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To the North: Vestiges of the Family
No colored letters because someone wanted to use their banners instead.
"You. All. Accepted?"
Bonnie occasionally took more than two people on a hunt, but it had been a while she had four different magical girls headed to one destination. Mariette, Ronin, Miko, and Sakura were all lined up next to each other. Sakura. She had her tail coiled around the other three and was running her hand through Ronin’s hair.
“What’s the quest, Maneki-neko?”
Bonnie resisted the urge to correct Sakura. "I do not believe this hunt calls for such a large hunting party. Each of you better be here for the right reasons. Your only reward is that people you care about will be spared a twisted fate. Just because there are more of you doesn’t mean this is going to be easy." There were, of course, no objections. "I’m going to assume you all read the bounty. I’ll drop you off in a ruined city in Ethiopia. Dilla was flattened a while ago, and there’s a travel ban. Aside from the two hostage magical girls, there shouldn’t be any other friendlies to worry about." Bonnie paced back and forth in front of the girls. "We’re light on additional details, but if you have any other questions, I will do my best to answer them."
‘It was a request for help. Of course I accepted!’ Ronin answered to that first question with a grin, looking very happy with herself, and not minding Sakura playing with her hair. ‘Besides, it’s an excellent opportunity to adventure with my sister and Sensei. Right, Sensei?’ Ronin asked with a smirk.
“Of course!”
‘Well, if my sister goes, I go too to keep her out of trouble if I can. I apologize if it’s an inconvenience,’ Miko said, bowing a bit to Bonnie. ‘Should there be any other hostiles other than the two parts of Su Daji, as far as we know?’ she followed up.
"To my knowledge, no." Bonny hardly moved at all. She wasn’t nearly as animated as the other girls aboard her ship. "But this is Su Daji we’re dealing with. Even by Kitsune standards, she is a cunning foe. I would not put it past her to have other fragments of herself wandering around. But I would not expect them to be as strong."
‘I… was simply surprised why you’d come to me, at such a hectic moment. I’m here because I was curious. My question is, how did you pick your candidates, and why specifically us from halfway across the planet?’ Mariette asked. The portal witch wasn’t as comfortable as Ronin with having Sakura’s tail like this…
It was also awkward for Mariette, Ronin and Miko to be like this. In front of others, they had to pretend they didn’t know each other. None of them knew how to do that.
"I have a quota to meet. That was just the best time to reach out to you all. As for how I select hunters…” Bonnie rolled her shoulders. "That information is confidential, even to me. My superior supplies me with the candidates, and I perform my own research to determine which are going based on her short list.” Bonnie turned to look out one of the windows.
‘Hey, Mariette! Sorry for, uh, accompanying and aiding an invasion force attacking your mansion and making an attempt on your life. But you’re okay, right?’ Ronin asked with a somewhat awkward cheery voice.
‘…’ Mariette gave Ronin a stare. ‘It is fine. Don’t make it a habit,’ was her eventual reply.
‘I’ll avoid it…!’ Ronin giggled a bit while Miko looked concerned.
Bonnie squinted her eyes. "If you are ready, so are we." The doorway turned into a portal overlooking the African plains. ”The Dilla ruins are only a short walk in. Don’t let the heat surprise you. It’s far more humid out there than it is in Penrose. Bonnie pointed at a giant rock formation. ”Just on the other side of this formation is the behemoth. Tread carefully.
“That overgrown Kitsune had better watch out for me!” Sakura charged through the portal, dragging everyone with her. As soon as they had fully left the portal, the cloud stone zoomed away, leaving them in the african heat. “Did anyone bring a soda?”
Miko, being who she is, absolutely would have researched beforehand and packed a backpack full of default necessities. As such…
‘I didn’t bring soda, but I did bring water. I wasn’t sure if the mission would drag on or not, so. Would you like one?’ she asked Sakura, pulling the backpack she’d brought to extract one of the water-bottles.
‘Phew. Heat, haha. Alright! Let’s get to our goal!’ Ronin called, ready to march.
Mariette, meanwhile, had a trick she’d used in the past for hot environments. If she got too warm, she could open a portal to quite a bit up into the air, and since there’s more wind the higher you go she’d just let it blow past her and cool her down. She could adjust the altitude for temperature. The issue would be if it’s windier on the ground than above her, but. Regardless, she was likely ready to move. She could also use small portals directed from her eye behind the eyepatch to above her to scan around the area, to avoid getting ambushed. Something that Sakura would surely need if she was going to survive.
Mariette would notice quite a few interesting things on the other side of the rock they were hiding behind. There was of course the behemoth kitsune Su Daji. Just like Bonnie said, she was massive. Not the tallest behemoth she had ever seen, but vulpine creatures were always longer than they were tall. The cluster of nine tails made her look even larger. Daji’s fur was bright white with red stripes around the face and limbs. Then there were the balls of magical energy floating above the tips of her tails. Just behind her was what looked like a black spec. It was floating around erratically, causing the ruined surroundings to swirl together. Piles of stones were quickly turned into makeshift buildings. They were crude, but it looked like a small town was starting to form. Mariette was able to spot an inn off in the distance, or at least, what might have been one. It was a tall building that didn’t look too different from the Golden Trove.
But more interesting to Mariette were all the large boulders leading up to the behemoth. It would be a simple matter to create a portal behind one to get everyone closer. Then when they were ready, they could unleash a surprise attack by-
“Hey, kitsune bitch!” Sakura drew back her hands and charged her killing blow. “I’ve got an attack with your name on it, and it’s called-”
A ball of magical energy slammed into the earth right in front of Sakura. She tumbled backwards into Ronin and Miko, piling up just a few feet away from Mariette’s position. A second ball slammed into the rock formation she was hiding behind, scattering it to the four winds. They had most certainly been exposed.
That was when the black dot in the distance stopped moving. It only waited a moment before flying towards the group. It was moving fast, and it wasn’t long before the black dot started to look more like a magical girl. Or more precisely, a magical woman. Soon other details came into focus. Her ornate chinese dress, the golden accents, her long hair, it all looked so familiar. She dropped to the earth like a meteor, but stopped her descent just before touching the ground. A burst of wind magic nearly knocked Mariette off her feet. But soon the dust settled… And Su Fang stood before her.
“Mariette?” She scoffed. “Why am I not surprised?”
Ronin and Miko had to grab Sakura in a panic as she tumbled back, raising small reinforcement barriers just in case as they assessed their situation. Mariette, meanwhile, was utterly shook by how her cover broke apart, and of all places to be, in the place the opponent was heading straight for was not one of them. She was about to drop herself through a portal… when she recognized the person headed for her. Then she stopped that, instead looking towards her with a touch of surprise, and another of relief.
