It was finally time; Lisa’s soul was set ablaze as she was finally closer to Adora than ever before! She could just smell her! There wasn’t any time for thought or internal monologue as she pointed forward, and the four other spiders she summoned charged forward. However, out of the portal Morningstar created came several fireballs that were the size of basketballs. A barrage. Dozens of fireballs came flying out towards the group as Kimberly calmly knelt and placed the Cube out of her utility belt onto the ground. The Cube created a barrier as Lisa’s spiders bobbed and weaved out of the way of the fireballs - taking a few hints but they kept forward.

Ella ran to the front of the group, pushing out her hands and yelling, "shimmering snow blast!"

A massive wave of snow came out from her hands, boosted by the Ice Scepter, hitting all the fireballs in its path. It was enough to clear the way for Saskia to jump over her using a blood tendril, shooting multiple blood bullets at Morningstar. Morningstar swiped his hand to create a portal in the path of the blood bullets, and they flew directly back into the group.

Lisa shouted as one hit her in the shoulder and another in the stomach, but the Spiders were still flying at him with the help of Ella clearing the path. She cast the Acid-Burst spell, and they exploded into an enormous display that sent modified digestive acid in all directions. Splashing on Morningstar and utterly dissolving his arm… revealing a blue, scaly arm. He didn’t flinch.

“Good job, mami!” Lupe shouted from behind the shield.

Morningstar snapped his fingers, and out of the portal behind him came a massive freakish beast that was the size of a small house. It roared before it charged at the shield. Meanwhile, the portal closed, and several smaller portals opened up around Morningstar and fired a volley of smaller fireballs that curved at the group.

Ella held up the Ice Scepter, using it to shoot wide beams of ice to try and catch as many fireballs as she could. Saskia spun around, one catching her shoulder. They winced, but ignored it, blood tendril shooting towards the beast’s shoulder, it attached - and the monster was surrounded by a coral-pink dome that slowed down time in its radius as the barrier provided by the cube dropped. Kimberly leveled Jacob’s gun at its head and pulled the trigger, letting loose a bullet enchanted by fire, earth, electricity, ice, wind, metal, and light… while Lupe shot both of her hands out and fired off a bright neon-pink blast of electricity that shocked the monster. A flood of spiders came out one of the vents behind Morningstar, as the flood was so much that it broke off and fell.

However, all of Morningstar's portals disappeared as he opened one the size of Saskia, and a giant, a monstrous hand shot out to grab them and yank them in… Succeeding in grabbing them, even as two bone spears stabbed into it.

"Oh fuck," Saskia muttered.

"SASKIA!" Ella yelled, other hand raising her Channeler to shoot a beam of burning light at the monstrous hand.

“Ay! I got this, mami!” Lupe shouted, activated her Neon Dash, and turned into a ball of light (leaving behind a trail of fire and electricity) with cascading colors. She collided with the hand, and there was a roar as the creature released Saskia, and the portal closed.

Morningstar raised his hand into the air, a dismissive look on his face, as Kimberly unloaded on him with Jacob’s gun, only stopping when she ran out of ammo for Jacob’s gun. He didn’t respond; however, a massive portal formed above him, and when he swiped down, an enormous fist came out of it and punched through the ground at their feet, including the monster.

Lisa screamed as she was about to fall to her feet - however, Jordan’s time dilation sphere slowed down time on the falling piece of ground. Lisa lifted the back of her dress, and spider legs came out of her dress. Then, she gracefully went from debris to debris until she was inches away from the monster Morningstar summoned. Lisa opened her mouth at the giant monster’s leg and spewed a barrage of spiders slowly floating towards it until they attached to it… in slow motion.

Ella also screamed, but quickly righted herself, crouching on a piece of debris. Her gaze quickly found Morningstar again, shooting a focused beam of ice at him. Saskia bounced between the debris pieces with the help of their blood tendril slowly, turning around and shooting a blood bullet right after Ella’s beam. The ice beam hit Morningstar and caused him to wince (the Blood Bullet bounced off). He bore teeth as he opened another portal in Ella's path and sent the ice beam into Saskia.

"Why’s it always me?" Saskia complained, blood forming a strong shield at the front of her body. The ice beam hit it, freezing her blood and shattered it off… but not freezing her. She winced, bouncing backwards and towards Lisa.

Ella used the slowed time to start towards Morningstar, her legs glowing a bright rainbow, helping her launch herself towards him with an attempted kick. He caught it in mid-air and winced - however, more portals opened around Ella and barraged her with fireballs. At this rate, everyone had fallen to the second floor, with Lupe, Jordan, and Kimberly fighting the monster…, at which point Lisa dissolved its leg with acid. However, she ran over to Saskia with the help of her spider legs and hopped in mid-air, landing next to Saskia as she said,

”... Death Blow?” Lisa suggested. ”Except we shoot it up his ass!”

"That’s exactly what his ass needs," Saskia nodded. "While Ella’s got him distracted… let’s go."

Ella had shot out a burst of snow around her, fireballs hitting one of her legs and arms. But she didn’t seem to let it effect her as she turned into a bright, rainbow ball and barrelled at Morningstar, bolts of lightning flying off her towards him. He stepped through a portal and appeared back on the top floor, overlooking the few.

Lisa stuck her hands out… and a massive black spider crawled out of the ground. She then nodded at Saskia to create the spear so she can load it. Saskia’s face screwed up in an expression of intense concentration as they started to make a large bone spear bit by bit, hovering above the spider as it fully formed. Lisa nodded her head when it was complete.

”... Put it in.”

Saskia just nodded, brow furrowing as they carefully loaded the spear into the spider's vagina. Lisa commanded the Spider aimed at Morningstar, hoping that this would be, as the name implied, the death blow. On command, the spear launched, cut through the air, and stabbed Morningstar in the back. She was disappointed that it wasn’t his asshole… however, it “detonated” and exploded into Morningstar. His physical form was shredded to bits by the bone fragments even before they began spraying acid in all directions. Lisa smiled as that bastard was finally over…

… Only to reveal his true form.

Morningstar floated in the air, all in his unholy glory… the ground began to shake. Every window shattered as the concrete crumbled and the steel bent… the building started to sink.

"... Well, this sucks," Saskia commented. Her expression contorted in pain as flesh wings started to push out of her back, painfully and slowly snapping into place. Glass shattered nearby and embedded in her side, adding to the continuous flow of blood which she moved into a thick blood armour.

"I'm too cute to get buried alive!" Ella yelled, turning into a bright orb of light again and hopping from concrete piece to concrete piece to reach Lisa and Saskia, transforming back to her normal self before she hurt them. "What do we do? Should we… pull out the mech?!"

"That’ll just make us less mobile."

Lisa looked at Morningstar… and then remembered that she strategically left a flying spider behind the barrier (and didn’t forget). She commanded it to come over to them, and Lisa hopped on using her spider legs. She then shouted.

”Hop on!”

"Lisa, you’re the best!" Ella grinned, jumping onto the back of the spider. Saskia got on in front of her so that they could all see. "Let’s go keep beating him up!"

“... Ay, mami!” Lupe shouted, waving her hands as they began glowing with a pink light. “Don’t leave us!”

“... Did you forget about us, my dude?” Kimberly laughed; her face was oddly flat due to their circumstances. Jordan walked up, and raised a fist in the air, and a spinning coral-pink sphere appeared around them… before they disappeared.

With that out of the way, Lisa flew out the nearest window, where dusk had settled. She could see the night sky as she soared near the building. With her eyes drifting down, she saw the Morgenstern Banking sinking into a portal. To where? Lisa didn’t know or care! She just wanted to get some distance away to view… and once the building was gone, all that remained was Morningstar floating in the air.

”Ella, shoot at him!” Lisa shouted, pointing at Morningstar, as she was a little bit out of her element in aerial combat.

"Got it!" Ella shouted. She leaned around Lisa and Saskia, using the ice scepter to shoot a beam of ice at him. At the same time, Saskia leaned from the other side, shooting a blood bullet at him. Both of them hit Morningstar, but didn’t seem to do any damage…

He floated in mid-air before he curled up into a fetal position in mid-air. A flaming portal opened before him before it unleashed another volley of explosive fireballs. Lisa instinctively knew what was coming and hid behind another building. However, the portal fired out a beam of pure heat similar to what Ignatius used in his second form. It cut through the buildings like a hot knife though butter, and Lisa panicked as the building they used as cover fell apart right in front of them.

Lisa commanded the spider to fly away at high speeds as the beam was behind them. However, she had an idea.

”... I’m going to drop you two off at different locations!” Lisa shouted. ”I don’t know where Kim, Lupe, and the others ar-”

A massive beam of pink light came out of nowhere and hit Morningstar, followed by a UPS truck thrown at him. Both of these attacks knocked him aside and knocked the beam off course. Lisa didn’t notice as she flew down on the ground before she pointed at Morningstar.

”Saskia!” Lisa shouted. ”... Blood rain.”

"Oh I’ve waited so long to use this one again." Saskia rubbed her hands together. "Make the spiders, I’ll make them explode."

Lisa put her hands in the air and focused on the area above Morningstar… and dozens of spiders that had pulsating sacks of blood growing from their body in a grotesque form appeared. They began falling… Saskia then held out their hands. The sacks of blood grew exponentially before exploding outwards in a disturbing shower of blood rain that fell down towards Morningstar. Landing on him, he loudly hissed as the sound of acid sizzling filled the air, even from their distance. Lisa fist-pumped as it solidified and bound him.

She could see Lupe barraging him with electricity and beams of solid light from a distance. However, Morningstar was unable to move… for now. Lisa turned towards the other two, as she said,

”... I think we need to hit him with something big,” Lisa began. ”Like now!”

"What about person big?" Saskia said, looking at Ella, who’s eyes widened.

"Won’t you get stuck?" she asked.

"That's a risk I’m willing to take. Let’s go."

"Alright…" Ella took Saskia’s hands, and she was quickly surrounded by a radiant light, shimmering with all sorts of colours. At the same time two large bone spears pushed out of Saskia’s fists, blood trickling down their arm. They then put their arms up above their head.

"Throw me."

"Alright- Super Prism Spear Gun, let’s go!" Ella nodded, picking up Saskia by the waist and crouching. They got into a position like someone throwing a javelin… except the javelin was a person. With incredibly magical strength they launched Saskia into the air towards Morningstar, sending her shooting at supernatural speeds towards him, spears from her hands going directly for his face. It crashed into him with an explosive boom and sent Morningstar careening toward the ground… he slammed into the ground with a massive boom and lay there for a few moments.

”Oh, wait, um,” Lisa said, as she commanded the spider to take flight. ”We gotta go get them!”

The spider took off towards them… as Morningstar rose awake and tried to grab Saskia with one of his arms… who blocked it with their blood tendril, face visibly paling the more blood they pumped into it. More hands came to crush Saskia, but a blast of fire, light, and electricity appeared next to Saskia as Lupe appeared with a broad smile on her face. She wrapped her arms around Saskia in a bear hug, and then both disappeared. Another explosion of Lupe’s neon colors appeared on top of the spider as she sat on the edge.

“Thank me later, mami!” Lupe shouted as she hopped off and teleported again. Morningstar floated back into the air and raised all four of his hands. Dozens of portals appeared around the group and their friends, unleashing fireballs at them. Lisa, naturally, commanded the spider to dodge.

"There's too many fireballs! Why's it always fire!" Ella yelled as she blasted massive sprays of snow at all angles that she could, protecting her, Lisa and the spider while trying to catch as many as possible.

”... I mean, he is the devil!” Lisa shouted.

Saskia grimaced as she started running back towards the other two, using their tendril to propel themselves around the fireballs… but it didn't work so well when it got caught, blood melting and her face paling further.

”Saskia!” Lisa shouted, before she turned to Ella, ”... I have an ide-”

A fireball incinerated the spider's wing, sending it careening off course and into the ground, skidding into a car. It ultimately launched Lisa off the spider, and she was sent rolling over it.

”... There goes that idea!” Lisa groaned, as she crawled underneath the pick up truck for cover.

“... Oh lawd!” Jordan shouted as she launched several cars from a distance at Morningstar. “Ya’ll wanted to fight him so badly?! What happened to all that spunk ya’ll had a little while ago?!”

Kimberly took Jordan’s side, placed down the Cube, and watched the barrier deploy. She took some potshots at Morningstar with Jacob’s Revolver. The portals around the three disappeared as they appeared around Kimberly and Jordan, as they took his full attention. Lupe appeared next to the car, where Lisa crashed the spider into an explosion of different elements.

“Ay, mamis! Are ya’ll okay?!” Lupe asked.

"I'm fine!" Ella shouted, transforming from the ball of light she'd fallen as, crashing into a car and making a massive dent in it.

"Lost too much blood," Saskia dragged herself over to Lupe, holding out an arm. "Can you heal me?"

“Of course, mami!” Lupe put her hands on Saskia and wrapped them in various pink and purple colors. Their wounds were healed.

Then, they looked back at both Ella and Lisa, frowning. "I think I gotta use the stone."

”... Are you crazy?! We need you to draw the symbol thing!” Lisa added, before triumphantly raising a finger in the air, continuing, ”What we need is a plan!”

“... It’s a little late for that, mami,” Lupe flatly noted.

"... Oh, you're right," Saskia intoned, frowning. They carefully pulled out the stone, holding it by the chain. "Maybe I can use it and then carve it out of me before I got mad?"

"Well, decide quickly!" Ella shouted, looking agitated. She'd already taken a few steps towards where Jordan and Kimberley were being barraged.

”... How about we take turns?!” Lisa suggested. ”You use it a bit, then pass it off to me?”

"Let's do that," Saskia nodded. "You can't tell when it's getting to you- I just really… need to be able to fly."

They grabbed the orange stone with their other hand, grimacing as it fused into their palm. They then bent over as massive wings made out of muscle and bone pushed through their back, expanding metres out to the side. They were like bat wings with bones spreading out, muscle connecting them - and at the end of each was a long, dangerous looking bone spike. From in between the wings, their blood pooled together to form four blood tendrils, while they were also coated in a thick armour.

”Shoot me with ice if I look like I'm losing it," Saskia said to Ella. They spread their wings and with a mighty flap, flew up and towards Morningstar.

"L- Lisa, make some spiders, in case she doesn't get it out in time?" Ella suggested.

Saskia hurtled towards Morningstar, multiple tendrils shooting out to pierce him in various places. He hissed in pain before turning his attention from Kimberly and Jordan to Saskia. Portals opened around the tendrils, and fireballs shot into them to break them. Then, fireballs shot at Saskia.

”... We should help them,” Lisa said as she summoned some spiders; she applied the Hybridization and Enlarge spells to them so they were wrapped in a glowing cocoon. ”... Crack Spiders to distract him?”

"Yes, get out the crack spiders!" Ella clapped her hands together. ”Do you… do you want it on the big ones?!"

”No, I want it on the tinies- OF COURSE, I WANT IT ON THE BIG ONES!” Lisa was astonished at Ella’s smooth brain, but she had an idea.

Saskia's wings wrapped in front of them to tank the fireballs, muscles instantly, painfully repairing. They flew forward, kicking Morningstar and sharp bones spears shooting from their feet on impact, one wing spinning around to try stab him with the sharp ends too. Morningstar stuck one of his hands out to block the hit, only to go through his hand entirely. However, he used two of his hands to clap Saskia. Saskia took the hit, hands slamming into her blood armour and threatening to shatter it. They shot bone spears out of their body - from as many spots as they could, all into his hands.

”Well… how long will it take?!" Ella pointed to the cocoons, getting ansty.

”... As much time as it needs!” Lisa facepalmed. However, her spiders finally burst out of their glowing cocoons. Giant huntsmen spiders with raptorial limbs like praying mantises immediately charged towards Morningstar… Lisa turned to Ella and shouted, ”Now!”

”Let the light protect our friennnddd!" Ella shouted as she imbued the large spiders with pulsating rainbow lights, like massive, flying party lights - blinding and strong. They darted through the battlefield, leaving behind a trail of different lights, up until they made it to Morningstar. They jumped on Morningstar and began hitting him with a barrage of attacks with their claws and mandibles as his hands went from Saskia to getting them off of him… and Jordan began launching a volley of cars that hit him in the head, with Lupe shooting him with electricity from another angle. Saskia went back in on the full offensive - long blades of blood forming on their arms that swiped towards his neck (or at least underneath his head), sharp wing aiming to gouge out as much flesh as possible. Ella raised the ice scepter again to blast him with a focused beam of ice.

The beam hit him in the face, as the spiders were still beating on him with their claws… He was getting ripped to shreds by all of their combined efforts. A massive portal opened underneath Morningstar as he floated downwards.

”Is he trying to escape?!" Ella yelled, waving an arm towards Saskia. ”Saskia- SASKIA, STOP HIM!"

”Fuck- BE READY TO SWAP!" Saskia shouted back. They pulled in their massive wings to dive down underneath Morningstar, blood tendrils reforming to try and physically push him upwards while penetrating (myes:) his feet.

An 18-wheeler was chucked at him, hitting him in the head and knocking him off course and onto the ground. Jordan collapsed moments afterwards.

Saskia pulled back their blood tendrils, before viciously stabbing them into his chest, as if trying to worm their way inside.

”They’re- oh no, it’s happening!" Ella shouted, shooting a beam of ice at Morningstar, managing to catch Saskia’s foot in it.

They paused their stabbing, realisation dawning across their expression. They shattered the ice with a tendril and flew away from Morningstar, towards Lisa and Ella. A bone spear came from their elbow and was snapped off, used to try to gouge out the orange stone. It wasn’t budging. Without time to think or try, Saskia grew a blood sword from the back of their other hand.

Then they cut off their hand.

”Catch!" They threw their hand, orange stone and all, at Lisa. The wound clotted, their face pale as they landed on the ground nearby, large wings still out and wrapping stabilising them against a car.

Lisa did not so much as flinch as she caught Saskia’s hand. She tried to pull it off but she just held it… The Orange Stone pressed against her palm, she summoned tetrablemmid spiders and applied Hybridization and Enlarge to them all. With the help of the Orange Stone, she could create far more enlarged spiders and faster. They burst out of their coccoons in seconds, with the horns and wings of a Hercules Beetle. Lisa turned over her shoulder back to Ella,

”... Crack Spiders! One more time!”

Ella was screaming, head snapping between the severed hand and where it had been. But even through the screaming, she held out her hands towards the spiders, imbuing every single one with prismatic, strength enhancing lights.

”It’s not that bad," Saskia groaned, holding her still attached hand up to her ear.

All the spiders launched at Morningstar, horn first, penetrating his body at lightning speeds. After they dug in, they exploded in a powerful explosion of acid, light, and chitin. Decimating his body as he desperately tried to create another portal, only for them to collapse before he could get through. Lisa grinned as she kept hitting him with more and more spiders…

… it was amazing, but she didn’t want to stop at Morning-

Lisa stuck her arms out, spiders crawled up her arm before they exploded in acid. Her arm hit the ground as acid splashed against her face and dissolved the skin on her cheek and her eyeball. Then she hit the ground, panting. Morningstar was shredded to pieces.

"Ella, grab the stone- but don't touch it!" Saskia said, making their way over to Lisa.

Ella couldn't stop screaming as she ran over, letting the acid eat away at the skin of her feet to bend over and pick up the orange stone with her skirt. She managed to awkwardly get it in a pocket before it touched her.

"Do you think I draw the the symbol… in blood," Saskia gritted out, using their good hand to pull out a sheet of paper. They then looked at Lisa, then themselves. "How are we going to hold hands and sing the song? We only have four hands between us."

”… We gotta use feet!” Lisa shouted from the ground, before raising a foot in the air. ”Start singing!”

"Fighting evil by moonlight!" Ella started, deciding to go for English, running over to Lisa and… holding up her foot to press it against hers like some weird foot hand holding. Except Ella had lost all the skin on her feet. "Winning love by daylight!"

Meanwhile, Saskia started to frantically draw Morningstar getting tortured with a finger and their own blood.

"Never running from a-"

The song was interrupted by the dramatic click and flash of a camera. The flash overtook the entire area, and when it faded, Morningstar was gone. Kimberly was holding the Artistic Integrity, a photo came out. She walked over to them, photo in one hand and her magic camera in the other. Kimberly gave them a warm smile.

She held out the photo.

It contained Morningstar.

“… Here you go.”

Saskia looked up from their nearly finished drawing, depicting Morningstar in his true form with millions of bone spears in him, and just stared at Kimberley. And stared.

Even Ella was at a loss for words. She let go of Lisa's foot and shuffled over, grunting the whole way, to take the photo. "... Thanks."

"Trade," Saskia said, approaching Kimberley too and shoving her drawing towards her.

Kimberly awkwardly laughed.

“… you can keep both,” Kimberly shoved the drawing into Saskia’s hands. She reached into her utility belt and pulled out The Vial. She grabbed Saskia’s arm, and poured the glowing green liquid onto the stub. Quickly it began to heal. “I gave you a hand, though!”

”WHAT ABOUT ME!?” Lisa shouted.

"Hah hah," Saskia intoned.

"I've got you, Lisa!" Ella shouted, casting a beam of healing light on her… though the healing process was sluggish after Ella had used so much energy. The beam healed her eye and arm somewhat, but she could climb back to her feet.

”So like do we have to find Houndy or-”

Before the conversation could proceed further, the three were overtaken by darkness… nothing but that familiar dark void they were introduced to when they were resurrected. And before them was the Hound.

“… Hmph,” The Hound began. “I’m starting to see why you were chosen.”

"Of course we were chosen!" Ella grinned, slamming her hands on her hips.

Saskia rolled their eyes. They reached out and snatched the photo with Morningstar sealed in it, subtly slipping their drawing under it before holding it out to the Hound. "Here. Could you not have given us at least a moment to celebrate?"

”… Or maybe a minute to put my arm back on?” Lisa waved her stub in the air.

The Hound didn’t respond as the photograph floated in the air, surrounded by a wispy black darkness. It floated towards him before the darkness engulfed it and it was gone.

“… You three will have plenty of time to celebrate unless you’re ready to go into your next task,” The Hound said, his mouth not moving.

Though, Lisa remembered something about getting an artifact, but what artifact? And from where? Lisa gently rubbed her arm (or what remained of it),

”What is our next task?” Lisa nervously asked.

Darkness formed in the space between them until it appeared like a sword.

“This is the All-Blade,” The Hound explained, “You three need to get it for me and then you’re free.”

Lisa remained silent, trying to hide her excitement, which faded as she wondered about the catch.

Also.

”… Where is it?”

The Hound was silent for a moment.

“… The Pit.”

"The Pit?!" Ella shouted, throwing her hands in the air. Then, she tilted her head, confused. ”What's the pit?"

”I mean… Britney mentioned the Pit before but I don’t exactly know what it is?” Lisa tilted her head.

“The Pit is a savage, lawless wasteland, a safety net devised by the Artisans to prevent beings from falling out of reality,” The Hound explained. “Overtime, its become infested with some of the most dangerous beings out there.”

The Hound paused before he said,

“… There, you will face a challenge like no other. Face monsters that will test your very limits.” The Hound narrowed his eyes.

"Oh, so you're just sending us to die?" Saskia said, flexing their newly regrown hand.

"No way, we can do it," Ella shouted, folding her arms… kind of awkwardly because of her Channeler and the scepter. She should get some kind of holster for them. She'd have to incorporate that into her magical girl outfit! "But I definitely want that celebration time! We need to say goodbye to our friends!"

“Hmph,” The Hound began as the darkness slowly overtook them. “You have one week to prepare before I come find you…”

The darkness wholly wrapped around them.

“Don’t dilly dally. The threats in the Pit are miles above the Society…”

They were gone.

---

An orb of darkness appeared right where the three were taken from.

“... That was fast,” Jordan chuckled as Kimberly hoisted her by her arm.

“I should have given you all my camera so you can take pictures of The Dark!” Kimberly laughed.

“Mami!” Lupe shouted as she ran over to the three, and hugged Ella. “We did it!”

Ella hugged Lupe back with a wide grin, picking her up and spinning her around.

“Well, technically…” Kimberly trailed.

“Mami, there ain’t no technically! Morningstar is gone! Mirage Springs can go back to normal!” Lupe laughed.

“If by ‘normal’, you mean the city’s going to be flooding with people trying to fill the power vacuum,” Kimberly pushed her glasses up her nose. “Then, yeah, standard, totally standard...”

"Will- would we be able to help stop that?!" Ella asked, folding her arms. She didn’t want more people hurt because they’d beaten one big bad!

"We don’t have time," Saskia rolled their eyes. "Let’s celebrate. It won’t happen today."

“Yeah, mami! Let’s celebrate!” Lupe raised her hands in the air and waved her hips. “Let’s get the booze and then party!”

“Wait, don’t… don’t ya’ll have another mission?” Jordan asked.

"We do, but he gave us a week off!" Ella grinned, hands clapping together and she practically bounced up and down. "We can drink and party all we want!"

"Tonight," Saskia said. "Then we’ll train."

“Alright then, let’s uh…” Kimberly said before she saw sirens approaching in the distance, and her eyes shot open. “Fuck, Jordan, do you have another teleport in you?!”

“God damn it,” Jordan hissed before weakly raising a hand in the air. “Ya’ll trying to work me!”

A coral-pink sphere appeared around them, then it began spinning… until they were all gone.

---

The sun shined through the balcony window.

Lisa groaned… naked and covered in her vomit. She hiccuped as she coughed up more stomach acid. Pushing herself to her feet, she looked around as she said,

”... I’m starting to get the hang of this whole ‘drinking’ thing.”

Saskia, lying in a similar state, just hit Lisa with a blank stare. "No you’re not."

"I am!" Ella said cheerfully. She was sitting on the bed, also naked, but not covered in vomit. She’d had a shower last night! Not to get off her own vomit, but Lisa and Saskia had… thrown up on her. "... you both need to shower. Then we can train!"

Saskia and Lisa groaned.

---

After a shower, the three returned to the abandoned mall, which they had been chased out of before finishing their cool training arc. Lisa pushed the wooden boards aside and held them open for the other four… Lupe was right behind them.

“Aye, mami! Maybe we should have found one of those abandoned gas stations in the middle of nowhere,” Lupe shrugged, “Wait, no, this place is good. It’s nice and private!”

”So, we have a week,” Lisa said. ”Maybe we can finish those spells we were working on before the next ‘mission’.”

"We’ll probably need them," Saskia agreed.

"Yeah, it’ll be easier for us all to stick together if we have matching magical girl outfits!" Ella said cheerfully. She spun around to Lupe. "And you can help us! Oh- oh- you think I could learn those other awesome neon spells you use?"

“Ooooooh, you mean fabulous neon spells?!” Lupe shouted in a singsong as she put her hands on Ella’s shoulders. “Of course! I mean, you can already heal, you can’t teleport, and you can already shoot light! But you can learn how to shock fools with lightning! Burn them, too!”

"Yeah, the fabulous ones!" Ella nodded excitedly. "Shocking and burning people sounds fun! Especially if it’s all colourful, rather than boring… We had this one guy in our coven you had a bunch of lightning weapons, but they were all boring! Nothing like your fabulous colourful ones."

“A guy?! In a ’Coven’?!” Lupe dramatically said, putting a hand to her chest before laughing. “What was he? A warlock? Ah, I’m getting off-topic here!”



Lupe stuck her palm up and created a massive torch of a pink fire, and Lupe smiled at Ella, as she said, “To do this, mami - it’s the same as turning into a ball! You just gotta pull that energy inside of you, think of heat, and channel it! Project it outwards like this!”

Lupe stuck her hand out and let off a fireball that incinerated a piece of rubble.

“See, mami? Easy peasy! Now you try it!”

Ella nodded. She held her hand out in front of her and stared at it. The same as turning into a ball… it was like her light spells too, just with fire. She concentrated hard and at first, a ball of light began to form… but then she started to think of heat and burning, and the light became a medium sized, pastel pink flame in her hand. She managed to maintain it.

“Good job, mami!” Lupe said. “Adjusting your energy flow can make it grow or shrink!”

"Alright! I want to make a large one like you did!" Ella took a few steps back so she was further away from Lisa and Saskia especially, turning her hand so her palm faced away from it. She then tried to adjust her energy flow to create a large fireball… and it turned into a massive, almost uncontrollable spurt of fire. She clenched her fingers together to stop it.

"I- I didn’t mean to make it that big!" Ella shook her hand, which felt slightly burned.

“Hahahaha, mami!” Lupe laughed, putting a hand on her hip. “You’ve nailed it! You just need to do that around the bad guys!”

"Yeah, I’ll burn them all down!" Ella grinned, before creating another, smaller flame. She experimented a bit in changing its size, before throwing it at a piece of rubble, laughing as it exploded.

”Heeeeeeey, don’t burn this place down! We still need to train!” Lisa shouted.

“Alright, neeeeeeeext up, is electricity, mami!” Lupe laughed.

Lupe balled her hand into a fist, which surrounded itself with neon-pink electricity and loudly popped and cracked in the air. Then Lupe explained, “Now, this one works similarly to the other spells; it’s all about flows, energy, and visualization! Just think of your body as a river of energy, and you just gotta visualize it flowing to your hand!”

"Ooo, okay! A river of energy…" Ella copied Lupe, clenching her hand into a fist. Once again she visualised the normal light… and the colours she’d use to enhance her fists. The energy flowing down, dancing across her arm - but she wanted it to be electrifying! And fabulous!

Lilac sparks came off her wrists and fists, before forming proper electricity all around it. Some of the sparks strayed, jumping off her hand and in all directions.

"Oh, I bet I could punch men- evil people even better with this!"

“You are learning electricity, and the best you can do is punch a motherfucker? Really?” Lupe said. “You can do the same thing with a taser!”

Lupe laughed, covering her mouth. “Just project that energy outwards, mami! Like, same thing I did with the fireball!”

"I like using my fists!" Ella shouted.

”... We know.” Lisa added.

But Ella still tried what Lupe suggested… because shooting electricity was also a thing a magical girl would do! Especially when it was this colour. She held out her hand, electric bolts shooting out from it and slamming into the wall… creating a new hole in it. "Now I’m like… a super magical girl! I got light, fire, electricity and ice!"

“And you can look fabulous while doing it!” Lupe shouted.

”How many more ways are you going to teach her to project her inner-homosexual?” Lisa shrugged as she spoke very bored. ”How about we hurry up and train before the cops come?!”

Then they engaged in an epic training session where they finished their spells!

With their new spells complete, they triumphantly returned to the hotel. They weren’t even chased by the police this time!

"I want the first shower!" Ella announced as they got to their room, waiting for Lisa to open it (because for some reason she was trusted with the only card).

"We could just shower together," Saskia pointed out.

"Oh yeah," Ella nodded. Saskia was right, that made things easier. "I wonder if there’ll be showers in the pit… oh, maybe I should get my hair rebraided, so they’ll last?!"

”... I mean showers don't come to mind when I hear ‘savage’, ‘lawless’ wasteland full of monsters,” Lisa snorted. ”We better pack up on the baby wipes!”

"Or we just accept it," Saskia shrugged. "Get used to the dirt starting now."

"No way!" Ella shouted. She was definitely taking a shower… she’d shower everyday to make the most of it. No, two times a day. "I wonder if we can develop like… self cleaning spells? That’d be green lux, right!"

Lisa shrugged.

”Look! Somebody better get in the shower before I do!” Lisa shouted.

"I’m going!" Ella shouted, practically sprinting into the bathroom. She had to make the most of the time they still had a shower! So she had a nice long one, singing through various magical girl songs, before finally coming out with only a towel on.

"Shower’s free- oh, do you think we should call Greta, update her on everything?!"

”Oh, yes! Since you all talked with her without me!” Lisa shouted, as she ran over to the (sticky) laptop. She grabbed it, hopped onto the bed, and put it in her lap. Lisa found Greta on Facebook, then initiated a videocall…

Greta answered, wearing a white lab coat, she was in the process of buttoning it up as she said,

“Greetings, it's great to hear from you-”

”... GRETCHEN!”

Lisa screamed.

”It's been so long! How are you doing?!” Lisa shouted.

“... You don't have to scream,” Greta shook her head as she finished buttoning up her lab coat. She sat down, then adjusted her glasses, “What is going on? I would love an update.” Greta leaned forward, steepling her fingers.

"Gretaaa, I missed you!" Ella shouted, jumping onto the bed beside Lisa and leaning forward towards the camera… wearing only her towel. "We beat Morningstar! Now we’re free for a week, and only one more thing until we’re free forever!"

"Until we die again," Saskia intoned.

“Well,” Greta shrugged. “What is it?”

”We’re going to the Pit for the All-Blade!” Lisa shouted, throwing her hands in the air.

“... YOU’RE WHAT?!”

Greta screamed at the top of her lungs.

”The Hound wants us to go to the Pit for the All-Blade!” Lisa repeated.

“... IS THE HOUND INSANE?!” Greta shouted.

"Well, clearly," Saskia appeared on Lisa's other side. "He brought us back."

”Is it that bad?" Ella asked, tilting her head. "The hound did say if would be a challenge like no other but… I don't really feel like I've gone through many challenges!"

"You've literally died before."

“Yes! It is that bad!” Greta shouted, putting both hands on her desk. “It’s a hellish wasteland! It’s…”

Greta trailed off, before she said in a neutral tone.

“… The Hound wants the All-Blade?”

”Yes.”

“… Ah, I see his play,” Greta said.

Saskia narrowed their eyes. ”Are you going to explain? They might not understand, but I will."

Greta pushed her glasses up her nose. “… Essentially, it is theorized that the All-Blade can kill the Hound and his ilk: the Ancients.” Greta leaned back in her chair and steepled her fingers. “Basically, he’s confirming that it’s not a theory: it can kill him.”

"Oh, so we could kill him with it?!" Ella gasped.

"What happens if the hound is killed?" Saskia asked, frowning. "Would something else replace him? Nobody does?"

“That is a mystery to me,” Greta flatly said. “But let’s not find out, but that’s not the only thing…”

Greta awkwardly shuffled in her chair before she said, “… it’s also being used to pin down The Rampage.”

”I don't know what that is but it doesn't sound good!" Ella said. With a name like the Rampage… it probably was some massive thing that killed loads of people! Especially if it was pinned down by a super powerful blade.

”So… to get it we have to let something horrible out. Or beat that."

“You will be letting something horrible out,” Greta said. “It’s a being as strong as Stiggy, but probably worse.”

She sighed.

“… actually, why did I tell you? I’m going to tell you to get the All-Blade anyway.” Greta rolled her eyes. “Some idiot is bound to let it out.”

"Would we be able to use the All-Blade to beat it?" Saskia asked. ”But you're right. If not us, it'll be someone else."

"Yeah, we're really strong now!"

“Look,” Greta sighed. “Whether or not you beat him, just come back.” She gently placed her fingertips against the laptop screen.

"We will! Don't worry, I'll make sure we all come back… I won't let anything in the pit hurt any of us!" Ella said, leaning over to grab both Lisa and Saskia's hands, raising them to the camera.

"I don't plan to die trying to be a hero," Saskia said.

“You say that,” Greta laughed before her expression flattened, and she sighed. “... Look, I’m going to give you three some of my potions… a lot of my potions. You’re in Mirage Springs, right?”

"Yup! We're gonna be here for another week! We can even send you our address… well… I don't know actually, can you get a delivery to a Holiday Inn?" Ella let go of her friend's hands to scratch her chin. "If you're sending us potions we'll need something to carry them in… oh, we should stock up on stuff anyway, get some proper bags and stuff! I want to buy a holster or something for my scepter too!"

“Get some bags, some good ones, try to go for some military-style tactical backpacks,” Greta said. “They are durable and have plenty of compartments for organization… Now it sounds like I’m trying to sell it to you.” She laughed.

“I’m going to give you some healing potions primarily… with some abstraction boosting and smokescreen - though, you all have healing abilities if I recall correctly?” Greta asked. “Eh, it doesn’t matter, now does it?”

"I don't," Saskia said.

Ella had pulled out her phone to write down Greta's suggestion in a note - because it sounded good. They'd want loads of pockets and compartments, then they could stock up on a whole bunch of food and stuff! "Thanks, Greta! Me and Lisa can heal but the more healing the better! Especially when these two remove their hands themselves sometimes!"

Greta looked at Lisa.

Lisa awkwardly smiled.

Greta facepalmed.

“… Oh lord.”

---

The three met out on a clearing the following day outside an abandoned Mirage Springs gas station. At least, that was where Greta said to meet, and it wasn’t long before a yellow portal appeared. Brianna stepped through the portal first, and Lisa immediately bounced on her and hugged her.

”… Brianna!”

"Briannaaaa!" Ella jumped in with the hug. Saskia just nodded.

Greta walked out with a crowbar in hand, and stepped to the side. Three, horrible smelling, undead minions, holding wooden crates walked out - and after them, Nadine stood in the entryway of the portal.

The minions placed them down, Greta popped one open with the crowbar, revealing the glow of Greta’s potions.

“As promised for your journey,” Greta adjusted her glasses. “I have supplied you all with plenty of potions.”



Ella yelled, running and jumping at Greta. She caught her in a hug before she could escape, lifting Greta off the ground with a laugh. "It’s- it’s so nice to see you!"

"Thanks," Saskia intoned, looking at the potions. "These’ll be really helpful."

"Yeah, thank you, Greta!" Ella still hadn’t put her down, hug practically bone crushing.

“… Put me down! My… lungs… are touching my ribcage!” Greta gasped out the words. “… Please.”

