the final outcome would be something worse than simple monsterization however.”

“...Yes, to be blunt about the matter.”

A sadness would worm its way into Serenity’s tone of voice as she answered her friend’s question, her arms crossing as she looked down at the ground for a moment. Not the most pleasant news to deliver to someone, but at the same time she didn’t want to hold back telling her either. Even if it hurt. Because Penny, and what condition she was in, deserved to know the truth in her personal opinion…even if doing so was still a bit selfish on her end as well.
Her eyes would then rise again to meet Penny’s directly.

“I’ll give the rest of it bluntly, just to get it out there, as you deserve at least that much Penny.

You as you are would be wholly gone in that last prediction, which is why it’s so…fuzzy. It is the best possible reflection and reading of the moment all of what ‘soul’ you have is gone. Nip. Zip. Nada. ‘Penny’, in every way, disappeared from existence save for your physical form, corruption, and any lingering magical energy. After that would occur there would be one of three variances that what’s left of you becomes.

In the first case, your husk of a body falls lifeless and the magical energy and corruption is released into the surrounding area. Boom. Just mechanical parts and some environmental corruption as a result. Not the easiest to contain, but also the most predictable and grounded.

In the second possible variation, it stays as just that and all that lingers is a corruption-warped robotic physical frame powered by magical energy. No more than a monstrous automaton filled with remaining magical energy and a limited run time based on that. Something that would have at best animalistic instincts to survive, eating constantly to sustain its existence and provide itself fuel. Not sure it would even look like you due to the warped effects of its existence. Once that goes out it just does dormant until it gets more magical energy or food to sustain itself somehow, which would have to be by external assistance.

That…in that particular case, that would be the preferable variation. Most easily contained and starved in order to subdue it, as it can’t reach absurd levels of power. At least if Beacon or others could act in time.

The final variation would be a much worse version of the second one…well, we’ll just call it the ‘Hollow’ ending. Something that retains a simulacrum of life and living, yet also has been stripped of its soul or lost it. In such a case it still eats things that you can to get magical energy, or at least it can do so, but it will be driven to devour the souls of other living things in an entirely fruitless attempt to ‘become whole’. It would be capable of human speech, mostly to cry out in hunger to that end, but it would not cease its activities until it either is starved to death or is destroyed…which is difficult to do if it manages to eat enough things and souls to start snowballing in its power level as it grows stronger from that.

Worst case this variation eats too much and snowballs too much to be able to stop reasonably in time as things are, and Penrose becomes a free all-you-can-eat buffet unless something drastic is done to…remove any possible food from its path to start starving and containing it. Best case it gets blown to kingdom-come as soon as possible, preferably right after it emerges when it is most vulnerable.”

Penny would slowly gain a pensive look as Serenity described the soulless existence she was slowly headed towards.It was a nightmare scenario almost no matter what, with the first option being perhaps the least terrible overall since she would effectively just be turned into a high yield explosive. Yes, her soul would be the fuse and fuel in that case, but the damage she would inflict would be very limited in scope. At least comparatively.

It was options two and three that had her attention. Both of them were magnitudes worse than she had been expecting, but there was something about them that was niggling at the back of her mind. It was such a human feeling at the moment that Penny couldn’t help but feel gratitude, even as the annoyance of it dug at her.

“How would I eat?” She would muse aloud to herself softly, still turning the idea over in her head. “I’ve never needed to actually ingest anything to maintain operational capacity, at least not since my original version. And back then I could have likely subsisted off of dest-” Penny would cut off. Slowly a look of shock and horror would bleed into her features.

“The Beast” she would say suddenly, before letting out a weak and broken chuckle. “I’m turning into the damned Beast.” It all made sense now, why it felt familiar, why it sounded familiar. She had seen once before what it is she now was on the road to becoming.

If Penny hadn’t been sitting already she would have collapsed to the floor. “Fucking hell what I wouldn’t give to be able to cry right now.” She ran a hand through her hair as she let herself feel this latest horrifying shock.

“Alright. That’s the bad news.” She would go through the motions of taking a deep breath. “Do you have any silver linings for me?”

Serenity would take a distinct pause…and then without much thinking at all gently walk over to the other girl, the ritual around Penny finally dissipating as the magical maid gave her an impromptu hug. An awkward hug for sure, but at least it was a genuine one as well. Even so, she would back off after a few seconds and let out a small sigh before attempting to get herself back ‘on track’ with their topic at hand.

“Trust me when I say crying sucks, at least from the perspective of a former non-human being. At the same time I’d share the capability with you if I could, Penny. ”

“As someone who is going in the opposite direction, trust me crying is a great way to release emotional pressure. And the lack of it does nothing but make the built up emotions worse.” Penny would grumble even as she accepted the hug. It might not be much but it was the thought that counted at the moment.

“Well I did do a lot of crying in my room after being created, that was for sure, but always at night and with a pillow to muffle it. It was the pure personal dread and terrier talking at the time though, constantly so due to where I was, but I am doing a bit better than that now at least. I hope."

“Yeah, it sucked in the moment, but also imagine dealing with all that. But being unable to do anything to ease the burden of those thoughts and the emotions that they invoke." Penny would point out. "Crying doesn't get enough credit if you ask me"

“...That is certainly true, in hindsight at least.”

“Don’t be afraid to embrace your humanity now that you have it.” Penny would shake her head, even as she held onto the small smile that she had gotten.

A small smile would come to Serenity’s face as well, even as she sat on her legs in front of her mechanical friend.

“I won’t…never again.” the magical maid said, though soon a small chuckle would escape her lips as well after a moment of thought, “...Heh. In truth I wanted this, to be human, but in getting it got a rather sobering perspective shift as well. ‘

But I also do not wish to get too far from the matter at hand, if I’m to be honest with myself.”

Taking a deep breath, Serenity would try to steel herself as her brows and expression went back into ‘focusing mode’ as it were.

“You spoke of something called ‘The Beast’? You will, well, really need to be more specific in that with regards to myself. Though the name of who created you would be a good indication for me at least. There’s a good deal of creatures with that title I’ve learned about or looked into or, well, ‘made’ before becoming human.

“Yeah, not that surprised.” Penny would huff as she refocused onto the topic at hand. “Quick and dirty description is think of scenario three, with divine backing and leash.” She would state giving that thought a moment to settle. “I never really thought about where the Beast came from. It was simply just something that he had. It was simply part of the data packet that I had as His Champion.”

“But looking back over my history, short as it is in the long term, I’ve never been particularly stable. I’ve always been a bit skewed towards having too much to safely handle, or things that I did have led to instability in my soul that could grow to a cascade failure.”

“I, or Jason, was acquired as an emergency. Who’s to say his last champion didn’t end up going through the same things I did?” She’d ask aloud.

“Makes for a great ace for a God of Destruction to keep up his sleeve.”

Serenity would wave a hand in front of Penny’s eyes for a moment as she seemed to go off and ask things aloud into the thin air. It did bring a look of some slight concern to her face as well.

“Earth to Penny, come in Penny. Do you read?

Also which God of Destruction? Because depending on which one we are talking about I can help clarify perhaps.”

“Sorry, just musing aloud.” Penny would wave off the concern. “I’m not a fan of saying his name, He’s gone to great lengths to remove it from history. But he has some epithets that are safe. He is known as The Unmaker or He who brushes away the old. He is a God of Ends just as much as he is one of Destruction.”

“That is…strange for a deity to try to hide from history. Not that there’s many who have tried, but I believe I know who you are talking about. ‘His’ Beast. That one.

It does make sense you would see scenario three as becoming that, then, but I believe there isn’t much worry in that vein of becoming the ‘actual’ it. ‘Hollows’, as I called your body in that scenario, exist in a general sense. His ‘Beast’, however, seems to simply be a divinely ramped-up version from what I can recall. Indeed from what as a part of Soth I last observed he has the real thing kept under wraps and had it at the same time elsewhere when his last champion was walking around as well.

Hollows are a lower tier and parallel monstrous existence to what I described in that sense, but this information also makes scenario three disturbingly more likely now I think. What he has is more along the lines of ‘The Bull of Heaven’ from the Epic of Gilgamesh, to try to make a comparison.

As symbols and names have power in the realm of magic, and so forth, then the fact he possesses something like ‘that’ creates a stronger leaning and template for your remaining husk to take from in such a case. So you’d perhaps be an abnormal Hollow and in this case rather dangerous, but not on the scale of ‘that thing’ by a longshot either.”

“Not initially, no, and not for a long time if I have anything to say about it either.” Penny would agree. “But part of his rites and his mandate is getting rid of the old to replace it with something new. And I can’t say with perfect certainty that I’d not enter into an agreement with him to try and get some relief were I to have any vestige of my sanity left when it starts to get to the end of the line.”

“To be clear, I’m saying he set me up for this exactly. But he is bastard enough to take advantage of me being in this scenario to replace his old version with me.” Penny would point out. “Was kinda just blind sided but actually having a frighteningly vivid understanding of what the bad end that awaits me is.”

“Ah…alright then. You’d have better insight on his behaviors than I would in all honesty.”

A slightly defeated sigh would escape the Beacon girl’s lips.

Penny would stay quiet for a moment before shaking the thoughts aside. “But that’s just the demons in the box, not everything. Because if it was, I’d like to think you’d be a bit more inconsolable right now. So what has Pandora left me?”

“Hmm, I was wondering when you’d notice that. You’re correct enough that if there was no chance of survival I wouldn’t be as I am right now. Well, as calm enough as I’ve been rather.”

Serenity would give a nod to her friend.

“There’s a few avenues, but lucky for you my former occupation and ‘species’ as it were has left me knowledgeable in something like this. Perhaps a silver lining from it in this sense…for once. Not all of what I will tell you will be pleasant though, to say the very least.

As for your current condition, though, I want to say first of all that there is a way to stabilize you in the short-term at least. I say that with the assumption of having permission from you to cut out any options that include feeding you the souls of the innocent or the like.”

She did perhaps have a slight smirk at this point, if only because it was natural Penny wasn’t going to go around soul eating and such to try to solve this matter. Not that she’d frankly do such a thing either, even if the recipient agreed to such a gruesome thought. The magical maid knew she wouldn’t even be friends with the robot if Penny was ‘that’ bad. So nothing to worry in that sense but a small tease about the obvious answer to try to…er..cut tension. Maybe.

Penny’s snort and small smile at the jab, letting Serenity know that the attempt landed.

“This short term solution will require creating a setup back in Sanctuary on my part, and on your part both keeping to what I am going to prescribe and not letting anyone mess up the ritual site.

I would need to create an arrangement of runes, maybe grab something for it from some of my classes or a professor I have, and I should be able to make a ritual to stabilize you. Small chance I would need to use some very carefully-selected ‘supplementary’ sigils and such like I did here in analyzing your soul. If it comes to that lattermost bit, though, then we’d need to discuss some careful prohibitions. But that’ll be for later when I’d be making the thing over one or two visits, if we can arrange things to minimize my time spent there so the Ascendancy doesn’t get suspicious of me.

This runic arrangement will be complex, and will have seven smaller circles included along its exterior so that you can and should optimally have seven volunteers stand or sit in them. You would also have to remain within the center of this ritual for seven hours a day, same for the volunteers.”

Penny would nod her understanding so far at the offered information. “Even more glad I got the Bastion more mobile then. As otherwise there might not have been enough space to make this array. I’ll need to finish moving the Sanctuary over to the Bastion before I start scouting for volunteers though.”

“On that, will they need to be awake during the ritual or could they simply sleep through it? And will you need to draw the array yourself, or could it be taken care of by anyone you’ll just need to be on hand to activate it?”

“Sleeping is fine, but they need to remain inside their positions. Avoid sleepwalkers in that case. Also they cannot volunteer for more than two or three days in a row to assist, otherwise they will start to develop issues…or, er, eventually just die.

What this ritual will do is siphoning of human data from the targets to stabilize you, as well as skim a small bit of life energy off to help in that. This is nothing that has long-term effects if they do not participate more than three days maximum. And I mean maximum. Two days tops is preferred for safety reasons, but if you get short on bodies then volunteers can help three days in a row.

Optimally you’d have normal humans or non-monster allies providing this to get more data, which is less of a strain than this will be on monster girls, but I am trying to accommodate the most reasonable scenario here in the blunt sense of it all. You will need seven hours a day within it, and optimally seven different volunteers for the seven circles who have to also remain for those seven hours. You can have less than seven volunteers, but it will make it less effective in the process-...

-...ah.

Ok, right now is not the time for all the details since I will need to discuss it with you again later once the setup is done. Then we can get things jotted down. I can explain more generally about the ritual if you’d like, as the specifics aren’t all exactly there for a reason right now.”

“That sounds… More intensive than I would have figured.” Penny would say after a moment of mulling it over. “At least in regards to a short term solution. Is my case that bad, or is soul manipulation more finicky then I was assuming it would be on a small scale?”

“And I’ll remember anything you tell me. Data banks are a boon in that regard.” She’d remark “Guess the next question is what this ritual will do exactly.”

“Intensive? Yes, admittedly, but it is for a reason. This does involve the soul, after all, and stabilizing one at that. It is not a small matter to toy with. If I attempted to do this sort of thing the simplest or minimalist possible way it’d be too unstable or dangerous, maybe even accelerating your rate of…deterioration let’s say.

Mind you this ritual will not be repairing the existing damage to your soul at all, but will keep it from worsening naturally at least. That means if you do anything to further the damage, it will be increasingly harder to keep you stable using this ritual as well. This ritual will also ‘skim off the top’ a little life energy from the volunteers to keep you stable, but this will do nothing but make them supernaturally tired in some capacity.”

The magical maid folded her arms as her tone and expression alike dove into the realm of ‘very serious’ indeed. When it came to this matter it was a risk of simply helping someone under safe and ethical guidelines, where everyone got out of the other end alive and well, or taking something too far by mistake and accidentally doing human sacrifice. A big deal indeed in her mind.

Penny would take a moment to think over that bit of information. Coming to the conclusion that her foray into Soul manipulation via the Red Coin and her own dividing was significantly luckier than she had originally expected it to be. She was aware that she had been playing long odds, but not as long as they apparently had been.

“Good to know,” She would say at length. “Problem I’m seeing now is my own personal maintenance. Bolorton showed me, in no uncertain terms, that it is very easy for me to slide into a redline state. Which is very clearly not healthy for me at the moment.”

“Self stabilization is something that I can handle, for the most part, at the moment. Is there anything that can be done to reverse any of the current code corruption?”

“Even if you can handle the stabilization for the most part, the ritual will still be of use in keeping you more assuredly intact for what’s to come…because reversing that source code corruption and fixing things properly will be a process in and of itself. One that isn’t frankly easy to do at all, and isn’t going to be something simple either by a longshot. To say the very least!”

Penny was silent for a moment as she thought about everything that had been talked about in the past little while. Normally she’d not have needed to take as many moments as she had to think things over, but high concept magical theory was never her strong suit, and even if it had been this was a precarious situation for her to be in. So a few extra moments of processing would hardly be a bad idea.

“Damn.” She would say once she was done thinking. “This war with Wonderland really came at a bad time didn’t it?” She’d mutter rhetorically. “Until your major ritual is set up I’ve got the unenviable choice of staying out of the active fights to defend Penrose, or hoping I can keep myself together long enough for both rituals to be enacted.”

Serenity nodded back at the robotic girl, somberly so, before continuing.

“The more damage, the more it will take to repair it overall in time and materials for it all. If you maintain yourself at this current stage of deterioration, both with the smaller ritual and anything else you can do, then I can gear the ritual with just what we need. We can get it arranged, figure out where we can get the materials and staging from, and so forth within some reason at this point in time.

If you damage your current state to a distinct enough degree, though, then it will only increase what is needed for the major ritual in terms of prep time. We could maybe plan for a certain degree of potential degradation in case of emergency…but that will only go so far as well. Only so much wiggle room is there before the damage has more notable impacts on things in this regard.

Not to mention I need to find some proper clothes for the ritual to boot, though I know Vivianne can help in that regard…”

The mundane maid would silently wave at the duo with a small smile, before moving to grab a chicken wing for herself in the meantime.

“This is going to be a mess timing wise isn’t it?” Penny would mutter quietly as she ran a hand through her hair. Existential dread wasn’t something that Penny ever really faced before, and even now with the fate of her soul on the line there was some part of her that simply couldn’t be afraid of the potential outcomes. She was a machine at her core after all.

But something about all of this was itching at the back of her mind. A splinter slowly being driven in that was sure to drive her mad. Here and now wasn’t, perhaps, the time to really dig into that. But it was something she was sure to keep aware of, and set a personal alarm to check back on the feelings later on.

“Well, Prepare for the worst and hope for the best. That’s the idea for now I think.” She would say with a shrug, setting the idea aside for now. “Let me know when you’ve got time and I can take you over to the Bastion so we can configure a space for the rituals. That and I’ll be able to show off my ship, it has gotten some upgrades since you last saw it.”

“Anything else I need to know for now?”

The magical time maid would let out a small sigh as she de-transformed back into her mundane self, running a hand through her hair as she sat back down next to the food.

To say it was all weighty to talk about was to say the least about it that she could. She’d found herself simply pulled into it all by virtue of her own big mouth, but….at the same time, could she ignore a friend in need? Penny wouldn’t last if something wasn’t done, and instinctively she didn’t even have to think twice about if she’d volunteer to do the same for Alicia or the others in a heartbeat. At the same time, though, it was a lot of risk and frankly ‘crap’ that had to go into it all on all sides. Not to mention the dangers of discovery or such…ugh. Already it was giving her a mild headache as the thoughts and sigils and so forth raced and danced about her mind.

For now? No, thank goodness, but we’ll need to talk later and get things arranged to at least keep you stable moving forward. Then…then comes the big part.

For now, though, we can just enjoy some food at least.”

Well, she hoped they would still enjoy it at least. Didn’t want it all to go cold or anything, er, not that the monster girl perhaps had to worry about that. Unless she didn’t like cold motor oil? Hmm. Maybe that warranted a question in its own right.

Serenity would then simply reach over, grabbing an exposed beef rib from another container as Vivianne quietly and daintily opened another one of the containers they had brought to the lunch. The redheaded maid seemed to quietly then go back to eating one of the last chicken wings in another container as her mistress got back to eating something herself.

Penny would give a decisive nod at that before gently packing away the thoughts and considerations that she had in regards to the ritual and everything in connection to it. Reaching into her own bag of goodies she pulled out a muffler and set about chewing on it. “So,” She’d say, her voice coming through as she ate. “What’s your story Vivianne?”

Deep, deep, into the wastelands of the Overcity, far beyond where anyone would normally travel far from anything of note or significance sat a desolate expanse of rock and dust. This place was so far out that the sky was a perpetual shade of hazy gray, the light peeking through the clouds making the dull location even more so.

It was in this far forgotten area that a ragged swirl of space rending power would tear open a portal and deposit Penny. She scanned the surroundings for a quick moment before giving a nod. Normally she arrived early when given the opportunity but this time she had cut it much closer to the actual time she gave.

It wouldn’t do to disrupt the use of this area before she got to use it after all.

A different portal opened, one a lot more controlled-looking, like a perfect incision, a sudden mirror manifesting in the fabric of space, and a person walked through. This person… did not look entirely like Mariette. She did not wear her clothes, at the very least. Too scared of being followed to wear her own clothes. So she’d changed into some robes at school, having momentarily “borrowed” a random green mage’s clothes, and also his hood. She was also a significant distance away from her destination, just in case. Mariette happened to know there was a master of surveillance on her team, and she currently did not want to be surveyed.

After some walking, the girl in green robes that were somewhat too big for her eventually reached the location, looking up with a tense look under the hood to, at the moment, wordlessly greet Penny at the location. A slight nod would do. She was slightly scared of talking, despite knowing she’d have to. She was clutching something, held between her arms that she’d carried all the way over here. It was a potted plant. A small little tree with green branches and leaves growing out of a pot.

The lack of anything of note made it not hard for Penny to take note of Mariette long before she arrived. But she kept silent. There was a look of open calculation on Penny’s face as she regarded Mariette and her offering. After a moment she would give a firm nod before retrieving a partially rusted license plate.

She’d set it down and gesture for Mariette to place her offering down as well. Once that was done she’d gesture for Mariette to take a step back as she poured Mana into her secondary weapon system. The extra limbs she had stored away would bleed into electricity and flow into her hand in the form of a massive maul.

Once the weapon was summoned she would raise it high above her head. And begin to speak softly.

“He Who Brushes Away The Old. I seek you now.” With each stanza Penny’s voice would get louder and louder.

“You who are the Enforcer of Change. I call out to you now.” And an unnatural stillness would begin to cover this already desolate place.

“For The Unmaker I leave these offerings. In your name I enact your trade.” A charged tension seemed to freeze the very air as attention not meant for mortals was drawn over them.

“Laat’AlOfann! Your Daughter Demands an Audience!” With that final declaration screamed to the heavens Penny would bring the maul down on the offerings with all the terrifying might she could muster. Her strike would do more than simply destroy the offerings though. Its impact would send jagged cracks racing away into the very air in front of them.

And with a sound akin to breaking ice the world would fall apart.

And before them towered A God. The God of Destruction. The End of The Cycle.



Penny wouldn’t be able to withhold the grimace that overtook her features a moment later. Even as she dismissed her summoned weapon she was filled with warring feelings simply looking at the deity before her.

A moment later Mariette would feel the weight of His gaze fall on her. A thing of pointed understanding and weighted measure.

Laat would say. His voice booming through the air like thunder strikes. Even as it was clearly apparent that he was doing nothing more than simply speaking casually.

”Do I even want to know?” Penny would get through grit teeth. Before forcing a calming breath out. “We both have questions for you, but our topics are not connected.”

”Age dictates that Mariette’s petition is conducted first.” Penny would explain before gesturing for Mariette to ask her questions.