‘Su. I’m happy to see you,’ she said. ‘Okay, that changes things. There was a hunt for “Su Daji”, and I was thinking…’ She dismissed the thought. ‘How have you been faring?’ she instead asked, with a small smile on her lips.
‘Su!’ Ronin, a few feet away, scrambled to get up to her legs with a big smile. ‘Well, isn’t that- Sensei! This is a friend of ours!’ Ronin called, just in case Sakura was going to continue with the attack. ‘I mean, you were there during that invasion and fought alongside her too, right? I think? Anyway! She’s a friend!’
Sakura just looked on with a look of bewilderment. After cursing up a storm that is.
‘Su… So this is where you went?’ Miko asked, her expression happy but with a touch of concern. ‘I have questions, but… I’m glad to see you, too.’ In addition to the others, that is.
With a growl, Su bit her lower lip. In a matter of seconds, a droplet of blood had run down her chin. Even though this was Su standing in front of them, she did not have kind eyes. “I am Su Daji! I’ve always been.” Su kept her posture straight and looked down on Mariette. Almost like she was looking at an insect. “Familiars are a collection of memories and a soul merged together. That’s what makes us so knowledgeable about magic. My soul is Su Daji’s, among many others.” Su spread her dread wings, and the dark tendrils waved in the air behind her back. Or had they been dread tails this entire time? “But the people I was three thousand years ago doesn’t matter. Not like the history books got it right anyway. What matters to me is why you’ve decided to follow me out here.” She bent her hips until her face was level with Mariette’s. Mariette was a tall girl, but Su was a taller woman. “Was it not enough, Mariette? You helped Justine complete the ritual that got Amber killed, and then when Helga and I broke your brainwashing, you still chose to serve that horror.” With mock laughter, she turned to look at the Japanese twins. “And I guess the two of you will only ever be her underlings? Unable to think for yourselves?” She stood up again. Her fists trembled. “I thought I’d be left alone if I stayed out of Penrose, but you’ve come to harass me here too?”
Mariette winced and took a step back as Su stared at her. Clearly, she’d made a miscalculation somewhere. ‘I… didn’t follow you…’ she muttered, perhaps too quietly. When the part came about her still serving the horror, she averted her gaze, unable to look at Su anymore. ‘I’m not… done yet…’
Ronin and Miko looked equally surprised, Miko a bit horrified. Though, Ronin lifted a finger.
‘Er, it was by complete coincidence we and Mariette happened to come here together today. We just accepted the same hunt, it’s the first time since, really,’ Ronin objected.
‘Was it really a coincidence, however?’ Miko asked.
‘… Or, at least, powers other than our own made us go together, at any rate,’ Ronin corrected.
”...And you just went along with these ‘other powers’?”
Still, the question remained. Mariette steeled herself and turned to look at Su again. ‘I’m sorry, for all the pain I’ve caused,’ Mariette said, turning to open a portal to leave. … “Leave” actually meant “portal around the compound to try to rescue the captives from behind”, but she’d start with seeing if she was allowed to leave or not.
”If you’re sorry, then why are you even here?!” Su’s face was getting more red by the second. ”Do you know why I even came back here? While Boteg was off running around, trying to find his lost brothers and sisters, I came to a realization. Nothing good came out of Amber and I visiting Penrose. Amber died, Justine continues to live to this day, you’re still fucking around with horrors. We weren’t even able to slay Penny like Boteg originally wanted.” She grinned at Mariette before extending her arms. ”Oh, I guess Helga and I became a thing. You and Justine killed Amber, so we had to make due. I almost cheated on her and she didn’t even care. That’s how I knew it wasn’t real. But you know who showed both of us real love? Mika did!” While Su didn’t take her eyes off Mariette, she pointed behind herself at all the structures in the distance. ”I’d have gone back to Penrose to retrieve her, and I’m not going to back away just because she’s in a fucking sandtrap half way across the world. What I will do is kill every last one of you if you try to take her or Katarina away from me.”
Suddenly, Sakura’s head poked up. “Katarina?” She looked at Ronin. “Katarina… Nekrasova?”
‘Er, hold on, Katarina? Why her?’ Ronin spoke up to Su, simply wanting some explanation on that.
‘And, uh, are the two of them here willingly? Mika and Katarina?’ Miko asked, more than a little concerned.
Mariette had stopped, not walked through the portal she was about to walk through because Su continued talking to her. She waited for a bit to see if Su would answer Ronin and Miko’s questions.
Su scoffed. ”They go everywhere together, they’re in love.” She looked to Miko. ”They’re investigating the event that-”
Su suddenly grit her teeth even harder and swung her head backwards. A bolt of lightning flew past her cheek and disappeared in the clouds. At the other end of the lightning bolt was Sakura’s finger, sizzling with arcane energy.
“As nice as her oppai look, Su Daji is a treacherous snake.” Sakura grinned. “Do not listen to her lies. Katarina does not deserve to be held by such a vile woman. I doubt Mika does either.”
”So this was just an elaborate distraction?” With a swing of her arm, Mariette’s portal caved in on itself. ”I’m not even surprised at this point.”
The kitsune flung more energy balls at their location, and the ground around them erupted into debris and smoke. Sakura coiled her tail around her friends to shield them from the attack.
“See how quickly she resorts to hostility? I’m just glad I used a normal spell instead of my killing blow. Now I can assist you in the fight.” She looked at Ronin. “I will not humiliate myself like I did with the tiny scientist!”
When she uncoiled, the surroundings had changed a bit. Su had taken the stone to erect buildings on either side of them. They were effectively inside a giant alleyway. At one end Sakura, Miko, Ronin, and Mariette. Su and the behemoth were at the other. Behind them were the various buildings where Mika and Katarina had to be.
”A fitting arena, isn’t it?” Su’s eyes surged with power. Their neon red glow was visible even in daylight. ”You brought this on yourselves. I’ll bury you here!” Su raised her hand and filled the alleyway with wind. Not only was it almost impossible to stand, but bits of stone debris were breaking off of the walls and tumbling towards them. The behemoth jumped into the sky. It was difficult to tell what it was doing, but it seemed to be spinning like a top. It did look like the kitsune was going to land behind them, in the direction they were being blown in.
‘Woah! Okay! Ronin shouted out as Sakura shot. Meanwhile, Miko cried out in alarm because she was more invested in what Su was saying.
Mariette grunted a very annoyed grunt when Sakura shot.
Ronin looked to Sakura as she talked about fighting together. ‘Okay! Something’s clearly off, so let’s do this!’
Though, that’s when Mariette opened a portal directly to Sakura and threw a quick spell of very bright light in her face. Mini flashbang or whatever. Not actually harmful, not unless it caused Su to hit her, at any rate.
‘Wait, Mariette!?’ Ronin called in surprise at that as she and Miko had to set up shields to protect against the wind and rocks for Sakura.
