---

By the time she arrived Acid Drop had, as usual, been passed by everyone else. Though for once she wasn't the last one to somewhere, with Oros behind her and the boss lady nowhere to be found. More importantly, there was someone who had to be the source of the light. After standing within sight for a few moments, she spoke up. "Did you cause the light?" Another few moments. "Did you cause the earthquake?"

Tonight was incredibly strange to Tsubomi. Not only had she not been able to put on her usual facade, not only was there an earthquake and a pillar to the heavens blinding her, but she wasn't able to feel, it seemed. She didn't realize it until just now, the information coming at her usual slowness, but she didn't seem to currently have her usual sense of the emotions of others. Even if she was at zero, or at such a high number that her returns were diminished, she could still feel other creatures' emotions. The last time she'd been unable to was just after the beach...

Did Tsubomi go to a beach recently? She didn't think so. Everything seemed normal earlier today, so what happened? She didn't know. All she knew for sure was that tonight was yet another strange moment to add to the collection that had been the recent months, ever since the Club seemed to start fracturing. Since the Club gathered in full to eat Suki's cooking, since Kiyo and Shatterscape had left, since... Well, some time after that. She didn't think she was affected much by those things, so what was going on?

Synapses fired, and soon after a thought occurred. Her "tulpa," for lack of a better word, had been absent since... well, since she left the clubroom after the announcement that the boss would be joining them all on a hunt. Did she leave and take her magic with her? Acid Drop's head shook twice. She transformed, so it couldn't be that. Besides, could that even happen? Maybe she should talk to Kiyo about this tomorrow...

Her head wandered in seemingly random directions until she had taken stock of the scene before her. It seemed that the situation, whatever it was that was going on, was under control. Her left foot spun around to be next to her right, and she nearly fell as her body followed suit and allowed her to face away from Hizuki.

That was new, too. She felt as if she were going through a growth spurt, her limbs too lanky for her to control with the precision she normally had, little as it was. She rested her hand on Oros' shoulder in an approximation of a comforting pat and shot her the slightest of smiles, muscles atrophied from under-use, before starting her slow walk away from the Light Girl and Club members.

"Mm... I feel weird," was all she could say, understatement though it was. "This is interesting, right? Maybe boss will come see too."

Now, how was she to find the source of an earthquake?

Rei was not as far off as Acid Drop might have thought. She had been, actually, observing the spectacle from a nearby building. The spectacle being what her club had been getting up to, not the pillar of light that had inevitably drawn everyone close. She stepped off the edge, and Willow caught her as they fell. They both levitated to the ground before joining the others.

Rei kept her hands in her pockets as she ducked under Nyxia’s laser beam. She gave the purple skinned girl a wink as she walked by. Willow looked at the beam, got really nervous, and then phased through it like a specter. Once she was on the other side, she pretended to wipe sweat off her brow and followed after her partner.

“My ears are itching, and I don’t think it’s sunburn.” She looked over Evil Eye’s shoulder. “Trying to get a new partner, or just trying to make your old one jealous?”

”Or are you putting on a show for Earthshaker?” Willow shouldered her violin. ”If you are, I’ll play a tune.” She cleared her throat before starting.

”Evil Eye and Hizuki, sittin’ in a tree!
K-I-S-S-I-N-G!
First comes love, then comes marriage,
then comes Shatterscape in a baby carriage!”

She lowered her eyelids and looked at Hizuki. ”Don’t ask me how it works, magical girls are weird.”

“Either way, I’m sure it’s the most productive use of your time.” Rei patted Evil Eye on the back.

”Hizuki Doodle went to town
A-riding on a pony,
Stuck a mogall in her cap
And called it eyeballroni.”

This time, Willow turned to Evil Eye with a tired expression. ”There’s a less clean version of this song, but I don’t want to encourage Oros.”

“Speaking of productivity…” Rei turned to the rule keeper, still smiling, still holding her hands in her pockets. “How are we doing with the light girl infestation? I see we have girls outside of the Gems showing up now. I’m very curious to see how you handle this.”

”Evil had a little lamb,
Little lamb, little lamb,
Evil had a little lamb,
Her hair was white as snow.”

Willow was just getting started.



Oros continued to mope, head nearly empty. There had to be something that was making Rainbow behave like this, but hell if she could figure out what it was. The sound of laser fire caused her to lift her head and look at everyone. But it seemed like most everyone was gathered around a strange girl. A light girl. Oros’s interest was piqued. Her blood skates morphed to allow her to stand on her toes, which gave her a little bit better look at who everyone was gathered around. But form what little she could make out… maybe it was best if she kept her distance for now. Light girls were great and everything, but this one looked like she was one of those, and that was something Oros could skip out on today. Besides, it looked like Eyeball was trying to rizz her up, and Bedshaker was doing her best to present herself as an imposing figure. Even Bast and Boss Baby seemed to have taken interest in her. And given Nyx’s approval of the girl’s existence, Oros felt like she was liable to get laser tagged if she tried to move in that direction.

But Oros’s attention was brought back to Rainbow when she started to wobble all over the place. She prepared to catch her if she fell, but her concern would ultimately prove to be unnecessary. Though before she could go back to feeling sorry for herself, Rainbow placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her the most pain filled smile she had ever seen. She truly had Hide the Pain Harold beat.

"Ah.” Oros flashed a smile back, which was just as reassuring as her partner's.

And then Rainbow was off. Oros would stick by her side, but with her slow pace, she wouldn’t be hard to keep up with. The bloodwitch could certainly afford to do something here before going off. She had already decided that there were too many people interacting with the light girl. Like her partner would say on certain days: too many chefs in the kitchen. But she could hear Fingers racking up kills in the dark, and Nyxia seemed to be strangely isolated from the main light girl mob. She couldn’t remember ever really speaking with Nyxia, which made sense in hindsight. While she hadn’t spoken with fingers much either, she felt more accessible since she knew who she was at school. Nyxia on the other hand was a total enigma, and Oros suspected that she must have lived a town over or otherwise not been a local. She took a deep breath and skated up to the purple skinned girl.

"Hah! You’re really clearing them out! I can hardly keep up.” Oros shot a glance in Rainbow’s direction to make sure she hadn’t gone too far. But Oros didn’t come over here purely for small talk. She never did. There was a goal here. "Say uh, you and Earthshaker get along pretty well now, right? I mean, you and her didn’t get along very well on day one. But you guys did a one-eighty or something. That’s nice, that’s nice.” She sighed. "What changed?”