Mariette stood, wincing a bit with Laat’s giant appearance, her expression worried where she’d bundled up in green robes. Still, she looked down at the destroyed offerings, because, well, she’d wanted to explain.

‘In a different dimension… vegetation is the dominant life form on the planet. The humans there have taken to worshiping special trees, who have been growing there since before their recorded history, at least 10,000 years old. I… took one of those trees. I hope it was to your liking,’ Mariette said… and also felt a bit ashamed. She took the oldest thing she knew about, but also something important to the people of that dimension. … But seeing it from another direction, that planet was conquered by Asengav, its inhabitants slaves, so they wouldn’t be able to complain very much.

‘Is this… secure? There’s no chance someone’s eavesdropping, right?’ Mariette asked. She somehow hadn’t imagined Laat’s appearance to be so… giant.

Laat would state, his tone mild.

He would confirm for Mariette.

Mariette was a little taken aback by the “sister” line. Though, as much as she wanted to ask, she had more important matters at hand. So, Laat confirmed they’d be safe. She’d simply have to trust his word and nod. Then…

‘I am currently bound by contract to the shadow that creeps through dimensions, one whose visage is sometimes seen in the corner through a mirror, who endlessly seeks to expand his shadow empire throughout many worlds. His true name is not pronounceable by my mouth, but we call him Asengav,’ Mariette summarized. She didn’t know if she needed to use fancy prose, but it felt appropriate.

‘I had the opportunity to leave his service before. But I stayed, because in my position I might have the chance to do something others cannot. I come before you seeking your counsel in the matter. I…’ she took a deep breath. ‘I seek to destroy Asengav,’ she spoke with finality, looking up at the god.

Laat would say as he moved to sit so that neither girl needed to crane their neck so much to look up at him.

Laat would state leaning forward.

The God would trail off, before giving a slight shrug.

Mariette watched steadily as Laat spoke, and, also, kind of had a blow to her confidence. Perhaps she didn’t know quite as much about Asengav as she thought. What if he’d just recover from the collective imagination of those who thought they knew of his existence, or something? He’d certainly be back with a vengeance. However, it did sound like he had an idea, of some kind. And yes… yes, she knew the consequences of failing.

‘… I’m small and young. As far as I can see, this world would not miss me if I was gone. In the grand scheme of the world, I matter little. However, if I even have the chance of taking out a dark entity that does matter…’ Mariette swallowed a little. ‘I’m aware of the risks. I’m willing to take the gamble. May I ask you for your guidance?’

Laat would say in a softer tone, one that merely rumbled across the plains rather than boom and shake the heavens. Mariette could feel the god’s gaze rest on her, heavy with concern.

He would say in his original booming tone after a moment. Both witnesses got the sudden, dreadful, feeling that Laat’AlOfann was smiling. A crazed blood thirsty smile.

Mariette listened to the part about all people mattering, albeit she didn’t feel she could relate to it. She had a hard time thinking that, even if there was people who would mourn her, that it would matter that much in the long run. Anyways… as for her plans…

‘I am… currently going to school in the Overcity to learn sealing. I don’t believe that what they teach me alone is enough to seal Asengav, but it sure could help. Otherwise, I have the Black Mirror in my possession, granted to me by Asengav himself. It is a powerful magic item, favoured even by Asengav, and I believe that if I were to seal him anywhere, that mirror would be the most secure location. However, it would not work on its own. Asengav it too powerful, so I have been seeking… alternative sources of power,’ Mariette said.

She reached into her clothing, and brought out two things. One was a Black Coin, the method of payment of the Ebon Mint. The other was a White Coin, the purifying coin of the Beacon. Mariette held both together between two fingers.

‘I have discovered a secret of the Black and White coins. They are conduits, leading directly to the source of power of the Ebon Mint and Beacon respectively. Usually, they simply impose their power on the one who uses the coin… but I am reverse-engineering them. I believe they can be turned into weapons. Open a pathway directly to the hearts of Ebon Mint and Beacon. I… haven’t told them I can do that, but with their powers combined, they should be able to overpower and trap Asengav. So my current plan…’ Mariette took a deep breath.

‘Trick Asengav into the Black Mirror. Open a pathway directly to Beacon and Ebon Mint on either side of the mirror, effectively trapping him. Even dimensional traveling requires exiting the mirror. Before the two patrons I abuse close the path, I put the seal on the Black Mirror. If I can crack the mirror, I would also turn it into Asengav’s bane. Surrounding it with lit candles and broken mirrors would probably help. And that’s… I hope that will be enough.’

She glanced sideways at Penny to check if she’d reacted any particular way before looking back to Laat.

Penny had a thoroughly gobsmacked look on her face. But she kept her thoughts to herself for the moment. Though she did seem to have shifted her attention away from Laat and onto Mariette because of that announcement.

The God would say as he contemplated the information.

He would go on.







Mariette had thought of her own safety. She nodded to that. Offset by some time? Okay.

‘So… unleash one a bit before the other, did I understand that?’ Mariette asked, just to be sure. Then… ‘A name… I understand,’ she then nodded. Then… for the offering of a boon…

‘Is there a reason I would not desire it?’ she asked, because it sounded like it would cost her, or something.

Laat would affirm.

Mariette nodded. It made sense.

He would Explain.

‘I see…’ Mariette considered the matter. ‘Is it possible for me to request the boon at a later time? Until the time comes to pull off the seal, I won’t be needing it, and I absolutely need to wait for the opportune moment. Until that moment comes, I won’t benefit. I am decently confident I can spin a story about why I have the boon of a god, so if it can’t wait I will accept it now. But if it can wait…’

Asking a deity to wait for a later time was maybe a little conceited of her, but she’d take any advantage she could get.

Laat would say with notable amusement at the audacity of Mariette.

‘Oh, okay. So I couldn’t copy the steps Penny just did to summon you, then? And I could not otherwise find where to go via Absolute Direction and dimension-crossing abilities?’ Mariette asked, a bit discouraged.

Laat would reply.

Before Mariette could get discouraged further the God would go on. He would ask with a tilt of his head, his gaze cutting over to Penny for a moment before returning.

‘Oh…’ Mariette made a small, disappointed noise, guessing it was impossible… but then Laat brought up that she could have an ally carry it instead. Mariette looked over towards Penny, then back to Laat. ‘… Well… Yes. That would be really good, if she’s willing…’ She looked back to Penny. ‘… Please?’ she asked, a bit unsure how to ask.

Penny’s gaze was locked onto the God and she couldn’t help the narrowed glare she sent at him. “Yeah, I can carry it for as long as you want me too.” She would reply to Mariette without looking at her. “Just give me a heads up if you find someone else you’d prefer to hang onto it.”

Laat would note with audible amusement.

“Because I know you well enough to know you’re scheming.” Penny would mutter in reply, before shaking her head.

Lasst would state returning his attention back to Mariette.

‘Er…’ Mariette turned a bit unsure by the reactions here. ‘If you’re uncomfortable with it, I could instead ask… Ronin and Miko, I believe they would be willing to cooperate?’ Mariette asked, because Penny didn’t seem super-happy. She’d wait with replying to Laat until after Penny answered.

Penny forced herself to take a breath before dragging her glare away from Laat, and giving Mariette as close to a reassuring simile as she could. “It’ll be fine with me either way.” She would lie. “Ronin and Miko are good people, and they deserve the trust.” She continued on honestly.

“I just don’t trust him” She’d add, gesturing towards the God off to the side. “His boon will help you, that I don’t doubt, but what else it might cause in the meantime is what I’m sketchy about. That and I’m trying not to delve too deep into the ‘I know, you know, I know’ mindgame trap at the moment.”

Mariette stayed quiet for a moment, looking towards Penny. Eventually…

‘If so, I would rather leave it with you. I am more confident that you'd be able to handle whatever it might cause, if you're alright with my reasoning.’

“Yeah I’m fine with that” Penny would agree. “I feel the same to be honest.”

‘Thank you,’ Mariette said and nodded her head, her tone one of deep gratitude. She then turned back towards Laat. ‘I believe… that will be all, then. Go ahead,’ Mariette requested, taking a step back as she assumed Laat would grant his boon.

As the smaller girl stepped back the God of Ends would reach behind himself to grasp onto one of the cracks that lined the air around him. And with a deceptively simple motion, ripped a fragment of the planes off. In the gap left behind one could see an endless expanse of erupting stars. The God was uninterested in that however, and was focused on the fragment in his hand.

With slow, methodical, movements he would close his hand into a tight fist. A roaring sound of cracking ice, and a violent quake would spring up in response to this act. But thankfully it would not last more than a few moments. As at that point he had extended his hand off in front of him and without any ceremony or fanfare he opened his hand and let his work fall from his hand.

It fell as a glowing streak of light, looking as if a minor star falling from the heavens. But it would never reach the earth. It would come to a sudden and abrupt halt in front of Penny, its glow fading so that both girls could see it clearly. It looked like an ice pick, or perhaps a thin chisel. Its handle was black as night, and its blade looked like flowing, melted, glass. And it held a muted sense of power, like a dam about to burst.

He would explain.

Penny would give the Artifact a hard look before carefully picking it out of the air and holding over for Mairette to get a clear look and feel of it.

Mariette stabilized herself with some tentacles from the quaking, and held her hands over her ears for the sound. The glow meant she briefly thought she’d have to close her eyes, too, but that seemed safe. An… ice pick, or a chisel. As Penny held it over, Mariette would briefly and carefully grab it to hold, swallowing a bit. So, for the final stage, she’d have to swing this at the mirror…

As she held it she would feel it resonate with her magic, and for a short moment she would feel cold and out of breath. But both sensations would pass swiftly.

‘Okay. I… Thank you,’ she said, before holding it back to Penny.

Taking the boon back Penny would turn to Laat as she stored it away. “With Mariette’s petition concluded. It is now my turn, correct?” She would ask a warry tone to her voice.

Would come Laat’s booming confirmation.

“You're not wrong about that” Penny would grumble quietly before standing at attention and focusing her gaze on the face of the god before her. “I seek answers, answers that only you can provide.” She’d state clearly. “They revolve around my condition, the consequences inherent to it and your role in it.”

There would be a moment of heavy silence after that declaration, one in which more than a minor note of fear could be seen stealing its way across Penny’s face. “Am I correct in the assumption that I am devolving into The Beast?”

Laat’s reply was solemn.

Penny flinched as if she had been struck when she got her answer. Pained resignation flitting across her features as she waited a breath to see if he would say anything more. “Is this the end for all of your Champions?” She would then ask, her face stoic and more robotic than Mariette had ever seen before. “Or was it simply an accident?”



This information does nothing to reassure Penny. And for a moment the only sound is a metal latching being thrown over and over. Laat offers no further information, content it seems to wait for Penny to work though what thoughts are flying through her mind.

Eventually Penny speaks once more. “Is this to be my End?”

Laat answers, the truth in his statement catching Penny off guard. He would go on to explain, his voice softening as he spoke.



He would say as he stood once more.

When he finished speaking his titanic form shattered into countless motes of stars and dust which started to flow back into and through the cracks in the air that Penny had caused at the culmination of her calling the God.

“Fucker” Penny would curse softly as she watched the cracks mend before her.

Mariette had stayed quiet as she listened to what Penny and Laat were talking about, partly feeling like she was hearing something she wasn’t supposed to hear. That said, they hadn’t kicked her out, so she kept quiet. At the end, after the disappearance of the god, Mariette approached Penny.

‘Are you alright? Tell me if there’s anything I can do to help, I will gladly do it,’ she said, feeling oddly eager to give something back to Penny… albeit, she wasn’t sure what.

“Yeah, I’m alright.” Penny would say as she ran a hand over her face. “Or as alright as I can be at the moment. He didn’t mean to make me, and there have been some complications because of that that are starting to get impossible to ignore.”

“Right now I’m not sure what can be done long term, but if you’ve got any ideas on how to help mend soul degradation, or stabilize paradoxical existences I’m all ears.”

‘…’ Mariette kept quiet for a bit, but then spoke. ‘I can look for a solution. I’m currently enrolled in the Overcity College of Magic, if I ask all the professors there I could find someone with an idea. In my organization, there’s also a person who has been around for eternity and has a hobby of collecting knowledge and contacts. If there’s anyone who would know, it would be her. … Albeit… she’s the most fanatical follower of Asengav there is, and she despises me…’ Mariette’s eyes trailed away a little, as she thought of how to possibly get what she wanted out of Lea.

“Don’t risk yourself too much on this.” Penny would caution. “I’ve got a friend of my own looking into it. She’s a Horror expert, which as you can imagine has some overlap in regards to this. If the college has a network I wouldn't mind borrowing your login for it so I could do some poking around myself.” She’d mention. “If you need some coverage, using this as a bargaining chip over the Queen of Penrose might buy you some leeway from this follower who despises you though.”

‘Oh. That could work,’ Mariette blinked in realization of the last suggestion. ‘… Albeit, she might decide to use it against you. Which I… wouldn’t like,’ Mariette considered the risks and rewards for that possible situation. ‘Right. But the login, I can absolutely give you. It shouldn’t be too bad. You’ve helped me a lot, so I absolutely would like to do something for you, too,’ she said, giving Penny a determined expression.

“Something I learned from him” Penny would say gesturing at the cracks that had nearly finished fixing themselves. “Is that some deals are broken from the start. Unless this follower can detect lies I’m not too worried about dealing with them.” She’d give a shrug. “But that’s only if we need that route. For now though I’ll happily take the login from you.” She’d reach into her leg compartment and pull out her flip phone and tap at it before handing it over to Mariette with a note app opened up.

‘I meant, like, she might instead find something to break your soul apart further to use as a weapon…’ Mariette noted. She took the phone and, after retrieving a note with log-in information from her hammerspace handbag portal because she couldn’t for the life of her remember it herself, typed it in. Slowly. Peering between the note and the phone between every letter and trying to figure out how to do the special letter they for some reason included in her password.

Eventually the information was written down, the Special characters appearing on a side menu as she was looking for them helped speed things along, and Mariette nodded to her. ‘Alright. I guess that’s all for today,’ she remarked.

“Ah” Penny would take a moment before nodding, “Yeah that would be bad. And her simply knowing would be all she’d need to start looking for something to do that.” She’d agree as she waited for Mariette to finish punching in the login information.

“So it is, figure you’ve got classes to get too?” She’d ask with a raised brow as she stored her phone away. Before Mariette could answer, both of them would feel a sudden bout of vertigo and sharp sense of déjà vu. Looking around the cracks in the air had vanished, and above them a storm seemed to be rapidly brewing if the dark clouds and rumbling thunder were any indication.

‘I do. Thank you,’ Mariette confirmed. … ‘Do you… want a ride home?’ Mariette asked, while opening a portal next to her.

“No need” Penny would say, though it would take a few moments before a harsher portal opening would occur next to the mechanical girl. “Still jealous about how clean yours are, but I’ve got a system of my own now.” Through the portal Mariette would see the inner corridors of the Earth Bastion. “Appreciate the offer though.”

Mariette tilted her head at the rough portal, curious how it worked. But, like, seeing how she didn’t really understand how her own magic worked, that probably was a lost cause.

‘No problem. I will see you later, then.’

“Catch you on the other side”

With that, the girls had said their goodbyes, and left through their respective portals.

As their portals closed the storm that rolled in started to rain. A situation that hadn’t happened for decades at least. And unseen by either of them, were the dozens of seeds that lie lingering in the cracks of the crater they left behind.

"You. All. Accepted?"

Bonnie occasionally took more than two people on a hunt, but it had been a while she had four different magical girls headed to one destination. Mariette, Ronin, Miko, and Sakura were all lined up next to each other. Sakura. She had her tail coiled around the other three and was running her hand through Ronin’s hair.

“What’s the quest, Maneki-neko?”

Bonnie resisted the urge to correct Sakura. "I do not believe this hunt calls for such a large hunting party. Each of you better be here for the right reasons. Your only reward is that people you care about will be spared a twisted fate. Just because there are more of you doesn’t mean this is going to be easy." There were, of course, no objections. "I’m going to assume you all read the bounty. I’ll drop you off in a ruined city in Ethiopia. Dilla was flattened a while ago, and there’s a travel ban. Aside from the two hostage magical girls, there shouldn’t be any other friendlies to worry about." Bonnie paced back and forth in front of the girls. "We’re light on additional details, but if you have any other questions, I will do my best to answer them."


‘It was a request for help. Of course I accepted!’ Ronin answered to that first question with a grin, looking very happy with herself, and not minding Sakura playing with her hair. ‘Besides, it’s an excellent opportunity to adventure with my sister and Sensei. Right, Sensei?’ Ronin asked with a smirk.

“Of course!”

‘Well, if my sister goes, I go too to keep her out of trouble if I can. I apologize if it’s an inconvenience,’ Miko said, bowing a bit to Bonnie. ‘Should there be any other hostiles other than the two parts of Su Daji, as far as we know?’ she followed up.

"To my knowledge, no." Bonny hardly moved at all. She wasn’t nearly as animated as the other girls aboard her ship. "But this is Su Daji we’re dealing with. Even by Kitsune standards, she is a cunning foe. I would not put it past her to have other fragments of herself wandering around. But I would not expect them to be as strong."


‘I… was simply surprised why you’d come to me, at such a hectic moment. I’m here because I was curious. My question is, how did you pick your candidates, and why specifically us from halfway across the planet?’ Mariette asked. The portal witch wasn’t as comfortable as Ronin with having Sakura’s tail like this…

It was also awkward for Mariette, Ronin and Miko to be like this. In front of others, they had to pretend they didn’t know each other. None of them knew how to do that.

"I have a quota to meet. That was just the best time to reach out to you all. As for how I select hunters…” Bonnie rolled her shoulders. "That information is confidential, even to me. My superior supplies me with the candidates, and I perform my own research to determine which are going based on her short list.” Bonnie turned to look out one of the windows.

‘Hey, Mariette! Sorry for, uh, accompanying and aiding an invasion force attacking your mansion and making an attempt on your life. But you’re okay, right?’ Ronin asked with a somewhat awkward cheery voice.

‘…’ Mariette gave Ronin a stare. ‘It is fine. Don’t make it a habit,’ was her eventual reply.

‘I’ll avoid it…!’ Ronin giggled a bit while Miko looked concerned.

Bonnie squinted her eyes. "If you are ready, so are we." The doorway turned into a portal overlooking the African plains. ”The Dilla ruins are only a short walk in. Don’t let the heat surprise you. It’s far more humid out there than it is in Penrose. Bonnie pointed at a giant rock formation. ”Just on the other side of this formation is the behemoth. Tread carefully.

“That overgrown Kitsune had better watch out for me!” Sakura charged through the portal, dragging everyone with her. As soon as they had fully left the portal, the cloud stone zoomed away, leaving them in the african heat. “Did anyone bring a soda?”

Miko, being who she is, absolutely would have researched beforehand and packed a backpack full of default necessities. As such…

‘I didn’t bring soda, but I did bring water. I wasn’t sure if the mission would drag on or not, so. Would you like one?’ she asked Sakura, pulling the backpack she’d brought to extract one of the water-bottles.

‘Phew. Heat, haha. Alright! Let’s get to our goal!’ Ronin called, ready to march.

Mariette, meanwhile, had a trick she’d used in the past for hot environments. If she got too warm, she could open a portal to quite a bit up into the air, and since there’s more wind the higher you go she’d just let it blow past her and cool her down. She could adjust the altitude for temperature. The issue would be if it’s windier on the ground than above her, but. Regardless, she was likely ready to move. She could also use small portals directed from her eye behind the eyepatch to above her to scan around the area, to avoid getting ambushed. Something that Sakura would surely need if she was going to survive.

Mariette would notice quite a few interesting things on the other side of the rock they were hiding behind. There was of course the behemoth kitsune Su Daji. Just like Bonnie said, she was massive. Not the tallest behemoth she had ever seen, but vulpine creatures were always longer than they were tall. The cluster of nine tails made her look even larger. Daji’s fur was bright white with red stripes around the face and limbs. Then there were the balls of magical energy floating above the tips of her tails. Just behind her was what looked like a black spec. It was floating around erratically, causing the ruined surroundings to swirl together. Piles of stones were quickly turned into makeshift buildings. They were crude, but it looked like a small town was starting to form. Mariette was able to spot an inn off in the distance, or at least, what might have been one. It was a tall building that didn’t look too different from the Golden Trove.

But more interesting to Mariette were all the large boulders leading up to the behemoth. It would be a simple matter to create a portal behind one to get everyone closer. Then when they were ready, they could unleash a surprise attack by-

“Hey, kitsune bitch!” Sakura drew back her hands and charged her killing blow. “I’ve got an attack with your name on it, and it’s called-”

A ball of magical energy slammed into the earth right in front of Sakura. She tumbled backwards into Ronin and Miko, piling up just a few feet away from Mariette’s position. A second ball slammed into the rock formation she was hiding behind, scattering it to the four winds. They had most certainly been exposed.

That was when the black dot in the distance stopped moving. It only waited a moment before flying towards the group. It was moving fast, and it wasn’t long before the black dot started to look more like a magical girl. Or more precisely, a magical woman. Soon other details came into focus. Her ornate chinese dress, the golden accents, her long hair, it all looked so familiar. She dropped to the earth like a meteor, but stopped her descent just before touching the ground. A burst of wind magic nearly knocked Mariette off her feet. But soon the dust settled… And Su Fang stood before her.

“Mariette?” She scoffed. “Why am I not surprised?”

Ronin and Miko had to grab Sakura in a panic as she tumbled back, raising small reinforcement barriers just in case as they assessed their situation. Mariette, meanwhile, was utterly shook by how her cover broke apart, and of all places to be, in the place the opponent was heading straight for was not one of them. She was about to drop herself through a portal… when she recognized the person headed for her. Then she stopped that, instead looking towards her with a touch of surprise, and another of relief.