‘She is not vile. She is the one who saved my life,’ Mariette explained, though probably while using portals going directly to the walls to the left and right to defend against energy balls. A shield on her back would also prevent her from falling over in the wind, albeit it was not comfortable.
‘I’m eternally grateful for what you did for me… but I will rescue those girls from you. If only to make sure nobody comes after me with the intention of killing you, like the hunt suggested!’ Mariette called, and then a flurry of light-blasts surged from around her at rocks and at Su, with the intention of putting her more on the defensive. Ronin and Miko could stand at the defensive with reinforcement shields. That said, Mariette knew they couldn’t stay here, not with the behemoth coming around. So she was also going to attempt to open a portal in the ground to drop into the adjacent buildings to escape this alley that wasn’t exactly ideal for Mariette.
“Son of a, where did she go!?” Sakura flailed her tail around before slamming it into the ground, triggering a lightning nova. “That outa get Oppai Daji!”
While Su was much, much, much too far away to get hit by the surge of electricity, the momentarily blinded Sakura did manage to shock both of her friends. While not powerful, it was enough to stun the twins, causing their shields to drop. They and Sakura rolled away like tumbleweeds in the wind.
Mariette no longer had her shield backing, but she could keep herself from getting smashed to bits by incoming boulders. The light rays turned the debris to ash before they could touch her. Su wasn’t having much difficulty evading her shots however. She was among the swiftest girls in Penrose, and she had gotten nothing but faster since her departure. It was almost like she could see the light rays before they hit her.
Mariette was used to falling through her portals to safety, but that wasn’t what happened here. Su pulled back her arm and the wind instantly changed direction. A burst of air was pulled through her portal, and she was shoved out of it. She was suspended in the air as Su dove in her direction. Judging by the scowl on her face, it seemed that her words hadn’t been able to break through to her.
Things weren’t much better for the others. Sakura, Miko, and Ronin could get back up now that the wind had stopped blowing them. But the kitsune had made landfall, and was charging towards them. The back of the ally was the open maw of a giant fox. Rows and rows of teeth as well as a cavernous throat was there to greet the slow.
Mariette winced as the wind lifted her from her portal. Hm, that was less than ideal. Fighting someone who knows your tricks is a pain, huh? She looked up with a focused gaze to where Su was speeding in at her.
The hand-mirror that was Mariette’s weapon manifested in her hand and she swung in empty space in front of her. All at once, multiple portals opened in front of her, intending to obscure her from view. Then, tentacles of darkness shot out from her, intending to grab onto the portal to pull her through. Knowing Su could wipe out the portals, she also prepared a light-blast, and also mapped a path through portals; the moment she saw Su again, be it by her breaking the portals or simply going around them, Mariette intended on shooting and also opening a portal to where the light-blast was going make the shot come back after missing, coming in from diagonally above. Tentacles were ready to otherwise defend her. Also, because Ronin/Miko wouldn’t be able to stop the fox, she also had to prepare to just fling herself out of the way with tentacles.
‘R-right, Sensei! Su is, er, was our friend, we’d like to avoid killing her!’ Ronin called, but then spun around and saw the behemoth fox. ‘You’re new, though,’ she observed. ‘Right, hang on!’
She didn’t know if Sakura was still stunned, but she grabbed her anyway and leapt. Ronin and Miko had their own wind magic to at least somewhat counteract the wind if it came again, but for now their reinforcement speciality allowed them to create tiny barriers under their feet, essentially allowing them to jump in mid-air indefinitely, and in any direction. While Ronin leapt up to avoid the charging fox, she then turned to jump down at it again and try to slice with her blade from above, to see how tough the beast was.
‘I-I need to figure out if…’ Miko, meanwhile, decided to take a look around with her Third Eye. She leapt just as Ronin did, and made sure to throw a glance at both Su, the big kitsune and all in-between, while also mentally preparing to leap to either Ronin or Mariette’s aid if so needed. Reinforcement specialist or all that.
The scene was frantic, but Miko was able to gleam quite a bit out of the scene with just a glance. The Kitsune was indeed a massive magical anomaly. It was impossible to separate its magics into individual specializations, but it was a Kitsune. They were among the most powerful arcane tricksters in Japanese mythology, and Su Daji was said to be the strongest among them. In addition to balls of “fox fire,” they could expect it to teleport and use other forms of trickery.
As for Su, it became very apparent why she was so difficult for Mariette to oppose. Su was always the most potent wind girl in Penrose, but it seemed that she now also possessed time magic. In addition to her swift movements, she was overclocking her mind to give her perfect reaction speeds. In addition to this, she had her own third eye up and could likely tell exactly what Mariette was doing as she was doing it. She knew where every single portal lead, what spells Mariette was preparing, and was swift enough in body and mind to react.
Su soared right over the top of the portals and did a barrel roll to avoid the incoming light blast. But there would be no redirect, as a sudden collapsing vacuum would shatter any of the portals that could have landed a blow on her. While she spun, her blade-like dread tails sliced through Mariette’s tentacles. They were about to slice through her flesh when one of her tails gently bat Mariette off to the side.
Had Mariette broken through? Had she finally been able to talk some sense into Su? Had she-
*ZAP*
Mariette was suddenly hit from behind with a potent lightning bolt.
“Fucking hell!” Sakura cursed. “Hold me steady, Ronin!And stop trying to defend such an evil woman! There are other girls with bigger oppai!”
The kitsune eyed its prey as they seemed to walk through the air. While its mouth was shut, the arcane orbs that hovered over its tail crackled with arcane energy. It wasn’t long before it flicked a salvo of giant projectiles at the sky fairing asians.
‘Oh dear,’ Miko said after properly processing what she was seeing.
Mariette had a moment of alarm when her tentacles and all seemed unable to stop the assailant. They’d usually always been enough to at least allow her time to escape, but this time… and she was just hit a bit aside. Mariette did not have much time to figure out why before being shocked, after which she gasped and fell over on the spot.
‘Ack! I didn’t know you were going to shoot…!’ Ronin shouted, and also stopped her attack at the fox-beast as it started firing at them. ‘HOLY…!’
‘I’m going to Mariette! Beware of tricks and teleportation from the fox!’ Miko remarked to Ronin, before turning her legs to jump downwards. Both Ronin and Miko threw shields to block the pieces of salvo that were about to hit them, while Miko tried to also shield Mariette if necessary and Ronin Sakura.
‘Right, Sensei! If you tell me what you’re gonna do next, I’ll do my best to support you!’ Ronin said, because if Sakura was going to do whatever anyway, might as well do her best to make sure it’s a success!
“As I would expect you to do for your sensei.” Sakura puffed out her chest in a display of pride before pointing her finger at Su once more. “We kill Su Daji and rescue those girls!”
