---

The beach trip had opened Roche up to a world of collaborative efforts with her partner. Laser based propulsion had worked handily when they had to return to the beach from the deep ocean, and thanks to the broad nature of her shield she could achieve flight with the very energy Nyxia sent to blast the Bone giant.

A grin tore across her cheek as she heard the foul mouthed, violet skinned Magical Girl send her off with a cheer, but she wouldn’t have been heard over the laser if she’d replied. The moment her Devil Arm was absorbing and riding the blast her body burned from the inside out, glutting itself on power like a sponge cast into water. It drank greedily till her markings were as luminous as the slipstream of energy that buoyed her across the city at speeds she’d never experienced before.

To call the glare harsh was the understatement of the century, but the stark figure of the looming Giga Miseria only grew crisper as she neared. It didn’t stagger her to see it was taking the laser without issue, it’s bone no doubt thicker then the pirate ship’s hull, just as the colossus was a fair bit slower. Though that lumbering stature was little detriment when its minions were far sturdier than the pirate crew had been.

That was to say, Earthshaker could see its mace raised and could well imagine how its whip-like end would lash through Hibusa’s outskirts to devastating effect. Ashbringer’s arson would be a footnote compared to the devastation even a glancing strike would cause. When the beam carrying her terminated and Nyxia’s attention was pulled elsewhere, the Rule Keeper leeped upwards off of her shield.

Flexing her muscles as the wind pulled upon her cloak and turned her into a dart of energy, Roche chose to meet the Mace at the apex of her swing. She was no Hizuki, but the flash of expended energy that high up would flash like a second sun as she struck, fist meeting bone with a shout of righteous fury.

---

Tsubomi couldn't reach, and by the time she realized this Earthshaker had knocked the bird Miseria(?) away from her. She nodded at Oros' question; she did believe that her partner's idea would have been good, cool even. And with her lack of usual senses, she had even more trust in that than she usually would.

Acid Drop soon found herself laying against a wall as she tried to test her legs. The signals were sent to move her toes, but only a couple received them, and even then not consistently. She wouldn't be able to walk for a while. The pain was making it hard to try to move at all.

The next thing she knew, Tsubomi was watching as two of the bird monsters began tearing into Oros. She was fighting back well, and better every time she got a new wound, but... She probably wouldn't be able to keep it up too long. Where was the boss? Trying to ignore the pain and reach out with her failing magic sense, she did her best to search for that strange cold feeling that came from Rei, but in spite of her efforts her magic did not respond.

If all she could do was sit and watch, she was at least going to try to do it well. And so she looked from as far left as she could turn her head to as far right, and noticed something. Somewhat similarly to the regular trash Miseria that had bitten her, the one bird with her blood falling from its beak seemed to be acting odd. She has to assume it was hers, even though her partner's blood was flying everywhere. Maybe this Miseria was always like this, she'd never seen it before after all.

It was moving slower than the other, its attacks on Oros just a fraction behind its ally. And as she stopped moving her head and focused back on the fight, she saw it slowing down further. The bird(?) wasn't just getting slower, every few attacks it simply... missed. Maybe it was feinting? The fight probably wouldn't last long enough to see any more changes, but Tsubomi couldn't help but wonder if this was what happened with the previous one. She had been able to kill it without it moving away from her Devil Arm...

She couldn't help but think, though, that any effect she learned of from this night wasn't worth the process of not being able to fight alongside the others.

---

Evil Eye's attempt to cushion her descent with the golem didn't work so well. She'd only ever manifested it around her body from a standstill, never from high speed. So it was that when the dust settled, she realized that her body was sticking out the side of it. Fortunately for her, Willow realized it even more quickly, and with surprising force, one of her hounds extracted her from it. By the time she had freedom of movement, she found herself face to face with her attacker again, this time sans one annoying bard. Rei still isn't doing anything. Is she waiting for someone to beg for help? she thought irritably. She glared at the bird-man, eyes glowing bright crimson. May as well try everything before giving her what she wants, she decided, trying for a basic illusion of multiple Evil Eyes.

The golem seemed to have its own ideas. It clambered up onto an upturned truck and prepared to take a great leap up at the abomination, arms spread wide to grab it. Its skin seemed to bubble at the surface, as if it were preparing something inside itself. Meanwhile, Evil Eye could sense Shatterscape's approach. "Good to see you, High Priestess. If I could trouble you for a little assistance, I may be just a bit less than equally matched with this one." Her even-toned voice tried to hide the reality that she was, in fact, scared of the threat this monster represented. She could no longer be just an eye in the sky for the others. She would have to fight, and fighting was the one thing she'd never been good at.

Rei continued to watch Hizuki. Though there were no words exchanged, likely because the light girl wasn’t in a position to carry on a casual conversation mid fight. Few were.

The Daybreak wasn’t about to release something that could prove hard to catch. Using all of her suit’s might, she slammed the tengu down on the “tongue” rope. It was a mighty blow, and one that caused the flesh on the miseria’s face to wrinkle like a pillow case. But its bones held strong. As did the rope, though pinning it in place allowed Hizuki to relieve some tension and keep her airway open.

She leaned into the trip, allowing her weight to fall squarely on top of her first target. The trapped tengu bent its limbs in ways no human could, but it allowed it to brace against her with both arms and two backwards facing legs. The asphalt cracked under the pressure, and the tengu’s flesh was flayed off of his chest. But Hizuki would not get to fully lean into her opponent. The rope that she pinned gave her some slack, but it was pulled taught against the second tengu that was flying away. Once stretched to its limit, the flying tengu allowed itself to be slingshotted back and drove it’s heel into Hizuki, The impact was enough to roll her off of her opponent, who was swiftly freed when the hammer tengu shattered its restraints.

With the caged tengu free, the hammer tengu began beating on her armor with its hammer. The flying tengu did not fly away, but instead stood in place and drew the rope into itself. The first tengu, disfigured and with bones pushing out of its flesh, looked for the opening in her shoulder armor and vomited black bile over it. The smell was not pleasant, but the burns were of greater concern.

“You’re doing very well.” Rei remarked. A forth tengu flew by, but seemed to ignore Rei completely. None of these creatures were so much as glancing in her direction.

Meanwhile, Nyxia was living in the moment. Getting smacked around by some tough miseria sucked, but so long as she could stand, she could burn them all to a crisp, regardless of how close or far they were. Contrary to popular belief, the full spectrum of the ultraviolet rainbow was also ultra violent, be it close or far.