…

…

…

Shatterscape was left to her thoughts, and her prey.

The miseria were weak and easily culled. While the origin of the light bothered Shatterscape, she had decided to make use of its attractive properties. Fortunately, she did not need to get that close to the light to encounter the miseria. She could loop around the perimeter of the area she decided not to enter and slay them by the dozens. Occasionally she would be greeted by the neon glow of Nyxia’s cannon, but it only sought out creatures of darkness and avoided her every time. But eventually, a very large wave of miseria appeared. They tumbled over each other like rolling snow in an avalanche. But what were a thousand weaklings to this priestess? Even if some of them harmed her, perhaps the physical pain would relieve her mental anguish. Either way, she wasn’t going to fall to these tar-nothings.

As her fight persisted, she started to notice creatures lingering in the shadows. Ape-men that were half the size of a human. They assisted the priestess with the culling of the miseria by bashing them into nearby walls, the street, and even other miseria. They stayed out of Shatterscape’s way as she dealt with her own battles. Preservation of honor, perhaps?

---

"I'm a light magical girl," she said in response to Tsubomi's question. Technically she didn't know it was her, but that unique brain-lag was already pretty easy to recognize. "As in, a magical girl who has a bunch of powers around manipulating light, not a light magical girl as in a magical girl that isn't a dark magical girl. Although I am also that. I'm not like, an earth magical girl, so I couldn't make earthquakes even if I wanted to. Which I don't want to, because I'm a light magical girl." She cut herself off before she rambled further; the situation was getting to her.

Said situation grew more complex as two newcomers appeared, both of which were presumably dark girls, though one was as yet untransformed. Hizuki, frankly, had no idea how to respond to the catgirl's little songs, or the comment about the recently-arrived Oros. . . who was probably Suki. More concerning was the idea that clicked into place when the green-haired girl started talking to Superheavy Samurai - Earthshaker - about how she was handling the "infestation."

Well, there was good news and bad news for the intrepid would-be hero of Hibusa Town. The good news was that she hadn't been killed immediately, and she hadn't even needed to use up any of her armors to make it so. She had no less than seven dark girls around here, and not a single one had attacked. One was downright friendly.

The bad news was that, regardless of her current status of not being violently murdered for existing, the Demon of Hibusa was right there. That, or someone who spoke for her, at least, which was only marginally less dangerous. Hizuki had come here knowing she was putting her life in danger, but that didn't exactly mean she was eager to have the shit kicked out of her. "O-Oh, uh, hello. I see you already caught my name." She stopped short of actually asking for the names of the others, given her precarious position. "I'm not a big fan of the Gems, actually. I'm here for. . . sort of the opposite of their reasons?"

---

The majority of the club now surrounded Hizuki, and Roche counted her blessings that they all displayed more curiosity then open hostility. Kiyo's efforts to warn some of the club had borne fruit, as Earthshaker could well imagine she'd have responded rather assertively without them given Rei's ultimatum hanging over her neck.

The Rulekeeper's gaze slid along to the Demon of Hibusa herself, though Hizuki's reaction seemed to suggest that she wasn't certain Rei was the real deal herself.

"To answer your question, Hizuki; We aren't friendly with Light Girls, but aren't the aggressors either. If you want to save some random people on the street, be our guest, but the moment you decide to attack us we won't be sharing any further words." With Rei's eyes upon her it was easy to remain a firm, unyielding presence, her face carved from granite and cast in the shadows of her hood.

Though with the illumination of her tribal markings, she'd never be able to completely cast in darkness.

"We're currently being attacked by a group from the City of Light, and they've made it clear they want a war. You, however, made it clear you're not with them and that you have....desires that align with us." Earthshaker gestured with a sweep of her cloak to Rei and Willow, the bard's taudry singing for once more a boon then an annoyance as it disarmed any tension to the moment.

"So until I see a hostile Light Girl, I'll remain on alert. Keep the peace and we won't have you carted in an ambulance to the City of Light alongside those other brats. If you're going to make quashing Miseria this easy, I wouldn't begrudge your company, but the final say is with the boss lady here."

“How thoughtful of you,” Nyxia noted with a smirk after Hizuki explained her reasons for creating the massive light pillar. Hizuki seemed like a nice enough girl, and one she wouldn’t mind slaying Miseria alongside. Unfortunately for the Neon Tempest, she soon found herself being approached by someone who most assuredly was not. Even though she had tried to keep some distance between herself and the rest of the gathering (especially Rei’s highly annoying cat-eared partner), Oros had still chosen to ignore that rather obvious hint and skate over to chat with her…

“That’s probably because I’m not trying to hit on anything with a pulse,” Nyxia sneered in response to the blood witch’s complementing of her Miseria-slaughtering skills. “Or maybe you just suck at this?” she added after a moment’s consideration. Yet, the Neon Tempest knew full well that mere insults would do little to deter someone as relentless as Oros, and so, when the pink-haired pervert started asking about her and Roche’s improved camaraderie, she simply rolled her eyes and gave voice to an annoyed exhale. “Not like it’s any of your fucking business, but I realized that she actually wasn’t the bitchass bully I thought she was. Why the sudden interest, anyway?” the teal-haired girl inquired with a raised eyebrow. “Are ya gonna try an’ convince me you’re not the pathetic, horny as fuck pervert ya look like?”

---

Stumbling away as if the earthquake was still in progress, Acid Drop began her trek to find the source of it. Oros had gone somewhere, which was fine. If the rainbow-haired girl wasn't able to find it, it was better for her partner to not waste her time as well. More importantly, she was unsure what would happen if Oros touched her, now that her magic seemed to be on the fritz.

A few shaky steps later and another flash of realization came. Oros had already touched her, and she hadn't fallen under her spell, so her magic must be working in that way at least. There were plenty of Miseria around, some approaching the unsteady Magical Girl, but none made it to her. Some sort of primates, she assumed also Miseria of some kind, were attacking the others. Were they Giga Miseria minions, or of another Magical Girl? Did it matter? She wasn't in any condition to fight like this. Did that mean that having Oros nearby was good? If they were a Magical Girl's friends, then no. Suki would just be in danger too, then. If they were Giga Miseria lackeys, then... No, same reason.