Miko, meanwhile, landed by Mariette and immediately started applying healing to the shocked girl. ‘She has time-magic. She reacts instantly to what you’re doing,’ Miko said, if she had time to, I can imagine Su pressing her advantage.
‘I see…’ Mariette tried to pull herself up, the eyepatched girl frowning at the painful experience. ‘It appears it’s my turn to be stuck in an alley fighting an oppressor…’ That said, Mariette had a plan. Her portals have way greater range, after all.
Ronin’s reinforcement magic could protect her friends and herself, but asking them to stand up to magical artillery was a big ask. The arcane sphere ruptured against the shield, but the ensuing burst of magic cut the shield in half and threw both Ronin and Sakura through the air.
“Fucking hell!” Sakura’s serpentine body spun through the air like a bolo.
And that was just one projectile. The kitsune had nine tails, each of which were capable of flinging projectiles. It didn’t wait for its prey to hit the ground and attempted to strike them mid-air.
As Mariette had predicted, Su was going to keep up the pressure. Miko got her shield up just in time to deflect Su’s dread tails, but it wasn’t going to hold forever. A single spin of her torso flung her nine bladed tendrils into the shield. She had become a saw blade, cutting through the shield before mincing the targets inside. Mariette had mere seconds to enact a plan.
Okay. So her plan on how to actually win would take too long for immediate survival. That said, there was a hailstorm of projectiles in the air. It was time for some portalling 101.
A portal opened from directly in front of a projectile some distance away from Su to Mariette’s hand-mirror. The projectile picked would preferably be one that was heading their direction so that it would be stopped, but not so close that Su could just immediately close it herself. The projectile inside would be aimed, not at Su herself as she could dodge too easily, but at the back of the shield Su was currently assailing. The hope was that the impact would create a burst she couldn’t escape entirely unscathed from and hopefully either force a retreat or actually knock her away.
Miko, with her Third Eye, saw the portal and could guess what was happening. Albeit it was a split-second thing, she’d attempt to raise a new barrier behind the previous one when the projectile came through to shield them from the explosion. If Su were to just go sideways to avoid the burst, Mariette could simply move where she pointed the hand-mirror and Miko could attempt to create a barrier at the new location. There were a lot more projectiles to pick up if the first one failed.
Ronin, meanwhile, as the one who can manifest barriers in the air, tried to manifest one to just immediately break the flight of her and her Sensei. They were MGs, they could handle it. Then she’d just hold onto her Sensei and try to leap to the ground, and…
‘I prefer “drive away”, but I’ll support your shot!’ On the ground, it should be easier for Sakura to fire, and otherwise Ronin could protect them from projectiles. Not with barriers too close to them, but rather by manifesting shields as discs in her hands and throwing them at the projectiles from a distance.
“You need to be more of a man, Ronin!” Sakura was a bit shaken up with all the slamming and falling, but was coherent enough to point his finger at Su. The shields Ronin was throwing into the air also seemed to be enough to stop the incoming bombardment.
Of course, no matter how many “if” statements her plan contained, Mariette could not plan for complications that she couldn’t foresee. Because magic could be pretty bullshit sometimes, and never with as much frequency as enemy magical girls.
Mariette had timed and angled everything perfectly. She had seen Su move and could approximate how long it would take for her to avoid a magical burst. The issue was that Mariette assumed that Su’s only avenue for avoiding attacks was to move out of the way. She looked over her shoulder at the incoming ball of energy and vanished right on the spot. The attack detonated just as Mariette predicted, and Miko’s second shield blocked most of the impact.
But Miko was also aware of what Su had done. Girls like Su had unique abilities they could use with their magic. She could create vacuums with her wind magic. But she could see that with her time magic, she was capable of sending things into the future. In this case, she simply sent herself ahead just in time to avoid the exploding projectile. This also meant that Sakura’s shot would miss its mark and connect with Miko’s head.
“Fucking hell!” Sakura balled her hands into fists. “Come on Ronin,! We’re engaging in CQC!” The wannabe dragon slithered towards his target.
Su appeared right where she had vanished from once the gambit failed. But rather than pressing the attack, she turned around and charged towards Sakura. Though Mariette and Miko weren’t quite out of trouble yet. The behemoth briefly turned into a puff of white smoke and reformed directly above Mariette. It lifted up one of its paws with the clear intent of crushing Mariette and Miko.
They had yet to land a single hit on Su or the kitsune. Were they in over their head, or could they still turn this around?
Mariette was not going to stay around to find out.
She could use the brief disappearance of Su to get out of here. First and foremost, she opened a portal from the ground to in-the-way of the giant paw, so that it’d smack into the ground earlier than intended, because if that part failed then all else is void anyway. Second, she opened a larger portal beneath her, simply meant to displace herself and Miko away from the current situation and about a mile east from there.
‘E- MIKO!’ Ronin cried out seeing her sister get hit, and is going to launch herself in that direction as quickly as she can, however that might compare to Sakura’s speed. Now, distances are a little vague, but if she sees Mariette portal away with Miko she might halt, as there’s nothing left to head towards.
Distances may be vague, but times most certainly are not. The brief duration Su had vanished was barely enough time for Mariette and Miko to escape. The portal closed just before Su could drag the duo back through, but she had plenty of time to turn and face the other duo that was charging her. She stomped the ground, with her legs in a half-horse stance.
“She thinks she’d got more martial prowess than me? We’ll show that evil woman who’s the master of hand to hand!”
Mariette and Miko appeared a mile deep into the city. It was more crudely erected buildings, with the sound of fighting in the distance. Even from here, Mariette could feel the air shake with every vacuum Su collapsed.
She barely had a chance to speak with Miko before a plume of smoke erupted out of nowhere. And there before them was the behemoth kitsune, baring its fangs. While Miko was aware of its ability to teleport, she had not been aware of how far it could move.
The ground trembled when it growled, daring the duo to make their next move.
‘I-it can teleport…’ Miko mumbled, while holding a hand to her own head and healing herself, very much shaken by the thunderbolt headshot. Mariette grunted as annoyed reply, but pulled her hand-mirror again. Leaving Bunny at home today was the right choice.
‘Fine. You want to fight? Of the two of you, you’re easier to shoot,’ Mariette claimed, and then a dozen portals opened around Mariette, each connected to her hand-mirror, and from that a dozen blasts of light launched at the foe with some spread to try to intercept potential dodging. Knowing it could teleport, she also opened her tiny portals close to her to look in multiple directions. Close to her because she was wary of Su knowing about her sky-eye portals and would use it against her. At the same time, she was amassing her power and spreading her influence over the area, prepared to open more and larger portals…
… And a small part of her tried to also used Absolute Direction to see if she could figure out where Mika was. If this battle was as hopeless as it had felt, then perhaps trying to save the hostages and then retreat would be an option. But if this thing could just teleport after… it needed to be dealt with.
