The Devil’s Fortune casino was peaceful after the fight there last week. The mess had been cleaned up, and the damages had been repaired. The upper floors of the casino were largely vacant.
… A flying spider (specifically of the Tetrablemmid Spider variety) crashed through the window.
It landed, with the trio on top… The spider was covered in millions of smaller spiders, many of which were decimated in their dramatic entrance. Lisa looked around. They were in a massive circular ballroom with a brown wooden floor, pillars, and everything except the blood-red floor. There was a red piano.
”... Shit,” Lisa began. ”... Thought there’d be more bad guys.”
Lisa shrugged before turning to Saskia, since she was the show's star. ”Lead the way, friend!”
"Aww…" Saskia pulled back in the blood tendril that had been ready to attack. "Let’s-"
”Wait!" Ella shouted. She was already in her magical girl form, and flourished her Sailor Moon wand. The blood red of the piano was leached out, coating her arms in a hard shell. ”In case it's all boring and grey everywhere else!"
"Right," Saskia shrugged, looking around. "Onwards."
They went towards what looked to be an exit, not even bothering to check the outside before storming through. "We need to get to the basement… can your spiders find it, Lisa?"
Lisa smiled.
”... Nope!” Lisa answered. ”We’ll have to do the old fashioned way!” She pumped her fist, before the doors burst open and she whipped her head around towards them.
Two security guards in suits ran in, and they looked at what was going on with a look of confusion - before it turned into horror as Spiders rained from above and absolutely covered them.
”... Quick! Capture them! Interrogate them! Torture them!” Lisa shouted as she pointed forward.
"Ooo, Lisa, you know just how to get a person going," Saskia intoned. They moved towards one of the security guards, getting close enough that their blood tendril could wrap around them.
"Let's ask nicely first!" Ella shouted as she ran at the other security guard, physically tackling them to the ground with colour enhanced arms.
”... Asking nicely is gay,” Lisa said as she hopped off the spider, walked up, the spiders covering the goons. They thrashed but Saskia and Ella did a good job holding them down.
”Alright, Hired-Goons!” Lisa began with a smile. ”Tell us where the Vault is?”
“... What fucking vault?!” One of the goons asked.
”You know, the one with all the artifacts?” Lisa asked with a shrug, the spider with wings she had summoned had reverted to its natural size and appeared and hurried off. Never to be seen again.
“... We don't know what you bitches are talking about!” The security guard asked.
”Okay! Torture time!” Lisa said,
Saskia smirked, tentacle tightening around the goon they were holding. They got really close, long and thing bone spear coming out of the tips of one of their fingers. They reached down and pressed the tip against his lower abdomen. "Did you know, if I pierce your bowel, you're unlikely to die today… but all of the sh-"
"No, I don't want to hear it!" Ella shouted, just pinning down her guy. "And I don't know how to torture people!"
Lisa, without a thought, hopped on Ella’s back - wrapping her legs around her - and turned her head so she can watch the torture.
”... But you’re gonna waaaaaaatch!” Lisa shouted.
"As long as it's not too gorey!" Ella wailed, with no choice but to watch.
“... Fuuuuuck!” The security guard screamed. “Fine, fine, okay! There is a chamber in the basement! Boss doesn't want anyone going near it! Not even us!”
"Aw, I had even gotten to the fun bit," Saskia sighed, bone spear ever so slightly poking into his skin. "Where's the basement?"
”... Down, of course!” Lisa teased, grinning ear to ear. ”Are you having an Ella moment?”
“I can take you there,” the guard said. “Just get rid of the spiders!”
What a baby. Spider deaths are rare! But to comply with the baby, Lisa had her spiders disperse. The man climbed to his feet… But Lisa kept a black widow by both the guards carotids. He dusted himself off before he asked,
“... You’re those crazy bitches that keep harassing Morgenstern aren’t you?!” He asked.
”And if we are?” Lisa kept that smile on her face. ”That doesn't change your situation, now does it?”
“... What about me?!” The other guard asked.
"You’re coming with us too! Can’t have you calling your boss!" Ella said, threateningly pointing a blood red finger at him.