The energy blade collided with the creature’s serrated wing. Rotten flesh bubbled away to reveal the bones inside. It almost looked like half of a pelvis, only stretched out and with a wicked sharp edge. It was hard to picture such a thing ever being capable of flight, but Nyxia was using death lasers to manifest a hard light construct capable of cutting things. Maybe this wasn’t the time to question things. Nyxia certainly wasn’t.

The shield bash abomination continued to charge forwards, only to stop short once it was a few feet away from Nyxia. A third creature fired a pillar of rotting purple energy at Nyxia. It sliced through one of her pigtails and splashed her with black corrosive bile. It landed on a nearby building while the shielded abomination charged forwards again, All while the blade Tengu kept up with her pace.

Elsewhere in town, Shatterscape decided that these monkey dudes were not really to her liking. She tried to take one of them and smashed it into a wall hard enough that it caused a lot of scary looking destruction, but weak enough that it would leave the ape midget alive. Unfortunately, there was no way for her to know how durable they were, and additionally, it was impossible for those two conditions to overlap. The ape man’s eyes rolled up into it’s head and it fell backwards, dissipating into glowing ash.

The other apes got the message. After making some ape sounds, they began to vacate the premises while the high priestess gave her decree. They had stopped all attacks, both against the miseria and mogalls alike. The apes were completely out of sight in a matter of seconds. Shatterscape had always been better at intimidation than diplomacy.

But that was the past now. On a frantic battlefield like this, Shatterscape needed to focus on her partner, who was in a bit of trouble. Evil eye attempted to obfuscate her presence with an illusion, but these monsters didn't have eyes. It was unlikely they could be affected by such forms of magic normally, let alone one that prayed on senses they did not possess. But before she was scratched to pieces, Shatterscape was able to dive up to her foe and bat them off to the side. Her claws left their mark on its flesh, but it was quick to hop back on its feet. Before it could engage Shatterscape, a black unicorn rammed it out of the way.



Willow floated up beside Shatterscape. ”Where have you been? Didn’t you notice the light girl that showed up?” She shouldered her violin and continued to play for her pet. ”You know Evil Eye here was absolutely smitten with her! I hadn’t realized your partner was such a lady killer. She got to talk to her before anyone else! What were her words? ‘I thought I’d have to seek you out’ or something along those lines?” How Willow knew that when she was one of the last ones to arrive was anyone’s guess, not that Shatterscape would know. ”She must have been thinking about that girl for a while! She wouldn’t leave her side until she realized her gross little eyeballs were under attack. In fact she was quite dismissive of your existence when Rei mentioned you might get upset. I wonder if that’s because she doesn’t think you care…or because you matter less to her than her pets? Either way, forbidden love like that is worthy of a modest sonnet I think.” She turned her gaze toward the crossroad where Daybreak was fighting. ”That’s her, if you were curious.”

Willow seemed to have the one tengu held off for now, while the trauma was getting the stuffing beat out of it by the two fighting it. A fourth tengu with clubbed arms arrived to beat back the unicorn. It’s crimson horn glowed before it swiped at its aggressors.

All of this transpired behind Roche, who had dove up to meet the golems mace. With a crack, and an outpour of Earthshaker’s stored energies, the mace was flung backwards. The whip-like appendage swung above Hibusa, causing a great wind to blow down every street in the town. It had little effect on the fighting other than making everything a bit dustier. This was all during a bright flash of daylight caused by the massive release of energy.

Earthshaker was very much a magical girl that could dish what her opponents gave right back to them, and then some. In the case of fighting an enemy with a powerful attack yet with low defenses, a single flourish was all it took to win the engagement. But what happened when her opponents were significantly weaker when compared to their ability to take damage?

An attack like that would have reduced the dutchmen to a fog of splinters, but the bone construct held strong. It’s ultra dense club took the blow in stride and, while causing the golem to rock backwards, didn’t so much as crack under such immense power. Roche would have just enough time to notice the creature no-sell her attack before getting hit by a beam of black filth. The golem had launched a counterattack of its own, and targeted Hibusa town’s defender as soon as she intercepted the mace. She was sent hurtling through the air, coated in burning bile.

Or was it the golem? The earth shook once more when the giant landed on its back foot. Several more undead tengu flew out of the giant’s various empty eyesockets, with two of them rushing to intercept Roche. Was the giga miseria just a nest for these things?



Oros did notice that the bird she was holding onto with her arm was slower and clumsier than the other one was. The tengu both looked pretty similar, but there wasn’t much of a difference between the two other than their arms. But then she noticed the blood on one’s beak, and then looked at the blood on Rainbow’s legs. Had this tengu inherited Rainbow’s sluggish mindset by coming in contact with her blood? Was Rainbow acting like this because she was filled with the stuff? Could Oros use this to her advantage?

Maybe.

Oros could only control her own blood. The entire point of her magic was to make others willingly desire her, and while she might be able to entice and charm the blood and others, she could never truly control it. But Oros did not need control of Rainbow’s blood if she wanted to try and use it. She could simply infuse her blood with that of her partners. Normally she wouldn’t chance it during a fight, but a third tengu showed up, and she was going to bleed out if she kept getting hit like this.

Her tendril wiped the blood of the abomination’s beak, and slithered around Rainbow’s legs. It was hard to tell at a glance if anything was different, but Oros could feel it. There was a bit of Rainbow’s blood mixed in with her tendrils. She stabbed the other tengu in her grasp, then smacked the other one as it got close. When it went to counter attack, it swung its arm and missed Oros completely.

"It’s working!”

She flung the two tengu in her hold and took the fight to them. They took turns attacking and defending, but Oros felt like she had an edge on her slightly intoxicated opponents. She cut into their flesh, and all of their attacks missed or were easily evaded.

"This is amazing! I feel so coooooool!”

But then as the fight went on, Oros noticed that her opponents began to fight better. Their reflexes heightened, they became more accurate, and it was as if they had returned to their former strength.

"D-did it wear off? What’s going on?!?!?” Oros’s entire right arm was sliced off, but she sprouted three bloody tentacles to replace it. Merely a flesh wound.

Of course it was a bit more obvious what was happening from Tsubomi’s perspective. Oros and the five tengu had all come under the effects of her blood, and looked like a bunch of drunk boxers trying to fight in a dimly lit room.

---

Hizuki might've liked to respond to Rei's compliment, but the light girl was a bit preoccupied with not dying at the moment. Neither did she have time to consider why the miseria might be ignoring the dark girl entirely. Rei was a mystery that bore further investigation, for sure, but that investigation could wait until Hizuki was reasonably certain she and Hibusa were going to get out of this situation relatively unscathed. The burning sensation in her armor wasn't exactly a good omen for that outcome, and it made it harder to focus through the pain. These things are gross. She'd been trying not to consider that, either, given how the mangled flesh and foul odors made her want to hurl already.