Miko would simply try to hang on, scout with Third Eye and prepare to try to block if Mariette missed anything.
As Mariette had deduced with her superior intellect, the giant fox was indeed easier to hit than a nimble magical girl. The trade off was that it was more durable. But that just meant that Mariette and Miko had to avoid being crushed by one of its attacks before it succumbed to its wounds.
Mariette could feel Mika’s presence. She couldn’t have been more than maybe ten blocks down the road. Sure enough, there was something representing a hotel further down the street.
Though the behemoth’s position did not allow for the maximum amount of firepower to be aimed at it. The nearby structures made shots past them impossible, and moving them closer would just allow the Vulpine creature to destroy them. Light poured onto the creature from above. It didn’t stay put for long.
The behemoth lunged for Mariette. Its chin scraped across the ruined road as it closed in on the pair.
Mariette frowned. So, you need something with a bit more punch to it, huh?
She saw a nearby structure with a long slender beam protruding from the top of it . Good enough. Then, she summoned her power, and swung her hand-mirror. With enough focus, Mariette can move her portals…
And what she did right now was create a portal the fox had to move over to get to her and then ram the other side of the portal down to swallow the piece of ruin, essentially causing a piece of building to strike out of nowhere from underneath the fox. Now, the bigger the portal, the more effort there was, so the size of the possible uppercut was limited by the circumference of the debris.
Even if she missed she could just make a different portal to where the monster jumped to next.
The kitsune would not stop its advance. Even as the metal beam was thrust into its chest, it continued to surge forth. The iron bent as it pressed forward. Partially due to the size of the creature, but also because of the heat from having all that light magic directed at it. Crimson spilled from its chest, but was it wise for Mariette to put all of her focus into her attack?
The moment the creature came too close Miko grabbed Mariette and leaped to get out of the way, being faster on her feet than Mariette. Mariette, meanwhile, would burst out a flurry of dark tentacles to try to hold off the attack. This did delay the behemoth, but it was evident that the jaws were going to keep closing, slowly, until the duo were trapped between its teeth. Mariette had no intention of letting that happen and instead created portals for the teeth to sink into. While she positioned them so that the frames of her mirrors would slip between its teeth, this was just delaying the inevitable. At the moment Miko and Mariette were being squished between her tentacles, but the fox’s gums would eventually break the portals. They needed a real solution.
Why not more offense?
Mariette shoot some lasers straight down its throat, which caused the vulpine beast to cough out the duo. Such a beating might have ended a lesser creature, but the kitsune was still persevering. It growled at the duo before disappearing from sight. But this was but a light reprieve before the assault continued.
The kitsune appeared in the sky and pressed all of its tails together. Then it performed a summersault that flung a single massive spell straight down on top of Mariette and Miko. It was too big to portal away, and asking one of Miko’s shields to block it would have been asking a lot from her magic. But it would be some time before it landed.
Time the kitsune used to teleport again.
It placed itself between Mariette and the direction Mika should have been in. The lazers of light bombarded it all over, but so too did it fling its smaller spells at Mariette and Miko. The weakening behemoth was going to fight tooth and nail until the bitter end.
Okay, so Mariette was panting now, having managed to make the giant fox release her, and it appeared again. Could it somehow sense that she used Absolute Direction. However, there was a different issue. Mariette did not want to kill this fox. It was somehow linked to Su, and almost regardless of the nature of the connection, Mariette didn’t want to do that to one she considered her friend.
Still, right now, she had to dodge a giant energy-ball.
‘Miko,’ Mariette asked as she opened a portal. Miko nodded, grabbed Mariette and leapt. Out of the two of them, Miko was the faster, with faster reaction-time and wind-magic to give her emergency boosts, and as such Miko leapt with Mariette through the portals. From now on, they were on double duty. Miko was dodging and leaping to avoid attacks, while Mariette pulled offense shooting at their foe and creating portals to redirect smaller spells back at their sender. Eventually, Mariette intended on trying to bypass the kitsune to portal directly to the place of the captives…
Mariette and Miko managed to escape through the portal just as the next salvo of projectiles came in. The portal was obliterated as they tumbled inside a room. They were surrounded by repurposed debris, but Mariette was still able to see the Kitsune by way of the portal over her eye. It looked like it was really hurting, but it refused to yield to its wounds. She decided to suspend her bombardment in fear of killing it. But she understood that she didn’t have a lot of time to dawdle. Ronin was holding up against Su, and Sakura wasn’t exactly a reliable partner. Mariette tried to catch her breath as the duo moved into the next room.
This room looked a lot more cozy. An ornamental rug was in the center of the floor, as well as two couches positioned on either side of a coffee table. Sitting on either couch were two transformed magical girls.
"I don’t know if I like this." Rina had made herself a metal lamp that lit the windowless room up. Her feet were up on the table with one leg over the other. "We haven’t learned much since Su showed up. I don’t know what kind of evidence she’s destroying while she tries to, um, rebuild the town."
”It’s fine!” Mika was playing on some hand held device. It was blaring crunchy 8-bit sounds as her thumbs jumped across the controller. ”I knew she’d come see me eventually!”
"I don’t like how…" Rina turned her head to look at the newly arrived.
‘Okay, so…’ Miko panted out as she looked around with Third Eye, simply because. Mariette, meanwhile, turned directly to the two girls.
‘Little time. I’ve been sent to save you. Summarize quickly. What’s going on? What’s with Su?’ Mariette requested, speaking very quickly, wanting to get a new perspective on the situation. All the while, starting to scout the area with portals to try to see if there were any threats incoming as she was currently located in the very place Su wanted to protect.
”Mommy’s building a town for us!” Mika didn’t look up from her game.
Rina opened her mouth to speak, but hesitated to speak. But just for a moment. "That’s the short version. I wouldn’t say we need to be rescued, but I doubt she’d let us go."
‘Building a…’ Mariette frowned. ‘I was sent by a girl named Bonnie to save two kidnapped girls, you two, and drive off or kill the kidnapper. I won’t kill Su, but she was not acting like usually. What can you tell me?’ she said, very wary of just-in-case.
Mika looked up from her game, absolutely beaming with joy. ”Mommy came to look for us! But while we were out here, Rina and I found a tail just laying out in the open. When Mommy touched it, it grew into the big fox.” Mika tipped her head. ”She has been acting a little strange recently.”
"I’ll say." Rina stood up. "It’s too early to tell, but I think the tail unlocked some of her memories or brainwashed her. I hesitate to believe it’s the latter since she doesn’t seem to be doing anything productive. Why build a town out of trash in the middle of nowhere?" She groaned. "I would have left already, but I’m worried she’ll come look for us. That kitsune she’s got with her is no joke. If it followed her into a city… As for the C.A.P.R.I.C.O.R.N.’s involvement, I was the one to request help from them, but it seems they embellished the request a bit."