"Or, we can kill you?" Saskia offered, bone spear lightly poking his back. They looked at the guard that had offered to take them there. "Lead the way."
Without another word, the goon led them through the halls of the casino’s hotel. Up until they made it to a flight of stairs, walked down it into an underground warehouse. There were rows upon rows of shelves with alcohol, casino games on pallets, and other items. While they walked, Lisa noted how barren the halls were down here, only barhands, janitors, and maintenance. That was the only thing stopping Lisa from grabbing a bottle!
It wasn’t long before she made it to a door, a large rusted, white metal door that said AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY. The security guard shrugged.
“Never seen this door open,” He said. “But boss doesn't want us near it, or if he sees it open, tell him.”
"Either its what we’re looking for, or its his torture basement," Saskia said, nodding to Ella.
”Could be where he keeps all his whores!” Lisa gleefully added.
Ella grinned. Prismatic light coated her legs, making them stronger, and she straight up kicked the door. Launching it off its hinges, and revealing a long, dark and mysterious staircase illuminated by torches.
”... Ella, what the hell?!” Lisa shouted, putting her hands on both sides of her head. ”We are supposed to be sneaky!”
"We were? We crashed through the window earlier, that wasn’t very sneaky at all…" Ella pointed out, legs going back to normal.
"If anyone comes that's just more fun for us," Saskia shrugged, stepping through the door and starting to go down the staircase.
“.. We’ll just be going now!” The security guard said.
”Oh no you don’t!” Lisa shouted as she summoned thousands of Darwin’s Bark Spiders. They covered the two men, wrapping them up from head to toe in a cocoon of webs. With a dismissive wave, the spiders skittered off as she walked down the staircase.
The architecture descended from modern service tunnels to ancient stone catacombs until they reached the bottom stairs. Then they saw the vault… Well, the vault door. It was a glowing door of spinning runes. Without a second thought, Lisa turned to Ella and shouted,
”... Ella kick down the door!”
"Super Prism Kick!!"
Ella yelled as she launched herself at the glowing door with a glowing leg…
Before she even hit it she was launched backwards, slamming into a wall next to the bottom of the stairs. She slid to the floor with a groan.
”Finally, a challenge,” Saskia said. They carefully approached the door, stopping just before where Ella got launched, squinting their eyes at it. "Maybe we can try shove one of those security guys through."
Lisa shrugged.
”Maybe it only launches homosexuals,” Lisa casually walked up to the barrier, and then got yeeted across the room at mach Jesus. She screamed at the top of her lungs before she skidded across the floor, face-fist.
”... Ouch, Lisa groaned before she pushed herself to her feet. She could see through the barrier, and summoned a spider on the other side - she then applied the Enlarge and Hybridization spell on it. It was wrapped in a glowing cocoon of magical webs as it grew bigger and bigger.
”Ella! Bring your fine-ass over here!” Lisa shouted, ”Remember our Joint-Cast? Remember Crack Spiders?”
"Ooo, yeah, I do!" Ella jumped to her feet and trotted over to Lisa. She pointed to the spider through the barrier. "You want to cast it on that one?"
The spider finally burst out of its cocoon, another tetrablemmid spider but with the long horn-like pincers of a hercules.
Lisa looked at Ella.
Then, at the Spider.
Then, back to Ella.
Then, back to the spider.
”... No,”
Ella just stared at Lisa. It was as if her brain was buffering. Finally, she nodded. "You’re being sarcastic."
She turned, pointing to the spider again, this time with her Sailor Moon wand. With a flourish of magic, it was imbued with pulsating, multi-coloured lights like a spider disco light. For a brief moment, Lisa made the spider dance (or something close to it), before it went berserk and began bashing at everything. Every rock, the vault itself, and whatever Lisa thought could be responsible for the shield.
She smiled as she wrapped her hand around Ella’s waist and watched the destruction.
”Our baby is doing such a great job!” Lisa said as the spider crushed a rock. ”... Isn’t it beautiful?”