She yelped in pain when she was slammed off her imprisoned foe. SHOCK WAVE caught most of the damage, but the armor didn't exactly make it painless to get kicked around. Shrapnel flew off from the impact point as it disintegrated rather than pass the injury onto the Daybreak herself, something she was grateful for as another tengu began beating through it with its fleshy hammers. Hizuki hissed alongside her burning flesh when yet another disgusting lump of bile splattered against her exposed shoulder. Try as she might, she just wasn't able to overpower all three of these opponents at once without them letting her, and flashing warnings inside her helmet let her know that it wouldn't be long until she couldn't try. Time for more desperate measures.

"Tank Purge!" Her armor burst outwards in an explosion of light and flying metal, scattering debris around the area and flinging Hizuki skyward. Detonating an armor this early in the fight was bad, but she'd been left with little choice. SKY FIRE was still recharging, and would suffer for the lost airborne agility besides. SOLAR PRIESTESS wouldn't help against such melee-heavy fighters, and LUNAR DRAGON was for clearing chaff, which these weren't. That left one option, as she wasn't confident she could end the fight now, and wasn't about to run away. "Mode: ARISE HEART, engage!"

She flew feet-first through another gate, switching around her armor once again. Her wings were replaced with a series of swordlike vanes, her armor covered most of her body (though with far from the bulk of SHOCK WAVE,) and her polearm, appearing only briefly, transformed once more into a hand-and-a-half sword. Curving beams of light lanced out from her new "wings," aiming to slice through the already-injured tengu as Hizuki prepared for the inevitable assault. "Alright, then, come and get me!" Taking up a fighting stance, she readied herself to intercept a foe trying to catch her with another tongue, or remove the offending limb before one of them could kick her again with a superheated slash. Occupied as she was, the Daybreak was in no position to even notice other dark girls coming into view of her once more, including one she hadn't been introduced to yet. . .

---

It was a rush that few even among her fellow Magical Girls could truly understand. Tsubomi was the closest in terms of physical extremes that she put her body under, but her mentality wasn’t that of an athlete. She didn’t revel in the burn of a muscle stretched through hard exertion, the lightness in the calves from running till one felt on the verge of flying off the asphalt.

All that joys and triumphs that she clung to in athletic pursuits were multiplied in the midst of combat. All her effort could be put to the test in a clash with a foe that had no reason to restrain itself. The purest form of competition where only success mattered.

Protecting the Town was important, of that Roche would not deny. But as the giant staggered back and her glow remained just as fierce as the force of their meeting was siphoned back into her markings, Earthshaker could revel in having lived up to her name from the heaving of the staggered giant.

An elation that proved premature as she went from slowly descending to being struck from the sky. A jet of burning tar blasted her and Roche screamed as she was made acquainted with the smell of her burning flesh once again.

”Graah! That son of a-” Her uncontrolled descent and the searing of her tanned frame came to an abrupt end as she expelled a burst from her entire body. Inefficient thought it was, it expelled the devouring ooze that had eaten through her cloak and left her visage with swatches of exposed, red skin throbbing from their visceral torment.

With her tumble turned into a controlled fall, her bare feet carved furrows through an outskirt street of Hibusa town as she came down, but her attention was entirely on the giant and the approaching forms of more of the carrion Miseria. Her eyes narrowed seeing them emerge from inside the Giga Miseria.

”You’ve got tough bones and some disgusting birds. Hmph, guess I’ll need to work for it then.” The Rulekeeper spat a wad of phlegm on the ground and noted she would be having company sooner rather than later, she adopted a sprinter’s stance upon the ruined ground and drew in a slow breath. Inhale. Exhale.

Letting the bird’s get closer. Grow confident in their approach.

Then she bolted. Each step propelled forward by a blast launching her from the ground, constantly gaining as the world turned into a blur. Windsheer alone was like daggers against burned, raw flesh yet there was no stopping the tribal magical girl as she passed the approaching crows and came dead on with the giant’s bony foot.

White hot pain lanced up her own legs as she planted a bare sole to the bone and turned her flight skywards, scaling it one bounding step at a time.

Your bones may be unbreakable, but let’s see how you handle a shattered kneecap and dislocated joints.

It wasn’t an exaggeration to say she was an expert in just how easy it was to destroy even the sturdiest of legs.

Nyxia’s sadistic grin only grew wider as her foe tried to block her swing with one of its warped appendages, whatever counted as its skin boiling away the moment her crackling energy blade slammed into it. “That’s right, baby!” she told her beloved weapon. “Sink your teeth into this fucking cock-a-doodle dipshit!” Although the creature’s bones continued to hold fast, the Neon Tempest was sure they’d shatter soon enough. All she needed to do was apply a little more pressure…

Unfortunately, she wouldn’t get the chance, as another of the abominable avians appeared above her and disgorged a stream of corrosive bile. “Fucking cunt licking piece of SHIIIIIIIT!!!” Nyxia screamed as the acidic vomit ate away at her bare skin. Although her superhuman magical girl body was strong enough to endure such an attack, that didn’t keep it from being any less disgusting, or from hurting like hell… “RAAAAAHHH!!!” the Neon Tempest roared in a mixture of fury and pain, a glowing shaft of malignant energy shooting forth from her mouth to blast away the creature she’d locked blades with. “I’M GONNA CHOP OFF WHATEVER COUNTS AS YOUR NUTSACK AND USE IT TO PLUG YOUR FUCKING THROAT!!!”

Bracing her legs, she fired twin jets of energy from beneath each of her spiked heels and blasted off in the direction of the just-alighted necro-bird Miseria that had vomited on her, leaving the ground mere moments before the creature’s charging shield-bird companion was able to crash into her. As her beam-boosted rocket jump brought the furiously screaming Nyxia ever-closer to her prey, her eyes glowed a neon teal, before twin lances of annihilation shot forth to melt the top of the Miseria’s malformed head into molten sludge. An instant later, and it would feel the full weight of the energy bladed Omega Obliterator be slammed down upon it with all the Neon Tempest’s enraged might.

”Unfortunately for the observer of the heavens,” Shatterscape turned to look back at Evil Eye as the unicorn impaled the Miseria, ”This humble high priestess brings ill tidings, for she has seen that her loathsome foes can become of one flesh and be transfigured into these messenger birds of malice.” Indeed. If they were not careful, the chaff would turn into the abominations they fought, slowly whittling them down over time. The tengu seemed to be more than the sum of their parts as Shatterscape observed the battlefield.