‘Su. I’m happy to see you,’ she said. ‘Okay, that changes things. There was a hunt for “Su Daji”, and I was thinking…’ She dismissed the thought. ‘How have you been faring?’ she instead asked, with a small smile on her lips.

‘Su!’ Ronin, a few feet away, scrambled to get up to her legs with a big smile. ‘Well, isn’t that- Sensei! This is a friend of ours!’ Ronin called, just in case Sakura was going to continue with the attack. ‘I mean, you were there during that invasion and fought alongside her too, right? I think? Anyway! She’s a friend!’

Sakura just looked on with a look of bewilderment. After cursing up a storm that is.

‘Su… So this is where you went?’ Miko asked, her expression happy but with a touch of concern. ‘I have questions, but… I’m glad to see you, too.’ In addition to the others, that is.

With a growl, Su bit her lower lip. In a matter of seconds, a droplet of blood had run down her chin. Even though this was Su standing in front of them, she did not have kind eyes. “I am Su Daji! I’ve always been.” Su kept her posture straight and looked down on Mariette. Almost like she was looking at an insect. “Familiars are a collection of memories and a soul merged together. That’s what makes us so knowledgeable about magic. My soul is Su Daji’s, among many others.” Su spread her dread wings, and the dark tendrils waved in the air behind her back. Or had they been dread tails this entire time? “But the people I was three thousand years ago doesn’t matter. Not like the history books got it right anyway. What matters to me is why you’ve decided to follow me out here.” She bent her hips until her face was level with Mariette’s. Mariette was a tall girl, but Su was a taller woman. “Was it not enough, Mariette? You helped Justine complete the ritual that got Amber killed, and then when Helga and I broke your brainwashing, you still chose to serve that horror.” With mock laughter, she turned to look at the Japanese twins. “And I guess the two of you will only ever be her underlings? Unable to think for yourselves?” She stood up again. Her fists trembled. “I thought I’d be left alone if I stayed out of Penrose, but you’ve come to harass me here too?”

Mariette winced and took a step back as Su stared at her. Clearly, she’d made a miscalculation somewhere. ‘I… didn’t follow you…’ she muttered, perhaps too quietly. When the part came about her still serving the horror, she averted her gaze, unable to look at Su anymore. ‘I’m not… done yet…’

Ronin and Miko looked equally surprised, Miko a bit horrified. Though, Ronin lifted a finger.

‘Er, it was by complete coincidence we and Mariette happened to come here together today. We just accepted the same hunt, it’s the first time since, really,’ Ronin objected.

‘Was it really a coincidence, however?’ Miko asked.

‘… Or, at least, powers other than our own made us go together, at any rate,’ Ronin corrected.

”...And you just went along with these ‘other powers’?”

Still, the question remained. Mariette steeled herself and turned to look at Su again. ‘I’m sorry, for all the pain I’ve caused,’ Mariette said, turning to open a portal to leave. … “Leave” actually meant “portal around the compound to try to rescue the captives from behind”, but she’d start with seeing if she was allowed to leave or not.

”If you’re sorry, then why are you even here?!” Su’s face was getting more red by the second. ”Do you know why I even came back here? While Boteg was off running around, trying to find his lost brothers and sisters, I came to a realization. Nothing good came out of Amber and I visiting Penrose. Amber died, Justine continues to live to this day, you’re still fucking around with horrors. We weren’t even able to slay Penny like Boteg originally wanted.” She grinned at Mariette before extending her arms. ”Oh, I guess Helga and I became a thing. You and Justine killed Amber, so we had to make due. I almost cheated on her and she didn’t even care. That’s how I knew it wasn’t real. But you know who showed both of us real love? Mika did!” While Su didn’t take her eyes off Mariette, she pointed behind herself at all the structures in the distance. ”I’d have gone back to Penrose to retrieve her, and I’m not going to back away just because she’s in a fucking sandtrap half way across the world. What I will do is kill every last one of you if you try to take her or Katarina away from me.”

Suddenly, Sakura’s head poked up. “Katarina?” She looked at Ronin. “Katarina… Nekrasova?”

‘Er, hold on, Katarina? Why her?’ Ronin spoke up to Su, simply wanting some explanation on that.

‘And, uh, are the two of them here willingly? Mika and Katarina?’ Miko asked, more than a little concerned.

Mariette had stopped, not walked through the portal she was about to walk through because Su continued talking to her. She waited for a bit to see if Su would answer Ronin and Miko’s questions.

Su scoffed. ”They go everywhere together, they’re in love.” She looked to Miko. ”They’re investigating the event that-”

Su suddenly grit her teeth even harder and swung her head backwards. A bolt of lightning flew past her cheek and disappeared in the clouds. At the other end of the lightning bolt was Sakura’s finger, sizzling with arcane energy.

“As nice as her oppai look, Su Daji is a treacherous snake.” Sakura grinned. “Do not listen to her lies. Katarina does not deserve to be held by such a vile woman. I doubt Mika does either.”

”So this was just an elaborate distraction?” With a swing of her arm, Mariette’s portal caved in on itself. ”I’m not even surprised at this point.”

The kitsune flung more energy balls at their location, and the ground around them erupted into debris and smoke. Sakura coiled her tail around her friends to shield them from the attack.

“See how quickly she resorts to hostility? I’m just glad I used a normal spell instead of my killing blow. Now I can assist you in the fight.” She looked at Ronin. “I will not humiliate myself like I did with the tiny scientist!”

When she uncoiled, the surroundings had changed a bit. Su had taken the stone to erect buildings on either side of them. They were effectively inside a giant alleyway. At one end Sakura, Miko, Ronin, and Mariette. Su and the behemoth were at the other. Behind them were the various buildings where Mika and Katarina had to be.

”A fitting arena, isn’t it?” Su’s eyes surged with power. Their neon red glow was visible even in daylight. ”You brought this on yourselves. I’ll bury you here!” Su raised her hand and filled the alleyway with wind. Not only was it almost impossible to stand, but bits of stone debris were breaking off of the walls and tumbling towards them. The behemoth jumped into the sky. It was difficult to tell what it was doing, but it seemed to be spinning like a top. It did look like the kitsune was going to land behind them, in the direction they were being blown in.

‘Woah! Okay! Ronin shouted out as Sakura shot. Meanwhile, Miko cried out in alarm because she was more invested in what Su was saying.

Mariette grunted a very annoyed grunt when Sakura shot.

Ronin looked to Sakura as she talked about fighting together. ‘Okay! Something’s clearly off, so let’s do this!’

Though, that’s when Mariette opened a portal directly to Sakura and threw a quick spell of very bright light in her face. Mini flashbang or whatever. Not actually harmful, not unless it caused Su to hit her, at any rate.

‘Wait, Mariette!?’ Ronin called in surprise at that as she and Miko had to set up shields to protect against the wind and rocks for Sakura.

‘She is not vile. She is the one who saved my life,’ Mariette explained, though probably while using portals going directly to the walls to the left and right to defend against energy balls. A shield on her back would also prevent her from falling over in the wind, albeit it was not comfortable.

‘I’m eternally grateful for what you did for me… but I will rescue those girls from you. If only to make sure nobody comes after me with the intention of killing you, like the hunt suggested!’ Mariette called, and then a flurry of light-blasts surged from around her at rocks and at Su, with the intention of putting her more on the defensive. Ronin and Miko could stand at the defensive with reinforcement shields. That said, Mariette knew they couldn’t stay here, not with the behemoth coming around. So she was also going to attempt to open a portal in the ground to drop into the adjacent buildings to escape this alley that wasn’t exactly ideal for Mariette.

“Son of a, where did she go!?” Sakura flailed her tail around before slamming it into the ground, triggering a lightning nova. “That outa get Oppai Daji!”

While Su was much, much, much too far away to get hit by the surge of electricity, the momentarily blinded Sakura did manage to shock both of her friends. While not powerful, it was enough to stun the twins, causing their shields to drop. They and Sakura rolled away like tumbleweeds in the wind.

Mariette no longer had her shield backing, but she could keep herself from getting smashed to bits by incoming boulders. The light rays turned the debris to ash before they could touch her. Su wasn’t having much difficulty evading her shots however. She was among the swiftest girls in Penrose, and she had gotten nothing but faster since her departure. It was almost like she could see the light rays before they hit her.

Mariette was used to falling through her portals to safety, but that wasn’t what happened here. Su pulled back her arm and the wind instantly changed direction. A burst of air was pulled through her portal, and she was shoved out of it. She was suspended in the air as Su dove in her direction. Judging by the scowl on her face, it seemed that her words hadn’t been able to break through to her.

Things weren’t much better for the others. Sakura, Miko, and Ronin could get back up now that the wind had stopped blowing them. But the kitsune had made landfall, and was charging towards them. The back of the ally was the open maw of a giant fox. Rows and rows of teeth as well as a cavernous throat was there to greet the slow.

Mariette winced as the wind lifted her from her portal. Hm, that was less than ideal. Fighting someone who knows your tricks is a pain, huh? She looked up with a focused gaze to where Su was speeding in at her.

The hand-mirror that was Mariette’s weapon manifested in her hand and she swung in empty space in front of her. All at once, multiple portals opened in front of her, intending to obscure her from view. Then, tentacles of darkness shot out from her, intending to grab onto the portal to pull her through. Knowing Su could wipe out the portals, she also prepared a light-blast, and also mapped a path through portals; the moment she saw Su again, be it by her breaking the portals or simply going around them, Mariette intended on shooting and also opening a portal to where the light-blast was going make the shot come back after missing, coming in from diagonally above. Tentacles were ready to otherwise defend her. Also, because Ronin/Miko wouldn’t be able to stop the fox, she also had to prepare to just fling herself out of the way with tentacles.

‘R-right, Sensei! Su is, er, was our friend, we’d like to avoid killing her!’ Ronin called, but then spun around and saw the behemoth fox. ‘You’re new, though,’ she observed. ‘Right, hang on!’

She didn’t know if Sakura was still stunned, but she grabbed her anyway and leapt. Ronin and Miko had their own wind magic to at least somewhat counteract the wind if it came again, but for now their reinforcement speciality allowed them to create tiny barriers under their feet, essentially allowing them to jump in mid-air indefinitely, and in any direction. While Ronin leapt up to avoid the charging fox, she then turned to jump down at it again and try to slice with her blade from above, to see how tough the beast was.

‘I-I need to figure out if…’ Miko, meanwhile, decided to take a look around with her Third Eye. She leapt just as Ronin did, and made sure to throw a glance at both Su, the big kitsune and all in-between, while also mentally preparing to leap to either Ronin or Mariette’s aid if so needed. Reinforcement specialist or all that.

The scene was frantic, but Miko was able to gleam quite a bit out of the scene with just a glance. The Kitsune was indeed a massive magical anomaly. It was impossible to separate its magics into individual specializations, but it was a Kitsune. They were among the most powerful arcane tricksters in Japanese mythology, and Su Daji was said to be the strongest among them. In addition to balls of “fox fire,” they could expect it to teleport and use other forms of trickery.

As for Su, it became very apparent why she was so difficult for Mariette to oppose. Su was always the most potent wind girl in Penrose, but it seemed that she now also possessed time magic. In addition to her swift movements, she was overclocking her mind to give her perfect reaction speeds. In addition to this, she had her own third eye up and could likely tell exactly what Mariette was doing as she was doing it. She knew where every single portal lead, what spells Mariette was preparing, and was swift enough in body and mind to react.

Su soared right over the top of the portals and did a barrel roll to avoid the incoming light blast. But there would be no redirect, as a sudden collapsing vacuum would shatter any of the portals that could have landed a blow on her. While she spun, her blade-like dread tails sliced through Mariette’s tentacles. They were about to slice through her flesh when one of her tails gently bat Mariette off to the side.

Had Mariette broken through? Had she finally been able to talk some sense into Su? Had she-

*ZAP*

Mariette was suddenly hit from behind with a potent lightning bolt.

“Fucking hell!” Sakura cursed. “Hold me steady, Ronin!And stop trying to defend such an evil woman! There are other girls with bigger oppai!”

The kitsune eyed its prey as they seemed to walk through the air. While its mouth was shut, the arcane orbs that hovered over its tail crackled with arcane energy. It wasn’t long before it flicked a salvo of giant projectiles at the sky fairing asians.

‘Oh dear,’ Miko said after properly processing what she was seeing.

Mariette had a moment of alarm when her tentacles and all seemed unable to stop the assailant. They’d usually always been enough to at least allow her time to escape, but this time… and she was just hit a bit aside. Mariette did not have much time to figure out why before being shocked, after which she gasped and fell over on the spot.

‘Ack! I didn’t know you were going to shoot…!’ Ronin shouted, and also stopped her attack at the fox-beast as it started firing at them. ‘HOLY…!’

‘I’m going to Mariette! Beware of tricks and teleportation from the fox!’ Miko remarked to Ronin, before turning her legs to jump downwards. Both Ronin and Miko threw shields to block the pieces of salvo that were about to hit them, while Miko tried to also shield Mariette if necessary and Ronin Sakura.

‘Right, Sensei! If you tell me what you’re gonna do next, I’ll do my best to support you!’ Ronin said, because if Sakura was going to do whatever anyway, might as well do her best to make sure it’s a success!

“As I would expect you to do for your sensei.” Sakura puffed out her chest in a display of pride before pointing her finger at Su once more. “We kill Su Daji and rescue those girls!”

Miko, meanwhile, landed by Mariette and immediately started applying healing to the shocked girl. ‘She has time-magic. She reacts instantly to what you’re doing,’ Miko said, if she had time to, I can imagine Su pressing her advantage.

‘I see…’ Mariette tried to pull herself up, the eyepatched girl frowning at the painful experience. ‘It appears it’s my turn to be stuck in an alley fighting an oppressor…’ That said, Mariette had a plan. Her portals have way greater range, after all.

Ronin’s reinforcement magic could protect her friends and herself, but asking them to stand up to magical artillery was a big ask. The arcane sphere ruptured against the shield, but the ensuing burst of magic cut the shield in half and threw both Ronin and Sakura through the air.

“Fucking hell!” Sakura’s serpentine body spun through the air like a bolo.

And that was just one projectile. The kitsune had nine tails, each of which were capable of flinging projectiles. It didn’t wait for its prey to hit the ground and attempted to strike them mid-air.

As Mariette had predicted, Su was going to keep up the pressure. Miko got her shield up just in time to deflect Su’s dread tails, but it wasn’t going to hold forever. A single spin of her torso flung her nine bladed tendrils into the shield. She had become a saw blade, cutting through the shield before mincing the targets inside. Mariette had mere seconds to enact a plan.

Okay. So her plan on how to actually win would take too long for immediate survival. That said, there was a hailstorm of projectiles in the air. It was time for some portalling 101.

A portal opened from directly in front of a projectile some distance away from Su to Mariette’s hand-mirror. The projectile picked would preferably be one that was heading their direction so that it would be stopped, but not so close that Su could just immediately close it herself. The projectile inside would be aimed, not at Su herself as she could dodge too easily, but at the back of the shield Su was currently assailing. The hope was that the impact would create a burst she couldn’t escape entirely unscathed from and hopefully either force a retreat or actually knock her away.

Miko, with her Third Eye, saw the portal and could guess what was happening. Albeit it was a split-second thing, she’d attempt to raise a new barrier behind the previous one when the projectile came through to shield them from the explosion. If Su were to just go sideways to avoid the burst, Mariette could simply move where she pointed the hand-mirror and Miko could attempt to create a barrier at the new location. There were a lot more projectiles to pick up if the first one failed.

Ronin, meanwhile, as the one who can manifest barriers in the air, tried to manifest one to just immediately break the flight of her and her Sensei. They were MGs, they could handle it. Then she’d just hold onto her Sensei and try to leap to the ground, and…

‘I prefer “drive away”, but I’ll support your shot!’ On the ground, it should be easier for Sakura to fire, and otherwise Ronin could protect them from projectiles. Not with barriers too close to them, but rather by manifesting shields as discs in her hands and throwing them at the projectiles from a distance.

“You need to be more of a man, Ronin!” Sakura was a bit shaken up with all the slamming and falling, but was coherent enough to point his finger at Su. The shields Ronin was throwing into the air also seemed to be enough to stop the incoming bombardment.

Of course, no matter how many “if” statements her plan contained, Mariette could not plan for complications that she couldn’t foresee. Because magic could be pretty bullshit sometimes, and never with as much frequency as enemy magical girls.

Mariette had timed and angled everything perfectly. She had seen Su move and could approximate how long it would take for her to avoid a magical burst. The issue was that Mariette assumed that Su’s only avenue for avoiding attacks was to move out of the way. She looked over her shoulder at the incoming ball of energy and vanished right on the spot. The attack detonated just as Mariette predicted, and Miko’s second shield blocked most of the impact.

But Miko was also aware of what Su had done. Girls like Su had unique abilities they could use with their magic. She could create vacuums with her wind magic. But she could see that with her time magic, she was capable of sending things into the future. In this case, she simply sent herself ahead just in time to avoid the exploding projectile. This also meant that Sakura’s shot would miss its mark and connect with Miko’s head.

“Fucking hell!” Sakura balled her hands into fists. “Come on Ronin,! We’re engaging in CQC!” The wannabe dragon slithered towards his target.

Su appeared right where she had vanished from once the gambit failed. But rather than pressing the attack, she turned around and charged towards Sakura. Though Mariette and Miko weren’t quite out of trouble yet. The behemoth briefly turned into a puff of white smoke and reformed directly above Mariette. It lifted up one of its paws with the clear intent of crushing Mariette and Miko.

They had yet to land a single hit on Su or the kitsune. Were they in over their head, or could they still turn this around?

Mariette was not going to stay around to find out.

She could use the brief disappearance of Su to get out of here. First and foremost, she opened a portal from the ground to in-the-way of the giant paw, so that it’d smack into the ground earlier than intended, because if that part failed then all else is void anyway. Second, she opened a larger portal beneath her, simply meant to displace herself and Miko away from the current situation and about a mile east from there.

‘E- MIKO!’ Ronin cried out seeing her sister get hit, and is going to launch herself in that direction as quickly as she can, however that might compare to Sakura’s speed. Now, distances are a little vague, but if she sees Mariette portal away with Miko she might halt, as there’s nothing left to head towards.

Distances may be vague, but times most certainly are not. The brief duration Su had vanished was barely enough time for Mariette and Miko to escape. The portal closed just before Su could drag the duo back through, but she had plenty of time to turn and face the other duo that was charging her. She stomped the ground, with her legs in a half-horse stance.

“She thinks she’d got more martial prowess than me? We’ll show that evil woman who’s the master of hand to hand!”

---

Mariette and Miko appeared a mile deep into the city. It was more crudely erected buildings, with the sound of fighting in the distance. Even from here, Mariette could feel the air shake with every vacuum Su collapsed.

She barely had a chance to speak with Miko before a plume of smoke erupted out of nowhere. And there before them was the behemoth kitsune, baring its fangs. While Miko was aware of its ability to teleport, she had not been aware of how far it could move.

The ground trembled when it growled, daring the duo to make their next move.

‘I-it can teleport…’ Miko mumbled, while holding a hand to her own head and healing herself, very much shaken by the thunderbolt headshot. Mariette grunted as annoyed reply, but pulled her hand-mirror again. Leaving Bunny at home today was the right choice.

‘Fine. You want to fight? Of the two of you, you’re easier to shoot,’ Mariette claimed, and then a dozen portals opened around Mariette, each connected to her hand-mirror, and from that a dozen blasts of light launched at the foe with some spread to try to intercept potential dodging. Knowing it could teleport, she also opened her tiny portals close to her to look in multiple directions. Close to her because she was wary of Su knowing about her sky-eye portals and would use it against her. At the same time, she was amassing her power and spreading her influence over the area, prepared to open more and larger portals…

… And a small part of her tried to also used Absolute Direction to see if she could figure out where Mika was. If this battle was as hopeless as it had felt, then perhaps trying to save the hostages and then retreat would be an option. But if this thing could just teleport after… it needed to be dealt with.

Miko would simply try to hang on, scout with Third Eye and prepare to try to block if Mariette missed anything.

As Mariette had deduced with her superior intellect, the giant fox was indeed easier to hit than a nimble magical girl. The trade off was that it was more durable. But that just meant that Mariette and Miko had to avoid being crushed by one of its attacks before it succumbed to its wounds.

Mariette could feel Mika’s presence. She couldn’t have been more than maybe ten blocks down the road. Sure enough, there was something representing a hotel further down the street.

Though the behemoth’s position did not allow for the maximum amount of firepower to be aimed at it. The nearby structures made shots past them impossible, and moving them closer would just allow the Vulpine creature to destroy them. Light poured onto the creature from above. It didn’t stay put for long.

The behemoth lunged for Mariette. Its chin scraped across the ruined road as it closed in on the pair.

Mariette frowned. So, you need something with a bit more punch to it, huh?

She saw a nearby structure with a long slender beam protruding from the top of it . Good enough. Then, she summoned her power, and swung her hand-mirror. With enough focus, Mariette can move her portals…

And what she did right now was create a portal the fox had to move over to get to her and then ram the other side of the portal down to swallow the piece of ruin, essentially causing a piece of building to strike out of nowhere from underneath the fox. Now, the bigger the portal, the more effort there was, so the size of the possible uppercut was limited by the circumference of the debris.

Even if she missed she could just make a different portal to where the monster jumped to next.

The kitsune would not stop its advance. Even as the metal beam was thrust into its chest, it continued to surge forth. The iron bent as it pressed forward. Partially due to the size of the creature, but also because of the heat from having all that light magic directed at it. Crimson spilled from its chest, but was it wise for Mariette to put all of her focus into her attack?