"Aw, it kind of is," Ella nodded like a proud parent, putting her arm around Lisa’s shoulders. "Show that vault who’s the boss!"
Saskia was still next to the invisible forcefield near the door, squatted down and tapping random rocks while watching the spider. ”What if it needs a magical key?”
Oh. Good point. Lisa just shrugged as the monstrous spider threw a tantrum on the other side of the barrier… eventually, it displayed a glowing rock with a rune on it, and it hit the ground. Lisa noticed it cracked a rock with a glowing sigil, and the barrier dimmed slightly. Though Lisa turned to Saskia and said to them,
”Then we’ll just go find it,” Lisa answered, as she commanded the spider to break the rock. ”... Maybe it’s still at-”
The vault door opened… and out came Ignatius in his human form, wearing a black suit. He shook his head before he sighed...
“... You three, again?”
”Yes! Us three!” Lisa shouted, throwing a fist into the air.
“You have become an annoyance…” Ignatius walked over to the barrier with his hands in his pocket. He ignored the spider as it slowly crushed the rock in its pinchers. Glancing at the Spider momentarily, Ignatius turned to the three and said, “Though, I should thank you…”
”... For kicking your ass?” Lisa asked.
“For getting rid of the dead weight,” Ignatius shook his head again before digging into his pocket, pulling out the Orange Stone, and hanging it between his fingers. “... Even though you used this cheap trinket, you three are a wakeup call that Morningstar has chosen weaklings to be his Endless Seven. Useless fools that were complacent… Morningstar is complacent.”
He laughed, “... Maybe after I kill you three, I’ll take Morningstar down and make the Society into something great.”
"Our evil rock!" Ella shouted, pointing a finger at Ignatius. "Just come out here and let us kick your-"
"Wait," Saskia held up a hand. They moved over to Ella and Lisa, grabbing them both and pulling them into a circle. "Do you think if we just let him kill Morningstar our job will be done?"
"... What, no way!" Ella stomped her foot. "We can't let an evil bastard like him take over either! The Society sucks!"
”… I meeeeeeeean,” Lisa intoned. ”We’ll be in Oregon; he’ll still be in Nevada. That’s cool with me!”
"I knew you'd see sense," Saskia nodded. ”That's two against one, Ella."
Ella pouted, whining, "finnnnnnneeeee."
”I’m trying to get back to a big bootied girl here, Ella!” Lisa shouted.
"You have a big bootied girl right here!" Ella shouted back.
Saskia ignored them and turned around to look at Ignatius, completely deadpan. "We'll leave if you're really going to kill Morningstar and take over."
“Oh no,” Ignatius said, grinning slightly, as he spun the Orange-Stone. “All three of you are not leaving this city alive.”
”Aw.”
“Maw,” Ignatius said, and a portal was slashed open, and that white creature they encountered in the PRA office stuck his head through. He looked at the three and said, “Oh hey, girls, remember me?”
"Sadly," Saskia intoned.
”No, who are you?" Ella tilted her head. ”You can't expect me to remember all the unimportant evil minions."
Ignatius threw the Orange Stone into the Maw’s hand and said, “… Put that away for me.”
“Sure thing, Ignatius!” The Maw disappeared into the portal. Ignatius turned towards them and said,
“… We all know how this ends,” He began. “Are you ready?”
”... Yes,” Lisa nodded her head.
"Why do you all have to make spee-"
"Ready to defeat you!" Ella interrupted Saskia's complaining with a shout. ”In the name of all that is good in this world I, Magical Girl Aurora, will vanquish you! Your days of evil are over! Drop the barrier and fight us!"
While Ella made her cringy line, Lisa summoned more spiders and applied the Enlarge and Hybridization spells to four to create massive spiders… She knew she stood a snowball’s chance in hell against Ignatius; she knew that as long as he was made of flesh, he could be dissolved in acid. All she needed was for Saskia and Ella to make a big enough distraction for her to get close. As a preparation, Lisa lifted the back of her dress as lengthy black spider legs erupted.
Ignatius grinned.
The barrier dropped.