But if Oros stuck around the others, and boss lady especially, then she would be in much less danger. The girl's feet met in motion and she fell to the ground, not reacting in time to catch herself. Luckily, her head didn't hit very hard, with her body having hit first, but it was still somewhat painful. As she lay there another thought appeared. If half or more of her magic was gone, should she be feeling anything? She didn't last time she'd been in a similar situation, so at least that was consistent.

A single Miseria managed to get close to the fallen girl, biting at her leg. With her slow reflexes, it connected and drew blood. The girl slowly moved her Devil Arm closer to the creature, more like getting ready to squash a bug than to stab something. But it was so focused on trying to devour her limb that it didn't react until the tip of the weapon was already in its head. With slow and weak force she drove it deeper, until the Miseria burst into nothingness. Tsubomi tried to get her leg under her to stand but it didn't move like it was supposed to.

Why didn't it move when she was killing it? Shouldn't it have tried to get out of the way once it felt the knife? To be fair, she hadn't moved when it bit her. Was it repaying that? She didn't know, and without any actual feelings on the matter, she was likely to never find out, especially now that it was dead.

And so she, in her trademark slowness, pulled herself up to a mostly seated position and turned back the to group. She'd have to just sit and watch instead of looking for the cause of the earthquake. But knowing the Club's luck? It'd probably come to them.

The greatest threat these miseria represented was the viscera that splattered across Shatterscape's body, threatening to get into her eyes. Most did not even seem to register the dark magical girl despite the fact she was amongst the least stealthy of the Detention Club's members, right up there with Nyxia. As such, her claws sunk into yet another group of creatures, sweeping them away as though they were nothing more than refuse standing in front of a tidal wave. Frankly, it bored Hotaru. The satisfaction of squashing bug-level threats was best experienced by a child ripping off the parts of an insect. Not someone who braved countless battles.

"Y'know... this is too easy. That asshole is making it too easy. Not only is she a who-"

"You don't know that!" Sylvia's interruption almost made Shatterscape's body stumble, but the warrior recovered with a slight flinch. "I know what they did, but it doesn't mean every light girl is bad."

"Are you also buying into Ember's bullshit?" Hotaru put too much power into one of their swipes and the claws rent the ground apart. Cracks spread along the concrete as pieces of it flew by the body's head, scattering to the winds, as well as giving birth to yet another urban legend within Hibusa Town. "Not a single one of them is different. They're all rotten to the core! I bet we're the real magical girls and they're the ones who have 'dark desires', 'cause it sure as hell was convenient for them to-"

"I apologise for interrupting, but we've got company." Ember's eyes narrowed as she swept her awareness across the strange, monkey-like creatures, followed by the two others. "I have never seen these things before." They did not seem, nor did they feel like Miseria. Far too little malice resided inside them to be as such, in fact, they seemed downright pleasant compared to the creatures they usually fought as far as the magic inside of them went. Which was not saying much in the end, but it had to count.

"They are magical... please be careful, all right? I haven't seen them either." Syliva frowned her brows as she focused on them with all of her senses, tracking their movements as best as she could. At least they did not seem to be hostile to Shatterscape's body. In fact, they even helped her cull the hordes she fought against, not that she needed much assistance with that. But who summoned them? Were there other dark magical girls present besides the Detention Club? Sylvia figured that might be the case, so she started to track where the creatures came from using the network of Shatterscape's bodies, hoping to figure out where they came from. It would take a while without Evil Eye.

Speaking of... she was leading them towards the pillar of light. Were they perhaps under attack by a light magical girl? If so, Shatterscape needed to hurry up and throw the intruder out of Hibusa Town. Unfortunately, even her closest Khir was a decent distance away, so she would likely arrive in the middle of the fight. Or its end. Regardless, her comrades needed her help, so Shatterscape swapped her bodies before she blitzed through the streets.

"What about those monkeys, Sylvi?"

"I don't know yet. Maybe we could ask Kiyo if she saw them appear?"

"She could be busy with the light girl."

"I'll turn that asshole into toothpaste if she hurt my friends. She shouldn't even be here! She should just fuck off with her sparkly bullshit and go back to the city of light!" Hotaru all but growled as she spoke in their mental space. "You're way too lenient with her. Or them. It doesn't matter." She shook her head in disapproval. Why didn't her so-called comrades, the ones who shared every single one of her memories, realise that they were huge idiots? Of the kind that dwarfed even a colossus. Or a titan. Or any number of things. Because no matter what, light girls were all the same.

Maybe she should not even allow Ember and Sylvia to give them that chance. Maybe she could take that burden off their shoulders.

---

Evil Eye was about to make a comment about how it was hard, even for them, to learn anything about Rei—but any thoughts she was having exited her mind when the Devil herself appeared on her shoulder. "Jealous? ...Is she?" she replied, as if the idea hadn't even occurred to her. Her eyes rolled, partly in thought, partly in response to... Willow's childish teasing. She'd almost forgotten the girl's name. The song was familiar, even nostalgic once, but now her only memories associated with it were unpleasant. At least it was nothing new—but what was new was that, unlike in those days, none of the other girls were joining in the song... or making fun of her... or even acknowledging it at all. That was somewhat refreshing, at least.

"I've been waiting for something worth my time to show up," she nipped back, nonetheless checking on her Mogall for a report on the situation. "Not seeing any other light girls yet. Or anything much tougher than this horde. Shatterscape is bored. At least Nyxia and Willow are having fun," she ran through her many observations like a bored nurse delivering a diagnosis on behalf of a doctor who couldn't be bothered. "More damn monkeys!" she suddenly spat. "Stop attacking my minions, you monkey fuck!" She flew away, briefly—before Shatterscape swapped bodies, causing her to stop and look for her. Then, she made to fly off again.

Rei had looked away from Evil Eye and wasn’t about to dignify any of her rambling with a response. Though her abrupt takeoff did get a “Heh” out of their mysterious leader. Willow followed after her.

