[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/nrfJdjz.png[/img][/center]

[b]“Wow, Mary, didn’t know you were a fencer! Never struck me as the type, you know? But I guess the whole hidden depths thing you got going on is pretty deep!”[/b]

[color=778899][b]“Well…yeah.”[/b][/color]

[b]“You thinking of setting up a club at the college about it though? Like, doesn’t really sound like either fencing or European history, yeah? And I’m sure you’d get way more interested parties if you do that think where you wear full armor, then remove it, and it turns out that you had a sexy swimsuit underneath!”[/b]

[color=778899][b]“That’s…going to chaff.”[/b][/color]

[b]“And then all the others will go ‘woah, who’s this hotty! I didn’t know she wore things other than boring ol’ sweaters and sweatpants’ and suddenly you catch the eye of that British dude you’re always sneaking glances at. Cole, was it?”[/b]

[color=778899][b]“I-it’s not like that…”[/b][/color]

[b]“Geez, what is it like then, Mary? For what other reason would a fair maiden like you, the princess of the engineering club, shoot bedroom eyes in the direction of that handsome foreign noble every class? Oh, the amore in your eyes, the blossoming of the rose~! How lovely it must be, to be young and free, beautiful and pure~!”[/b]

[color=778899][b]“It’s…well…”[/b][/color]

As the two followed the flow of the crowd through the typical Penrose morning rush, Amaryllis pursed her lips, wondering how exactly she had been dragged into this situation to begin with. The woman beside her, Aurora Mackenzie from Penrose Technical’s Accounting course, certainly didn’t fit the definition of an accountant, and it was only extra bothersome that she imprinted herself upon a fellow student immediately afterwards. With a white blouse and a black, lacy bra underneath, as well as a pencil skirt and stockings, Aurora looked more like a hot teacher than a student, her pink highlights bobbing up and down as she strutted through with a Louis Vuitton bag slung on her shoulder. In comparison, Amaryllis’s outfit was so much more simple and drab, her clothes just a pair of non-descript, gray sweatclothes, while her shoes were running shoes and her fat backpack threatened to clobber people beside her whenever she had to turn around.

It was nothing but pure regret, really, that she had taken this particular route. If this was Aurora’s normal path, the shy magical-girl-in-hiding was definitely going to have to find a detour next time, especially cause taking the subway was a horrible, terrible mistake when the metal detectors went off and that asshole of a cop stopped her for carrying her sword in her bag. Yeah, THAT was what messed everything up to begin with.

Ughhhhhhh, and now she needed to come up with a way to explain that she was monitoring Cole from metalworks because he might actually maybe possibly be a gremlin constructing illegal weapons during off-hours at the shop…without coming off as insane and stalkerish as well.

In the back of her mind, her Patron clicked, tapping at the inside of her skull with soft pains, but a good few months had made her more or less accustomed to the pain of communication. Cole was nearby then, huh? Meant it was time to get the helllll out of this area, without seeming rude either. Amaryllis restrained her urge to let out a sigh, instead turning to Aurora with an awkward, hesitant half-smile as she prepared to lie about a whole truc-

[i]Splat.[/i]

Red on the chest. Red on the face. Red on the lips. Red in the scream, shaking into her spine as the claws of an ephemeral spirit sprouted from Aurora’s chest. Warm. The flesh and blood that splattered on Amaryllis was warm enough to burn. Three stakes of agony shook hesitance out of her, and with a wordless cry, a steel chain burst from her left hand, wrapping around the scepter and flinging it a block away. Already, more screams were bursting out, the flow of the crowd shifting to cacophony. The image of the demon-scepter burst into her mind, followed by twelve taps against her index fingers, and then a thirteenth on her middle fingers. She wasn’t watching, but her Patron was, formless and ever-present despite being sealed in her backpack.

But she had no time to fight, not when the woman who had just been talking to her was entering a state of shock, bleeding profusely from her chest. No time to transform, no time to wait for an ambulance, no time to even shift locations. Against the panicked crowds, Amaryllis could only kneel down, pressing her own body against Aurora’s as her chain slipped into the backpack, pulling out the amethyst-encrusted rosary, already thrumming with magic, already burning with molten iron.

Torn flesh folded back, but the blood could not be restored, and she pushed away instead, half-dragging, half-carrying the limp body into a neglected alleyway before dropping her there. Blood. She was breathing shallowly, but at this point, the Healing Artifact granted to her by the Sword couldn’t guarantee anything else.

The fear was palatable, the tension and uncertainty a felt blanket against her consciousness.

Amaryllis closed her eyes.

[i]A thirteenth tap on her middle fingers.[/i]

A magical girl had done this, not just a monster.

First, she got held up by that dumbass cop. Then, she gets interrogated by someone who thinks she has ANY interest in a body-snatching gremlin. And now? This shit? For no reason other than to fuck with her day even more?

The indigo haired girl took a breath. A deep breath.

Steadied herself. Dropped her backpack. Drew her sword.

[color=778899][b]“Tomorrow.”[/b][/color]

That was the promise she made, because today…

[center][color=778899][i]"𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔩𝔬𝔳𝔢 𝔬𝔣 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔪𝔬𝔬𝔫, 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔤𝔯𝔞𝔠𝔢 𝔬𝔣 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔭𝔢𝔱𝔞𝔩𝔰.
𝔘𝔫𝔡𝔢𝔯𝔫𝔢𝔞𝔱𝔥 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔤𝔩𝔬𝔯𝔶 𝔬𝔣 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔥𝔢𝔞𝔳𝔢𝔫𝔰, ℑ 𝔤𝔞𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔪 𝔞𝔩𝔩 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔭𝔯𝔢𝔰𝔢𝔫𝔱 𝔪𝔶𝔰𝔢𝔩𝔣.
𝔄𝔪𝔞𝔯𝔶𝔩𝔩𝔦𝔰 𝔈𝔳𝔢𝔫𝔦𝔫𝔤𝔰, 𝔎𝔫𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱 𝔬𝔣 𝔱𝔥𝔢 ℜ𝔬𝔰𝔢!
𝔐𝔞𝔶 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔣𝔩𝔬𝔴𝔢𝔯 𝔬𝔣 𝔶𝔬𝔲𝔯 𝔥𝔢𝔞𝔯𝔱 𝔟𝔢 𝔯𝔢𝔣𝔩𝔢𝔠𝔱𝔢𝔡 𝔴𝔦𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔫 𝔪𝔶 𝔰𝔦𝔩𝔳𝔢𝔯𝔩𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱!"[/i][/color]
[url=https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/senkizesshousymphogear/images/c/c9/Ginude_Airgetl%C3%A1m.ogg/revision/latest?cb=20170707084108]⚔[/url][/center]
...she had some weeds to pull.
[@Rune_Alchemist]