And in the blink of an eye, his glamour spell deactivated and revealed his monstrous dragon form. Ignatius opened his maw and spewed magma at them without giving them a second to get their bearings. Lisa’s spider legs pressed against the ground and launched her into the air before she connected with the ceiling… where her growing spider minions were.
"Why’s it always fire," Saskia complained as her blood tendril shoved her out of the way, tip caught and melting into a puddle on the ground.
Ella rolled to the right, magma catching the side of her arm, but she completely ignored it. She landed in a crouch, running forward with glowing, enhanced legs and aiming a bright red punch at Ignatius.
”I know! It’s like we’re fighting a demon-lord!” Lisa sarcastically responded to Saskia, as she opened her mouth wide and projectile vomited a barrage of spiders towards Ignatius. Mid-air, she applied the Acid-Burst spell onto them.
Ignatius exploded into flames, incinerating Lisa’s spider swarm before they could explode. In a swift motion, he bit down on Ella’s arm and then flung her at Saskia. Ella crashed into Saskia, both of them falling to the floor in a heap.
They were quick to get up, Ella twisting around and physically picking Saskia up. She half flung them at Ignatius. Saskia went with it, blood tendril catching herself and shoving her further forward, hand coming towards him with a bone spear shooting out of it. At the same time Ella ran behind her, going for another punch in sync with Saskia.
Ignatius laughed and ran forward towards the two. However, he turned sideways mid-stride. Both attacks hit Ignatius but bumped off against his tough scales. He swung his long tail at the two in a wide-arced swing. Lisa saw it with her own two eyes, but at least he wasn’t on fire anymore… the spiders she had altered had finally burst out of their cocoons; they were massive and had the wings of dragonflies. Lisa had an idea, but Ignatius could immediately fuck the entire plan if he burst into flames again.
Lisa summoned another swarm of spiders that covered the walls behind Ignatius. They formed the words
DISTRACT HIM. FIND A WAY TO KEEP HIM FROM CATCHING ON FIRE
briefly before they dispersed. The spiders slowly moved into position above him. Saskia had used her blood tendril to launch Ella up above Ignatius’ tail before taking it, flying across the room and hitting the wall with a loud crack. More cracks were heard as their bones snapped back into place, blood spilling from wounds to form a solid armour around her. Ella landed on the ground on one foot, the other swinging around to hit his side.
Grimacing, Saskia snapped off a bone spear and threw it at Ignatius’ eye… which immediately penetrated, and he screamed before spewing magma wildly. He grabbed the spear and yanked it out of his eye (with his eye still attached to the nerve ending), before throwing it back at Saskia… or at least their general direction. It embedded in their shoulder, pushing through the blood armour. They barely flinched, pulling it out and clotting the wound immediately.
She then threw it at his other eye; however, he deflected it with a whip of his tail… However, as Lisa planned, he was oblivious that Lisa’s spiders were directly above him. With a flick of Lisa’s wrist, she applied the Acid-Burst spell to them, and then they exploded, sending acid and chitin shrapnel in all directions. Lisa hoped that the two of them saw it coming and had the sense to dodge or duck for cover - but due to the laws of gravity, most of the acid rained down on Ignatius.
He screamed as his skin sizzled, burning away at his natural armor… He looked around before seeing Lisa on the roof. He narrowed his eyes before turning and running back into the vault. He attempted to close the door with a tail whip, but he left it slightly ajar…
Lisa landed on the ground, spider-legs first, before smiling. She raised a hand,
”... We did it! High five!”
"Take that, evil!" Ella shouted, running to slap her hand against Lisa’s. There were some acid burns scattered down one arm from where she hadn’t quite avoided the edge splashes, but really, it was nothing.
"He’s still alive,” Saskia pointed out, walking over and limply hitting Lisa’s hand, then Ella’s. They then pointed to the door. "Let’s go in, we still need to get the stone.”
”... You’re acting like we can’t just hit him with more acid!” Lisa shouted as she casually walked into the vault with Saskia and Ella behind her.
Unbeknownst to them, someone was following behind them the entire time…