"Oh, sorry, I was just so excited!" Ella put Greta down, taking a step back. "It’s been so long! Well, not that long for us but… too long!"

Saskia had moved around towards the box, and looked at Greta from behind. "Your ass is still nice too."

Greta looked at Saskia.

“... Thank you, Saskia,” Greta sighed.

“What?” Brianna said. “No love for me?” She laughed.

Greta adjusted her glasses as she turned to the group and put her hands together behind her back, “I primarily gave you all healing potions, but I also gifted you all my abstraction boosting potions and some smoke-screen potions. You all know how my abstraction-boosting potions work; the more you drink, the stronger your Abstraction gets for some time - use them wisely, however. To use the smoke-screen potion, just throw it on the ground, and it’ll explode into a cloud of smoke. It should throw off beings with even the strongest sense of smell.” As she spoke, she paced back and forth in front of the group before she stopped and dramatically adjusted her glasses.

“... Understood?” Greta asked.

”Yes!” Lisa shouted.

“Now, I know that going into the Pit is a… task,” Greta sighed. “But, try to stay safe, stick together.”

“... I was in the Pit for a bit,” Brianna noted. “It’s no joke.”

"We’ll hold hands the whole time, don’t worry! And we’ll use the potions well! I can boost my own abstraction better now so… we’ll not waste them!" Ella grinned, before turning to Brianna. "Really, what's it like?!"

“Horrible,” Brianna flatly said. “It’s full of monsters. You will rarely get a second to relax, or any rest..”

"Any other advice," Saskia added.

“Stay on your toes,” Brianna said. “Even if it’s the slightest rustle of leaves, more often than not, it’s a monster - and it’s not just monsters out there. There are people there, driven mad by the Pit, and will do unspeakable things to you if they get the chance.”

She sighed.

“Trust me,” Brianna began. “Dying is a mercy there.”

"So fight and kill everything we see? I have no problem doing that," Saskia nodded.

Ella frowned. She wasn’t so sure. She could kill someone quite easily if they came for Saskia or Lisa, but before they did? She wasn’t sure she could make the first move… but she would if she had to! "We’ll stay on our toes! We’ve never really relaxed, have we, girls?! Went from the Stygian Snake to being hunted by Morningstar… we’ll go there, do what we have to, and come back alive!"

”We haven’t!” Lisa shouted, throwing a fist into the air. ”Though, we did plenty of relaxing the other day if you know what I mean.” Lisa wagged her eyebrows.

"Oh yeah, it was good," Saskia added.

Greta sighed, then facepalmed.

“... Thank you for sharing.”

Greta put her hand behind her back.

“It’s not my place to tell you what to do…” Greta sighed again, “... But please try not to let the Rampage, rampage, through the All-Verse yet again.”

"I won’t! As a magical girl, I could never let something so dangerous out!" Ella shouted, slamming her fists into her hips.

"It would be a pain if we came back out to the world destroyed," Saskia agreed.

“Oh, and that’s another thing,” Brianna said. “Time works… weird there. The whole place is weird, but it may feel like a week or two, and you have been gone for months!” Brianna threw her arms in the air.

“It also, occasionally, completely changes layout, so...”

"The time thing doesn’t concern me, we were dead ten years," Saskia shrugged. "And it felt like nothing."

"If it completely changes layout… how are we going to find the All-Blade!" Ella shouted. That would just make things even harder! "Wait, how will we find it without a map?!"

“… That, I don’t have the answer to,” Brianna said. “It took me ages to find my objective.”

“I mean,” Greta said. “I haven’t seen The Rampage in person but it’s stated to be large so finding it shouldn’t be much of a challenge.”

"Right, just look for the massive monster in a place filled with monsters," Saskia said.

"Maybe we can ask someone when we get there!" Ella threw her hands up.

Saskia face palmed. "... If they've not gone mad, sure."

”I don’t know about you two,” Lisa began in a chipperly tone. ”I’m killing anything that moves! So you better ask quick!”

“Now she has the right idea,” Greta laughed.

"You know how fast I can talk!" Ella replied. She understood but… surely there might be some sane people in there.

"It'll have to be real fast, cause I won't hold back either," Saskia said. She then pulled something out of her pocket and held it out to Greta. "I drew this for you."

It was a folded up bit of paper which when opened revealed… a surprisingly nice drawing of Greta with the three magical girls, looking all cool and ready to fight. It was really sweet if you ignored the blood covered dead bodies in the background. Greta pulled it out, stared at it, and smiled.

“… You forgot Wilson,” Greta laughed as she held it in both hands. “I’m going to keep this. Hang this up on my wall and hope I survive the coming storm..” Greta said as she folded it up and stuck it in her labcoat.

“… you three stay alive. Please.”

"We will! You better survive too!" Ella grinned… before jumping forward to hug Greta again. A less bone crushing one this time. She sniffed, holding back tears… it was so difficult seeing someone again and then having to leave them! "We'll see you when we're back."

“Ah! Nadine! Brianna! Help!” Greta wheezed.

"Let's all stay alive," Saskia nodded, shoving a hand into their pocket.

“Put her down,” Brianna said,

”Then we can have a super fun party when we get back!"

”… Why are you all saying that like our survival is a question?!” Lisa shouted, laughing.

Ella put Greta down… but then went in to hug Brianna, lifting her into the air. "You too, Brianna! We’ll see you when you’re back."

“Ye-yeah!” Brianna said, face in pure horror.

She put Brianna down and grinned, looking at Lisa, and nodding. "Lisa’s right! There’s no way we won’t survive! Right, girls?"

"Right." Saskia nodded.

”Left,” Lisa nodded.

Brianna walked towards the portal, followed by Greta.

“... Glad I wasn’t one of ya’ll,” Nadine said with a catty grin.

“Shut up, Nadine,” Greta rolled her eyes as she walked through, and gave them a wave goodbye.

The portal closed.

Ella was sad to see them go… she couldn't quite stop the tears from streaming down her face even though she grinned at both Lisa and Saskia. "Let's get these back to our room… then let's go shopping!"

”... Yay!”

Lisa shouted, throwing her hands into the air.

The alarm rang.

It was that day.

Lisa sat up, as she looked around.

”... Aw shit! Grab everything!” Lisa shouted. ”Grab the bags! Grab the food! Grab the dildos!”

"Which dildos?!" Ella shouted back, jumping out of bed and pulling open the drawer beside it… filled with a far too large assortment considering how little time they'd been alive. Not waiting for an answer, Ella stuffed all of them into her massive, military-style tactical backpack.

”Yes!” Lisa shouted.

"Get dressed first," Saskia groaned, dragging themselves out of bed. "I packed everything important yesterday.”

"But not the dildos!"

"Yes, everything important." Saskia rolled their eyes. They quickly got dressed in some cargo pants, pockets filled with packets of trail mix and energy bars along with multiple knives. Combat boots, tank top, hoodie and a thick denim jacket - who knew how cold it got in the pit. Then they grabbed their bag, which was pretty heavy.

"Why do I have the biggest bag?!" Ella complained as she got dressed - wide legged, bright pink pants (after Saskia had insisted a skirt would be impractical), pastel pink crop top thankfully covered up by a pastel rainbow jumper. She was panickedly stuffing a shit ton of bright coloured jewellery and accessories into her bag, on top of the dildos.

"Because you're the tallest, the strongest, and," Saskia rolled their eyes again to punctuate their point, pulling her own tactical backpack (which was still pretty large) into their back. "The only one that insisted on bringing a shit ton of clothes to change into."

"I use colours for my spells!"

”… Damn it, you’re going to get us eaten by a monster!” Lisa shouted as she threw on her outfit; for one, it wasn’t a dress. It was a black sweater, cargo pants, and brand-new combat boots. She threw her comically large backpack on and pondered out loud, ”Like, will the Hound come get us-”

The three were wrapped in shadows and pulled back into the dark expanse known as… the Dark. Naturally, the Hound was across from them.

“... Are you ready?” He asked.

"Will you let us go back if we aren’t?" Saskia asked, folding their arms and staring at him.

“No,” The Hound answered, “You complete the mission or you don't.”

"So why even ask?" Saskia rolled her eyes.

“Formality,”

"We are ready… look!" Ella turned around to show off her massive bag, then gestured to the little hip holster she’d gotten for her channeler along with the one slung over her shoulder to hold the ice scepter. "We won’t fail you!"

“... You have no choice but to succeed,” As The Hound spoke, a glow-red crack formed in the ground between them. The crack pulsed with red light, as screams, roaring, and other sounds could be faintly heard.

“... Dive.” The Hound commanded.

Lisa looked at Saskia and then Ella and extended a hand to both… Ella took her hand immediately, squeezing it. Saskia grimaced at the crack before taking Lisa’s hand, too.

"Let’s go." Then they stepped forward into the crack. Lisa was right behind them as they all fell into the crack…

It was nothing but red as they seemingly fell into eternity…

That red sky…

Lisa was on the ground; she could feel leaves and sticks underneath her body as she pushed herself to her feet - which was difficult due to the added weight of her backpack. Once she was at full height, she looked to the left and right and confirmed that Saskia and Ella were there - they were there. Lisa sighed out of relief but also noted that she was in some kind of forest; there were trees and leaves, and then the gentle breeze would accompany the fall. This place smelled atrocious, like a rotting body in an oven at the highest temperature for days. However, some distance away, there was that rotting corpse of a man who had to have died hours ago - that was probably it. Lisa winced, staring at it for a moment before shaking her head.

”Let’s, um, let’s… just get a mov-”

Then it hit them… a titanic beast in the shape of a rotting bear. It swiped its claw at the ground, slashing Lisa across the chest before she could even react. She screamed as she hit the ground; she could feel her blood coat her outfit…



Ella screamed. She ran forward, wrapping her arms around Lisa and pulling her back away from the bear. Saskia jumped in front of the two of them, blood armour coating their bodies and blood swords slicing them. The bear roared, recoiling, before it came with a full-force swipe at Saskia.

”Holy… shit,” Lisa coughed up blood; her vision was getting blurry. ”... Let go… I… have to… cocoon…” Spider-webs began to wrap around her to form a cocoon.

Ella let go of Lisa, and Saskia blocked the bear's claws with their swords, gritting their teeth.

"Ella!" Saskia turned her head back, struggling to hold the bear off.

Ella spun, transformed into her magical girl outfit, and jumped in with a rainbow kick towards the bear’s head. A bone breaking kick that sent blood, teeth, and spit in all directions. The bear stumbled before it launched itself at Ella with both claws out. Ella screamed, turning into a ball of burning hot light as it collided with her, lightning shooting out of her towards it. Saskia spun around, bringing an elbow down on it and shooting a bone spear through her elbow when it hit. It roared, recoiling in pain, it thrashed around, trying to get Saskia off. Saskia took a claw to the face, but ignored it, other elbow slamming into it with a bone spear. Ella turned back into herself and kicked it as hard as she could in the head.

It fell over and hit the ground with a thud, it's tongue hanging out of its mouth. At this point, Lisa burst out of the cocoon, fist first, and then flipped it off. Lisa tore her way out of the cocoon, and panted, hands on her knees.

”... Holy, shit!”

Saskia grimaced, blood pulled back into the wound in her hand and the one on her face clotting. Ella raised her channeler, bathing Saskia in a healing light so that the cut on their face healed.

"Let’s get out of here before something else attacks us," Saskia said.

Ella nodded in agreement, before holding out her hands. "Let’s hold hands so we can’t get separated!"

”I have a better idea,” Lisa said, as she summoned a tetrablemmid spider and grew to the size they could all ride on. No wings.

”... I don't think flying would be wise right now,” Lisa said as she climbed on. ”Hop on.”

"Right, the flying’s too noisy," Saskia nodded. She got on behind Lisa, and then Ella got on behind her.

"Where do we go?" Ella asked, looking around with a hand on her forehead. "I don’t see a big monster anywhere!"

”Let’s just get out of the forest,” Lisa said as the spider began walking forward. Just as a precaution, extra eyes began growing on Lisa’s forehead and cheeks to give her a wider field of view and to prevent anymore ambushes.

This forest was odd. There was something wrong with this place, one that gave Lisa a lingering feeling of dread. She kept on her toes-

The bushes next to them rustled.

Ella let out a strangled scream, cut off by Saskia’s hand covering her mouth. Then Ella held out her hand, bright pink flames coming out of it and immediately torching the bushes.

There was nothing.

Lisa tilted her head.

”… It might be invisible!”
"Or resistant to fire," Saskia suggested.

Ella held out her other hand in front of her. Electricity crackled around it before she also sent a continuous stream of lightning into the bushes. It caught fire, but there was still nothing.

”… Let’s get out of here.” Lisa said as she commanded the spider to go forward. Maybe it was just the wind.

Lisa blinked.

---

---

Then she was there.

“… Greetings!”

Ella screamed again, and blasted her with both fire and lightning. The strange smiling woman didn’t flinch.

“… I am the Mother Will,” She said. “And I’ve come to introduce you all to your new home. A place of reflection. Forgiveness. And enlightenment.”

Ella continued screaming, but changed from blasting her with fire and lightning to blasting her with snow and light. Which did nothing.

"That clearly isn’t going to work." Saskia rolled her eyes. They then looked at Mother Will. "I’ve never heard of you. What do you mean by home?"

“… What else could it mean?” The Mother Will asked. “You belong here.”

"Righhht, sure…" Saskia intoned.

"No way!" Ella shouted, finally stopping shooting stuff at Mother Will. "This place isn’t very Magical Girl at all!"

“Everyone here has come for one reason or another,” The Mother Will said. “Accidentally or not, they find their true purpose here. They accept the Pit. They love the Pit.”

"Right. It sure does seem lovely," Saskia said monotonously.

"... well if it helps us find our true purpose, can you tell us where the Rampage is?" Ella asked.

“I don’t need to tell you,” The Mother Will replied. “Because, whatever you need…”

She dramatically paused.

“… The Pit provides.”

Ella tilted her head, looking confused. "Well…. Thanks, I guess?"

"I’m needing it really hard right now," Saskia muttered. "Hopefully it’ll appear soon."

The Mother Will sunk into the ground, and vanished.

”… Well, that was weird,” Lisa shrugged.

"Incredibly," Saskia frowned.

"She said the Pit provide whatever we need, but it’s not providing anything I need right now! Like, the All-Blade, or… something to watch anime on!" Ella shouted, as if they were both equally important.

”… Let’s just get out of here before something else weird happens,” Lisa said as she commanded the spider to proceed forward. It wasn’t long until they made it to the edge of the forest, and before them was breathtaking.

For all the wrong reasons.

Far as the eye could see it was a cracked wasteland, with storms and dust clouds ravaging the lands.

"That looks worse than the forest," Saskia commented.

"At least we’ll be able to see anything before it attacks us!" Ella said, looking around with narrowed eyes. "But I don’t see any massive monsters pinned by a sword!"

”… Just where did the Hound send us?” Lisa asked Saskia.

"The Pit," Saskia replied, expression completely deadpan. "I know as much as you do. Maybe if we keep going around the edge of the forest we’ll find something?"

Lisa sighed, as she commanded the spider to climb down the edge and justified her decision with,
”… If it’s anywhere it’d be there.”

"Nothing’s in there," Saskia said bluntly.

"I think Lisa’s right! This is exactly where I’d pin something called the Rampage!" Ella said.

”I bet if we go out through the other side there’s just going to be more wasteland - but hold on,” Lisa said, as she casted Snare on Ella and Saskia to keep them from falling off. It was a steep cliff, just a drop, so there was only death if one well. Though, there are other stone spires closer to the bottom.

Lisa was nervous, gritting her teeth the closer down they got. They were only here for a couple minutes and Lisa already hated it here. She almost died, and had to deal with the Mother Wi-

The spider’s leg slipped, and Lisa shouted as they began to descend. In a moment of quick thinking, Lisa whipped her head around and casted Snare. This created a massive web that caught the spider… Left it dangling, however.

”... This won’t last long,” Lisa began, ”Any ideas?”

"Just make it last a minute," Saskia grimace. They managed to shift to not have Ella right behind them, back erupting open as wings made of raw muscle and bone pushed out. They continued to grow until the spread six metres across, stretching out. "I can get us down."

They wrapped one arm around Lisa, and formed a blood tendril to wrap around Ella. Their wings spread out, gently flapping. "Get rid of the webs."

Lisa grabbed on, and before she got rid of the webs, she shrunk her spider back down to a standard size, and it climbed up onto her boot. The webs disappeared, and Lisa let out a sigh of relief.

Saskia managed to get them down to the cliff, avoiding the stone spires before landing. They grimaced, letting go of both Lisa and Ella, shaking their arms out. "I’ll keep these out in case I need to fly us anywhere again."

"Good thing we trained before leaving!" Ella said, narrowing her eyes and looking around. "Which way now?"

”Let’s pick a direction and keep moving until we find something,” Lisa shrugged… it wasn’t a plan, but what other option did they have. The spider on Lisa’s boot crawled down and was wrapped in a glowing cocoon that grew increasingly over time. This time, Lisa gave it dragonfly wings just in case they needed to fly. Lisa looked around; the ground was jagged and crooked, forming a mess of different cliffs, valleys, and depressions as far as the eye could see. Maybe flying over it would be the best ide-

On top of a cliff, Lisa saw a strange white creature hopping from sight. It roared, and more of them appeared from out of sight. They looked at each other, screamed, and slowly approached the three.

"I don’t like the look of those," Saskia murmured, nails digging into their palm to reopen the wound there. Blood trickled over them, forming armour.

"I’ll blast them!" Ella didn’t even wait, coating both hands in sparking electricity before shooting it at as many white creatures as she could.

”Maybe they want to run a train on us,” Lisa shrugged as she began summoning spiders… more tetrablemmids were applied with the Enlarge spell, and she hybridized them with Hercules beetles. Lisa assisted, however, by raising both of her hands into the air with a sharp movement and wrapped many of these creatures in webs.

Many of these creatures were electrocuted by Ella. However, a few looked at her, and then they hopped in front of the others. Forming a meat shield with their bodies as they advanced, many of the other ones stayed behind to cut their brethren free.

Ella grimaced, swapping tactics. She held out her hand, a massive fireball forming in it before she threw it at the meatshield. Saskia formed a long, thin blood whip in their hand and tried to pick off any that got within range. They were whipped across the face, drawing blood; however, they kept proceeding and began to form a circle around the three.

”... We just need to hold them off until this spider is ready!” Lisa shouted as she took a few steps back into the spider that had the wings. She sighed again and raised her hands, trapping several in the web - as she commanded her spiders to go to town on the three - they began biting, scratching, and forcing their way into any orifice.

They launched themselves into the air at the three with a vicious roar.

Ella grabbed the Ice Scepter with one hand, the other flung out in front of her to shoot a massive blast of ice. She spun around on her heel to try and get all of them.

Saskia’s wings moved up, covering the three of them from above, forming their own meat shield from attacks - even though every hit to it hurt them.

The spider burst out of its cocoon, with dragonfly wings - and was immediately pounced by a horde of these creatures. They clawed and bit - but the spider’s exoskeleton proved steady. Lisa waved her hand and the spiders on the creatures exploded and dissolved them somewhat in acid.

”Get them off the spider!” Lisa shouted, as she cast chitinous spear and impaled one of them with all five. They retracted, and the creature dropped dead.

"On it!" Ella shouted. Pulled out the Ice Scepter, using it to shoot focused beams of ice at creature after creature while avoiding getting the spider. Saskia formed their blood tendril, grabbing them with it and trying to throw them off. Lisa assisted by using Chitinous-Spear to stab them, flex, and fling them off.

Spider legs erupted from Lisa’s back as she launched herself onto the spider’s back. While everyone was getting on, she was holding off these creatures with spears and webs. Saskia easily got on using her own wings, which they then began to pull into their back. Ella had to put the Ice Scepter back in the holster she had for it… Kicking and punching creatures out of her way to climb onto the spider's back.

"Go, go, go!"

The spider took flight, and darted through the skies. The leftover spiders - that weren’t killed by the creatures - detonated and sprayed acid and chitin fragments in all directions.

Lisa sighed, as she saw some of them making chase before hiding.

”... Whew,” Lisa began, ”That was a close one.”

"This place sucks!" Ella wailed, hugging Saskia and leaning forward into them. "I’m so glad Lupe taught me those spells… I miss her!"

"I have a feeling it's only going to get worse," Saskia frowned.

Lisa smiled - it faltered for a moment, but she forced it.

”... We are more than up to the task.”

The buzzing of the spider’s wings couldn’t drown out the roars and screaming in the distance, even though Lisa tried to make it buzz louder. The trip was silent… as everyone was on the lookout. Wasteland as far as the eye could see… until they saw it on the horizon.

A city.

Or at least something that looked like one. Lisa smiled, pointed forward and went,

”Let’s take a break there! That place looks s-”

However, high up as they were, they couldn’t avoid noticing the ground shaking beneath them… as something colossal burst out in front of them. Lisa screamed as she suddenly swerved left, spinning out of control, and then they crashed against the barren stone ground of the wasteland. They came to a skidding stop before they could go off a cliff, but Lisa’s spider mount was done for. Lisa looked up at the colossal entity - dust and debris clouded the creature’s complete form, but it was enormous, the size of a skyscraper.

However, the dust settled, and it was a skeleton. Its head touched the skies, and Lisa looked on in horror.

”Maybe it didn’t notice us…” Lisa awkwardly laughed.

It took a step towards them… it was prolonged and deliberate, but it covered so much distance. With this one step, it appeared as if it was about to fall onto itself, but it held steady. The ground shook; it paused momentarily before raising its other foot.

"We can’t fight that," Saskia hissed.

"Let’s run!" Ella shouted, taking one look at the thing and knowing she didn’t want to fight it. How could they even take on something that size?! "It’s slow enough that we can probably… avoid it!"

Ella grabbed Lisa and Saskia’s hands, dragging them to run away from it as fast as she could, in the vague direction of the city they’d seen.

The ground violently shook with every step the giant skeleton took; while each step was slow, it covered enough distance to remain in close pursuit. Lisa peered over her shoulder.

”... We’re not getting away from that!” Lisa shouted. ”I have an idea! You’re not going to like it!”

The ground shook one more time.

”... Everyone! Pick a direction, and run! Split up! It’s the only way!”

"No, I don’t like it!" Ella shouted. "Before we do-"

Ella channeled her magic through their held hands. "Magical Girl Aurora, squad transform!"

Lisa and Saskia’s clothes changed to magical girl outfits just like Ella’s, except themed after their magic. Both were dark coloured, with Lisa’s covered in spider web designs and other spider theming, and Saskia’s with blood and skeleton designs. It would protect them better than their normal clothes.

"Ok… Go!" Ella let go of the two of their hands, spinning around and setting off to her right. Saskia ran in the opposite direction. While Lisa continued to run straight ahead… the skeleton turned to its left toward Saskia. Lisa stopped, turned on her heel, and slowly raised a hand into the air… and trillions of spiders crawled up the skeleton’s leg. The sheer impact of its steps killed a majority of them; however, plenty of spiders were still attached to its leg.

”Saskia!” Lisa shouted. ”Get ready to dodge!”

All of the spiders became miniature acidic bombs that dissolved the Giant Skeleton’s bones… it took another step on this leg, and it snapped with the most sickening sound. It fell forward… towards Saskia.

"Shit," Saskia ran as quickly as they could, blood tendril forming on their back and throwing themselves into the air. They launched to the of the Giant Skeleton’s trajectory, falling face first into the ground with a horrible crack.

But it didn’t fall on them and squash them, at least.

"SASKIAAA!" Ella wailed, turning around and running over to them. She started using her healing spell as Saskia rolled over with a groan, holding up a hand.

"Not a big deal, just some broken bones, I can heal them. It’s probably still alive."

"Oh yeah!" Ella turned around, lobbing a massive fireball at the Skeleton, hoping that it’d be hot enough to… burn the bones to ashes or something. It just put ashes on it.

Lisa sighed, grabbing her arm, as she nearly stumbled forward.

”... What are you two doing!?” Lisa shouted. ”Run!”
The Skeleton raised a hand that gently drifted towards the three…

"My bones are broken."

"Ok, ok, ahhh, run!" Ella bent down, lifted Saskia into her arms, and started running like her life depended on it (it did). However, they managed to escape the reach of the giant skeleton… which dug its fingers into the ground and dragged itself forward. The ground violently shook from this act, as if the three were in the middle of an earthquake. Lisa was still panting and fell over onto her back. However, Lisa managed to use her little strength to create a flying spider, and she was panting the entire time. It was in a glowing cocoon… she just needed some more time.

"Lisa!" Ella shouted. She was the only one still standing… She put Saskia down beside Lisa and stood in between them and the skeleton. One hand on the Ice Scepter, the one pushed forward and a massive blast of freezing snow shot out of it. Hopefully it would… freeze it or something. She didn’t know how to deal with a skeleton! (Ella needs to git gud)

The skeleton's bones were frozen by the ice blast… which slowed it down significantly. However, it was still going.

"Really?!" Ella wailed. She didn’t want to get any closer to it… she pulled bright blues from the ton of bracelets along her arms, forming a ball of colour in her palm before shooting it - fast enough and hard enough it would be like getting smashed by a brick. Which might as well have been a cotton ball to a giant skeleton - though it shattered the ice around its face.

Thankfully, the spider managed to force its way out of its cocoon - not at max size, but big enough for all of them to pile on top of to escape. The spider flew over to them, and Lisa smiled as she found the strength to push herself to her feet - with some spider legs, she managed to force herself on top of the spider…. Ella grabbed Saskia and climbed onto the spider with them in one arm, shooting another blast of ice behind her at the skeleton.

"Go, go, go!"

The spider jetted off high into the sky, far away from the skeleton… and they were against the red sky of the Pit as they flew towards the city.

---

After a little while, they managed to make it to the city… which, as expected, was a destroyed mockery of a significant metropolitan area. The streets were cracked, buildings were knocked over, tunnels had collapsed, and there was just nothing. No life, just chaos and ruin. The spider landed on top of a several-story office building - and Lisa tumbled over, falling off. She panted on the ground as she said,
”... We gotta take a break,” Lisa said, panting. ”I can’t go any further.”

"Agreed," Saskia groaned. They were walking now, but there were still the telltale, horrible sounds of their bones snapping back together. "Let try get somewhere more sheltered…"

"I’ll look!" Ella started looking across the roof (as much as it could be called that) they were on. There were plenty of holes, and it just took kicking one in more to give them an opening. "Let’s go down here!"

Lisa pushed herself to her feet again as the spider legs gently carried her through the hole, and she hung from the ceiling. The office was, well, an office. There were rows and rows of desks with computers on top and chairs pushed against them, as far as the eye could see. However, it was like a tornado flew around the room! Most of them were flung around, with trash and debris all around.

Lisa climbed down, pushed one of the chairs up, dropped her backpack, and sat on it, leaning back in it.

”... This place is scuffed.” Lisa sighed.

"It fucking sucks," Saskia agreed. They took their rucksack off, rummaging in it and pulling out some of the food supplies they’d brought. A whole bunch of stuff they didn’t need to cook. They offered up some of the protein bars. "Want some?"

"Ooo, yes please," Ella snatched one up, immediately grimacing when she started eating it. It was gross. She was pretty sure the various rations packs they’d brought would only be worse… "Wait, you’re just tryna make your bag lighter!"

”Hold on!” Lisa dug into her bag and pulled out the glowing green potion inside of a mason jar that was one of Greta’s healing potions; she raised it into the air and twirled it a few times. ”Surprised this didn’t break, but I guess these are built to last. Right, girls?”

"Greta’s the best!" Ella nodded.

Lisa awkwardly laughed as she took the protein bar, downed it briefly, then laughed, then looked to the left and right as she put the potion back into the bag. ”Let’s make sure this place is safe, then let’s… I don’t know, take it easy.”

"Yeah, we need to go slow, I think," Saskia sighed. "I hoped we could get it done quickly but… if we just keep walking around we’ll get eaten. Or worse."

"I don’t want to get eaten!" Ella said, looking around. "Hopefully there isn’t anything lurking in here…"

”... There probably is,” Lisa shrugged as she stood up, the spider legs retracting into her back. ”I almost passed out, getting us away from the skeleton… I can’t do any more fighting right now.”

However, they heard some rustling down the hall, and Lisa quickly turned her head towards it. There were footsteps, and a girl was stepping out of the shadows into the light illuminated by the Pit’s red sky. A Caucasian girl with a black bob cut was dirty, covered in scabs, and oozing red wounds. Her clothes were tattered—typical goth clothes with a black shirt with a star, shorts with stockings, boots, and a spiked choker. She hesitantly walked up.

“... A-are you people?” She asked. “... Where the hell am I?”

Ella’s eyes widened. Another person! And she looked really hurt… oh no! She jumped up. "We are-"

Saskia wrapped their blood tendril around Ella before she could step towards the girl, pulling her back. "Are you a person? Prove it."

“How?!” The girl said. “I just… I just… fell through a crack. I’m from Gary, Indiana… I don’t know what’s going on! This place is hell!” She began panting.

”... Tell me about it,” Lisa rolled her eyes.

“I just want to find a way out of here!”

Saskia let go of Ella, frowning. "We’re stuck too, so can’t help with that."

"Let me heal you!" Ella said, holding up her Channeler and hitting the girl with a healing beam of light. She didn’t actually step forward, though, in case Saskia grabbed her again. "What’s your name? I’m Ella!"

“Chloe,” the girl said, sighing in relief as her wounds healed. She sat on the chair across from them.

However, Lisa leaned into Ella,

”... Are we going to, um, bring her with us?” Lisa whispered. ”I mean, we shouldn’t leave her by herself, but we also shouldn’t bring her along when all we want is the All-Blade.”

Ella frowned, whispering back. "I don’t know… I don’t want to leave her behind, but we only have enough for three! Maybe… maybe if she fell in nearby, there’s a way to fall back out?"

Lisa paused for a moment.

”... I think we should, instead, eat her,” Lisa whispered back. ”Think about it: it’s a win-win! Just for us, though.”

"No way! I refuse," Ella whisper shouted.

Saskia leaned in too. "I agree. We can make it quick. It’ll be merciful, really."

”Okay, so I’ll just put a spear thro-”

“... I can hear you all,” Chloe said, scoffing.

"Oh, well," Saskia pulled out their knife with a shrug. "Don’t worry, I know exactly where to cut so it doesn’t hurt."

"No, we can’t do this!" Ella jumped up, standing in between Saskia, Lisa and Chloe. "It’s- It’s not right! It’s not very magical girl!"

”But no one has to know!” Lisa shouted, throwing her hands in the air. ”We can just head back and have Greyson wipe our memories; then it’s all good!”

"That’s…" Ella frowned. She was stumped. Lisa was right, they could have their memories of eating Chloe wiped, and then they’d still be magical girls. Was it even the wrong decision? They probably couldn’t keep her alive. Like Saskia said, it was merciful! But killing people who weren’t possessed was wrong… Also she didn’t look all that tasty. Was there even enough flesh there?!

She turned to Chloe, and asked, "do you want to be eaten, or die alone?"

“How about neither!?” Chloe shouted. “You people are crazy! I’m out of here!” She shouted, as she turned on her heel and took off running down the halls.

Lisa stared at her for a few moments, before she shrugged.

”She was cute,” Lisa began. ”We should have kept her.” She shrugged.

"Yeah, Ella, you had to go and ruin it," Saskia said.

"Consent is important!" Ella threw up her hands.

”... Even when we’re talking about eating her!?” Lisa shouted.

"Yes! She probably would’ve tasted nasty if she didn’t consent!" Ella shouted back.



Lisa shouted, grabbing both sides of her head.

"It- It just would!" Ella flailed her hands about. She couldn’t explain it, it just seemed right.

"Well it doesn’t matter now, does it?" Saskia rolled their eyes. "Let’s move on."

Lisa just shrugged, ”So, let’s secure the building and find somewhere comfortable t-”

They heard a shriek of terror from what sounded like Chloe, and Lisa came to a stop, her jaw-dropping for a moment. She looked to the left and then the right….

”... Rip Chloe.” Lisa said.

"Do you think whatever it was left something behind? I’m still a bit hungry," Saskia intoned.

Ella grimaced, looking a bit sad. They should’ve kept her with them… or just killed her right away. It would’ve been better! Faster! Kinder! "Let’s not go that way."

She turned the opposite direction to the scream, starting to walk that way, creating a small flame in her hand in case it started to get darker.

”Let’s just find a nice room with no windows and one door, and we’ll just hunker down with some spider webs, okay?” Lisa said as she looked around before her eyes landed on a door with a sign next to it that said CAFETERIA. Lisa walked over to it, pushed the door open, and looked around - it was, as expected, a mess. Tables and chairs were tossed all around, there was trash and debris all over the place… but no windows or holes in the wall.

Lisa glanced over her shoulder at Saskia and Ella and said,

”Perfect, right?”

Saskia looked around the room, before nodding. "Let’s put up some of the tables as extra protection too."

"Oh, like they do in survival movies!" Ella grinned, going over to pick up a table and put it on its side in one corner. "This is pretty perfect."

”Hurry up,” Lisa yawned, ”I think I can summon enough spiders to throw up a web...”

"I’m only one person!" Ella wailed, grabbing a few more tables and setting them up like a wall, with a gap that they could get through. She stepped in and took off her backpack, sitting down. Saskia and Lisa followed in, but Lisa placed her backpack down like a pillow and lied down on it.

”... Oh yeah,” Lisa raised a hand in the air, and summoned a few thousand spiders that threw up a web in front of the door and behind it. With that, Lisa passed out asleep and began loudly snoring.

Saskia just lay on their side, falling asleep pretty quickly. Ella waited until both her friends were peacefully asleep before even trying, eventually passing out…

---

The earth shook.

It was brief.

Violent enough to wake all three of them up.

It was a footstep.

Lisa immediately climbed to her feet and grabbed her backpack. ”... What was that?” Lisa whispered as she slid the backpack onto her back.

"Another skeleton?" Saskia jumped up from where they’d been curled on their side, backpack not even taken off.

"Let’s… let’s not find out," Ella whispered, struggling to pull her massive backpack on. She looked around. "Maybe if we stay in here it won’t find us?"

”... That’s a big ‘if’ there, Ella,,” Lisa dug into her bag and pulled out a survival knife; she sliced through the webs she put up over the door as she pushed it open. ”Let’s just go out there and check it out, okay? Okay?”

Ella frowned. She didn’t really want to… but they had to stick together! She quickly followed right behind Lisa, before pushing past her so that she could be at the front. "Fine! But we need to stay close together!"

"What else would we do?" Saskia rolled their eyes from the back, pulling out their own knife.

”We could have been eating a white ho’!” Lisa hissed.

Ella just shrugged, taking the front and beginning to go back the way they’d come - so they could get back onto the roof. Lisa’s spider legs left her back, and she climbed up the walls until she was on top of the ceiling. Once she was by the hole they entered, Lisa poked her head through it, and her eyes shot open.
Directly outside of the building was a giant creature that towered over the building. It slowly sauntered away, but that wasn’t the only problem.

There were dozens as far as the eye could see.

”... Oh,” Lisa’s jaw dropped.

”... Maybe we should go.”

Lisa climbed back down, gracefully landing on an upright computer desk. She looked to the left and then the right, as she whispered,

”Lord,” She began. ”I never thought I’d say this, but making a flying spider would be a bad idea.”

Lisa looked to the left and then to the right.

”I don’t think we should leave the way we came”

Saskia had also climbed up, dropping back down beside Lisa and pulling the blood tendril back into the cut they’d made on their palm. "Agreed. We need to be stealthy… quiet and unnoticeable."

They turned their gaze to Ella. "No magic."

"Hey, I’m not stupid!" Ella threw up her hands. "I can be stealthy too."

Saskia snorted. "Sure. Let’s get to the ground level and walk."

”Sounds like a plan,” Lisa whispered as she slowly and surely made her way to the staircase. It was still intact enough for all three to climb down, and Lisa was the first down - however, slowly and carefully. The stairs shook with every step that those giants outside took, and Lisa stopped when the stairs got wobbly - however, she kept pressing on until they reached the ground level. With every step those monsters took, it felt like an earthquake was going on…. Lisa stumbled before she pushed herself back to her feet.

”... We came from that way,” Lisa pointed to the left before she pointed to the right, ”.... And we need to go this way.”

Ironically, the direction the first monster was going.

"Great," Saskia frowned. ”Let's try to stick close to the buildings…"

Ella gulped, didn't say anything, and nodded. Saskia started towards the right, eyes narrowed as they looked for a way out - before the building collapsed on them. Not guaranteed, but definitely a possibility. Lisa pushed the door open and opened the door into the main lobby. Lisa carefully raised a finger as she walked to the door and poked her head out. The monster was already down the street… but two more were approaching, so she quickly dipped inside. Lisa carefully walked back over to Ella and Saskia, as she said,

”... I think,” Lisa thought out loud. ”They’re looking for something. I mean, look at how they’re moving and how many of them there are!.”

"Maybe we can just wait it out, then?" Ella suggested.

"Or better, we leave the city, if they're looking for something here. Hopefully they'll ignore us," Saskia shrugged.

”Let’s just leave,” Lisa whispered. ”One, we don’t know if they’ll ever stop searching. Two, we don’t know if they’re looking for us. And three, we don’t know if they’re going to start trashing the city.”

With that final word, Lisa nodded as she added, ”There’s two coming down the street - should I make a spider we can all ride on? Even the giant ones aren’t that loud, just in case it can also have wings.”

Then she paused, ”Or would it be easier if we went by foot?”