Rei listened along to what Earthshaker said before the chance came up for her to speak. “If I got along well with light girls, I wouldn’t have left the city of light.” Her expression soured, and she shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe you don’t like the Gems. Their methods are a little rough. But what annoys me about most light girls is their behavior, you know? That, and every miseria they kill is one less for my pack. However…” Rei’s eyes wandered up to an awning. The mascot was parched on top of it, and it’s static screen was pointed at the light girl. “If she’s obedient, then maybe she’d be nice to have around. She does have interesting magic, doesn’t she?”



"Oh I've hit on things without a pulse too!” Oros cracked a smile. "Though the miseria never say anything back.” Oros the Joyful was pretty resilient against shallow insults, even in her somewhat compromised state. That, and she was an effective killer of miseria. The rage bait gamer insult of "I'm better than you, so you must suck" was quite overplayed too.

In typical Nyxia fashion, her eventual response to Oros’s question was curt with any extra room taken up by swear words. She didn't even have time to really process the answer before Oros was hit with a question in return. This got her to look away from Acid Drop. "Heh!” The smile on Oros's face got bigger, and stupider. "Naw, B- Earthshaker was my partner once too, only things got worse instead of better. I was surprised to see you care for her. I didn't think it was possible to convince you I’m not perverted. But if Earthshaker can convince you she's not a bully, maybe I'll try.” She tapped the ground with the toe of her blood skate, and she slid back away from Nyxia. She was smiling the entire time.

What an interesting revelation. As abrasive as Nyxia was, she didn’t strike Oros as the type to lie. Thus, she had to accept that Nyxia had, indeed, decided that Bedshaker had some redeeming qualities. Not like Oros had any idea of what they might be. Maybe she changed after Oros and Bedshaker split, or perhaps enough beatings had mellowed Nyx’s spirit. A laser flew a few inches over Oros’s head. Nope, that wasn’t it.

Eventually, Oros’s backward skating took her right over to Acid Drop. Though she didn’t realize she had been attacked until she turned around. Garden Variety miseria were usually quite weak and easy to slay, so seeing her partner wounded caused all kinds of alarms to go off in her head. Was Acid Drop wounded because she was that out of it, or because she had encountered something far stronger than your average Miseria?

She bit her lip.

Oros placed her hands under Acid Drop’s armpits and hoisted her to her feet. "Come on, Rainbow.” She shook her lightly. "You’re acting silly. What’s the matter? You aren’t normally like this, right?”

She didn’t pay much attention to the stunted ape men. Oros was kind of busy with something, and they didn’t seem too interested in fighting her or Acid Drop. Of greater concern was the wall of miseria barreling towards them. Oros pulled Acid Drop into a hug and got ready to skate all over the miseria, but then they were sliced into ribbons. Their visceral was thrown all over the two magical girls. On the other side was Shatterscape, brandishing her huge-

"Fingers!” Oros smiled. "Just the person I wanted to see! I thought you had gotten lost for a moment. Well, not lost but- Oh she’s gone again.” Oros huffed, only realizing she had swapped bodies after this one “fainted.” Then she looked down at her knees. The world was shifting under her feet again. Not just hers though, everyone could feel the second earthquake. Most unusual, but this was Hibusa town.

But at least they could see what caused this one.

In the distance, but not so far off, was a colossal bone golem. A pillar of death and ivory with multiple heads and several limbs. It had four arms, and then some of its arms had arms. There was no rhyme or reason to its construction. Its bones were too big to come from anything but long dead primordial creatures, and many were fused together in ways that could never function inside a living creature. It made no attempt to speak, yet half a dozen empty eye sockets were fixed on every magical girl in Hibusa town. Despair hung in the air like a thick miasma, and all knew that this had to be a giga miseria. Sink Queen had warned they were far more dangerous at night, and this one’s aura didn’t contradict her warning.

Hovering beside the creature were three undead bird men. Equally uncanny abominations that still had their flesh attached. They had the correct number of limbs, but had a different number of toes on each foot. Their wings were too small to fly, but seemed to hold up their bodies regardless. Their arms were equally uncanny, and each one had a different shape. Their beaks were also unique, with each one being a different shape and housing fangs of some other animal. One was a wolf, the other an ape, and the last one a crocodile. None of them had eyes, but they all looked to the light.



Evil Eye could ignore Willow and float around as much as she liked, but she wasn’t going to escape her feline “doppelganger” that easily.

”Baa, baa Evil Eye,
Have you any wool?
Yes ma’am, yes ma’am,
Three bags full.

One for my master,
And Rei gets one more,
And one for the light girl
I plan to make my-”

One of the far off bird men appeared to teleport into Evil Eye, but if you were Evil Eye, it felt like it covered that distance in a tackle and drove it’s malformed foot into her stomach. It followed through with its dive kick in an attempt to drive Evil eye to the ground.

”I was still singing!” Two spectral hounds appeared at Willow’s flanks and lunged after the bird man and Evil Eye. It wasn’t clear who the dogs were going to attack, but there was a non-zero chance that one of those dogs were aimed for her. It had been Willow that rescued a light girl from her own teammates just to ask her if she’d like to join her music band.

It wouldn’t be long before the other two showed up elsewhere.

”Heh!” Oros looked up at the giga miseria towering above the town. ”If there’s a time to come out of your funk, it’s now!” One of the bird men appeared beside the duo and looked in their direction. Oros barely had time to gasp before it grabbed Acid Drop’s leg in its beak and started pulling. ”Hey! Let! Go!” A game of tug of war had started, and Acid Drop was the rope.

Back at the intersection where the pillar of light was attracting everything, Rei was gazing up at the giant bone golem. “Interesting.” managed to creep out of her grinning mouth. No sooner did she utter those words did the third bird man appear. It rammed Hizuki out of the way. It was so sudden that Earthshaker couldn’t move to protect her. Then it started to demonstrate how its blade-like wings could be used in combat. “Hmm, well I think if Hizuki wants to help, she can handle herself without wasting anyone's time. Someone should stop that Giga miseria from entering Hibusa town. Perhaps it’s a job for Unstoppable Doom?” She sighed. “Well, don’t let me micromanage you. You’ve been the only one trying to keep the girls together instead of blowing apart under all this pressure. I’m sure you have a plan.”

While all this happened, Shatterscape’s investigation was underway. Unfortunately, there weren’t that many ape men, which made it difficult to tell where they had come from. They had mostly been centered around her present position, and did not seem to be in any other parts of the city. But from Shatterscape’s new vantage points, she was able to spot the ape men attacking some mogalls. The mogalls were able to fly high enough that they couldn’t be attacked, but they were keeping them out of the streets. While they didn’t appear interested in hurting Shatterscape, it was clear they had no qualms about attacking other “familiars” or the miseria.

