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Lily looked a bit wary as she was spoken to by a strange, blond girl with puffy, wing-like sleeves.
”Hi, Suzette, I’m uh, Lily. Nice to meet-KIYAAHHH!”
She was suddenly ambushed by Mayra, who proceeded to tickle her bare belly, causing her face to be flushed from embarrassment.
”*Giggle*-Please-*giggle*-stop-*giggle*-tickling-*giggle*-MEEE!”
Lily released a charge of static electricity, shocking the mischievous monster girl to the point of causing her red, spiky hair to stand up even more straight and split up than before and her taloned fingers to turn mildly numb.
Lily covered her midriff with her hands afterwards, her face bright as a tomato.
”G-Geez, you scared me! Don’t do that!” Her cheeks puffed up as she cast a look of annoyance at Mayra who skipped away from her. The redirected fireball ended up hitting one of the support Nest’s shadow wolves at the snowfield, who jumped to take the hit, fading away. She sighed as she saw Eliza exit from the portal; she should have felt happy and enthusiastic to meet so many magical girls, but the prospect of making friends didn’t seem that attractive to her considering how complicated everything had become.
”But you did make me laugh so...I guess it’s ok.”
Lily thought back to the exchange of nicknames she had with Hilaria, and managed a small smile; she really seemed like a sweet and considerate girl, and she felt terrible about letting her insecurities get the best of her.
The two of them would be fighting together, and that would be fine, she thought, steeling herself emotionally.
What’s important is that I settle this fight as soon as possible.
She listened as Eliza explained her ability to see into the future to Mariette’s girls, amazed at how calm the girl seemed to be...Until she also had some kind of revelation based on her expression.
”So, uh, I guess you’re friends with Mariette too?”
Lily asked Eliza, biting the corner of her lip.
Justine’s glee ended in a scowl as she heard Sakura’s offensive words, not amused by her repeated mispronunciations of her name.
”Enough talk, child!”
She blinked as the foul-mouthed girl suddenly shot a lightning bolt, only to realize she neutralized a projectile; Taihei’s bomb blew up from the electric shock and created a great explosion, causing Justine to bare her fangs and briefly use a wing to avoid the shockwave of fire.
”Ah, that reminds me of the time I nearly succeeded in killing you, Mariette!”
Sally was in the midst of shooting at frost wolves when she looked up towards the explosion, looking a bit wary.
“Woah...I sense a great source of bad luck,” she mumbled. “Could it be...?”
Justine summoned a new blood spear in her hands, having noticed the change in Mariette’s portals.
”Oh, trying to be clever, are we?”
She once again predicted an opening portal, and chucked a spear. Just as Mariette expected, the spear did not directly hit , having been angled to hit a wall. But then, she heard numerous screams from the artillery line girls. At that exact moment, Alex and Hilaria would step in to see what had happened; upon striking the wall, the spear had ricocheted off it, splitting into numerous smaller spikes that, while less lethal, caused more splash damage in the line wounded four girls, causing two to stagger back from the pain and the other two to miss with their shots, their accuracy hindered. The monster girl giggled, brushing aside a stray shot that scratched her cheek in the chaos.
”Can you hear their screams, Mariette? You will soon join them in the chorus.”
The Red Nest members did not falter as they were assaulted by Victoria’s ice clones, matching her martial ability with bestial ferociousness not unlike those of werewolf kind. The Gunner Nest’s ears perked up as he blasted down portals, having heard the ice mage’s taunt through the howling blizzard, and turned to see a clone about to kick him. He laid down a volley of bullets, but the clone dodged, and from his flank another clone struck with a punch, hitting him in the back, and causing him to stagger and drop to one knee. However, that clone was immediately caught by the chain Nest; the shadowy shackles lifted her up and smashed her down on an approaching frost wolf, killing the monster and shattering the clone. The support Nest ran up to the kneeling gunner Nest, and growled as he laid a hand on him; he cast some kind of spell that seemed to infuse the gunner Nest with something, letting him stand up on his feet again. The support Nest’s shadow wolves guarded the two alongside the chain Nest; they attempted to catch the remaining ice clone, but the construct dove into the snow, disappearing from view. They proceeded to fend off any frost wolves attempting to pick on the two Red Nest members, the chain Nest using his weapon like a cracking whip.
The other clones closed in on Aurelio, successfully avoiding the magical blasts he sent out as. However, the moment they struck the illusion, the ice mage realized she fell for his ruse.
The two clones were cracked, blasted through their chests by Shamrock Sally, who twirled her trusty Shooters with a bubbly smile. “Whoops, you sure were unlucky hitting the wrong target!” She taunted, causing the clones to turn and swing their arms at Sally, only to hit each other instead, shattering them. In the snowstorm, one could see a glance of the yeti as it now went to harass Aurelio’s clones, striking out from the storm before hiding itself back in it.
