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Lea did not reply a single word to Penny’s first part, merely glared ahead with narrowed eyes. Then… unsolicited advice. Advice that made her frown. What kind of advice was that? Part from advice that sounded like Penny knew exactly what was on Lea’s mind. Did she know about the Queen’s mind-bend-undoing slice already?

Foolish. Asengav had kept her happy for thousands of years. Who was Penny to say her happiness was better, somehow? As the call ended, Lea lowered her phone… and she felt the darkness behind her gazing at her. It had heard her. Heard her request to slay the Queen of Hearts, and now it wanted answers.

[color=c1eb9b]‘… If she aims all her strength to take out the Queen of Hearts, then it avoids harm to the rest of our forces. If the Queen is strong, she can take some focus-fire. We lose nothing if she dies. If Penny thinks killing the Queen can cause us to make peace, then perhaps she will not aim to hurt anyone else. Anyone we actually need. It is simply a distraction, and make sure the Queen of Hearts pulls her weight in our service,’[/color] Lea told the darkness, framing it as a plot.

The darkness heard her, and slowly slank back where it came…

[color=c1eb9b]‘…’[/color] Lea could have told him about the un-mind-bending that had afflicted everyone. She absolutely, absolutely could have. However… a part of her wished to prove she could be Asengav’s worthy follower, even without that silly change. She’d lose that chance if it was reinstated. She could desire him on her own. With her own free mind. That’s what she was telling herself.

She turned to gaze out the direction towards Covington Tower, through the Black Mirror. It seems things were going to go down out there, involving none of the mirrors. She trusted Mikayla had it handled. She always did. But just in case, Lea prepared herself, frowning, gazing down all of their backs… and her eyes landed on Mariette’s.

For some reason, Asengav, in his infinite wisdom, had picked a girl less than a decade old to be his favourite. To rain all his rewards upon. And what had she done? Delayed the ritual, brought this Queen of Hearts into their midst, and that woman had taken Lea’s happiness…

[color=c1eb9b]‘…’[/color]

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Kayli appearing from literally nowhere was concerning. She immediately had spectral soldiers wielding lances and scythes surrounding her on most sides, also seeming to have appeared out of nowhere in response, prepared for whatever shenanigans she might attempt while Mikayla merely stood on her side… but, it seemed like this was the Queen’s battle to fight. So who was Mikayla to deny her the battle?

Instead, Mikayla turned her clawed hand to point at the portal forming ten feet above Covington Tower. There was no way she would miss something like that with her sense of magic.

Her attack was two-fold.

First, an intense shock-wave of a gravitational blast. She wasn’t going to let anyone land on this tower. While the Black Mirror stood here, this was her grounds, and nobody was allowed to walk it without her permission. With the gravity-blast, it was impossible to just “fall” onto the rooftop.

For the second. It was the beam of ghasts that flew at abnormal speeds at the portal and anyone who was coming through. All fighters, soldiers, thugs, knights, empowered with the might of the Netherrealm Queen they flew with swords and lances and axes and shields raised, their spectral bodies twisted by the speed with which they were shot. They were far stronger than they’d been in life as Mikayla’s magic coursed through their attacks, and even if you cut some down there would always be more of them. Mikayla was ready to fight armies of men or dozens of Magical Girls at a time, but she was more than capable of aiming all that firepower at a single point. Standing in the eye of that particular magnifying glass would be very dangerous.

The spectres had been launched by the very same gravitational shock as the one that was stopping descent. They were pale blue, ghastly in appearance, sunken eyes, tattered clothes fluttering over ancient armor, and brandishing their weapons to stab and chop at those standing in their way. If the portal remained open, they would try to barge through it en-masse and attempt to cut into the group waiting at the other side, flying past and cutting down with their blades as they’d try to swirl into the room.

All while Mikayla merely gazed, intensely and unconcerned, her partly uncorporeal body gushing with Powerful Aura as she unleashed her assault; her magic so powerful it was visible as bright blue around her. All while numerous spectral guards were forming around her… just in case.