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For once snow had abated in the city of Penrose. Life continued on, magical girls clashed in politics and personal grievances. Alliances, fights, parties, the drama of a hidden world playing out all the time.
Yet the monsters who threatened the city of Penrose had not simply abated. Some, the more wise, had taken flight with the return of those who had been swept away by a certain Dolphin. But plenty more remained, and they would not stop even if more danger had arrived.
What was once a clear night sky would soon become stained with dark smoke rising from the city. The crackle of flame soon joined it as an abandoned apartment complex began to burn eagerly.
But this was no natural fire. With so many people away there were plenty of unmaintained buildings. That meant plenty of materials to catch on fire and to burn. In turn the ability of the authorities to respond to such an incident was limited, though they would do their best. But this fire was one that would only spread and increase in intensity as time went by.
There was one reason for that in particular. This fire was no accident. Monsters swarmed the place, spiky black limbs allowing them to clamber up walls with ease while flaming maces and blades smashed and cut and further lit the structure on fire. At the moment only two could be seen on the exterior, though there were doubtlessly more inside. If someone did not act, things would quickly spread out of control.
Rina could spot the fire miles away. She had been mostly patrolling around the Golden Trove, but she couldn't simply let a fire like that burn. She had hoped it'd just be a mundane thing and she could simply help rescue anyone caught in it, but it seemed like that wasn't the case. Monsters of fire swarmed the place, eagerly looking for victims and to spread their chaos.
Well, she couldn't let that happen.
A metal snap echoed across the area, a flash of light reflected off the swords body as it streaked across the night air. It slammed into one of the monsters, Rina deciding to take a comfortable position across the street, dealing with them from a distance for now. Take out the two on the outside, then worry about the others that were likely on the inside.
The sword flew with the speed of a bullet, crossing the distance between buildings and slamming into the monster. A screech filled the air as one of the monsters legs was severed, throwing it off balance in its sideways perch. It struggled to adjust only to fail, and was sent falling to the ground in turn with an audible impact against concrete.
The fall did not seem to have finished it off alone, but it was slow as it rose back to its feet. Easy picking for a skilled range fighter. That left the other monster, who snarled at her before scurrying towards the roof. Its flail spun, an effort at some sort of heated shield against her and her projectiles. It did not have the same range that she did, but it seemed as though it did not intend to let that stop it from trying.
“Hmph.” Rina formed several more swords, smaller than the last. Pulling back the arrow she unloaded several in quick succession towards the fiery beast. Not giving it much time to consider or close in on her, she leaped off the building, twisting in air as she continued firing the smaller projectiles until she was behind it. Another sword was formed, larger than the previous ones before unleashing it in the creatures back.
Once again steel flew across the gap. This time it met with fire, heated by contact as the monster sought to defend itself. A few were deflected to the side from kinetic energy, but a flew slipped past to sink into dark blacks and glowing oranges. After a few moments they began to melt from the heat of the monster’s body, though the red iron did not seem to be doing much more damage beyond the initial stab wounds. Considering the appearance and weaponry of the monster, heat was likely not something it had to concern itself with.
With four legs it reoriented rapidly as she came down, burning into stone in impromptu handholds for its mass. It blocked with its knife, but her strength and the size of the blade meant that it could not block her entirely. The blade slashed into its side, earning another screech of pain. The wound glowed a bright orange and yellow, radiating heat and steam that made the air around it discernibly warmer.
Yet it did not stop, not yet. Instead it retaliated, blocking with its lesser blade while trying to bludgeon her with its flail. The monster at the base of the building was forgotten as the duo engaged in their duel.
“Tch, don't have time for you...!” Rina growled. Rina deftly avoided the flail, leaping to the side, using one of her blades to slice into the creatures arm in hopes of completely severing it. Regardless of the outcome, she'd then leap backwards, putting some distance between the two of them and swiftly knocking an arrow, launching it at the second one before it could go anywhere.
Rina’s moves were swift and precise. Her blade slashed through the monster’s arm and caused it to drop the flail. As that fell to the ground she fired an arrow downwards at the other monster outside. That scored a hit and the beast slumped again. Its fire faded, and soon it had dissolved away into nothing more than ash.
The remaining monster prepared to charge Rina as its body heat rose. The knife it held glowed brighter as it reared back and brandished its blade in her direction.
Yet before it could launch itself at her an arrow struck it from the side. Just like its companion, it collapsed onto the rooftop and its heat died as it faded away to ash. The culprit quickly revealed herself as Alicia stepped forward.
”Hope you don’t mind if I cut in,” she said with a nod to the sword wielding magical girl.
”Beacon picked up the fire via their scrying set up. I was the nearest member, so I figured I’d lend a hand.”“Alicia. Thanks for the assist.” Rina said curtly as she took a chance to catch her breath.
“I need to actually talk to you about something, but that can wait until we put these things in the ground.” She formed a sword in her free hand.
“The rest in the building?”Glancing downwards, Alicia stomped on the roof with a nod.
