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Justine was preoccupied with throwing her bloody javelins when she saw Alex run out of the barrier.

[color=bc8dbf]”Wait, what are you-”[/color] She shouted after him, only to see Lily in the distance. He was quick as a cheetah, carried aloft by the Angel of Hope’s blessings.

[color=bc8dbf]”Lily! Hang on!”[/color] She dashed up into the air, and pointed her spear down at the enemy forces.

[color=bc8dbf]”Mountain of a Thousand Needles!”[/color] She screamed, and scarlet spines shot out in a spray, only an inch in diameter but five feet in length. The spines pierced troopers, blocked enemy fire, and embedded into the ground to act as a further hazard. Of course, she had left an open path for Alex and his clone as they rushed back. Alex had successfully located her leg in the midst of the chaos, blackened by the blast. With Lily in tow, barely able to hold onto the clone, the two returned and dove through the teleporter. Justine looked behind her, and sighed in relief, only to be suddenly shot by a couple of bursts of enemy fire; she cursed her inattentiveness. She fell, but at the last moment managed to unfurl her wounded wings, and scrambled into a dive into the teleporter.

As the rest of the defenders scrambled to escape the living hell that slowly but surely encroached upon them, whether it was through the teleporter or other means, a couple of familiar silhouettes could be seen rushing back, knocking over a tank like it was a trash can.
“Kept ya waiting, huh?” Nefer quipped at Iron Mouse with a flirty wink while holding trophies and keepsakes in a burglar bag she held over her back. Akhenaten did not greet with as much as a grunt as he slid before their car, creating grooves in the ground. He then spread his arms wide while facing Wonderland’s forces, acting as a wall to protect the Mahou mobile from a cannon shell that slipped through a hole in the barrier and ineffectively blew up against the golem.
“Show’s over, now book it, Rocky!” She shouted before she jumped into the shotgun seat, followed by her stocky partner who took the wheel and punched the pedal to the medal, blasting right out of there with the rest of the passengers.

The Beacon forces were one of the last groups to depart, determined to ensure the escape of their non-affiliated compatriots out of a sense of duty. Hyun Long punched dragons made of fire out from her fists as she walked backwards into the teleporter, right alongside Serenity as she too covered their retreat, knives bursting with vicious tendrils. But right as she was about to warp out, she shot out one last fire dragon that opened it’s maws on their pickup car, blowing it up in a magnificent explosion, catching an entire squadron in the blast radius.
[i]Can’t have them grabbing that[/i], she figured.

[hr]
The Queen of Hearts’ eyes narrowed at the Queen of the Mad Scientists and her haughty nature, and simply smirked in response. “The only amazing thing about you is how hard you try.”
She readied her sword, and her eye glowed as she channelled the power of the Storyslayer.
But then, an expression of disbelief came upon her face. “You have to be kidding me.”
She jumped the moment the moment Pentius-03 activated her ability, attempting to move out of the gifted nullification zone, only to be trapped and forced to defend herself as Nykannis unleashed a power play among the mightiest of Mahou on her, weapons upon weapons of mass destruction of ridiculous descriptions aimed at her. Her sword spun rapidly around her, cutting down the attacks and turning them into ribbons of black words that melted into white paper.
She cut down the first Killing Blow, and the Second and Third…Even the Fourth one…But the final one managed to land, and her arm was blown off from the elbow.

But as Nykannis laughed in victory, she suddenly braced, feeling pain; the Queen had thrown her spinning Storyslayer, the sword having cleaved through every single defense the near-Goddess of Technology had accrued, and left a long scar on her arm that would sting and not heal. The Queen then dropped to one knee, and after she caught the blade back in her hand, she embedded it to the ground, clutching the stump where her arm was. It was a moment where any other Mahou would have faltered, as the Second Phase closed in for the kill.

But the Queen could only laugh.

