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It clawed her up and ate her whole, smashing her soul to bits as her imaginary veins roared in agony. Before she had even [i]breathed[/i] in the air of a changed Penrose, Amaryllis paid for her absence in full. The full burden of her neglected wish fell upon her, and she buckled upon the cold bedframe, her body rebelling against her. What happened? How could only a few days at that beach dimension end up with them all suddenly being shunted into a whole new season? Her throat burned, and blood coated her vision, the sheer range of her flexibility tested as she contorted at the face of such magical duress. It was the power of the Djinn that first kickstarted the creation of the anti-magic barrier, but now, that payment would have to be extracted from herself, torn from her core. Whatever energy she recouped from her vacation at the beach was exhausted now, the quicksilver of her veins straining to keep up with the sudden demand. No one else was inside the apartment, thankfully. No one was even in the city block.

Silence reigned as Amaryllis grit her teeth, suppressing the desire to scream. It was fine. It was alright. She wasn't going to kill the fucking dolphin for this. She was going to bear it all, and move on. Her nails dug into the side of the wooden frame until she could feel them tear against the wood. Monstrous power roared into her veins, her shell of humanity cracking under the magical duress. It felt endless, yet instantaneous, the draining of her magical power far beyond what she could naturally output. But Amaryllis held on, those silver chains reigning in the beast, reigning in her sanity.

And when it ended, when that translucent shimmer of magical power settled over Penrose again, the girl collapsed, exhausted.

...

She rolled to her side, staring at her Sword. For all her absence, it hadn't done anything at all in retaliation, huh? The girl poked it, and felt a poke back, right between her eyes. She squinted, frowned, and then let out a sigh. There was another prodding sensation felt around her neck, and soon after, her Healing Artifact hummed back to life. Warmth filled the cold, desolate room that was once her home. Silvered stitches sew together ruptured blood vessels and fractured bone. Her broken nails regrew, reformed. There was nothing in the room to quench her thirst and hunger, but even those pangs faded somewhat. A curious smile formed on Amaryllis's face as she shakily sat up.

Had her Sword thought she'd abandon it when she was spirited off into Dan's dimension?

The soul-shearing saber felt cool in her hand, and as she brought the mirror-polished blade up to inspect, memories of her period of absence flashed through her mind, a surge of disastrous images flickering one after another in rapid succession. The calamity of the heavens and the shattering of the earth. Monsters unchecked by a reduced population of Penrose's protectors. Horrors free to scheme, their machinations proceeding unhindered. It made her want to kill the damned dolphin all over again, but as her anger rose, a quick spike of pain in the back of her neck restored her clarity.

The barrier was still not yet complete.

And her Sword, after countless days of neglect, was hungry.

Later then. Her angst can wait. Her homework can too.

For now, what could the Knight of Rose do in this situation, but hunt down the monsters that had turned her city to a ghost town?