Saskia frowned. They’d be fasted on a spider, but it also gave them more limited mobility. It was much more difficult to hide when they were all on one. "Let’s go by foot. We’ll have an easier time hiding if we need to. Let’s wait for the two coming to pass, then go out."

They went to the door, carefully looking out. The two walked past, shaking the earth with every step, and Lisa walked up behind Saskia and nodded.

Saskia nodded back, holding a finger to her lips - namely in Ella’s direction, who took up the rear. Then they stepped out into the street. They went in the same direction as the two creatures, sticking close to the wall of the building they’d come out of. Lisa grabbed onto Ella’s hand and tailed behind Saskia as they tailed behind them. They approached an intersection - however, one of those monsters was coming from the right.

Lisa lunged forward and tried to yank Saskia into an allway they passed. Saskia wasn't that far ahead, silently pulled back into the alley. They pressed their back against the wall, frowning. This was going to be difficult when they had no idea where they were even going.

She shoved her hand into one of her many pockets and pulled out a small notebook and pen. She scribbled on it and held it up to the other two.

'Let's try take small alleys they can't fit down.’

Lisa nodded as she continued down the alleyway; it wasn’t long before they made it to the other side… and she poked her head around the corner momentarily before quickly darting back. Lisa put her hands out, fingers open, and then summoned spider webs from underneath her clothes that quickly weaved webs in the shape of words:

A few are coming down this way. Let's go through this building.

Lisa nodded her head in the direction of the metal door that was slightly ajar.

Saskia nodded. They very carefully pushed the metal door a little bit more open, wide enough that Ella would be able to fit through, before slipping in. It was darker inside and took their eyes a moment to adjust… they gestured for the other two to come in too.

Ella held up her hand as she stepped in, head tilting questioningly. Saskia shook their head. Better to deal with the poor lightning than risk drawing attention with a bright pink flame. The door led to a convenience store… the building had been ransacked before, with only a few snacks and rotting food lying across the floor. There was glass shards scattered all throughout the floor…

Lisa immediately grew spider legs out of her back and climbed onto the ceiling. She looked at Ella and then at Saskia. Then back to Ella. She grabbed her chin, before making a gesture with her index and middle finger - a walking motion but veeeeeeeeeery slowly. Then she put her hands together and gave Ella a closed-mouth smile with a pleading look.

Ella held up her hands with a pout, looking a bit upset. Saskia rolled their eyes. Lisa was right to be worried. They went first, bones lightening to make it even less likely they'd make any sound, carefully stepping their way through the broken glass. Hopefully Ella could follow the same path… they checked behind them as they walked to see Ella following them at a very slow pace. Painfully so, really, but it was better than stepping on a piece of glass.

Saskia made it to the other side without incident. Ella was still going, carefully twisting her body and going on her tiptoes. She made it to the other side, letting out a sigh of relief, lowering to her heels.

And immediately put a heel on a shard of glass. Thankfully, it didn't shatter, instead it just shoved right through Ella's shoe and into her foot. Saskia immediately threw up her hands, shoving them over Ella's mouth before she could shout in pain. Lisa gently lowered herself to ground level, waving both hands downwards pointing at Ella’s foot. Ella silently lifted up the foot with glass embedded in it, hands gripping Saskia's shoulders for support.

Lisa put a finger to her lips as she looked up at Ella and Saskia, then her healing spiders came out of her pores and onto Ella. She then grabbed the shard glass with both hands and yanked it out - and immediately, the healing spiders went to work and began healing Ella’s foot.

Saskia still had her hands over Ella's mouth, and pressed them harder to once again stop any screaming. Ella's whole face was scrunched up in pain, which quickly relaxed when the healing spiders did their work. She put her foot back down and Saskia finally moved her hands away.

They looked around, then at Lisa, gesturing back to the ceiling, and then forward. It would be safest for her to lead them through from up there. Lisa nodded her head, and climbed back onto the ceiling, though her footing was shaky due to… all the shaking from the titanic beasts outside. One of them approached, and Lisa gently lowered herself to the ground for a few moments to wait for it to pass by. When the coast was clear, Lisa poked her head out through the front and quickly gestured for the other two to come along.

Across the street was another alleyway; no monsters on the street could see them. Lisa raised her hand in the air and then used her opposite hand to count each finger. Then she pointed at the alleyway and smiled at the other two.

Saskia nodded, finger and thumb pressing together in an ok symbol. Ella looked between them both, looking confused… but that didn't matter. Saskia reached behind them and grabbed Ella's hand, before raising the other one. Five fingers up.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

Saskia ran across the street, dragging Ella behind her - she quickly got the message and ran fast enough to get just ahead of Saskia, practically leaping into the alley opposite. Saskia immediately got close to the wall, looking down the alley to make sure there weren't any nasty surprises - Thankfully, none. All three of them got across, and Lisa sighed out of relief.

However, there was a door to a reasonably large abandoned apartment complex, and Liea pointed at the door, sticking a thumbs up and rotating it up and down, waiting for approval.

Saskia looked at the apartment complex, thinking about it… yes, probably safer to go through that. They gave a thumbs up, as did Ella.

Then they carefully went over to the door, pushing it slightly open to peer inside. This revealed a primarily intact hallway illuminated by a dim overhead light that flickered on and off. Saskia motioned for the other two to follow them in, beginning to make their way down the hallway. They glanced into any doors they passed… just in case. Most of the doors were closed, but the few that were open were just typical apartment rooms - some of them wholly trashed and others too dark to see into.

However, as they proceeded down the hall, one of the doors they passed opened…

Saskia stopped, immediately spinning around and holding an arm out… primarily to stop Ella immediately blasting the door with fire. They wriggled their fingers before a long, thin blood whip formed from it. They carefully manipulated it so that they could wrap it around whatever came out of the door.

… It was nothing.

Saskia shuddered, hair on the back of their neck standing on end. They didn’t like that one bit. But they gestured forward with one finger to keep going, proceeding slowly and carefully, listening for anything. And keeping the blood whip formed.

Lisa silently grabbed onto Saskia’s wrist and pulled them down the hall. Lisa then stuck her hand out and summoned a hundred Darwin-bark spiders that quickly created a wall of webs that blocked the hallway. Then she kept proceeding with the group until they made it to a staircase. Lisa put her hands together, and this time used Snare to make a message out of webs.

Maybe get up to a high vantage point so we can decide where to go next?

The ground began shaking more intensely, signaling a monster was close.

Saskia nodded in agreement. They needed to figure out where to go so they weren’t just running around hoping they’d get out. They gestured up the stairs, moved two of their fingers and moved them quickly to signal walking fast, then put a finger on their lips again, looking at Ella. Ella threw her hands up silently, before folding them over her chest with a pout.

Then they started to climb the stairs, as quickly and silently as possible. Followed by Lisa, who had her Spider-Legs already coming out of her back.

A door was slammed on the ground floor, and Lisa stopped dead in her tracks to look over her shoulder…

… only to see nothing.

Ella jumped, eyes wide, trembling slightly. Saskia grimaced. She once again gestured up the stairs, motioning for them to go quickly. They grabbed Ella’s hand and tugged them, taking two steps at a time, assuming Lisa would spider leg her way up faster. As expected, Lisa left the stairs and ascended to the top floor with lightning speed - but never left their sight.

Once the other two made it to the top floor, Lisa pointed at an open door.

Ella was the first up the stairs, going to run right through the open door… Saskia caught her, and went in more cautiously, still ready to attack at any moment. The room was completely untouched by the chaos of the Pit. It had all the furniture you expected to see in an apartment, and the windows, as Lisa expected, gave a great view of the surrounding area.

Out the window, there was a forest, a thick, lush, green, paradise… Just a few miles away.

Saskia frowned, approaching the window and looking out. It looked… nice. Too nice. The apartment and the forest. The pulled back out their notebook, scribbling down something before holding it up to Lisa and Ella.

‘Isn’t it strange this room is fine?’

Lisa quietly laughed as she stuck her hands out and used Snare to cast another message on the walll…

Only if THIS is the only room that’s alright.

The webs dissolved as she made another message.

Maybe we can make a flying spider and jet… Me and Ella can use Crack Spiders. The monsters don’t seem to be that fast.

Saskia flipped to another page and wrote, ‘Worth a try. If we fly high enough we can avoid them.’

Ella nodded her agreement, having no way to communicate beyond that.

A spider crawled onto the ground, enveloped in a glowing white cocoon, and grew larger. The webs dissolved, followed by another message.

Ella will have to punch the wall down or something.

There was a faint growling down the hall…

Shit. Saskia gestured to the wall, and made a punching motion to Ella, before flicking out their blood whip to shove the door to this room shut. Ella shook her head, pointing to the cocoon, even as her legs started to glow with prismatic light.

Still not wanting to draw attention to them, just in case whatever that was didn’t know they were there, Saskia crouched down, blood running along their back to form their blood tendril. They pointed it at the door. Meanwhile, spiders came crawling from all the hidden corners of the room, and pooled right above the door…

The growling grew louder, as they heard slow footsteps approach, sounding as if whatever was coming dragged its feet with every step and it was heavy. Though, it stopped directly at the door… the growling continued.

Saskia looked up at the spiders, then down at the door. She raised a hand to shoot through it, before pausing, getting a much better idea. She quickly pointed to the Ice Scepter, then the door.

Ella grabbed the Ice Scepter and shot a beam of intense, cold energy to freeze the door. The creature could be heard pounding on the wall - loudly roaring - hard enough to knock over some items on top of the furniture. The spider was at half size, but the noise was attracting the sounds of the bigger monsters - which were now heading their way. Lisa bore teeth as she looked to the left and the right.

"Shit," Saskia swore under their breath - wasn’t exactly louder than the roaring. She jumped away from the door, and pointed to the wall, motioning again for Ella to kick through the wall. Then to Lisa, she pointed to the spider, then the wall, and finally to her own back.

As Saskia shifted their backpack to their front, wings started to push through their back.

”... But-” Lisa tried to protest before she shook her head, and the spider burst out of the cocoon. It had dragonfly wings half the size it typically was for when to ride it - and all the spiders on the ceiling fell onto its back. Lisa hopped onto Saskia’s back.

Saskia let out a quiet oof, but their wings had finished growing and… it should be fine. Probably. Ella kicked the wall, making a sizable hole, before kicking it again so that it was big enough for them to get out. She turned back around… freezing in confusion for a moment.

Saskia just pointed to the spider. Ella threw her hands up and jumped onto the half sized spider.

"Sorry if we die," Saskia said before stepping through the hole, sinewy wings stretching out fully… and just about stopping them from falling to their deaths after a few flaps. They wobbled a bit, grimaced, and just flapped harder. Fuck, this was harder than they’d expected, but they tried to get as much height as they could.

The spider with Ella on top trailed behind, as Lisa nuzzled against Saskia,

”... At least we’ll die together,” Lisa said.

As they flew through the skies, all of the giant monsters in radius began following after them. Lisa looked down, and her eyes shot open.

”I’m not sure if they will follow us into the woods!” Lisa shouted. ”But, I have an idea!”

The spider carrying Ella flew right in front of Saskia, one of its eight legs in arm’s reach.

”Grab on!”

Saskia frowned, reaching forward to grab onto the leg… it couldn’t exactly make things worse.

”Ella! Crack Spiders!” Lisa shouted.

"Got it!" Ella shouted, pressing her hands against the spider, imbuing it with dazzling rainbow lights. Saskia had to close their eyes to not get blasted in the face with them.

The Spider cut through the air at lightning speeds, taking them both far into the air - and out of the city into the woods…

The spider slowly descended in a clearing.

Lisa couldn’t hear any of those giants anymore, so they were probably too big to fit into this forest. However, they had to land to get their bearings, and Lisa landed the spider right by a lake. This forest was thick, green, lush, and they landed right by a lake with a river. However, there was still that persuasive scent of death, and the red sky that never seemed to dim…

Lisa hopped off Saskia and sat down on the grass, staring up at the glass.

”… Where should we head next? Lisa thought out loud. ”This place has no rhyme or reason! I’m not sure if we’re even heading in the right direction!”

"I don't know if there even is a right direction," Saskia intoned, frowning. They pulled their wings back in with a grimace, two massive holes left in their jacket and blood staining their clothes.

”Maybe we could follow the river?" Ella suggested, pointing to it.

Saskia shrugged. "I wonder if it's drinkable. Flowing water is most likely to be fresh."

”I mean it's also Pit water,” Lisa shrugged, trying to hide that she was definitely thirsty. ”... Well, only one way to find out.” Lisa said as she walked over to the water, knelt down, and cupped some into her hand. She sucked it up with a loud slurp, then looked over her shoulder.

”... It tastes fine,”

"Normally you don’t taste waterborne diseases," Saskia said, lips pressing together. "You won’t know until it’s too late."

”It can’t be any worse than what we got from Lupe,” Lisa laughed.

"We have magical healing, it’s fine!" Ella shouted, running over to next to Lisa. She bent down, scooping a bunch of water into her mouth, and then more, drinking like she was parched. "Maybe we should wash while we’re here too?"

"We’ve barely made any progress."

"Who knows when we’ll next find a lake!"

”I mean, I don’t feel all that dirty,” Lisa shrugged. ””I agree with Saskia, we sho-

Something burst out of the water, roaring at them with its monstrous frame as it reached for Lisa and Ella to pull them in. Ella screamed, shoving her hands out in front of her to absolutely blast it with fire. Because it was covered in water and slime, it blocked most of the fire.

"Lisa, Ella!" Saskia's blood tendril wrapped around Lisa to pull her back. Lisa grabbed on as she looked to the left and right, desperately for some way out. Out of the ground, a chitinous spear ruptured through the creature’s arm, making it yelp in pain, yet it persisted. The Chitinious spear retracted, only to launch into the creature again and again… but it regenerated each time.

Saskia grimaced, forming a blood whip with their other hand and wrapping it around Ella, falling to their knees to try not to get pulled in too. Ella swapped tactics, bright pinks coating her hands as she punched the creature. Which tanked each hit.

Lisa opened her mouth and vomited spiders directly at the creature - mid-air, they spelled up with her modified stomach acid. They exploded against the beast, loudly and sickeningly sizzling as it roared again, finally letting go. Ella then shot it with a burning beam of light, and it stumbled backward right back into the water…

… Only to dramatically rise out again.

While dealing with that creature, a swarm of strange human-sized butterflies descended from above to snatch them into unknown parts. Ella screamed again, throwing her hands above her head with fire shooting out of them at the butterflies, trying to torch them. The butterflies scattered for a moment, hovering above them.

”Stop screaming; you’re going to attract more monsters!” Lisa screamed.

"You're screaming too!" Ella screamed back.

Saskia's wings burst back out through their back, splattering more flesh and blood around them, and came up to cover the three of them from above. "We need to get out of here."

"No shit!" Ella said, going back to trying to pound the water creature with her fists.

”I have an idea,” Lisa shouted as she turned towards the monster in the water. ”Ella, get back!”

"Okay!" Ella backed away towards Saskia, fire dancing around her fingers in case she needed to shoot it at anything.

Lisa stuck her hand out behind her, and sighed, before a web comprised of thick, pulsating, human-flesh, and then whipped it at the creature. As planned, it got caught in the web, and hopelessly thrashed around as the webs bound to its flesh. Perfect. Then the butterflies grabbed her and she began floating in the air.

Not perfect!

"Lisa!" Ella shouted. She raised her hands to blast it with fire, but Saskia interrupted her.

"I’ve got it, make sure to catch her." With a powerful flap of their wings, Saskia launched themselves into the air, slicing at the wings of the butterfly holding Lisa with sharp blood blades. Lisa descended and Ella caught her, with the Wretched Web still attached to the monster, which was convulsing in pain. The other hitch in her plan came when the monster the web was attached to began retreating into the water - with her still attached..

"Ahhhh!" Ella fell on her ass, holding Lisa tightly. Her feet dug into the ground, trying to get some kind of traction to stop them from being pulled into the water.

Saskia wasn’t much help either, in the air surrounded by butterflies.

”Just… hold… on!” Lisa shouted as the two were about to be dragged into the water - and this idea didn’t seem all that great now! However, the creature fell to its knees, violently convulsing and bubbling, and then it ruptured outwards. It sent blood, guts, and spiders in all directions - however, the spiders were imbued with acid-burst and when they collided with the butterflies they exploded. The butterflies were ripped to shreds by the explosions and then dissolved by the acid, which was such a devestating atttack that it took out a majority of them. The rest of them fled.

The only problem is that the Agents of Death are not immune to acid so it splashed on them.

Saskia's wings were completely taken out by the acid, but mostly protected the rest of them, melting away as goopy flesh spilled to the floor and they were sent hurtling towards the ground. They landed with a crash and nasty crunch, groaning.

Ella's eyes widened and she spun to try and protect Lisa, acid covering a large portion of her body and burning away at her clothes, flesh… everything down to the bone. She fell on her non dissolved side, weakly trying to push them back to land.

"Fuckkk…" Saskia rolled onto their stomach, grasping at their backpack for a potion. "Let's not do that again."

”Hold on!” Lisa shouted as she ran over to Ella and put her hands on… whatever wasn’t dissolved. The Healing Spiders forced their way out of Lisa’s pores and onto Ella, which they began digging into her flesh to heal her. Lisa sighed in relief before she turned to Saskia,

”… Let’s save the potions,” Lisa said as she walked over to them…

"Sure," Saskia groaned, face twisting in pain as their bones started snapping back into place and they pulled their damaged wings back into their body.

"My clothes" Ella sobbed as she got healed enough to react… but she was now practically naked because of the acid burning away most of what she was wearing.

"At least you brought plenty to change into," Saskia said drily.

”There’s no one here to see, Ella! Relax!” Lisa rolled her eyes, as she threw Healing-Spiders at Saskia. Though they were wasting time, the butterflies were probably recuperating and ready to attack again. ”We should find somewhere to take five.”

Then blankly looked at the lake.

”… Away from water, though.”

Saskia nodded tiredly, getting to their feet. Ella dragged herself away from the water, opening her backpack to at least pull on a purple hoodie that covered enough.

"Let's follow the river but keep a safe distance?" Saskia suggested, pointing to where it went into the forest.

”Sounds like a plan!” Lisa shouted, gesturing for them to follow after them. She walked into the forest… this place was honestly kind of beautiful. Like a magical forest in the movies! Every step she took here was gorgeous! Except they’re literally in hell, Lisa sighed as she kept her eyes open. Every cricket chirping could be a monster…

There were footsteps approaching. Loud. Distinct. And odd for this place, mechanical. Lisa quickly gestured towards a downed tree and dove underneath it.

Saskia grabbed Ella and pulled her under it, squeezing in tight beside Lisa. They carefully pulled their knife out of their pants, making a small cut on their thumb, blood just coating their hand. Ella put her hands over her mouth as if to even silence her breathing. While a slick, black exoskeleton covered Lisa… However, she grew extra eyes as she poked her head over the tree branch out of curiosity - a dangerous move she knew.

A group of… robots? Scrolled by… there had to be around a dozen of them as they robotically marched by wielding various weapons. Thankfully, they were gone as fast as they showed up, and Lisa sighed as she sat down.

Saskia pointed up behind them, then held up, mouthing, ‘gone?’ Ella dropped her hands, rolling forward and putting her head on her knees with a heavy sigh. Saskia silently patted her.

Their footsteps were in the distance before they disappeared.

”... I mean, you don’t hear them anymore, do you?” Lisa whispered, laughing as she stood straight up and the exoskeleton disappeared. Lisa gestured for them to follow her and continued down the same path she was going before the weird robot knights appeared. Giving the river a healthy distance, they eventually made it to another lake… and down a path to their left was a cozy looking cabin. Strange down here, yes, but Lisa looked to her comrades and said,

”You all want to take a break there?”

"Beats being outside," Saskia intoned, looking at the cabin with a good deal of suspicion before they shrugged.

"Hopefully there’s somewhere comfy to sit!" Ella said cheerfully, skipping over to the cabin. She paused in front of the door, hesitating a moment before just straight up going to open it…revealing a mess of a place where furniture was tossed all around. However, there were large scratch marks on the walls and floor, and some of the furniture. Other than that, the place looked alright. Lisa walked in and looked to the left and the right,

”Let’s make sure this place is safe before we settle in,” Lisa nodded her head.

Good plan!" Ella ran ahead, starting to search the cabin. Saskia rolled their eyes and followed close behind her as she checked all the other rooms, and properly searched the main one. "All clear! Let’s take a break!"

Ella, somehow full of energy, picked up a few chairs that had been thrown around and righted them. Then she took off her backpack, pulling out a pair of pants and putting them on so she wasn’t just wearing a hoodie.

"We need to find a way to actually navigate," Saskia said as they sat down, frowning.

Lisa sat down next to Saskia… ”Like how? A map?” Lisa scoffed, before she poked her finger onto the table, as if she was navigating on an invisible map. ”Here’s death. And here is death. Here? More death!”

"A direct path to the All-Blade so we can fight less would be nice," Saskia rolled their eyes.

"Maybe we’ll find someone who knows!" Ella said, taking her own seat with a sigh. "This is so tiring! I think I preferred fighting Morningstar and his minions…"

”We haven’t even met another person!” Lisa said, before she clarified, ”.., Other than Chloe.”

Lisa stretched, ”We’re on our own here, I’m afraid. No one is coming to save us.”

"We don’t need saved, anyway, we’re capable by ourselves! Except we don’t know where we’re going… but we’ll figure it out!" Ella said with a grin.

"I think, before we go out again, we should agree on some things," Saskia said. "Hand signals, plans… in case we can’t talk again. It worked last time, but we might get caught out."

”Yes, what should this one mean?” Lisa said, before she flipped off an empty space.

Saskia threw their hands up, looking a bit frustrated. "Fine, we won’t preplan then. Let’s just die."

”I’m just lightening thr mood, re-lax,” Lisa laughed. ”What did you have in mind?”

"Some are obvious, like stop, be quiet and the like," Saskia started, tapping their fingers on their legs. "But others… ‘monster here’, attack, safe. I suppose a thumbs up works for when somethings safe. Really we need a way to coordinate without talking. We-"

"Oh!" Ella jumped up. "We can use cool hand gestures like sailor moon would!"

She posed, pointing forward with her right hand while her left hand crossed in front of her with the middle two fingers down.

"... And what would that mean?"

"Attack, obviously!"

”… That’d throw the monsters for a loop,” Lisa chuckled. ”We definitely need a hand gesture for ‘haul ass.’”

Lisa looked at Ella, ”…One that’s not from Sailor Moon.”

"... Aw," Ella pouted, hanging her head.

Saskia put their hand on their chin as they thought. "What about this?"

They held up their hand, first two fingers up, then rotated it sharply once. "Noticeable enough, not something we’d normally do, not obvious to monsters. Or…"

They chuckled. "We just flip each other off to mean ‘haul ass.’"

”No, we should be flipping the enemy off,” Lisa laughed, before she put up two fingers, ”What about two fingers like deuces!? I mean, you wouldn’t get that, Saskia, beeeeeeeeecause…”

Lisa looked at her.

”... No reason.”

"I get the reason," Saskia laughed, shrugging. "Sure, let’s do that."

"But Sailor Moon is cooler!" Ella shouted.

Saskia ignored her. "What about a sign for ‘I’m about to blast the area with acid get away’?"

”That could- shit, what could that be?” Lisa rubbed her chin, before she raised a finger as an imaginary lightbulb (with spiders, of course) illuminated in that deranged head of hers! She hopped up and threw her hands in the air like it was a surprise. Lisa looked to Saskia and Ella before she did it again, hoping that they would get it.

Saskia narrowed their eyes as they watched, before nodding. "It does look like an explosion. It’ll work."

"It’d be cooler if you spun while doing it and struck a pose at the end!" Ella said.

Saskia rolled their eyes yet again. "We’re not doing this to look cool."

”I mean, while Ella is posing, she can distract the monsters so we can get away!” Lisa laughed before she yawned. ”So, do you all just want to lock this place up and nap for a while?”

"True, it’ll be a necessary sacrifice," Saskia laughed, while Ella pouted. "Yeah, let’s nap while we can. Who knows when we’ll next get the chance?"

"I’ll block the doors!" Ella said, already lifting up furniture to move towards the front door.

Darwin’s Bark spiders came from the hidden corners of the room and began weaving a thick web… around the furniture they placed against the walls and front doors. Some extra on the windows and vents, and once they were done, Lisa summoned a mass of venomous spiders and positioned them around the room, commanded to attack anyone who entered. With that done, the bed was still in one piece, and together, they flipped it over and cuddled.

---

Lisa was peacefully sleeping as the littlest spoon.

A bang on the front door awoke them. Lisa’s eyes shot open.

“... Come out!” They faintly heard the voice. “We have the building surrounded!”

Ella let go of both Saskia and Lisa, sitting bolt upright with wide eyes. She gestured to the door, then held her hands up in a shrug position.

"Go out, set them on fire, cover them in acid, haul ass?" they whispered.

”If they have the building surrounded, that might not work,” Lisa said as she stood straight up and looked to her left and then the right. ”We might need a flying spider, so we can just burst out the ceiling.”
“Come out!” The voice spoke again, sounding oddly metallic. “... Or we’re coming in there.”

"Make the spider," Saskia said, frowning, properly getting up.

"Do we go outside?!" Ella whispered, looking panicked as she got up.

”Yes, we’re going outside… when we fly through the ceiling and escape,” Lisa said as a tiny spider was wrapped in a glowing cocoon with both the hybridization and enlarge spells applied to it. It began slowly growing in size, as Lisa shook in fear. ”Okay, we just need to chill, and we can we just-”

Then it burst through the wall, which was not what Lisa expected. She was expecting a human being, but this thing… this thing… it was some type of robot. It stood over twelve feet tall, had shiny metal armor… and held an oversized musket in both hands.

“By the order of the King,” The robot said. “All magical users must submit to the King’s Rule and join the Kingdom’s armies. Do you accept?”

"What's the army's uniform?" Ella asked immediately.

Yes, stall! Lisa thought to herself as she glanced at the glowing cocoon, which grew bigger and bigger.

“If you comply,” The robot said, “Come with us and we can induct you into the Kingdom.”

”That doesn't answer my question!" Ella said. "What's the uniform like? Is it cute? Or do we have to wear metal suits?"

“There is no uniform,” The Robot answered.

"Oh, so we can wear whatever we want? Like this?" Ella spun, and as she did her clothes magically transformed into her magical girl outfit. She then struck a pose. "Super cute, right?!"

The robot lunged for Ella.

“... We have no time for these games!”

"Awwwww," Ella pouted. Her leg was coated in a rainbow light and she kicked right at the Robot's stomach as it went for her. It left a dent, stumbling backwards, and dropped its musket.

”The Spider’s almost ready!” Lisa shouted as the spider was almost sedan sized…

… Then other robots burst in, brandishing oversized muskets, swords, and even… a fucking cannon.

”Fuck, fuck, shit, fuck, fuck!” Lisa hissed through her teeth as she immediately attempted to use the Chitionious Spear… only for it to bounce off their armor immediately. However, Lisa switched to using Snare which… was just as effective against them.

Ella ran towards the robot with the cannon, going to bring her foot down on the cannon itself. Saskia grimaced, blood tendril forming on their back and lashing out in front of them to try and smack the robots aside.

”Keep the spider safe," they said to Lisa.

”I’m trying here!” Lisa shouted, knocking a sword free with her chitinous spear. ”Nothing is working!” Lisa hissed.

“… Fall back!” One of the robotic knights shouted before funneling through the nearest exit. Lisa was perplexed.

”… Well,” Lisa shrugged. ”That was easy.”

"They barely put up a fight!" Ella shouted, running back over to Saskia and Lisa. Her legs were still surrounded by prismatic lights.

"Maybe they went to get a trebuchet?" Saskia intoned. "We should still leave."

The spider burst out of its cocoon, and Lisa smiled… up until a cannon round blew through the house. The house was lit up by a barrage of musket and cannon fire. Lisa immediately hit the deck, fearing the worst for her spider.

Saskia dropped to the floor, turning their head and frowning. "Close enough to a trebuchet."

"We can't fight guns!" Ella yelled, lying on her stomach and starting to awkwardly army crawl towards the door.

"You have ranged magic. Throw a fireball at them."

"I'll burn the house down!"

”The house is already getting blown to bits!” Lisa shouted, throwing her hands over her head. ”We gotta protect the-”

A cannonball blew The spider in half before her eyes, and it fell over.

Dead.

”... Shit.”

However, the gun and cannon fire stopped, and a few heavy steps from the robots approached...

"Get back!" Ella shouted, getting to her knees. She pushed her hands in front of her, large bursts of fire shooting out of both of them. She spread them to the side to torch the whole area in front of her… burns appearing on her own hands and arms as the flames got larger than normal. The footsteps stopped.

… Then, the sounds of reloading started.

Lisa looked up; the roof was still mostly intact despite the house getting blasted to bits. She had an idea. It's a crazy idea, but it's still leagues better than getting their teeth kicked in by a group of robots. She crawled over to Saskia and said, ”... We need to cast Blood Rain. It’s the only way we’re getting out of this!”

Lisa summoned spiders with pulsating blood sacks in the sky; Saskia had to activate the blood rain part. Then, they hoped the cabin's roof could withstand acid. Saskia held up their hands, expanding the blood sacks in the spiders until they exploded, raining down acidic blood on everything underneath them. There was that sizzling sound as the robots outside were dissolved - and unfortunately, so was the cabin's roof. Lisa screamed in pain as some of the acid hit her in the back. It burned holes in her back, but she was still capable of standing up.

Then, it began binding, which was the entire plan. Lisa looked up at a hole in the wall, climbed to her feet, and immediately darted to it.

”... Run!” Lisa shouted.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Saskia muttered as they jumped up, blood and flesh sliding off their back onto the ground as they ran after Lisa.

"YOU DIDN'T USE THE GESTURE!" Ella screamed as she followed behind, acid coating her shoulders and chest, some splashed on her face. She practically shoved the other two through the hole in the wall, using the ice scepter to fill it with a massive block of ice.

”FUCK THE GESTURE, JUST RUN! Lisa shouted as she hauled ass through the hall and into the woods… she caught sight of the robots and, as planned. They were dissolved in acids, then bound, which immobilized them enough for Lisa and the gang to haul ass into the woods…

They couldn’t hear the sounds of the Autoknights’ heavy footsteps anymore.

They were deep in the woods.

That red sky was the only thing keeping them company.

Lisa sat down on a fallen tree, and sighed.

”... I think we lost them.”

"Thank Sailor Moon!" Ella sighed dramatically, sitting down next to Lisa. She grimaced, flexing and unflexing her burnt hand. She’d overdone it with the fire… and it didn’t even do anything to them!

"So this place is a hellhole with a monarchy," Saskia frowned, standing in front of them both instead of sitting down. "I prefer the monsters."

”Me too! Because at least you can dissolve them in acid!” Lisa snorted before shaking her head. ”Though… I wonder if we should have gone with them, you know.”

She shrugged before she continued, ”Maybe this ‘King’ knows how to find the Rampage.”

"Maybe…" Saskia rubbed their chin.

"Oh!" Ella jumped up, an idea forming in her mind. A stupid one, probably, but! An idea nonetheless. "We should storm his kingdom and make him tell us where it is! Saskia can even torture the information out of him."

”... We’ll have to find it,” Lisa shrugged, before she hopped off the log and threw her handa up and then said, ”I mean, though, if it's a kingdom… It must be big. So it shouldn’t be hard.”

"Yeah! It it's bigger than the Rampage it'll be much easier to find!" Ella said cheerfully. "I bet if we prepare we can beat those robots too!"

"We could follow one of them..." Saskia suggested.

”They are probably looking for us right now,” Lisa shrugged, ”But how do you suppose we prepare?”

Ella put her hands on her hips as she thought about it. The acid worked… and she'd also made a dent in it when she kicked it. ”Prepare to throw around loads of acid spiders! And I managed to dent one with my kick… maybe we just need to hit them hard enough. Blunt force trauma."

"Maybe if we lure them all together, Ella freezes them with the Ice Scepter or you bind them, then we blood rain them again," Saskia said.

”My acid’s only good against meat,” Lisa shook her head. ”But, they seem slow, and they are loud. So avoiding them shouldn’t be hard. Or running away. Not fighting every twenty seconds would be nice.”

Lisa shrugged… In the distance, they could hear the familiar sound of the robots marching towards them.

"Let's hide and follow them. Quietly." Saskia looked at Ella.

"I can be quiet! I was quiet before!" Ella said, lowering her voice. She looked around, frowning. Where could they hide? She tilted her head and then pointed up a tree.

Spider legs came out of Lisa’s back and she gracefully climbed up into the canopy. ”Get your buttcheeks up here!” Lisa whispered.

The footsteps got louder…

Ella gave Saskia a quick boost to get up into the trees before quickly absorbing a bit of colour to make herself stronger. It made it easy to climb up there, but unlike Saskia and Lisa she… wasn't so good at balancing. She grimaced, clinging onto a tree trunk.

Saskia put a finger on her lips again, a blood tendril coming out of her back and curling round the branch she was on. The squad of robot knights was an entire unit as they marched through the woods in a line, each brandishing a different weapon. Each of the robots stood a few meters from each other, as some of their armor and weapons were eroded, and some were not. They continued through the woods, seemingly past them….

Ella didn’t move, at first, silently watching them. She was worried that if she wasn’t perfectly still she’d rustle some leaves, or something, and alert them. Then they’d just have to fight them again. Saskia watched carefully too, before pointing in the direction they were going, vaguely indicating a path between the close together trees. Then they quietly moved, using the blood tendril they had to get over to the next tree. Lisa faster, and more gracefully, climbed to the next tree-

She came to a stop, looking at Ella, putting her hands together and used Snare to make a message:

SHOULD I MAKE A SPIDER? WE CAN FOLLOW THEM EASIER THAT WAY.

Ella nodded immediately. Of course Lisa should. Anything that would make things easier was good! Ella was already having a hard time, carefully moving along to the next tree… for once her height was a negative. All she had was magical strength! No spider legs or bone lightening or anything. She grimaced as she finally caught up with Lisa and Saskia.

A glowing cocoon appeared that steadily increased in size until it was the size of a sedan. It burst out, equipped with Dragonfly wings, and Lisa dropped down and landed on its back. She looked up at them and gave the spider a few pats.

Saskia carefully pushed herself up onto the spider with her blood tendril, them pulled it back into her body. Ella hopped up right at the back. She then frowned. Weren't the wings quite noisy. She reached round to tap Lisa, pointed at the wings, then shook her head with a finger on her lips.

”That's only if we absolutely need to,” Lisa whispered back with a shrug of her shoulders. ”I’m going to keep distance - from the big ass line they’ve formed, they are probably looking for us.”

Lisa just shrugged, and began following after the robots. Keeping a safe distance, they were kept in earshot….

Then there was the boom of one of their muskets in the distance.

“... Found her!” One of the robots shouted, and all of the robots went in the direction of the musket. There was sounds of fighting - swords clashing, metal slicing, and the robots hitting the ground.

Lisa looked over her shoulder, before speaking at normal volume, ”... Should we investigate?”

"No-"

"Yes!" Ella interrupted. "Maybe whoever it is can tell us how to get to the Rampage!"

”I’ll eat my boot if they know!” Lisa snorted, as extra eyes appeared on her cheeks and forehead. The spider steadily crept forward towards the chaos in the distance. Lisa didn’t get too close, however, the spider stepped over several downed trees. Not just downed trees, but downed robots. Sliced to pieces, somewhat eroded.

”… At least they can be destroyed,” Lisa shrugged.

Eventually they approached a clearing, and witnessed an Autoknight raise its oversized sword overhead. It brought it down towards a figure - which dodged but the figured disappeared in the blink of an eye. Reappearing on the other side of the Autoknight, and a slash appeared on the robot. A deep gash, that constantly eroded as the robot fell forward.

The stranger was a tiny figure, wearing a tattered leather jacket, black cargo pants, and dirty combat boots. Their face was hidden behind an ornate samurai helmet. This person wore a backpack a hip pouch… and a glowing blue katana in hand. The robots were converging on this figure from all sides. The robots with muskets and other firearms were in the back, taking positions, while the robots wielding swords moved in.

Ella frowned. She wanted to help the mostly human shaped person, but what if they were actually a monster too? What if they tried to eat the three of them? "Do we help?!"

"We help, then when they're grateful to us, we kill them too, and eat them," Saskia suggested.

"Okay! Let's do that!" Ella nodded, looking to Lisa to get her agreement.

”I mean there’s a lot of them,” Lisa awkwardly laughed. ”How about we let this just play out - what could we do anyway?!”

Saskia shrugged. "Well, that's the easier option. Then we can easily take the person out."

"Sure! But… just watching is boring," Ella wailed, flopping against Saskia's back, strong enough to push them into Lisa. Ella's arms reached round to hug both her friends and shake them. "I bet we could beat them if we tried!"

”Okay!” Lisa shouted. ”… You go in first!”

"I will!" Ella shouted. She stood up, spinning around dramatically on the spider to magical girl transform before… falling off it and hurtling towards the ground. She spun midair, legs glowing with a rainbow light as she absorbed enough colour to land perfectly! With an amazing magical girl pose! No broken bones, just a dent in the ground.

"Weird, unfashionable robots, your days of evil are over!" Ella shouted. She grabbed the ice scepter with one hand and with the other shot out a blast of snow. Which was as effective as throwing snow at a tank.

However, it was effective at drawing all of their attention. Which the masked figure used to run into the bushes. One of the robots pointed at Ella, then shouted,

“… Open fire!”