The magician proved himself invaluable in Justine’s efforts against Mariette’s cold ambush, keeping Justine’s thralls in the fight with healing and distractions, allowing them to proceed further towards the mansion without being delayed too much by the frost wolves and the yeti. He was also assisted by Elora, who managed to provide some information on the battlefield thanks to their scrying and the surveillance equipment the Beacon members carried on their persons, such as cameras and microphones.
When it seemed like the fight would turn around for them, and they would be able to soon reach the mansion gates, Hyun Long felt something strange, as if the snow vibrated. Then, she was surprised as she suddenly felt the snow rumble. It exploded in white powder, revealing an unnerving, alien-like creature, insectoid in appearance but also somehow reptilian, towering over the magical girl. The remorhaz screeched and reared its head back, about to strike, when it was caught in a sticky, moss-colored web; Hyun Long turned her head to see Aurelio’s clone. The second remorhaz assaulted Kimble through her Cyclogenesis, belching forth a cone of fire; the Wind girl screamed upon seeing the terrifying monster, and attempted to dodge. At that moment Aurelio’s Rage clone came to the rescue, having struck the monster right in the noggin, causing the creature to flail. As a result, the flame breath did not land directly on Kimble, allowing her to escape with a jacket scorched black on her right side.
“‘Thank you Aurelio!”
Kimble yelled, and continued channelling her Cyclogenesis, knowing it was their only chance of getting through the blizzard without being picked off by Mariette’s ambush.
“Yeah, thanks!” Hyun Long expressed her gratitude as well, and flames gathered in her fists as the monster broke free of the net and screeched.
“Phoenix Strike!” Hyun Long screamed, and performed a fiery uppercut, her flames having taken the silhouette of a rising bird spreading its wings of flame. It hit the creature straight in the jaw, releasing her, but...It was completely unaffected by the fire.
“Wh-What? Why don’t they burn?” She exclaimed, and then screamed as the creature, seemingly invigorated by the fire, attempted to swallow Hyun Long, enveloping her upper body. However, she managed to take a hold of the creature’s jaws and lock them in place as she was shook in the air, preventing the creature from completely devouring her.
“Help!” She cried amidst pained grunts.
At that point, Sakura came charging in, her body crackling with yellow electricity as she leaped up and ran up the monster’s serpentine spine; she felt a great heat emanate from the creature’s spines, especially when she mounted the creature, grabbing it’s antenna; the monster trashed with Hyun Long still caught in its jaws, and its spines superheated, causing searing pain in her behind, exactly like if she was sitting on a pile of red-hot coals. Nevertheless, the former yakuza persevered through the torment with pure willpower, and charged the creature with high voltage; the electricity scrambled the beast’s brain and turned it into mindless screeching rage, allowing Hyun Long to drop down into the snow, covered in steaming hot drool.
“Eww...” She complained, and dried herself off with a coating of fire.
The third Remorhaz attacked Justine’s canaries, and successfully swallowed one of them. As the girls surrounded the monster, hacking away at it with their magical blades, hammers and projectiles, the creature swept it’s tail. However, instead of knocking them away, it struck against barriers the girls were enchanted with, courtesy of Aurelio’s protective magic. With five girls relentlessly digging into the creature’s hide, they managed to slay it with a final blow against the creature’s face from a flattening hammer strike.
The rest of the canaries continued rushing through, none of them attempting to fly up to the roof where a palisade of trees quickly formed thanks to Trixy’s magic, and her clones started shooting into the blinding storm. They managed to snipe one of the thralls who ran forward, a puddle of blood forming in the spot she fell. The gunner Nest joined the projectile thralls as they laid out suppressive fire on the roof, failing to hit the clones back; it was a frustrating battle for both sides due to the blizzard. Once again a trap was sprung, this time one that emitted purple waves that caused the brainwashed girl to clutch at her head, screaming her lungs out. Aurelio pulled this girl out of the fight, having been teleported back to Beacon HQ by confirmation with Elora. A Beacon medic was on standby to provide first aid to the girl wracked by the psychic assault.
“Thank you, Sakura!” Hyun Long yelled as Sakura proceeded to turn the monster around, directing it to charge right through a pack of frost wolves and a couple of ice clones, scattering them like bowling pins, straight at the mansion. Thanks to the whole team's efforts, they have managed to advance so far they could now see faint glimpses of the mansion’s front door through the blizzard; thanks to the monster’s swiftness and strength in its crazed state, Sakura could use the remorhaz as a battering ram, allowing her to break down the front door.
