Lily gasped when she was freed from the arachnid girl’s safety net and into Alex’ hug, and she hugged him back.
”I know, I’m sorry Alex. I had my guard down,” Lily spoke quietly, and breathed deeply.
”I promise I’ll be more careful.” She took refuge in the fluffiness he provided as she listened to the others discuss strategy. Helga nervously clacked her claws against each other as she also listened in, wondering if Mariette had an actual plan beyond trying to hide, and nodded as Su brought up a real point.
When Mariette brought up confronting Justine directly, Lily spoke.
”I want to negotiate with Justine first, if possible.” She took Alex’ hand and nodded to Su.
”I know Justine wouldn’t do something this reckless just for revenge. I want to speak with her, and maybe find out why she’s so mad.”Helga sighed and moved closer to Su’s side. “Su, you stay close to me, all right? I’ll protect you.” She then kissed her on the cheek. “That’s a promise.”
Lily then dusted off her clothes, and slapped her cheeks.
”I’m ready.”
At Beacon HQ, Jenna stepped into mission control, and saw that Elora was busy clacking away on two separate keyboards, typing away at speeds only possible for a magical girl. There were numerous screens that seemed to react to the movements of her head and eyes as they moved back and forth, giving her all kinds of information: from visual feeds from Beacon girls on the fields, to various graphs and spectrometers. Jenna saw from the camera feeds how Kimble, Sally and Hyun were together, some of them clearly wounded, while Alicia’s feed showed her group inside the mansion.
“Low probability of success,” Elora answered without looking at the scientist. She pressed a button, and Jenna saw as Sally and Hyun Long were teleported back to base, immediately attended to by medics. “Aurelio is going to initiate a Final Act. Your orders are to get in there and support him and the Paladin Seraph. Here, take this.” She handed over a Beacon marker to Jenna. “Use this when you’re ready for extraction, and I’ll pull you out of there. Hurry, he’s now approaching Justine!”
At the upper floor of the foyer, ‘Mariette’ stopped with an ugly grimace not fitting for her lips as she looked around, suspicious of her surroundings. Turned out her paranoia was, for once, justified: the moment ‘Eli’ barged in, the floor of the library faintly flashed, turning into enchanted mirrors that revealed the true form of those reflected on them. To nobody’s surprise, ‘Eli’’s reflection revealed her to be FanFan, while ‘Mariette’ who stood by the doorway had the head of Leena peeking out from her reflection. However, there was a third reflection that didn’t belong to the infiltrators. FanFan looked up, only to be suckerpunched by Freya, who successfully slashed and tailwhipped the disguised girl out of the room, landing back in the corridor, wounded on her cheek and chest and holding her side from the spot where she was struck by the tail. “Oof!”
She managed to get up as the sonic trap went off, using her normal hands to cover her ears while her metallic ones pushed her up. “Ambush!” Leena attempted to shout through the noise as portals opened around them, releasing magical girls loyal to Mariette as well as various Dina’s monsters and a lone shadow spectating from a distance. Thanks to the disorienting effect of the sonic trap, the ice spells hit their mark. However, the initial ice attacks failed to freeze the girls’ feet thanks to Dina’s protective barrier, breaking away as frost washed over them. Leena took a deep breath, about to activate her magic, when she spotted Tenebra creating a rift; unlike before, this one was violently made, not only straining the unhinged magical girl, but actually causing cracks to spread in the dimension itself, as if the world around them was made of glass.
“In there!” The veteran reacted quickly, and grabbed Connie around her waist as the masked girl was about to slip and fall; she dove with her towards the floor, in the direction of the rift. using the slippery ice to their advantage, they slid on their stomachs like penguins, barely managing to escape the explosions from Taihei’s artifact bombs. However, Leena incurred a shot from Suzette’s rage beam, causing her to bellow not only in pain, but wrath; the reality-shattering portal warped the emotion magic that struck Leena, causing her to be filled with a great anger as she disappeared. Connie on the other hand was hit by one of Lea’s wind lances that successfully curved downwards, cutting a gash through her dark robe and wounding her just as she also left. Lea was fast enough to pursue them, but was stopped by Gaia’s violent vines that thrashed around her, the spiked plants having successfully trapped her.
“Hold on, Princess!”
FanFan did the same as she saved herself from slipping by using one of her metal hands to break through the frozen floor, grabbing MDP with the other. Flinging herself in the air. Ronja managed to catch them in the net she cast, but it was scorched by Mayra’s fire just enough for her to break free before MDP turned it into glitter, causing them to tumble and slide into the rift as well, followed by Alicia, Gaia, Ronin, and the rest of the infiltrators.
Justine bit the corner of her lip, frustrated by how slippery Mikayla turned out to be; not only was she agile, able to move freely like the wind, but she also was surrounded by spirits serving as a shell, shielding her from strikes. Still, she spirit girl was equally unable to make a dent on her and her servant, resulting in a heated duel not unlike from a superpowered battle manga. The moment she flung Sakura out, however, Justine landed a glancing hit, scattering a third of her spirits with a magical beam in the process. She now had the edge.