‘We need to go check on Ronin…’ Miko said, worry in her voice, because Ronin would be hard-pressed holding back the enemy they just faced. Mariette nodded and prepared to portal.
Mika closed up her game and approached Mariette. ”If this row-nin is with mom, I’d like to come with you.”
Rina created a metal arrow in her hand. "I might as well join you. I would never hurt Su, but that fox is another story."
Mariette breathed out, somewhat in relief. So Su was being affected by something. She nodded to their desire to come along, and then made the preparations…
Mariette and Miko’s departure did get the kitsune to leave the area. But Su was still a deadly opponent, one that Ronin and Sakura had yet to land a hit on. Su remained in a horse stance as the duo charged towards her.
“Okay, so here’s the deal.” Sakura was able to speak while slithering up to her target. “She can dodge my attacks because you’re giving away my position, so if we flank her, one of us should be able to deal the killing blow.”
‘I don’t know if-’ Ronin tried.
“I can hear you.” Su called over with a growl.
“She’s just trying to intimidate us. If we get on either side of her, then I can-”
Su’s body erupted with magical energy, and the surrounding area was caught in a time dilation spell. Everything outside the dome seemed to move in slow motion, or was everyone inside moving really fast?
Debris swirled around Su’s arms as she lunged for Ronin. But more concerning was that Sakura looked like she was aiming lightning at Su. Given her previous attempts and Su’s close proximity to Ronin…
‘Ooooo-’ Ronin didn’t have much of a choice other than to try to avoid. In a combination of all her abilities, she manifested a barrier under her feet to launch herself off with a jump, used her wind to try to give herself a boost in that direction, but also tried to manifest a barrier between herself, Su AND Sakura, just in case.
Ronin’s barriers would keep her safe for the moment, but she was just delaying the inevitable. A single swing from Su’s arms was enough to shatter the barrier. The one thing that made her stop was the barrier blowing up behind her head. Sakura’s shot was another near-miss on Su, but the barrier stopped it from slamming into Ronin.
“She has barrier magic too!” Sakura went into a crane stance, minus the leg arrangement. “You may be able to see my magic, but my fists are too fast for you!” Sakura pounced towards Su, but was struck in the face by an uppercut. “Blast, I need a faster face!”
The uppercut was assisted by a sudden wind tunnel that carried Sakura into the air. But Su was guiding the dragon woman into the air and straight down on Ronin’s head.
‘Oh,’ Ronin blinked and tried to spearhead her own weaker wind-magic to break through to the right to avoid Sakura. However, she did want to counter somehow. ‘Su, I, I really appreciate your help back then…!’ She attempted to grab Sakura’s arm and then use reinforced strength to spin around and throw the dragon at Su…!
“Good thinking, Ronin! I’ll get her for sure this time!”
Even with enhanced reaction times and the ability to see magic, surely throwing her own ally at Su had to be a surprise. Sakura extended her fist as she glided towards her target, but Su just caught her in a wind tunnel and redirected her away.
But it wouldn’t be the clean break she wanted.
Sakura super charged her body and erupted with a nova of electricity. Even though Su was only on the outer fringes of the attack, it was enough to knock her out of the air. The wind tunnel broke around Sakura and they tumbled to the ground.
“Back then, huh?” Su stood up and glared at Ronin. Sakura;s lightning managed to scorch her arm and burned a hole in her dress over her rib cage. “You and Mariette have used me too many times, you’re going to need to be more specific.”
An invisible force picked up Ronin and hoisted her between Su and Sakura. The latter was charging Su with her eyes closed and surging with electricity.
Ronin yelped a little as she was picked up by what felt like nothing, but she had to assume it was focused wind-magic. She knew Su’s wind-magic was way superior to her own, so all she really had was lift her legs, manifest a barrier under her legs, and then try to jump with as much force as she could.
‘I’m grateful for all of them! … But the one I meant was the very last one!’ Ronin panted, probably trying to jump multiple times if it didn’t work. ‘Y-you helped save my sister… she’s free now, partly thanks to you…! Thank you!’ she called, and in case it didn’t work she’d have to raise a barrier and hope Sakura didn’t hurt her.
Ronin’s jump did get her a bit of height. As strong as Su’s magic was, air was never going to be the optimal way to hold someone down. But Ronin could feel her hair stand up as Sakura rushed underneath her. This was a potent payload that Sakura was carrying. Superior reflexes wouldn’t Save Su this time, but she was preparing an attack of her own.
Sakura and Su blasted each other with their magic. The field of electricity burned and threw Su backwards, and a wind burst sent Sakura hurtling through the air. But Ronin had been hit by both attacks. While she was behind Sakura, the wind burst was strong enough to reach her. Ronin flew through the air with her sensei before tumbling across the clay earth. Seconds later, Sakura fell on top of her.
“Fuck…Ing…Hell…” Sakura panted. “At least, you slowed, my fall, Ronin.” she rolled over onto her side so that Ronin could get up.
Su was crumpled up and had electricity burns all over her body. She trembled as she attempted to stand.
‘H-happy to be of service, Sensei…’ Ronin panted out as she also staggered up after the multiple blows she’d taken, and also been zapped a bit. She placed some healing on herself before turning over towards Su, a bit concerned about how injured she might be. Ronin started to walk over, hoping everyone’s shared injuries would give her time to talk.
‘I… I’m really happy to see you, you know. You disappeared for some time, again. I remember you fondly, I’m very sad you don’t see it the same way. Why, I still remember when you asked me out…’ Ronin grinned a bit, and transformed, as she could. She took the time to become as she had looked at the time in that restaurant.
‘And you know what? I would have said yes. If it wasn’t for being devoured by a vampire and that. Not necessarily because I was in love, mind, but because it’d be a new adventure. And who knows? Maybe love could have blossomed…’ With the assumption she hadn’t been interrupted by Sensei or Su by now, she continued.
‘I don’t believe this is you, Su. I don’t believe you’re a kidnapper, like the hunt claimed. Let’s talk this out, okay?’
Su was still trying to push herself to her feet. Be it a lack of strength or will, she fell back onto one knee. “Deni.” She held herself up with her knuckles. “That was, such, a long time ago. I haven’t been that naive in a long time. Why are you tormenting me with this now?” Her left arm had been cooked through and through, and was just black char. “Who did I kidnap? Mika and Katarina are here willingly! Whoever said otherwise-”
But Ronin had to move to place herself between Su and her sensei, who had slithered into position. While doing so she lost the transformed shape, as when transformed in that way she has zero combat capability, so she’s back to little samurai Ronin.