At Mariette’s office, Dina proceeded to summon forth various monsters to help bolster the mansion’s defenses. Her first wave of summonings were of smaller monsters more adept for trickery and trapmaking than the regular kind; the horde of diminutive yet inventive kobolds obeyed Dina’s will without hesitation, and rushed out of the office, spreading to every floor of the mansion to prepare new traps, check if they have been activated, and otherwise keep patrol of the corridors. They were accompanied by fairies who would provide assistance for handling magical traps, and for aiding the kobolds in their navigation.
Then, Dina summoned minotaurs; the hulking, brutish monsters snorted as they dropped to one knee to honor their mistress, and stomped off into the labyrinth that is Mariette’s home, able to navigate the place without any directions given. It was up to Mariette if she was willing to grant Dina’s request for more magical power in exchange for her promise of summoning more powerful monsters.
‘It is also possible the scrying magic they use won’t be able to pierce illusions, hiding our identities,’ Leena remarked at Ronin’s words, now sounding like Mariette as she took the one-eyed girl’s appearance. FanFan, now resembling Eli, nodded, her slimy body subtly slushing. She continued smiling and humoring Magical Dream Princess in this form, giggling alongside with her.
When the infiltration team entered the Void Room, the two of them stood still, eyes peeled around them for any signs of traps, though it was impossible to see in the darkness. It didn’t last long, as Alicia illuminated the room with her magic, allowing everyone to see for the trap it was.
‘Tch,’ ‘Mariette’ scoffed, gritting her teeth in a way that Alicia would find strange to see from one who she is accustomed to have a stoic expression.
Sonia however seemed to expect this as she arrived floating in the air with Joanna and Speedwagon, having grabbed them as they arrived last-minute. She gave a small reaction to the state of the room.
”As I feared...”
She was the first to tense up as she heard Mariette’s voice, having summoned a set of throwing daggers between her fingers. ‘Mariette’ and ‘Eli’ threw their eyes to the direction of Mariette’s sound, not saying a word as Alicia and the real Mariette exchanged pleasantries as much as a Beacon and Horror girl could. The group collectively took in sharp breaths on Mariette’s revelation of the Void Room’s purpose.
Then, a gust of wind blew out FanFan and Sonia’s candles among others.
‘Oh dear!’ ‘Eli’ yelped, amusing Alicia were it not for the horrible sight that soon revealed itself to everyone; the floor itself opening up in countless holes to a pit of tentacles and hands, seemingly formed of the essence of darkness itself. FanFan was the first to be grabbed by her legs and torso, prompting her to scream as she continued struggling, slowly sinking down to her waist.
‘Crap!’ Leena was also grabbed by a tentacle that wrapped around one of her legs from a portal next to her, causing that leg to sink down to knee level.
‘They’re coming from the floor!’
Alicia succeeded to jump up and avoid the appendages, having clear vision in the room, and laid out covering fire for her fellow Beacon teammates, blasting the tentacles that held them with arrows of light. Magdalene cut down the rest that bound FanFan, and helped pull her out of the Collector’s portal.
‘Oh, much appreciated!’ She thanked her rescuer.
Connie’s tentacles briefly wrestled with the Collector’s own, but the sheer difference in numbers quickly overwhelmed the masked girl as they started dragging her down until Anaya’s spirit Blake stabbed them with projectile scissors, allowing Ronin to cover her and Mia/Gaia as they the platform, while MDP summoned a cloud to ride on, eluding the grasp of the tentacles by confusing them with sparkling lights. Morgan stayed on the floor to provide support for her allies while Amalthea brought Anaya up to the platform, having created ice walls to block off blind spots, but as a result ended up grabbed by the tentacles, only to be rescued by Elaine, who was in turn protected by Sonia; she had flung her throwing daggers at the first tentacles that reached out to the broadsword-wielding spirit, followed by summoning a chainsaw that she revved up and spun around, dismembering them in a glorious display.
”I will defend us, so destroy the wall,” the maid stated, keeping her composure even as her chainsaw ripped and tore through the Collector’s menacing presence, freeing Tenebra who was caught up in them, the carnage illuminated up in all the colors of the rainbow thanks to MDP’s assistance.
A large set of mechanical arms burst from the slimegirl’s back; one arm extended like a metal wire to grab hold of the floating barrier Ronin made, pulling herself up while the other grabbed Leena. FanFan then reeled the wire-like arm up rapidly, launching herself up on top of the barrier. ‘Mariette’ was hanging on to her, having summoned two swords to cut down the tentacles that attempted to pry her from FanFan’s grasp.
‘Eli’ nodded, and picked out her lighter with her normal hands, lighting up her candle as her mechanical arms extended out to punch a wall as directed by Alicia. However, the punch smacked against the wall, with barely any damage.
‘The walls are magically reinforced! I can’t break through them fast enough!’