Including the light girl that Willow oh-so-helpfully pointed out. Now, Ember merely ignored the taunt, knowing it to be nothing more than a gamble to rile her up, while Sylvia had Roche to anchor herself to. But Hotaru? The warrior had no such luxuries. Even if she knew the words were likely fake, even if she understood it to be teasing, they struck something deep inside of her. So no sooner than she knew her team-mate to be safe, she started to reposition her bodies and rushed towards Hizuki.

Shatterscape’s body did not even flinch as a magical detonation shook her surroundings, scattering her targets. The injured one stumbled towards her, so Hotaru made a show of driving her claws into the thing. Curved metal sunk into vulnerable flesh, ripping it open from the inside out as she impaled the creature before tossing it away as though it were nothing more than a sack of flour. Whatever happened to it, she did not care, because her eyes were focused on one thing:

Hizuki.

Both gauntlets wrapped around her.

”Go fuck yourself, light bitch.” Hotaru spat her words and squeezed. Metal groaned beneath her hands, pressing against the light girl’s body. It creaked, breaking and shattering as Hotaru forced Shatterscape’s body to put most of her strength into it while the others watched in stunned silence in their mental space. Ember in particular looked at the warrior as though she were crazy while Sylvia went pale, freezing in terror.

”’Ru, what the hell are you doing?!” Ember shouted as she tried to seize control of the body, but she severely underestimated the warrior’s resolve. Indeed, Hotaru kept Shatterscape’s body in a vice-like mental grip, refusing to respond with anything save for a sneer when she looked at Ember.

”She isn’t those girls! Let her go or she’ll die!”

Good. It’ll be better for the world that way. Hotaru grinned as she thought that as she tried to seize complete control of Shatterscape’s fingers. One mistake… one lapse in attention from Ember was all she needed. Only one muscle. Just the one and then this light girl would be gone from their lives forever, too injured to as much as look back at Hibusa town or at Evil Eye.

However, her grip on the body weakened. Easing up on her concentration, she saw that Sylvia joined Ember in trying to wrench the body from her grasp and slowly, but surely, they were succeeding. Already, she could feel her grip starting to slacken, potentially allowing Hizuki to slip away.

---

It seemed like Oros had the same conclusion that Tsubomi had; Acid Drop's blood was a sedative, for some reason. Her blood control had slowed the birds, and now was slowly herself as well. And so, Tsubomi came to the same question that Oros had come to. Was Tsubomi slowed down because of her own blood? She decided to find out.

With the pain from her legs, she didn't even really notice the pain in her arm as she drove her Devil Arm slowly into it. If bloodletting would get her back in the fight, then it was worth it, wasn't it? The fact that she'd still be unable to stand didn't even occur to her. She had just gotten blood drawn when she heard a voice in her head.

"Wow you're an idiot." Oh. The imaginary friend was back. "You're a lobotomy that was applied to itself before, during, and after, aren't you?" Tsubomi didn't know what that meant.

Despite not seeing the tulpa, she could feel her limbs being dragged by it, her Devil Arm pulled away from her arm and into the air, still held by her hand. Soon her arm was straight up towards the sky, and she felt her lower body shift to turn her around with as little stress on her legs as possible. Which was still more than enough to cause a burst of pain through her body. She could hear her tulpa suck in air through gritted teeth, which didn't make a lot of sense to Tsubomi, but she didn't think very hard about it.

Now that she was facing the wall, mostly, she realized she was mostly laying prone, with just her neck bent up against the wall. What was the purpose of this, exactly, she wondered. Between panting breaths, she was answered. "Did you know that when you touch high voltage, it's not the electricity that sends you flying across the room?" Tsubomi barely noticed, but her body's muscles quickly relaxed, as if she was completely asleep. "What launches you thirty feet is actually..."

"The contraction of all your muscles." And with that, Tsubomi was suddenly in extreme pain as her entire body was forced to contract as if she was stuck by ten-thousand volts. By the time the pain wore off, she had already crashed into one of the birds fighting her partner, knocking it away from her. She'd even managed to keep a hold on her Devil Arm, at least until she landed on the ground and dropped it. A few seconds of confusion later and she picked it back up. Luckily she seemed to have landed on her back, so she wouldn't be struck from behind at least...

---

With Shatterscape's arrival came knowledge that had escaped Evil Eye's notice during all the fighting. This was, in fact, good news, as it meant that there might be something she could actually do. She flew with her, sticking close as she returned to the main event, satisfied that her Mogall were no longer threatened by some interloper with poor timing. "The songs of a jealous woman lie shallow in the heart, and retreat quickly from the ears," she taunted back to Willow. "Are you droning on and on because Rei makes you sleep on the couch?"

She lowered herself back to the ground, seeking lesser miseria to behead and stake through the heart with her cane. She tried to drown out Willow's nonsense with the splattering of her enemies. If she couldn't take on the tengu, she could at least try to prevent more from being created. As her slaughter continued, she felt more and more rage building. Returning to Hibusa Town had been a mistake. She should have just taken Shatterscape with her and run even further away from this place. Why couldn't she stop taking on burdens that she couldn't carry? Unlike Earthshaker, at least she knew that she had a problem, but she was no more able to put an end to it than she was.

Rei watched dispassionately, as useless as ever while Oros and Acid Drop struggled for their lives. Willow was still just as annoying as the bards in Kunoichi Creed that pestered you for money. Nyxia was gleefully fighting giga miseria at night when she had been vehemently opposed to summoning one during the day when they were weaker—queen moron of the idiot village that was the Detention Club, herself the voice in the wilderness that no one listened to. Even Hizuki probably wouldn't accept her advice in the end. Shatterscape was taking the bait, which Evil Eye thought was unlike her. "Shatterscape, that's enough! She all-but-outright told us to use her!" she called out, appealing to the utilitarian nature of her fellow dark girl. If she had ever shouted at Shuuko in anger before, she couldn't remember when. It wasn't something she ever wanted to do, but this was dangerously close.

The abandoned golem served its role as bait to allow its master's escape. As the two tengu wore away its flesh, it flexed its muscles, protruding spikes in every direction all around its body, unleashing the attack it had prepared before when it once planned to jump up and grab the one harassing Evil Eye in the sky. It grabbed the two tengu and pulled them into itself, holding them down as Evil Eye flew away. Chunks of flesh broke away one by one as its opponents tore their way to freedom, and eventually its arms were removed, but still it kept standing. Mogall high above wept black tears which fell down and gave it more mass to regenerate, but the tengu had some semblance of intelligence and would not allow them to live for long. One flew up to dispatch them, while the golem prepared itself for what would be one last struggle against the one left on the ground.

