”Th-That’s not what I meant, it’s just…" Lily attempted backpedaling on her words. She listened as Alex explained his views on the battle, and how he didn’t mind getting hurt in the process.
”Yeah, we’ve been in worse…It’s just, ever since the Christmas party, I’ve started to realize I have a bad habit of not paying attention to how others might be feeling. So I thought that, umm, maybe…" She stopped herself with a nod.
”No, you’re right. We did beat those monsters, after all. If it was anyone else, I’m sure they’d have been worse off." Her smile began to gradually return to her.
”Now let’s finish the job!"Soon enough the two arrived at the Industrial District. Lily hopped off her motorcycle, and ran to the gathering of Mahou present, waving her arm as she approached them.
”Hey! Sorry for being late! Had to deal with some monsters up on central. Is everything handled here?" She asked, and looked up to the sky; the flock of birds had started to scatter, the mysterious man’s Beast magic having been released from them.
She returned her eyes back to the crowd, and noticed Roxanna in the crowd. She greeted the girl, seemingly ignoring the accusations she threw at MDP.
”Oh, you must be new here! Hi, my name’s Lily Lightning, but my friends call me Lily!" Past her bright smile was a hint of nervousness at the tense situation.
”I see you’ve met MDP, haha! Don’t mind her, she can be a bit, uh, ditzy."
As Alicia and Aurelio recovered from their fight with the wendigos, Alicia heard Elora’s voice in the communicator: “The situation has stabilized; the major packs of wendigos have been eliminated, leaving only lone stragglers. A couple of other squads are chasing after them for the cleanup as we speak. Mission complete. Over and out.”
Soon, they saw Sally running to them, having teleported in from a nearby rooftop.
“Hiii!” She cheerfully greeted the two. “How ya doing, Alicia? Looks like you had your work cut out for you this time, huh? We also had some wendigos out at the city limits. The things were all over town, so I thought I’d come in to check.” She pondered with a finger on her lip, having seen the piles of ash scattered around. “But you were lucky you had Aury-Poo here to help you! He’s such a gentleman~” She grabbed Aurelio, and smothered him with her lethally affectionate embrace.
Robert smiled pleasantly when Mariette accepted the letter, and bowed like a sophisticated butler. “The Queen of Hearts will look forward to your attendance. Goodbye for now, Miss Pedersen~” And, like an actor taking exit stage right, the boy turned and walked out of the door, having disappeared, but not before Mariette got a glimpse of him taking out what looked like a large golden pocket watch from his pocket. Once he was out of sight, Mariette could tell using Absolute Direction that he had left this dimension.
Finn and Mayra, though surrounded by snarling wendigos, quickly got to work in taking them out in a dance of destruction. Having already had experience with fighting a much larger horde, and still blessed by the enchantments from before, Finn successfully destroyed three of the wendigos, his fiery attacks making short work of the fiendish monsters. Mayra, while held back by her decision to take a more localized fighting style, still erupted a shower of lava-hot punches and kicks, accompanied by dark hexes and crooked casts that crippled the creatures, totaling six downed wendigos. The remaining one was shot out by a gauss cannon shot from Penny who had arrived after, flying inches away from Mayra’s cheek.
Hanna and Fubu blinked in surprise when Monica approached them and invited them to mourn their friend over at the Sanctuary.
“R-Really?” Hanna asked, baffled by the kindness she showed. “You’re sure it’s okay? I mean, after all that…” She took the minotaur girl’s hand and shook it with both hands. “No, we’re the ones who should apologize. We were hunted by Beacon in every town we’ve gone to, so we didn’t think things would be that different here. Thank you!” Fubu also showed gratitude with a bow. “Of course, we can tell you everything we know. We promise to carry our weight and work, if it means not having to constantly watch over our back. Thank you.”
Justine did not notice Valerie’s arrival, having been absorbed by her sister’s tragic fate, until she spoke, causing her to gasp.
”Valerie! Caroline’s dying!” She called out to her, tears, streaming down her face.
”She’s no longer breathing!” She pressed an ear to her chest.
”And her heartbeat’s slowing down! Please, save her! I beg of you!” However, upon hearing Valerie ask the others and Connie’s tearful response, she sobbed in turn, having lost all hope of saving her…Until she heard a certain magical girl’s voice call out to her: it was the last person Justine expected.
”...Deni?” She whispered, her eyes wide as the little ronin girl knelt next to her; her face was white, as if she’d seen a ghost.
”B-But, Caroline…She…” She tried to put words together, but she was unable to form the sentence, shocked by Deni’s selfless gesture to save her sister. She further flinched when Miko also joined, the two of them having laid their healing hands upon Caroline.
”And Eli too…Th-thank you. Thank you so much!” She managed to say, holding back from bawling as the immense feelings of gratitude and relief washed over her.
Caroline’s breath had returned, yet it was still weak, barely drawing in air. Her heartbeat kept beating weakly. Justine took a firm grasp of her hand.
”Caroline, don’t give up! Don’t go towards the light!”Then, she felt a wave of magic, like a burst of golden wind, blow out from behind her; Sanngridr had performed a Barrage spell, causing her Reinforcement to explosively reach out to the entire group including Caroline, further supporting her life. Everyone else felt all pain disappear, their wounds from the wendigo fight having been sealed. Caroline slightly jumped, as if hit by a defibrillator, and Justine placed her ear against her chest once again.
”I can hear it…Her heartbeat’s steady!” However, despite having been saved from the jaws of death, Caroline still laid on the ground, motionless, as if in a coma of sorts. Justine caressed her cheek, hoping she might wake, but she knew it to be futile.
”She’s not waking up…She needs the potion.”She stood up, picking Caroline down from the ground as she did so, and turned towards Valerie.
”Valerie, she needs a purifying potion before her condition gets worse again. It saved me, so it should save her too. Can you call´Mistress and ask if she has one?”Whether Valerie responded or not, she afterwards addressed Sanngridr.
”Sanngridr, thank you. This meant a lot to me,” She said with hesitant gratitude, and bent her knees, as if attempting a curtsy while still carrying Caroline in her arms.
However, before she could further speak to Sann, Sakura interrupted her, having also been rejuvenated by Sann’s spell. She averted her eyes as she bit her lip, seemingly shamed by Caroline’s antics once she got a good look at the serpentine girl’s severed horn.
”On behalf of Caroline, I apologize. I didn’t expect her to show up again. But thank you for stopping her, Sakura,” She called out to Sakura as she left, hoping her words reached her.
The second message Sann sent received a reply: “Understood.” Sann knew it was only a matter of time before they tracked her down. And sure enough, both the Valkyrie, and eventually Justine as well, could see in the far distance, up on top of a tall building, the person looking down over the scene.
Justine froze, as she recognized the person.
”...Sonia.” 