The moment the creature came too close Miko grabbed Mariette and leaped to get out of the way, being faster on her feet than Mariette. Mariette, meanwhile, would burst out a flurry of dark tentacles to try to hold off the attack. This did delay the behemoth, but it was evident that the jaws were going to keep closing, slowly, until the duo were trapped between its teeth. Mariette had no intention of letting that happen and instead created portals for the teeth to sink into. While she positioned them so that the frames of her mirrors would slip between its teeth, this was just delaying the inevitable. At the moment Miko and Mariette were being squished between her tentacles, but the fox’s gums would eventually break the portals. They needed a real solution.

Why not more offense?

Mariette shoot some lasers straight down its throat, which caused the vulpine beast to cough out the duo. Such a beating might have ended a lesser creature, but the kitsune was still persevering. It growled at the duo before disappearing from sight. But this was but a light reprieve before the assault continued.

The kitsune appeared in the sky and pressed all of its tails together. Then it performed a summersault that flung a single massive spell straight down on top of Mariette and Miko. It was too big to portal away, and asking one of Miko’s shields to block it would have been asking a lot from her magic. But it would be some time before it landed.

Time the kitsune used to teleport again.

It placed itself between Mariette and the direction Mika should have been in. The lazers of light bombarded it all over, but so too did it fling its smaller spells at Mariette and Miko. The weakening behemoth was going to fight tooth and nail until the bitter end.

Okay, so Mariette was panting now, having managed to make the giant fox release her, and it appeared again. Could it somehow sense that she used Absolute Direction. However, there was a different issue. Mariette did not want to kill this fox. It was somehow linked to Su, and almost regardless of the nature of the connection, Mariette didn’t want to do that to one she considered her friend.

Still, right now, she had to dodge a giant energy-ball.

‘Miko,’ Mariette asked as she opened a portal. Miko nodded, grabbed Mariette and leapt. Out of the two of them, Miko was the faster, with faster reaction-time and wind-magic to give her emergency boosts, and as such Miko leapt with Mariette through the portals. From now on, they were on double duty. Miko was dodging and leaping to avoid attacks, while Mariette pulled offense shooting at their foe and creating portals to redirect smaller spells back at their sender. Eventually, Mariette intended on trying to bypass the kitsune to portal directly to the place of the captives…

Mariette and Miko managed to escape through the portal just as the next salvo of projectiles came in. The portal was obliterated as they tumbled inside a room. They were surrounded by repurposed debris, but Mariette was still able to see the Kitsune by way of the portal over her eye. It looked like it was really hurting, but it refused to yield to its wounds. She decided to suspend her bombardment in fear of killing it. But she understood that she didn’t have a lot of time to dawdle. Ronin was holding up against Su, and Sakura wasn’t exactly a reliable partner. Mariette tried to catch her breath as the duo moved into the next room.

This room looked a lot more cozy. An ornamental rug was in the center of the floor, as well as two couches positioned on either side of a coffee table. Sitting on either couch were two transformed magical girls.

"I don’t know if I like this." Rina had made herself a metal lamp that lit the windowless room up. Her feet were up on the table with one leg over the other. "We haven’t learned much since Su showed up. I don’t know what kind of evidence she’s destroying while she tries to, um, rebuild the town."

”It’s fine!” Mika was playing on some hand held device. It was blaring crunchy 8-bit sounds as her thumbs jumped across the controller. ”I knew she’d come see me eventually!”

"I don’t like how…" Rina turned her head to look at the newly arrived.

‘Okay, so…’ Miko panted out as she looked around with Third Eye, simply because. Mariette, meanwhile, turned directly to the two girls.

‘Little time. I’ve been sent to save you. Summarize quickly. What’s going on? What’s with Su?’ Mariette requested, speaking very quickly, wanting to get a new perspective on the situation. All the while, starting to scout the area with portals to try to see if there were any threats incoming as she was currently located in the very place Su wanted to protect.

”Mommy’s building a town for us!” Mika didn’t look up from her game.

Rina opened her mouth to speak, but hesitated to speak. But just for a moment. "That’s the short version. I wouldn’t say we need to be rescued, but I doubt she’d let us go."

‘Building a…’ Mariette frowned. ‘I was sent by a girl named Bonnie to save two kidnapped girls, you two, and drive off or kill the kidnapper. I won’t kill Su, but she was not acting like usually. What can you tell me?’ she said, very wary of just-in-case.

Mika looked up from her game, absolutely beaming with joy. ”Mommy came to look for us! But while we were out here, Rina and I found a tail just laying out in the open. When Mommy touched it, it grew into the big fox.” Mika tipped her head. ”She has been acting a little strange recently.”

"I’ll say." Rina stood up. "It’s too early to tell, but I think the tail unlocked some of her memories or brainwashed her. I hesitate to believe it’s the latter since she doesn’t seem to be doing anything productive. Why build a town out of trash in the middle of nowhere?" She groaned. "I would have left already, but I’m worried she’ll come look for us. That kitsune she’s got with her is no joke. If it followed her into a city… As for the C.A.P.R.I.C.O.R.N.’s involvement, I was the one to request help from them, but it seems they embellished the request a bit."

‘We need to go check on Ronin…’ Miko said, worry in her voice, because Ronin would be hard-pressed holding back the enemy they just faced. Mariette nodded and prepared to portal.

Mika closed up her game and approached Mariette. ”If this row-nin is with mom, I’d like to come with you.”

Rina created a metal arrow in her hand. "I might as well join you. I would never hurt Su, but that fox is another story."

Mariette breathed out, somewhat in relief. So Su was being affected by something. She nodded to their desire to come along, and then made the preparations…

---

Mariette and Miko’s departure did get the kitsune to leave the area. But Su was still a deadly opponent, one that Ronin and Sakura had yet to land a hit on. Su remained in a horse stance as the duo charged towards her.

“Okay, so here’s the deal.” Sakura was able to speak while slithering up to her target. “She can dodge my attacks because you’re giving away my position, so if we flank her, one of us should be able to deal the killing blow.”

‘I don’t know if-’ Ronin tried.

“I can hear you.” Su called over with a growl.

“She’s just trying to intimidate us. If we get on either side of her, then I can-”

Su’s body erupted with magical energy, and the surrounding area was caught in a time dilation spell. Everything outside the dome seemed to move in slow motion, or was everyone inside moving really fast?

Debris swirled around Su’s arms as she lunged for Ronin. But more concerning was that Sakura looked like she was aiming lightning at Su. Given her previous attempts and Su’s close proximity to Ronin…

‘Ooooo-’ Ronin didn’t have much of a choice other than to try to avoid. In a combination of all her abilities, she manifested a barrier under her feet to launch herself off with a jump, used her wind to try to give herself a boost in that direction, but also tried to manifest a barrier between herself, Su AND Sakura, just in case.

Ronin’s barriers would keep her safe for the moment, but she was just delaying the inevitable. A single swing from Su’s arms was enough to shatter the barrier. The one thing that made her stop was the barrier blowing up behind her head. Sakura’s shot was another near-miss on Su, but the barrier stopped it from slamming into Ronin.

“She has barrier magic too!” Sakura went into a crane stance, minus the leg arrangement. “You may be able to see my magic, but my fists are too fast for you!” Sakura pounced towards Su, but was struck in the face by an uppercut. “Blast, I need a faster face!”

The uppercut was assisted by a sudden wind tunnel that carried Sakura into the air. But Su was guiding the dragon woman into the air and straight down on Ronin’s head.

‘Oh,’ Ronin blinked and tried to spearhead her own weaker wind-magic to break through to the right to avoid Sakura. However, she did want to counter somehow. ‘Su, I, I really appreciate your help back then…!’ She attempted to grab Sakura’s arm and then use reinforced strength to spin around and throw the dragon at Su…!

“Good thinking, Ronin! I’ll get her for sure this time!”

Even with enhanced reaction times and the ability to see magic, surely throwing her own ally at Su had to be a surprise. Sakura extended her fist as she glided towards her target, but Su just caught her in a wind tunnel and redirected her away.

But it wouldn’t be the clean break she wanted.

Sakura super charged her body and erupted with a nova of electricity. Even though Su was only on the outer fringes of the attack, it was enough to knock her out of the air. The wind tunnel broke around Sakura and they tumbled to the ground.

“Back then, huh?” Su stood up and glared at Ronin. Sakura;s lightning managed to scorch her arm and burned a hole in her dress over her rib cage. “You and Mariette have used me too many times, you’re going to need to be more specific.”

An invisible force picked up Ronin and hoisted her between Su and Sakura. The latter was charging Su with her eyes closed and surging with electricity.

Ronin yelped a little as she was picked up by what felt like nothing, but she had to assume it was focused wind-magic. She knew Su’s wind-magic was way superior to her own, so all she really had was lift her legs, manifest a barrier under her legs, and then try to jump with as much force as she could.

‘I’m grateful for all of them! … But the one I meant was the very last one!’ Ronin panted, probably trying to jump multiple times if it didn’t work. ‘Y-you helped save my sister… she’s free now, partly thanks to you…! Thank you!’ she called, and in case it didn’t work she’d have to raise a barrier and hope Sakura didn’t hurt her.

Ronin’s jump did get her a bit of height. As strong as Su’s magic was, air was never going to be the optimal way to hold someone down. But Ronin could feel her hair stand up as Sakura rushed underneath her. This was a potent payload that Sakura was carrying. Superior reflexes wouldn’t Save Su this time, but she was preparing an attack of her own.

Sakura and Su blasted each other with their magic. The field of electricity burned and threw Su backwards, and a wind burst sent Sakura hurtling through the air. But Ronin had been hit by both attacks. While she was behind Sakura, the wind burst was strong enough to reach her. Ronin flew through the air with her sensei before tumbling across the clay earth. Seconds later, Sakura fell on top of her.

“Fuck…Ing…Hell…” Sakura panted. “At least, you slowed, my fall, Ronin.” she rolled over onto her side so that Ronin could get up.

Su was crumpled up and had electricity burns all over her body. She trembled as she attempted to stand.

‘H-happy to be of service, Sensei…’ Ronin panted out as she also staggered up after the multiple blows she’d taken, and also been zapped a bit. She placed some healing on herself before turning over towards Su, a bit concerned about how injured she might be. Ronin started to walk over, hoping everyone’s shared injuries would give her time to talk.

‘I… I’m really happy to see you, you know. You disappeared for some time, again. I remember you fondly, I’m very sad you don’t see it the same way. Why, I still remember when you asked me out…’ Ronin grinned a bit, and transformed, as she could. She took the time to become as she had looked at the time in that restaurant.


‘And you know what? I would have said yes. If it wasn’t for being devoured by a vampire and that. Not necessarily because I was in love, mind, but because it’d be a new adventure. And who knows? Maybe love could have blossomed…’ With the assumption she hadn’t been interrupted by Sensei or Su by now, she continued.

‘I don’t believe this is you, Su. I don’t believe you’re a kidnapper, like the hunt claimed. Let’s talk this out, okay?’

Su was still trying to push herself to her feet. Be it a lack of strength or will, she fell back onto one knee. “Deni.” She held herself up with her knuckles. “That was, such, a long time ago. I haven’t been that naive in a long time. Why are you tormenting me with this now?” Her left arm had been cooked through and through, and was just black char. “Who did I kidnap? Mika and Katarina are here willingly! Whoever said otherwise-”

But Ronin had to move to place herself between Su and her sensei, who had slithered into position. While doing so she lost the transformed shape, as when transformed in that way she has zero combat capability, so she’s back to little samurai Ronin.

“I see my pupil has much to learn about old flames.” Sakura’s stance was a lot more aggressive than before. She wasn’t pointing at Su with her finger now, her arm was cocked like she was going to throw a punch. “Did I ever tell you I use to be yakuza, Ronin? Because I was, and I used people all the time. It’s easy to do when they think you love them, when you shower them with gifts.” She sighed. “I know Katarina. She’s one of my daughters, created by a false love that I made with someone. I doubt she knows, but she’s a good kid. She was a police officer last I heard.” Sakura allowed herself to chuckle, but remained serious. “If she’s here, it’s to stop something bad from happening. I can’t say Su Daji is making much sense. But she is historically a seductress, so I wouldn’t listen to her.” Sakura inched closer. “I understand if you can’t kill her yourself, but then let me do it. Let this bitter old man carry the sin of murder so that you don’t have to.”

‘Woa, woa, Sensei! This is NOT a “it’s painful but it must be done” moment!’ Ronin objected. ‘I don’t know who “Su Daji” is, but that over there is Su, my friend. She was the Familiar of a Magical Girl, and then managed to become a Magical Girl herself. And she’s NOT a bad guy! Something’s up, and we should put this on hold until we can talk this out! Okay!?’ she asked, now seriously scared that her Sensei wouldn’t listen to her.

“Actions speak louder than words, Ronin. What use is talking to a temptress that’s already shown her hand?” Sakura shook her head. “I see that there will be no reasoning with you. I can only hope that you forgive me for what I’m about to do…” Sakura reached her hands over her head. While it had been a cloudless day, Ronin could see that the weather was rapidly changing. Clouds started rolling in from every direction, and they were gathering directly over the trio. “I had hoped that I could show this move to Emily, but maybe she will read about it in the news.”

Ronin might not have had third eye, but he could feel the immense amount of mana rolling in. Most magical girls could enact a single killing blow that left them weak and vulnerable. But sakura had been gifted by higher powers. Not only did she have four different killing blows, but she could even keep fighting after enacting one. This was something she had experienced herself on their last hunt together. But Sakura wasn’t leaving anything in the tank this time. This attack really was going to take all of her mana to pull off.

A killing blow in the form of a hurricane.

It would have landed already, but the dime dilation spell Su put up was still in effect. It would be a bit before the hurricane touched down.

“Deni.” Su was looking off into the distance. “I don’t know why you’re trying to protect me, but I feel like the kindness you’re trying to show me is genuine.” She looked over her shoulder at Ronin. “Make sure Mika is taken care of. I only want the best for her.”

“This isn’t easy for me, Ronin! But it must be done.” Sakura still held her arms over her head. “Get away from her, or I’ll take you both out with-



‘NO! It does-’ Ronin called, spinning around to jump to grab and save Su… when she came face-to-face with the sheer magnitude of Hurricane Emily. There was absolutely no way she could jump in, grab Su and then escape. The only reason it wasn’t too late already was because of the time-dilation.

On instinct, feeling that she was in over her head, Ronin used her Twin Soul power. She sent a magic signal that told Miko her exact position. This was a signal for “I’m in trouble” and should cause Miko to alert Mariette… except Miko and Mariette were both outside the time-dilation effect, and the time for Miko to tell Mariette and then for Mariette to open a portal was too long.

Her only option, then, was to actually force Sakura to stop.

‘SENSEI STOP!’ she called, spinning around and punching Sakura in the face, hoping the shock would stop the whole thing from going down.

“Gah!”

It likely wouldn’t, considering how experienced Sakura is with punches.

‘STOP! STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP-’ she cried out, punching again and again, but with no effect on the actual hurricane.

“Hit me as many times as you must, Ronin.” Sakura sneered. Even as her soft underbelly bruised, she maintained her concentration. “I carry many deaths on my shoulders, the tears of wives and children. What’s a few more?”

Feeling it grow stronger, Deni spun around again, seeing in horror that the Killing Blow was descending towards her friend. A hellish thought crossed her mind, and all of a sudden, she had to weigh them in her mind.

Su was her friend and helped save Mariette. Sakura was her friend, and ALSO helped save Mariette, kind of. No, she couldn’t weigh them like that. Who was right in this situation? Su HAD attacked them with intention to kill, but-

No. Su had put down her arms, metaphorically. She had surrendered. Executing her now was wrong. Sakura was wrong. But that… meant Deni had to…

She didn’t want to. If she just let it happen and then let Sakura suffer the consequences of murder-

No. The moment she started thinking like that, it was over. She could not become a person of inaction.

‘GOD

FUCKING

DAMN IT

Deni screamed as she grabbed her sword, spun around, and sliced.

If you looked at Sakura and Ronin’s stat blocks side by side, it would be clear who the stronger magical girl was. Sakura's weakest attribute was as strong as Ronin’s greatest. But something that wouldn’t show up in the numbers, the list of perks and abilities, was Ronin’s determination. When she set her mind to something, she could fell anything with a decisive cut from her blade. Nykannis discovered this not long ago, but Sakura hadn’t been paying attention.

She did now.

Deni didn’t need to look at her sensei’s body to know the type of damage she inflicted. She didn’t want to. All she had to do was look at the sky and see the clouds lighting up. The sun fell on Deni’s face, and her tears glistened.

“Oh no… No…” Sakura whispered from behind Deni. “Are you crying because of me? Did I do that?” Her voice cracked. “How foolish I’ve been. I wanted to be respected by just one person. I overlooked them and drove them to kill me. I’m so sorry, Ronin. Things would have turned out better if you were my sensei.”

But when Deni looked over her shoulder, there was just her teacher’s unmoving body.

Su looked on wide eyed and slack jawed. With a gunt, she forced herself to her feet and limped over to Deni’s position. Once she was close enough to the tiny ronin, she kneeled in front of Deni before pulling her into a hug. She said nothing as she held onto her old friend, and the time dilation field dissipated.

Deni had stood frozen, tears running down her cheeks with a despairing expression, before Su hugged her. When she did, she spun around and hugged Su in turn, as she also vented her feelings straight into a scream.

‘AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH’

Shortly after, a portal opened. Mariette had been told by Miko that Ronin was in trouble, and as such a couple tentacles reached through intending to grab her and pull her to safety… but then they loosened up, as Mariette read the situation, and instead the tentacles retreated and Mariette walked in, stopping to look on with a somewhat perplexed expression.

‘Oh, no…’ Eli muttered and put her hands over her mouth as she saw what had happened with Sakura, and albeit she didn’t know the whole situation, she knew Deni and Sakura were friends. ‘Dear sister…’ she came jogging to be at her sister’s side, albeit looking a little hesitant towards Su, seeing what the situation had been earlier.

Su mostly just averted her eyes. Even as Deni was yanked away from her, she remained stationary.

Mika came through the portal with the others, but her smile vanished as soon as she saw Su. She ran up to her mother and hugged her. ”Are you okay?” She wouldn’t get an answer.

Rina was also there, looking out for the kitsune. Her diligence would be rewarded when it suddenly appeared in front of everyone. Yet the beast seemed weaker somehow. It had been hammered with lots of Mariette’s magic, but it looked even more feeble than it had a moment ago. With a groan, the fox fell forward. Its body dissolved into red smoke before slamming into the ground. But when the dust cleared out, there was a cluster of fox tails wired together. It almost looked like the head of a broom. "That fox monster turned into a bunch of tails?" Rina looked at Su.

“That was the artifact I found out here.” Su glanced at it. “When I picked it up, that was when it started to speak to me. It told me who I used to be, who I was, who I would be in the future. But I don’t trust it anymore. It lied to me.”

”Even if it isn’t you, it’s still a part of you, right mommy?” Mika left Su’s side to pick up the artifact. Su had started to protest, but it was already in her hands before she could say anything. ”If you don’t like what she says or does to you, maybe you need to give her a time out? I’m sure someone can seal her away.”

Su placed a hand on her hip. “And who around here has the power to seal away rouge spirits?”

Mariette sighed, and pulled a book out of her hammerspace handbag. ‘I can. What is it weak to?’ she asked, while already extending the reach of her portals to see what she could retrieve.

Su was taken back by how fast Mariette had responded. “She has many vices. I imagine anything of that nature would do.”

When it comes to vices, fewer people had more of those than a yakuza. Mariette was able to plunder cigarettes and a canteen filled with booze off of the former mobster. ‘Is there anything you prefer I seal it into?’

Su reached around her neck and pulled off her dragon pendant. It had cracked previously when it sacrificed itself to save her. Now it would serve to hold Su Daji.

Eli hugged around her sister, who was crying profusely into her shoulder.

‘She was going to… I had to… if I didn’t… god fucking damn it, Sensei, why did you…!?’ Deni cursed in anger and sorrow into Eli’s shoulder, who could do nothing but receive it.

The ritual itself was simply keeping the pendant to be sealed in the center of the circle, before Mariette muttered a couple specific magical words causing the circle to activate, then forcing the spirit into the vessel of her choice with a strike of her palm.

Once the magic circle faded and the spectacle came to a close, there was no sign anything was amiss. Mika scooped up the pendant and approached Su. She almost stepped away from Mika, but allowed her daughter to place the necklace on her without fuss. The seal held, and nothing ill happened when she came in contact with the pendant. Mariette’s ritual had worked.

That was when one of the C.A.P.R.I.C.O.R.N.’s many cloud stones fell beside the gathering. Bonnie herself stepped out of the portal and looked over those that were gathered. ”The conditions of your contract have been satisfied. Su Daji has been sealed away, and the hostages are in good health.” She looked at Sakura’s corpse. ”Unfortunately, Sakura did not survive. I was concerned that there might be a disagreement between you all, but I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this.” She turned back to the others. ”But a bonus for the survivors.” Bonnie opened her hand, and there were three thin purple gemstones in her hand. Only they were more flexible and had an eerie glow. Just looking at them caused them to feel a distinct sense of dread. ”I’ve always considered a successful mission its own reward, but upper management wanted you three to have these grief seeds. Aside from the name, I don’t know that much about them.” Bonnie looked over her shoulder at the cloud stone. ”I can take you back to Penrose when you are ready.”

Mariette momentarily turned to Su, now, unconcerned with the mission being accomplished.

‘Are you alright? Is there anything I can help with?’ Mariette asked.

Su nodded. “No, this was enough. The three of you saved me at a huge cost to yourselves. I couldn’t possibly ask for more.”

‘Um… You want us to accept something you don’t even know what it is?’ Eli asked, turning on her Third Eye, inspecting the Grief Seeds while still hugging the grieving Deni. ‘I apologize for being very cautious, but the whole scene here happened because Su picked up something she shouldn’t have. Who are these “upper management” that wants us to have these?’