”… Blood Rain,” Lisa said, summoning the blood-filled spiders into the sky.

Saskia pointed to the sky, causing the pulsating blood sacks to rapidly expand and explode all over the field. Ella ducked and rolled to the side, acidic blood splashing across her shoulder and side as she crashed into the bushes. The robot were dissolved by the far more potent acid, boring holes into their thick armor, and not just that, when the blood solidified, they were slowed significantly. However, that didn’t stop them from trying, as the robots converged towards Ella.

One of them shakily raised a musket at her, before pulling the trigger. The thunderclap rang out with a flash.

Ella's eyes widened and she jumped to the side. The bullet hit her shoulder, knocking her back and lodging into her muscle. It hurt, it burned, but she raised her other hand, electricity crackling around it and shooting at the one that shot her. Which caused the robot to pause for a moment.

”… Ella!” Lisa shouted, the spider taking flight - but going past Ella. ”… I’m going to do you like Luca!”

Lisa looked around as she casted Snare, creating a thick strand of web that connected Ella to the spider. Which also yanked Ella as the spider took flight.

Ella reached up to hold onto the web, grimacing. As she was yanked into the air she used the momentum to swing forward, trying to slam light enhanced legs into the robots face on the way past.

The spider zipped past them - even took a musket round, however the damage was inconsequential as Lisa healed the wounds on the spider and kept zipping over the woods. Lisa, then shouted (she had to be heard over the spider beating its wings),

”… SHOULD WE KEEP GOING UNTIL WE’RE OUT OF THE FOREST OR SHOULD WE LAND AND LET THEM GO PAST US?!”

"LAND!" Ella shouted back. She still had the bullet in her shoulder, blood ruining her clothes… she didn't have enough pink in reaching distance to heal it. "THIS IS REALLY UNCOMFORTABLE!"

"AGREED, LAND," Saskia said.

”IT’S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE COMFORTABLE YOU’RE - AH NEVERMIND!” Lisa shouted before she landed in a clearing… a yard of a mansion. Lisa looked at Saskia and Ella, then back to the mansion…

… The robots could be heard in the distance, approaching steadily.

”Should we wait for them to pass or…?”

"Spider me!" Ella said first, down on one knee as blood spurted out of the wound in her shoulder. Getting shot sucked! She much preferred getting covered in acid.

”Let's hide in the mansion," Saskia hissed, running over to hook an arm under Ella's arm to help her over towards it.

”Oh, yeah; spiders!” Lisa shouted as she flicked her Healing-Spiders onto Ella. They burrowed their way into her flesh… and then the giant spider began to shrink with a series of loud pops and cracks before it scuttled off. That was when Lisa immediately ran towards the mansion, and when she made it to the door - she immediately summoned a wave of spiders before she opened it. Lisa poked her head in, before gesturing for the other two to come.

The sounds of the robots stomping got louder.

As the healing spiders worked their magic the bullet embedded in Ella's shoulder worked it's way out, clattering onto the ground. She didn't have to lean on Saskia anymore, running into the mansion.

"Stand back!" Ella closed the door behind them, pulling out the Ice Scepter and using it to freeze the door, giving an extra layer of defence.

"Those robots suck," Saskia intoned, looking around the place with narrowed eyes.

”Who are you telling?” Lisa laughed. ”Let’s just find a place to hide, and let them pass… Maybe the basement? I doubt they’d be able to get in there.” Lisa shrugged.

"Oh, I like the sound of that. Maybe there'll be a dungeon down there," Saskia said, smiling slightly.

"Yeah, let's find the basement! Onwards, girls!" And then she practically started marching deeper into the mansion, hunting for the stairs down. Eventually, they found it, and slowly walked down the stairs into the creepy mansion… Then Lisa flipped the switch to reveal massive place that was more of a fancy glorified bar. She smiled, up until she heard the massive crash of the robots breaking into the mansion. Their footsteps rustled dust and debris from the ceiling, as hearing them march overhead was not a good sound.

”Hide behind the bar," Saskia whispered, before reaching out to turn back off the lights.

Ella didn't really understand why because the robots shouldn't be able to find the basement… but better to be safe! She did just as Saskia suggested, Lisa did the same, running over to and hiding behind the bar. Maybe if they were lucky there'd be alcohol there too!

The stomping persisted, implying that the robots searched the mansion for them.

… Even over the stomping overhead, a loud growling could be heard from one of the halls. Then, loud footsteps approached the bar.

”... Oh, you gotta be fucking shitting me!” Lisa hissed underneath her breath.

Saskia silently kicked Ella as her mouth opened to tell Lisa to be quiet… Ella pouted, before holding her breath. Maybe if she didn't breathe whatever it was wouldn't approach them! But at the same time, she pulled the bright colours of her hair accessories to coat her fists. Waiting. Hoping whatever it was wouldn't come behind the bar.

The loud footsteps approached the bar, and Lisa held her breath as a wave of spiders came from the unseen areas behind the bar—it wasn’t a lot, but enough to cover Lisa completely. The creature on the other side paused and loudly sniffed the air. Lisa motioned for her companions to stay quiet. Just as it stepped on the bar counter…

… A loud crash from above drew the creature’s attention away, and it quickly disappeared back into the basement halls.

Ella let out a sigh of relief. They were safe for now… hopefully those robots would leave soon.

"Well, I really need a drink," Saskia intonated quietly, head turning to look around behind the bar. Ella frowned. It was probably a joke. Right? The spiders that were around Lisa quickly deployed to all known entrances to the bar area… they weaved a thick web that blocked them all off. While they were doing their thing, she stood straight up as she said,

”... We shouldn’t go overboard because, you know,” Lisa pointed up at the ceiling, and they could still hear the Autoknights banging overhead.

"We shouldn't have any! You guys get drunk way too quickly!" Ella said as she hopped up and straight over the bar.

”… We need it down here,” Lisa sneered.

Ella looked around with hands on her hips. "I wonder if there's any food in here?"

"Maybe," Saskia shrugged, starting to look through all the cupboards behind the bar. Lisa used her spider legs to climb up to the ceiling, before opening one…

”… Oooooh!” Lisa ecstatically said as she pulled out a box of Cheese-its. She ripped it open before she swallowed it. Dumping many of it onto the floor.

"Don't waste it!" Ella said, staring at all the Cheese-its on the floor in dismay.

"Eat them off the floor… catch," Saskia lobbed something at Ella. She caught it, tilting her head as she looked down at a can of peaches.

"OOOH, peaches- what am I supposed to do with it, I don't have a can opener… why does a bar even have these?"

”Yes.”

"Don't know, don't care, and you have magic," Saskia rolled their eyes, popping back up with a packet of Doritos that they started munching on. Ella shrugged, using a heated beam of light to cut through the metal lid and get inside the peaches, which she practically poured in her mouth.

"Do the taps work?" she asked between eating.

Lisa shrugged, walked over to the sink, and flipped it on. Water came out, and Lisa smiled, nodding her head at Ella… before the water turned red. The smell of metal filled the room as Lisa flipped it back off.

”... No.”

Soon enough, the stomping disappeared, and the army of Autoknights drifted off into the opposite direction in which they came. Lisa sighed in relief, before she turned back to the group,
”... Should we follow them or lay low? I don’t think they’re going to lead us back to their kingdom just yet.”

"I want to find that person they were fighting," Saskia said. "They looked tasty."

"Why do you want to eat them?!" Ella shouted, throwing up her hands.

"We didn't get the chance with Chloe… I just want to see what it's like."

"No!" Ella shook her head, before looking at Lisa. "We should lay low… maybe we can find the kingdom ourselves. Or figure out how to beat those things!"

”Now that I think about it, we shouldn’t have been trying to eat her,” Lisa said as she put her hands together, ”But eat her if you catch my drift.”

The room was silent.

”... I mean, all we have to do is share a space with a weird monster,” Lisa shrugged. ”That mysterious person didn’t have a hard time slicing them to bits but the robots had them pinned down, so...”

"I bet we can take that weird monster easy," Ella said with way more confidence than she actually felt… because everything they'd fought so far had been insane! It all resisted their various attacks! So annoying.

Saskia shrugged. "That person… did you notice the cuts were all sort of rusting? Like, eroding… reminded me of someone."

"Oh, Luca?! But he touched metal and it was completely destroyed! Like, bamn, disintegrated!"

Lisa laughed, ”I still remember that look on his face when I dangled him from a spider!” Lisa wiped a tear away. ”Though… Well…” Lisa shrugged.

”They just have a spicy sword.”

"Well we should find a spicy sword of our own," Saskia shrugged. "Maybe steal theirs."

"They’d use it on us before we could!" Ella gasped, shaking her head. "Let’s just… raid this place, see if there’s anything interesting! Then move on."
”Agreed!”

The Agents of Death then looted the mansion. They found nothing useful other than some canned/packaged foods, bottled water, and some medical supplies. However, the horde of robots completely ravaged the mansion. Their very heavy steps shattered wood and tile, they tore up the walls and any hiding spaces looking for the Agents of Death and that mysterious person. Lisa flopped on the sofa as she said,

”... Man,” Lisa shrugged. ”For all that searching, they never thought to look into the basement!”

"They’re clearly not the smartest," Saskia said with a shrug, kicking aside a piece of torn up wood. If they were dumb it’d be easier for them to outsmart them next time. "I’m surprised we didn’t come across that monster."

"Maybe the robots killed it for us!" Ella shouted.

”Stop shouting!” Lisa shouted as she ran over to Ella and put a finger to her lips. ”You don't know what’s here…”

Ella pressed her lips together and nodded.

Saskia rolled their eyes at them both, but decided not to point out that Lisa was also shouting. Hopefully there wasn't anything else in here that was going to try and eat or kill them.

”Let's get moving," Saskia said. "They might come back."

”... I wish they had dicks I could dissolve in acid,” Lisa huffed, crossing her arms as she walked out the door.

”I'm sure Ella could develop a spell to create them some," Saskia chuckled, following behind Lisa.

"No way!" Ella shook her head. "Metal just isn't very magical girl- and making those, no!"

Lisa laughed (quietly though), covering her mouth with her hands, ”... I mean it’d be no different than making a dildo!” She stopped laughing, then shrugged. ”I think metal is more magical girl than spiders and blood though.” She playfully said with a roll of her eyes.

In the distance, there was a massive smoke cloud that pressed up into the sky, with an orange light underneath it.

"By Sailor Mars, that must be a massive fire!" Ella said, pointing to it.

"No shit," Saskia rolled their eyes, frowning. "Let’s not go that way."

"I think we should! Maybe something’s there!"

”Yes, a big ass fire,” Lisa said with a roll of her eyes. Before she looked at Ella, ”I don't know about you, but I don't want to know what’s at the end of THAT rainbow.”

Ella pouted and hung her head, like a kid told she couldn't put her hand in a fire.

”Let's go this way," Saskia pointed in the direction to the left of where the probable fire was. ”Since we have no idea where we're going."

”Yes we do!” Lisa ecstatically said. ”We’re going to the All-Blade!”

After some walking, left of the fire… They heard the familiar stomping of the robots. Not heading their way, but in the direction they were walking from. There was a familar orange light with smoke…. Lisa quickly dipped into the bushes, and gestured for the rest to get in.

Ella jumped into the bushes and curled up as small as she could get. Saskia got in last, parting some of the leaves to look through. They quietly pulled their knife out, holding it and waiting.

A squad of the robots walked by in a line, meters apart, wielding flamethrowers. As they marched by, they absolutely torched all the trees in sight.

Saskia held their breath… before quickly realising the robots were getting closer, and that those flamethrowers were torching everything. Including the bushes they were hiding in.

"Shit-"

As the bushes caught fire, Ella threw up her hands with a pained cry, absolutely blasting the area around them with snow. Which did a great job of putting out the fire… but left them exposed.

"Run!"

Lisa didn’t even say anything before she darted in the opposite direction. The flames singing her clothes…

“We found them!” One of the robots shouted, as they gave chase.

”... Throw me the scepter!” Lisa shouted, sticking her hands out.

"Alright!" Ella threw the Sceptre right towards Lisa's hands as she ran.

"You better have a good idea," Saskia grimaced, lightening her bones so that she could run faster, ignoring her smouldering clothes in favour of getting the fuck out of here. Why was it always fire?

Lisa caught it, then spider legs erupted from her back as she lept to the non-burning treetops. Lisa hung off the edge with the scepter in both hands and fired a beam of ice at the flamethrowers of the robots aimed at her. Then created a thick floor of ice between her friends and the robots.

One of them stepped on the ice, then slipped and fell forward. However, they aimed their flamethrowers downward to melt the ice. Lisa quickly hopped from tree to tree to escape.

Ella ran as quickly as she could, longer legs allowing her to keep up with Saskia. Saskia pushed a bone spear through her hand, snapped it off, and twisted around to throw it - aiming for one of the flame throwers to try and block it. It went directly in, and when the robot pulled the trigger: it exploded. The robot was blown to pieces and its husk fell forward.

"Do it again!" Ella shouted. Saskia was pretty sure it wouldn't work twice but… she shoved another bone spear through the same wound, snapped it off, and threw it at a flamethrower. This shot wasn’t so accurate, and only pierced the frame, rendering it useless but not causing it to explode.

”... We should ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun!” Lisa shouted from above, stopping to create another floor of ice that slowed the robotic horde down.

"We're trying!" Ella shouted up at Lisa, sweat already dripping down her forehead as she ran as fast as her legs could carry her.

"We need somewhere to hide again," Saskia grimaced as she jumped over a fallen tree trunk. Maybe they could outrun the robots, but they'd get tired eventually and machines wouldn't. Maybe… "Lisa, put ice in front of us too!"

”Wait, you sure?!” Lisa shouted down, before she just fired a beam of ice in front of them too. ”Okay! Imma trust you!”

"Whhatttt?!" Ella yelled, almost immediately slipping in the ice.

Saskia grimaced, flesh tearing as her wings pushed through her back. She grabbed Ella before she could fall and launched them both across the ice, sending them absolutely hurtling forward… and she used the wings to stop them from falling, sharp tips digging into the ice to shift their direction before they crashed into any trees. Like very weird ski poles.

”Keep doing it! Then we can outrun them!"

Lisa continued to create ice on the floor, which confused the robotic knights who were torn between melting the ice and trying to burn the forest down. Several of them fell directly onto their faces and left huge dents.

Ella started laughing at them, shifting against Saskia in a way that changed their direction enough for her wing to slam into a tree. They used the momentum to push them forward more, ignoring the sharp pain as broken bits of wood stabbed into the sinewy wings. They were going fast enough now that they should be able to get away from the robots.

"We need to get out of their sight, then we can hide," Saskia called up to Lisa.

”... Where can we hide?!” Lisa shouted back in between leaps. ”They’re going to burn the whole forest down!”

After one last leap, Lisa turned the Ice Scepter back on the robots, and shouted, ”We need to make a spider so we can get out of here!”

"Fine, make the spider! We'll cover you!" Saskia caught a tree with her wing, spun them around on the ice and to a skidded halt facing the robot.

"Gimme the Scepter back!" Ella shouted, waving her hands at Lisa. Lisa just chucked it at her from the treetops.

Ella caught it, and turned it on the robots, doing what Lisa had been before - covering the ground right in front of them with ice before they could melt away. Saskia, meanwhile, created another bone spear and aimed it at yet another flamethrower. It exploded, decimating a robot. However, they raised their flamethrowers at the two and unleashed a current of flames.

"Shit," Saskia cursed. Ella used the Ice Scepter on the tree beside them, grabbing Saskia and pulling them behind it. The tree was frozen solid, like an ice wall, blocking the current of flames even as it melted. It singed their arms but they didn’t get completely destroyed.

Ella leaned around the tree, shooting a focused beam of ice at one of the Robot’s legs, trying to freeze them, before moving the beam along at all of their legs. Which froze them for a moment, but it gave Lisa a great window to get away and summon a spider and imbue it with wings and size.

The knights robotically turned their torsos towards each other and began flaming each other to melt the ice…

”... Throw me the stone!” Lisa shouted.

Saskia shoved her hand in her pocket and pulled out a small pouch they'd bought to store the Orange Stone, and threw it to Lisa. ”Cut it out before you go mad!"

"I can't keep this up," Ella wailed, sweat dripping down her face as she made more ice in front of the robots, unable to freeze them anymore thanks to the flamethrowers.

Lisa caught it, immediately that tiny coccoon began to swell up until it was the size of a sedan. It burst out, and flew over to Lisa and she quickly peeled the Orange Stone off her palm. She grit her teeth as she did so, but triumphantly raised it into the air - before Spider-legs burst out of her back and she launched herself onto the spider. Before commanding the spider to go towards Saskia and Ella.

Saskia began to pull their own wings back into their back, pushing through the pain that came with it - they'd just get in the way on the spider. Blood dripped down their back and clotted before it soaked through their already torn clothes. Fuck. They really needed a pain negation spell.

”Here!" Ella quickly put the Ice Scepter back in the strange holster she had in it and grabbed Saskia, practically throwing them up and onto the approaching spider. Then her legs glowed with light, which she used to jump up much higher than she should - Saskia quickly leaned over to grab Ella's hands and pull her on behind them.

"Quick, let's go."

The spider took off into the sky, giving the three a great view of the burning forest - and the forest that had already been ravaged by the fires. Lisa went in that direction, flying fast as possible until they approached their next biome: a strange coastal beach.

Except the water was blood.

”... YIKES!” Lisa shouted.

"Maybe it's safer than normal water?" Ella said very positively, while laughing uncomfortably and not even being able to look at the water.

"Right, I’m sure there’s nothing in there," Saskia replied sarcastically. They weren’t particularly bothered by the blood water, because it was just another fucked up thing in this place. But it definitely didn’t feel safe. "Let’s go further along the beach."

Lisa wordlessly landed the spider on the beach - and without a word (or thought), flopped into the sand. She made little angels in the sand as ahe said, ”... This sand feels nice at least!” She nervously laughed, ”Reminds me of home - blood aside, y’know.” Lisa sat up, a forced smile etching its way across her face.

"I miss the St Portwell beaches…" Ella said, sitting down beside Lisa. She scooped up some sand in her hand, letting it slip out through her fingers. She smiled, but there was a melancholy in it. "I can’t wait to go back."

"Hopefully soon," Saskia added, joining them on the sand. She wasn’t so fond of beaches and the outdoors, but it was like home… being by the sea, even if it was bloody. They sighed softly. "... will it even be the same, though? Will we actually have a home?"

”It won't, and we won’t,” Lisa shrugged again, lying silent for a moment before adding, ”I mean, it’s been ten years. They probably think we’re long dead…” Lisa awkwardly laughed.

"Ten years we missed out on…" Saskia sighed. They weren’t sure how to feel about it. It was ten years where their two closest friends were also dead - but then there was Kari. All the opportunities they’d missed. ”I wonder if Greta will tell anyone that were alive."

"I hope not! I want it to be a surprise, we can come flying in on a spider in our magical girl outfits! A proper reunion!" Ella threw her fist into the air, before falling back to lie down on the sand. ”We can party and everything. With alcohol!"

”I mean…” Lisa trailed off, shrugging. ”... Do you think they even care anymore?”

Lisa was silent for a second as she stared up at that eerie red sky, ”There isn’t a Coven anymore. Sloane, Aislin, Sully, Ken, they moved on with their lives...” Lisa began.

"Some of them must still care! Even if there isn’t a Coven… I can’t believe they’d all abandon each other," Ella said.

"Sloane was too stubborn to give up her… goal of protecting the city," Saskia shrugged one shoulder. "But I think you’re right Lisa. They’ve moved on. Grieved, forgotten us, maybe."

”... Despite it all, we still need to help Luca. Get back to Adora…” Lisa said, sitting up. ”... Avenge Kari.”

"Yes! There are still people that need us!" Ella also sat up.

"I’ll make the bastard that killed Kari wish he’d never been born," Saskia intoned, eyes narrowing and lips pulling back slightly to reveal her teeth.

"We all will!" Ella shouted, before grabbing both Lisa and Saskia’s hands. "Together!"

Lisa was silent.

”... Stop holding my hand like that; it's gay,”

"... We’ve done much gayer things!" Ella shouted, refusing to let go of Lisa’s hand. Saskia laughed and rolled their eyes. Lisa tried to pull away, laughing herself.

“... Enjoying yourselves?”

---

---

There stood Mother Will, her cloaked figure towering over them. That sinister smile on her face that never went away…

Ella screamed, jumped up, only to stumble and fall back on her ass. "What- Why are you here?!"

“I am everywhere,” The Mother Will said, “Because I am The Pit. I am not just watching your every movement, I feel it.”

Saskia's eyes narrowed, but they didn't make any other movements. Ella had blasted Mother Will with just about every attack when she first appeared… there was no point in doing that or panicking.

"So what if we are enjoying ourselves?"

“Because you are made for this place,” The Mother Will said, “I watched your every movement from your time in the Old Coven, to your death, to your first rebirth.”

The Mother Will was silent, “I have to say I am pleased fate brought you here.”

”Well that's nice, but we haven't really been made to feel welcome," Saskia intoned. ”And we're trying to have a moment here without you creeping."

"And we're not made for this place at all! Everything's trying to kill us and there's blood everywhere!" Ella shouted.

“That is because you haven’t realized the potential within the bounds of this world,” The Mother Will said. “In the Pit, the corpses of worlds bring about limitless possibilities. Treasures like no other - everything you ever wanted...”

The Mother Will looked at Lisa,

“... Revenge.”

Then looked at Saskia,

“... Love.”

Then at Ella,

“... Indulgence and so much more.”

Then she continued, “And above all else; the freedom to act on your impulses, and what everyone wants: power.”

"That’s not what I want, I just want to get home!" Ella declared immediately, staring at Mother Will with complete confidence.

Saskia was silent at first, expressionless. Love… it was her deepest desire dragged out. Thankfully, Ella didn’t even pay attention to it. She probably thought the looks weren’t pointed. But to get that here? When they were barely surviving? "This does seem like the perfect place to practice torture methods… But what if my impulse was to leave?"

The Mother Will unnaturally stretched, her face reaching out to Ella until they were inches apart.

“... This is your home now.”

Ella recoiled, head jerking back and feet pushing against the sand to push her away. "No thank you! There’s no anime here!"

“... How do you know?” The Mother Will replied. “You haven’t looked yet.”

Saskia’s lips twitched down into a deeper frown than normal. This wasn’t their home, and couldn’t be but… How would they get out? Would the Hound be able to teleport them out like he had in Mirage Springs? Something told them that wouldn’t be the case. He’d pushed them down a hellish crack to get here. Would he have to pull them back out?

Could they even get out?

"Then how do we navigate our new home?" They asked without much change in tone, looking and sounding unbothered.

“You don't need to navigate anything,” The Mother Will said as she sank into the ground. “... Everything you ever wanted will find you.”

"... Right, helpful, thanks," Saskia said, raising a hand to give Mother Will a half wave. Thank fuck she was leaving, they really couldn’t handle something like that for long.

"That’s not an answer!" Ella shouted. "How long do we have to wait?!"

The Mother Will didn’t answer, she simply left.

Lisa just shrugged.

”She’s a cryptic bastard, isn’t she?” Lisa laughed. ”We might be down here for a while…”

"I get the feeling she wants us here forever," Saskia said. If that was the case… would it be even harder for them to find the All-Blade?

"No way! She can't keep us here!" Ella said, jumping up. "But Lisa's right… we should prepare for the long haul. But we can survive anything together, right?!"

”Right!” Lisa shouted, throwing her hand in the air for a high-five. Before turning to Saskia, ”... We should sacrifice Ella if necessary, though.”

"Agreed," Saskia intoned as she slapped her hand against Lisa's.

"What?! You'd betray me like that?!" Ella wailed dramatically.

"You are the most annoying," Saskia laughed lightly. Of course, they never would. If anyone was going to be sacrificed… they'd sacrifice themselves.

”Don’t think of it as betrayal,” Lisa smiled. ”Think of it as volunteering!”

She then laughed, ”There isn’t any better way to go out than a heroic sacrifice!”

Ella’s face scrunched up in thought, seeming to think about it quite hard. "I guess you’re right! It’s my job as a magical girl to sacrifice myself for the greater good… Maybe I’ll come back stronger."

"We’re all coming back stronger from this," Saskia said.

Lisa nodded her head, squatting down as she began drawing the symbol of the Sycamore Tree Coven into the sand. She looked up at everyone, and said,

”... Let’s stay here for a little bit, it’s relaxing,” Lisa shrugged, looking at the literal sea of blood. ”Well, for this place’s standards.”

The smell of salt mixed with something metallic filled the air. The three of them rode on the back of the spider as it carefully walked alongside the beach. As far as Lisa could see, there was nothing, just sand, the red sky, and the sea of blood—but no monsters! This was surprising because usually, there was a monster every two feet… However, as they walked forward, in sight came an ancient city. Lisa pointed at it and said,

”... Should we go there? Or should we just keep going?”

"Here's safe but…" Ella held a hand above her eyes, turning to look at the city. "We might find some info in the city… or things that can help us."

"I agree with Ella, for once," Saskia said. "Let's go there."

Lisa didn’t open her mouth to respond; she only took a deep breath as she commanded the spider to advance. She glanced at Saskia and Ella, the lack of monsters was unnerving because she knew something else was coming. The spider approached the city as the scent of salt and metal met the smell of decay. As they entered the city limits, Lisa’s eyes swept across the desolate streets, taking in the sight of broken columns and crumbling walls.

Lisa kept her gaze sharp as the spider navigated through the ruins. Her eyes darted around, alert for any signs of danger or useful objects among the wreckage. The air grew heavier with the scent of decay as they ventured deeper into the city. When they reached a large, partially intact structure, Lisa commanded the spider to pause, and nervously looking between Saskia and Ella, she asked,

”Should we go in?” Lisa shrugged. ”I dunno what’s in there, but could be something!”

Saskia looked around with narrowed eyes, body tense and knife already in their hand. But they nodded. "We run at the first sign of danger."

"If we're lucky the All-Blade will be inside, just like we want!" Ella managed to joke, covering her nose with one hand.

”... Wouldn’t that be convenient!” Lisa snorted as she carefully commanded the spider to enter the building. The first chamber they entered had a high ceiling supported by pillars, the red light of the sky seeping through the cracks and broken windows. The walls were lined with faded murals depicting battles, rituals, and strange beasts.

Lisa hopped off the spider and walked up to a particular mural—one that depicted a robed figure holding up a golden sword that looked suspiciously like the All-Blade. He held it in both hands to stab a giant human with exaggerated features (razor-sharp teeth, claws, breathing fire, red eyes)—another mural of a line of robed figures blasting the Stygian Snake with light beams.

Ella's mouth fell open. "They're fighting the snake?! That isn't… no way it's us. Our robes didn't look like that…"

"Makes sense others fought it," Saskia said, tilting their head back to look at the mural with narrowed eyes. "I'm more interested in what the other thing is…"

”I mean, the Snake’s been around for awhile,” Lisa snorted at Ella. Before pointing at the ‘other thing’ Saskia mentioned. ”It’s a big scary MF, duh!” Lisa laughed before shrugging.

”... Maybe we’ll find out in here.”

"More murals, hopefully!" Ella threw up her hands almost excitedly, skipping forward further into the place.

An ornate stone door at the far end of the chamber stood slightly ajar. Compelled to proceed further, Lisa advanced wordlessly. With every step, the hairs on her neck rose higher and higher, her heart racing. Lisa pressed on without worry as she stepped into the room after pushing the doors wider. It revealed an even grander space; the walls were lined with shelves that contained hundreds, if not thousands, of books. Books, glowing urns, and other pottery had a strange power.

The floor was lined with strange symbols that led to the center of the room - a stone slab with glowing symbols. Lisa grabbed one of the books made of worn leather and opened it… Only to be some language she didn't recognize.

”... Let’s see what we can find,” Lisa began. ”Anything will help at this rate… Just keep on your toes; who knows what might be lurking in here.”

"And no fire," Saskia added, looking at Ella, who pouted.

”Maybe there's ancient magical manga in here!" she said cheerfully, starting to look at the spines of books for any in English… and pulling out a few unlabelled ones, only to put them back.

”I mean, even if there was, we wouldn’t be able to read it,” Lisa snorted again.

Saskia, on the other hand, unclotted the wound on their palm, forming a thin whip. They reached out with it to very gently touch the nearest urn. It did absolutely nothing.

“... Don’t touch me like that; it’s gay.” The urn said.

Lisa shrugged as she kept going through all the books and tombs, but she couldn’t understand them. She put it back as she looked around at her comrades… then pointed at Ella, ”... Ella! Tell the Mother Will you’ll stay here if she translates all this!”

Ella scrunched up her face, looking between Lisa, to Saskia who nodded, then back to Lisa. "I’d stay here forever to read these books but I can’t read them, oh no!"

“... Why hello there,” A feminine voice came from the doorway. Lisa immediately whipped her head around to see a person who had to be around five-foot-something and was wearing a black robe that covered their face. This person was hunched forward and took some slow steps as she said, “... Here for enlightenment, I presume? The answer to some question, I guess?”

”... Maybe.”

Ella screamed, and immediately shot the person with a bolt of lightning. The figure hunched over, growling before she hit a hand out - revealing a disgusting hand covered in boils and festering wounds, oozing a green liquid. Maggots wiggled out of the wounds as flies and bees forced their way out of the person’s flesh. They took flight, filling the room with a cloud of insects and attacking all three.

“Sisters!” The woman screamed. “I need help!”

"Shit," Saskia hunched over as bees started stinging them, rapidly repelling them with blood armour crawling across their skin.

Ella held out her hands, shooting a continuous, short ranged burst of flame out of them in an attempt to torch all of the bugs, still screaming.

Lisa, meanwhile, deployed the Exoskeleton and that was enough to stop the bees. However, there were still bees everywhere, so while Ella was torching them; Lisa raised her hands and created a net of webs around herself. It was to catch the spiders for Ella and give them breathing room… Though, the weirdo in the robe took off running.

"FUCKING BEES!" Ella shouted as she torched them as quickly as she could, shaking her arms at the same time to dislodge ones that were shoving their stingers into her skin. She had an easier time of it with the webs catching them.

”Not just bees but hornets, and beetles, and flies, and mosquitoes…” Lisa said as she was reminded of Trisha.

"It's almost nostalgic," Saskia chuckled. They flicked out their wrist, long blood whip forming and trying to wrap around the robes person's legs and tripped her. She desperately tried to pull away.

”... Remind me to spider Trisha when we get back!”

"I'll make sure to."

“... I am trapped, sisters!” She shouted. “Heeeeeelp!”

Saskia rolled their eyes, using the whip to drag the person back towards them. Ella was finishing off torching all of the bugs, getting rid of any that were still flying around.

"Nobody's coming to help you," Saskia intoned, crouching down beside the robed woman. Ella kept her eye on where she'd been trying to run.

The woman threw the hood up and revealed her skin had heavily rotted away with maggots and worms burrowing into her flesh. She gave Saskia the side eye.

“... Of course they are coming to help,” The lady began. “We are everywhere in the ancient city! We were tracking your every moment from the moment you came from the beach.”

The lady paused, “Even if they don't help me now, they are taking position outside...”

She narrowed her eyes. “... I was only trying to induct you into our sisterhood and you attack me!

"Are they all as weak as you?" Saskia asked.

“... Find out, whore!”

Ella couldn't even look at the woman, head tilted back to look up and avoid her. "I don't want to join a sisterhood and end up looking like you! We're already part of one- and I've watched too many anime with creepy cults to trust you!"

"Explain your sisterhood," Saskia said, long, thing bone needle poking out their finger and pointing at the woman's rotting neck..

“We are the Abyss,” The woman began, “Much like you, we found ourselves in the Pit for one reason or another. We wanted to find a way out, but in time we discovered everything this place offers. Then we discovered that we belong here. This place is home. Just as our Goddess the Mother Will says.”

"So just a cult. That's boring." Saskia intoned, tilting their head back to look up at Ella and Lisa. "Should I kill her? It's a shame we can't eat her."

Lisa shrugged.

”No need...”

A Chitionious spear went directly through the woman’s head and popped out through the other side. Because her skin and bones were rotting, it was easy for the spear to break through. However, the spear sent many maggots flying across the room.

”... Kill stolen.” Lisa awkwardly laughed. Desperately trying to lighten the mood, fake playfulness is better than no playfulness. She looked around, ”Should we keep looking around or just get out of here?”

Saskia grimaced, flicking away the maggots that had landed on their face and standing back up. "Let's leave, we clearly won't be able to read any of these books."

”This place is giving me the creeps," Ella shuddered, as if the whole place wasn't creepy. She was actively trying to not look at any of the maggots, it seemed. Lisa stepped on a maggot on the floor, crunched it underneath her feet, then shrugged.

”... Toooo the spiiiiiiiiiiider!” Lisa shouted as she led the magical girls back to the spider, which was untouched in the other room and mounted it. She gestured for the other two to climb on before commanding them to walk outside...

… And it quickly became clear that weirdo wasn’t talking out her ass.

The previously empty rooftops were now lined with robed figures wielding flaming crossbows and rifles (including the oversized muskets used by the Autoknights). The cultists wore tattered robes and had their faces hidden behind crude masks - some made to resemble demonic faces, and others were simply cloth wraps with eye slits. They were spread out, forming a perimeter, and many points for them to get a clean shot at them… Lisa’s eyes shot wide open.

"Well shit," Saskia said quietly. "You can't make armour for the spider, can you?"

”I mean, technically it already has armor…” Lisa shrugged.

Ella reached over to put a hand on Saskia and Lisa's shoulders, beginning to transform their clothes into much more protective (and styled to their taste) magical girl outfits. "... We're just passing by, peacefully, please let us through!"

”Yeah!” Lisa said before she lied out of her ass. ”Your friend is a-okay! We just finished with some freaky sex with a lot of bugs, and she’s all tuckered out! Just go in there liiiiiiiiike a few minutes after we leave, and she’ll be all good!”

There was silence.

”... Ella, show ‘im your tids.”

"Yeah, Ella, get them out," Saskia intoned.

Ella’s eyes widened, and she looked between her two friends, then at all the people surrounding them. Making the decision quickly, she pulled her hands back to pull up her shirt. She was wearing a bra underneath, obviously… "I’ll- I’ll take my bra off if you put your weapons down!"

Each of the cultists looked at each other in confusion. There was some faint chattering, but it was too far for Lisa (or any of them) to make out what they were saying. Lisa casually commanded the spider to walk down the street while they were distracted slowly…

“... Don’t let them get away!” One of them shouted.

Before they opened fire, and a barrage of flaming crossbow bolts came at them from above. ”... Shit.” Lisa hissed as she commanded the spider to take flight. However, she only commanded it to fly forward because going straight up was a death sentence. ”Ella, now is the time to shoot them with lightning!”

"Got it- MAGICAL LIGHTNING STRIKE!" Ella screamed unnecessarily, dropping her shirt. Her hands were coated in electricity, and she shot large bolts of lightning at as many cultists as she could. She shot a constant stream, moving her hands from cultist to cultist.

Meanwhile, Lisa just had the spider pick up speed and take flight…

… A gunshot rang out, and it went through the wing of the spider. ”Fuck!” Lisa shouted as the spider flew out of control. ”Shit, shit, shit!” Lisa shouted again before she deployed Snare to stop them from falling out of control. They were caught by the web… unfortunately, the rooftops were still lined with cultists.

”Give me The Stone!” Lisa shouted.

Saskia pulled out the Stone and shoved it right into Lisa’s hand. Ella was still blasting cultists with lightning before swapping to throwing fireballs at them. Sweat began to drip down her face as the constant barrage of attacks clearly exhausted her.

When the Orange-Stone hit her hand, Lisa channeled its immense power to summon spiders - then applied the Enlarge and Hybridization spells to them. She immediately brought them to full size with the Orange Stone, and they immediately burst out. Lisa commanded them to fly up towards the cultists and applied the Acid-Burst spell. They exploded, spraying acid and chitin in all directions and making the cultists scatter.

But that wasn’t enough! Lisa kept making spiders and sending her suicide bombs at them-

A flaming bolt from a crossbow caught her off guard, piercing her cheek and coming out through her jaw. Blood and teeth flew outwards as Lisa was caught off guard - unsure of what to do.

"Shit- give it to me," Saskia hissed. They reached over, slamming their hand onto the orange stone embedded in Lisa's hand. It stuck to their hand too… but was still embedded in Lisa's too. "Heal yourself."

Ella was crouched down, less frequently sending out bolts of lightning. She was panting heavily.

Saskia shoved massive wings through their back, extending out double the normal side, with sharp bone tips pushing out along the whole bottom edge, and hardened muscles coated them. They wrapped them around Ella and Lisa in a temporary wing shield. "Lisa… can you summon enough spiders for blood rain?"

Unfortunately, Lisa could not fucking talk right now… her tongue dangled helplessly as she felt a white-hot burning in her face. A shaky hand raised a thumb as she summoned her blood-filled spiders high up into the sky…

Saskia raised their hand, causing the blood sacks in the spiders to expand and expand. They got bigger than they ever had before, then exploded over the entire area, raining down acidic, sticky blood. Their wings pulled Lisa and Ella in, taking the brunt of the rain, which melted through the muscle and bone horrifically.

The cultists got the brunt of it due to their positioning and ran away screaming. Well, the ones that could - many were killed outright.

"Here," Ella whispered, as stray drops of acid hit her. She grabbed her Channeler to hit Lisa with a beam of healing light. Which provided a slight relief before realizing.