---

A tengu attacking from an unexpected angle was something Hizuki had taken into consideration. She'd also considered several maneuvers they could potentially make that might make defending from the air like this harder, and had already accounted for them in her combat tactics.

Being abruptly seized by the gigantic steel claws of another magical girl who seemed hell-bent on her death for no readily apparent reason? Technically, also something she'd considered, actually. Given her heretofore positive reception, however, it hadn't exactly been in the front of her mind. Hizuki yelped as the wind was suddenly squeezed out of her to the screeching cacophony of metal on metal. She could feel the vanes currently comprising her wings doing their best to resist being crumpled underneath forces they were never meant to resist. Oh, a distant part of her thought. I guess this is it. I thought I'd have a little longer.

The rest of her did its best to ignore the tired voice of acceptance as it frantically searched for a way out. Under normal circumstances, all she had was another Tank Purge, possibly even a Luster Purge, both of which would leave her unarmored and vulnerable, especially if it didn't actually get her free. She didn't have the ability to execute her Maneuver pinned in place like this, or leverage her superior speed. The desires she got from the girl were strange, too, now that her attention was entirely on Shaddoll here. Don't kill her, she's different. Kill her before she can hurt anyone. Don't kill her, she doesn't deserve it.

She felt her new foe's grip loosening even before she started to speak. "Y-you don't actually want this," she said with a strained voice, hoping to encourage Shaddoll along. "I'm here to help if I can." Hizuki glanced to the side at Evil Eye's call. "You can trust her, right?" There it is. Whether it was her words, Kiyo's, or whatever conflict was raging behind the hateful crimson eyes that glared at Hizuki, the vise opened enough for her to slide out with another painful metallic shriek. Knowing there were still foes about, she rather gracelessly stumbled backward before kicking into the air, using her tumble to send both her sword and her superheated wings scything about in unpredictable directions, hoping to ward off or even get a lucky kill on one of the disgusting tengu in the area. Her chest heaved, lungs struggling to keep her as she launched into yet another strenuous maneuver after being kicked in the chest, strangled, and nearly crushed to death.

Despite the Detention Club’s best efforts, they had yet to fell a single minion of the giga miseria. Meanwhile, their numbers only grew. They were outnumbering the magical girls three to one, then five to one, and now it was nearing ten to one. The Detention Club’s skirmishes were starting to be spectated by several undead tengu that were waiting for their chance to join. It wasn’t honor or fear that kept them at bay, but that they didn’t want to get in each other’s way. Some prepared to fire on the battered and weary girls. Their throats glowed purple, their eyes looked for an opening.



Evil Eye’s initial taunt regarding sleeping on the couch got Willow to pull back her head. ”Hmm? No, nothing like that. Unfortunately, Rei’s mother is allergic to pet dandruff so I can’t sleep on the couch. That’s why I’m an outside kitty.” Her face looked panicked. ”H-hey, y-you could let me crash at your place right? I’m so tired of sleeping on the porch. It’s so wooden, the door mat is too abrasive to be a pillow, and the dog next door won’t stop barking! Please let me sleep on your couch!” Her eyes followed Shatterscape as she pounced latched onto Daybreak. ”Oh? Looks like there might be a vacant spot in your bed shortly. But I prefer to sleep at the foot of the bed. This crisp autumn weather is too nice to spend under blankets!”

If Evil Eye had even a single brain cell to dedicate to the lying magical girl’s words, she’d know that Willow slept at her parent’s place like most teenage girls.

As antagonistic as Willow was, her unicorn was getting along swimmingly with the golem. The steed had no issue driving it’s horn into the tengu trapped within it. The horn spun and slammed, not unlike a hammer drill. Only each impact was punctuated by a burst of hellfire, as the twisted unicorn was naught but a nightmare. The tengu’s bones were cracking, but the “spectators” were descending onto the scene to help their wounded companions. Two more tengu descended onto the unicorn, and a third one dug into the headless giant.



Rei continued to watch as Hizuki contended with all the Tengu. She found it interesting how she could sacrifice her armor for a chance to escape, but no sooner did that happen did Shatterscape close her hands around her. The tengu below had all fanned out and were waiting to see how this would play out. Rei scanned her surroundings to see what else was going on.

She could see Earthshaker. It was clear she was determined to end this herself, as foolish as it was. But while she had avoided the birds coming for her, she could not avoid the ones coming to greet her as she arrived. At a distance they looked like a swarm of flies, and Earthshaker disappeared from View. Meanwhile, Nyxia had gotten distracted. She was baited into attacking a lone tengu while it’s two friends, now joined by three more, swooped in behind her.

Unstoppable Doom was in disarray, but so was Endless Ecstasy, despite remaining together. Oros the Joyful and Acid Drop were struggling with their opponents. Even as Acid Drop tackled one foe, several more arrived. They had not yet been afflicted by Acid Drop’s blood, and were able to easily clip off Oros’s other arm. She looked like a dryad now, with her arms rising up into a myriad of bloody branches.

Was Medusa's Mirror even worth commenting on? Shatterscape was out of control, and what could Evil Eye do to reign her in? It was too late to stem the growing tide of greater miseria.

And Willow… Well, she was at least consistent.

“Perhaps I hoped for too much.”

Hizuki, battered and delirious, threw out some attacks to stall for time. She didn’t hit anything, but hardly anyone could blame her for wanting to intercept a third attempt to pin her down. The spectating tengu had decided to stop spectating, and six pillars of filth flew out from the rooftops. They were all pointed in Hisuki’s position.

But none of them would hit their mark.

Instead, a magical girl that had yet to introduce herself caught Hisuki in a bridal carry before flying out of harm's way. At the peak of her jump, she cast Hisuki even higher before coming down on the rooftops with her scythe. It just took a single swing, and the miseria were reduced to bone and tar.

Then she turned to look at the others.





Schrade was here.

It didn’t matter where you stood, everyone in Hibusa town could feel the unsettling chill of Rei’s true form. Her lone eye fell on Shatterscape just long enough for the multi-bodied girl to sense her disappointment before it shifted onto Evil Eye. Then with a shrug, she hopped off the roof and landed between the two.

“You know, Evil Eye.” Without looking, Schrade caught Hisuki and set her upright. “Humility is an important attribute for a leader. Sometimes, we need to know when to ask for help.” She raised her scythe, and the three tengu that were about to jump Hisuki from behind were reduced to ash. “Shatterscape, wait here.” Schrade faded from view. But even if they couldn’t see her, they could still feel her presence.