Bonnie raised an eyebrow, but lowered it before speaking. ”Understandable, though I think your nerves may be getting to you. You accepted C.A.P.R.I.C.O.R.N.’s summons and participated in the mission. We were commissioned by a third party to arrange this hunt, and were paid before I was even dispatched. It would tarnish our reputation if you were to come into harm's way because we gave you a bonus.” Her eyes drifted to the seeds in question. ”My superior’s identity is classified. The C.A.P.R.I.C.O.R.N. prides itself on its neutrality and part of that is that no one knows who runs it barring captains like myself. Though it may comfort you to know that this reward is handed out to everyone who does work for us. They are effectively magical coins, and will have no effect unless you crush them in your hand. I’m told that most simply hold onto them as a memento rather than using them.”

Eli’s eye could not fully pierce the grief seed. But as the name implied, it was a crystallization of some form of empath magic. A despair so deep it turned the heart of the crystal black. The hopelessness clouded the purpose of the crystal like a fog. Yet at the crystal’s heart was something else. It just wouldn’t show up in the miasma of grief.

‘I… okay. I suppose I’ll take ours…’ Eli wasn’t exactly convinced, but she did reach to take hers and Deni’s seeds, and immediately put a barrier around them just in case as she deposited them.

‘We must… we must find Sensei’s loved ones… or… whatever she has left… Tell them what happened…’ Deni said, still crying into Eli’s shoulder. Eli patted her shoulder in turn, and nodded about the sentiment.

Mariette, meanwhile, grabbed the Grief Seed that she was given with a tentacle and promptly dropped it into her portal Hammerspace Handbag. She could have them examined by her allies later. Still, she turned to Su again…

‘There’s something I feel I owe you to tell you, in private, if that’s alright. Something you said earlier, even if it was under influence… I want to tell you about it,’ Mariette said, looking at Su earnestly.

The former familiar took a deep breath and nodded. “There should be an ample number of places we can speak.”

With Bonnie’s hand empty, she surveyed the magical girls one last time. ”There is no rush. Collect yourselves before coming to see me.” While everyone shuffled around and continued to converse, Bonnie distanced herself and cast her gaze off in the distance.

Deni released Eli and walked over to Sakura. She bent down, applying her healing to the wounds. It absolutely wouldn’t bring her back to life, but since Deni intended on carrying Sakura back it would be better if she at least didn’t bleed everything down on the way. Eli, of course, helped as soon as she figured out what was happening. After lifting her up together, Eli turned to Bonnie.

‘We’re ready to return,’ Eli said.

‘Go ahead. I can get back on my own,’ Mariette said. With portals plus Absolute Direction, she definitely could.

With that, the twins were escorted home, and Mariette stayed to speak with Su… but that is the story of another post. This hunt is over.

Mariette sat calmly in the middle of a dark room. She was wearing the school uniform of the Overcity College of Magic. She kept her eyes closed, controlling her breathing, her white hair hanging behind her and not wearing her typical eyepatch. A single bottle was sitting before her. Also, something was brewing on the opposite side of the room…

A transparent, white being floated slowly through the wall. A dreadful skull in place of its head, hallowed by time and damage, with the armor of an ancient warrior and a ripped cloak above it covering the ghast’s body. It held a sword and shield in its left and right hand. It looked at Mariette, and a chill wordless sound came from its mouth.

It was an undead wraith, who had every capability of being deadly.

Mariette did nothing, just sat there calmly.

The wraith shouted out and lifted up its sword, before gliding forward as if intending to cut Mariette. She didn’t move… until finally the wraith crossed the border.

A portal opened above the wraith, and a circle of purified salt fell down around the wraith, causing the creature to let out a chill screech. Also, numerous talismans attached to strings also fell down hanging around the wraith, repelling it, containing it inside the circle of salt.

As it struggled and attempted to slice around itself, Mariette slowly stood up, sighing out. The wraith looked at her, its expression cold and empty, but its actions were filled with rage as it tried to slice itself free. One arm got out…

Mariette crouched beneath the arm and lunged forward. She muttered a couple magical words, and power collected in her hand as she slapped it forward into the chest of the wraith’s armor. Light blasted out of the hit, and the wraith shouted out once again in its chilling, inhuman voice… but its strength weakened. The whole creature was pulled downwards, shrinking, sinking down from where Mariette had hit it, until it was engulfed by the little bottle that was sitting on the floor beneath it. Moments later, the great specter was gone, and left was a tiny little armored ghost in a bottle. Mariette picked up the bottle and stuffed a cork on it to block its escape.

“Well done!” called the examiner, who’d been hiding outside the room watching over. “Ten out of ten! Exceptionally done!”

Mariette frowned as she looked down on the bottle. Her grip tightened, a sliver of annoyance going through her veins. This… this still wasn’t NEAR enough for the league she needed to contend with…!


Mariette continued working hard on her studies in the Sealing courses of the Overcity College of Magic, going far and beyond the average student. Not only was she taking additional lessons from Tuuletar, she had also gathered extra materials such as books and scrolls to further develop her understanding of the arcane art. She had passed both Sealing Fundamentals and Advanced Sealing, and achieved a perfect score on the mid-term exams. She has learned how to apply long-term sealing to magical entities within a ten-meter radius using an elaborate ritual, as well as temporary sealing using hand seals and an incantation followed by a palm strike on the target. Using her skills, Mariette can reliably exercise and seal lesser-to-medium level targets.

However, when Mariette began the Expert Sealing course, she had realized that she had hit a wall in her learning; while the contents also included practical elements and as it’s final project did include sealing a genie, a high-level magical entity, the course mostly focused on the theory and development of sealing magic, and didn’t go as far with the sealing process itself as Mariette would have liked.

Still, Mariette continued tending the Expert class, and as she did she would find herself spending small moments of time with her classmates at the College, Rennala and Ebony. The two girls were still working on Advanced Sealing by the time Mariette moved on to Expert, but even so the girls continued hanging out; instead of a schism forming between her and the other two, Mariette noticed that her efforts had in turn motivated the two to work even harder on their own studies, having been recognized as an honor student by her peers and faculty.

This was especially apparent when Mariette stepped out of the day’s class once it finished,, and happened to run into the two of them in the hallway.
“Hey! Mariette!” Rennala called out with a big smile and a wave of her hand, accompanied by Ebony. “You’ve already started Expert Sealing, right? That’s honestly amazing. You have a real talent for this!” The bubbly girl complimented, while Ebony nodded. “Yes. I’m still in Advanced, but I think I’ve learned a lot just from seeing how you do your studying. Even Damien wouldn’t want to be in your body.” As she said that, Mariette noticed how Ebony’s eyes briefly flashed a mix of red and black. “That’s what I said, Damien, and you know it’s true,” the dark-haired girl followed up as if talking to herself, grinning creepily.

‘Er…’ Mariette was a bit taken aback by their praises. Despite their saying she was amazing, she herself felt like she wasn’t good enough. But, bringing that up felt… inappropriate. ‘I’m sure… I’m sure the two of you will be right behind me. I believe in you,’ Mariette said, nodding to them.

Rennala gasped in delight, and took Mariette's hand in hers, excitedly shaking them. "Oh thank you, Mariette! I'll do my best, so that I can stand proud with you as magi valedictorian!"
However, Ebony seemed less enthused by the encouragement, having seemingly noticed Mariette's subtle temperament. "Is something wrong, Mariette? You don't seem enthused about attending like usual."
Rennala removed her hands and put them behind her back. "Is the class tough? I've heard that many flunk out, thinking it's too difficult for them."

‘Oh, no, it’s not that… I’m just…’ Mariette froze to, because she absolutely was not about to tell her new friends about why she was really doing this. That just wasn’t in the cards. Too unsafe. That said… ‘… I want to get better. Even better than these classes can teach me. But, if I’m to become better than my classes, then I can’t just learn from their material. I’d need to learn beyond them… but I’m unsure where I’d even start. I should probably stick with learning all I can here for now…’ she said. Yeah, that sounded genuine enough.

Ebony seemed as if she was in thought, and then shuffled closer to Mariette. She spoke in a lower voice: "There are ways you can learn very powerful magic…But it's dangerous. It could lead you to getting expelled…or worse." Rennala blinked, not having heard her. "Huh?" She tilted her head. Ebony gave her a quick grin before she resumed whispering to Mariette. "Meet me outside the College at midnight. I'll explain more there…if you're not afraid, that is."

‘I-’ Mariette froze, looking stunned at her classmate’s proposition. She wasn’t entirely sure she liked the sound of that. Yet, if it allowed her to become stronger… ‘I’ll… I’ll see you there,’ she said, in a quieter voice. She didn’t really want to risk getting expelled, but depending on what happened maybe she could pull out if it looked dangerous… maybe.

Ebony nodded, looking pleased. "Good. See you there." She then headed off down the hallway to another class, leaving Rennala puzzled. "Hmm…Oh, I get it!" The ditzy girl placed her fist in her palm. "You're doing a study session. Well, have fun!" She waved goodbye and left.

Mariette waved good-bye to Rennala, as she felt quite a bit of uncertainty within her. She didn’t really like the idea of doing something the people of the school who had treated her so well wouldn’t like… but, she had to at the very least give this a shot.

So, with that decided, she’d later get herself to outside the college at midnight, just as Ebony had directed her to.

-

By midnight, the atmosphere around the college turned from warm and welcoming to ominous and foreboding, as if it was the witching hour: the moon shined in the strange Overcity sky, wind rustled the gnarled bushes around the gardens, and an owl hooted, perched on the front gate.

Fortunately, Mariette didn't have to wait long, as Ebony soon came skulking: she had drawn her hood over her head, and carried a brown sack over her bag.
"Glad you could make it, Mariette~" The creepy girl greeted her, and looked around. She noticed that there was a guard standing at the from entrance of the school, and quickly dragged Mariette behind the outer wall.
"Alright, here's the plan: we're gonna sneak into the forbidden section of the archives. I know there must be some wonderful tomes there just waiting to share their sweet secrets. Of course, we can't get caught. But if we do, we never knew each other. So, any questions?" She asked, and rummaged through her sack.

‘Oh,’ Mariette made a noise of realization as Ebony explained her plan. Mariette got a little scared inside. ‘Do we, um, know if there’s any magical protection? Or are we going in blind?’ she asked, bringing a hand to her chest as she asked, looking towards the ominous building with a bit of worry.

“Of course they have protection,” Ebony answered, and then picked out a small brown pouch from her sack. “Any forbidden archives worth their dust is going to have warding. But as you can see, I came prepared. Now, hold still, ok? And maybe hold your breath too…” She took a pinch of what looked like strangely translucent powder, and blew it off her palm, letting it billow into a small cloud around the two of them. Mariette then saw as Ebony vanished from her sight…as did her own hands. She heard Ebony’s low voice from the spot she was standing. “Nice, the Dust of Disappearance still worked. Ok, now follow me, Mariette.” Mariette felt Ebony’s hand gently touch her forearm, tugging her towards the side section of the outer wall where rocks were stacked to form makeshift stairs. “We can cross the wall here. Then we go through the basement door, and work our way up.” Of course, as Mariette has visited the archives before to borrow a couple of books from the public section, she could always just summon a portal there…But would she risk to reveal that magic to Ebony?

Mariette held her breath when Ebony requested it. And… it appears they became invisible. Interesting.

‘Where did you obtain this powder? Would it be visible to a person with Third Eye?’ she felt compelled to ask. Still, that aside, she allowed herself to be tugged along by Ebony. No harm doing this the normal way until otherwise required. So she followed for now, unless she saw some obvious trap they were about to walk into.

Mariette saw a couple of footprints appear alongside the sound of a thud, as Ebony jumped down the wall to the courtyard. "Let’s just say I have connections,” she answered with a low voice, followed by shuffling towards the basement door. She paused there as Mariette brought up Third Eye users. “Uh, maybe? But don’t worry, we won’t give them a reason to use it. You just gotta keep up.” She took out a magic wand with the tip shaped like an elaborate key, and with a little zap unlocked the door.

The basement was dark, but Ebony seemed to know her way around as she kept tugging Mariette up the stairs to the ground floor, where a lone guard was leaning back on a chair in the receptionist’s seat, looking at videos on Glimmr.
“Quiet,” Ebony whispered, and tippytoed past the guard. However, as Mariette followed, she accidentally stepped on a pencil and cracked it, causing the guard to put down his smartphone. “Hm? What was that?”

Mariette used Absolute Direction to locate the nearest rat. She then portalled the rat to near the pen, shifting the blame entirely and explaining the noise. Mariette hurried along, still invisible.

The ruse worked; as the guard shone an enchanted flashlight on the rat, the rodent scurried away, drawing the sentry'a attention away from Mariette, who successfully reached the stairs. She heard Ebony's subdued breaths near her: it seems the encounter was enough to cause even the creepy girl to turn slightly anxious.
"Phew, close call. What kind of trick was that? Never mind, let's move on.

The two reached the second floor, where the archives were located. After Ebony unlocked the door once again with her handy tool, the two entered inside. The archives, usually brightly lit, seemed ominous if not outright deathly in it's silence, like a tomb of knowledge; dusty books lined tall shelves arranged like a maze, filled with twists and turns, and the floorboards creaked with the occasional step. Mariette then saw as a book was removed, floating in midair, and then disappeared into something invisible.
"Demonomicon…A masterpiece," she heard Ebony mutter to herself.

After a moment of wandering the archives, the two soon found the forbidden section: the door was ominously chained, with a warding glyph enchanted on the door, glowing with a dull blue light. Ebony giggled. "Alright, this should work…" A small egg-shaped mechanical device appeared, and it floated towards the door. As it came closer, the egg opened up like a flower, and with a low hum, light began to emanate from the egg, drawing the magic on the door into it.

Soon the door lost it's shine, and was disenchanted.
"Yes! It worked. But now I have to keep this away, or else it'll ruin my other stuff…" She set the glowing egg down on the floor, and set to work unlocking the door. However, that was when Mariette, her Awareness acute in the dangerous heist, sensed the arrival of a guard coming upstairs and coming towards the archives, seemingly patrolling the area.

Mariette had been to these archives a lot of times during her time at this school, so she didn’t need to look for books that were of interest to her. That said, Ebony was clearly prepared to open this door, which she was a bit impressed by. Besides that…

‘Someone’s coming,’ Mariette softly shared with Ebony, taking a step aside. In order to buy some time for her… she Absolute Directioned for the rat, then placed it on the guard’s foot with a quick portal that then vanished. With any luck, it’d run in a direction that wasn’t this direction and buy Ebony some time.

Ebony quickly hid her tool away once Mariette warned her, and stood still as the guard opened the door to the archives. “Huh? Did I forget to lock thi-Ah, another rat!” The guard was startled by the rat appearing on her foot. The tiny animal scurried off again, and the guard cursed under her breath, now chasing after it out of the room. “Get back here, you varmint!”

Ebony giggled, amused by Mariette’s spell. “So you know portal magic, huh? Why didn’t you use that to get us here?” She wondered, but then sighed. “Eh, it doesn’t matter.” She unlocked the door, and the two entered the forbidden archives: compared to the deathly calm atmosphere from before, the torches glowing with green flames and gargoyle statues perched in the corners gave the area an outright occult feeling. The bookshelves were gnarled and twisted, as if struggling to hold the books contained in them. Ebony wheezed in joy, having suddenly appeared; the effect of the invisibility dust had ended on her.
“Yes…This is it! Now, let’s see…”

Mariette saw that the subjects of the books were varied: there were biographies and diaries from infamous and criminal Mahou, insane ramblings, recipe books for the cannibal or otherwise depraved palate, and even books stitched from human skin; Mariette could sense these books in particular were alive, and would scream if she were to attempt to read them. But the majority of the books were spellbooks containing magic too dangerous and evil to use. That was when Mariette spotted a couple of books that pertained to her interests: “Shackling Sorceries” and “Bondaga Arcana: A Reference Guide.”

As soon as Mariette grabbed the books, she heard some creepy laughter coming from the other side of the shelf, followed by the loud shattering of glass. As Mariette checked what was going on, she saw that Ebony had grabbed a book from a glass case: it was a red book made of tattered, sulfur-smelling leather, and had a demonic visage on the spine named “Ars Maleficarum”. Ebony opened the book, laughing as she skimmed through the pages. “Yes…Yes! Here it is! The spell to free me!”

She began reading the forbidden words, the language sounding infernal and abyssal, and word by word her red eyes began to glow. Then, Mariette saw as a demonic form crawled out of Ebony’s back, causing the girl to collapse unconscious. The fiend was frightening in appearance, standing three heads taller than Mariette, with jagged teeth, wicked horns and cloven hooves for feet. “Thank you. You are a true friend! Ha ha ha haa!” Mariette sensed how guards had run in, shocked at the sight of the demon. “What the hell is this?”

The demon laughed uproariously.
“Not what the hell, but who the hell! Ha hah haaaaa!”

‘…’ Mariette noted what was going on with silent confirmation. In response, she opened the book in her hand, leafing to the relevant page. If it required ingredients, she was confident the school itself carried them. With her normal portalling strategy, she held the book aside and multitasked by having a portal open from her eye to the book, quickly reading to try to learn what she needed as quickly as possible. Honestly, she could grab a couple books by tentacles and then open portals to each, she was used to watching multiple things at once, why not read multiple things at once? She could have portals scanning the titles of books and avoid the ones that would attack her, but seek those that might tell her about this demon.

‘I apologize for this. It was necessary to bring a foul monster out of my friend. However, with that part of the plan accomplished…’

Mariette’s hand-mirror, her magical weapon of choice, materialized in her hand as she turned to the demon.

‘I urge you to leave this to me,’ Mariette told the guard, with some assumptions that she was probably the more accomplished combatant of them.

“H-huh? Your friend?!” The guard next to Mariette glanced at her with shock, having just registered the quiet girl’s presence. “Die, fiend!” The other guard summoned her magical weapon, and charged in for an attack. However, the demon didn’t seem threatened, and shot out a red spike that impaled the guard, causing them to keel over.
“Ha hah haaah! I can feel my power returning! So, are you the next one? Maybe I’ll keep you alive, to feed on your pain and suffering!”

The other guard was more cautious, and kept her distance as she shot out beams of energy, giving Mariette the time she needed to prepare her magic. She skimmed through the pages of her newly acquired tomes as well as the Demonomicon that Ebony had grabbed, where she found the file and description of the demon: Demogorgon, the Prince of Demons. One of the most powerful fiends, Demogorgon possesses strength, agility and magical potential that could threaten even Patrons. Indeed, it is rumored that before his sealing he led a cult of Mahou as a Patron of sorts himself before it was disbanded by Beacon.

Mariette moved on to search for methods to banish or seal the demon again, until finally she found a spell she could use to stop the abyssal abomination’s rampage in the pages of the Bondaga Arcana. It was a spell she could quickly cast, but it required numerous rare ingredients. Fortunately, as Mariette had studied extensively on the subject, she immediately recognized all but a few of them from her classes, and quickly snatched them through portals to the storage room, which she has visited previously for her classes. As for the rest, she improvised using substitutes. It might not result in a perfect spell, but it would have to do in an emergency.

That was when Demogorgon, having incapacitated the other guard with a slash of his long claws, finally turned to Mariette, having noticed the numerous tentacles and portals. “You were of great use to me, Mariette, but I can’t have anyone threaten my new reign of terror! DIE!” The demon then lunged at Mariette, his fangs twisted in a cruel smile.

Mariette grunted at the guards taking such wounds, that wasn’t great, but she also recognized that if they hadn’t Mariette wouldn’t have time to prepare the spell she was currently arranging. With bitterness on her tongue, she locked eyes on her foe.

‘You should have stayed in your previous prison, Demogorgon.’ she said. There was power in names, and something she had previously learned, she was now going to name her seals.

Demogorgon reeled back mid-strike, his beastly visage in a grimace of disgust as his name was uttered. “I’ll cut your tongue!” He roared. To a demon, their true name was indeed a limiting factor, and fully solidified his essence into the Overcity plane. Still, it wasn’t enough to deter the fiend’s attack.

Now, Mariette was going to select an appropriate vessel.
First she thought of the rat, but that one’s mind could be dominated by the demon. So, then she thought of something… cuter. So she used Absolute Direction, and simply happened to find what she was looking for.

As Demogorgon approached, portals spawned in a wide circle. Magic power coursed around, connecting to each of the many magic items needed to contain this particular demon, and Mariette started whispering the words. With her ability to summon the needed items immediately, she was any sealable demon’s worst nightmare. She held out a hand, casting a repulsing light-shield to hold her opponent at bay for merely a moment as she got the words out, managing to deflect the deadly claws, seeing the red streaks they left in the air before her. Then…

A portal popped something up beneath the demon. It was a rat. Specifically, it was a plushie of a rat. An incredibly cute one.

‘Suffer in your new prison. I shall call this seal, and you shall be from now on known as…’

‘CUDDLESPAWN!’

Mariette gave her seal a name, the best one she could think of, as she cast the sealing magic to trap the incredibly powerful demon inside the body of a plush rat.

As the ingredients were consumed in the spell, they coalesced into a magical vortex that formed under Demogorgon, beginning to draw him in with unescapable force.

“No! You can’t do this to me! I’m the Prince of Demons! The Scourge of the Abyss!”

The vortex strengthened, causing the demon to spin into a downward spiral into the plushie.

“NOOOOO!”

With one last scrape of the stone tiles, the demon was bound into the vessel, which shook as black magic was poured into it, before it finally stopped moving. For a moment, Mariette saw that the doll remained motionless, and that the demon was unable to escape its newest prison.
However, she then heard the fiend’s voice from the plushie; it seemed to be in higher pitch, as if to fit the smaller size of the vessel.
“Hah! You failed to fully seal me, witch! Now, it is time I cut you to pi-Uh?”
The plushie slightly shivered, but was ultimately unable to move. “Dammit! Move! MOOVE!”
However, try as he might, he could only slightly tremble in his inanimate form. “I can’t believe this..I’ve been reduced to a mere toy! The humiliation! The disgrace!”
It seems that Mariette succeeded in neutralizing the threat.
The incapacitated guard then opened her eyes, and held her bleeding shoulder.
“Wh-what happened? Where is the demon?”

