[sub][@Ariamis][/sub]

An eyebrow rose in curious attention as Alexandra listened to Maria describe what had happened between her and Kyubey. She knew he was enigmatic, working in his own ways, yet the creature wouldn't lie. Mislead, perhaps, but he would never outright tell a falsehood. If he did then she supposed he would lose all credibility once it got out. And that couldn't do, if it was his job to contract new girls and keep the Witches suppressed. 

"I see," she replied once Maria had finished. "Thank you for bringing it to my attention. I will bring it up with Dora, so you don't have to worry about it any more." She was grateful at least, though whether Maria would choose to let the matter lie was only for her to say. 

With that, the meeting seemed to wrap to a close. "Well, if that is all then I believe we are done here. Caroline will escort you out." The other magical girl emerged from the corner once more, ready to lead Maria from the building, while at the same time making sure she didn't do anything inside that Alexandra might not approve of. It seemed the game turned once more. 

[hr]
[sub][@Stern Algorithm][/sub]

The hammers went flying as Eponine attacked once more, and they did their work beautifully, smashing right through the ice with the force of their impact and sending the bridge tumbling down upon the Witch that was beneath them. Eponine could be confident in her accuracy, if nothing else, which would be of comfort to herself as well as her liege lord. 

The Witch recovered as the bridge came down, and as a result of that Eponine would be disappointed to find that Byrea had only been clipped, rather than squashed entirely. That still earned sprays of the black ichor that served as her blood, but it would not prove a finishing blow as the bridge rebuilt itself, albeit in a different manner than it had been before. And she would find a fusillade of ice headed towards her once more. 

Then, as if things weren't hard enough, the battlefield itself began to shift, pillars cracking and falling as if they intended to crush her, just like she had tried to crush Byrea beneath them. And though they rebuilt afterwards in different orientations and position to keep the sphere from collapsing, it just made things that much harder. 

[hr]
[sub][@The book of bad juju][/sub]

As surprising as Violetta might find it when her group arrived, there wasn't actually a Kyubey amongst them, since already contracted magical girls didn't need one of the white creatures to communicate with each other, only with potential contractees. Or possibly he had vanished before they arrived, wary of being shot, stabbed, or otherwise harmed. Whichever reason, it didn't really matter in the end as her reinforcements soon arrived. 

The help would be welcome as the Familiars kept coming, with the sound of combat below and the ice Violetta was standing on cracking before reforming, as a result of her efforts to keep from plunging into the sphere where the fighting was currently going on. But with the reinforcements, that wouldn't be too difficult to manage. All it would be was a matter of handling that, and then the Witch, and they could all go home.