The unicorn and black golem were nearly ripped apart, but a scythe glowing like the moon cut through all of their opponents in a single slash. The unicorn was unable to stand up, but it supported itself with its front hooves and eyed the armless, legless torso the giant had been reduced to. Then it snorted.



Oros was not feeling too hot. It was hard to land a kiss on these miseria, and even if she could, there was a chance she could trigger an even bigger miseria to show up. That didn’t seem too good. She had yet to knock any of these guys down, but knew if she didn’t give up, she and Rainbow might make it out of this mess.

”Alright, here it goes!” Oros started to spin like a top. A very slow top. More like a fidget spinner that was being lazily rotated. ”I call this one… Bleeding Branch Blister!”

Apparently, “Bleeding Branch Blister” caused a flying scythe to saw up all the miseria in the area. Briefly, a specter that kind of looked like Boss Baby grabbed the scythe and flew out of the area.

”There we go!” Oros collapsed onto her back beside Rainbow. ”We did it Rainbow, we beat them together!”

Meanwhile, Nyxia had just finished melting every square inch of flesh off of the accursed Tengu’s face, yet it’s skeletal structure remained strong. In fact, holding the amped up Mega Obliterator over the thing managed to melt away its flesh entirety. That wouldn’t be vomiting on anyone. But she was having difficulty splitting it down the middle, and was oblivious to the flock of tengu behind her. Schrade was quick to mince the bird creatures behind Nyxia long before they could attack her. She then stood behind the violet magical girl and placed her heel on the end of her weapon. With their combined might, The Mega Obliterator was more than enough to split the tengu down the middle. Schrade departed quickly, however. There was still one more target.

Your bones may be unbreakable, but let’s see how you handle a shattered kneecap and dislocated joints.

The problem, as Earthshaker would soon realize, was that the entire thing was made out of bone. There was no soft cartilage, no tender ligaments waiting to be torn, nothing. It's knees didn’t even look like human knees. There was more in common with a door hinge than a human when it came to the bone golem's joints. It was bone wrapped around bone, with a black tar-like substance lubricating the joints in place of Synovial Fluid. That wouldn’t stop Earthshaker from trying, but the swarm of tengu miseria would. The ones in the city were content to watch their companions fight, but these didn’t hesitate to act. Earthshaker was completely covered in them. If she wasn’t getting punched or clawed, she was getting vomited on. They were so dense it was hard to see. If only someone was there to blast them away...

Then a moonlight great scythe cut through the mob, and gave Earthshaker a bit of breathing room.

The golem was prepared to swing again, but Schrade cut through it’s heel in a single slash. Then its knee on the other leg, then the hip. With each swing of her blade she cut completely through the giga miseria, gradually lowering its body to the ground. Once the legs were out of the way, she bisected the golem with a single swing. As the two halves of the golem fell apart, hundreds of the tengu trapped inside spilled out and evaporated. The remaining miseria started to flee the scene.

Perhaps the reason why they avoided Schrade was because they knew it was fight they couldn't win.

Schrade lowered her scythe and sighed. “What a hassle…”

At first, the impact of the Mega Omega Obliterator against what little remained of the undead Tengu’s skull did scarcely more than slightly fracture its bony form, despite the impressive force being applied. However, mere moments later, and the energy bladed death ray was driven downward with a mighty surge of force, splitting the abominable avian in twain. Yet, while this outcome should have pleased Nyxia, it only caused the Neon Tempest to seethe with even greater rage. That fucking shit sucking showboating bitch…

Although it had gone unnoticed in her furious frenzy, it was now unmistakably clear that Rei had transformed and come to her aid. While nearly every fiber of her being screamed with indignation at needing to be helped in such a humiliating manner, a small part of Nyxia was forced to concede that, even if she had managed to vanquish this foe, there was virtually no way she could have withstood the subsequent assault of the creature’s half a dozen friends, which Rei, or rather, Schrade, had dispatched in the most effortless manner possible. No, she still wasn’t strong enough, wasn’t even close to Rei’s level of raw power. What do I need to do? she wondered as she ground her teeth together. What the fuck do I need to do to get strong enough to KILL THESE FUCKERS?!!

Even as her enraged mind struggled to find an answer to this question, Nyxia could only watch as nothing more than an impotent spectator, while Schrade sliced apart the distant bone titan’s towering form in a blur of motion, her partner nowhere to be seen. I WILL get stronger, the Neon Tempest vowed as she clenched her hand into a trembling fist. I HAVE to…

---

One moment, Daybreak was struggling to get through this alive. Winded, wounded, surrounded, outnumbered, and caught off guard by an unexpected foe, she was starting to think her destiny was to fall in defense of Hibusa. The inside of her helmet blared warnings about systems failing, lines between a girl and her cybernetic combat suit blurring as her flying tumble became more of a fall. Hizuki felt what she assumed was the chill of death about to take her (perhaps some result of the foul substance the tengu had spewed, she thought) as she fought to right herself.

Then, suddenly, she was ascending. In a bridal carry. Performed by Rei Ishiko of all people. Daybreak had considered many potential results of tonight, a number of potential events leading to those, and none of those thoughts had included "bridal carried out of danger by the Demon of Hibusa." Either she was actually dead, or the rumors about Schrade had been greatly exaggerated.

Well, in some ways.

As she started to fall, she saw the disintegrating remains of the tengu she'd been locked in combat with, effortlessly dispatched in less than the time it'd taken for her to execute her first attack on one. Then she was in Rei's arms again, and then on the ground. "Huh?" The bewildered light girl almost didn't see Rei effortlessly dispatch the entire force of miseria in moments, distracted as she was by trying to sort out exactly what the fuck just happened and how she felt about it. A complex mix of emotions including relief, dread, and abject confusion swirled about in her head as she looked around, trying to verify what she was seeing.

Her eyes turned to Evil Eye, seeking confirmation. "That just happened, right? I didn't actually get killed there?"

---

Earthshaker had gambled on casting aside all thought to defense for speed and power, but she had made on fatal assumption. It wasn't entirely unfounded as the only Giga Miseria they'd fought had at least comported itself within the realms of basic logic.

She took out the ship's mast, and it had to deploy engines to remain afloat. Take out the engines and it fell from the sky as a lump of timber. The encounter with the previous Giga Miseria left her thinking that, for all that this one was a monster in every sense of the word, it might have similar limitations.

But moving at blistering speeds that tore at her open wounds, she could still see clearly enough that where she struck there was no effect. The impact didn't even rattle the mass of solid bone she struck, and once she cast her fist into joints of bone she slowed.

