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The skies over London looked like a nightmarish scene from a fairy tale lost to time. The shirking shrieks of the trapped Pageless were like horrifying banshee cries in the dark and the creature barreled all over inside its light cage. Its claws tore at the walls and for a moment it seemed like it would penetrate through Lumière’s magic as darkness festered off its body in smoky trails. But Lumière kept it contained enough to display for the other Magical Girls to handle once and for all. Were the creature considerate of human emotions or pity it might have torn Ethereal Rose’s face from her skull for daring to suggest her words.

Indeed, the creature turned its ghastly face at the blonde and slammed itself into the cage at her direction. Its face could be seen under its hood, a gaping display of a darkened maw and corpse only illuminated by the storm; even Lumière’s light could not fully reveal its horrifying structure. The others were less keen in humoring Rose’s suggestion and instead finished the creature off with their attacks. It lurched backwards from its position by the weight and speed of the Lady of the Lake’s spear. Condensed water solidified and punctured through its “heart” beneath its cloak. No sooner could the Pageless rekindle its wrath was it engulfed in a pillar of pure light.

The denizen of darkness had no idea of what hit it, other than that it was violent and near-untapped without control. And it didn’t come from Lumière. It became engulfed in light in its orb as Captain Goodhope’s magic erased the dark monster from the world entirely. Its cloak lit up in flames as the Pageless imploded in its cage, avoiding any blowback or debris to fall on the world below. The deed was done and the Pageless was slain with frightening efficiency under Lumière’s helm. But the presence was felt even by those who stood in the city, including the Crimson Comet. 

Ozma should have left a long time ago. Any seasoned Magical Girl, be it by jaded cynicism to let the group figure their own problems out, or by the foreknowledge that came to the same conclusion, would have done exactly that. But she paused in her steps, back to the group as she heard over their conversation. As if standing by to intervene she stood in silence as the other girls spoke and, seemingly, made their amends with each other; or at least enough to finish their patrol. The rain was all but fading around them but the sky remained bleak and gray.

The senior Magical Girl chanced a look up with rain falling off the wide brim of her hat. The presence from before, the one that overcast a long shadow over London, was gone now and faded back into the aether. By choice or chance both teams experienced similar experiences regarding the nature of Pageless. Ozma frowned, something unseen with the direction she faced and her hat as the winds became a little colder from the easing weather after the downpour. Everything just felt [i]wrong[/i] today with Tsubasa’s appearance not helping but what was done was done. The sound of soft impact drew her attention back to the present and she craned her neck back to peek at the scene behind her.

Burning Heart and Lilac Shimmer were understandably agitated and no doubt near-frightened with Camelot’s behavior. Whatever course they felt wasn’t helped by a new development in the air as pure magical force radiated off the knight in the form of steam. Ozma brought a hand to her hip to rest on the pommel of her broom as she watched carefully. She wouldn’t believe Camelot would actually strike out at her junior students…no, this felt like something different. There was a moment of control lost on Camelot, where the knight seemed almost willing to lose her grasp on her own magic. The moment was there….and it was gone again.

The steam was no threat and wouldn’t hurt Camelot or the others; at least not too severely. Ozma kept her sights on the group, locking gazes on Camelot but said nothing. It was easy for them, Magical Girls and keepers of their Grimoires, to lose focus and let slip their magical aptitude. It was never too late to hone their abilities lest something catastrophic happened. All the same, the redhead made a mental note to keep an eye on Arthur’s embodiment. As for Camelot’s insistence to be present during her meeting with the Grand Minister; Ozma doubted her old friend would be privy to third eye observation in private. 

She was gone in a flash to let the others continue their patrol and return back to Marrywell.
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