Mariette panted from the momentary excitement, seeing how failing would likely have caused her death. Right, with that out of the way. First, she opened a portal to send the impaled guard directly to whatever medical facility might exist nearby in the Overcity. Then, she stepped forward, bent over and picked up the rat plushie.

‘I got rid of it,’ Mariette answered the guard, looking at the extremely cute little demon rat plushie. Mariette stared at it for a moment… then got a tiny blush as she pinched its cute little cheeks. ‘Cuddlespawn,’ she stated with happy finality.

Right, she probably should go over and check if Ebony was alright.

The guard looked perplexed, but sighed. "Alright. I need to…apply first aid, and contact the headmaster. Wait here," she said, and ran downstairs, breathing heavily as she leaned against the handrail and leaving a streak of blood.
As Mariette afterwards played with Cuddlespawn, it squeaked in rage. "That's not my name, insolent girl! I'm Demogorgon, Lord of the Damned! Once I'm out of this stupid vermin, you'll regret making a mockery of me!"

Ebony was still unconscious as Mariette went to check up on her, but woke when Mariette shook her a bit. "Ughhh…Mari…ette?" She stumbled up, holding her head. "D-Damien is…Gone. I don't hear him anymore. It's so quiet now."

‘Cuddlespawn,’ Mariette told with finality as she hugged the plushie and then dropped it through a portal into her hammerspace handbag, the plushie making one final squeak as it fell. She needed to look into her friend.

‘Yeah, he’s gone. Not free, I stopped him. He’s just gone. You’re free. Was that… what you wanted?’ Mariette asked, moving closer to hold onto her so she didn’t fall over, just in case.

Ebony blinked, and looked around, having noticed the fallen bookshelves and scattered tomes. "Yeah…Damien would make a mess like this once freed." She looked unsure about how to answer. "It's…Really quiet now. But also…calm. Like tranquil and…stuff." She then smiled, and hugged Mariette. "Thank you for exorcising the demon, Mariette. Now I can finally focus on my studies, and maybe even graduate. But, uhhh…" She then realized. "We might get expelled now."

‘You should be fine. You were possessed. None of it was your choice,’ Mariette told her, just going to gently caress her cheek for now. As for herself… she didn’t really dare wish for it, so she kept quiet about it. She really wished none of the guards had come to harm.

Ebony sighed, and accepted Mariette’s affectionate gesture. “I hope so.” Later, the headmaster arrived with more guards; he was shocked upon seeing the absolute chaos that the forbidden archives were thrown into. “Mariette Pedersen and Ebony Ironclaw? Care to explain the meaning of this egregious breaking of academy regulations?”
“It was the demon, sir,” Ebony spoke first before Mariette had the chance. “He took over my body, and blackmailed Mariette into helping him. Neither of us had a choice.”
Of course, Mariette could tell that wasn’t the truth even without her Light Specialization.
The headmaster on the other hand tapped his staff gently at the floor, seemingly oblivious of the lie. “Hm…Minerva did mention that one of the students was unconscious, and the other fought against a demon. And it would fit the fiend’s modus operandi. Mariette, is this true?”

‘…’ Did the principal have a way to detect lies? Light-specialization was decently common. If so, then lying would put them in even more trouble. But more than that, it felt… wrong. ‘… Not entirely. The demon did lure me while pretending to be Ebony and I didn't know what it was planning, but I could have said no. I was too curious. … That said, everything after that fits. The demon broke out, but I was fortunately able to defeat it. Ebony is no longer plagued by the demon within her. Overall, that feels like a decent outcome… I apologize for going behind your backs, I… in hindsight, that was a bad idea. I should have sent a request to look at the books instead…’ Mariette decided to come clean, come what consequences would. If she was expelled, she’d simply find a different way to learn. After all, she had the basics down.

The headmaster furrowed his eyebrows as Mariette unveiled the whole truth of the incident.
"How irresponsible! No wonder the demon got free, with such frivolous students to enable evil's work. That said, your honesty is appreciated. You won't be expelled, but…" He lifted his staff, and a pale blue glow emanated from it, before the light spread to Mariette and Ebony, before dissipating as glittery twinkles into the surrounding air.
"You are hereby banned from accessing the archives including the public section." He pulled back with his staff, and the Demonomicon flew through the air to his grasp. "Also, you will both receive failing grades for your Sealing classes. The next time you study the subject, maybe you'll learn something! But this is your only chance; I won't be as kind the second time you break regulations!"
Ebony bit her lip, looking like she wanted to protest, but stayed silent. "Understood, sir."
The headmaster stomped the end of his staff down.
"Now, out of here before I change my mind!"

The punishment confused Mariette a bit. This was a school, a place of learning, and her punishment was to lose access to learning material? And to lose the certification for having learned? The latter didn’t really matter to Mariette, the only thing she cared about was that she had the skills, and while losing access to the public section hurt she’d basically already scoured that and in the worst case she could employ her companions to retrieve what she wanted for her… However.

‘Sir,’ Mariette said. ‘Ebony was not in control of herself, the demon was acting for her. There is no reason to punish her, as they were not her actions,’ she declared, holding steady as she did.

"Fine, in her case it's detention then!" The headmaster retorted, his face red like he was about to shoot steam out of his ears. "Report to Professor Snapdragon, Ironclaw."
Ebony sighed in relief, and gave a voiceless word of gratitude as she then left. The headmaster tapped his foot impatiently. "Now, is that all? Or do you want to further test my patience?"

Mariette looked a little confused. Detention was still punishment, right? Still, it was a success. Detention was certainly far better than what could have been.

Seeing him red like that… reminded Mariette of her father. Back then, she’d been powerless against him. Now, she had a lot of power… it took a lot of her not to resist him simply because she could. She had to use reason to tell herself the dynamic here was completely different.

‘No, sir. Thank you,’ Mariette nodded to him briefly, before turning and walking. Guess it was time to leave.

Next day…

Mariette went to check up on how Ebony was doing after the detention session. Before turning the corner, she heard Rennala gasp with astonishment, and saw her talking with Ebony outside the classroom. The two greeted the shorter girl. "Oh, Mariette! It's so good to see you! Ebony just told me a most extraordinary tale of how you banished a demon!" She took Mariette's hand and shook it. "But I also heard that you failed the class…I'm sorry to hear that."

‘It’s alright. Compared to having the actual skill, the certification is pointless,’ Mariette replied. ‘That aside. Ebony. How are you feeling?’

Rennala was glad that Mariette wasn't perturbed by her predicament, and moved aside to let Mariette speak with Ebony. The sullen girl managed a smile as Mariette addressed her. "Well, I'm still getting used to being free of possession, but overall it's been liberating." She bowed. "Mariette, you saved my life, and even my magic education. I am in your debt. You ever need me, just send an owl…Or one of your portals, I suppose." Rennala gasped again, her eyes wide in amazement.

‘Very well. I might take you up on that later. For now, I’m just happy you’re alright,’ Mariette said, smiling at her.

With that, the three of them continued their normal magical school life…

Later. In Mariette’s personal study.

"Why am I here!? What are you doing to me!?" Cuddlespawn, the blue rat-doll asked, voice filled with rage.

Mariette calmly placed a pink rat-doll in front of him. ‘I… got you a wife.’

“What!? Of all the- I don’t need no-! Wait, what are you doing? No! NOOOO-”

Cuddlespawn cried in humiliation as Mariette poked the two plushies' noses together with a small childish blush on her cheeks.

The days following the raid on Bolorton were interesting for Cradle. Beyond the attack that was no doubt coming from Wonderland, Finn had managed to get some of his trials under his belt, and Mac had sought out some new contacts. It was time for a meeting.

After taking a shower, Mac was ready. But this meeting was going to be a little more awkward than her last one.

Mac was standing in one of the hallways in Maura’s mansion with Finn and Oliver in front of her.

"...And after the raid, there wasn’t time to tell anyone. So I decided to wait until now to spill the beans.” Mac tipped her hat. "So yea! Iron Mouse doesn’t exist, and I was her the entire time. In hindsight, it was extremely reckless to not tell you guys this at first, but given my past interactions with Oliver, I felt it was best to keep the charade up for one more mission. So…” She extended her hand. "Tonya Murphy, but everyone calls me Mac. Well, the few people who know I exist. I’m not quite as annoying as Iron Mouse, nor am I as small, but I have the same dedication to the mission.” She extended a hand to both magical boys.

The duo had to take a moment to process the information given, moreso for Oliver, who had a look of sheer dumbfoundment on his face. Finn was the first to snap out of it and shake Mac's hand.

"Quite an impressive use of illusions! Admittedly I hadn't expected a new agent so suddenly, but you sure as hell showed promise back there!" And not cause her impersonating a member of Beacon was hilarious to think about.

"I’m glad you’re taking my deception in stride. I don’t think just anyone would do that.” She breathed a sigh of relief. "In other news, post Bolteron I was able to speak with Beacon and pick their brain about a few things. Seems they’re not nearly as rigid with their old policies as I thought they were, and it may be possible to forge an alliance with the darker side of penrose. I also put on a show for Mayra. Remember how she said she thought we were a cult?” Mac grinned. "I may have pretended to be an entire cult for her and initiated her into the ‘Sisterhood of the Black Behemoth.’ I think we can count on her to help us out in the future. If she was willing to help you on a whim, she’s going to be stoked to do so next time. Hahaha, I really need to be more straightforward with people.” She set a hand on her hip. "How about you guys? Do anything crazy I need to know about?”

"Other than getting our heads cleaved off in a pointless battle?" Oliver blurted out. Once he realized what he said could've come off as harsh, he glanced aside with a downcast frown. "Sorry. Still angry about that."

At the mention of that incident, Finn ghosted a hand over his neck. A thin band of reinforcement magic was the only thing keeping it from falling off. He didn't know how long he'd be stuck like this, if this could be fixed. He wasn't even aware of the haunted look in his eye, thinking back.

...He shook the thought out of his head. "Frankly, not much besides some personal 'errands' I've been running. It's hard to explain..." Finn trailed off. "But really? A whole cult?" He curiously tilted his head.

Mac adjusted her cap so that neither of them could see her eyes. "It would have been a lot harder if Mayra was interested in the cultists themselves. But I only had to speak for their leader and Iron Mouse. It wasn’t like I had to pretend to be each individual member of the cult.I’d have been screwed if she tried to do something weird.” She pushed the brim of her hat up. "Actually, I never thought about the role you would play in this cult. Maybe we should brainstorm that. It’s the sisterhood, so maybe you could be Korone’s brother?” Her grin was getting wider. "We can get Oliver in on the fun too!”

Brother?

Finn's brows rose. He did have an older sister before he became a magical boy, but he didn't doubt the fact that she's been dead for years. He was bound to get a headache trying to think about what his family tree probably looked like now. "Maybe. But how would we incorporate Oliver?" The spirit in question comically squinted his eyes in response to his friend's curiosity. Were they really going to drag him into it?

Mac closed her eyes. "That’s easy! He doesn’t have a real connection to you other than being a friend, right? So maybe he and Iron mouse could-”

Mac’s eyes opened as a pair of feet walked their way. The rug muffled the sound, robbing her shoes of the dynamic sound they might have had on a hardwood floor. But the girl’s purple outfit was loud enough to make up for that.

”Relax, everyone.” Aria raised her hand. ”Maura knows I’m here.” She looked at Finn. ”Refresh my memory. Have we spoken? Do you know who I am?” Finn simply shook his head.This seemed to please Aria more than it should have. ”I’m Aria Rizzo, owner of Monarch Artificing! I’ve recently moved to the Golden Trove in Penrose, and I’ve heard that you’ve been, oh, let’s call it training.” She giggled. ”I think I can help you out, but I’m going to need some help.”

Oh.

While Oliver was reasonably tense at the presence of the unfamiliar woman talking to Finn, the latter quickly understood what Aria was refering to. "I'm listening."

”I know you are.” Aria stared at Finn for a few seconds. ”What I’m saying is that I’m going to need someone else to help me help you.” She looked over at Oliver and Mac. ”And while I do like the idea of working with Oliver, I think Mac is a bit more ideal for what I have in mind. I’m one of your oldest friends here, aren’t I?” Mac didn’t respond. ”Well! Do come see me later. I’ll be waiting at the Golden Trove when you’re ready.” And with that, Aria turned around to leave.

The two watched as the strange woman left.

"You know, Maura should really amp up securi-"

"What. The hell. Was that?" Oliver interrupted Finn, turning his attention from glaring at Aria while her back was turned back to him.

"Look, Oli, I'll explain everything I can at another time, just trust me when I say everything's going to be okay. Alright? Mac's good people." Finn tried to reassure the ghost. Oliver's mental mutation must've been affecting him.

---

What had Finn done?

How did he end up here?

He had no recollection.

He was standing in an elevator. It wasn’t very big. He could touch the opposing walls just by raising his arms. Not that he would want to. The metal walls were brown with rust, and the sole fluorescent light couldn’t illuminate the floor. It flickered, sometimes cutting out entirely. There was no console for selecting what floor to go to. But there was a dot matrix display above the steel doors. It was hard to tell if he was going up or down, but the low hum of a tired motor was moving.

Then there was another sound. Bones breaking and tearing through flesh was not unknown to Finn. Blood ran out of the dot matrix display and trickled onto the door. The trickle would turn into a stream with time, and the door was painted red. It was impossible to tell if the blood pooled in the shadows or was draining out the bottom of the elevator. Something for his foot to discover later.

The light cut out. The motor followed suit. Finn was trapped in a dark metal coffin. But in that darkness Finn could read the dot matrix display. “PATR” lit up overhead. The elevator bell chimed, the lights came on full bore, and the doors slid open. By this point the blood had coagulated and was ripped apart by the opening door. The flakes of blood fell like flower pedals, and Finn’s unadjusted eyes could only see darkness ahead. But what could he do but walk into it?

Eventually the glow of the elevator disappeared behind him. He wandered in darkness, but everything had a faint glow. Bloodvessels carried bioluminescent blood along the walls, floors, and ceiling. The blood was red, but started to turn other colors the deeper in Finn walked. Soon faint yellows, blues, and other hues were present. But it was still so hard to see.

How did he get here? How long had it been? Where was here? Did any of the others know where he was? His questions wouldn't be answered if he didn't keep moving.

Despite whatever dread he felt, he strangely didn't react to what happened in the elevator, nor the bioluminecence of the labyrinth beyond. He just had to find a way out. Finn attempted to use a bit of his magic to improve his sight in the dark.

Finn enchanted his eyes. Owls have some of the best eyesight in the animal kingdom thanks to their long, tube like eyes that catch more light. While they can’t move their eyes because of this, they compensate by having a flexible neck. Not that Finn would need it. While it was still dark, he could see that the walls were indeed made of metal with living tissue growing over them. It also explained why the ground was soft and unstable.

The tunnel of metal and flesh ended up ahead. It opened into a clearing filled with stars. Finn only needed to walk forward to approach it. But there would be an interruption.

"Finn?” Mac’s voice came through his magicoms. "Are you alive?”

"Mac?" His eyes "widened". "Y-Yeah, but I don't know where I am. Is everyone okay??" He asked her.

"Just… Just keep moving, you’re almost out.”

Forward he went. The blood vessels gave way to a hard metal floor. When he got to the mouth of the cave, he could see the stars were on the other side of a portal. The exit was in sight.

As soon as he stepped through, he fell onto a beach.

"Finn!” Mac ran up to the magical boy and helped him to his feet. Even though Finn felt more or less fine, he likely how distressed Mac looked. With time, he was able to survey the rest of his surroundings. It was hard to see much, but his eyes were able to pick out the cliff side to their backs along with the portal he had just come out of. In addition to this, Aria and P.T. were present. They stepped around a giant metal contraption and approached Finn.

”For real, my guy?” P.T. pulled open one of Finn’s hands and examined an empty vial. This was when Finn noticed that he had a vial holder strapped across his chest and all but a few pouches were empty. ”You’re gunna, like, be trippin’ balls, maaaaaaaaan. That’s like, at least, eleven levels, of irony.”

”He’ll live.” Aria said with a dismissive wave of her hand. ”Let me have a look at that box.” Sure enough, Finn did have a box in his other hand. He hadn’t even been aware he was carrying it until just a moment ago. But it was chained to his arm so it must have been important. Aria clapped her hands, and the cuffs transformed into a butterfly that hovered over her shoulder. She then helped herself to the box and opened it up. The smile on her face grew just a bit wider. ”Congratulations Finn.” She closed the box. ”You’ve made us far more powerful than you could possibly imagine. I’ll get to work on your reward immediately.”

"W-Wait," The visibly confused boy pinched the bridge of his nose for a second. "What's going on? The hell's with the box?? What do you mean by 'make us far more powerful' and please tell me whatever was in that vial wasn't poisonous...?" He was slowly getting more anxious. Christ, why did he feel so vulnerable?

Mac turned to Finn. There was still quite a bit of exhaustion and pain in her face. "You don’t remember anything? I mean, it makes sense…”

”Eleven levels, of irony, is no joke.” P.T. nodded.

”This is going to be a long conversation, isn’t it? How bothersome.” Aria plucked the glass vial out of Finn’s hand. ”You were in the domain of a very nasty horror. The only reason why you were able to retain your sanity was because of a steady supply of ‘Irony’ as P.T. calls it. It shields your mind from mental interference, even when entering a horror’s domain directly. The drawback, or perhaps a benefit in this case, is that it causes temporary amnesia.” With a groan, Aria folded her arms. ”Now you’re going to ask me why you recovered a box for me, what's in the box, Why Rupee was disguised as a chain on your arm, Why Mac seems exhausted- Oh, you can probably recover your power now, right?” Mac pointed her monkey paw at Finn and they started to glow a blue and green aura. The light from those auras traded places before soaking into their new owner. Some of his strength left him. But that strength was never his. All of his parameters had been enhanced because he had been borrowing Mac’s might. ”If you want to know what happened, and I’m not sure you do, P.T. has some clarity incense that should restore your memories.”

Finn couldn't help shooting Aria a tired, unamused look, but he also couldn't help feeling guilty for Mac's condition. "Right. If it saves you the trouble of an explanation..." He looked over to P.T., taking off the vial holder and holding it out to her. "Might as well give this back while I'm at it."

”Thanks, my guy.” P.T.'s corner of the "camp" was a series of chairs set around a giant bong. Only the bong had several small holes at its base and middle level with a giant hole on top. Once Finn and P.T. were seated, P.T. lit a torch and set the flame in the lower most hole. After a few seconds, she pulled the torch out and set some sticks in the bottom of the contraption. ”Bro, tell me. You like, completed, your journey, my guy.” Once P.T. had filled all the holes, she pulled out a tent pitching kit and started to screw some metal rods together. ”What will, you do, after you, defeat, Penny?”

"For the most part? Take over her place as the Ruler of Penrose basically. ...But y'know what? Fuck the whole "Monarchy of Penrose" bullshit. I'll probably disband the stupid idea afterwards. I'd make a joke about this not being England or whatever, but I'm not sure if it'll hit right, yeah?" Finn crossed his arms in thought. "I'll still be doing what I can as a Crimson Cradle agent though, kicking the butts of our unsavory neighbor-factions and trying to get whatever Covington Industries hasn't taken yet for like, extra funds? whatever they may be? The Golden Trove's a good start, but eventually I won't be satisfied with just the Hotel alone. Gotta expand buisness at some point. The Sanctuary, I'll most likely work on making it into an official shelter. Why not make the most of your gained resources, y'know? Or I can just tear it down as a symbolic 'Fuck you' to Penny, who knows?" He shrugged.

"Whatever the case will be, I'm not gonna stop at defeating her. No rest for the wicked, as the saying goes."

”Ballin’!” By the time Finn was done explaining his plans, P.T. had erected a small, circular tent over the bong and the two chairs. She gestured for Finn to sit inside before doing so herself. The tent’s fabric was not fully opaque, but it didn’t let much light in. Onlt the outline of the incense burner or P.T. was visible in the filtered moonlight. ”It’s just, gunna take, a moment, my guy. You’ll have, your memories, soon.”

Admittedly, he was a bit hesitant to stepping inside. Sure, he did smoke, at least in his transformed state as to let his regenerative ability keep his lungs from getting screwed up. But something like this was another level.

Ugh, whatever! The sooner he can get this over with, the sooner he'd stop feeling so anxious for no reason. Finn walked inside the tent and took his seat.

The incense was strong, but the aroma was pleasant.. Finn had difficulty placing the scent, but it was somewhere between freshly cut strawberries and donut frosting. Almost enough to make one hungry. ”Mac can, transform into, anything, huh?” P.T. Inhaled as deeply as she could. ”She’s like, a roleplayer or something. Can be, whoever, she wants. That’s perfect, bro.”

"Hm? Oh, I guess so." Finn simply shrugged, already distracted by the aroma. And a sudden peckishness for desert too.

The light played off a puff of smoke P.T. sorted out of her nose. ”What do, you want, to be, my guy?”

"Hmm..." The boy shut his eyes in thought, taking deep breaths. After a second had passed, he spoke up again:

"A bird."

P.T. Chuckled. ”I don't think, a man, can become, a bird.” P.T. Inhaled again, but this time it was quicker. A sniff. ”Like, a free bird, my guy? I, really like, that song.” She played an air guitar in silence.

Finn snorted. "Beast magic? Remember? If I focused hard enough maybe I can like, shapeshift into a real bird. Or a Hyena. People just...don't give 'em enough credit, y'know?" He crossed his legs, looking up towards the ceiling. "I like birds. Inteligent little guys. They can be prey and predator, nuturing or vicious, adorable...or somehow look like a crackpot hellspawn. Though I guess that all applies to animals in general. One of the many reasons I like them, I guess." He smiled.