Shatterscape had also noticed a shift in the miseria’s behavior. They were mashing each other together, and their shapeless bodies were entwining like tangled slinkys. Ten miseria became five, which became one. Each combination made a stronger miseria, and some were starting to turn into the recently appeared bird men. While Shatterscape had not seen what they could do, she could certainly feel their unusually strong aura. But what to do with this information.

---

The light girl blinked as Evil Eye abruptly tore off, shouting about apes. Apes? It couldn't be her, right? Hizuki winced as Rei's comment about attitudes pulled her attention away from that line of thought. "I'm probably not changing my attitude. I made my wish so I could help people, after all. Although. . . what do you need miseria for?" She was once more interrupted by the appearance of another variable in the distance. A rather large and problematic one, given just how far it seemed to be compared to how clearly she could make it out. "What on earth is-"

Daybreak yelped in pain as a foe suddenly slammed into her. Too fast! She bounced off the ground once, but managed to convert her momentum into a roll. Her wings snapped out and flared, in turn converting the roll into a takeoff. Hizuki wheeled up and around to make some distance, readying her polearm in the process. They can't actually be faster than me, can they? A staccato burst of three lasers flew from her naginata, lancing out toward the birdman in an attempt to pin it down. This was a preface to Hizuki charging through the air with a shout, flaring her wings again as she tried to impale it, or at the very least get a slash of her blade through before it could recover.

---

As she was lifted to her feet, Tsubomi seemed to be able to stand. But the new earthquake and loss of strength in her leg made it so that Oros was doing the heavy lifting for her. She didn't respond before the giant fuckoff skeleton guy entered her sight. And with her slow thinking, she didn't even notice as its seeming pressure covered the area, leaving her almost totally unaffected by it, at least for now.

More pressing were the weird bird guys. Were they friends of the apes? Enemies? Lovers? Something broke through her brain as her eardrums rattled. Oros was right. If there was a time to go back to normal, it would be now. Acid Drop pulled her injured leg back up to rest on the stage so she could reach behind her and grab the script. Normally, it would be something like: "Oh yes, I have been so foolish as to forget my lines, allow me to read them again." But when she looked at the proverbial paper packet she saw nothing but blank lines, no words, no footnotes, no character names. She was so engrossed in thinking, if it could be called that, of what to do, how to go back to her usual nightly persona, that she didn't feel the pain of the bird grabbing her other leg.

She was bleeding again. Her pain receptors finally woke up to tell her that something was wrong, in sync with her eyes telling her that her recently uninjured leg was now matching its twin. And then her arms alerted her that they were being pulled, and she found herself mostly midair, with only her left leg and right arm dangling toward the ground for her to be able to control. It was lucky that she was right-handed, and she once more slowly drew her Devil Arm towards a Miseria that was biting her leg.

Nyxia rolled her eyes as Oros went on to demonstrate exactly why she found the pink-haired pervert so distasteful. “Yeah, have fun with that,” the Neon Tempest replied in a disinterested tone after Oros mentioned she might actually try to convince her that she wasn’t the complete degenerate she seemed to be. “Disgusting freak…” the purple-hued girl added under her breath as she vaporized several more clumps of pitifully weak Miseria that couldn’t even charitably be called an annoyance. However, it wasn’t long before a new challenger appeared to claim Nyxia’s full attention and relegate Oros to the realm of unimportant background noise where she belonged…

First she felt the ground shudder once again, but thoughts of an aftershock were quickly dispelled when she saw the titanic form looming over the city. As someone for whom subtlety was nearly a foreign concept, Nyxia didn’t need Rei to suggest she should engage the recently arrived Giga Miseria. Indeed, upon catching sight of the towering terror, a grin of psychotic glee spread across the Neon Tempest’s face, while her glowing eyes gleamed even brighter in eager anticipation of the combat to come.

“Oh FUCK yes!” Nyxia cried in unabashed delight. “We’ve chewed on these shitty appetizers long enough, baby!” she told her beloved death ray as she ground the last pitiful remnants of an energy beam bisected Miseria into the pavement with her spiked heel. “It’s time to sink our teeth into the MAIN COURSE!!!”

With a peal of deranged laughter, the Neon Tempest used the power gained via the recent slaughter to hyper charge the Omega Obliterator, the enormous energy cannon more than doubling in size and sprouting half a dozen supplementary barrels, which all crackled with arcs of teal lighting, while a rising hum swiftly grew to a shrieking crescendo. An instant later, a massive cylinder of ruinous annihilation lanced forth on a path to blow the bone giant’s multiple heads off.

---

Rei's approval wasn't exactly offered to them, but she wasn't demanding Hizuki's departure either. Tentative curiosity was the best label their leader's feelings, as though she could see how Hizuki might just fit in with their quirky little group. Enough so not to put her foot down, at least.

Unfortunately someone else did so, and as their eyes snapped out across the city, they realized the earthquakes had a source as what could only be a Giga Miseria loomed over Hibusa's horizon. It was utterly bereft of the outlandish absurdity of the pirates, bearing on it's dreadful countenance a brutality that needed no mask. Naked violence desiring to grind them from existence, snuffing them out like candles before the wind.

The sheer scale of it was boggling considering the distance, and more then just itself was the affirmation that like their prior foe, it was not the sole danger. For all that Earthshaker should stood ready to intercept a Magical Girl attacking Hizuki, or vice versa, she was flat footed when a carrion crow struck the Daybreak in a bullish rush of bone and beak. The Light Girl acquitted herself well with a rapid response, the flash of lasers and bursts of light informing the Rule Keeper that she hadn't fallen to the opening strike.

The Rule Keeper's eyes widened further still when Rei deferred command to her, a mocking edge that perhaps only Roche could hear as she parroted her words back at her. Was there such spite inside Rei that she'd stand aside even as the city itself trembled under the ire of a Giga Miseria?

Arguing was pointless and would only waste the precious time they had. With a snarl Roche pivoted towards the nearest bony bird and surged forward, fist crackling with power as she struck the avian playing tug of war with Tsubomi's body. Momentum carried her past, striking against the side of a building and rebounding off it with a kick. Earthshaker rose, clearing the rooftops and catching sight of her partner as she charged a massively boosted Omega Obliterator.