The arrow was still fucking in her jaw.

Just healed over.

Lisa grumbled, pointing at the arrow. She needed to kill those cockroaches before they got away.

Saskia withdrew what was left of their wings, and a thin bone spear poked through every finger of their free hand. They used them to perform a makeshift surgery… cutting through Lisa's cheek to pull out the arrow.

Ella tried to shoot the running cultists with lightning, but she looked pretty drained, struggling to keep up. Lisa could still not talk, but she looked up and saw most of the cultists were dead, stuck, or retreating… she placed her free hand on the spider. The wounds that it had sustained, including its wings, were healed instantly. Lisa’s head went back towards the Cultists. She needed to crush these-

Spiders came from underneath Lisa’s clothes and ran down her and Saskia’s arms. At their joined hands, Lisa activated the acid-burst spell, and they exploded. The acid dissolved both of their hands - painfully - and removed the Orange Stone. She screamed in pain as the Orange Stone fell onto the back of the spider.

Lisa immediately commanded the spider to take flight, and the three of them darted out of the chaos of the ancient city. Leaving empty-handed yet again…

---

As Lisa, Saskia, and Ella escape the ancient city and its deadly cultists, they stumble into a new biome—an eerie, fragmented swamp combining natural and unnatural elements. This swamp is a mishmash of broken ecosystems, with patches of dense, suffocating fog that hang over stagnant, dark waters. The trees were twisted and gnarled, oozing a black sap that smelled of decay… and occasionally, the trees changed position. The spider landed on the ground, and Lisa hopped off and felt the spongy earth beneath her feet. Her outfit was drenched in her blood, but she managed to heal herself during the trip here. Lisa looked ahead and saw strangely ghostly, orbs of lights that drifted aimlessly through the fog.

At the swamp's edge, they saw a strange shack. Lisa was tired and wanted a break… She pointed at it. ”Let’s make sure it’s safe and take it easy for the night… day… whatever the hell the time of day is down here.”

"Who knows," Saskia shrugged. Ella had healed their hand on the flight, and they’d put the Orange Stone back into the little carry bag they had for it. "That shack is definitely the setting of some horror film."

"This whole place is a horror film!" Ella said, while she nodded enthusiastically to what Lisa had said. "I need to sleep… I used too much energy shooting all that lightning. Hopefully it’s empty."

As she spoke she began to approach the shack… but it was clear all the events had started to take their toll by the way she didn’t just rush in, but went towards it slowly and cautiously.

”I mean, if it’s not, all we have to do is murder what’s inside!” Lisa laughed as she walked towards the ramshackle… shack. She walked up to the front door and casually pushed it open… she could smell the reeking odor of decay, rotting wood, and swamp water. However, it seemed empty despite the place being a complete mess, and Lisa found a somewhat intact bed. She looked to the left and the right.

”You know the deal; I’ll cover this place in spider webs, and then we sleep until a monster shows up or something,” Lisa shrugged.

"The monster attacks are getting a bit boring," Saskia laughed drily. They began to look around the place, kicking over some of the debris across the floor. "I wish they’d spice it up a bit."

"I don’t!" Ella yawned, flopping right onto the bed. She spread her limbs out into a star shape.

Lisa just shrugged as she summoned a horde of Darwin Bark spiders, which covered the location in webs… making it a near impenetrable fortress—or enough for Lisa and company not to get caught off guard. Afterward, Lisa hopped on the bed with the others and cuddled them.

”Night night!” Lisa said, falling asleep…

---

---

As Lisa peacefully drifted off, she felt something strange…

Lisa heard the crashing of waves, and the air was thick with the scent of salt. Her eyes opened as she sat up… The sky wasn’t red like she was growing accustomed to, but it was a shade of twilight blue, seeming neither day nor night. Clouds shaped like cotton candy lazily floated over her head, and beneath her feet was soft, warm sand. Lisa was unsure whether she was awake or asleep… and despite the tranquil surroundings, this place was uneasy. Something horrible that lurked undeath….

Lisa blinked.

Then the Mother Will was there.

Lisa recoiled as the strange being said,

“... It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” The Mother Will said, turning towards the water for a moment. “... Do you know why you’re here?”

Lisa shook her head, seemingly losing her voice.

“The Pit contains more than power… as I said before, it is the home of enlightenment and change,” The Mother Will explained. “There are truths you need to face, Lisa. Truths about yourself, and her...”

Despite the warmth of the sand, Lisa felt a chill…

“... Emily G. Reed,” The Mother Will began. “Your tormentor.”

That name made Lisa’s fucking heart flutter as that chill crept down her spine, making the poor girl shudder. Lisa looked at the waves, trying to find some relief as she tried to distract herself through any means necessary.

“I can sense great rage in your heart,” The Mother Will said, “It overpowers everything else… and there isn’t a day or second where that woman doesn’t enter your thoughts. She was your tormentor. She harassed you not only in school but in the Old Coven. And that made you angry. It made you angry that you couldn’t stop it. And as much as you love Adora Phoenix-Prescott, the fact you needed her to save you only makes you angrier.”

The Mother Will laughed as bad memories were brought up.

“But, what if I told you the truth about Emily G. Reed…” The Mother Will began. “The real reason why you were her target, her obsession…”

Lisa was still silent, getting over the recoil of hearing Emily G. Reed’s name.

“She hated you and your friends because she was afraid of you all,” The Mother Will said, and Lisa tilted her head. “You all were so unabashedly - unapologetically - the very thing that she hated herself for.”

The Mother Will laughed, “Even in all of her lust for power - desperately holding onto it because she knows without it, she’s nothing - she knew you had something she didn’t. And that made her terrified of you. So that’s why she was so desperate to put you down - make you the insect.”

The Mother Will paused for dramatic effect, “Because… Emily is the insect that wants to be the wolf. Try as she might, but she is still the insect. And she knows it. Thus, she wants to hide her insecurities and fear by gorging herself on power and making everyone else the insect.”

This all made sense to Lisa, but no sense… Lisa hated Emily with all of her heart. But the Mother Will continued…

“Yet, despite all the pain she caused you, she made you stronger. Stronger than anyone ever could have imagined. Not only that, she gave you EVERYTHING you wanted. Friendship, power, purpose, a guiding light… Did she not?”

Lisa tapped her fingertips together before she answered…

”... Yes.”

“Emily’s fear of you was always her greatest weakness,” The Mother Will said, “That's why she tried so hard to hurt you - to keep you from realizing how strong you are.”

The Mother Will laughed, “She wanted to make you feel small and insignificant, and in doing so, she only revealed her own insecurities—her own fear of being exposed as weak. She knew, deep down, you were everything she could never be.”

Lisa’s jaw tightened when she began to remember all the sick pranks Emily had played on her. Lisa knew there was a deeper meaning, but she never considered it.

“And yet, despite all she’s done, Emily G. Reed not only walks free but only has gotten worse in time,” The Mother Will said before raising a hand, “Observe.”

Suddenly, that beach oasis fell apart… as if it were dust blown by a strong gust of wind. It was nothing but darkness until the scene reformed. St. Portwell - at least that was what Lisa thought - Emily was in a warehouse. Her goons were behind her, and a group of people was in front of her—just regular people, looking on in fear of Emily G. Reed.

“... Spare us!” One of them shouted.

Emily put her hands on her hips and smiled. Her mouth moved to say a few words, but all Lisa heard was silence. Up until the end.

“... You all made your decision,” Emily began, before rolling her eyes, “... Now die.”

Emily swiped her hand, and a powerful wave of fire came and incinerated the people. Their screams were muffled by the screams inherent to Emily’s hellfire. Then the scene changed to various scenes of Emily massacring innocent people, causing destruction, and being the very monster Lisa thought she was…. Until the dust settled, and it returned to that beach scene.

“... If it weren’t for Britney Williams, Emily G. Reed would have just been another casualty of the Stygian Snake.” The Mother Will explained.

Lisa tilted her head, ”... What did Britney do?”

The Mother Will laughed.

“... She gave her Babylon the Great, of course,“ The Mother Will started, and Lisa’s eyes shot open in shock. “It was a choice made out of desperation, not considering the consequences of her actions at all! Because of her, Emily G. Reed and Babylon the Great are still alive. She is still victimizing people on an unprecedented scale because fewer people are capable of stopping her! And worst of all…”

Somehow, the Mother Will’s grin widened.

“... She thinks she won.”

Rage traveled up Lisa’s spine to her fists… which were tightly balled into fists. But the Mother Will’s voice dropped lower when she said,

“... But, you Lisa, you’re different,” The Mother Will started, “She gave you nothing but hell, yet you’ve endured. She sent you on the darkest spiral, and you came back! Even death couldn’t stop you! Imagine the look on her face when she sees that you’ve returned… And you can show her what true strength, what true power looks like…”

The beach seemed to grow quieter, the weight of the words pressing in on Lisa. The Mother Will wasn’t demanding anything; she merely presented the truth as it was, laying it bare before Lisa’s eyes.

"After all," she continued, her tone smooth as silk, "isn’t it only fair that she finally sees the consequences of her actions? That she feels the fear she tried to instill in you?"

Lisa exhaled… the thought of finally taking Emily down was so tempting.

“... It’s your choice,” The Mother Will said, raising a hand, “You have the power to stop Emily G. Reed, just as you can ignore me...”

The Mother Will placed her thumb and index finger together.

“... Do what you must, Lisa Turner.”

The Mother Will snapped her fingers, and Lisa woke up.

A sudden rainstorm awoke the three… it was strange that this place could rain at all. For once, they didn’t get attacked by monsters. The building was shaking, loudly creaking from the rainstorm…

Ella sat bolt upright, eyes wide as she turned her head towards the windows… not that she could look outside, because Lisa had completely boarded the place up with spider webs. She didn’t like the creaking. It was like the whole place could fall down at any time.

"Shit, that doesn’t sound like a normal storm," Saskia said as they jumped out of the bed.

"Maybe it’ll pass through?" Ella said hopefully, struggling to believe that would be the case even as she said it. She got up, before holding her head with a wail. "We didn’t bring any raincoats!"

”I mean,” Lisa shrugged. ”We don’t know how long it’ll last… we try and wait it out and…” Lisa trailed off.

”... Yeah, let’s just go.”

Ella nodded. Saskia held up a hand before either of them made a move towards the door.

"Lisa, tie us together. If the wind’s strong enough… better we all get blown away together. Or Ella’s fat ass will keep us on the ground."

"Hey!"

”Hehe, you need a spell to shrink that,” Lisa laughed, sticking her tongue out. Lisa raised both hands, and a thick web connected them. The building felt like it was about to fall apart! Lisa gestured for the door.

Ella pouted, but pushed through… leading the way through the door. Immediately, she was hit by the rain, soaking through her clothes. It was falling so fast it hurt. "Where do we go?!"

"Literally anywhere else!"

Ella grimaced, picked a random direction, and started trying to walk, and eyes formed on Lisa’s forehead, and upper cheeks. As they pushed through the rain, the web barely keeping them together in this rain storm, their clothes stuck to their bodies. Every step was heavy… Lisa immediately came to a stop, as she pointed ahead.

… There were figures in the storm. Not in the shape of a monster or beast.

But a human being.

About a dozen of them spread out as they approached the group… Soon, coming into view, they looked like ordinary people, with scared, tired, and weary expressions on their faces. They wore tattered scraps of fabric and leather that they could gather…. They were all armed with various weapons scraps of objects that they salvaged from the Pit - sharpened pipes, chair legs, baseball bats, and one of them even had a sword - and they stopped when they noticed them—looking in shock for a moment as if the group hadn’t seen the girls yet. However, one of them - a large man who was gaunt from his time in the Pit, wielding a sharpened piece of rebar like a spear - took a few steps forward. He spoke - and despite his size, he was trembling with every word.

“... W-we don’t want any trouble!” He shouted. “Stay back!”

In his jacket pocket, a glowing light pierced through the storm…

Ella tilted her head, not attacking immediately for once… partly because of the rain, she'd just electrocute herself! Though she could freeze them all… but they didn't seem dangerous. They were clearly terrified. And they didn't even look that intimidating!

"We won't help you! We're just three girls!" Ella lied cheerfully, one hand on her hip and pointing to the glowing light. This Storm was an absolute pain, they could barely move, she was cold and couldn't see… so… "Why's that light visible?"

The large man’s grip on the spear tightened… as Ella spoke, many raised their weapons. However, his eyes narrowed as she pointed at the glow in his pocket.

“Don’t come any closer!” He shouted. “It’s the only thing keeping us safe here! If you take it, we’re dead!”

One of the other figures, a wirey woman wielding a piece of rebar with concrete at the end of it - who stood by the large man - looked to the left and right. Terrified… she raised the piece over her head and lunged at Ella, swinging it downwards.

Ella barely flinched, colour draining from her bright pink jacket to cover her hands, which caught the rebar. She pushed back against it, aiming to throw the woman off balance.

"That’s it," Saskia’s eyes narrowed, bone spear shoving through her hand, snapping off and falling into the other. She pulled her arm back to throw it. "We-"

"Stop!" Ella shouted before Saskia could, holding her hands up. "Maybe we can come to an agreement? Get through this storm together, at least?"

The leader was silent…

“... Give us everything you have!” One of them shouted.

“Yeah! We outnumber you three!” Another shouted.

“We need it!”

The leader sighed before saying, “... Give us everything, and then leave.” He tightened his grip on the pipe. “That is the agreement.”

Saskia held up her hands, turning her head towards Ella, eyebrows raised. Ella frowned… clearly now was the time to actually attack!

At this rate they'd die from the cold and the rain.

"Well, we gave you a chance," Ella said cheerfully. One hand reached back to grasp the Ice Scepter. "Bye!"

Her other hand shot out, sending out a blast of incredibly hard snow large enough to catch the whole group thanks to the Ice Scepter.

“What the hell?!” The group was surprised when the blasts of snow hit them, and many of them were knocked over. On the other hand, Lisa stuck both of her hands out and summoned five Chitinionious spears that would impale the group's legs, one directed at the group’s leader…

”Run! Leave! You don’t want this fight!” Lisa shouted over the rain as loud as she could.

The leader was hit through the hip with the spear and fell backward. He groaned, pulling himself up as much as he could and his hand slipping into his pocket to grab the glowing object. He coughed before saying, “... You leave me no choice!”

He pulled out a peculiar orb, and as he clutched it, the artifact gleaned ominously… The intricate design on its surface came to life as the man chanted…
“Hold dominion over the skies…” His voice strained.

He raised the artifact high… and the storm intensified. The rain poured in a far heavier volume as the winds became so fierce that they threatened to lift them off the ground. Lightning struck in random locations,c and the whole scene became utter chaos

”We need to get that or off him!" Saskia shouted, going down on one knee. She pulled back her arm and threw the bone spear in her arm at the leaders shoulder.

"Saskia- boost me!" Ella shouted back, talking about their joint cast. She ran closer to Saskia, grabbing their hands. Saskia nodded, and they both channeled their green lux to make Ella much lighter, faster and stronger. Like this she probably wouldn't get blown away! Probably.

Then Ella ran for the leader, fast enough that she was almost a blur, and kicked a glowing foot at his stomach. He spit up blood, and, well, spit, as he was launched backward, and fell onto his back, dropping the orb. Suddenly, the rain storm vanished… and all of them ran into the swamp.

"Well, that was easy!" Ella said cheerfully.

"It was boring," Saskia intoned.

Ella laughed and squatted next to the orb, looking at it. If she picked it up would the storm immediately start again? She shrugged, and grabbed it anyway.

… And nothing happened.

”Aw, you broke it!”

"I just touched it!" Ella shouted.

”... Is that what your uncle said?” Lisa laughed like a goblin.

"Say the lame phrase, you're good at that," Saskia pointed out.

Ella pouted, standing up holding the orb. Hopefully she wouldn't just blow everyone away! "Hold dominion over the skies!"

Nothing happened.

Lisa shrugged.

”Let’s throw it at monsters!”

"Ooo, we can do monster bowling!" Ella grinned, shoving the orb into her backpack. She then shivered, looking down at her soaked clothes. "Let's find somewhere to get dry…"

Lisa shrugged.

”... We can always get naked!” Lisa awkwardly laughed as she walked in one direction with the others. Eventually, they left the swamp biome and entered a neighborhood biome… It was suburban, and all the houses were untouched, completely in perfect order.

”Let’s hunker down again,” Lisa suggested.

"Sounds good, I feel like I barely slept," Ella said, yawning. Maybe it was the rain… or just the paranoia while sleeping that something would attack. "We can hang our clothes to dry while we sleep!"

"And get attacked naked?" Saskia said.

”I mean, we got more clothes, right? Right, Saskia?” Lisa looked at Saskia in horror. ”RIGHT?!”

Saskia just stared at Lisa silently. Expression completely unreadable. Eventually, they spoke. "Did you pack any?"

”Of course!” Lisa said, throwing her hands in the air.

"I brought one change. That's enough," Saskia shrugged.

"Only one?!" Ella's mouth fell open. That was too few… at least they had one, but it still wasn't enough. "What if it gets wet too?"

"It won't," Saskia rolled their eyes. "Let's just find somewhere to sleep."

”It’s not like we can’t find more clothes down here,” Lisa said with a shrug as they approached the nearest house… and opened the door, as it was left unlocked. As she opened it, the house was in utterly perfect condition. Nothing was disturbed, but there was nobody there… completely untouched. The first thing Lisa did was open the refrigerator to reveal that it was fully stocked with fresh food. The cabinets were also stocked with snacks and other things. ”Holy shit! Let’s loot ever-”

“... The Pit provides.”

They heard the Mother Will’s voice like a whisper. Lisa’s head darted over her shoulder, looking for the spooky bastard, but she wasn’t there.

Ella screamed, arms coming up in a ridiculous looking karate position. She only relaxed when she was sure Mother Will wasn’t there.

"Can you scream quieter?" Saskia groaned, grabbing a chocolate bar from the cabinets and practically devouring it just like that.

"I’ll try…" Ella pouted, looking past Lisa and into the fridge at all the food. So much! "Maybe I can cook us a proper meal!"

”Yes, fatten us up for the monsters!” Lisa rolled her eyes.

"We need food for energy to fight the monsters," Ella countered.

”... Okay,” Lisa shrugged. ”I’m going to check upstairs.

Lisa walked upstairs into the bathroom and turned the knob to the shower… and the unexpected happened.

It sprayed water.

Not blood.

Nothing weird.

Just water.

"We can shower!" Ella practically cheered, having followed right behind Lisa. She was grinning widely. "First shower’s mine!"

”Well, someone has to keep watch,” Lisa said with a casual shrug.

"I’ll keep watch, I’m not in a rush," Saskia said, leaning on the wall just outside of the shower.

"Yay!" Ella grinned… immediately turning on the shower and starting to strip.

”I’ll watch the outside and make sure no monster eats us!” Lisa said with a toothy grin as she walked to the nearest window…

Ella quickly jumped into the shower, singing anime songs as she did… but quietly, so not to alert any weeaboo monsters in the area! She took her time to scrub off all the blood that had accumulated, drying herself off with a surprisingly fluffy towel and changing into some fresh clothes.

"Shower’s free!"

”.., Dibs!” Lisa quickly stripped out of her clothes and took a lengthy shower. After she was done, she came out, and dug into her backpack for a fresh set of clothes… And threw it all on.

Saskia shrugged, going in last. Their shower was incredibly brief, and they came out with some blood still in their hair, changing into their change of clothes… practically identical to her soaked set, completely black.

Ella held a hand over her mouth where she was half watching out the window, yawning. "Sorry girls, I think I’m too tired to cook."

"You can’t actually cook anyway," Saskia rolled their eyes.

”Well, let’s hit the hay,” Lisa said as she did the usual routine of summoning a horde of Darwin’s Bark Spiders to seal every entrance and exit with spider webs. Afterwards, she lay down and went to bed with the others. Saskia crawled in with a yawn. Ella paused, looking around first.

Just in case.

But the place was empty. So she got onto the bed, long arms wrapping around Saskia and Lisa as the biggest spoon, smiling as she fell asleep.

---

---

Like Lisa did the previous “night,” Ella opened her eyes to a familiar world of motion and color… the familiar sights, sounds, and smells of Oceanview Gardens. The boardwalk stretched endlessly, and the waves crashed rhythmically… Everywhere Ella looked, there were people, but they were not entirely accurate. They looked and sounded real, but whenever Ella came in contact with them, they would phase through her as if she were intangible. They laughed and chatted, their voices soft and distorted, blending into the hum of the ocean breeze.

“... This is one of your favorite places back home,” The Mother Will appeared in the blink of an eye. There was no fanfare or transformations, and the Mother Will looked around. “Is it not?” She looked at Ella.

Ella had been enjoying the familiar scene… the smell of salt in the air, joyful sounds that seemed so familiar yet so strange at the same time. It wasn’t quite right, it wasn’t quite real, but it filled her with a yearning and joy she could shake. Until Mother Will appeared, and the smile slipped off her face.

"It is," Ella replied, turning towards the Mother Will, head tilted slightly. It had been one of the places she enjoyed going. A place not ruined by the Stygian Snake, like the Arcade had been. She’d been there with Saskia before… then them, Kari and Lisa in a brief moment of reprieve they’d had. "Why are you showing me it?"

“Because this is a place of joy! Of comfort!” The Mother Will began, dramatically raising a fist as she turned away…

“And because, despite your resistance…” The Mother Will began, turning back towards Ella. “... The Pit favors you three… and does not want to see you falter! So I came to you with a warning..”

The Mother Will paused, and the entire world stopped—as if frozen in time.

“A foe,” The Mother Will began, her voice calm. “A powerful adversary lies ahead, one whose presence could reshape the course of your journey. She is no mere opponent; her power and ruthlessness could unravel everything you’ve worked so hard for…”

The Mother Will slowly raised a fist…

… The scene shifted from the vibrance of Oceanview Gardens to a dramatic scene… the ruins of St. Portwell. The bustling boardwalk that the city was reduced to a disarray mess. Its wooden planks shattered and twisted, scattered among broken game stalls and rusted food stands. The Ferris wheel stood as a skeletal frame against the stormy sky, and waves crashed violently against the crumbling supports. The air was thick, and it smelled of salt and decay. The rest of St. Portwell ominously loomed from the ruined boardwalk in a fractured silhouette against the stormy sky. The city's skyline, once vibrant with its blend of modern skyscrapers and historic buildings, now appeared as dark, shadowy forms…

However, that wasn’t the focal point.

In the center of it all, Ella crashed her fist against the blade of that stranger they ran into the other night - the Samurai wearing tattered leather with the strange helmet. However, they were standing over the dead bodies of Lisa and Saskia… Lisa was wholly decapitated with her intestines sprawled over the floor; her eyes were wide with horror, and her jaw slack. Saskia was slumped up against the wall, with several lacerations all over their body, missing both of their arms, and a sword sticking out of their skull, oozing blood.

The Mother Will faced Ella, sinisterly chuckling, “This woman, this samurai seeks the All-Blade much like you and your friends do. However, she seeks to end you all to eliminate all competition for the All-Blade, and she is ruthless in that endeavor.”

The Mother Will paused for effect.

“... You and this samurai are fated to clash in the ruins of St. Portwell. Where your battle will determine the fate of your journey - she will kill all three of you, or you will kill her for the safety of your friends.”

"Saskia, Lisa!" Ella ignored what was said at first, running towards the bodies and falling onto her knees just before she reached them… reached the other her that was fighting their murderer. Tears spilled down her cheeks immediately, heart thudding in her chest, fear clutching her.

This was something that was going to happen? She couldn’t let it happen. She couldn’t let Saskia and Lisa die.

"Who is she?! If- If I kill her before, can I save them?"

The Mother Will was silent for a moment.

“... Kaida Takamura,” The Mother Will ominously answered. “A fanatic of the Stygian Snake that follows the teachings of Uroboros - a cult that worshipped the Stygian Snake. She was the one that was slaughtering your friends out of revenge for sealing the Stygian Snake...”

The Mother Will paused momentarily; that smile somehow widened.

“... She is the one that killed Kari Wilson.”

"... Kari too…" Ella whispered, barely reacting or moving. All she felt was shock and pain.

“However, she has ventured into the Pit for the All-Blade, believing that it can not only free the Stygian Snake but plunge the world into darkness…” The Mother Will began. “She knows you’re here. She knows you’re after the All-Blade. And she knows you will get in her way, so….”

The Mother Will laughed.

“... Yes, if you kill her, you can save your friends. But it will be the greatest challenge of your life, my girl. Kaida is relentless. Powerful. Dangerous. And she will stop at nothing to get the All-Blade and revenge for opposing her deity!”

Ella's hands clenched into fists, and she punched the ground with one of them. Someone who wanted to release the Stygian Snake… this went beyond just killing her best friends. It could kill everyone. Making their first death in complete vain. All that pain.

"Where is she? You said that Pit gives us anything we desire… can it bring me to her? Then I can kill her." There was no hesitation or even consideration about why she was being told this. Ella didn't care. Any risk of Lisa and Saskia dying was one she wasn't willing to take.

"I'll beat her, I don't care how strong she is… I'll be stronger. I won't let this happen. I can't let this happen. Even if i have to sacrifice myself!"

The Mother Will laughed, raising a hand.

“... If you insist.”

Before snapping her fingers, Ella rose awake.

---

When Ella awoke…, neither Saskia nor Lisa was in sight. She woke in a bed… a familiar bed, in fact: the bed in her room, the room she had in perfect condition ten years ago.

In the ruins of St. Portwell.

”... Where the fuck is Ella?!” Lisa shouted, waking Saskia up as she hopped to her feet. ”Ella! Ella! Where the fuck did you go!? This isn’t funny!”

Saskia was awake immediately, sitting bolt upright and looking behind her where Ella had definitely been when they all fell asleep. They hadn't felt her move either - though they'd gotten used to Ella's movements during the night, and getting kicked a few times. Had they been that tired?

"Ella? Ella!" Saskia jumped out of bed and joined Lisa in shouting. They ran out of the bedroom, checking the bathroom… then downstairs. Nothing. No sign of her. No telltale anime singing, no random shouting. Unless Ella had magically developed the ability to stay quiet. "Ella, if you're hiding, I'm going to torture you within an inch of your life."

Nothing. No response.

Fear clawed at Saskia's chest, their lips pulling down into a heavy frown even as the rest of their expression was minimal. Had she gone outside? But that was dangerous. Had something… gotten her somehow, while they were sleeping? All of Lisa's webs were still intact. It was just like… just like when they died. Grief and anger they'd never gotten the chance to work through, because then they'd died and Ella was there again, began to well up inside them.

"She's not inside," Saskia said, coming back to Lisa after checking the whole place. They were lightly sweating from running, and the underlying panic of it all. ”Shit… all your webs are still intact. She can't have left unless she learned to teleport. Fuck, maybe she snuck out, let's look outside."

”She’s not even a Purple!” Lisa snorted as the webs surrounding the front door began to dissolve. She ran outside and it was the same as she remembered. Nothing changed even in the slightest. ”... How long were we asleep? Fuck. There is no day-night cycle so we can’t even tell...” Lisa smooshed her cheeks up and wiped her face with her hands.

There was a faint rumbling in the distance, like from a motorcycle…

"I don't know, but I don't sleep heavily enough to sleep through Ella stomping around," Saskia frowned, pressing a hand to their forehead. Where the fuck was she? How had she just disappeared? She had to still be alive… somewhere.

She didn't want to leave, in case Ella came back, but how likely was that? If she hadn't walked out on her own two legs…

"Someone else teleported her," Saskia intoned. They furrowed their brow, gaze moving to where the sound was. Their nails dug into the unhealed wound on their hand, drawing enough blood for it to start coating their arm. "I don't know what the sound is, but maybe it's whatever kidnapped her."

They didn't even wait for Lisa's response to start heading in its direction.

”Wait, Saskia!” Lisa stuck her hand out. ”... At least let me make some Goddamn spiders!” Lisa shouted, as she did just that.

The rumbling got louder… as a cloud of dust smoke came their way. A massive, armored bus, alongside a gaggle of motorcycles. Each motorcyclist was clad in scraps of metal and other bits and pieces to act as armor; their faces were concealed by a cloth that was likely to protect against the elements. One of them noticed Saskia and pointed at them as the convoy changed direction to go towards them.

Saskia stopped, narrowing their eyes. They folded their arms and just stared at the bikers unflinchingly, blood crawling across her skin and covering her whole body. The group looked like they were right out of a Mad Max movie or some shit like that…

"Oy, you seen a girl with bright pink hair?" they shouted at the motorcyclists when they got close enough. Was it stupid? Yeah, they'd probably attack, but Saskia didn't really care. They'd just kill them all. And they'd kill anyone else in their path until they found Ella.

They circled Saskia, and their motorcycles came to a stop. They dismounted, wielding firearms and makeshift weapons.

“... No we haven’t,” One of them said.

“But don't worry,” Another began, “We’ll find her.”

“... Just come with us,”

Saskia raised an eyebrow. Oh, did they think she was just some stupid, young woman who’d jump at the offer of help? No. Reckless, irrational right now, but not a complete idiot. "You’ll just scare her off. But thanks."

Blood hardened around her, and with a sickening crunch muscular wings pushed through her back. The feeling of her flesh tearing was excruciating, but it felt like nothing compared to the pain of Ella being missing. Nothing. The blood from the wounds was pulled to their central back, blood tendril forming as their wings pushed through.

"Since you haven’t seen her, I have no use for you. Bye."

The blood tendril shot out for the throat of one of the first motorcyclist that had answered. It penetrated, and he gagged, coughing up blood.

“Get her!”

“You’re coming with us!”

They pulled out nets and tossed them at Saskia. They all bum-rushed them, coming at them from all angles. However, a giant Huntsmen spider came out of nowhere and grabbed the ones with nets. It injected digestive enzymes into his torso as he screamed in horror.

The buzzing of insect wings became overpowering.

”...Good grief!” Lisa shouted as she came flying on a spider’s back. It was a tetrablemmidae with wings, and she was crouched down on its abdomen. She looked annoyed, but she had a team of three other spiders.

“... What the hell?! Kill it!” One of the bandita said, aiming a machine gun at it and gunning it down.

"What a pain," Saskia intoned. Their wings fully pushed through, sharp tips ripping through the nets that had actually been thrown at them.

Her blood tendril swept out, knocking as many as they could off their feet, while more blood formed a thin whip from her fingers. She was starting to get a bit light headed now, but that didn't matter. She lashed the whip out towards the machine gun.

It knocked it away… And Lisa tackled Saskia, shouting, ”... Get down!” All five of the giant spiders exploded, spraying acid and razor-sharp chitin in all directions. Many of the raiders were dissolved, while others were horribly injured. Many just outright fled…

Lisa sighed, some acid getting on her.

”Saskia! What the hell was that?!”

Saskia shrugged, blood sizzling away on her legs where some of the acid had caught them. It hurt, and her head was spinning… but that lessened as she pulled the undamaged blood back into the open wound. "They might've had Ella. I planned to kill them either way."

They sat up, frowning, looking round expressionlessly. Hoping to catch sight of bright pink anywhere. Then, she looked over at Lisa, seeming to come back down a bit from the panic that had taken over.

"Shit. That was stupid, it was just like when she- fuck. When she died before." Saskia grimaced as she talked, paler than normal as she started to replenish the blood she'd lost when she pushed it too far moments ago. Blood armour and two weapons? She was surprised she hadn't passed out.

”I mean if they took Ella, they probably would have taken the rest of us!” Lisa shouted, throwing her hands into the air. ”You saw it! The web was undisturbed! How could they take Ella- but hold still!”

Lisa grabbed Saskia’s arm, and her healing spiders forced their way out of her pores. They climbed from Lisa’s arms onto Saskia’s and burrowed their way in. Lisa released Saskia, then said,

”Either way! That was reckless! What are you? Drake Blackmore?!”

Saskia sighed, lips pressing together. Lisa was right. She’d acted like the very person who’d gotten her killed. If it was just her? She wouldn’t care so much. But she didn’t want to put Lisa in danger too.

"You’re right. Ella’s not here… she’s probably not even nearby." Saskia stood back up after the healing-spiders had done their job. There was still a different air about her - like there was a detachment from the risk she’d put herself at, an extra unhingedness to normal. But it was reduced from when they woke up. "I’ll hold back. But we need to find her. Shit, how do we find her?"

Lisa raised a finger, opening her mouth…



“... Your friend has embarked on a mission of love! Of protection!” The Mother Will appeared in the blink of an eye, that smile on her face… “I warned her of a threat to your combined existence! And she told me to take her there!”

The Mother Will laughed, “... With passion like hers, I couldn’t help but oblige!”

Saskia was immediately tense, light eyes narrowing into a glare at Mother Will. Their first instinct was to attack, but they knew that wouldn't do anything. Their lips pulled back, practically baring their teeth at the Mother Will. "Bring. Her. Back."
The Mother Will laughed.

“I refuse.” The Mother Will began. “She made this decision to protect you all. It is not my place to interrupt it, however...”

The Mother Will pointed in a seeming random direction. “She is combatting this threat in the ruins of St. Portwell. Well, one of them.” The Mother Will shrugged.

“By the time you get there, one would have killed the other.”

Saskia frowned, looking where she pointed. It looked like just any other direction. There was no way to know if it was right… but what else was there to go on? "Fine. Fuck off so we can go find her. C’mon, Lisa."

They turned around and started walking in the direction the Mother Will had pointed. Lisa shrugged and followed as the Mother Will sunk into the ground.

Ella’s first reaction upon waking up was to search for Lisa and Saskia… they weren’t in the bed with her. But this wasn’t the bed she’d fallen asleep in. It was her bed in her old room, with a massive sailor moon cloth poster behind her and all sorts of anime merchandise on display. Had the Mother Will teleported her?

This meant she had to push forward. Ella hopped up, forcing herself to ignore all the merchandise she’d missed, and pushed her door open.

When Ella opened the door… she saw a strange sight. Those robots plaguing her and the other “magical girls” earlier were lined up on both sides of the street. They stood in a peculiar formation, holding shields and spears, completely immobile. Forming a path for her to follow.

What? Ella’s eyes widened, confused, but started to walk down the path they’d made.

As Ella walked down the pathway that the robots created, strangely enough leading from Ella’s house to downtown St. Portwell, it was strangely peaceful as Ella walked through the ruined and decayed city. There were no monsters, no screaming, nothing. Just the red sky to accompany her as she went on her journey. However, approaching her from the other end was her target…

… Kaida Takamura.

The Mother Will appeared, leaning over Ella’s shoulder as she whispered in her ear…

“There she is…” The Mother Will began, “... Kill her.”

"YOU!" Ella stopped, slamming one hand onto her hip and dramatically pointing at Kaida Takamura.

"Your evil plan ends here! I won’t let you go any further! You’ll not hurt my friends."

Ella lifted one leg off the ground, magical light covering her as she spun dramatically. Her clothes transformed into a leotard and skirt, hair lengthening and gaining purple tips, and a tiara formed on her head. She dramatically posed at the end, Sailor Moon wand pointed towards Kaida Takamura and flashing a peace sign (ironically) in front of her eyes.



"I am the light in the darkness, and I’ll vanquish you, as is my duty as Magical Girl Aurora!"

Then, she shot a bolt of lightning at Kaida… who stood there in a defensive position. The woman didn’t so much as flinch. She reached into her hip pouch and pulled out what seemed to be the hilt of a sword. In the blink of an eye, a majestic blue sword deployed from the hilt. The samurai held the blade with two hands, as she shouted from underneath her mask,

“... Stay the hell away from me!” Kaida shouted.

"Not until you’re dead!" Ella shouted back. Rainbow light coated her legs and she jumped forward towards Kaida, bringing her leg up in a sweeping kick. Kaida raised their sword, seemingly to parry it, but mistimed it and took the kick. She rolled backwards onto her feet, and hissed from underneath her mask,

“... Fine! We’ll do it your way!”

Raindrops began pouring down on the two as Kaida took a defensive position. Holding the sword in front of her… She took a deep breath, and breathed in a particular manner.

Ella didn’t wait for her to finish whatever strange breathing she was doing, hands coming up in front of her to blast Kaida with a strong burst of freezing snow, following it with another kick. In a burst of surprising speed, Kaida dove to the side, then, in a spin, swung the sword upwards at Ella.

Ella jumped back, narrowly avoiding getting hit. She pulled colours from the bright bracelets along her arms and into her hands, imbuing them. She twisted to the side, bringing her enhanced fist down towards Kaida. Kaida dodged the blow with a twirl before returning with a wide-arc swing of her sword. Ella pulled her arm back, blocking the sword with the bright purple at her wrist, shoving it back to try and throw Kaida off balance while punching with the other hand. Knocking Kaida onto her back, she quickly hopped back onto her feet with a flip - she took a step back, until she stopped when she hit one of those robots.

The rain intensified as Kaida took a defensive position.

“... Leave me the hell alone!” Kaida shouted. “I don’t have time for this!”

"I don’t either, so just die!" Ella shouted back, launching herself at Kaida with a strong high kick. "I’m not going to let you cause this."

Kaida disappeared in a burst of speed; the only thing that signaled that she hadn’t just teleported was the air being disturbed. In the blink of an eye, she was on the other side of the robot… however, its leg was sliced off at such an angle that it would land on Ella. Kaida stood there.

