[h2][center][color=crimson]♥[/color][color=black]♠[/color][color=crimson]♦[/color][color=black]♣[/color] [color=darkmagenta]Ayumu Harasawa[/color] [color=crimson]♥[/color][color=black]♠[/color][color=crimson]♦[/color][color=black]♣[/color] [color=darkmagenta]Phantasmagoria[/color] [color=crimson]♥[/color][color=black]♠[/color][color=crimson]♦[/color][color=black]♣[/color][/center][/h2]
[@I Need A Name] [@SimpleWriter] [@1Charak2]

Through the shock, Phantasmagoria forced a snicker at Gaia's little speech. Those words, exactly the kind of thing she might have once said... the kind of thing she'd once have been stupid enough to say. [color=darkmagenta]"Wow, even now you still think life's a fairy tale,"[/color] she jeered, aiming another card at a chink in a Nightmare's armour. [color=darkmagenta]"Suit yourself, this is nothing we can't handle anyway."[/color]

She danced out of the way of the Nightmare's claws, disappearing from view. It turned this way and that, only for a red-outlined card to fly from thin air, cleaving its head from its shoulders. Phantasmagoria reappeared in a swirl of black mist, the translucent wisps that formed the hem of her cape and tails of her jacket thickening like pollution clouds as she absorbed the dying creature. A laugh juddered through her.

[color=darkmagenta]"We've got ourselves that fight you were spoiling for, all right,"[/color] she said, eyes gleaming as she glanced at Kiru before summoning a jackalope silhouette from her hat. [color=darkmagenta]"C'mon, let's get 'em before those party poopers do!"[/color]

As she leapt from building to building on the back of the giant rabbit, her grin faded at the full, sobering impact of the scene. All those broken bodies, all that blood... A sudden wave of dizziness hit. Sympathy? Surely not. She'd discarded that long ago, at least for strangers. It was more like... Memories. An old wound ripping open. Images of limbs at sickening angles, crimson-splattered concrete, eyes that would never shine with happiness again, carved deep into her mind.

Her ribs clenched, an involuntary cry leaving her lips. She tightened her grip on the mount to keep from sliding off. [i]No! Focus![/i] she mentally screamed at herself, tearing her gaze away from the carnage, and from the nearby light girls. Little Miss Sparkles in particular might even try to help if she noticed, and like hell did she want that stick in the mud's pity. Trying to concentrate on the corrupt energy roiling through her, she rode past the dead and the desperate. It wasn't like they had anything to do with her. And it certainly wasn't like all these people could be saved.

Before long, she caught up with the flock of Nightmares pouring down the street. [color=darkmagenta]"Thank you all for gathering here tonight!"[/color] she called, her stage persona covering up any weakness. [color=darkmagenta]"Uh-uh, forget the movies."[/color] She flicked cards at some of the creatures making a beeline for a movie theatre. [color=darkmagenta]"Wanna see a magic show instead? I now present my assistants!"[/color]

With that, an army of figures were upon the Nightmares. Illusory copies of every other dark magical girl in the club lashed with their weapons, manic glee on their faces as the monsters hissed and flailed. By the time the images disappeared upon being struck, it was too late for many of the mutant creatures. Cards spun through the air, the razor edges the scarlet aura gave them biting deep through armour.

Phantasmagoria jumped from the back of her shadow contruct, which faded. [color=darkmagenta]"Your turn, Kir-"[/color] Her shout choked into a whimper. A few feet away from her, a small form lay unmoving in the snow, stomach and throat torn open. She recognised what was left of the girl's face. The child who'd watched her earlier show.

Claws jabbed into Ayumu's left arm, yanking her away from the corpse. Her surroundings rushed past as she found herself being dragged across the ground. Several pairs of jaws spread wide, looming over her... only to let out a screech and snap upwards at the air as a giant drill burst through its back, out from its stomach. Black goo splattered all around. [i]Just for effect,[/i] Ayumu thought, dismissing the illusion with a flick of her hand and leaping to her feet. Before the Nightmare realised it was uninjured, the cards the magician flung dug into its neck.

[color=darkmagenta]"And that, dear spectators, was the Drill of Death!"[/color] she announced, hoping the banter hid just how shaken she was. Distraction had been her attacker's undoing, just as it had nearly been hers. She gripped her upper arm, feeling stickiness, torn cloth, broken skin. Just an inch under her emblem. Her heart thudded. That had been close.

Reaching out and drinking in the monster's essence, she kept alert from the buzz. A cluster of Nightmares gathered nearby, zeroing in on a target concealed from view, some breaking from the group to face the magical girl about to disrupt their meal.

Phantasmagoria smirked, lifting one side of her cape and sending a murder of crows to greet them. [color=darkmagenta]"What, you thought you were the guests at this banquet? Life's full of surprises, huh?"[/color] She skipped towards her struggling prey, resolving to think of nothing but the hunt. [color=darkmagenta]"Kiru, let's tuck in!"[/color]