‘Mariette’ took a sharp breath, and thanks to Cinnie and Mia covering her with the masked girl’s tentacles and the flowery girl’s emerald rays, also climbed up on the platform.
‘Okay, I’m going to set it up! Vo-’
She was interrupted when Gaia commented on Tenebra’s ability to warp space, and nodded as Tenebra confirmed to making an escape route to them.
‘Sonia, help her!’
Sonia nodded as she finished rescuing Joanna and Speedwagon from the grasping dark hands, dropped the chainsaw, and teleported next to Tenebra. She placed a hand on her shoulder, and combined her Space magic with her warping magic.
”Yes, I feel it...There are paths outside this room...There!”
With a burst of blue magic, a magical portal was formed on the wall; it was haphazard and makeshift, more like a wormhole or a tear made in the dimensional fabric rather than a clean passage, but it served its purpose of allowing one to escape, as one could see a gothic corridor beyond it.
”Now go! I will return back to Mistress once you have passed, so this is farewell.”
Sonia summoned a hedge trimmer with a customized, longer blade, and proceeded to cut down the tentacles, allowing the infiltration group to jump through the wormhole.
‘Phew! That was too close.’ ‘Mariette’ spoke with an exasperated tone as her swords disappeared, her hands on her hips as she shook her head at a downward angle.
‘I guess Sonia would have pulled us out if we didn’t manage to get through, but it was still quite shocking,’ ‘Eli’ added, having retracted her mechanical arms back into her slime-looking body, back to looking just like the real Eli.
‘So, this is the mansion proper, huh? Let’s take a look.’
The group had arrived at a corridor that turned in a 90-degree angle, furnished in a gothic style fitting a noble. The floor was decorated with a carpet that seemed custom-fit, running the entire way with no end in sight. Tenebra would be able to tell that the corridor was directly south of the Void Room, and based on that could identify the passages to lead to the south on her right, and to the east on her left.
Looking around the corner, the infiltration team would see that the southern passage is quite short, and leads to a turn that abruptly ends at a door:
The eastern passage is much longer, and houses multiple turns; the two southern turns and the latter northern turn lead to doors.
However, the former turn north would lead to what looks like a set of stairs leading to a higher floor, as well as a door at the end of the corridor.
The infiltration team could hear from the stairs what sounds like scraping little feet, numerous tiny flitting wings, giggling feminine voices, and mumbling masculine voices, coming from a numerous group.
‘Sounds like a monster patrol,’ ‘Mariette’ commented.
‘They’re coming from the stairs. We got a total of five doors: three to the south, with two on the same corridor, two to the north, and stairs. Might be a good idea to split up so we’d cover more ground, but I guess that wouldn’t be smart based on that death trap we stumbled into. Alicia, we’re going with your decision regardless.’
Helga sighed at Su’s plan, and shook her head.
“Oof, it’s going to be cold out there...” But when Su reassured that she would use her wind magic to give them some protection, she lightened up in her mood.
“Really? And I thought you loved throwing fights,” she teased Sam, flashing her sharp teeth as Su departed through the portal. She waved back at Sam.
“Keep Mariette safe, okay? Bye.” She then followed Su to the roof, and took cover behind one of Trixy’s trees, keeping watch on the situation below. “I’ll cover ya Su, so get that spell going!”
Goblina nodded, having expected Penny to want more information on the subject. “Her Majesty will now cross-examine the defendant,” she announced. The crowd turned completely silent when Penny addressed Belladonna, and even the wolf girl herself seemed a bit intimidated by her cold, soulless stare, her growling having turned quieter.
She nodded to the first question. “Fresh, yes. It needs to be alive, to feel fear when I end its life.
Any other meat tastes...Like ash. Like, all the sweet succulence is gone, and there’s nothing but a dry husk. I can’t eat like that, I’d...I’d go bonkers.” She sighed as the crowd booed and claimed she was already crazy, pondering her next words for a while before she spoke. “Well, uh...I...I had a dog once. Stringy meat, but...It wasn’t horrible. I’ve also heard that chickens are good. But all you see is humans; only a few of them walk dogs, and they start yelling real loudly unless you kill them too.”
Goblina hung her head, not sure how to take her testimony. The crowd also didn’t approve of her way of thinking. “Do you think I’d kill for fun? I can’t afford luxuries like that!” She cried out, seemingly upset as she averted her eyes. “Every day, all I think about is how to eat, or how to distract myself so I don’t have to eat. I’d try chewing on a fruit and imagine it’s meat, and it helps, but...Then it comes back, so strong you’ll foam at the mouth. I hate it, hate it all so much.” She closed her eyes, seemingly finished with answering her questions. Goblina nodded, looking gloomy. “The defendant’s answers have been written down for review. Your Highness, would you like to take a five-minute break to think about the verdict?”