Even a momentary pause was all the Tengu needed, and yet against Earthshaker found herself swarmed. Rotten teeth clamped upon her as cudgles and blades hacked, battering her from every direction. She blasted outwards to escape, only to be struck in turn by a stream of burning vomit back into the swarm so thick she could hardly see the Giga Miseria, let alone the city beyond it.

Her screams of pain pierced the night and her mind was torn between present and past, fear rising sharply with the darkness of Miseria crawling upon her-

Then she was through, blinded by the light of a distant city made all the sharper by no longer being held in the shadow of a giant. Tumbling hunks of bone larger then sky scrapers were sliding away, and if they hadn't begun to evaporate like paint from a brush sunk into water, she'd have felt some concern for the cities outskirts.

Instead she saw Schrade in all her terrible glory.

Gravity wasn't inclined to let her linger overlong, however, and she came down in rough tumble. Trampled and cracked earth proved poor cushion and she spat a wad of phlegm speckled pink as she settled on her side.

"Good to see you transformed." Earthshaker wheezed, body curling inwards with a agonized cough before she unfurled and splayed out on her back. Another familiar position, and at least it was less invasive then sand on freshly burned skin.

She could have asked why Schrade hadn't done it earlier, but there wasn't any need to. Rei was all in favor of testing them, and in her eyes they had failed if she needed to step in. If the Miseria wasn't liable to wreck the city and the new girl didn't entertain her, she may have even left them to die.

"Just....give me a minute before you grill me over this. I'm already chewed out by those birds."

---

”There we go!” Tsubomi heard as her partner fell to lay next to her. ”We did it Rainbow, we beat them together!”

Acid Drop gave a thumbs up, arm straight up into the air. Even if it was Boss who did the work, Tsubomi was feeling the team spirit. It was a weird sensation, to have camaraderie without hope or happiness attached. It was also strange to feel Schrade's aura without her usual sense. Was this what it was like to everyone else? Or did it cause an emotional response as well for them, that she wasn't privy to? She'd always been too distracted by it to check what they felt when it was there.

Tsubomi looked out at the audience. There was cheering and tears of delight, which was a rare response, but she supposed that's what happens when a professional talent like Boss shows up on stage. In fact, the only seats that weren't filled with an elated theatergoer were the empty ones, and a single taken seat, where Acid Drop sat with her back hunched and arms folded. Tsubomi had assumed that she had gotten on stage with her when she launched Tsubomi into the battle, but it seemed that she had gotten back before she could notice.

The laughter and cheers rebounded off the acoustics of the theater, but Tsubomi couldn't hear it. For once her mind wasn't lagging so far behind that she didn't have to worry about thinking hard; she was stuck wondering what would happen if the Boss hadn't been there. Getting another prop to work with wasn't worth nearly getting the other plays cancelled. Besides, did she getting thrown like that help at all, or was the result going to be the same regardless? She was her own stunt actor, but that was a bit much. Her eyes drifted across the crowd that was beginning to leave but she couldn't find her other self; there wasn't a single strand of multi-colored hair to catch her eye.

Acid Drop rolled her head to face Oros. "You did it." A forced smile, atrophied muscles straining to try to convey reassurance to her partner, found itself on Tsubomi's face. "Good job."

---

Evil Eye stopped venting her frustrations mid-swing, turning to regard Schrade as she descended next to her—the aura of their leader was impossible to ignore whenever she transformed. She would finish that swing without looking at her opponent as the weakling miseria sought to take advantage of her hesitation. Her lazy-lidded eyes went wide at her superior's words just a moment before she took off to rescue the others. It was as if she knew how Evil Eye was thinking of her. A leader—me, the weakest among us? She scoffed inwardly at the notion that Rei would ever willingly pass the torch of protecting Hibusa Town to her.

Evil Eye both admired and hated Rei. Few things could draw her ire like a puzzle that she could not solve, and the girl was simply indecipherable. Was she mocking her just now, or trying to be encouraging? Did she really care about the Detention Club, or was maintaining it more trouble than she felt it was worth? Was she trying to remind the others how inadequate they all were, or was she truly out of touch with their capabilities? Did she want to be in touch? Was she showing off her power to demand their respect, or did she on some deep level need to feel like her presence was important, like Evil Eye herself did? Did she want Evil Eye's reports of the goings-on of Hibusa Town because she really needed them, or was she humoring her? Was she lazy at heart, or trying not to get in the way and stunt their growth? Analyzing the girl's actions made Evil Eye feel like she was going cross-eyed. She simply could not reconcile the two images she had of Rei into a cohesive whole.

It was Hizuki who took her attention away from the spectacle that was the Demon of Hibusa. "You're not dead. Don't be so dramatic," she chided hypocritically. She closed her eyes and consulted her Mogall, inspecting the damage. All things considered, she got off relatively unscathed compared to the others—but only because she'd sacrificed one of her strongest minions to escape a matchup she considered unwinnable, and stuck close to Rei. She'd been thinking the same as Earthshaker, in the end—asking for Rei's help was the same as throwing in the towel. She was their win button—one that was old and tired and worn, and did not always register input when pressed—but one that was absolute. Evil Eye then turned her eyes to Shatterscape—eyes that probed, but did not immediately judge.

Countless thoughts and wishes swirled behind those red eyes.

”I want to get rid of her before she can hurt them!” Hotaru’s burned bright, with the searing fury of a Sun intent on scorching away all the filth of this world before etching its presence into the surface. None would be left standing if she had her way, or at least they would be walking away with broken bones aplenty.

”I want to stop her before she kills that girl.” Ember contrasted greatly, feeling as though one dipped into ice after they had just walked into the fire. Cold, calculating gears intermeshed in this wish, one joining another. Mere fractions of a greater whole.

”I want to protect that girl.” Sylvia remained in the background as always, however the purity, the power of her desire brought it forward. Despite it being rooted in blood, located at the bottom of a lake with murky water, it possessed significance in its simplicity. For there was nothing else. Only the wish to save someone else from harm.

Whatever the case, Hotaru’s hold over Hizuki broke, allowing her to slip out of the body’s grasp. And then, before anyone could react-

Schrade.

The word failed to convey anything, but the shiver running across their spines told everything.

”’Ru… Why did you do it?” Ember asked her question in an even voice. It sounded almost like a great church bell in the silence, trying to cut through the darknesss and the distance between the three souls.

”I couldn’t care less about telling you.” Hotaru turned back towards Ember. ”Strange, isn’t it? How the dog bites the had that beats it.”