At that moment, The Second Phase scattered as storm winds wreathed in hex-spewing ghosts assaulted them, and Wendigos rushed to gore and claw at them like a pack of wolves. Electronic systems jammed, and bombs with hats exploded over various Pentius members, coating them in melting, sticky rubbergum that completely insulated and immobilized. “Congratulations!” Exclaimed the Mad Hatter as he stepped out into the field, equipped with all manner of gadgets and devices while juggling a few bombs with hats on them. He was accompanied by various members of the Queen’s court, like the March Hare, looking pissed off due to the explosion, a monster girl with the upper body of a lady and the lower body of a winged lion, and a hooded green-haired girl with butterfly wings. The Mad Hatter had a deranged smile. “Shall we celebrate your unbirthday? I have plenty of tea~” All the while, the seemingly endless legions of Wonderland surrounded Nykannis and her crew.

The Queen stood up, and smiled, seemingly shrugging off the loss of her arm as one would treat a mere flesh wound. “You truly are as worthy as your title, Scientist Sovereign. I’m impressed. I see it now, you do understand, after all; the cruel game the Powers are playing, with us as the pawns! The accursed Grand Magistrate! But I won’t fall into despair. I won’t surrender!  You may bend the rules all you like, but I’m the one to shatter them. For I am the one to pen this story with the ending it deserves. My blade is the quill…And the blood of fools is my ink.” She sighed as she looked at her sword, glancing at the reflection of Jennifer on it. “Are you offering yours for the next page?”

[hr]
When the Mahou teleported out of the cacophony of Bolorton’s battlefield, the found themselves once again in silence, as if a page had suddenly turned from one scene to another. It was a moment when they could finally catch a breath, and take in the horrors of what they had experienced in but a fleeting moment.

The primary group found themselves in a white, padded room, with a cushioned floor; it was seemingly designed for safely arriving into the room even from high velocity. There were gold highlights in the ceiling, like a stylized sun with spiralling rays of gold surrounding it; a familiar symbol to those in the ranks of Beacon. They were greeted by Beacon paramedics, who immediately got to work treating the group’s various wounds, starting with Lily. The green.haired girl was sobbing as she held her severed leg by the knee, seemingly in both physical as well as emotional pain. The paramedics forcefully grabbed the leg away from Alex without apologizing, and immediately worked to graft the lost limb back into place with Reinforcement magic. As for the others who had escaped to the parks in Penrose, the only greeting they received was a cold, ominous wind, and the forlorn rustling of leaves.

Justine had crawled to the back corner and sat against the wall, looking tired as her torn wings were spread out on the floor, looking like an angel who had fallen from heaven. Her head was down, slowly shaking her head when a paramedic arrived to look at her.

[color=bc8dbf]”I’m fine, thank you,”[/color] she muttered to the paramedic, who went to treat other wounds. She looked down at the floor.
[color=bc8dbf]”But still…I still can’t believe it…First Envy, and now even Pride…This can’t be a coincidence.”[/color]

Curiously, there weren’t any signs of the civilians at first, until they heard a crying child nearby. Stepping out of the room and into the corridor, the arrivals would see that more Beacon paramedics were working in the adjacent room, where the civilians had been taken into.
Annabelle, who had managed to escape with only a few minor burns on her forearm and shoulder, ran into the other room to check up on the townsfolk.

Soon after, Alicia saw Rachel stomping in, followed by Violette. The latter looked shocked; Alicia couldn’t blame her.
“It was a ruse, Inquisitor! They never intended to-” Violette spoke out, only to be silenced as Rachel lifted a hand.
“Not here, Violette. Paladin Seraph, you and your squad will directly report to Cardinal Ishtar as soon as possible; she needs to know all the details of what had transpired out there.”
She then addressed the non-Beacon Mahou who were present.
“The Beacon will provide first-aid. However, we would like to ask you to stay and provide witness accounts to what happened in Bolorton.” She adjusted her glasses. “If my hunch is correct…We might need to work together.”

[color=fff200]”No…"[/color] Lily whimpered, and lifted an arm to wipe her tears away.

[color=fff200]”It’s not a possibility…We have to. All of us. For Penrose."[/color]