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[color=tomato]"I less than three you, Tsubomi. But I less than three everyone.”[/color]

[color=888888]— Suki Oyama[/color][/center]

Oros the Joyful nodded along to everything Acid Drop was saying. In truth, it wasn’t anything unexpected. It made sense, at least hypothetically, from the perspective of someone who had emotions. Oros remembered reading somewhere that all human desires were felt when the brain absorbed dopamine. Larger quantities increased the desire. They did an experiment with mice where they inhibited their brains ability to absorb dopamine. The mouse just stood in the center of its cage, completely unmoving. It wouldn’t even eat or drink unless the researchers held food up to its mouth. If that was the case for Tsubomi, then why did she choose to do anything? But she remembered them being annoying? Could anyone really be better off this way? 

[color=tomato]"Huh.”[/color] Was Oros’s response. At least until she was prompted as to why she had asked. [color=tomato]"Oh! Um, you know?”[/color] Her smile got just a bit bigger. [color=tomato]"Emotions are very important to me! I’ve just been a bit- Wait, wait, what do you mean ‘they aren’t talking’ anymore?”[/color] Oros didn’t really need her to say. The crackling energy of Nyxia’s laser beams could be made out at this distance, as could the [i]freaking explosion[/i] that seemed to rock the earth. [color=tomato]"Uh, let’s table this for now!”[/color] Oros took off again, this time heading towards the conflict.

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[color=red]"Never put all your eggs in one basket. Never use all of your vocabulary in a single sentence. Never put all of your power into a single attack. [s]Never post on the same day of the week[/s]”[/color]

[color=888888]— Ash Bringer[/color][/center]

No two magical girls were alike, but no matter how much variety light or dark magical girls had, there were certain cues that made them easy to tell apart. One of which was how they reacted to taking something that was precious to someone else and destroying it. Few, if any light girls would be proud of destroying something dear to someone else. It didn’t matter if they were an enemy or not. Ash Bringer, however, seemed to relish in Nyxia’s hatred. Every sharp breath, every crease on her face, it served to stretch her lips and show off her perfectly white teeth. If this kept up, the corners of her lips might reach her ears. In contrast, her eyes got smaller. They were wide open, but her pupils dilated. [color=red]"Come on...”[/color] She whispered. And then it happened. Nyxia let her anger out in a torrent of bad words and lasers. It was an overwhelming, perhaps grotesque display of power. Ash Bringer inhaled sharply. It was physically impossible for her smile to be any bigger. 

…Or maybe she was reacting to the incoming torrent of lasers. 

Ash Bringer was not a stationary target. She had already demonstrated how her flames could be used as thrusters, and she did so again with the murderous tubes of crackling death energy closed in on her. While Nyxia’s main laser beam took a fairly straight forward path, the side lasers twisted and curled around to intercept the dragon. There were many close calls, with the lasers burning through her bangs here and there, but she hadn’t scored a direct hit. Meanwhile, Ash Bringer closed in on Nyxia’s location as the web of death beams swarmed behind her. 

This only lasted for a moment before the rule keeper threw herself in front of the incoming lasers. She hadn’t been fast enough to get in front of the laser beams, but she was able to slide into the side of them with her shield up. The beams of death energy slammed into her shield, and everything that had passed her faded away.. The cluster of deadly beams that were so close to Ash Bringer dissipated into the air. Next, Earth Shaker had to disengage from all of Nyxia’s beams and come down on Ash Bringer without getting cooked by the torrent of incoming lasers. Something she masterfully did with a mighty bound. 

Most magical girls had fairly simple powers. Nyxia could fire lasers, Oros could control her blood, and Acid Drop wasn’t most magical girls. But neither was Earthshaker. Up until this point, Ash Bringer hadn’t really seen why Earth Shaker’s body was glowing the way it was. There was certainly no way she could anticipate that up until now, she had been storing power to use for this next attack. Ash Bringer should have been able to pass right under Earthshaker to continue moving towards Nyxia, but the energy she stored up would be [i]perfect[/i] for giving her a boost of acceleration and powering through anything she might fight back with. 

It was like a flyswatter hitting a fly.

Earthshaker’s shield came down on top of Ash Bringer and smashed her into the ground. The pavement beveled, and black smoke rose up all around Earthshaker. She couldn’t feel any movement on the other side of her shield. When she moved her shield out of the way to see if Ash Bringer was still conscious, Nyxia’s lasers came in to finish off what was surely a vulnerable target. Torrentia hadn’t heard Ash Bringer scream yet, and she wasn’t going to stop on account of anyone wishing otherwise. 

Though with the smoke, lasers, and Nyxia’s emotional state, it was difficult to see the pavement getting pushed up. It was like a giant mole had dug its way out from under Earthshaker and was racing towards Nyxia. The moving pavement mound started to smolder, and then Ash Bringer, wreathed in flame, burst out of the ground and drove her fist into Nyxia’s stomach. Powerful enough on its own, but it was followed by another heated explosion, which set Nyxia ablaze and sent her careening into the rubble of the flower shop. With a hiss, Ash Bringer turned to look at Earthshaker. Aside from a black smudge on her cheek, it didn’t look like her last attack had caused any noticeable damage to her. Ash Bringer wasn’t grinning anymore, she was pissed. 

[color=red]"Why are you all so [i]weak[/i]?”[/color] One of her dragons turned and fired a jet of flame at Oros, who was mid-flight in an attempt to ambush the dragon woman. She was turned into a ball of fire that bounced down the street. Ash Bringer hadn’t taken her eyes off of Earthshaker. [color=red]"You’re dark magical girls, aren’t you? You’re aware you need to hunt miseria to become stronger? Your virtues aren’t your strength anymore, you can’t just sit back and let the light girls kill them all!”[/color] Her other dragon was charging a fireball and launched it down the street where Tsubomi was likely returning from. 

Roche’s skill set made her ideal for one on one fights, but this was no ordinary foe. Ash Bringer was far stronger than any of the local light girls, and may have even rivaled Shrade. But before what was sure to be a tough battle kicked off, the air was filled with the whooshing sound of magical girls leaping from the rooftops. The rest of the Detention Club would be arriving soon.

[color=red]"There’s more of you?!”[/color] While this seemed to annoy Ash Bringer initially, she chuckled soon afterwards. [color=red]"You know what? Hibusa Town has proven to be pretty amusing. Tell you what? I’m going to give you guys a year to train and get stronger. Then I’m going to come back with my [i]own[/i] team and we’ll have a proper fight. But don’t shed any tears. I’ll still drop by from time to time to see how everyone’s doing.”[/color] 

With one last burst of flames, Ash Bringer flew into the red sky. Shortly afterwards, the sun retreated over the horizon and painted the sky black. The only trace that remained of her was the battlefield that the flower shop had turned into.