However, she didn’t have the chance to capitalize on the opening, due to a certain gentleman’s abrupt arrival. As he left to confront the undead witches, Aurelio could hear as the marker activated, followed by the familiar sounds of the Beacon teleporting, sending Sally and Hyun Long out, leaving only Kimble, who followed him to the battlegrounds. Justine stopped, her sword whisked to the side as she glared at Aurelio, while Sonia glanced at Mikayla to ensure she wouldn’t attempt anything during the intrusion.
”Aurelio? What is the meaning of this? Help me eradicate this shade already!” She ordered. But Kimble shook her head.
“Not going to happen, Justine,” Kimble responded.
“We are-””!”Suddenly, a beam of light shot through the air, causing Sonia to deflect it with one of her handheld knives, before teleporting out of the way of the ensuing barrage. Justine’s eyes widened.
”Wait, could it be-!”To the vampire girl’s astonishment, she witnessed Mariette Pedersen, standing on the roof of her mangled mansion, her long, silvery hair fluttering in the wind. All around her were various allies she had gathered, including Lily and Alex, who were to the eyepatched girl’s side.
Justine’s voice howled across the pocket dimension.
”MARIETTE!"
"At last, you have stopped running!"Her smile turned wide, revealing her vampiric fangs, an upturned palm ringed by clawed fingers.
”You thought you could destroy Penrose once I was gone!”She lifted her sword at Mariette.
”How foolish! Now you will pay for it with your blood!”That was when Justine caught an arrow of lightning in her hands, and scoffed; Lily’s eyes were narrowed as she had released her crackling bowstring.
”Mariette hasn’t destroyed anything! What are you talking about, Justine?”Justine shook her head, dismayed by seeing Lily.
”You’re here too! Listen Lily, Mariette is the one behind Penrose’s destruction! She is merely using you, just like I have! She is lying to you!”Lily shook, and lowered her bow as she looked at Mariette.
”...So...Ronin is...” She mumbled, as she remembered Ronin’s words. The silence was broken by Trixy’s arrival, having managed to shoot the chain weretiger straight through the heart, killing the beastman.
Justine held her hands forward. A reddish-black magic circle formed around her, spinning rapidly. Sonia teleported the two farther away as Mariette and Su inevitably began their attack, allowing Justine to finish her spell. This was when Dina begun her orchestra, filling the dimension with magical fairy music that roused the spirits and strengthened her magic. As a result, Justine grimaced, performing her incantation with disgust.
”Black hound, who stalks in the dark...Feaster of pain, answer my call! Come to me, my darling pet Reaver!”
She closed her eyes, and focused on the mark she had left on the Mint assassin’s body. Using it, she had tracked him to somewhere under Penrose, battling with a mechanical monster girl. And then, with Sonia’s magic, he was dragged out, teleported away from his duel.
The next moment he knew, he was standing on a frozen field, looking up at Justine and Sonia.
”Reaver! My precious dog!”She called to her, and pointed a finger towards the mansion, particularly at the cyclops girl ruling over it.
”Be a dear, and fight a glorious battle! Kill, for that is your desire!”Then, Justine also began her attack ,shooting out red beams of death.
At the same time, Tenebra’s rift opened at Sakura’s location, and the infiltration team stumbled out in a single heap. Leena and Eli no longer wore their disguises, their Artifacts seemingly destroyed in the ambush. However, while FanFan was miffed about it, Leena was absolutely fuming; her eyes were wide, and her lips tightly stretched wide in a snarling look full of absolute hate.
“There she is!” She screamed, pointing a sword at Mariette. She breathed hard and gripped her weapons tightly as the rage seemed to grow greater and greater
“She won’t escape...Never again!”
And then, she leapt up, towards the rooftop, glowing as she charged up a spell. Then, with a voice that echoed throughout the entire dimension, she cast it.
”VOID WORLD!”
Unleashing all her magic, boosted by the sheer amount of anger that flowed out from her like a roaring fire, she created a Nullification Field that expanded out three times as large as her previous spells.
At that moment, time seemed to halt still. All magical constructs and projectiles vanished, like ash into thin air; Justine’s beams, Mariette’s rays of light, Lily’s lightning bolts, Tenebra's rift, and even Sil’s Schatten. Sonia lost her grip on her Space magic, and fell down, accidentally dragging Justine down with her. Even Sil, whose teleport was interrupted, had to make a rolling landing. All external magic, like conjuring elements or barriers, is useless. However, internal magic, like enchanting yourself or those you touch, is still possible.
But of all people who were most affected, it was Mariette. At that moment, she felt as if she was thrown into a world of darkness. Though her eyes still saw around her, she felt blind, her numerous mirrors nowhere to be seen, limiting her vision to only a single point. She tried to summon a mirror, her trusted tool, but it didn’t appear, having betrayed her. Her legs couldn’t hold her still anymore as she felt weak, and she was caught by the ally closest to her. Even the dimension itself seemed to shake as it suffered from the Nullification magic. Mariette knew the reason for this; as long as that Field lasted, even the Black Mirror couldn’t hold this dimension whole.
Five minutes before the end of the world.
The final battle for everyone’s fates, Ragnarok, had begun.