The schemer paused. She had known Hotaru ever since the moment she came into existence and yet she could not parse what the warrior tried to say. Had she not explained well enough? She could always make another go at it.

”Hotaru. Please really listen to me this time.” The warrior snorted, loud and obnoxious. The schemer continued. ”I know why you attacked her. I… I also remember. I could never forget those… vapid bitches.” Sugarcoating it would have made it infinitely worse. ”Was she amongst them, Hotaru? Did she do anything to hurt us? To hurt Chiaki?”

”It doesn’t matter, Ember. I won’t rest until they’re gone from here. Until they can’t fucking step into this place.” Because it would no longer be safe. Because then it would happen again. Because then there would be no more people surrounding Chiaki. Only empty hands that refused to reach out. ”And before you ask, I don’t regret it. At all. She can go and die in a damned fire.”

”Please… Ember, she isn’t listening,” Sylvia stepped beside the schemer, looking up at her with her big, green eyes. ”You’ll only get hurt if you keep talking to her.” Hotaru shot a betrayed look towards the protector. Her yellow eyes seemed to crackle as she looked before she raised her thumb to her neck and drew it across.

Hate me for all I care. You’ll bawl your eyes out and thank me later. And don’t expect my help in a fight. She did not speak those words out loud in their shared mental scape. Instead, she merely kept her eyes locked with that of the protector’s, causing the latter to draw in her shoulders before she stepped away, leaving with what seemed to be her final gesture.

”Ember?” Sylvia clutched her hands and looked at the floor. ”What happens now?”

”First, we apologise… and then, we think.” And with those words, she took the seat that had been vacated earlier to turn Shatterscape’s body back towards Evil Eye. She thought it would be easy, as she had been in this body plenty of times, but as it turned out, the gauntlets weighed a lot. She almost lost her balance as soon as she started to pivot, then corrected for it; a simple mistake, but one that could have cost her a body in combat. It underlined just how well Hotaru knew their magical girl form.

”I… am deeply sorry.” Ember bowed the body’s head and tilted its body towards Evil Eye and Hizuki.

Willow only had a moment to cheer on her partner before she moved on to take on the miseria hoard herself. ”Damn, she is so incredibly cool when she transforms that it just wraps around and makes her HOT!” Willow was probably the only member of the detention club that didn’t feel unsettled when Rei transformed. That was probably the only reason she had the position she did, but it wasn’t like Rei ever explained her choices to anyone. Rei wasn’t exactly a social butterfly and her having a partner at all seemed a little silly. She didn’t need one, and beyond tolerating Willow’s shenanigans, she never seemed like she was as interested in Willow as Willow was in her.

The cat girl floated to the ground among the gathered magical girls, first fixing her eyes on Shatterscape. ”Yea! You ought to be sorry! I can’t believe you didn’t end her with your big, sharp, fingers!” She pouted. ”I had to witness that awful display with Rei touching that light girl’s thigh and back.” She pointed at Hisuki with a trembling finger. ”You hussie! I can see your bedroom eyes sparkling! If you keep going after Rei I’m gonna have to...” She sighed and looked to Evil Eye. ”I mean you and I will both be out of a partner, so we’ll have options. _{just not good ones}...”



Between the blood loss and the pain, Oros found it hard to read too far into Acid Drop’s smile. It looked weird and uncomfortable, but it was a smile. Oros found herself returning the gesture and her eyes squinted shut when she was praised. ”Well, if you insist.” She reached for her severed hand and arm with her bloody tendrils. Once they were in her grasp, she used the hand to pat Acid Drop’s head.

As fun as it was to lay around, the club was probably going to do something soon. After standing back up (and helping Acid Drop do the same) she started to walk back to join the others.



Schrade examined Earthshaker like one might look at an insect. She did not dignify the rule keeper’s quip with a response, nor would she wait for her to fully regain her composure.

”A picture is worth a thousand words, and sometimes actions are worth even more.” She turned away from Earthshaker. ”Let’s get everyone back together.”

The trek back was not long, but neither magical girl was running. The first girl they saw was Nyxia, who was still visibly agitated. Schrade waved for her to fall in line with her wounded ally. That probably wasn’t the best way to get the authority hating magical girl to do anything, but at this point Schrade didn’t really care. Not much later, they would join up with Oros the Joyful and Acid Drop. They were taking their time getting to their destination, but Schrade just gave them a nod as she passed. Oros redubled her efforts to move swiftly and kept pace with her leader, not letting Acid Drop lag behind. Eventually, both halves of the detention Club were united.



“It’s been a while since we’ve all been together like this. It was an interesting night.” Schrade eyed her comrades with a stern eye. “But I do not make a habit of wasting my time. I had something very simple to tell all of you.” She folded her arms. “I’ve been telling you not to worry about Ashbringer because I am stronger than she is. Is this not proof enough?” She looked at everyone present. “That is why I consider the arrival of the GEMS so bothersome. Unlike Ashbringer, I would surely kill one of them were we to fight, even if I held back. That goes against our rules, as Rule Keeper surely knows. And speaking of bothersome…” Schrade walked closer to Daybreak, but her magical form melted away and Rei stood in her place. The chilling fear that was gripping everyone’s heart subsided. “You seem to be quite hard to keep down, and are far more useful than your GEM counterparts. You are one of us now.”

---

The light girl sort of awkwardly shrugged as the girl who had just been trying to squash her started to bow her head in contrition. "It's okay. I know you were. . ." Maybe she shouldn't let that on. "Maybe we can talk about it in a calmer situation?" Hizuki offered helpfully, trying not to wince as her gesturing made her dented armor pinch a bit.

Unfortunately for a potential reconciliation in the moment, it was at this point that Willow decided to add some more color commentary. "Can you not accuse me of stuff like that?" She realized too late that it was almost certainly just going to egg the dark girl on, but it was too late to take back. "I'm not here to get between anyone, in any sense." Not that it mattered for the intents of some people, the thought coming to her as she saw Suki approaching alongside the rest of the Detention Club.

The night continued to throw her surprises, as Rei launched into a reprimand of her minions. That in itself was not unexpected, but her closing statement was something else. Useful? Her? A part of her questioned whether that was a good thing to be to someone literally referred to as a demon, but it felt like she was actually making progress on her goals here. "Really?" She tried not to sound too happy at the prospect. "You're going to let a light girl into the detention club?" Rei was a mystery. What did she want out of this? It shouldn't be hard to read her with Hizuki's powers, especially given she was no longer transformed, but the Demon of Hibusa wasn't most people. . .