"Detention Club! Clear out the lesser Miseria. Focus on the birds and anything else that comes crawling here. Nyxia and I will hold the giant till it's help is swept away!" The tribal Magical Girl's shout rang loud and clear before she alighted beside Nyxia and and conjured her shield.

After using it as an improvised speed boat on the beach, she was curious if she could use it to fly as well. Seeing the beam of apocalyptic force lancing forward to meet the Giga Miseria, Roche bounded upwards and interposed the shield between herself and Nyxia. A hiss of pain escaped her lips as she tucked herself in close, her extremities singed by the force before she fully sheltered in the curve of her hide shield. It grew blindingly bright in mere moments as she hurtled in a stream of lasers, a new star taking to the heavens as she hurtled beyond the city to meet the Giga Miseria mono a mono.

When Hizuki informed Rei that she would, actually, not be changing her attitude, the mysterious girl only shrugged her shoulders. “I suppose we'll have to hope I find you interesting as is, won't we?” Rei turned away from Hizuki as soon as she asked what they needed miseria for. “I take it your new to this?” The only answer she got was Hizuki engaging with the strange miseria. “Miseria are made out of negative emotions. A dark girl inherits their power when she slays them.” She scratched behind her ear as a flurry of light beams were fired off. “You didn't think we got stronger by being subservient to others, did you? Miseria like the ones you're fighting now are exceptional. I don't think they come around the City of Light.”

The abomination hopped backwards as Hizuki rained sunlight on it. She managed to catch it's beak with a shot, but it's body held together. A normal miseria would have been naught but ash and smoke, but creatures such as this continued to defy expectations.

Smoke rose off of the foul creature’s beak. It had just enough time to shake off the vertigo before Hizuki came in with her spear. Only, no, that was a feint. With a twitch, it’s saw shaped wing swatted the spear head off course. This, too, was something that miseria shouldn’t have been able to do. Miseria were collections of negative emotions that “thought” only of feeding. They shouldn’t have been able to adapt to Hizuki so quickly.

Hizuki was able to get her spear up to defend from the next attack, but when the saw-wing connected, the miseria reached for the spear with its gnarled hands. With three appendages on her weapon, it let out a battle shriek, and a deep, violet light glowed from the depths of its short beak.

It would be prudent to not to get hit by that.



The miseria didn’t seem particularly threatened by the pocket knife. With Oros holding Rainbow by the armpits, and Rainbow’s leg pulled taught by the abomination, her arms would need to grow about a foot longer for her knife to have any effect.

"I’ve got an idea!” Oros tried her best to sound pleased, but Rainbow could feel otherwise. But this was okay, because Oros had a plan.

Then Bedshaker came out of nowhere and planted her fist, firmly, on the side of the miseria’s cranium. It’s grip did not fully loosen, but it was thrown free of Rainbow with only Rainbow’s blood stained pants leg to show for her troubles. Oros’s expression instantly soured when Bedshaker began giving out orders. Right, like everybody wasn’t already doing all that crap. That big beam of glowing energy that could outshine the northern lights? Preeeeeety sure that’s a good indication of what she’s shooting at. Also, is anyone supposed to be surprised that you’re taking on the giant while the rest of us deal with the “trash mobs” or whatever? Here’s a novel idea, Roach: use your shield to block things. Also, maybe start carrying around a box of tissues for your next sob session.

Fortunately, the self important magical girl was gone relatively soon. "Well, that was going to be pretty cool.” After staring after Bedshaker a bit longer, Oros looked back at Rainbow. "You believe me, right?”

Oros looked to where the bird man had tumbled off to, but it didn’t appear that they were there. She set Rainbow against the wall of a pharmacy and looked down either side of the street. It could be coming from the left, it could be coming from the right, but it definitely wasn’t coming from both. That would only be possible if they could split themselves in half, which was ridiculous. And that was ridiculous, and that didn’t happen.

But a more elegant solution was for two of them to attack.

Oros couldn’t even perceive them before two abominations kicked her on either side. She could swear she could hear her ribs cracking, and was thankful to have enough control over her own blood to prevent herself from bleeding internally. One of the creatures went to bite off her head, but she was able to get her arm around its neck and hold it in a headlock. The other one swung its scythe-like arm at Oros, and she swatted the blade off to the side. This, however, allowed the creature to bite off her hand. With a groan, Oros retaliated by forcing a trio of bloody tendrils out of her stump to hold the creature by the neck. As they wrapped around it’s neck, the abomination lashed out with its talons, cutting straight into Oros’s stomach. But every bleeding wound was a potential weapon for Oros. The creature’s leg was caught in a pair of blood red mandibles, courtesy of the new wound that had been inflicted on Oros.

All of this played out in front of Acid Drop, who still hadn’t found her script. But perhaps she never had a place on the stage. Maybe as a spectator, it was her place to watch everything unfold from the sidelines.

---

The curious part of Hizuki filed Rei's commentary away for later consideration and further investigation. The parts of Hizuki that weren't that part were all occupied with trying to not get killed by these monsters. The Detention Club's mysterious leader was, of course, correct; the Daybreak had never encountered a foe this clever before, having mostly fought the pittance of miseria that appeared in the City of Light and the weaklings that spawned in Hibusa overnight.

Daybreak's wings flared again as she kicked off the ground. She threw her weight upward, pivoting around her captive weapon in a way that might've wrenched it free from a less determined opponent. Retrieving Folkvangr, however, wasn't her objective. The light girl let go, sailing into the air feet first. She tucked her limbs in, turning the maneuver into a somersault that would land her behind the creature. As she reached the apex of her jump, a hexagonal shape appeared in midair below her. "Mode: SHOCK WAVE, engage!

Hizuki unfurled herself and fell through her gate. Additional armor appeared around her, rapidly unfolding from high-tech boxes that had appeared on her arms, legs, and back. Her wings folded in and integrated with the extras coating her from head to toe in a bulky powersuit, easily adding a foot to her height. She wielded no weapons, but the forearms held glowing lines reminiscent of her normal spear - which had rapidly disassembled itself and seemingly disappeared. When the new armor struck the ground, it landed with enough force to crack the pavement.