Ella jumped to the side, shoulder hitting the ground as she rolled and hopped back up. She grabbed the Ice Sceptre, pulling it out and shooting a freezing beam at Kaida’s legs. Kaida took a defensive position as it hit her in the legs… she hissed from underneath her helmet as she began twirling her sword. The raindrops danced along the tip of that blue blade, and Kaida swung it at Ella - sending a wave of rainwater at Ella.

Ella jumped to the side, the rainwater slapping her shoulder. She grunted, thrown back a bit, but shot another beam of ice at Kaida. However, Kaida spun her sword above her head and molded the rainwater to create a watery barrier that took the freezing power instead of her.

"That’s cheating!" Ella shouted as she threw a fireball at the frozen barrier, before running forward, attempting to get close enough to punch Kaida again. Kaida blocked the punch with her sword, and didn’t so much as flinch as fist met steel.

“... Who the hell are you?! And why are you mocking my friend!?” Kaida shouted. “Is this funny to you, Mother Will? Is this how you get off?!”

The Mother Will watched from the rooftops.

Kaida laughed.

“Is this funny to you, Mother Will? Is this how you get off?!”

"I’m not mocking anyone!" Ella was confused, but even confused, she brought her knee up and under the sword blocking her fist. "I’m Elle Rene Brooks- better known as Magical Girl Aurora! I’m here to stop all your evil plans!"

The other attack only slid Kaida back, as she said… in a somber tone.

“... Bullshit” Kaida shouted; Kaida came from the side and swung the sword at Ella’s torso. “... She’s dead!”

"I was but then I came back- wait, how do you know I was dead?!" Ella paused, arms coming up in front of her to block the sword. It hurt like hell, but it was better than taking it torso! "Only Sycamore members know that!"

Kaida took a step back, and the helmet she was wearing retracted, unfolding plate by plate as it reached the back of her head.

Revealing she was Yoko Hatanaka.

Ella shouted, dropping her arms. But… that didn’t make sense. Why would she want to free the Stygian Snake? Or had… The Mother Will lied? That would make more sense. Unless this wasn’t actually Yoko. This was too much.

"What are you doing here?! You didn’t die too, did you?"

”... I should be asking you the first question,” Yoko said with a roll of her eyes. ”But, no, I didn’t die here.”

"Oh thank Sailor Moon," Ella wiped a bit of sweat from her brow… before tilting her head. "... you’re not planning to kill Lisa and Saskia, are you?! Because I’ll still have to kill you if you are!"

”I have no intention- wait, did the Mother Will tell you that?” Yoko asked in a hushed tone. ”Ella, do not listen to the Mother Will. She is a liar and a manipulator.”

Ella nodded. That… made sense. The Mother Will had said a bunch of stuff about this being their home, which was clearly wrong, because there was no anime here. "I didn’t know it was you. She said your name was Kaida something- wait, shit, Saskia and Lisa are going to be so worried!"

The rain halted. The sword Yoko wielded retracted into its hilt as Yoko put it into her hip pouch. She pulled out another blade that glowed brightly with a blue light.

”... We need to worry about ourselves!” Yoko began, ”We’re surrounded by Autoknights!”

"Oh yeah, the Robots!" Ella looked around herself, eyes widening at the sheer amount of them. Whoops, maybe she shouldn’t have asked the Mother Will to take her here!

Wielding the Ice Scepter, she shot a freezing beam around her at the Autoknights’ legs. The sword Yoko wielded extended, and she swung it at them. This slash caused them to rust, erode, and fall to pieces. However, there were still dozens of them, and they raised their shields as they turned towards Ella and Yoko… quickly forming a circle around them as they had their spears ready.

They slowly moved inwards.

"How do we kill them?!" Ella asked Yoko… because she clearly had something that worked! But Ella didn’t. She resorted to kicking them as hard as she could, hoping to make a dent in their shields.

Yoko was silent for a moment.

"... With Radiant Annihilation."

"... What’s that one again?!” Ella asked, racking her brain for… whatever that was. Something they did together - but she didn’t really remember what she could do with people outside of the other magical girls! "The light explosion?!"

Yoko facepalmed.

”They’re getting close!” Yoko shouted. ”... You better start remembering!”

The glowing sword Yoko held retracted until it was just a hilt, and Yoko slid it into her hip pouch before putting her hands together. She created a glowing sphere of yellow light in her hands… Ella took a deep breath, and put her hands over Yoko. She channeled as much energy as she could into the sphere, adding a shifting rainbow of colours among the yellow as it got brighter and brighter. Her face scrunched up with exertion as they reached the final phase, and she used a last bit of strength to help launch the sphere upwards. Yoko inhaled sharply.

They pushed it into the air.

It floated up into the air as it grew larger and larger and expanded… pushing outwards into a powerful blast of unprecedented power and force, and it consumed all of the Autoknights. As the name implies, the blast annihilated the surrounding area, including Autoknights. The blast was incredibly bright and could be seen from all over the surrounding area… and then faded.

The Autoknights were all destroyed.

Yoko sighed, falling onto her back.

”... A hell of a reunion, huh?” Yoko asked.

"Yeah… Sorry I tried to kill you!" Ella said, grinning brightly at Yoko as she also collapsed to the ground. She was exhausted! "And I thought a reunion in jail was intense!"

”It wasn’t your fault,” Yoko said. ”The Mother Will tricked you…”

Yoko sighed.

”... We need to get up, and get out of here. There is no a blast that intense would have gone unnoticed.”

"Ugh, this place sucks!" Ella groaned, pushing herself back up to her feet. She looked around, trying to figure out where she’d been before… but she’d been teleported, there was no way to know. "We also need to find Lisa and Saskia! I bet they’re super worried…"

Yoko also climbed to her feet, dug into her hip pouch, and pulled out that peculiar katana… she looked at it, which glowed a faint blue color. However, it steadily grew brighter and brighter….

”Hold on…” Yoko closed her eyes and held ultimately still for a few moments. However, she pointed in a seemingly random direction, saying, ”... A unit of Autoknights are coming from that direction.”

Then pointed in another random direction.

”... And some beast is approaching from that one.”

Yoko turned towards Ella as she pointed in the opposite direction of those two. ”... You want to find your friends, but right now, we need to worry about ourselves and get out of here.”

Then she quietly sighed.

”... Then we can figure out why you’re back. Here of all places.”

Ella nodded, putting the Ice Scepter back in its holster before beginning to walk in the direction Yoko had pointed. "Oh, I already know why I’m back! Well, why I’m here! We gotta find the All-Blade for the Hound!"

”But-” Yoko stopped herself, before she continued.

”... Let’s just get out of here!”

Yoko took off into a sprint with Ella behind her.

As told by the Mother Will, Lisa and Saskia traveled in the direction - hoping she wasn’t lying. But, eventually, they came across an eerily familiar landscape… St. Portwell, but the skyline that they had grown to love was utterly ravaged and destroyed. The water was tainted and polluted, and the boardwalk was ripped and splintered. Though, Lisa pointed to the horde of those robots going in…

”Okay, let’s-” Lisa tried to say, before a massive explosion filled the corner of her eye. It looked… familar. ”... That has to be Ella.”

"No one else would be that stupid," Saskia rolled their eyes. They carefully began to head towards the light… but they also didn’t want to fight the robots. So being quiet, and getting there before them, was important.

They looked back at Lisa and pointed to a slightly more roundabout path through the destroyed buildings. Lisa walked over and grabbed their hand before pointing at a space. A space that was soon inhabited by a glowing spider cocoon. As she said,

”We’ll have an easier if we use the spider.” Lisa noted.

"... we’re going to forget how to walk," Saskia intoned, joking without it being obvious. What was obvious was their impatience as they waited for the spider to come out of its cocoon, making to get on it as soon as it was out. "Let’s go… hopefully Ella isn’t stupid enough to stay where the light was."

The spider grew to size before it burst out of its cocoon - sporting dragonfly wings and being large enough to carry the two of them. Lisa hopped on top of it, giving the empty spot behind her a few pats.

”I mean, we should be hoping she is!” Lisa snorted. ”Makes her easier to find! Now, away we go!”

The Spider took flight, taking off high into the sky, directly towards where Lisa saw the ball of light. The spider was loud, but Lisa trailed over the battalion of the Autoknights that were marching over the city…

… Until a bullet whirled by them.

Then another.

And another.

”SHIT!” Lisa shouted over the beats of the spider’s wings as she quickly flew from left to right.

"Oh fuck," Saskia intoned, leaning over the spider. It was difficult with the constant movement back and forth, but she held out her hand and let off a series of blood bullets. She made them smaller than normal, so they could be shot faster and with more piercing power. Hopefully. ”Can you go any faster?"

”... I’m going fast as I can here!” Lisa shouted over the spider’s wings. Though, she made a hard right towards a fractured skyscraper. She went, at full speed, towards a window and shouted, ”HOLD ON TIGHT!” She activated the exoskeleton.

Saskia didn’t say anything - because Lisa was already doing something crazy, no stopping it. They covered themselves in blood armour and held onto the spider as tightly as they could and leaned forward, getting as low as they could. Lisa did not, and they crashed through the window. It was already somewhat broken, so the shards didn’t slash them to pieces. Lisa awkwardly laughed as she pulled a shard of glass out of her chest.

Then she pointed at the window on the other side.

”... Do the honors?”

"I'm not Ella," Saskia retorted. But they pulled the blood from their armour to form a blood tendril, which shot forward to smash through the window, flailing about to clear a big enough section for them to get through. They grimaced slightly as they let the tip turn back into liquid, blood splashing on the floor the glass shards embedded in it. "Let's go."

The spider took flight and carried them through the broken window back into the chaotic skyline of the St. Portwell ruins. Distantly, they could hear the Autoknights marching despite the sound of the flying spider being so overpowering… Lisa’s eyes scanned the environment below; there had to be-

A musket round rang out from below.

Lisa’s head whipped below to see a squad of Autoknights pinning two people down with musket fire. Lisa turned towards Saskia and shouted over the beats of the Spider’s wings, ”... WHAT SHOULD WE DO?!”

Saskia leaned over the spider, gripping tightly with their legs as they got into a precarious position horizontal to it. Their eyes narrowed, looking at the two people. Two… but, there was a hint of pink. Maybe it was just her imagination. Wishful thinking.

They gestured to the Autoknights, in a circle around them. "BLOOD RAIN!"

With a nod of her head, Lisa summoned the blood filled spiders in the sky. Saskia pulled themselves back up to not be hanging off the spider, filling the pulsating sacks of blood with more and more, until they exploded in a grotesque downpour over the Autoknights. Many of them were dissolved by the rain, others were disabled.

One of the people that were pinned down ran up, waving their hands. ”Hey over here!” She shouted, ”... There’s more coming!”

"SASKIA, LISA!" The other person shouted, practically jumping up and down, waving her hands.

Saskia narrowed their eyes. Certainly sounded like Ella. Looked how she would from this high up, probably. Could be an illusion, but… "As much as I want to leave her to die for disappearing, let's go pick them up."

”... The fuck?!” Lisa snorted. ”She’s our air-headed and big-bootied homie! We can’t leave her under any circumstance!” Lisa laughed, commanding the spider to land right by the two. Lisa stared at Yoko for a few moments.

”... Yoko?”

”Yes! It’s me!” Yoko shouted as she climbed onto the back of the spider. ”We have no time for the niceties! Let’s go!”

As soon as Ella was on the spider, it took flight, and they left behind the ruins of St. Portwell…

---

As Lisa, Saskia, and the others escaped the ruins of St. Portwell, they encountered a new landscape—decrepit farmland stretching endlessly into the horizon. The air was thick with decay, carrying the scent of rotting crops and stagnant water. Twisted, leafless trees dotted the landscape, and the fields, once fertile, were now barren and overrun with grotesque, mutant plants that oozed a sickly, luminous glow in the dim light. The fields were littered with the skeletons of various farm animals… Rusting farming equipment lay abandoned, half-buried in the muck, with vines wrapped tightly around their decaying frames. The old farmhouses, barely standing, were twisted by time, their windows shattered, and roofs collapsed.

Rain began falling, and the spider landed in the one Barnhouse (that had faded red paint) that looked stable enough to stand in. Yoko was the first off the spider, as she pulled out a sword and examined it for a moment before she said,
”... It’s clear.”

”How do you know?” Lisa asked.

”The blade shines if there’s a monster nearby,” Yoko said, and Lisa nodded as she pushed the doors open. The interior of a relic of better days, the air inside was damp and musty, and cobwebs draped every corner. Old farming tools hung on the walls, rusted beyond use, and a few scattered bales of hay, long since decomposed, sat in piles on the ground. The silence inside was heavy, broken only by the occasional water drip from the roof onto the floor.

Lisa sighed in relief as the spider shrunk back to standard size and disappeared into the darkness of this place. She took a few steps inside, only to be met with the blue blade Yoko wielded that dripped water. She raised her hands.

”Excuse me for being paranoid,” Yoko said. ”But I need to confirm something before we go any further.”

Lisa nodded her head, ”... Shoot.”

”Turner and Otten, I presume?” Yoko turned towards Lisa and Saskia, respectively, before addressing the group. ”All three of you were killed in the Old Coven.”

Yoko paused, her eyes scanning every moment of the group, ”... I need you three to prove it. As much as I want to believe it, I’m unsure if you three are who you say you are or if you’re simply a mockery created by the Mother Will.”

Yoko sighed.

”... Tell me something only the three of you would know.”

Saskia frowned. Something that only they'd know… "We came up with our spider mech after a night of fighting the Snake, and then Ella forced us to watch some weird mech anime instead of sleeping… We were tired enough it seemed like an amazing idea, and it somehow worked."

"It was an amazing idea!" Ella shouted.

Yoko facepalmed.

”… You know what? That sounds about right.”

"Because it is right!" Ella said, with a grin. "And this couldn't be faked! It's a real Sailor Moon wand replica, they aren't easy to find."

She pulled out her Channeler, waving it in front of Yoko's face, while Saskia rolled their eyes.

”I… I can’t believe it,” Yoko said, as the sword retracted into the hilt. ”You three are back! Wilson will be ecstatic!”

Saskia frowned slightly, looking at Lisa, then Ella. Ella looked back, eyes already filling up with tears.

"Kari's dead." Saskia intoned.

Yoko stared at Saskia for a moment.

”… Bullshit,” Yoko hissed. ”How?”

"Something's killing old coven members," Saskia explained, frowning. "Kari, Elsa, Ripley, Jade, Kura… Clementine and Vanessa told us."

"We didn't even get to see Kari again! We didn't get to say goodbye!" Ella wailed.

”How long have I been down here…?” Yoko asked no one in particular before she shook her head. ”But bullshit! Wilson kept her head on a swivel because of people like Richoux and Inoue.”

Yoko paused momentarily before she said, ”... Actually, let’s focus on this, then worry about the surface world.” Yoko sighed as she turned towards Ella. ”... You said you know why you’re back.”

Yoko narrowed her eyes at Ella.

”... Why are you back? And why the hell are you here of all places!?”

"Well, we don't know why we're back, completely! Someone asked a favour of the hound so he brought us back to do two things for him! First we had to kill this evil bastard called Morningstar! Now we need to find the All-Blade for him! Then we'll be free!"

"We're his Agents of Death," Saskia added.

”… Brooks, do you know what the All-Blade is being used to do?” Yoko asked.

"Pin a massive monster!" Ella said all too cheerfully.

Yoko facepalmed.

”Brooks… its being used to pin the Rampage,” Yoko began, narrowing her eyes. ”It’s strong as the Stygian Snake; if you pull the sword from its place, it’ll get free and escape!”

"Well what are we supposed to do, just die?!" Ella said, throwing her hands up.

"We can just kill it," Saskia shrugged.

Yoko facepalmed again.

”... It’s an Apparition, you can’t just kill it,” Yoko began before her jaw dropped as if an imaginary bulb (or brain cell) just went off in her head. ”... But, you can seal it.” She grabbed her chin and stared into the nothingness.

”... I knew learning that spell was worth it!”

"What spell?" Ella asked, tilting her head.

Saskia shrugged. "We could just do what we did with Morningstar - beat him into submission and seal him into my drawing."

”I hate to dismiss your capabilities, Otten,” Yoko sighed, ”But you three are no match for the Rampage. If he doesn't just tear open a portal out of here the moment you remove the blade, he will flatten you three.”

Yoko shook her head, ”However, I learned a spell my ancestors created - an Orange-Lux boosted sealing ritual known as Eternal Binding.”

”That would have been soooooooooooo helpful ten years ago!” Lisa quipped.

"Right, why didn’t you or Goro learn it ten years ago?" Saskia asked.

”I cannot speak for my brother, but ten years ago, I wanted nothing to do with magic,” Yoko rolled her eyes. ”But, the past cannot be changed, what we can change is the future...”

”Actually, just a random question because I was wondering!” Lisa said as she raised her hand up into the air. ”Why are you here, Yoko?”

Yoko sighed.
”It’s a long story… Goro, fell into the Pit. I’m here to save him,” Yoko concisely said.

"Oh no! That’s- that’s awful!" Ella’s eyes widened, lip trembling slightly. She stepped forward and pulled Yoko into a tight, bone crushing hug. "I’m sure he’s fine! Goro was one of the strongest!"

Lisa grabbed both sides of her face.

”... And the hottest!”

"And even he can’t get out himself," Saskia said, a lot more depressingly.

””One, Turner; control your ovaries, Yoko said, raising a finger. ”And two…” Yoko dramatically said as she walked towards the door and sighed as she looked over her shoulder.

”... I have a plan; it’s a dangerous plan, but danger is inherent to everything here,” Yoko said with a sigh. ”Now, I didn’t come down here empty-handed, as you can tell…” Yoko gestured at the Yokai Killer in her hands.

”... I came down here with several artifacts created by a collaboration between my brother and Wilson: Kari and Goro’s Wayfinders.”

”Oooooooooh…” Lisa said. ”... What are they?”

”They are two separate artifacts intended to find the people you care about, and the Hatanaka Artifacts. They are capable of navigating the different dimensions - however, they do not work down here,” Yoko explained. ”But here is the issue: I was ambushed by the Autoknights and dropped them, and they took them into the Kingdom. Which is where I was heading. My plan is simple: we go to the Kingdom, retrieve the Wayfinders, and then...”

Lisa tilted her head.

”... And then?”

”... We head to the Forge, where the Autoknights are created. There is a section inside in the Forge known as the Artifact Refinement Area… This can upgrade artifacts by removing limits and improving capabilities. I believe that, after the upgrade, the Wayfinders should not only function as intended down here, but be capable of finding the All-Blade AND my brother.”

Yoko closed her eyes before she opened them.

”... It’s not going to be easy, though,” Yoko began. ”There are going to be hundreds if not THOUSANDS of Autoknights in the Kingdom and Forge respectively… I know they are big, slow, and stupid, but they are also armed to the teeth and very difficult to destroy. If you three have been having issues against them, I suggest we develop countermeasures.”

Yoko sighed.

”.. While finding my brother is imperative, we cannot rush in blindly. The Autoknights are not like the Stygian Snake’s minions at all. We will need a strategy against them, or we might as well just kill ourselves here and now.” Yoko sharply exhaled.

”... Like what countermeasures’ can we make?” Lisa shrugged. ”The only thing that was effective against them was me and Saskia’s joint-cast, but we can’t spam it like that.”

”Turner…” Yoko rolled her eyes. ”You are thinking small. We are Adepts. We adapt and overcome.”

"We need to make spells that can beat hunks of metal," Saskia said, tilting their head. "Rather than flesh… but killing robots isn't so fun."

"Do you think I could melt them?!" Ella asked, creating a ball of fire in her hand.

”If that’s what it takes, yes,” Yoko paused. ”I did extensive research on the Autoknights, and they do not possess an Abstraction. Thus, they do not have an Emotional-Field.” Yoko shook her head.

”... And when did you learn to do that?” Yoko tilted her head.

"Like… a week ago? Dunno how long we've been down here," Ella shrugged, grinning. "I was taught it by this really fabulous lady called Lupe we met when fighting Morningstar! She was so cool!"

"Great at kissing too," Saskia added.

Yoko facepalmed, before she continued,

”… After we leave the Forge, we find the All-Blade, and then we seal the Rampage into the All-Blade using the Hatanaka Eternal Binding spell,” Yoko then turned to Ella. ”If I recall correctly, you have Orange Lux in addition to Green and Red, yes?”

"I do!" Ella posed with a peace sign as she answered.

”Hmmm… In the event I die or we get separated, I will teach you the spell so you can do it yourself if necessary,” Yoko sighed. ”It won’t be as effective as if I did it, but if the Rampage is still weak enough, you should be able to pull it off.”

”What if both of you die? Or we get separated from both of you?” Lisa asked, tilting her head.

”I hate to say it, but you will have to figure something out,” Yoko said with a sigh. ”But, you should not, under any circumstance, release the Rampage. The Pit is full of artifacts and treasures; there has to be something you can use down here.”

Yoko turned towards Ella, ”If there is nothing else to discuss, I will teach you Eternal Binding at once, including valuable spells such as the Hatanaka Focus, Block, and Parry spells.”

"Alright! So long as I can make them magical girly!" Ella grinned.

Yoko rolled her eyes, then turned towards Saskia and Lisa, ”... You two should also develop some spell against the Autoknights that doesn’t require a Joint-Cast.”

"Sure…" Saskia nodded. Spells that would work against the Autoknights that didn't require a Joint-Cast… there was something. They looked at Lisa. "Any ideas?"

Lisa looked at Yoko, then at Saskia, then back at the ground, before facing Saskia and said,

”... Actually yeah,” Lisa began. ”I was thinking of something, you know how my Acid-spell works with my spiders?”

"Obviously."

”I was thinking of a version of that… but what about instead of spraying acid everywhere, it sprays like this… gunk everywhere - like it does with the acid! But, unlike the acid, when it comes in contact with metal it expands, then hardens! Which should be enough to clog them up and make them useless!”

"Ooo," Saskia smiled slightly, nodding. It was a good idea… metal specific, would completely fuck up the auto-knights. "I like it. Maybe I should try something similar with my blood… or make bones sharp enough to pierce metal? If that's possible."

Lisa opened her mouth to answer, but Yoko beat her to it.

”… Infinite possibilities, Otten,”

"Right," Saskia replied… before leaning in close to Lisa, whispering in her ear. "Was she always this annoying?"

”I mean, she is friends with Ella…” Lisa shrugged before laughing like a lil’ goblin and wrapping her arm around Saskia’s waist. Then whispered in their ear, ”... Tell her these nuts are a possibility.”

Saskia hit Lisa with an emotionless stare. Then, they turned that stare back to Yoko, speaking in a complete monotone. No emotion, no change in expression. "These nuts are a possibility, Hatanaka."

"What does that even mean?!" Ella shouted.

Lisa broke out laughing, falling over and holding her stomach. Yoko just stared at Saskia.

A smile crept across her face slowly.

”... I bet they are, Otten,” Yoko chuckled. ”If Wilson were here, she’d say they’re not a possibility but an inevitability.”

"With three green lux users, she’d be right," Saskia said, lips twitching up into a slight smile. "She’d also be giving us that tired, judgmental look of hers."

"Oh, the really cute one!" Ella grinned.

Lisa hopped to her feet, still smiling like a fool as she said, ”They are an inevitability, alright! What if we grew dicks and wave ‘im at the robots like-!” Lisa started violently gyrating her hips.

”They’re gonna be all ‘Does not compute!’”

"NOOO, I don’t want to!" Ella screamed, covering her eyes.

Saskia snorted as they watched Lisa. It was so stupid, but it was also… stupidly nice. Lisa enjoying herself, Ella getting traumatised… "It would probably work just as well as Ella’s tiddy flash has. Would be an easy spell to learn too. It’s just like growing some more flesh, I could probably do it right now."

Lisa, still laughing, said, ”Do it! I bet you won’t!”

Saskia looked around their surroundings, then back at Lisa. "I’m not stripping here. Who knows what kinds of diseases I’ll get. But… I don’t need to grow it there."

They rolled up their sweater sleeved, holding out their pale arm. They stared at it, brow furrowing in concentration. It was just like the muscle wings, but smaller, and a specific shape. Their skin peeled back, blood trickling out a round gaping hole as some kind of flesh started to push out of their arm. The pain was secondary to their need to not back down.

Eventually, they were done, and there it was. A dick and balls on Saskia’s arms… a grotesque dick and balls made out of muscle, like it had been flayed. Saskia looked at Lisa, with an evil smile. "Easy."

Lisa fell over laughing.

Yoko turned and walked away, dropping the Yokai Killer before she outright broke out laughing. She keeled over laughing, holding her stomach. She was spouting out all kinds of words in Japanese, before she wiped a tear away.

”Oh my word!” Yoko began. ”If I ever needed any more confi-”

Their “discussion” was interrupted by a voice appearing in their minds, it was static-y and distorted. Hard to decipher.

...Can...⸮...you...three…FOUR...st—

”... Huh?”

”... You hear that, too?!” Yoko turned to Lisa.

...⸮...king around...CUS!?

Yoko quickly ran to the Yokai Killer and picked it up, raising it into the air, ”... Is this one of the Mother Will’s tricks?!”

...need...FOCUS!...OCUS...focus...OCUS!

"Maybe it's a ghost?!" Ella wailed, slapping her hands against her cheeks and looking around with wide eyes.

Saskia shrugged, pulling the gross muscle dick back into their arm, grimacing at the wound it left. "Strange trick, I think it’s telling us to focus. And it’s right. Let’s focus… on you two learning how to do that. I’m sure it’ll be easy for you, Lisa."

”I bet I can do it like with spiders!” Lisa excitedly said. ”Like they weave a penis out of human flesh like they make-”

?...?...?... JESUS! CHRIST!

Lisa tilted her head.

... you…danger…?...?

Yoko turned towards Lisa and the others.

...FOCUS…?… on…?

The voice kept speaking to them, except in hard to discern.

...?... TRYING to…?...?

”Trying to what?” Lisa asked, scratching the side of your head.

?... STAY---

The voice cut off for a moment before it came back.

---ALIVE!

Then it was gone.

"Well, that was strange," Saskia shrugged, not thinking too hard about it. What else were they doing? Their whole focus was on staying alive… this was just morale boosting.

"WE ARE TRYING TO STAY ALIVE, DON’T WORRY, STRANGE VOICE!" Ella shouted.

”Yes! We are focusing now!” Yoko shouted, ”Are you happy?!”

The voice came back for just a second…

... Love you… though.

Then it was gone again.
Lisa shrugged, and Yoko walked over.

”... I guess a higher power is giving us a sign to get to work,” Yoko said with a sigh, before she turned to Ella. ”Brooks! Are you ready to become a Hatanaka Disciple?”

"I was born ready!" Ella shouted, slamming her hands on her fists. "I didn’t get to visit Japan to prepare but I’ve watched more than enough anime!"

Yoko dramatically sheathed the Yokai Killer, as it retracted back into its hilt. ”Trust me, Brooks. We will all be able to visit Japan when we get out of here,” Yoko nodded her head. ”I will show you all the fantastic sights my home country has to offer!”

She paused, narrowing her eyes at Ella, ”... That aren’t anime.”

"Really?! You promise?" Ella said, jumping up and down like a small child told she could have some candy.

"I’d quite like to visit too… That would be nice, when we get out," Saskia said with a slight smile, looking at the other three. "We’ve missed a lot."

Yoko smiled.

”... You have my word, Brooks.”

It was yet another dream… Lisa woke up, this time in the lair of the Old Coven, that mansion Greyson had scored them. She looked around; she was standing in the dining hall. The table was empty, however. There was no food, no tableware, nothing… It felt dead. From what she could recall, the entire mansion was always so lively. Yet, it felt empty. Cold. Barren.

Wrong.

Then she blinked.

The Mother Will was standing there.

“... Greetings,” The Mother Will said.

Lisa was silent.

“This is home, yes?” The Mother Will said.

Lisa awkwardly looked to the left and right.

”... In a way, it is,” Lisa began.

“The Sycamore Tree Coven,” The Mother Will began, “You think very highly of them, yes?”

”Yes.,” Lisa answered without so much of a thought. ”They accepted me. When no one else would. They’re the best people I ever met.”

“... Even though they accepted the likes of Emily G. Reed?” The Mother Will asked. “Or George Nelson, Hagan Rosefey… I could go on all day.”

Lisa was silent, averting her gaze from the Mother Will.

”... Yes.” Lisa began. ”Adora. Saskia. Ella. Sloane. Aislin. Vanessa. Clem. Kari. Sully. Luca. Micheal. Lynn. Jade. Jasper. Greta… they made it worth it.”

The Mother Will seemingly slid alongside the ground, until she was close to Lisa, and then leaned forward and said,

“... And yet,” The Mother Will said, “Have you ever wondered if they liked your true self or just the persona you put on for them?”

The Mother Will laughed as Lisa was caught like a deer in headlights.

“To fit in with them, you were what they needed you to be, but they never knew what or who you actually were,” The Mother Will said. “The war against the Stygian Snake, suffering at the hands of Emily G. Reed and her cronies… those dark hours gave birth to something powerful. Did they not?”

The emptiness of the dining hall began to press down on Lisa as she choked, unable to find the words.

“Those spells you devised to inflict your sadistic retribution onto Emily G. Reed, and everyone who bullied you,” The Mother Will began. “You deeply fantasized about using them on her… It brought you joy in a dark world. To permanently disfigure Emily, to slowly sap away at her until her demise, and to gruesomely kill her...”

The Mother Will paused. ”... You were always afraid of how they would feel if they ever discovered that you, as a child created these spells.”

Lisa blinked, and Mother Will was gone. Then she felt her cold hands on her shoulders as Mother Will leaned over her, still that eerie smile on her face. “What if I told you those spells weren’t just a byproduct of your pain but your power?”

The words hung in the air, but she continued before Lisa could think about it. “After all, power unexpressed is power wasted. And you’ve wasted so much of your power, Lisa Turner.”

Lisa blinked, and the Mother Will was next to her. She gently laid a hand on her shoulder. “Here, the Pit, we don’t blame. We don’t hate. And most importantly, we don’t shame.”

The Mother Will leaned in closer, “The Sycamore Tree Coven accepted you, but they never understood the depth of your pain. They simply used it to reassure themselves, treating you as nothing more than an empty vessel onto which they could project their sense of superiority.”

The Mother Will laughed.

“You felt it, didn’t you, Lisa?” The Mother Will’s voice was like a vicious whisper. “The frustration of being misunderstood, having to hold yourself back so you’d belong to people who wouldn’t even care about you if you didn’t have magic!”

The Mother Will raised both of their hands, “They never saw you for what you really were! Only what was convenient for them!”

Lisa froze, remaining quiet as the Mother Will stopped laughing.

“... But there is no more need to keep your true self locked away,” The Mother Will began. “You’ve experienced your first rebirth, yet you insist on playing by their rules. You have more power than ever before, Lisa Turner… Why do you insist on playing by their rules when you have the power to define your own?”

Lisa thought about it before the Mother Will continued, “In a way, they’re all like Emily G. Reed: they’re afraid of you. That’s why they work to diminish you. To control you. Because they fear what you can do to them if you stop holding back. Stopped playing by the rules.”

The Mother Will laughed as she raised her hand.

“You are capable of so much more, Lisa Turner,” The Mother Will began. “Embrace it. Love it. Use it to protect the people you love and slaughter everyone who gets in your path.”

The Mother Will put her thumb and middle finger together.

“... You owe it to yourself, after all.”

The Mother Will snapped her fingers, and the dream ended.

---

"... Turner. Turner. Wake up. God she snores loud as hell for a tiny woman."

Lisa heard Yoko’s voice, as she felt her hand try and rouse her awake…

”... Wake up! It’s time to get to work!”

"... These nuts are tiny."

Lisa said with a snicker as she woke up, and Yoko rolled her eyes.

”I thought you got all of those jokes out of your system!” Yoko began. ”Also! That didn’t go how you expected it to, Turner.”

Yoko extended a hand.

”Now, need hand?”

Lisa grabbed it as Yoko helped her up… out of this bale of hay that she decided was her bed. Lisa stood straight up, stretching as she looked around. The rain had stopped, and it seemed oddly peaceful… despite being in spooky farmlands. All four walked out to the field as Yoko turned to Ella.

”I will take my disciple off to teach her the necessary spells,” Yoko then turned to Lisa and Saskia, ”You two have a plan, I presume?”

"We already told you the plan yesterday," Saskia said, completely deadpan.

"That was a terrible plan!" Ella shouted.

"It was a joke. Yes, we have a plan… As in, spells to beat those robots."

”I thought it was lit!” Lisa laughed, who will probably remember this night fondly.

”Forgive me if some of the details got lost in the Penis-arm, Otten,” Yoko said, followed by a laugh. Before she grabbed Ella’s hand and said, ”The two of us will need a bit of privacy, yes. Scream if a monster is eating you!” Yoko said as she pulled Ella into a separate farm field.

Lisa pivoted on her heel as she looked for some metal, ”Let’s find some metal…”

Then, her eyes landed on a rusted tractor, and she grinned.

”Perfect,” Lisa said as she walked up to the tractor, and said, ”This hunk of junk will be perfect.” She kicked it.

Then it fell apart.

Lisa shrugged. She stepped back, already envisioning how to rework her spider minions for this new task. With a wave of her hands, she summoned a horde of random spiders out of their sight. She knelt and grabbed one… giving it a few loving pets before altering the spider's abdomen, watching as it swelled slightly under her modifications. The thick, tar-like substance she envisioned glowed faintly green within the creature, and she couldn't help but grin.

Lisa then hurled the spider at the tractor. As it struck, the spider burst, splattering the thick gunk across the metal surface. Lisa watched as the substance rapidly expanded, hardening over the rusted joints and seams… However, it quickly chipped away and fell apart into dust.

”... Will need to work on that,” Lisa shrugged as she turned to Saskia. ”What do you got? What if you do something like shoot blood that becomes sticky on contact?”

"I was thinking something like that," Saskia nodded, cutting their palm and pointing it at the tractor. Blood dripped from the wound and formed across their hand before they shot a glob of it at the Tractor.

It hit it, and slid off, like normal blood. "Yeah, the sticky part when it leaves me is tough."

Lisa walked over to the tractor, and ran her fingers through the blood, then shrugged. ”How about making it thicker before shooting it out? Like it’s more gooey?” Lisa suggested. ”Or make them dry super fast?”

That was an idea. ”If you were Ella, I would suggest thinking of what your uncle did to you!” She stuck her tongue out.

"Sadly my uncles too dead to be a problem," Saskia replied drily. They turned their palm upwards, causing blood to cover it again. It got thicker this time, until it was an almost jelly like blob. Then they tilted their palm towards the tractor and shot it again. This time the blood splattered, then stuck. "Better, not perfect. I'll lose a lot of blood like this…"

”Who says it has to be blood?!” Lisa throws her hand in the air. ”Or your blood for that matter?! It could be spit!”

"That's true," Saskia rubbed their chin thoughtfully. "Maybe I should make Ella cry, collect all her tears, and use those. Or drain someone else's blood… Well, spit works too."

The blood on their hand pulled back into the wound, scabbing instantly. They then rolled their shoulders, head tilting from one side to the other with loud cracks. They pressed their lips together and… shot a stream of magical spit at the tractor. It splashed across it, sticking and beginning to harden.

"How's that? It's a start."

”That’s great!” Lisa shouted.
”You just need to spit out a lot more!”

"It's not as easy as it looks," Saskia rolled their eyes. "You try magically producing spit."

But they still tried again. This time it was a much larger amount, and they moved their head to direct it across the tractor, splattering across and dripping into the cracks in the metal before it hardened. "It looks a bit suggestive, doesn't it? I can't wait to show it to Ella…"

Lisa laughed like a goblin, ”Just spit in her mouth! She’ll love it!”

However, that strange voice seeped into their minds again:

…. ? …. S-s… start…

Lisa looked at Saskia as the voice continued,

?…?…. Aut-knight-…?…?…Less armored… -…?…?… -rupt steam eng-…?…?…?… able.

”Steam engine?" Saskia tilted their head, looking back at Lisa. ”Sorry, you need to get somewhere with better mental signal. Oh- maybe they're less armoured around the steam engine… which is…?"

Lisa shrugged. ”I mean it has to be in their torso?” Lisa suggested, unaware of where the steam engine was or could be.
”How can we fuck with it, strange mental voice?!”

…?…?…B-…?…Backs…th-…?…-ears…?…ogs…?…?…-mec-…?…?..?…?…?

"Behind the ears? Cogs? Oh- maybe it's the groin area?" Saskia suggested, with an evil smile.

..:?…?…?… BACKS. BAC-…?…?…?… CKS…?…?…BACKS….?…?

"Their back? That's too obvious to be right," Saskia tilted their head. "Back of the ears?"

… ?… TH-…?… N’T…?…?…?..?..?… EARS!

Then the voice was gone.

"Backs or ears," Saskia shrugged. ”We can try both… Do they even have ears? I didn't look close enough. Too busy trying not to die."

Lisa threw her hands in the air.

”If they have ears then they definitely have big dicks!”

"Oh I sure hope they do," Saskia chuckled. "Then we can take them for a ride, destroy them that way… I always wanted to fuck a robot."

”We gotta make sure Ella’s not around!” Lisa began. ”She’s Penis-Phobic after her uncle got done with her.”

Lisa was silent for a moment, before she added,
”… You can still kind of taste him.”

"It was kinda nasty," Saskia nodded in agreement. "But that'll be easy, we just send her off with Yoko to have some fun of their own, then we get to ride some robot cock."