“I see my pupil has much to learn about old flames.” Sakura’s stance was a lot more aggressive than before. She wasn’t pointing at Su with her finger now, her arm was cocked like she was going to throw a punch. “Did I ever tell you I use to be yakuza, Ronin? Because I was, and I used people all the time. It’s easy to do when they think you love them, when you shower them with gifts.” She sighed. “I know Katarina. She’s one of my daughters, created by a false love that I made with someone. I doubt she knows, but she’s a good kid. She was a police officer last I heard.” Sakura allowed herself to chuckle, but remained serious. “If she’s here, it’s to stop something bad from happening. I can’t say Su Daji is making much sense. But she is historically a seductress, so I wouldn’t listen to her.” Sakura inched closer. “I understand if you can’t kill her yourself, but then let me do it. Let this bitter old man carry the sin of murder so that you don’t have to.”
‘Woa, woa, Sensei! This is NOT a “it’s painful but it must be done” moment!’ Ronin objected. ‘I don’t know who “Su Daji” is, but that over there is Su, my friend. She was the Familiar of a Magical Girl, and then managed to become a Magical Girl herself. And she’s NOT a bad guy! Something’s up, and we should put this on hold until we can talk this out! Okay!?’ she asked, now seriously scared that her Sensei wouldn’t listen to her.
“Actions speak louder than words, Ronin. What use is talking to a temptress that’s already shown her hand?” Sakura shook her head. “I see that there will be no reasoning with you. I can only hope that you forgive me for what I’m about to do…” Sakura reached her hands over her head. While it had been a cloudless day, Ronin could see that the weather was rapidly changing. Clouds started rolling in from every direction, and they were gathering directly over the trio. “I had hoped that I could show this move to Emily, but maybe she will read about it in the news.”
Ronin might not have had third eye, but he could feel the immense amount of mana rolling in. Most magical girls could enact a single killing blow that left them weak and vulnerable. But sakura had been gifted by higher powers. Not only did she have four different killing blows, but she could even keep fighting after enacting one. This was something she had experienced herself on their last hunt together. But Sakura wasn’t leaving anything in the tank this time. This attack really was going to take all of her mana to pull off.
A killing blow in the form of a hurricane.
It would have landed already, but the dime dilation spell Su put up was still in effect. It would be a bit before the hurricane touched down.
“Deni.” Su was looking off into the distance. “I don’t know why you’re trying to protect me, but I feel like the kindness you’re trying to show me is genuine.” She looked over her shoulder at Ronin. “Make sure Mika is taken care of. I only want the best for her.”
“This isn’t easy for me, Ronin! But it must be done.” Sakura still held her arms over her head. “Get away from her, or I’ll take you both out with-
H U R R I C A N E E M I L Y !
‘NO! It does-’ Ronin called, spinning around to jump to grab and save Su… when she came face-to-face with the sheer magnitude of Hurricane Emily. There was absolutely no way she could jump in, grab Su and then escape. The only reason it wasn’t too late already was because of the time-dilation.
On instinct, feeling that she was in over her head, Ronin used her Twin Soul power. She sent a magic signal that told Miko her exact position. This was a signal for “I’m in trouble” and should cause Miko to alert Mariette… except Miko and Mariette were both outside the time-dilation effect, and the time for Miko to tell Mariette and then for Mariette to open a portal was too long.
Her only option, then, was to actually force Sakura to stop.
‘SENSEI STOP!’ she called, spinning around and punching Sakura in the face, hoping the shock would stop the whole thing from going down.
“Gah!”
It likely wouldn’t, considering how experienced Sakura is with punches.
‘STOP! STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP-’ she cried out, punching again and again, but with no effect on the actual hurricane.
“Hit me as many times as you must, Ronin.” Sakura sneered. Even as her soft underbelly bruised, she maintained her concentration. “I carry many deaths on my shoulders, the tears of wives and children. What’s a few more?”
Feeling it grow stronger, Deni spun around again, seeing in horror that the Killing Blow was descending towards her friend. A hellish thought crossed her mind, and all of a sudden, she had to weigh them in her mind.
Su was her friend and helped save Mariette. Sakura was her friend, and ALSO helped save Mariette, kind of. No, she couldn’t weigh them like that. Who was right in this situation? Su HAD attacked them with intention to kill, but-
No. Su had put down her arms, metaphorically. She had surrendered. Executing her now was wrong. Sakura was wrong. But that… meant Deni had to…
She didn’t want to. If she just let it happen and then let Sakura suffer the consequences of murder-
No. The moment she started thinking like that, it was over. She could not become a person of inaction.
‘GOD
FUCKING
DAMN IT
If you looked at Sakura and Ronin’s stat blocks side by side, it would be clear who the stronger magical girl was. Sakura's weakest attribute was as strong as Ronin’s greatest. But something that wouldn’t show up in the numbers, the list of perks and abilities, was Ronin’s determination. When she set her mind to something, she could fell anything with a decisive cut from her blade. Nykannis discovered this not long ago, but Sakura hadn’t been paying attention.
She did now.
Deni didn’t need to look at her sensei’s body to know the type of damage she inflicted. She didn’t want to. All she had to do was look at the sky and see the clouds lighting up. The sun fell on Deni’s face, and her tears glistened.
“Oh no… No…” Sakura whispered from behind Deni. “Are you crying because of me? Did I do that?” Her voice cracked. “How foolish I’ve been. I wanted to be respected by just one person. I overlooked them and drove them to kill me. I’m so sorry, Ronin. Things would have turned out better if you were my sensei.”
But when Deni looked over her shoulder, there was just her teacher’s unmoving body.
Su looked on wide eyed and slack jawed. With a gunt, she forced herself to her feet and limped over to Deni’s position. Once she was close enough to the tiny ronin, she kneeled in front of Deni before pulling her into a hug. She said nothing as she held onto her old friend, and the time dilation field dissipated.
Deni had stood frozen, tears running down her cheeks with a despairing expression, before Su hugged her. When she did, she spun around and hugged Su in turn, as she also vented her feelings straight into a scream.
‘AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH’
Shortly after, a portal opened. Mariette had been told by Miko that Ronin was in trouble, and as such a couple tentacles reached through intending to grab her and pull her to safety… but then they loosened up, as Mariette read the situation, and instead the tentacles retreated and Mariette walked in, stopping to look on with a somewhat perplexed expression.
‘Oh, no…’ Eli muttered and put her hands over her mouth as she saw what had happened with Sakura, and albeit she didn’t know the whole situation, she knew Deni and Sakura were friends. ‘Dear sister…’ she came jogging to be at her sister’s side, albeit looking a little hesitant towards Su, seeing what the situation had been earlier.
Su mostly just averted her eyes. Even as Deni was yanked away from her, she remained stationary.
