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[color=tomato]"Tentacles? That manipulate emotions? Across the room? Are you just a better version of me now, Tsubomi?"[/color]

[color=888888]— Suki Oyama[/color][/center]

It didn’t seem like the room was going to be much of a problem. Even if Oros was having a hard time keeping them all at bay, Evil Eye and Acid Drop weren’t struggling too much. Tsubomi decapitated one practically with a thought and their numbers meant little against Evil Eye’s spinning blade. It was so effective that Oros stopped flailing and just watched Evil Eye’s minion work. It did seem like the apes were a lot weaker outside the dream world, and the miseria that showed up were weaker than their nighttime counterparts. 

[color=ff6347]"Since when could you do that?"[/color] There would be no answer to Oros’s question, as Evil Eye excused herself from the room without a word. She looked back at Acid Drop and sighed. [color=ff6347]"Uh..."[/color] In truth, Oros didn’t feel too confident about leaving Acid Drop by herself. This would be the fourth time she had done so. The first time Rei had to rescue her, the second time she got hurt, and the third time she was nearly abducted. On the flip side, she did seem to be doing a lot better today. Everyone else? Not so much. It was also what Acid Drop wanted.  [color=ff6347]"Right, I’ll do that I guess."[/color]

The surge of emotions didn't wake anyone up. The monkeys sitting on the hostages seemed to be keeping them well and truly asleep. Yet the surge of positive and negative emotions caused the apes to grow at different rates. The more positive emotions stunted their growth, while one grew into a silverback ape with wings big enough to block the windows. The apes continued to close in, the hostages continued to wake up. About ten percent of the room had woken up and was stumbling around.

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[color=9a8c9a]"No one knows what it's like,

To be the bad goat,

To be the sad goat,

Behind plum eyes."[/color]

[color=888888]— Black Gate[/color][/center]

The bird miseria died much more easily this time around, with Nyxia being able to slay two of them without any assistance. The club was starting to scatter, with some headed for the mountains. It was unclear if everyone was going to heed Hizuki’s request, but at least some of them were. For the moment at least, it appeared that it would just be Hizuki engaging Black Gate and her friend. 

Mr Banana had flattened about a quarter of the school with all of his flailing, and would likely destroy more if something wasn’t done about him. Hizuki positioned herself in the way and braced for him. When he finally made contact with her palms, the force was strong enough to shove Hizuki through the roof and onto the next floor. That too gave out, dropping her to the floor below that. Eventually the floor couldn’t give way anymore, and the concrete foundation under the building cracked apart like peanut brittle. It bunched up under Hizuki’s heels until the rolling primate came to a stop. 

He rolled backwards onto his feet. He was supporting his weight between his back legs and one of his front arms, while the other sheltered Black Gate beneath his chest. Black Gate sat upright and hugged one of Mr Banana’s fingers. [color=9a8c9a]"You’re strong, paladin."[/color] She pressed her forehead against the monkey’s fingertip. [color=9a8c9a]"I wish I could be as strong as you. Then I wouldn’t be afraid anymore. But dark magical girls can only get stronger by partaking in great tragedies."[/color] Mr Banana swiped his hand across the ground, casting a slew of debris into the air. Broken blocks of concrete, steel beams, among a few truck fulls of dirt. They’d fall down all over the school, including the cafeteria. Meanwhile, Mr Banana was preparing to charge forwards again. [color=9a8c9a]"You know there’s no one in the cafeteria worth saving. They’re all horrible people. The world would be better without them."[/color]

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Oros got outside just in time to see the black golem begin to stitch itself together. She inhaled deeply and ran up to the golem, skating up its leg as it assembled itself. Then with a hop, she performed half of a mid-air flip before the golem sealed itself closed around her. She was suspended upside down, plastered inside layers of black string. 

[color=ff6347]"I thought it was going to be roomier."[/color] A miscalculation on her part. At least there was enough room to move her jaw, even if the rest of her was wound too tightly to move. At least, without damaging the golem. [color=ff6347]"It’s also really dark. How do you see in here?"[/color]

The bone giant parted from the mountain. Some trees were still rooted into dirt around his shoulders, but it did nothing to impede its movement. Each step it took shook the earth, and it was getting faster with each step. 

The giant did not pause, but it did turn its many hollowed eyes onto those that approached. Each of its jaws swung open and a cloud of black mist floated into the air. As the mist dispersed it became apparent that it was actually many, many greater miseria. Misshapen birds that should not fly, corpses that live when they should not. Their howls rolled over the city as they closed in to attack. It wouldn’t be long before they made contact.