With her newly-deployed crushing strength, Daybreak's armored fist smashed forward into the undead tengu. She didn't stop there, however, letting the momentum carry her forward into a pinning charge. Her goal was to bring the creature to the ground and smash it to bits there; if she couldn't outmaneuver it well, she always had more options.

---

The bird-thing's foot struck true, and Evil Eye was not prepared for the drop kick. Though she hated that it was cold, the sky had been her refuge from battles she wasn't one-hundred-percent certain she could win. A miseria was not supposed to be up here. This was her space, and Willow had been doing a fine enough job ruining it without some eyeless freak showing up. No eyes... she processed as she hurtled towards the ground—technically still moving closer to where Shatterscape would be shortly, for what that consolation was worth. Is this the part where I say: 'Finally, a worthy opponent?' she wondered. ...Nah. She wouldn't give Rei the satisfaction.

For a moment, Evil Eye imagined that it was over—that Shuuko would be placing flowers at her grave by morning. Then, suddenly, it was over, as she collided with the ground. However, her relatively small body had been shielded from the impact by the hulking mass of pitch-black muscular flesh that had woven itself around her into the shape of a golem. Even so, the bird monstrosity descended, following up its drop kick with an ambitious coup de grace straight for the summon's neck. There was just one issue with the abomination's plan, and that was that Evil Eye's own summoned monster had no head to decapitate. One massive arm reached for the bird-man's leg, aiming to hoist it in the air and whirl it around like a flail before throwing it into a nearby corner store. I don't need eyes to see you either, bird brain!

“Hmmm?” Rei peaked over her shoulder when the weight of Hizuki’s new armor slammed into the ground. “No response? I thought light girls were more polite than that. Not that I mind the quiet.” Her smile grew.

The miseria had swift reflexes. As soon as her spear left Hizuki’s hands, the abomination cast it away, only for it to dissipate into nothing. The attack waiting deep inside the monster’s throat could not be rushed however, and her armor had assembled well before it went off. Her landing was punctuated by a cacophony of screams; the sound of the tengu’s beam attack going off. A glance at the beam would reveal dark shapes trying to escape the purple light it was trapped in. On impact, the beam stripped the armor off of Hizuki’s shoulder and left a corrosive black tar. It was slowly, very slowly burning away her armor, but was left untouched.

Her fist slammed into the bird man, and he was lifted off the ground. But with a defiant caw, he dug his feet into the pavement and wrapped his arms around her fist. Stones and gravel were kicked up in their wake, but it looked like the creature’s strength would give out before Hizuki’s would.

Magical girls with versatile power sets were often held back a bit when compared with their specialist counterparts. They often couldn’t hit as hard or win as swiftly, but made up for it by adapting to any situation. This made Hizuki a potential dueling master that could exploit any weakness. But a duelist only ever fought one opponent at a time.

While Hizuki was trying to force the tengu onto the ground, another one flew out from between two buildings. As it flew by, it hacked up a wad of leathery rope. The rope unraveled as it reached its target, and snaked its way through the hole in her armor and around her neck. A third one came running out of an alleyway, holding a massive hammer-like fist over its head. As it closed in on Hizuki, it dove past her legs and attempted to sweep them out from under her.

But not all of the miseria in the area were targeting Hizuki. One had spotted Nyxia and was rushing straight for her. Its forearms were massive, and when closed together, looked like a massive spiked tower shield. But this was partially a distraction, as a second one with a scythe arm configuration came flying out of the sky and kicked her towards his shielded counterpart.

Meanwhile, Roche had made her way before the massive golum. It wasn’t far from the town now. The only thing in its way was Earthshaker. Nyxia’s energy beam cut across it’s chest, blackening the bone it passed over. But nothing cracked or broke off. Perhaps the creature had some weak point or a soft spot that could be hit for maximum damage. With a grumble, it raised it’s mace-like hand above it’s head, and swung it down. While the massive hammer would come down on Roche, the spine-like appendage on the end would certainly hit Hibusa town.



While miseria have no true intelligence, seeing one try to kick the head off of a headless giant was quite a blunder for something that was so dangerous. There were still a lot of unknowns when it came to the underlings of giga miseria, but this seemed to be proof that there could be flaws in their ‘logic.’ Even a normal miseria that only sought to sate its hunger would never whiff an attack against a stationary opponent. Perhaps the cost of their apparent heightened intellect was that they could occasionally make basic mistakes like this. Something for Kiyo the scientist to ponder later.

While safe from the undead tengu, the wolves were still closing in. But rather than biting off Evil Eye’s head, it grabbed her by the collar and trotted off, like a dog that had just recovered a Frisbee. No sooner did the wolf get away did two more bird men collide with the trauma. While they beat on it, it spun their third companion around in the air. It must have gotten sick, because it opened its mouth and vomited forth caustic black goo. Some of it splashed against the wolf, which caused it to howl and toss Evil Eye into the air. By the time she had recovered, she was floating right next to Willow.

”You’re welcome, by the way. Can’t let the crows eat you until I’ve had some of the wedding cake.”

Another fly kick, this time aimed at Willow. She disappeared between some buildings and sounded like she landed in a dumpster. While Evil Eye hadn’t seen it happen with her own eyes, her trauma had thrown the tengu at a corner store, but it was able to redirect itself and kick away Willow. Now the four talon monstrosity was hovering before Evil eye, and was about to show her what so many gnarled bird feet were capable of.

---

Hizuki gritted her teeth as her HUD popped up with damage readouts. This thing wasn't going down as fast as she needed it to, and the ongoing breakdown meant she'd have to discard SHOCK WAVE sooner rather than later. The force she exerted on her foe let up as she felt something hit her shoulder and slither between the armor plates and the underlying jumpsuit. "No-!" A flash of panic nearly took over as she felt the thing coil around her neck, threatening to choke the life out of her. Not good, not good, not good! Her situation was rapidly deteriorating, and the Demon of Hibusa seemed content to watch the light girl struggle three to one.

The Daybreak, however, wasn't just armor. With a strangled grunt, steel fingers opened, then closed around the tengu she'd been trying to smash. The mass of magic and metal twisted as Hizuki lifted it up and over her head, in a motion far faster than something her current size ought to be able to manage. I'm not done with you yet! As if it were a particularly irascible rock, she used the first miseria to smash down atop the tongue-rope, hopefully giving herself some literal breathing room.