Mika came through the portal with the others, but her smile vanished as soon as she saw Su. She ran up to her mother and hugged her. ”Are you okay?” She wouldn’t get an answer.
Rina was also there, looking out for the kitsune. Her diligence would be rewarded when it suddenly appeared in front of everyone. Yet the beast seemed weaker somehow. It had been hammered with lots of Mariette’s magic, but it looked even more feeble than it had a moment ago. With a groan, the fox fell forward. Its body dissolved into red smoke before slamming into the ground. But when the dust cleared out, there was a cluster of fox tails wired together. It almost looked like the head of a broom. "That fox monster turned into a bunch of tails?" Rina looked at Su.
“That was the artifact I found out here.” Su glanced at it. “When I picked it up, that was when it started to speak to me. It told me who I used to be, who I was, who I would be in the future. But I don’t trust it anymore. It lied to me.”
”Even if it isn’t you, it’s still a part of you, right mommy?” Mika left Su’s side to pick up the artifact. Su had started to protest, but it was already in her hands before she could say anything. ”If you don’t like what she says or does to you, maybe you need to give her a time out? I’m sure someone can seal her away.”
Su placed a hand on her hip. “And who around here has the power to seal away rouge spirits?”
Mariette sighed, and pulled a book out of her hammerspace handbag. ‘I can. What is it weak to?’ she asked, while already extending the reach of her portals to see what she could retrieve.
Su was taken back by how fast Mariette had responded. “She has many vices. I imagine anything of that nature would do.”
When it comes to vices, fewer people had more of those than a yakuza. Mariette was able to plunder cigarettes and a canteen filled with booze off of the former mobster. ‘Is there anything you prefer I seal it into?’
Su reached around her neck and pulled off her dragon pendant. It had cracked previously when it sacrificed itself to save her. Now it would serve to hold Su Daji.
Eli hugged around her sister, who was crying profusely into her shoulder.
‘She was going to… I had to… if I didn’t… god fucking damn it, Sensei, why did you…!?’ Deni cursed in anger and sorrow into Eli’s shoulder, who could do nothing but receive it.
The ritual itself was simply keeping the pendant to be sealed in the center of the circle, before Mariette muttered a couple specific magical words causing the circle to activate, then forcing the spirit into the vessel of her choice with a strike of her palm.
Once the magic circle faded and the spectacle came to a close, there was no sign anything was amiss. Mika scooped up the pendant and approached Su. She almost stepped away from Mika, but allowed her daughter to place the necklace on her without fuss. The seal held, and nothing ill happened when she came in contact with the pendant. Mariette’s ritual had worked.
That was when one of the C.A.P.R.I.C.O.R.N.’s many cloud stones fell beside the gathering. Bonnie herself stepped out of the portal and looked over those that were gathered. ”The conditions of your contract have been satisfied. Su Daji has been sealed away, and the hostages are in good health.” She looked at Sakura’s corpse. ”Unfortunately, Sakura did not survive. I was concerned that there might be a disagreement between you all, but I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this.” She turned back to the others. ”But a bonus for the survivors.” Bonnie opened her hand, and there were three thin purple gemstones in her hand. Only they were more flexible and had an eerie glow. Just looking at them caused them to feel a distinct sense of dread. ”I’ve always considered a successful mission its own reward, but upper management wanted you three to have these grief seeds. Aside from the name, I don’t know that much about them.” Bonnie looked over her shoulder at the cloud stone. ”I can take you back to Penrose when you are ready.”
Mariette momentarily turned to Su, now, unconcerned with the mission being accomplished.
‘Are you alright? Is there anything I can help with?’ Mariette asked.
Su nodded. “No, this was enough. The three of you saved me at a huge cost to yourselves. I couldn’t possibly ask for more.”
‘Um… You want us to accept something you don’t even know what it is?’ Eli asked, turning on her Third Eye, inspecting the Grief Seeds while still hugging the grieving Deni. ‘I apologize for being very cautious, but the whole scene here happened because Su picked up something she shouldn’t have. Who are these “upper management” that wants us to have these?’
Bonnie raised an eyebrow, but lowered it before speaking. ”Understandable, though I think your nerves may be getting to you. You accepted C.A.P.R.I.C.O.R.N.’s summons and participated in the mission. We were commissioned by a third party to arrange this hunt, and were paid before I was even dispatched. It would tarnish our reputation if you were to come into harm's way because we gave you a bonus.” Her eyes drifted to the seeds in question. ”My superior’s identity is classified. The C.A.P.R.I.C.O.R.N. prides itself on its neutrality and part of that is that no one knows who runs it barring captains like myself. Though it may comfort you to know that this reward is handed out to everyone who does work for us. They are effectively magical coins, and will have no effect unless you crush them in your hand. I’m told that most simply hold onto them as a memento rather than using them.”
Eli’s eye could not fully pierce the grief seed. But as the name implied, it was a crystallization of some form of empath magic. A despair so deep it turned the heart of the crystal black. The hopelessness clouded the purpose of the crystal like a fog. Yet at the crystal’s heart was something else. It just wouldn’t show up in the miasma of grief.
‘I… okay. I suppose I’ll take ours…’ Eli wasn’t exactly convinced, but she did reach to take hers and Deni’s seeds, and immediately put a barrier around them just in case as she deposited them.
‘We must… we must find Sensei’s loved ones… or… whatever she has left… Tell them what happened…’ Deni said, still crying into Eli’s shoulder. Eli patted her shoulder in turn, and nodded about the sentiment.
Mariette, meanwhile, grabbed the Grief Seed that she was given with a tentacle and promptly dropped it into her portal Hammerspace Handbag. She could have them examined by her allies later. Still, she turned to Su again…
‘There’s something I feel I owe you to tell you, in private, if that’s alright. Something you said earlier, even if it was under influence… I want to tell you about it,’ Mariette said, looking at Su earnestly.
The former familiar took a deep breath and nodded. “There should be an ample number of places we can speak.”
With Bonnie’s hand empty, she surveyed the magical girls one last time. ”There is no rush. Collect yourselves before coming to see me.” While everyone shuffled around and continued to converse, Bonnie distanced herself and cast her gaze off in the distance.
Deni released Eli and walked over to Sakura. She bent down, applying her healing to the wounds. It absolutely wouldn’t bring her back to life, but since Deni intended on carrying Sakura back it would be better if she at least didn’t bleed everything down on the way. Eli, of course, helped as soon as she figured out what was happening. After lifting her up together, Eli turned to Bonnie.
‘We’re ready to return,’ Eli said.
‘Go ahead. I can get back on my own,’ Mariette said. With portals plus Absolute Direction, she definitely could.
With that, the twins were escorted home, and Mariette stayed to speak with Su… but that is the story of another post. This hunt is over.