”Aren’t they already having fun?” Lisa shrugged. ”And I want to do more than-”

The voice returned…

… ?…? AHHHHHHHHHHHHH-…?…?..?-HHHHHHHHHHHHHH-…?..?..?…-HHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Screaming.

Lisa raised an eyebrow.

”Do you want to join too?” Saskia asked the voice, tilting their head, looking a bit confused.

..?…?… NO! FU-…?…?…FOOOOOOCUS-

Then the voice was gone.

"Focus… right… I think we're focused enough," Saskia rolled their eyes, looking back at Lisa. "I guess we should practice our spells more. We'll need them to get near the robot dick anyway."

”Yes! The important thing!” Lisa said, raising a finger. ”Let’s get to work!”

While Lisa and Saskia were doing… whatever, Yoko took Ella to a separate field so they could do their training. Yoko paused for a moment, pressing the hilt of the Yokai Killer against her chin before saying,

”Since we do not have an Apparition on hand,” Yoko sighed. ”Teaching you Eternal Binding will be… Difficult, but we can make it work.”

Yoko shook her head, ”Now, Ella, to understand Eternal Binding, it’s about control. Control over the Apparition, and your Lux.” Yoko sakd, before she knelt and drew Kanji symbol using the Yokai Killer. Yoko pointed at them:

”Remember these symbols: they stand for containment, control, and eternity,” Yoko explained, ”You begin the ritual by drawing this.”

Ella watched intently, trying to commit the Kanji to memory. This was where her attempt at learning Japanese was coming in handy! Even though these Kanji weren’t any of the ones she’d learnt, at least she knew some. She crouched down and vaguely drew the Kanji in the ground, looking back up at Yoko. "Is this right?"

Yoko facepalmed, ”It has to be EXACT. A single mistake means the Rampage will slip through the cracks.” Yoko shook her head as she released her hand from her face.

"I'm trying! You know when you learn Kanji they normally recommend filling up like a whole page of one of those practice journals!" Ella wailed, before trying again. It was a bit more accurate this time.

Yoko lept high up into the air - landing on top of a rusted tractor, laying the Yokai Killer on the tractor in front of her. ”That sounds like a great idea…” Yoko rubbed her chin. ”… I want you to keep writing the Kanji until its perfect.” Yoko then took the seiza position.

”I will be here if you need anything, Disciple,” Yoko said.

"Yes, Sensei!" Ella shouted, in true weeb fashion. She squatted down and started to draw the Kanji, over and over again, with a focused determination that contrasted her normal distractibleness.

Eventually… she got it to the point that looked right to her. She looked back up at Yoko. ”Is this right? I think I've got it!"

”Yes! Excellent!” Yoko said in excitement. ”Next step… you will need to gather five objects - four objects you will draw these symbols on, and the one you will seal the Apparition into.”

"Can they be anything?!" Ella asked. She pulled off her massive rucksack and started rummaging through it… before pulling out five dildos of various sizes. "Everything else I have is too useful!- don't tell Lisa I said these weren't useful…"

Yoko stared at her.

Then at the dildos.

Then back to her.

Then at the dildos.

”Why would you-” Yoko facepalmed. ”… Just draw the damn kanji.” Yoko commanded.

”Alright!" Ella then miraculously pulled a Sharpie out of her bag too, drawing the Kanji perfectly onto the dildos. "There! What's the next step?"

”… The chant,” Yoko said with a nod of her head, before taking a deep breath. ”Now repeat after me…”

With another deep breath, Yoko recited the chant in Japanese.

”“By the ancient strength of Hatanaka, I invoke the power of chains.
By the symbols drawn and bound, let the circle hold fast.
Containment, control, eternity—
These are the laws I weave.
O restless spirit, you are now bound for all time,
Your essence contained.
By the will of my ancestors and the force of my soul,
I command thee—
Enter the vessel and know no escape,
By the light of this spell, you are forever restrained.
So it is spoken, so it shall be done!”

Yoko dramatically finished, before turning to Ella, ”Do you need me to write it down for you?”

"Say it one more time!" Ella said, after muttering the first half correctly under her breath. It was pretty easy to remember if she thought about it like it was a sailor moon speech! "Then I'll remember it…"

Yoko facepalmed before she repeated it back to Ella SLOWLY.

Ella nodded, paying perfect attention, before repeating after Yoko-

”“By the ancient strength of Hatanaka, I invoke the power of chains.
By the symbols drawn and bound, let the circle hold fast.
Containment, control, eternity—
These are the laws I weave.
O restless spirit, you are now bound for all time,
Your essence contained.
By the will of my ancestors and the force of my soul,
I command thee—
Enter the vessel and know no escape,
By the light of this spell, you are forever restrained.
So it is spoken, so it shall be done!”

It wasn’t perfectly pronounced Japanese, but it wasn’t bad, all things considered… once again being a Weeb saved the day! Yoko facepalmed.

”Good enough!” Yoko shouted.
”… Once you finish the ritual, your Lux will bind the Apparition. Keep it steady and… We don’t have an Apparition on hand to try this out.”

Yoko sighed, ”There has to be something around here.”

"They’re never around when you need them!" Ella yelled, looking around for some kind of Apparition… But not seeing anything.

”We’ll run into something,” Yoko shrugged. ”Perhaps I could teach you Focus so we could have an easier time finding one. It will be invaluable down here.”

"But I already know how to focus," Ella said, tilting her head. Though she guessed she wasn’t very good at it. "Sure! I don’t see how it’s magical, though!"

Yoko facepalmed.

”… Perhaps I should have elaborated on what the spell is,” Yoko began.
”The Hatanaka Focus spell is a spell that imbues all five senses with Orange-Lux.”

Yoko nodded at Ella, ”It saved my life countless times down here. You could hear the breath and heartbeat of a creature waiting to ambush you.”

"Oooo, that sounds great!" Ella nodded excitedly. ”Then I can save all three of us before we're even attacked! Oh, can I combine it with Green lux to make my senses extra good?"

”If that is what it takes, Disciple, do so,” Yoko said with a nod of her head, then crossed her arms - Yokai Killer in hand - before she said.. ”First, channel your Lux into your senses… Stand still. Still as possible. Complete stillness is key for Focus. ANY movement disrupts the connection to your surroundings.”

Yoko took a step back as she ssid, ”Close your eyes and let your Lux pour into you. Let it flow through your body, your mind, your soul. From there, direct it into your eyes. Your ears. Your nose. Everything.”

Yoko paused, ”Begin with your hearing: extend the range of your awareness and listen. Not just what’s near, Disciple, but what is far away. The rustle of leaves, the rainwater dripping off the leaves…”

Ella nodded, closing her eyes. The staying still bit was difficult, at first. Ella's natural state was in movement. She could hyperfocus at times, but that focus always involved some kind of movement. Eventually she managed to stop fidgeting, forcing herself to stay still.

Then, she started doing what Yoko told her to.

”… What do you hear, Disciple?” Yoko asked.

"I hear…. Lisa and Saskia talking about robot dicks?!" Ella wailed, immediately breaking the concentrated state she'd managed to get into and slapping her hands on her cheeks.

Yoko facepalmed, before quickly pulling her hand back onto her sword. ”… Now pour it into your sense of smell. What can you smell at the moment? Anything unusual? Other than the horrendous smell inherent to this place.”

Ella closed her eyes again, stilling herself and sending out her senses. Concentrating on what she could smell… it was difficult to get past the disgusting smell of the entire place, but she fought through. Rust… "Running water… blood. A lot of blood."

”Good, next is your sense of touch. Feel the vibrations in the air, the ground beneath your feet. If someone moves, you will know…” Yoko nodded her head.

Ella slowly moved her head up and down, trying to expand her sense of touch… it wasn't pleasant either. There were vibrations everywhere, and- "Oh, Lisa and Saskia are practicing again! I can feel them moving."

Yoko smiled, stepping forward, ”Open your eyes, but do not give up the focus. Sharpen your eyes. Look at the smallest details - the ground’s texture, the way the light changes - and tell me anything out of place.”

Ella opened her eyes carefully, squinting them against the light. It was… amazing after she got over the pain of seeing far too much. She looked around with a light gasp. She could see everything… She tried to focus on anything that might be out of place, but it all seemed as normal as this place could get right now. "Saskia’s spitting on a tractor, that’s pretty out of place."

”… Other than that, Disciple?” Yoko rolled her eyes. ”The gestalt of it, Disciple? What are you seeing? What are you feeling? What are you smelling? Everything?”

"Everything, too much- it’s amazing but overwhelming," Ella said, full of awe. "Ooo, I can even see tiny flowers- ew, no, that’s a gross bug."

Yoko smiled.

”Time to teach you another valuable spell down here: Block,” Yoko said with a nod of her head. ”Now, before you ask, Block is a spell in which you use your Orange-Lux to flow into your body to mitigate physical and magical damage…”

"Oh, that makes sense!" Ella nodded. "... but I don't really get how it's Orange-Lux?"

”It’s channeling your Orange-Lux to enchant your defenses,” Yoko explained,
”Block is more than just a spell, it’s a mindset. It requires you to focus entirely on defense and become an immovable object.”

Yoko took a few steps in front of Ella, and unsheathed the Yokai Killer, taking a defensive position with the blade in front of her - across her chest. ”I will demonstrate, come at me with your strongest attack and I will not falter!”

"Alright!" Ella shouted. She took some time to drain all of the colour from the bracelets in her arms to strengthen herself and her abstraction. Then, light shone around her legs… it was her signature move, the most magical girl of her attacks, the strongest! She brought down a leg as hard as steel towards Yoko, burning light radiating around it with her own strength heightened by her colour boosting spell…

… And it seemingly did nothing as Yoko took a more neutral posture. She slid the Yokai Killer back into its sheath as she said, ”With Block, you become an immovable force! To activate it, you need to ground yourself - plant your feet firmly. Then channel the Orange Lux into your core and feel it expand outward to everything - your skin, your clothes, your items - and focus only on maintaining it. Do not think about ANYTHING else. Especially not those two, Disciple.”

Yoko pointed across the field at Lisa and Saskia, before she continued, ”When Block is active, nothing will move you. You will be like a wall! Like a mighty Hatanaka Disciple!”

Yoko valiantly raised the Yokai Killer into the air, ”Now try it. Focus on your defense, and nothing else. Remember, Disciple, this spell requires total commitment. Once you activate it, there is no retreat or counterattack!”

Ella frowned. Not thinking about Lisa and Saskia… that was hard. Protecting them was most of her motivation! They were her friends! But maybe she had to block attacks to protect them! She shifted her feet to be a bit apart, bending her knees and holding her arms up in front of her in a more defensive posture. She closed her eyes and started to channel the Orange-Lux across her… it combined with Green as her skin hardened and the protective Orange-Lux layer formed over her with a light glow of Red-Lux. She felt unmovable.

While this went on, the Yokai Killer retracted into the hilt, before she slid it back into her hip pouch. Yoko then pulled out a metal rod… which extended into an outright bo-staff. Holding it with both hands, Yoko said, ”Get ready Disciple!”

Yoko swung it at full force at Ella.

Ella didn't move, taking the full brunt of the staff… and it hurt! But not as much as it would've if she wasn't trying this block spell, pushing her back a little bit… she frowned. "Do it again!"

Then she dropped back into the same stance, trying to feel the flow of Orange-Lux from her core outwards, strengthening the bits she'd missed until it was like there was a faint, rainbow layer around her entire self.

”… Don’t say it like that!” Yoko shouted as she recoiled, cocked it back, before jamming it into Ella’s cheek.

The staff slammed into Ella’s cheek… but she barely felt it. It left a slight mark, but it practically bounced off. Ella grinned. "How was that?!"

The staff retracted as Yoko smiled, ”You’re a natural, Disciple. You just need to be strategic about when and where you use it. As you can still be physically manipulated.”

"People did always say things just bounced right off me!" Ella said with a grin, nodding. "I’ll make sure to use it wisely, Sensei. Fighting is one thing I’m confident in!"

”Excellent, because we’ll be doing a lot of it down here,” Yoko said as she put the staff away, and re-equipped the Yokai Killer. ”We should practice these spells some more - sans Eternal Binding - just to ensure-”

The voice reappeared…

…-en…?…?…?…to a-…?…?…?…-pparition.

Yoko raised an eyebrow.

Ella frowned… And decided to not try and understand the lack of words there. She’d just get confused! "Please repeat what you’re saying, strange voice, I don’t understand! Something Apparition?"

I…?…?… Apparition…?…?…?… you…?… can…?..?…trust-

”I believe the voice is leading us to an Apparition, Disciple,” Yoko noted.

…?…?…Yes…?…?..?..?

"Great! But there’s no directions?" Ella said, looking at Yoko. "Unless you understand where it’s leading us?"

…?…?…I-…?…?…got you.

”Hold on! Before we do anything!” Yoko raised the Yokai Killer into the air as she turned towards Lisa and Saskia and shouted, ”OTTEN! TURNER! Come here!”

"What?" Saskia groaned as they came over.

"We’re going Apparition hunting!" Ella said cheerfully. "The voice is telling us where!"

”Lucky you!” Lisa said, ”The voice in my head just tells me to kill people!” Lisa threw her hands in the air.

…? …?… Le-…?…?…-eft. Left…?…?…ft…?…?…?…Left.

The voice said.

”Left of what?” Lisa asked. ”And who are you?!”

…?…?… Do-…?…?…-out-…?..?..?…?…?…?… Ella…

"Do without Ella?" Saskia asked.

”Left of Ella?!” Yoko shouted.

…?…?…?…Ye-…?…?…Yes…-s…?…?…Yes.

"Of me?!" Ella snapped her head to her left, mouth falling open and pointing… At whatever it was. She couldn’t tell!

"It’s the ghost of your Uncle," Saskia said with a deadpan expression.

”Yeah, he’s come back from beyond for that ass!” Lisa said, laughing, ”Every time you opened your mouth he was probably sticking it in, so you should do that talking thing less.”

Yoko facepalmed.

"HE NEVER- I NEVER-" Ella shook her head, tears starting to stream down her face. She didn’t want to think about it! So she did actually close her mouth, just in case… just in case… she hung her head and sobbed.

"It’s probably not that," Saskia said with very little comfort to her words, putting a hand on Ella’s shoulder. "Let’s go hunt whatever that is."

… GO. TO. THE. LEFT!…?…?

The voice said.

… FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! I LOVE YOU FOUR, BUT JESUS!…?…?

”The voice wants us to go left!” Lisa said, before she went left…

… her left.

…?…?… Turn around Li-

The voice disappeared, and Lisa turned around as she walked down a path. Yoko was not that far behind, as they kept walking, Lisa suddenly came to a stop as she said,

”.., How do we know that the voice talking to us isn’t an Apparition?!” Lisa threw her hands into the air. ”It could be trying to eat our butts!”

…?…?…-Haha….?…?…-once you-…?…?…out.

"You barely have any ass to eat," Saskia commented drily. They stepped around Lisa to keep walking down the path without much care. "Once we get out? Keep going."

Ella silently trailed at the back of the group, still feeling a bit dejected. She didn't want to say anything… what Lisa had said had actually upset her. She was struggling to process that.

"Hopefully it's just at the end of this path," Saskia continued with a shrug.

”Hey! I have enough to-”

…?…?…?…-ready…?…it’s…?…?…ming.

The Yokai Killer began glowing brightly. ”Something is coming ! Get ready!” Yoko shouted.

A wave of spiders came, and five of them were wrapped in glowing coccoons.

"I'm ready!" Ella shouted, pulling out the four dildos with Kanji written on them and wielding them like they were weapons.

"Terrifying," Saskia chuckled, nails digging into the recently healed wound on their palm and forming into two swords from the back of their hands.

A wailing could be heard, and a faint blue light came from the bushes. The bushes rustled… Then a strange Apparition came out. It floated in front of them for a moment…

…?…?…-n’t know…?…?…is, but-…?…?…?…take him.

The Voice said.

…?…?… Be careful, please.

”Brooks! We have to perform the ritual here,” Yoko began. ”Or we lure him back to those Kanji!” Yoko cocked her blade back, and she narrowed her eyes.

”Decide quickly!” Yoko said before she disappeared in a burst of speed. She appeared on the other side of the Apparition, before a slash appeared on the Apparition’s torso.

"I'll do it here! Keep it distracted!" Ella said. She crouched down, drawing the first Kanji in the ground where she was with her Channeler… before moving on to draw one to it's left.

Saskia raised an eyebrow, before jumping forward to slash the Apparition's other side in a similar move to Yoko. The Apparition reached out and grabbed the blade… Only for five razor-sharp spider legs to burst out and impale the Apparition’s torso. Yoko quickly slashed upwards with the Yokai-Killer and managed to get it to drop Saskia.

…?…?…Are you-…?…?…?

The Apparition floated backwards down the path.

"Don't let it get away!" Ella shouted, absorbing colour to boost her speed. She skidded round it's other side, drawing the third Kanji while also kicking the Apparition back down towards the circle. Then she jumped to drawing the fourth one.

”Disciple! Focus on the ritual!” Yoko shouted, as she paused for a moment and began breathing. Her aura began shining, shimmering, and waving. Before Yoko stopped breathing, before she darted off in a burst of speed past Ella, Saskia, and Lisa.

She quickly ended up on the other side of the Apparition, and swung the Yokai Killer in a graceful arc. The Apparition was struck, before screaming in pain and throwing a hand forward. An invisible force came with the hand and sent Yoko flying.

The Apparition turned around before hitting Lisa and Saskia with the same force. It raised its ethereal limbs, and stones and debris were pulled out of the ground into the air. Then flicked it at the four…

Ella tanked the stones and debris thrown at her by sheer strength of will, blood pouring down her face and barely seeming to bother her. She finished the last Kanji on the ground then threw the dildoes to each of their matching points, with a blank one in the middle.

”“By the ancient strength of Hatanaka, I invoke the power of chains.
By the symbols drawn and bound, let the circle hold fast.
Containment, control, eternity—” She started to chant, concentrating all of her orange Lux into the spell.

”… Disciple! Not yet!” Yoko shouted as she climbed to her feet. ”It’s still fairly strong!”

”Wait! Are those the dildos?!” Lisa shouted.

With a sickening crack, the Apparition’s neck went upright as it began crying blood. It grasped its face before it let out a powerful scream that carried a shockwave

"Not all of the dildos!" Ella shouted as she was knocked back by the scream shockwave. "Only half of them!"

”Well you can't blame us when we look for fun elsewhere," Saskia intoned, swapping from blood blades to tendril and digging it into the ground to keep herself upright. With a sickening crunch, wings started to push through their back.

"... Whatever!" Ella shouted. She raised her hands, electricity crackling around them before shooting a burst of violet lightning at the apparition. Which collided against it, and knocked it back.

”Who cares about the dildos?! My BABIES!” Lisa whined over the corpses of her spider minions.

Yoko had taken a defensive position to tank the brunt of the attack. ”You’ll have to make due, Turner!” Yoko shouted as she aimed the Yokai Killer at the Apparition. While it was still recoiling from Ella’s lightning, the edge of the blade extended - shooting out towards the Apparition and impaling it through the chest. Then webs appeared around it courtesy of Lisa. It shrieked in pain.

”Disciple! Replace the objects! Finish the ritual!” Yoko commanded Ella, then turned to Saskia, ”Otten! Hit it with everything you have!”

"Yes, Sensei!" Ella shouted… pulling out even more dildos and scrawling the Kanji on them.

Saskia jumped at the Apparition, blood tendril piercing it's face while their wings slammed into it with their sharp tips slicing through it.

Yoko stared at Ella for a few moments, taking a deep breath. Yoko brought the sword down, bifurcating the Apparition from the torso down after Saskia attacked. Yoko shouted to Lisa, ”… Turner! Keep doing what you’re doing!” With a nod of her head, Lisa kept wrapping the Apparition in webs.

The blade retracted, and Yoko swung out - and it extended yet again. However, the Apparition let out another shriek that carried a telekinetic force with it in all directions.

"This is fucking annoying!" Saskia said, as they dug their wings into the ground to stop themselves being completely blown back.

As the telekinetic blast came at Ella she paused, took a deep breath, and was perfectly still. Light rainbow light shimmered across her and the shriek completely washed over her. Then she immediately went back to drawing the Kanji.

"I'm done, is it weak enough yet?!"

”Hold on!!” Yoko shouted, as the Yokai Killer retracted and she threw it into the hip pouch. ”Disciple! Start chanting! I’ll take it from here!”

Yoko pulled out a metal bo-staff, before pressing it against the ground and it extended, launching Yoko the Apparition’s head. As she flew, she cocked back the bo-staff, and then whacked it. It was launched across the battered path towards Ella.

Ella had placed all the dildos in their correct Kanji location, and the dildo for the sealing in the middle.

”“By the ancient strength of Hatanaka, I invoke the power of chains.
By the symbols drawn and bound, let the circle hold fast.
Containment, control, eternity—
These are the laws I weave.
O restless spirit, you are now bound for all time,
Your essence contained.
By the will of my ancestors and the force of my soul,”

As Ella chanted, she channeled her Orange-Lux fully into the circle. The Kanji started to glow bright pink and a barrier formed around the Apparition, pulling it into the centre.

“I command thee—
Enter the vessel and know no escape,
By the light of this spell, you are forever restrained.
So it is spoken, so it shall be done!”

The Apparition screamed as it was sucked… into the dildo. Yoko put the bo-staff away, and ran over. ”Disciple! You did it!”

”… Can we still use those?” Lisa asked, pointing at the Dildos.

"I don't see why not," Saskia intoned.

Yoko gently whacked her on the head with the Yokai Killer, ”Turner, we don’t have time for that.”

"Yay!" Ella cheered and threw up her hand, before grabbing the dildo with the Apparition sealed in it. ”Is this magic now? Like… an artifact?!"

Yoko shrugged, ”It contains a magical being but that’s where the magic begins and ends.”

"Maybe it'll be fun to-"

”Can I seal multiple apparitions in it?!" Ella interrupted Saskia with another shout.

”Stop shouting, Disciple,” Yoko commanded, before adding, ”You can, but I would advise against it. The more you contain in one object, the easier time they will have escaping.”

"Alright, I'll just use another one," Ella said with a sigh, putting the dildo with the apparition sealed in it back in her bag. Then she collected all the ones with Kanji on them… she could reuse them! For the ritual.

"Well that's great," Saskia said. "But did you learn anything to use against the Robots."

"No! I don't want to go anymore! You'll- you'll-" Ella wailed, grasping her cheeks. "Try to fuck them!"

”Damn straight we will!” Lisa said, ”We’re getting dicked and you can’t stop it!”

Yoko facepalmed.

…?…?…Really?…?..?

"I will stop it! I won't let you!" Ella shouted before pointing to the sky. "See the strange voice agrees!"

"Maybe they're saying really because they don't think we can do it, and it's a challenge," Saskia said.

”You don’t have to allow it!” Lisa shouted, ”It’s going to happen whether you like it or not! We may record a video! It’s be number one on Pornhub!!”

…?…?…?…?…?…-anger of…?…?…dying…?…?..?…?…?…?… Just FOCUS! Tra…?…?…?… -thing! Any-…?..?..?

”I'm stronger than you so I can stop it!" Ella shouted, leaping at Lisa and trying to put her in a headlock.

”But I can do this, ninja!” Lisa said, before a net of webs appeared in front of her.

Saskia rolled their eyes. "Yes, we know we're in danger of dying, creepy stalker voice. It's fine. The danger will bounce off Ella's fat ass."

”… Disciple, and friends!” Yoko shouted, as she walked over to Ella, ”Let us go back to training! While I taught some of the Hatanaka spells, there is still more work to do! ”

"... Were those three not enough?" Ella said, looking over at Lisa and Saskia with an almost pleasing gaze. Saskia just shrugged. "What more is there to learn?!"

Yoko grabbed her hand and pulled Ella back towards the Barnhouse. ”You learned the basics! But we must refine your skill, yes? You must become an expert to survive down here, yes?!” Yoko said as she continued to pull Ella back.

”You have to give your friends a chance to develop their countermeasures, YES?!”

"FIIIINNNE I UNDERSTANDDDD," Ella wailed as she was practically dragged away by Yoko, holding out hands to Saskia and Lisa.

Saskia just waved.

"But I want to develop something fun and flashy too! Metal melting spell or something!"

”Yes! I understand! But that conversation was making me stupid as that inbred Murakin!” Yoko hissed.

"... It was making me sad too, so I understand," Ella nodded, bottom lip trembling again. Just thinking about… no she didn't want to think about it. "Alright, you're right, let's train more! I need to keep my mind off it!"

”Then…” Yoko pulled the Yokai Killer out. ”Let’s get to work.”

”… Otten, Otten,” Yoko said, gently nudging Saskia awake. ”Wake up. There are people coming. We have to go.”

It was pouring down yet again.

”It’s hard to discern any details due to the rain, but there’s at least two dozen of them,” Yoko explained. ”Wake up Turner and Brooks.”

"Can't we just leave them?" Saskia intoned, even as they turned around to violently shake Ella awake. They'd managed to position themselves on the outside this time with Ella in the middle, hugging Lisa as the smallest spoon like normal. As Ella woke up she jostled Lisa.

"Huhhh, what?"

"People. Get up."

”Well-” Lisa loudly yawned.
”... Well, are they friendly people?”

”From the way they speak, I can tell we should avoid them,” Yoko said. ”Pack up, we’re slipping out the back before they notice us.”

Yoko then turned to Ella, ”Disciple, it’s time to put your training to practice. Use Focus to discern their general vicinity.”

Ella closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. "... We’re surrounded!"

"Sneaking out isn't an option then," Saskia commented. They pulled out their knife, pulling it across their palm and beginning to coat their arm in the blood armour. "Let's still go out the back. Maybe we can pick some off then run."

”Turner! Spiders!” Yoko commanded, and spiders came out of the hidden corners of the room. ” It's raining fairly hard, I wouldn’t recommend a fi-”

The doors were thrown open… And a hulking figure stepped in. It was a man, heavily deformed, and standing over six feet tall. He wore blue overalls and wielded a rusted double-barrel shotgun that was tapes together and chipped.

“... What are you four doing in Pa’s barn?!” He said in a thick accent. “He’s been dead for ten years! Have some respect!”

He raised the shotgun.

”Sorry, we were just leaving!" Ella said, throwing her hands up into the air in a surrender position.

Saskia didn't say anything, watching the deformed man carefully, blood creeping along her skin under her clothes and towards her back in preparation for a fight if need be.

“You ain’t going anywhere little lady!” He said with a grin. “You’re now tonight’s food!”

Yoko sighed, and in a burst of speed, appeared on the other side of the Hillbilly. She silently placed the Yokai Killer back into its sheath as his torso began to rot. Then the slash appeared, and he hunched forward, landing on his hands and knees, coughing up blood. The shotgun landed on the ground..

”Surprised he’s still alive…” Yoko rolled her eyes, and looked over her shoulder.
”One of you! Finish him off! We may have to fight our way out of here.”

"Easy." Saskia shoved their blood tendril right through his throat, brutally ripping it out. They then went over and kicked his body over. "May? Definitely. Lisa, can you get a flying spider ready?"

"It won't be hard if they're all like him!" Ella said, pulling out the Ice Scepter and practically skipping over to Yoko and Saskia.

Lisa nodded her head and five spiders were wrapped in glowing cocoons.

”Let’s not get-”

A mutated fist went through the wall of the barn, only to get retracted. Then a lit stick of dynamite followed.

”Shit!” Yoko shouted as she took a defensive position.

"TAKE COVER!" Ella yelled, blasting the area around the dynamite with ice, trying to form an ice container over it.

Saskia swore as she backed away, blood armour covering her. Lisa quickly ducked behind a tractor, activating the exoskeleton. It went off, almost collapsing the building in the blast as sharpel was sent in all directions. Yoko stood fast, only moved backwards slightly as the explosion just singed her clothing.

Yoko sighed, ”Is everybody okay?!”

”I’m okay!” Lisa shouted, ”But my babies aren’t!”

”Oh, get over it, Turn-” Yoko was interupted by some shouting.

“... SEND IN GEORGE, BETTY, AND BILLYBOB!”

A few moments later, a hulking pig monster with the girth of a 18-wheeler came burst through the wall. It had freakish boils growing on the side of its body and plates of keratin. It loudly squealed before two more came in.

"NOT BILLYBOB!" Ella wailed, undamaged and spinning to change into her magical girl outfit. "I'm not sure I can-"

"Just blast them," Saskia picked herself up from the ground, grimacing as blood dripped from spots that had been caught in the worst of the blast. At least it was just the blood from her armour… mostly. They held up a hand and shot a blood bullet towards one of the pig monsters. It bounced off, as it squeeled and charged Saskia - only for spider webs to bind its front leg and cause it to fall forward.

The next pig, Betty, turned towards Ella and charged her while Billybob went after Yoko.

Ella screamed as she dodge rolled out of the way, flipping over and shooting beams of ice at Betty's legs. Freezing Betty’s front leg.

Saskia used the advantage Lisa had given them by stopping George to launch themselves into his back, bone spears shooting out of their knees to dig into his back between armour. Penetrating the Pig, and causing him to squeal in pain. However, he quickly rolled around. Saskia snapped off the bone spears in him and leapt of, landing on the ground awkwardly with a groan.

Billybob opened it's maw to bite Yoko, only for her to hold the Yokai Killer sideways in a defensive position. When Billybob bit down on the sword, his teeth began to decay and fall out. He loudly squealed as he relented. Yoko charged forward to finish the job, but Billybob rammed her with his boa and sent her skidding backwards. The Yokai Killer clattered against the ground.

”Yoko!” Lisa shouted, before opening her mouth and spewing spiders onto Billybob’s side and they detonated in acid. Billybob squealed, thrashing on the ground as his intestines hit the floor.

"Get the others too!" Saskia shouted, lashing out with a blood tendril at George’s face, slashing it open and spraying blood. Only to vomitted on by Lisa and the spiders detonated in acid, dissolving his face and then he slumped over dead.

Ella leapt at Betty, jumping up onto her back, and slamming electrified hands into her back. The pig monster loudly screamed as it fell over, and attempted to roll with Ella on top. Ella kicked herself off the pig, rolling away with a grunt.

Yoko grabbed the Yokai Killer, and swung it directly at Billybob’s neck, and decapitated him in one swing. His head rotted away into nothing upon hitting the ground.

"Sorry pig monster who did no wrong!" Ella shouted as she shifted around on the floor, shoving her hands out and spraying flames at Betty. Who backpedaled away from the fires, however massive spider legs burst from underneath her and impaled her. Yoko ran up, raised the Yokai Killer overhead and brought it down on Betty’s neck.

Her head dropped to the ground and decayed afterward. Yoko paused for a moment, before saying,

”We’re still surrounded! I suggest we pick a direction and blitz it!”

"That way," Saskia pointed the opposite direction to where the pigs had come in. They only waited a moment for anyone to react, before moving over. "Ella, kick it down, then electrocute everyone outside. It's raining, right? Just don't get caught in the rain too."

"... Right." Ella looked at Yoko, then kicked the wall, taking a chunk out that was large enough for them to get through. Electricity surged down her hands and she shoved them through it, shooting it wildly all around the outside vicinity.

”... It's raining, Brooks!” Yoko shouted.

A crowd was formed outside the hole… Scattering for a moment before a shotgun blast rung out directly at Ella.

"Idiot." Saskia's blood tendril wrapped around Ella's waist and yanked her out of the way.

"You told me to!" Ella wailed.

Saskia shrugged… quickly holding out her hands. Thin nerves shot out her fingers, crawling across the floor like mycelium, seeking all the people outside and trying to embed into their skin. As soon as they connected they'd start paralysing… And they suddenly stopped moving.

Lisa opened her jaw and began spraying spiders in all directions at the Hillbillies and they exploded into acid and chitin fragments mid-air. They screamed and hollered, and Yoko put the Yokai Killer away and pulled out the Dragon’s Wisdom. She held the blade in front of her on her thumbs. The rainwater was collected around her as she closed her eyes, breathed in deeply.

She shot her hands forward.

The water burst out like a wave and launched Hillbillies aside as Yoko gestured for the others to come along before she sheathed the sword and hopped into the air. She kept her hand on the Dragon’s Wisdom as she hit the ground.

Ella ran out first, legs glowing a soft rainbow that made her faster. She kicked any Hillbillies strewn in their path to the side so that they could run. Saskia grimaced, pulling back in her nerves - they should still stay paralyzed for a couple of minutes - and followed right behind Ella. Spider legs erupted from Lisa’s back as she flung herself forward.

Yoko ran into the bushes, followed by the others.

---

They approached a pond… Much like the rest of the farm, it was tainted brown from waste and debris. Yoko walked down the path, and got on her knees, closing her eyes, ”... I can’t sense anyone.”

”... Are we in the clear?” Lisa asked.

”Possibly,” Yoko said.

"I don’t sense anyone either," Ella said after a moment of silence.

"We should keep going anyway," Saskia suggested, looking around with narrowed eyes. Who knew when something would jump out and attack them. "We rested enough."

Yoko unsheathed the Yokai Killer, and raised it high into the air.

”... Onwards, friends!” Yoko valiantly said. ”To the Kingdom!”

”... Ugh! Are we there yet?!”

Lisa whined as she marched forward directly behind Yoko. They were still in this ramshackle farm biome. She had her hands behind her head, her legs were killing her and worse of all…

… She was bored.

”We still have a long ways to go, Turner,” Yoko concisely answered.

”Can we make a flying spider?” Lisa asked.

”The closer we get to the Kingdom, the more Autoknights we will encounter,” Yoko began. ”They will shoot us down the second they notice us. At least by walking we can have cover.”

”... My spiders can walk,” Lisa rolled her eyes - hoping a monster would finally attack them.

”See, you should've gone on all those runs I invited you to before we died!" Ella said, having taken up position at the back. She didn't seem bothered by the long march at all, looking around with a mixture of interest and alertness.

”The ones you and Aaron would take where you'd shout out stupid embarrassing stuff? Pass, those were lame," Saskia intoned, looking a little pale.

”They weren't lame! The shouting was for motivation, and look! I'm much fitter than both of you!"

”... Because you had to run from your Uncle all the time,” Lisa rolled her eyes.

"... You'd make sure you could run away if you'd gone through that too," Ella mumbled, uncharacteristically quiet. She pouted, kicking a rock out of the way.

”We've got all the muscle in our brain," Saskia said, yawning as they looked around. "You think we'll find any dead bodies on the way?"

”What? So you can hump it, Otten?” Yoko rolled her eyes.

"You'd like watching that, wouldn't you?" Saskia shot back with a slight smile. ”I want to see if they're different… Does this place change anatomy? I'd love to dissect that guy who shot us…"

”I’m not sure, Otten,” Yoko shrugged, before coming to a stop . ”I’m not sure if this place changes you or if you are already a monster by the time you fall in.”

”... Does this place give you a huge cock?” Lisa asked.

”If we find a body and dissect it we'd know," Saskia said, starting to look around the ground as if they'd just trip over one. "Or, we could at least start to figure it out… we'll need a larger sample size for the large dick investigation, in case the first one was just born with it."

”Yeah! Born with one straight out the womb!” Lisa laughed.

”Infinite possibilities, Turner, infinite possibilities," Saskia sniggered.

”Except Ella letting us go give head, apparently,” Lisa looking over her shoulder at Ella.

"It was one time, I made it up to you both," Ella wailed, looking up to pout at Lisa.

"So you won't get in the way again?" Saskia asked.

Ella was silent.

”Good grief you three…” Yoko said, shaking her head with a smile. ”Never a dull moment! Hahahaha!”

Ella brightened up a bit at that. She grinned at Yoko. "We are loads of fun! Helps us stay positive… y’know Lupe thought the same… I think. I miss Lupe."

"We can visit her when we get back," Saskia intoned. "If we get back."

”Don’t think like that, Otten,” Yoko said. ”We’re four skilled Adepts. And we have a plan. We got this.” She smiled at Saskia.

"It was a joke," Saskia said.

”Joke about something else, anything else,” Yoko said.

"Jokes are meant to be funny!" Ella shouted. "Yoko's right, we'll make it out… we've already handled everything this place has thrown at us!"

”... So far,” Yoko answered. ”We should not get cocky, Disciple. There are beings here that are powerful. Perhaps not as strong as the Serpent, but far stronger than we can reasonably handle.”

"Stronger than the devil himself? And all his evil minions?" Ella asked back.

Yoko nodded her head.

”What I’m saying is be vigilant and be careful.”

"We're always vigilant! Don't worry, we plan to get outta this alive. We already avoided a bunch of these massive monsters earlier!"

"After we almost got stepped on," Saskia pointed out.

The group shuffled forward, leaving behind the decayed farm biome with its twisted crops and eerily quiet atmosphere. The sky above them was a bright red, casting long shadows as they approached the ruined city on the horizon.

The transition from the farm to the city was gradual. The fields became overgrown with strange, mutated plants, and soon, broken asphalt replaced the dirt paths. The remnants of old roads stretched out before them, cracked and overgrown with weeds. In the distance, the jagged silhouettes of crumbling buildings loomed, some half-collapsed, others leaning precariously.

”Be careful,” Yoko said, ”We’ll have far more cover, but they will be able to ambush us far easier.”

"I'll stay alert, Sensei!" Ella said enthusiastically, looking around. "I'll use what you taught me, don't worry."

Saskia rolled their eyes. "So long as you can stay quiet too… what are we expecting? Monsters, humans, both?"

”Anything,” Yoko said as the group entered the city. ”And I mean anything.”

Lisa dramatically gasped, ”... Even a naked clown on a unicycle?!”