Hizuki let her momentum carry her further forward, seeing the third opponent coming in. Rather than try to resist the trip, she leaned into it, throwing her weight atop the bird in her hand and reaching out with her free one. A mechanical fist closed around the rope and pulled, aiming to bring the creature it was attached to into crushing distance. Or close enough to use it to bludgeon the third one to death, she wasn't picky.

To Nyxia’s minor annoyance, her lance of incandescent annihilation didn’t seem to be doing as much damage as she’d hoped, merely charring its point of impact, rather than blowing a gaping hole clean through it. But that was fine, the Neon Tempest reflected with a wicked grin. She just had to let the ruinous energies drill into the titanic abomination a little longer. Nyxia’s grin only grew wider as she watched Roche employ her shield in conjunction with the teal-haired terror's own crackling beam to propel herself towards the towering Miseria at lightning speed. “Fuck yeah! Go fuck his shit up, ‘Shaker!” the Neon Tempest cackled as she continued to fire on the gargantuan creature with wild abandon. It might have seemed foolhardy to most that her partner would want to get so close to such a massive foe, but not only was Earthshaker more suited to melee combat than ranged, her ability to absorb the energy of an opponent’s attack meant that the bone giant was about to become its own worst enemy…

Speaking of enemies, two new ones swiftly made their presence known, a pair of the skeletal titan’s monstrous undead bird minions darting toward the Neon Tempest with impressive speed. The first ran toward her at an angle, arms raised to form a makeshift shield (as if she’d stop shooting at the star of the show to focus on such a minor player). She was just about to leap out of its way, when the second abominable avian plummeted down from the sky and kicked her into his friend. “Fucking cocksucker!” Nyxia snarled, even she she bent her knees and kicked off of the second Miseria’s shield and shot back towards the one who had sent her flying. While it was true that she normally preferred obliterating her foes from a distance, the Neon Tempest was still perfectly capable of engaging in close combat, something she was only too happy to prove to the bird-brain before her. “So, you little shit stains wanna get physical, huh?!” she inquired as she raised the Omega Obliterator in preparation for a mighty swing, a wickedly sharp energy blade crackling into glowing life along the length of its barrel. “WORKS FOR ME!!! HAHAHAHAHAAA!!!”

The apes could not easily reach the Mogalls, however, they hindered Shatterscape's friend. And while one could hardly expect summoned creatures to be as intelligent as the mind behind them, surely they could understand a message rooted in violence. Armed with that thought, the High Priestess observed their movements for a while before she saw one of them leap towards a Mogall - so she moved, cracking the pavement beneath her as she put all of her strength into her legs. Muscles tightened, magic flared, the resulting shower of debris exploding outwards like fireworks as she leapt through dozens of metres in an instant, then her claws tightened around an ape.

The summon had little chance to react as she yanked, smashing the thing into concrete with enough strength to daze, but not to destroy, a display of force calculated for precise effect.

"This high priestess would prefer, especially if your august self can hear through these minions," she spoke as she stepped forward, then turned her torso back towards the ape, "that you leave her comrades' constructs alone lest you incur her wrath. As a gesture between equals, I shall refrain from going further if you do the same." She lingered for a moment, literally looking down at the construct. Her eyes all but bore into the sight of whoever happened to look through the eyes of this particular one, a pair of cold, crimson-coloured daggers that cared not of how the summoner decided.

Then Shatterscape leapt again, almost losing her balance. Curiously, the ground shifted beneath her feet. Street lights swayed. The taller buildings creaked. The ground rippled as the second earthquake of the day struck, quickly followed by the feeling of two massive balls of hatred manifesting right in the direction the light girl had been.

"I'm going to kill that bitch." Hotaru all but growled. She snarled as she stomped, the motion carrying over to real life to Shatterscape's body.

"You aren't killing anyone, 'Ru. We don't know what caused it." Ember's hand wrapped around the warrior's wrist, turning her around so they would come face to face with each other. "She's not those girls. Get it through your thick skull already!"

"She's a prissy, stuck-up light-girl you keep defending! She doesn't have the right to be here! This is our city!" Hotaru grit her teeth, her yellow eyes locking with Ember's brown ones. "I won't accept anything less than kicking her ass all the way to the City of Light."

"'Ru, please. I know you're angry and I under-"

"The fuck you do! If you understood, you'd be with-"

"Ember! Hotaru! The miseria are clumping together!" The argument froze as Sylvia called out the phenomenon. Both the schemer and the warrior forced their attention back outwards to see that it was indeed happening. The miseria started to merge into wretched bird-creatures that felt more powerful than the sum of their parts. Radiating a feeling of malice that bordered on the oppressive, their presences were like nails against the chalkboard for Sylvia in particular.

"The others need to know right away. Hotaru?" The question filled with meaning as Hotaru grit her teeth, then yanked her hand out of Ember's.

"Fine. Fine! I won't attack. Happy?" Or at least so she lied through grit teeth, causing Ember to nod, the schemer too occupied by the path they had to take to notice the subtle venom in the warrior's words. She did not, after all, need to tell the truth now and the more she talked, the more convinced she became that there was no saving these two. They did need saving from themselves, though and while they could stop her from putting the light girl's head on a pike, it would be too late by then. A swipe at the peak of her strength would no doubt get through to that prissy asshole, no matter how thick her skull was. She only needed a proper moment to do it.

Now with a plan in mind, Hotaru had Shatterscape's body blitz through the streets. They were close; so close that she saw Evil Eye hit the pavement, followed by one of the bird abominations. The world seemed to slow to a crawl as the bird tried to impale the dark girl, only for the latter's summon to intercept it perfectly, then be carried away by Willow's spectral wolves before being tossed into the air, the bird following them and trying to strike.

This could not stand.

Shatterscape's magic flared as she smashed her gauntlets into the ground, launching herself at the bird with surprising precision. The ground beneath her trembled in response, one of the nearby streetlights sparking and dying as it collapsed on itself while she cut through the air like scythe through wheat, then her leg impacted the Miseria. Both of them went flying with a sharp rack of material collapsing on itself, with Shatterscape bringing her arms forward so she could rake the claws across her opponent.

"None shall harm the observer of the heavens," she declared as if her opponent could hear her.