”But you, already have, beast magic.”

"...Good point. But if we're being literal, I'd say...someone better than me is what I want to be."

”For why?” The stoner leaned forward. ”Something wrong, with the Finn, we know?”

"Is there?" He asked back, steadly starting to zone out. "Is there something wrong with Finnegan Vanhorn, long-time Sinner of Wrath? Detective turned hired gun at one point in his years? The right hand man to an agent of Death? Hurt by his past relationships to the point he's afraid of being hurt again, lest he be toyed with like a broken marionette trying it's damnest to piece itself together...?" He trailed off, his expression an indecipherable indifference. "Sorry what were you saying?"

”I don’t know, my guy.” P.T. stood up and wobbled around the small enclosure. ”You sound like, you’ve been hurt, before. I bet, it was, a girl, you fancied.” She lowered herself onto the ground and looked up at the ceiling. ”Bro, lay, in the sand, with me. The stars, are beautiful.”

He said nothing further on the topic. But if that next expression was anything to go by, P.T. might be on the right mark. He snapped out of it for the moment when she moved out of her seat, and at her invitation he stumbled over and onto the ground next to her with a flop.

"Woah."

The donut shaped space on the floor was not big, but Finn was able to lay down and look up at the stars. He was laying down on the opposite to P.T., with her head just a few inches away from his. But the distance could have been a mile. He couldn’t see her now, only hear her voice. What he could see were the stars, which looked more vibrant than normal. The tent fabric didn’t seem to impede their shine.

”That’s us, man. That’s everyone. Just stars, floating, in darkness. Maybe it’s monsters, maybe it’s, dread, but it’s there, around everyone. But we shine out, man, that’s just, what we, do. bro.” The stars were starting to take shape. Every single one of them turned into a magical girl or boy. All of them were people he knew, even if he never met them directly. ”That makes, Penny a star, too.”

Maybe at some other time Finn would've made a quip about how stars die eventually. Or suggest that it means Patrons would be the planets, or something greater that could lie farther than they'd know in such a vast universe. Instead the young man was genuinely awestruck at the shapes above them, remaining quiet in a child-like wonder. How long had it been, since he was able to enjoy a moment of peace like this? Since he had taken the time to see the stars? Ten, no, twenty years? Living for so long, sometimes the days blur into each other.

He couldn't help giggling as he watched, his lips quirking up into a grin.

”...And if, Penny’s, like, a star. That means, she, is just like, everyone.” P.T. felt around for Finn until she found his head. ”We’re all, Penny, broooooooooooooooooooooooooo…”

But the anti-amnesiac was starting to kick in. What had been forgotten was surfacing as the levels of “Irony” were being peeled back.

---

What had Finn done?

How did he end up here?

He had no recollection.

Finn was standing in a hallway made of gore. ahead of him was an elevator. It looked rusty, but the fluorescent light inside made it far more inviting than the perpetual darkness that surrounded him. There was a button on the outside of the elevator, but nothing on the inside. It was like it had to be operated from the outside.

”Are you there, Finn!?” It was Mac’s voice, she sounded panicked.

"Mac? What's going o-"

”No time to explain! You need to get in that elevator and hit that button!”

Finn could hear a scream cry out from the darkness. It was calling his name, and it didn’t sound happy.

The situation was clear enough. He had done something to piss off someone that wants him dead.

Finn sprinted for the elevator, his metaphorical light in the end of the tunnel, and practically slammed his fist against the button as he hurried inside. Come on, come on, come on!!! His head snapped back to the darkness; in the only direction that blasted scream came from, and his hand hovered over his weapon in anticipation.

The elevator shook, but it didn’t ascend. There was a faint glow in the distance. A swirl of every color Finn could think of was sloshing about in front of him, and it got bigger with every passing second.

"FINNNNNNNNN!!!" The pool of colors called out.

But it would not reach him in time. The doors slammed shut, and the elevator started to ascend, and quickly.

"Finn?" He could hear a voice call out above him. It was a woman, but not too old to be a magical girl. "Finn! What the- I’m still here! Finn! Stop the elevator! Fi- " Eventually her shouts were cut out with a brief yelp, followed by the snapping of bones. Finn had been around enough death to tell exactly what was happening to her. She must have slid off the top of the elevator and gotten wedged in between the walls. She continued to scream as the rest of her was pulled between the elevator and shaft. Her femur, her hip, her lumbar region, her ribs, Finn could count every bone as it was snapped. He could anticipate exactly when her screams would stop.

Oh god.

Oh god, no...

”Finn, you need to take a potion!” Mac sounded like she was on the verge of tears. ”It doesn’t matter what color it is, just drink something!”

He didn't hesitate. He just wanted it to end.

---

What had Finn done?

How did he end up here?

He had no recollection.

"Before you ask, I’m Miki!" Finn was being held up by A girl in an unusual space suit. She had short pink hair and various gadgets attached to her skin tight suit. They were standing in an arena of some sort with metal and blood vessels coating the walls. A woman was laying on her back, screaming Finn’s name over and over again as vibrant colored fluids blasted out of a hole in her chest.

Well that's not a good sign.

"We should run soon, right?"

Without thinking further Finn nodded. This Miki lady seemed to be an ally of a sort, probably someone else who wound up here for some reason. He'd have to risk it and trust her. But that wounded woman, what was her deal? How did she know his name??

There were two ways out of the room, but Miki guided Finn down the smaller, more claustrophobic of the two. He could hear his name being called, and not in a pleasant voice. The vessels on the walls started to dim as the duo ran along. But they wouldn’t get swallowed in darkness. Ahead was a white light that drew the magical children like moths.

"This must be the exit!" Once they got closer, they noticed it was a small elevator without any buttons inside. "But there’s not enough room! My equipment will never fit in there!"

"Think we'll be fast enough to go one at a time?" Finn finally spoke up, slightly nudging Miki ahead of him. "If that woman is still alive somehow, someone's gotta stall her."

"FINNNNNNNNN!!!"

Miki looked over her shoulder. "J-just let me see if there’s another way up!" She immediately walked up to the elevator and looked around it. A flash light that was mounted on her suit lit up a giant vent above the elevator shaft. It was even bigger than the elevator was. "This looks promising!" She tossed the vent aside before stepping through. "Hey! We can access the elevator shaft! I should be able to climb up! We can get to the top floor from here." Her voice was already becoming distant. "I think this might work!"

”Finn.” It was Mac. She sounded breathless. ”There’s… no way she’s going to climb up in time. You have a few seconds before Glexaroth’s champion gets back up. Are you going to try and stall her?”

His expression cracked into a concerned frown, one he quickly shook off.

"I-I have to try. I'll be damned if neither of us can make it out." He answered, turning around to face the other direction as he unsheathed his weapon.

”Then… Then you might as well drink a potion of strength. You should have a few left.”

---

What had Finn done?

How did he end up here?

He had no recollection.

But he was holding a box in one hand and an empty vial in the other. The box was also chained to his wrist, so it didn’t seem like putting it down was going to be an option for him.

"Seriously?" A pink haired girl punched Finn’s arm. "Why do you keep drinking those? You can never remember my name when you do."

"Huh? Oh." Finn glanced from the girl to the empty vial. "Sorry, I guess?" He shrugged, casually tossing the vial aside. He didn't even know what "those" were, or why he apparently kept forgetting the girl's name when he drank them.

"Not gunna ask this time?" Miki grinned before leaning up against Finn. "It's Miki. And you can drink those potions as much as you need to. But once we get out of here that's it. We gotta get you off the bottle for good." Her eyes partially closed. "But regardless of what you forget, you've kept your promise to me. So I guess I can't be too upset with it."

After walking a bit further, the duo came across a giant hand sculpture. It was poised to reach out and grab them. All of the blood vessels that ran along the walls seemed to converge around the wrist before flowing up and around the palm and fingers. The tighter concentration of blood vessels made it glow that much brighter. It had better RGB than most modern gaming computers. There was also an opening in the palm that served as a doorway.

"If we want to get out of here, we just need to go through there. But-" She looked at Finn. "I've never been this far before."

Finn on his end merely stared at the doorway. "Nothing we can't handle, right?" He glanced back at Miki, offering her a reassuring smile.

"Heh!" She was nervous, but that seemed to make her smile. "That's some pretty tough talk from someone who doesn't even remember." Her hand squeezed around Finn's. "But you're right."

The hole in the hand led down a short corridor that opened up into a large room. It was pretty sparse, even considering the multicolored blood vessels running along the walls, ceiling, and floor. If there was a single remarkable feature, it would have to be the giant swivel chair at the other end of the room. It too looked like a hand, but the base of the chair made it unmistakable. It was too large to see who or if someone was seated in it. Though Miki froze in her tracks as soon as she saw it. Her legs started to tremble.

"I knew we were going to face her sooner or later."

And that was all the seated individual needed to spin in their chair and reveal themselves.

"Well hello there, player!"

The swivel chair contained a blond woman wearing… Hands. Just hands as black as night with vibrantly colored nails. They seemed to be coming directly out of her back, but it was hard to tell. The amazing part was that she wasn’t overexposed anywhere. Her torso was sparsely covered, but rows and rows of hands locked together from her waist down to make a skirt that reached her ankles. There were also arms coming out of her back that reached out to nothing, almost looking like a pair of black wings. This was one odd looking magical girl, and she had a fearsome aura to boot.

"We were-"

"It’s cool. I’ve been watching your every move, every button press, every combo, looooooooooong before either of you got here." despite the stranger’s aura of danger, their voice was sweet and chipper. Like a mother might use when talking to their children. She turned to look at Finn. "This has got to feel pretty special to you. You’ve been save scumming your OS just to get to me. That takes some guts." The woman stood up. "Well? You’re standing in front of the final boss of your adventure! Any questions on that dialog wheel you feel like throwing my way?"

Save scumming? Final boss? Finn didn't quite understand what she ment between the excessive video game jargon. Hm...he was supposed to kill her, right? Or at least he had to remove her from his path, whoever she was. Between all her weird quirks, he didn't even know her name.

His head tilted slightly to the side. "Who...are you?" He asked, brows furrowed.

The strange woman hopped and landed a few feet from Finn. "It’s so fun talking to clueless people like you! I get to introduce myself like you never finished the tutorial level!" Her eyes scanned Finn, or rather, his right hand. She had locked eyes with it. "I’m Glex, Champion of Glexaroth: The Maker of Unreason. And before you ask, yes, that’s the name of a horror!"

Miki folded her arms. "Oh but you’ll try to get to know her…"

"Anyway! Finn, you are an interloper." She took a single, long step that covered half the distance between the two of them. "I’d be fine with you leaving, but you have something that belongs to me. Can you guess what it is?"

Finn blinked in confusion, then following Glex's gaze towards the box in his hand. He held it up and attempted to drop it onto the ground, but with the chain still in place all it did was tug his arm down slightly. It must be that important, even if he didn't know what it contained. Might wanna play dumb...

The boy shook his chained arm around, then looked back to Glex with a risen brow. "It's just a box, I can get you another."

Glex’s smile widened. "Oh Finn, of course you don’t know what it is! But you know that anything taken from this place must be an extraordinary treasure." She folded her arms behind her back. "The Yaris apple was plundered from here not long ago, and I won’t let you take Hetnus’s Chest with it."

"What does it do?" Miki looked at the trinket dangling from Finn’s hand.

"Have you ever heard of Pandora’s box?" Glex tipped her head. "Hetnus’s Chest is not too different. It’s an artifact that contains great despair. Some even believe it is Pandora’s Box just with a few less contents inside. It’s harmless but contains untapped power. You could forge an entire dimension with the sort of energy in there. Though I shudder to think about what such a world would look like.” She stepped forward again and placed her hand on the box. "But if you think you can get me another one, then why not let me hold onto this one, hmmm?”

”Finn.” Mac’s voice echoed in his head. ”While it’s important to keep an eye on your opponent, you need to make sure that box never leaves your sight. If you can’t watch it, make sure Miki can.”

So he's essentially chained to Pandora's Box. Isn't that fantastic? Finn himself wasn't that amused. After a moment of silent consideration, he yanked the box out from under Glex's hand. "Then who says any of us are worthy of beholding it's power? Who says your word is truth here? Unless you have the right key to unchain me to this thing, there has to be a reason it's stuck to me." He narrowed his eyes at the blonde, backing away from her.

"Well aren’t you adorable, waxing philosophical about something you barely understand.” She still inched closer, even as Finn backed up. "Why don’t you just uninstall life and let me handle the rest?”

Hetnus’s Chest was just out of Glex’s reach, but several onyx hands reached past her to seize the box. Once held, Glex lifted her hand up in the air, and Finn was left dangling by his wrist. Her hands continued to clasp over the box, slowly obscuring it from sight.

"Tch! Miki, keep an eye on the box!" Finn called out to his ally, slashing away at the hands lifting him up into the air.

Of course, Miki complied with what Finn asked of her. "O-okay." Her eyes jumped between the box and Finn. She drew her rivet gun and fired on the hands swarming the box. But it was just delaying the inevitable.

A fist slammed into Finn’s chest. It was just a single blow but it was hard enough to crack his ribs. ”You must be the tank.” Glex’s fist was still in Finn’s stomach, and more were going to join it soon. ”Or are you a training dummy?”

Finn's regenerative power made quick work to mend his broken ribcage. He spat out whatever blood that rushed into his mouth, and viciously scowled at Glex. "Are these made of titanium or something?! Jesus!" He stabbed his weapon into the fist that decided to stick to him a bit longer, activating his invulerable state in anticipation of her next move.

Which came just in time, as the next few punches were just as powerful and coming from every direction. Miki's rivet gun continued to go off but it wasn't even phasing the horror's champion. ”Turtling is a common tactic for people who don't study the game. Are you waiting for me to slip up? Maybe you'll do something more interesting if I hurt her instead?”

Well that managed to get a reaction. Finn's eyes shot open wide.

"DON'T. YOU. DARE." He growled.

”Finn, I have an idea.” Despite how frantic the situation was getting, Mac sounded reasonably calm. ”You might be able to weaken her if you open the box. You just need to counter act whatever comes out of there before it affects you or Miki. Despair that deep is no joke.”

Use the box? Wasn't that too much of a risk?? He didn't know little to anything about it, but if it might be enough to weaken Glex...

"You want your box back so much?! COME AND GET IT!" With both his hands occupied by, well, hands, Finn had to take a window of opportunity to aim the box at Glex and open it with the hand it was chained to. Whatever happens next, he'd have to be ready to defend Miki.

While Finn couldn’t see what was in the box, he could see Glex’s reaction to it. The smile that had persisted the entire duration of this encounter evaporated in an instant. There were no quips, no counter attacks.

There wasn’t time for them.

With a hiss, an ethereal fog filled the air. Glex had no chance to escape it and neither did Finn. By experiencing this memory a second time Finn could only recall some of the thoughts that plagued his mind. He remembered feeling hopeless, like everything he had done, was doing, and would be doing was just a setup for a grand fall. The assault on his mind was punctuated by unbearable pain, and he couldn’t escape it by just leaving the cloud. He barely had the strength to close the chest, but this gave him no relief.

Glex and Finn sunk to the ground, screaming at the futility of their existence. This left Miki to resolve the situation.

"Ah geez! I don’t like it, but-" Miki ran up to Finn and pulled one of his potions out of his belt. "You’ve gotta inhale sometime!" Despite his flailing, Miki was able to get the potion down his throat. "It’s okay to forget some things, right?"

She wouldn’t get an answer.

---

What had Finn done?

How did he end up here?

He had no recollection.

"Do you know who I am?" Miki waved her hand in front of Finn’s face. "This is going to be a reoccurring thing, huh? I’m Miki." She pointed over her shoulder at a cave. "You wanted to stop here?"

”She’s right Finn. This is where you want to go.” Mac sighed ”But you need to do so alone. It’s important Miki doesn’t follow you. I’d explain the situation better, but there’s no time.”

Miki placed a hand on Finn’s head. "You okay?"

"Hm?" Finn seemed to snap out of it when Miki's hand rested on his head. "I-I'm fine. I'm fine." He reassured her, gently grabbing her hand and pushing it away from him. He looked over to the cave entrance, then back to Miki. He didn't feel too confident about going in there alone. Who knows what might ambush either of them if they split up. Hopefully Mac's explanation will make sense for him.

"Think you can stand guard by the entrance?" Finn asked Miki. "Just in case I have to hurry back out here, that's all." He walked to the cave as he talked.

"You want to split up?" Miki rubbed the back of her head. "I mean, okay. But if I hear you scream, or something happens out here, I’m going in. Does that sound agreeable?"

The boy nodded with a smile. "Sounds like a plan."

"Okay~!" Miki waved to Finn as he departed for the cave.

It was a lot deeper than he might have thought. The fluorescent cave zigged and zagged, humming as if the wall was filled with insects. Or perhaps the vessels that ran along the walls were the source of the noise.

The cave would open up into a valley. The squishy floor gave way to grass, which stretched up the side of a hill. It looked like there was a tiny cottage at the top. It was impossible to see what layed beyond, as the distance was covered in a veil of shadow. When Finn looked overhead, the ceiling had a single crack in it. With nowhere else to go, he approached.

”Just a reminder, but this place is an illusion. It’s designed to play with your emotions.” Mac cautioned Finn. ”Your goal is to get the chest. You’ll know what it is when you see it. I asked you to separate yourself from Miki because it increases both of your chances for survival. Having said that, I don’t know what you’re going to find there. So as a result-”

Finn hadn’t even knocked before the cottage door swung open. There standing in the doorway was an elderly woman.

”Oh goodness!” She folded her hands together. ”It’s been so long since I had visitors! And not one of them was as handsome as you!” She hobbled away from the door and deeper into the one room house. ”Come in, come in!”

"A-Alright then." Finn was admittedly caught off guard when the door opened, much more so at who appeared behind it. He made sure to keep in mind that none of it was real, but he couldn't help wondering. Who would willingly live in a place like this? Wherever he and Miki ended up? At the old woman's invitation, he quietly entered the cottage.

”Do you drink tea?” After guiding over to the "dining area," She stepped into the kitchen.

"I'm more of a coffee person, but yes." Finn answered, glancing around the unfamiliar interior.

The house really was just a single room. A counter divided the kitchen from the rest of the house, and the living area was split between the "dining room" that Finn was standing in and a bedroom, which was really just a mat, pillow, and candle wick. There was no visible chest that Mac had hinted at. ”I'm Gurtrude, young man. Been living on this hill for the past forty years.” She presented Finn with a cup of tea. ”What's your name? And the cookies will be done shortly.”

Finn carefully grabbed the cup, and nodded in thanks. "Finnegan. Most people just call me Finn though." He introduce himself in return, his voice taking a more softer tone. No chest yet. He'll have to go along with this for now. "What kind of cookies?" He tilted his head as he asked.

”Raisin. I dried the grapes myself!” With a giggle, she hobbled behind the counter. ”My granddaughter would really like you. My grandson, not so much.” It didn't take her long to come back around with a plate of cookies and her own cup of tea. "I'd have offered coffee if I had it, but the traders don't come this way anymore. It's getting harder to get these old bones outside."

"I see." Finn took a sip of his drink. "Do your grandkids visit often?"

”It's been a while.” The folds on her face grew with her smile. ”They went everywhere together. Last I heard, Miki was going to college. I think Drake opted to go to a trade school. They both loved technology, you see? She wanted to be an inventor and he wanted to work on cars.” She chuckled. ”I can hardly remember what they did the last time they were here. I think we had an apple pie. It was in season for it.”

Finn's brows rose when she mentioned Miki. It may have been coincidental, but now he knew why Mac wanted her to stay behind. He smiled. "That sounds lovely. I can't imagine how lonely it must be out here, didn't even see any towns from my way up." He said, reaching over to grab one of the cookies.

”Lovely, yes. But also lonely.” She sighed. ”Oh! But my manners! What brought you to my doorstep?”

"I...I got lost." Finn frowned. "I was going to go spend the week at a friend's, but got lost on the way. Thought I could make a stop somewhere to rest, y'know?"

”This old hag's shack is great for resting! Eat as many cookies as you like.” She giggled. ”If you've got nothing better to do, let me tell you a few stories...”

”Finn!” Mac's voice practically boomed in his head. ”Miki is waiting for you! How is listening to old wives' tales going to get you the chest?”

"Well, do you have any other ideas besides waiting on the right moment?" There was a tone of sass in his retort. "I haven't forgotten that this isn't real. I just don't wanna end up having something eldritch on my ass for ramsacking their shit. You heard what Miki said."

”For starters, I'd ask her if she had a chest. You might be a sin, but you should be able to inquire about something without inciting violence, right?” Mac returned fire with sass of her own. In any other circumstance, he'd roll his eyes. ”Barring that, I don't know. You can summon animals, right? You could make a distraction or use one to scout maybe? I don't know your powers as intimately as you do.”

"I mostly use my magic to give myself physical buffs. But I think..." He trailed off, subtly calling in some mice to search for the chest with his beast magic.

This all transpired during one of the old woman's tales, which Finn was only half listening to. But that was okay, because he would hear it again before he left. Maybe even three times.

But Gurtrude would be oblivious to the mice racing through her home. There were only three of them, but that was all that was necessary to explore a single room. They came in from the doorway and went behind the counter. Finn couldn't see them, but it wasn't hard to imagine what was going on. They ran through the cupboards, found their way into the drawers, maybe even inspected the silverware. But before long, Finn could hear one of the mice squeaking loudly. Something had been found.

Finn looked toward the direction of the squeaking, and set his cup down. "Excuse me." He walked over, and searched thoroughly for the innocuous mouse. And hopefully his real inquiry in the process.

Sure enough, the mouse had opened one of the cupboards to reveal the location of a small chest.

”That’s it.” Mac confirmed.