”... I wouldn’t be surprised at this point, Turner,” Yoko rolled her eyes.

As the group moved deeper into the ruined city, the remnants of civilization loomed around them—crumbling buildings, shattered windows, and rusting vehicles littered the streets. Eerie silence hung heavy in the air, broken only by the occasional creak of metal or distant echo of debris shifting in the wind.

Suddenly, a low rumble vibrated through the air. It started as a distant hum but quickly grew louder and deeper until the very ground beneath their feet seemed to shake. A massive silhouette loomed overhead.

Lisa was the first to look up. ”.. The fuck is that?!”

Above them, a steel zeppelin loomed, its metallic surface smooth but thick with armor plating. Massive propellers churned the air at the rear, and below the zeppelin, several spotlights swiveled, scanning the city streets for any signs of movement.

Yoko grinned, looking over her shoulder at the group, ”... I forgot to mention they have those.”

"They, as in that Kingdom thing or whatever?" Saskia squinted their eyes up at it. "I don't have enough spit to take that down."

"Shouldn't we take cover?!" Ella asked, looking around for a building they could get into.

”Yes! Move!”Yoko grabbed Lisa by the arm and shoved her into an alleyway. She gestured for Ella and Saskia to follow. ”Let’s just hope it's passing through…”

She panted, ”Then again they are looking for me.”

"Why, you piss them off?" Saskia intoned, pressing up against the wall of the alley. Ella was right behind them, looking up at the sky with wide eyes.

”Yes. Killing a few dozen Autoknights tends to do that,” Yoko said. ”Let’s just wait for them to pass by-”

The spotlights on the zeppelin shined down the alleyway, putting them on full blast… Cannons deployed out of the sides of the flying behemoth, and primed on them.

”... Run!” Yoko shouted as the cannons began barraging their general vicinity.

Ella screamed, magical girl transforming as she ran. Then her legs started glowing and she picked up the pace. Saskia grimaced, going from a sluggish pace to very quick as their bones lightened. Spider legs erupted from Lisa’s back, yet she didn't crawl on them and elected her regulars.

"There!" they said, pointing to a door into the building next to them… except it was a floor up, with a rickety ladder going up to it. Lisa climbed up using her spider legs, and Yoko hopped up - Lisa stopped at the edge only to get pushed in as Yoko reached down to grab Saskia or Ella’s hand. Ella grabbed Saskia and threw her up, before jumping up to grab hold of Yoko’s hand - who hoisted them both up before they ran inside.

Lisa flipped off the Zepplin before she went inside.

The door closed.

The building was a highschool… though it hardly resembled one anymore. The halls were eerily silent, faded banners hung from the walls, lockers that were ajar or torn off lined the halls, and the air was thick with dust and mold. Yoko pulled the Yokai Killer out and it glowed faintly.

”... More Airships are likely on the way,” Yoko said, ”They will likely level the city. We need a plan.”

Lisa had an idea, she raised her hand,

”What if you and Ella distract it, and meanwhile me and Saskia-” Lisa wrapped her arms around Saskia’s waist. ”... take it out with Blood Rain?”

"Ooo, I like this plan," Saskia said, arm slinging over Lisa’s shoulder.

"That’s fine for this one, but what about the others?" Ella asked. "I don’t want blown up! How do we get out after?"

"Spiders," Saskia shrugged.

”We just need to eliminate the one, Disciple,” Yoko began, ”If we are quick, we will avoid the other Airships.”

Ella’s face scrunched up as she thought for a moment, before nodding. "Alright! We’ll be the distraction, that’s easy, but you two better be ready with the Blood Rain!"

Lisa loudly snorted, ”What do you think we’re just going to sit here and bang?!”

”I can never know with the three of you, Turner,” Yoko said with a wry grin, as she somewhat unsheathed the Yokai Killer. ”Come, Disciple, we have many enemies and little time to capitalize on it all.” Yoko quickly dipped down the hallway, and Lisa turned to Saskia.

”We need to get in view of the Zepplin.” Lisa said as she gestured for Saskia to come along. ”Let’s hope they don’t make them shoot at us!”

That when Lisa began moving, and she moved quickly, the tiles crunching underneath her dirtied boots. Her mind raced as she navigated through the maze of corridors, eyes scanning for any possible way to get a clear line of sight to the zeppelin. The Blood Rain would need to be precise, and Lisa knew they couldn’t afford to fuck this up. The spider legs on her back twitched… she reached a set of double doors, and she saw the red light of the Pit peek from underneath.

Lisa’s smile lit up….

Until a creature burst through it, and Lisa stopped; the beast loudly screamed. Its five heads were scraping the ceiling and screaming as its long limbs crashed into the walls and dug into them - creating a horrific metallic screech as it squeezed lockers, and Lisa’s ears felt like they were going to bleed. It growled as it took steps towards Lisa and Saskia…

”... Oh, you gotta be fucking kidding me!”

"Things were going too easily," Saskia grimaced. Their blood tendril reformed at their back, ripping out a locker and throwing it in front of them at the creature. "We need to finish it quick- should we use the stone?"

”... WE GOTTA DO SOMETHING, NINJA!” Lisa shouted, grabbing both sides of her head as the creature charged at her, swiping a mighty hand. Lisa tackled Saskia to the ground, and she could feel the power behind the swing from just above her. Lisa flipped over, and her spider legs attached her to the ceiling.

Then she flipped off the monster.

"Helpful!" Saskia grimaced, shoving her hand into her pocket and pulling out the orange stone. It immediately embedded in her hand, and with a surge of power multiple blood tendrils came out of her back, all slamming into the creature. At the same time they held out the hand with the stone embedded in it towards Lisa, who quickly grabbed it. The tendrils didn’t do much, but Lisa opened her mouth and unleashed a monstrous wave of spiders at the creature… and applied the acid burst spell in mid-air so the second the spiders hit the creature, they exploded into acid and chitin.

The monster screamed as it raised a hand - that quickly dissolved into nothing - and stepped backward as the acid began to dissolve its body. What was left of its arm fell and hit the ground… Intestines and organs began hitting the ground as the creature still stood but backpedaled towards the door.

"Die already," Saskia hissed, bone spears shoving out her skin with the momentum propelling them towards what was left of the creature. It pierced through one of the creature’s screaming skulls… yet it still kept going. Once Lisa raised her hand, a series of Chitionious Spears erupted from the ground and impaled the beast. They slowly retracted, and blood spewed in all directions as the creature fell over, limp. Lisa held her hand out for Saskia to take the Orange Stone.

Thin blood tendrils came out of Saskia’s hand, cutting away at Lisa’s flesh to pull the orange stone from it. They immediately pocketed it. They immediately started going to the door, not even caring as they stepped through blood and guts. "Let’s go before they get themselves killed."

Blood was dripping down Lisa’s hand as she felt red-hot pain searing through her flesh. Lisa sighed as she flicked the blood away and pushed through the double doors… ending up outside on the other side of the building. The Zeppelin was opening fire on another position, which Lisa thought was the position of Yoko and Ella… and without a second thought, Lisa summoned the blood-filled spiders up into the sky.

Saskia immediately held up her hands to start expanding the spiders’ blood sacks as they went towards the Zeppelin. As soon as they were close enough she did the last bit, causing them to explode in acidic blood all over it. It created a massive hole in the roof of the zeppelin, and it immediately began to descend towards the ground. The Autoknights quickly fell off… and exploded once it hit the ground.

Lisa hopped up and down, and began clapping. Moments later, Yoko and Ella returned… and Yoko said, ”... That will not go unnoticed.” Yoko walked past Lisa. ”Let’s go.”

Lisa shrugged and followed after Yoko...

More airships hovered in the distance after pushing deeper into the city - just as Yoko stated. However, as the four proceeded, they traveled further and further away from their search area. The town was destroyed, and there wasn’t anything in sight - not that it meant there wasn’t anything there. They kept moving forward, until Yoko raised a hand and said,

”On a scale of one to ten…” Yoko began. ”... How is everyone doing?” Yoko came to a stop, and turned towards the group and said,

”Do not lie.”

"Solid six. Average. Never been higher." Saskia intoned.

”I’d saaaaaaaaaay five,” Lisa said, rubbing the back of her head. ”I’m here! That counts for something… right?!” Lisa smiled widely.

”Survival is better than the alternative, Turner,” Yoko nodded her head. ”Just stay sharp; a five is dangerous in the Pit.”

Lisa shrugged, ”This place kinda brings it out of you.”

Ella hummed, thinking about it. Could she really put her feelings on a scale? Well she guessed it wasn’t her feelings but rather how she was doing, but wasn’t that also her feelings? She didn’t like putting a number to it. "An elated eight! I could keep going for hours!"

Yoko stared at Ella momentarily before nodding and saying, ”... Excellent, Disciple.” Yoko said before lowering her hand, turning around, and walking back in the direction they were going. Lisa followed behind Yoko, and the airships in the distance faded out of view as they continued marching through the streets, which were thick with the smell of rotting bodies, ash, and decay. There was a strange sense of purpose to the way the debris was scattered.

Yoko stopped, then Lisa stopped behind her… Ahead was a row of overturned vehicles ahead, but they weren’t arranged in a chaotic way like one would expect from The Pit. They formed a subtle barrier, almost blending in with the wreckage.

”... Something’s not right here,” Lisa added.

”Let’s go,” Yoko said as she just proceed forward. ”The Autoknights are going to swarm this city at this rate looking for us.”

"Feels like they’re watching us," Ella commented quietly, talking about the vehicles. She felt unnerved by it. The smell was horrible, and she was immediately on alert, extending her senses like Yoko had taught her to sense anything that so much as moved as they continued onwards.

”We’re in the Pit, of course, something is watching us,” Yoko said with a nod of her head as she paused for a moment before hopping surprisingly high onto the top of the barricade before jumping to the other side. Spider legs retracted from Lisa’s back. Even though the zeppelins were out of sight, they could still be heard in the distance. As the group moved past the barricades, cars, debris, and even a few trash bins were stacked to make the area seem closed off, but not blatantly. Various windows and doorways had cloths and curtains covering them that fluttered in the wind. An alleyway was completely blocked off by debris...

”Yoko…” Lisa muttered, as extra eyes formed on her temples and upper cheeks, ”You see this?”

Yoko didn’t respond but merely stopped after closing her eyes. ”... Keep moving,” Yoko calmly whispered, ”We are not alone.”

”Wait, who are they?” Lisa asked, whispering.

”Survivors,” Yoko succinctly answered, before putting the Yokai Killer away and pulling out the Dragon’s Wisdom. ”They do not want to be noticed. All we to do is calmly walk through and they’ll leave us alove.”

"Are you sure?" Ella asked quietly, extending her senses to catch the slight movements and all the oddly placed things. It was more obvious the further they walked. "What if the Autoknights get them?"

"That’s not our problem," Saskia said, blood subtly coating their hand just in case. Lisa’s Exoskeleton was not-so-subtly wrapped around her.

” It’s sad to say, but we cannot save everyone down here,” Yoko said with a sigh as she quietly moved forward. ”Given the nature of the Pit and our circumstances, we can only save ourselves.”

Lisa followed closely behind Yoko, her additional eyes scanning the area as they moved through the streets. Vehicles were stacked naturally, yet their placement had a purpose as if it were created to make a maze.

”I don’t like this…” Lisa muttered, ”... They are watching us.”

”Of course they are,” Yoko said, ”They don’t want a fight with us… even though they outnumber us, they don’t want to risk a confrontation with the Autoknights or the other monsters that reside in the Pit.”

Yoko paused for a moment.

”... They are not a threat unless we make them one.”

”Are you sure?” Lisa asked.

Yoko stopped and turned on her heel towards Lisa as she said,

”... They haven’t attacked, have they?”

"Not yet," Saskia said, head tilting.

"And they won’t!" Ella ushered them onwards. The other two were just being too pessimistic! Sure nearly everything in this hellhole had already attacked them, but that didn’t mean these survivors would. And even if they did, they could totally take them. "The quicker we get through the less chance that they change their mind!"

"If I see a glimpse of another person, I’m killing them," Saskia intoned. "I can’t extend my senses, so if I do, they’re too close."

”Let’s not, Otten,” Yoko whispered, ”One, that’s escalating. And two, we should attempt to preserve life whenever we can… even here. But, let’s just get out of here and stop talking about it.” Yoko sighed.

They kept moving, and as they moved, there was a faint rustling, some barely audible chattering here and there, and the glint of eyes watching them poking from their hiding spaces. Yoko pulled the Dragon’s Wisdom from its sheath, and water dripped down as Yoko scanned the windows.

”Just a few more blocks,” Yoko whispered, ”Then we should be out.”

As the four continued through the streets of the ruined city, they approached an intersection with an abandoned bus in the center… cars and chest-high barricades were scattered about in strategic locations. Yoko paused momentarily as her grip on the Dragon’s Wisdom tightened. The streets were quiet save for the distant hum of the Autoknight Airship, which seemed to be subtly growing louder. Yoko closed her eyes before they shot open.

”... Everyone stop!” Yoko commanded as she whipped out the Dragon’s Wisdom, and Lisa summoned a wave of spiders.

Her command echoed through the empty streets as the survivors who watched their every movement stopped being subtle. Several of them quickly popped from the buildings that were covered with ragged clothes, armed with rifles (including the oversized muskets used by the Autoknights), bows and arrows, and even some makeshift slingshots.

“... Don’t get any closer to the bus!” A gruff voice shouted from the windows. There was a flash of a scope from one of the rooftops as survivors on the ground floor came out wielding rusty pipes and makeshift spears.

A man came from the top bus, wielding a very beaten up and dirty M16 rifle, as he shouted, “One more step and you’re all dead!”

“You don’t know what we’ve lost to protect what’s in that bus!” A woman wielding a bow shouted from the second-floor window. “We won’t let anyone take them!”

“We fought Bando’s men off before!” Another woman shouted it was hard to tell at this point, “Don’t fucking test us! We’ve been down here for God knows how long!”

”You three, take cover!” Yoko said, giving them a wave of her hand. ”I’m going to try and talk them down!” It began to rain…

Without a word, Lisa jumped inside one of the empty cars… and several of her spiders were applied with the Enlarge spell and began growing inside of her ethereal cocoons.

Saskia jumped into another car, on the opposite side to Lisa. They crouched down, wings shoving through their back and beginning to grow, shaped to have long sharp bones along the tips as well as at the top joint. Blood coated the rest of their body.

"I’m not letting you do this alone!" Ella declared, refusing to run and hide. It wasn’t in her nature! She didn’t move, except from her eyes that scanned between all the people visible. Senses extended to find the rest… then she spoke. "We’re just passing through! We’re not here to take anything from you. We just want to get out of the city."

Yoko strongly snatched Ella’s wrist and stared her in the eye as she said, ”.. Let. Me. Handle. This.”

"No way. A magical girl never abandons her friends," Ella replied, completely unphased by the strong grip on her wrist or the eye contact. She just met it with a smile. "Never."

”... You’re not abandoning anybody!” Yoko hunched down and tried to whisper. ”In case this goes south, I don’t want you-”
“... Heard that before!” The man on top of the bus with the M16 shouted, “‘Just passing through’ - that’s what they all say before they take everything! Shelter. Supplies. Lives.”

“You don’t know what’s at stake!” The woman with the bow shouted. “What’s in that bus is all we have left!”

From the windows, one of the survivors, a younger man barely out of his teens, shouted nervously, “... They’re lying! They’re with the Kingdom; just look at those weapons!”

“I say we open fire now!”

”Yoko…” Lisa groaned.

Yoko sighed.

”... We are not trying to take anything from you!” Yoko said, taking a step forward. ”You do not need to protect that bus from us.”

“It’s not the bus…” The man with the M16 said, “... It’s the children we got inside of it!”

”... Children?” Yoko whispered.

“Now you know why we can’t let you through! No one is getting near them. No one!” The man shouted, “Turn around or die!”

Ella's mouth fell open. "Children can fall into the pit?"

”... Anyone can enter the Pit,” Yoko answered.

Ella looked over towards the bus, then back to the man shouting. She wasn’t sure what to do. They couldn’t go back, because they’d have to fight AutoKnights, but… she didn’t want to fight these people. They were humans just like them. Struggling.

"Yoko, will we be able to survive if we turn back?" Ella whispered, sounding pained.

The spiders burst out of the cocoons… tetrablemmid spiders. They weren’t just large but armed with the pincer of the Rhinoceros beetle. The rain intensified.

”We can…” Yoko said. ”I haven’t taught you everything, but I have taught you well, Brooks.”

The rain beat down on all of them, soaking all of their clothes, but Yoko took a step forward and spoke, ”... I know what it’s like to lose everything, to fight for what’s left. We don’t want your shelter, your supplies, or your children. I can’t imagine what it’s been like to protect those kids, but if you think we’re here to take from you, you're wrong. We’re not with the Kingdom or Bando’s men. We’re not like them.” Yoko put a hand on her chest.

”If necessary, we will turn back.” Yoko said, ”We can handle the Autoknights! We don’t want to an unnecessary fight!”

The man on the bus narrowed his eyes, his finger hovered just off the trigger. "You say that… but I’ve heard that bullshit before! ‘We just need to pass through; we’re not here for trouble’! And every time we’ve trusted people like you, we’ve paid for it!"

Yoko quickly pulled the Dragon’s Wisdom out of the sheath as she shouted, ”Use your damn heads! If we were going to attack you, we would have done so already! We don’t have an army; we don’t have the numbers to take anything by force!”

The woman with the bow shouted from the second-floor window. "How do we know you’re telling the truth? You’ve got monsters with you!” She pointed at the giant spiders Lisa created, “And magic! How do we know you’re not part of some raid?"

”I get that you all are scared!” Yoko shouted, ”But think of those damn children! Haven’t they seen enough violence?! Even if the four of us go down… I assure you that a majority of you are going down with us! Haven’t they lost enough?!”

The man on the bus looked down at Yoko and then at the people with him. "We can’t afford to trust strangers!"

”You don’t have to!” Yoko waved her hand, ”You just need to let us walk away!”

"You expect us just to let you walk away? After everything we’ve been through, after everyone we’ve lost?!" The man shouted.

One of the younger men stepped forward from behind a makeshift barricade. His hands trembled as he clutched an old, rusted rifle. "They’re lying! They’re just stalling so they can bring the whole damn Kingdom down on us!"
The man on the bus shouted, "Hold your fire! We’re not-"

Then Yoko shouted, pointing back towards the airships coming their way.

”Use your damn head, the Autoknights are-”The young man squeezed the trigger, and the thunderclap of the rusted rifle flashed through the street. The bullet cut through the air, and before Yoko could react, it hit her in the abdomen, right underneath her breast. She screamed as she fell backward and hit the ground.
"Open fire!" another survivor screamed, and suddenly, arrows and bullets flew through the rain.
”Yoko!” Lisa shouted before the spiders charged at the bus and were met with a barrage of bullets and arrows. Spiderwebs immediately bound the man on top of the bus.

"Yoko, no!" Ella screamed, dropping to her knees. She then dropped fully, a bullet still catching her arm. But it wasn’t a place that could kill her like Yoko’s. "Just wait, I’ve got you!"

She raised her channeler, bathing Yoko in healing light.

"Just kill them," Saskia hissed. She raised a hand, shooting a blood bullet at the shoulder of the young man who’d shot first. At the same time, one of her wings sliced through the car she was hiding in, pulling the metal closer in front of her. "It’d be a mercy."

”... They shot first!” Lisa shouted as the man on the bus's roof received a chitinous spear through the bottom of his jaw straight through the top of his skull. It retracted, and he flopped over, head. The spiders she summoned were shredded, but Lisa summoned more.

Yoko hissed as the bullet was pushed out of her, and she climbed to her feet. ”... Otten and Turner are right!” Was the first thing Yoko said, ”We cannot hold back!”

Yoko quickly disappeared in a speed that disrupted the rain patterns as Yoko seemingly teleported past the group of melee-wielding survivors. A moment later a cut appeared in their bodies…

”... Find cover!” Yoko shouted. ”Go into the building! Something!”

Yoko took a defensive position as their bullets and arrows seemingly bounced off her body.

"But what about the children?!" Ella wailed. She scrambled forward, legs glowing with prismatic light to power her forward. She kicked into a guy in her way and shoved through a door.

"They have a miserable life anyway!" Saskia shouted. Their blood tendril shoved through a broken car window to spear the neck of the person nearest.

Lisa was right behind Ella, with spider legs out of her back. They had entered an apartment, and the sound of the survivors stomping around upstairs was oppressive. Lisa summoned more spiders, and said to Ella,

”... I’m not sure how long Yoko can keep that going,” Lisa began, ”We need to get at the people with the guns.”

Ella nodded. Now that she was inside, she was out of the rain. She held out her hands, coating them with electricity. "Stay behind me." The spiders that Lisa summoned climbed on top of Lisa and underneath her clothes.

She located the stairs and made her way up as quietly as possible. She immediately kicked down the door that met her, blasting anything in the room with electricity. The room Ella burst into was once a modest living space, but it had been hastily converted into a makeshift defensive position. The walls were lined with barricades made from furniture, scraps of wood, and whatever else the survivors could scavenge. The survivors inside the room had been entirely caught off guard by the sudden attack. They had been in the middle of fortifying their position when the door was kicked open.

A few were armed with makeshift weapons—rusty pipes, repurposed tools, and even firearms. They scrambled for cover as the lightning surged through the room, struck the other side, and immediately ignited the dilapidated building.

“... What the hell!? What the hell?!” One man shouted as he dove behind cover.

A woman dove behind an overturned couch, dropping her rifle that was held together by the duct tape. “They’re in the building! We need to-”

Her voice was cut off by a loud crack as a ceiling beam fell, nearly crushing her.

“We need to get out of here!” A man shouted, his voice somewhat drowned out by the fire and electricity. “The whole place is coming down!”

The horde of venomous spiders that Lisa was carrying dispersed into the room. They quickly sought out their targets and began biting at them, quickly and quietly eliminating her targets.

"Whoops! Didn’t mean to set it on fire!" Ella laughed awkwardly, having not used electricity on purpose… but this worked! They couldn’t shoot Yoko from a burning building!

She grabbed the ice scepter, pulling it out and shooting beams of ice at anyone that was trying to escape that Lisa’s spiders didn’t get. "Sorry! It’s- it’s better this way!"
"Get them off! Get them off!" one man screamed as Lisa's venomous spiders swarmed over him.

Another survivor, a woman, was frantically trying to extinguish the fire on her jacket after being grazed by one of Ella's ice beams. She stumbled backward, crashing into a wooden beam, "It's all burning! We have to get out!" She cried out.

One man dashed the door, trying to outrun the spiders - but one lept from the wall and landed on his neck. Before he could flick it off, it sunk its fangs into his neck, and he landed facefirst into some debris.

Another survivor crouched behind an overturned table, gripping a rusted pipe tightly. "....Where the hell did they come from?!" He shouted, his voice shaking. "This wasn’t supposed to happen!"

The building groaned under the pressure of the flames. More beams cracked and collapsed, sending showers of sparks into the air. The survivors, their numbers dwindling, were cornered, suffocating in the smoke and overwhelmed by the onslaught of spiders and ice.

Ella kept up ice blasting anyone who tried to escape, covering her mouth with an arm and backing away towards Lisa. "We should get out before we get buried in here too!"

She looked around - they were only on the second floor. Jumping down wouldn’t kill them…

"I’m sorry!" Ella shouted at the survivors, ice scepter going back to its holster. In its place a massive, pink fireball formed in her hand. She grabbed Lisa with her other arm before throwing the fireball at where most of the survivors had been forced to hide.

As soon as she’d thrown it, holding tightly onto Lisa, she kicked down the nearest wall and jumped outside. Soft rainbow light covered her as she tried to protect herself with orange lux… but it wasn’t perfect. It still fucking hurt when she landed, protecting Lisa with her own body, but! She wasn’t dead and nothing was broken!

Outside, the fight continued to rage as Yoko faced off against the survivors in the street with the rain pelting all three of them, which mixed with the thick smoke from the burning building. They could hear the distant shouts of survivors rallying behind makeshift cover- abandoned cars, broken fences, and anything else they could find to shield themselves. Yoko took cover behind one of the abandoned cars they used as they opened fire on her position, and Yoko held the Dragon’s Wisdom, one hand on the hilt and the other on the sheath.

”... Don’t you idiots know you’re just going to bring the Autoknights on top of your damn heads!?” Yoko screamed at the top of her lungs, her voice trembling at the end.

Nobody heard her, or they didn’t listen.

Someone charged her position with a rusted shotgun, but before he could react, Yoko appeared on the other side of him… Slowly sheathing the Dragon’s Wisdom, before a slash appeared on his chest, and he fell over dead. Another man came from behind her, wielding a makeshift spear, and Yoko quickly turned around as he dove the spear into her chest - and seemingly did nothing. He tilted his head before Yoko slashed the spear in half, and the blade extended as she slashed at his stomach and his intestines hit the ground. He dropped the spear before he fell backward, desperately trying to push his intestines back into his body. Yoko didn’t finish him as she placed the Dragon’s Wisdom back into the sheath.

A woman, soaked from the rain but filled with fury, stood far from Lisa and Ella, hoisting a makeshift flamethrower pieced together from old fuel tanks and spare parts. She pulled a lever and screamed,

“Take this, you freaks!”

The flamethrower unleashed a firey arc directly at Lisa and Ella.

"BY SAILOR MOON!" Ella physically threw Lisa to the side before shifting her stance, and the rainbow aura around her strengthened. The first blast of the flamethrower hit her, causing her clothes to start burning (but the rain out that out thankfully). But then she stabilised her block spell, tanking the continued stream of fire.

A bone spear came out of nowhere, shooting right at the woman's head, piercing through it and she slumped over dead.

"Don't just stand there, take cover!" Saskia shouted, from the opposite side of the street. They were tearing through makeshift shields with their wings, protecting themselves from bullets by wrapping them around themselves. They spun around, gouging out a man's chest with the sharp tips of their wings.

The rain hissed against the fires, creating a layer of steam that made it hard to see or breathe… Lisa ducked behind a makeshift encampment made from scrap metal and other debris, with the fire to her back, and summoned five Tetrablemmidae spiders applied with the Enlarge and Hybridization spells. Behind them, she summoned a wave of venomous spiders but remained put.

Behind a rusted van, three survivors huddled together not too far away from the leading group, “We can’t hold them off like this; we need to-” A bullet whirled by his head before he said, "Where the hell are the others?!"

"They’re dead," An older woman gripping a rusted homemade pistol said, "We fight, or we’re dead too."

“... How the fuck are we going to fight that?!” The man shouted. “They… they have magic!”

"If we die, we take one of them with us!" The woman spoke, before she let out her battle cry, popped out of cover, and aimed the pistol at Saskia.

Yoko appeared at her side, and before the woman could turn towards her, Yoko slashed upwards and sliced her hand off. She screamed as her hand hit the ground, then she fell to her knees as blood spurted in all directions.

“Holy shit!” The man with the shield charged Yoko, but the Dragon’s Wisdom extended and with a slash, she went through both the shield and the man. He slumped over dead.

“Oh my God!” The last woman quickly cut on run.

“Who the fuck are these three?!” One of them shouted in the distance.

“Who gives a shit?!” A man shouted, “Keep fighting!”

Despite their brave battle cry, many of them were simply cutting their losses and running with as much as they could. The rest formed a makeshift defensive position around the bus, gathering as many firearms and scrap as possible to huddle into a bunker position. Then started barraging all four of them with gunfire and whatever other projectiles they had. Silently, Lisa sent her spider horde into their position...

Yoko appeared in an alleyway in a burst of supernatural speed. She pressed her back against the wall, as a barrage of bullets went her way and pinned her down.

”... Look around you!” Yoko shouted at them, ”You’re fighting for what?! To lose more of your own?! At this rate, the children you are fighting so hard to defend are going to die due to your collective stupidity!”

It likely went unhead as they kept firing.

"It would be a mercy if the children died," Saskia intoned, forced to take cover behind a car door again. They looked over it, throwing a bone spear at a gap in their makeshift defences.

"Please! You can't win this!" Ella shouted, joining Yoko in trying to get them to back down. They didn't have to kill all of them. They'd killed enough to make a point! She let out a shout of pain as a bullet hit her arm, but ignored it - it could be healed later! She pressed against a wall to get some cover and shot a continuous beam of light at the scrap. Ella concentrated on making it as hot as possible, pushing it further until it reached metal melting temperatures, like a laser beam cutting through.

The survivors’ makeshift defenses around the bus were crumbling under the relentless pressure. The heat from Ella's beam began warping the metal, and the scrap barricade they had hastily constructed was starting to buckle. The panicked voices of those behind it grew louder…

“Fall back!” one of the survivors screamed, grabbing at the others around him. "The barricade’s gonna melt, we can’t stay here!"

“No! We hold here! If we give an inch, we’re dead anyway!” Another shouted as they reloaded.

“What the fuck?! Spiders!?” Another woman screamed, before they began panicking.

One man finally broke. He dropped his rifle, hands raised in surrender. "I’m done! I’m not dying for this!" He turned and sprinted away, disappearing into the maze of streets.

“Wait, what the fuck is tha-” There was a roar as a man was launched through the air, and landed right by Lisa and Ella. He died on impact, but there was shooting from behind the barricade.

“... Fuck this!” A woman shouted, running out of the barricade before a massive creature lept from the formation, only to pounced on her and ripped her to pieces as it ate her alive. She screamed and thrashed before she just stopped….

”... Good grief,” Yoko facepalmed. ”You all should have listened!”

When Yoko shouted that, the monster ceased eating the woman before charging at Yoko….

"Yoko!" Ella shouted. But she was too far away… she moved her light beam to hitting the creature, aiming for its eye and ignoring the burning of her own hand.

"Shit." Saskia launched themselves forward towards the creature, slashing at its side with the large, sharp bone at their wing tip.

The two attacks hit the creature, and knocked it over, but it climbed to its feet… and was met with a barrage of gunfire that it quickly healed from. Then the gunfire targeted the four, and Yoko shouted,

”... Don’t worry about me!” Yoko shouted as she drew the Dragon’s Wisdom… the rain water collected around the creature, and with a flex of the sword and sheathe, the beast was launched into the barricade, where it wreaked havoc there. ”... While they are distracted, push forward!” Yoko commanded.

"Push forward to where?!" Ella shouted, coming out from her cover. She stopped the beam of light, grimacing as she looked down at her burnt hand. It was fine…

Yoko. facepalmed

"To them, idiot," Saskia hissed. They spread their wings, to fly forward and land on top of the school bus. They crouched on it, wings wrapping back around them protectively.

Ella ran forward, a rainbow leg coming up to kick someone out of the way as she did. Lisa didn’t proceed forward; however, at this point, the tetrablemmids burst from their cocoons the size of a small car, sprouting dragonfly wings, as they charged forward in her stead. There were panicked screaming as the combined assault from Lisa’s spiders, and the creature was causing many of the survivors to cut and run.

“Get back! Get back!” One of the survivors shouted as his makeshift rifle let off a few rounds against the oversized spider, which pierced its exoskeleton but barely saved him from getting consumed by the creature. Yoko quickly appeared in a burst of speed, her hand on the sword…

… She vomited seconds later.

The creature roared as it thrashed through the remains of the barricade, its body healing almost instantly from any damage inflicted by the few survivors still firing at it. The rain swirled violently as Yoko swung her sword, sending a torrent of water crashing into the creature. The force knocked it back again, smashing it into a nearby car. One of Lisa’s spiders flew over to it, exploded in a burst of acid that dissolved the monster’s flesh, and took out a few survivors. It screeched in pain as the acid sizzled, but the rain washed some of it off…

"We're not dying like dogs!" one of the survivors screamed as he hefted an improvised grenade launcher and fired it toward one of Lisa's spiders. The grenade exploded on impact, blowing off the spider’s legs… and the spider fell over dead.

However, the creature regenerated from the acid as it clawed at Yoko. However, it was met by the Dragon’s Wisdom and was launched off balance. One more swipe from the sword went through its chest, and it stumbled backward as the wounds regenerated. Then Yoko slashed both of its legs off, and before it had a chance to realize it hit the ground, the Dragon’s Wisdom pierced its skull. It slumped over, dead, and Yoko pulled the sword from its skull.

Meanwhile, two men charged forward, aiming rifles at Saskia on top of the bus, while a woman sprinted toward Ella, knife in hand, screaming a battle cry as she leaped at her. Most of the survivor group was running away in fear….

Ella easily dodged the wild swing, slamming an as hard as iron leg into her leg to trip her over. Then she jumped on top of her, pulling the knife out of her grip and throwing it away.

"I'm so sorry!" Ella said as she sliced the woman's throat with a hot beam of light in what she hoped would be a quick death.

"Oh, you're going to shoot me?" Saskia intoned. They tilted their head, before pursing their lips. Two incredibly accurate globs of spit hit the rifle barrels. It immediately hardened and covered the entire front. They then spread their wings mockingly. "Go on, try."

The two men pulled the trigger at the same time, and then the round exploded into their hands. It sent shrapnel and metal fragments in all directions and shredded their hands and faces. They dropped the rifles, looking at their hands, then back up at Saskia before they turned around and bolted away into the alleyways and streets of the Pit.

At this point, everyone fighting had lost the will to continue and fled. The scraping of metal on concrete could be heard as the remaining survivors, those who hadn’t fled rose from their positions. Some staggered away, dragging injured comrades, while others simply collapsed where they stood, the fight wholly drained from them. The battlefield fell eerily silent as the rain stopped. Yoko sighed as she wiped the excess rain off the Dragon’s Wisdom and sheathed it with a poignant click. The spiders that Lisa summoned stood tall, and she climbed from beneath cover and walked over to them, and placed her hands against them. A web-like pattern appeared on their wounds.

”Holy shit…” Lisa groaned, her jaw dropped. ”... I just, I’m at a loss for words.”

Yoko sighed as she closed her eyes, ”There is no time for regrets, Turner. They didn’t give us any other option.”

”I mean, just…” Lisa looked at one of the corpses of the survivors as she slumped down onto the side of the spider. ”Holy fuck.”

”We can’t afford to get stuck in the moment, Turner,” Yoko said to Lisa before turning back towards where they came from. The airships were in full view now, and they floated in one line in their direction. There were twelve in view, but they still had plenty of time to escape before they even had a chance to catch sight of them. ”We didn’t come here for them; we came here for the All-Blade and my brother.”

Lisa was silent for a moment, as her exoskeleton disappeared, and her excess eyes faded back into her flesh. Lisa turned towards the bus, ”... What about the kids?”

”... Wait!” Yoko turned towards the bus. ”They left them!”

Ella’s eyes widened, clothes going back to normal as she stared at the bus. What did they do about the children? They couldn’t leave them behind, but they couldn’t take them with them either… She felt sick. Ella squatted on the ground, hiding her face in her knees.

"We kill them." Saskia said, still crouched on top of the bus. Their wings were slowly being pulled back into their back. "As painlessly as possible."

---

---

Lisa and Yoko were silent. They stared at Saskia, and their expressions did not change at all. The streets were eerily silent, save for the hum of the Autoknights’ airship approaching. However, Yoko broke the silence.

”... I agree.”

"No way!" Ella looked up at Yoko, then at Saskia. There was… they couldn’t… They were children. The adults were one thing… even if Ella hadn’t wanted to kill them. They’d attacked first. But the children? "We can’t!"

"What else can we do?" Saskia jumped down from the top of the bus to the entrance, blood blade forming on the back of their hand. "Better us than a monster. We can’t look after them. I’ll do it if no one else can."

Ella shook her head. No way. She looked over at Lisa. "You don’t… agree, do you, Lisa?"

Lisa stood awkwardly, only hanging her head as she played with her fingers. ”... Yes, I do.”

Yoko walked over to Ella, placed a hand on her shoulder, and looked her in the eye as she said, ”Disciple… I don’t want to do this. And I can tell Lisa or Saskia does not want to do this either, but tell me, what option do they have?” Yoko paused, and her words hung. ”Like Saskia said, they cannot come with us. The best case scenario is that they get consumed by a monster. Worst-case scenario...” Yoko sighed.

”... What do you suggest we do then?!” Lisa shouted at Ella, swiping her hand as she took deep breaths.

"I don’t know." Ella held her head in her hands, looking down, unable to keep up the eye contact with Yoko. She knew they were right. And she knew none of them wanted to do it… but she just couldn’t accept it. How did that make them any better than all of those monsters? Because they were doing it to prevent something worse? She looked back up, tears spilling down her cheeks. "I can’t do it. I really can’t do it."

Would she be able to call herself a Magical Girl if she did? Could she even call herself a Magical Girl for letting it happen? But she would… always choose her friends.

"You don’t have to." Saskia said, nearly expressionless. But Ella knew them well enough to notice the minute changes - the reluctance hidden in their cold eyes. They really didn’t want to do it… "I’ll do your share. Or all of them. I’ll take on that burden. I know exactly where to cut to make it quick and painless."

”Lisa, stick with Saskia as she does it,” Yoko trailed off, then sighed as she grabbed onto Ella’s hand and used her strength to lift her up to her feet. ”Disciple, let’s go; I know you don’t want to watch this. We’ll be a few blocks that way.” Yoko pointed in the direction, then began heading that way as she left Lisa and Saskia…

She began to walk away with Ella in tow. A few moments after they got out of earshot, that static voice appeared in their heads…

… ?…?…You-...-id….?...?...right…?...?... thing….

The voice paused for a moment before speaking clearly.

…?...?...?... I still love you.