”Are you looking for something?” The elderly woman started to approach. ”A napkin, perhaps?”

Finn glanced back at her from over his shoulder. "Hm? Oh, no, I just thought I heard a mouse in here." As he talked, the mouse in question hurried to leave, and he tried to subtly pocket the chest.

”A mouse!” Gurtrude suddenly looked concerned. ”Oh I hope not!”

*Snap*

The sound drew Finn’s attention back to the chest. Now there was a handcuff attached to him and the small chest. Not that it was all that small. In fact, it was actually quite big. Maybe the length of his forearm. It wasn’t something he could just slide under his coat. That will be an issue. Where did the handcuff even come from??

”What was that?” But Finn’s animal companion got the hint. He could see the mouse huff before scrambling out into view. ”Ahhh! It is a mouse!” She hobbled over to her broom before chasing the mouse around her house. ”Shoo! Get away, ya vermin!”

Of course, Finn knew his little mouse friend will be just fine. While Gurtrude pursued the mouse, he held the chest he was now chained to close to himself and hurried to the door.

And… he was in the clear.

”Think his memory will be problematic here?” Mac’s voice sounded faint. It wasn’t uncommon for people to accidentally speak into their magicoms. Communicating between agents was perhaps too easy at times. ”Alright Finn, how about you down one of those haste potions to make this go a little faster?”

---

What had Finn done?

How did he end up here?

He had no recollection.

But a techy girl was screaming at him while clutching her shirt shut.

"What ever!?"

”Finn! Drink a potion, any of them!”

"Are you drinking that to get out of this? It’s not going to work! Seriously, stop drinking that. Not again, not again! I’m sorry!”

Quoth the Raven, what the fuck.

---

What had Finn done?

How did he end up here?

He had no recollection.

"We’re in the belly of the beast now.” The faint glow coming from the walls would have looked more familiar if he hadn’t just had one of those potions. "Why don’t we take a break? It’s a good spot for it.” Miki leaned up against one of the walls. "It’s just going to get harder from here on out. I’m surprised you’re holding together so well, but maybe that has to do with your frequent amnesia episodes.”

Frequent...amnesia? That's weird. He may have lived for (honestly) too long but he never had any notable problems with his memories. Sure, there could be the case of Finn repressing trauma, but he could never erase it.

So why now? And frankly, how?

"...I guess so." With a shrug, Finn quietly leaned against the wall next to Miki. "What about you?" He couldn't help asking.

"Only amnesia episode I can remember was when you found me.” She smiled, but cleared her throat afterwards. "I mean, I’ve been doing fine! I’ve been trapped here long enough that it doesn’t bother me anymore. Not sure if that’s a good thing or not. But um, thanks for asking.” She smiled again, but it was a bit sheepish. "I’m glad we’re getting out of here though. Got anyone you’d like to see again?”

Finn glanced back at her with a sympathetic look, but didn't let it linger for too long. "Well, my patron might be wondering where I dissapeared off to. Oliver and the others might be worried sick too, especially him." He answered, crossing his arms. "Maybe I can introduce you to everyone when we get out of here."

”I’d like that.” Miki pressed her back into the wall and it started to swing backwards, like it was a massive door. ”Who’s Oliver? Is he a brother, friend?”

"My best friend." Finn smiled. "We go a long way back, way before either of us became magical boys. He's a bit protective of me, but he's a real sweetheart." He told her. His eye was then drawn to the section of wall that seemed to be...sinking in?

"Uh, is the wall supposed to do that?"

”Yea, I know most of this place’s secrets.” she tapped the wall with her knuckle. ”There’s a pond back here. Good place to wash up. But your friend!” Miki locked her hands together. ”He sounds like perfect older brother material! It’s been a while since I’ve seen mine.”

Oh, she had a brother?

Finn couldn't really know if he was still around or not, or if he'd even remember her for however long she's been here. But they had to get out of here so they could be reunited. Or at least so she could find some closure.

"He actually had a younger brother, if I remember correctly. So I guess his mental mutation was a natural thing. But by now our old families have passed centuries ago, unless something happened that we weren't aware of." He explained.

”We’ll have to talk sometime!” Beyond the doorway was a forest oasis. A perfectly normal pond surrounded by rows of trees. If one listened closely, they might even be able to hear the sound of distant wildlife. ”Um, yea.” Miki eyes scanned Finn’s body. ”If you don’t mind, I think I’ll rinse off first. So um, no peeking.” She pulled her head into the room and partially closed the door.

”He’s going to run out at this rate.” A tired sigh came over the magicoms. ”It’s a little dark there Finn. There should be a darkvision potion to help you spot incoming threats. It should be a dull red color.”

---

What had Finn done?

How did he end up here?

He had no recollection.

Miki said something about her brother again. Was it the first time? Neither the Finn remembering or the Finn in the moment could be sure. But he was asked to drink another potion. Or was it his first potion? It was hard to keep track.

---

What had Finn done?

How did he end up here?

He had no recollection.

Miki was on top of him. She was growling through her teeth as her shoulder mounted cannons tried to burn a hole through Finn’s head. The only thing that was keeping him alive was a pair of metal arms attached to his back, batting away the incoming blasts.

The fact alone that he was being pinned down by someone was enough to make him panic. For a split second, she probably could've seen his face contort in fear.

"GET OFF ME!!"

Whoever got him the metal limbs, he really owed them one. Finn instinctively began struggling himself free from under his pink-haired assailant, shoving and kicking her until he was able to scramble away as quick as he could.

The kick was strong enough to throw Miki half way across the…prison? While the walls were all made up of flesh and steel, he appeared to be in a hallway with barred off rooms.

”It’s okay Finn, you’re stronger than her.” Mac’s voice came through. ”There’s no need to kill her. You should have a few potions on you. Just get her to ingest a red one and-”

”You animal!” Miki didn’t need to be right on top of Finn to hurt him. She had drawn a rivet gun and was firing glowing-hot rivets in Finn’s direction.

A frightened shriek escaped Finn's throat. He quickly moved out of the line of fire and grabbed one of the potions he apparently had on his person. What the hell did he do to make this chick angry? ...He couldn't remember. But hopefully Mac's idea would calm her down somehow! With a grimace, he popped the cork off the vial and went into his invincible state.

"I'm so sorry for this!!"

The boy sprinted at her, tackling her back down so he could force the potion down her throat.

The rivets did negligible damage to Finn, and despite her attempts to resist, she might as well have cooperated for all the good it did her. Mac was right, he was far stronger than she was.

She raised a hand to stop him, but he was able to force the potion into her mouth. She tried to turn away, but that was when Finn’s mechanical arms locked around her head. One hand held her head steady, while the other teased her throat into opening. She gurgled and coughed, but the contents of the bottle were going down. And with every drop she consumed, she seemed to relax just a bit more. Her eyelids fluttered, and her gaze was unfocused.

”Get rid of that bottle, now!”

Finn whipped the bottle into one of the cells as Miki’s eyes rolled in their sockets. ”Mmmmm…” She looked at Finn, and her eyes went wide. ”H-hey!” She flailed her arms. ”Who are you, and why are you looming over me?”

It didn't feel right.

It didn't feel right, but it worked. But it didn't feel right. But there wasn't a point in thinking over "what ifs" that could make him feel less guilty. What's done is done. And he hated it. Finn mentally shoved the feeling back to the dark corner of his mind. "S-Sorry, just trying to see if you weren't...y'know...dead." He stuttered, moving to the side so Miki could sit up. That was technically half-true, right?

"My name's Finn. I...don't know how I got here."

”Oh!” Miki looked around. ”...Oh! I thought you were… Well it doesn’t matter!” She pulled her knees up to her chest and kicked. The force was enough to carry her through the air and onto her feet. ”I’m Miki! Thanks for checking up on me.” She placed a hand on her hip. ”I’ve been here for what feels like centuries! Me and my brother are usually together. I’m honestly a little nervous that he’s not here.” She folded her hands together. ”What’s the last thing you remember?”

"The...last thing?" He stood back up as well, looking a bit lost. He tried to think back to the last thing he did, area he was in, last person he was interacting with, anything before he ended up here, stuck under someone who wanted to hurt him. Nothing. Finn frowned. "I don't know."

”But you remember your name, at least? This is bad…”

”You need to escape, Finn.” Mac sighed. ”You need to tell her something to get her on your side. She doesn’t seem like the discerning type, so just speak from the heart.”

"I-I mean, I remember the important stuff! But I don't know how I ended up in here specifically." Finn clarified. He glanced around. "And I really don't like that this looks like a jailhouse. I know I'm not the greatest person in the world, but something like this is the last place I want to be in. For me, or anyone else." He looked back to Miki. "Assuming we won't turn on each other while our backs are turned, we should stick together and find a way out of here."

Miki blinked once, then smiled. ”Well that’s good! I don’t think you’d do anything to hurt me. I mean, you would have done it already.” She turned her back to Finn. ”We’ll have to go over what you do know, but just follow me for now. If we get out, maybe we can find my brother.”

”Good job. Just-” Mac paused. ”You fed her the red potion, right? You should have a green potion on you too. If you drink that, it should help you recover your memories.”

---

What had Finn done?

How did he end up here?

He had no recollection.

But he was standing in a jail house. A woman with pink hair was behind bars, and before her was a boy trying desperately to pull the doors open. A stylish trench coat like that had to belong to a magical boy.

”Finn! Are you awake?” Mac sounded urgent. ”If you don’t do something soon, he’s going to kill her, hurry!”

"O-Okay!"

Maybe in different circumstances, he would've proded Mac for details, a reason to go through with this. He didn't know better. But he trusted Mac, right? He trusted her. Drawing his sword from its sheath, he rushed in to strike the other boy.

He didn’t even see it coming.

Finn may have been uncertain, but his target was preoccupied trying to get into the cage. Moreover, Finn was surging with power that wasn’t his own. Even if the attack was only intended to wound his target, it would be far more grievous than anticipated.

His sword entered the boy’s red coat, and he slid all the way up to the hilt. Blood as red as his vestments trickled out of his mouth, and he collapsed to the ground.

”Drake! No!” Miki tried to reach for her brother, but it was too late. Finn’s strike had killed him almost instantly. ”Drake…” her voice cracked.

"Watch out Finn, she’s been brainwashed!"

Wait. They...knew each other...?

If the girl was brainwashed (Most likely by this Drake fellow he just killed, he rationalized) like Mac apparently knew, then it'd be best to leave her there, wouldn't it? And yet...

Maybe if he went into his Avatar state real quick, he could use psychic magic to break whatever's affected her. Finn's attention turned from the cadaver to the cell door. He held up his weapon, and swung it at the lock.

"Finn!"

The lock was broken, its prisoner freed. But she was anything but happy. An assortment of metal arms with gadgets attached to them crept out from behind her back and loomed in the air.

"Okay, let’s fix this!" Mac somehow sounded even more frantic now. "We can save her, but you need to drink one of your, um, blue potions. Yes, the blue one. That should do it!"

---

What had Finn done?

How did he end up here?

He had no recollection.

The scenery hadn’t changed for the past five minutes. Just walking down these dark, glowing catacombs that seemed to go on forever.

"Whoa!" A boy in a red trenchcoat stumbled out of a building. "Don’t think I’ve seen you around these parts. What are you doing here?"

"Hm?" Finn glanced at the stranger. He simply shrugged in response to his question.

He scoffed. "Whatever, if you’re not here to fight, I don’t care what you do." With a wave of his hand, Drake ran further into the catacombs.

"...Well, that was...rude." Finn watched Drake run off in dumbfoundment, and after a moment, continued walking forward himself.

Finn’s walk took him deeper into the catacombs. It wasn’t like there were a lot of forking paths, and he soon found himself encountering Drake a second time. Only now he was trying to free someone from a cage.

"Hold on Finn." Mac’s voice came over his coms. "The green potion can enhance your hearing. Maybe you can figure out who he’s talking to before you get too close."

---

What had Finn done?

How did he end up here?

He remembered now.

He had come to this space between realities to complete his final test, which involved Aria. While everyone else got set up, He and Aria had some time to talk.

”I’d say something about your resolve, but anyone who’s willing to speak with Nykannis and Oros in the same week is madder than both.” She reclined against a palm tree. ”Got anything to say before I explain things?”

Finn shook his head.

”Exactly what I’d expect out of a tool.” The corners of her lips curled into a smile. Finn didn't exactly like being called a tool, but he kept that thought to himself. ”You’re going to go spelunking for treasure in the realm of unreason. Once in there, you’re going to do a job for me. The issue is that just being in that place messes with your mind. No one who goes in ever comes out the same. Since you’re not exactly expendable, P.T. has worked on a solution.” She presented Finn with the flask holder. ”Each of these potions will cause you to have a stroke of amnesia. This will rid your addled mind of those intrusive thoughts, and then some.” She pointed over her shoulder at Mac. ”That’s why we have Mac here. If you suddenly lost your memory you might hesitate to do anything I say, but a fellow Cradle agent should be different, right?” A butterfly glided over to Finn’s side and landed on his shoulder. ”Rupee here will also be with you, just for some added firepower. Mac’s even going to use her artifact so that you can share her might. That should synergize well with the rest of your abilities.”

He nodded along as she explained their plan, strapping the flask holder over his shoulder. "Do I have to worry about long term effects?" He had to ask.

”If you survive? No, there should be no long term effects so long as you keep chugging potions.”

At the mention of Mac, he looked over to the wolf girl. "Are you sure you want to get involved in this? I know the other agents aren't aware of what I've been up to, but..." The boy looked slightly worried.

Mac just gave him a nod and tipped her hat. "I serve Maura, and she wants me to help you to the best of my ability." She grinned. "You just need to tell me if you prefer speaking with me or iron mouse more."

He quietly chuckled. "Save Iron Mouse for picking on Oliver, will you?"

Admittedly, he felt bad for leaving his friend in the dark like this. Oliver would probably want in on it so they could be stronger together, but as long as he got through this alive, neither of them would have to worry. The ghost was bound to him, after all. Seeking out any means of getting stronger would ensure Oliver would be practically unkillable.

"Feels odd not having Miss Wagner around for this though."

”She’s probably busy, if she’s not watching from some dark corner of space.” Aria pointed into the portal. ”No one’s stopping you.”

"Aria Rizzo." Mac’s expression became firm. "I’m going to tell Finn exactly what you want me to tell him. That is within my ability. But only if you can guarantee me that you won’t have me do something that would put his life in danger."

Aria scoffed. ”If he doesn’t do everything I say, he may not get out of there alive.” Her smile, while already quite broad, seemed to grow just a bit more as she said this. ”Well Finn? We haven’t got all day. Drink your first position as soon as you enter the portal. Shouldn’t matter which one.”

---

When Finn came to, he was still in the hut with PT. But by the looks of it, she looked like she was on the verge of passing out. Perhaps the incense onlynow was causing her to trip out, while Finn had already recovered from it. Did that make sense? Did any of this make sense?

Aria was looking down at him with her arms crossed. He couldn’t make out her face, but it was hard to picture her doing anything but smiling at him.

"..." With widened eyes, Finn silently stared back at Aria. Or was he staring past her? Whatever the case was, it felt like the stars from before had blinked out. He was staring at nothing. Or maybe it was just in his head, who knows? He sat back up, trying to sort through the torrent of emotions he was feeling. Disgust at himself? Anger at the others? Remorse for murdering Miki and Drake?

He didn't know. He chose to remain silent. Finn glanced back to Aria, awaiting whatever she was going to say or do next.

But the only thing she did in the time she was given was ask Finn a question.

”Are we going to have a problem?”

Nevermind then.

"Is that a reference to something?"

”You seem upset.” Aria swung her small form away from the tent opening. ”Are you going to tell me they didn't have to die? Do you hate Mac for leading you along? It's important I know where you stand before I give you your reward.”

He had to take another moment to think.

Yes, a guilt-ridden part of him thought the two didn't have to die. Even if his actions technically freed them from that place in some grim sense, he didn't like the fact that he strung Miki along with lies. If they do end up reincarnating years later, he hoped they could forgive him.

...Unless...

"They were just part of the Horror's realm, weren't they?" His tone lacked any emotion. "They weren't real?"

”Depends who you ask. Oros would tell you they didn’t exist. But I think all humans are real. Well, barring those made with illusionary magic. But them? Yea, I think they were about as ‘real’ as we are.”

Finn shuddered. "I...see." Guess he'll have this eating away at him for a while. Great.

Then there was the other thing. "...Why would I hate Mac? She was only acting as your mouthpiece. If there's anyone I should hate, wouldn't it be you?" He tilted his head.

With Aria standing out in the open, the moonlight was enough to reveal the smile creeping across her face.

”Who you choose to assign responsibility to is not my concern. I got what I wanted, and soon you’ll get what you want. But before we do that, maybe I will speak my peace on something.” She turned to look at the moon hanging in the sky. ”Miki and Drake’s deaths were completely avoidable. I knew you wouldn’t like killing them in the long term, which is exactly why I had you do it.” She turned to look at Finn. ”Because this is supposed to be a lesson, right? Something to prepare you for the trial ahead. So here’s the takeaway from this, but first, an observation.” She spread her arms. ”Most kids these days want a million followers. Few will actually get them. But some people will put in the work to do it. They’ll make sure their content is as good as it can possibly be, answer boring fan mail, and really go through hell to make sure they have those fans. And then by the time they get their million followers, well, they’re also married. Maybe they have a few kids, working a job that they hate, and they wasted their youth. Sure, lots of people are married and hate their lives, but I’d argue that these people have it even worse than them. They’ve made themselves into slaves.” She bared her teeth. ”They wanted those followers, convinced themselves they needed them. It took them a lot of time to get that kind of following, and they can’t let it slip out of their hands now. It’s more insidious than your average sunken cost fallacy.” She folded her arms behind her back. ”Look at the lengths you’re willing to go through to get power. Entering a horror’s domain to recover a powerful artifact for a magical girl with questionable moral standards… to beat Penny?” She giggled. ”We are slaves to our desires, Finn. Having more power doesn’t grant more freedom.”

Finn couldn't find the words to respond.

Was this really worth it? He could've stopped any time he wanted, but he didn't. He was just going along with others' plans. Their wants. Right? He just wanted to help fix Penrose. For what?

Guess no matter how hard he tried, he'll always be a killer puppet freak. One way or another.

His gaze turned downcast. "I...I don't..." He gulped down the lump forming in his throat. "...There's no turning back from here, is there?" He asked in a small voice.

”Why are you sniveling like that? This was a lesson, Finn. So long as you took it to heart, their deaths weren’t in vain. But how about that reward, huh?” She pulled her hands out from behind her back and clapped them together. ”I have prepared two gifts for you, of which you can only pick one.” She opened her left hand, and a pocket watch appeared in it. ”You were able to witness esper Elroy’s Keijo match against Sakura, so you must be aware of the existence of espers. What you may not know is that they get their powers from an artifact known as grimoires, and I can make them. You may point out that Elroy lost his match as proof that espers are weaker than magical girls. Normally I would agree with you, but I’m capable of making artifacts far, far stronger than that one. Not only that, but esper magic is very potent towards monsters and abortions, and Penny is both. It’s difficult to overstate how important this is for your quest.” She opened her right hand, revealing a marble. It had a neon green glow. While the glow was soft, the center was too bright to make out what was inside. ”Your second choice is pseudo resurrection. I can’t bring people back to life, but I can accelerate Miki and Drake’s recovery speed so that it more or less happens instantly. As an added bonus I can bring them into Penrose so that they don’t have to live in that nasty world anymore.” She curled her hands closed. ”Now, before you go picking the salvation of two people you barely know, do remember that they aren’t going to be dead permanently. After a decade or so they will be together again and can go back to suffering under that horror again. If you believe in your quest, saving the thousands of people in Penrose should take priority over two magical fools.” Aria opened her hands again. ”But it’s your choice in the end, Finn. I don’t have a horse in the race. But if there’s something else you want, let me know.”

And here he was reconsidering his actions.

Ugh, whatever. There wasn't a point in breaking down right now. Suck it up and listen, stupid. Aria presented him with his options; a "Grimore", or what was basically Miki and Drake's freedom. As if expecting him to pick the later, she reminded him that the two would get revived naturally, but would remain trapped in the Realm of Unreason. A choice between being selfish, or being selfless. But which was what?

Would it be unreasonable to pick the marble regardless? Lesson or not, anyone would if they went through what he did, right? Even if it was ridiculous; A small act of kindness for a pair of strangers that may hate him,

It was a weakness he was aware of. He cared, he couldn't help it.

The pocketwatch on the other hand, gave him a strong sense of Deja Vu. He felt uneasy, looking at it, but at the same time he felt that this was something that belonged to him, something he was supposed to take. If he miraculously succeeded in this endeavor, would he really save thousands?

The Needs of Many, or the Needs of Few?

...

Finn grabbed the pocketwatch.

”So that’s your choice?” She held up her other hand with the marble. ”I don’t know what I expected. Suppose that’s why left it up to you.” The marble shattered between her fingers. ”I’m sure you know the drill by now. That watch is only to be used when fighting Penny. Just a fun fact for you, that watch was partially made out of Penny’s own steel. Well, her from a different reality. I really outdid myself this time.”

Ah, no wonder it made him feel uneasy. He solemnly nodded, pocketing his new trinket. "Guess this is the part where I ask what it does?" The mention of a Penny from a different reality seemed to catch his interest.

”When I said it was only to be used on Penny, I did not mean you couldn't practice with it. But knowing what the core ingredient is should give you some idea of what it does."

"Right."

Seeing no further reason to stick around, he glanced over Aria's shoulder, trying to look for Mac. "...Tonya?" He called out.

Mac had been recovering her strength, and only just realized her name had been called. "I’m not use to people using my real name.”

"S-Sorry." Finn quickly apologized.

With a sigh. She rose to her feet. "Mission accomplished?”

He walked over to her, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "I'm just...ready to head back now."

"Alright, lets go.”