”Yeah,” she confirmed. At the same time she twisted the handle of the bow, and with a small flash it separated. The golden string of magic ran along both segments, blade and curved surfaces sharpening into blades as the bow turned into dual swords. It would be more useful indoors than her bow would have been.
”I’m not the biggest fan of fighting a bunch of fire monsters inside a burning building, but I guess we don’t have much of a choice,” Weapons at the ready, she made her way to the nearby door so they could begin their descent.
“Unless we want to blast the whole building.” Rina grunted, her bow morphing the handle until it formed a sword of a respectable length. She quickly moved to the door just behind Alicia, nodding to her partner.
“I'll take point. I should be able to see anything before it jumps us.” Rina didn't wait for Alicia to confirm, only walk up to the door...and promptly shoved her foot into it, forcibly swinging the door off its weakened hinges and walking inside.
The door stood no chance against the power of Rina’s foot and flew open with a loud ‘bang’. A staircase led downwards and into the apartment complex, and Alicia followed as the two of them headed inside. The smoke wasn’t too bad yet, but it would get thicker as the fire spread and they moved deeper inside.
”Sadly ‘magic building destroying death laser’ is a bit above my pay grade,” Alicia remarked with her voice lowered as they moved along. There was no sign of the monsters yet, but they had barely begun their search.
Rina headed down the stairs, taking it cautiously fast as she descended. The blistering heat of the fires brushed against her skin, but she paid it no mind. A few burns were nothing for her regenerative abilities. In any fire, the worst thing was the smoke.
“Don't see anything yet.” She asked, moving into the hallway at the end of the stairs. Rina would move to the nearest room she could get to that hadn't completely been consumed by flame, keeping both her eyes and ears open for the monsters.
Behind Rina Alicia’s eyes took on a dull glow as she tapped into her Third Eye. Her vision now cut through the smoke with ease, and she glanced around as she sought the monsters. That would at least make it easier than having to search every single room.
She might not have the regeneration that Rina did, but her Enhanced Uniform warded her from the flames to some extent.
”I can see two more near us,” she said before Rina got too carried away.
”Looks like three floors down, closer to the middle of the building.” At least the closer they got, the more the sound of destruction could guide their way.
“Three floors down, eh.” Rina replied with a frown.
“Alright, we can flank 'em. You can fly in from one of the windows on the lower floors. I'll engage from inside. Sound good?””Sounds good to me,” Alicia agreed. With blades at the ready she broke into a sprint before jumping out the nearest window. Wings flared outwards to catch her fall as she fell, before rocketing back inside on one of the lower floors. With her Third Eye she would have no trouble finding the monsters.
That left Rina alone, and free to begin her own part of the plan. The sooner probably the better.
Rina didn't miss a beat. Soon as Alicia agreed, she made her way to the lower floors. Soon she had made her way three floors down – and after killing another innocent door, made her way onto the floor proper. The monsters themselves were not hard to locate. Above the roaring fire and smoke, the growls and hisses of the beasts could be heard.
Zeroing in on them, Rina hoped to catch one by surprise and approached one from the side, slashing away with one of her blades in an effort to sink it deep into its side.
The heat rose the further down Rina went. Smoke increased as well, and the fire became more present all around her. Yet the further she went the more open things were. Walls had been smashed open, furniture destroyed, doors ripped off their hinges. Which was not to say that everything was uniformly flat either. Breaching into the floor above and below, there would be plenty of room to maneuver in this battlefield.
Through it moved the creatures of flame, and she quickly identified one as it clambered about. Sweeping in, the element of surprise was on her side as she struck a savage blow to the monster. The wound glowed a vibrant orange and yellow as it alerted its comrades before retaliating in pain and desperation.
Its wound was grievous, yet that did not stop it from turning and hurling itself against her with knife stabbing as it sought to drag her down through sheer mass and stabbing legs. Both to hurt, and to allow its fellows to close in on her as well.
As her blade sunk into the creatures side, Rina ignored the blistering heat to the best of her ability. Leaving the blade impaled in the creature, Rina formed another sword in her now free hand. Quickly, she deflected the blow from the dagger and turned her body just right to avoid it and flank its side. She thrust the next blade forward, jamming it into the beasts side before attempting to disengage.
If there was one advantage that Rina had, it was her ability to make swords. It meant that she would ever be without a weapon, and she put that to good use now. A quick series of moves followed as she slashed at the monster once again, dodging the retaliatory strikes in turn. She was in her element, a monster hunting machine.
And so it fell, brought low by her attacks. Yet even as she moved to disengage the second one drew near. The flail it held swung out towards her, yet unlike outside it seemed to catch on to the fire that was already present and hurl it at the sword wielding girl like a wave. That would make it much more dangerous.
In the distance one could hear the light twang of a bow, and perhaps flashes of light from arrows. It seemed Alicia had arrived as well.
Geh, it was times like this when she wished she had some more close ranged attacks other than 'stab until dead'. Vaguely aware of Alicia's presence, Rina rolled backwards, grimacing and unable to entirely avoid the wave of fire. As soon as she righted herself, however she fired two quick shots at the beasts face, hoping to give Alicia an opening to finish it off.
The shots were quick, but not quick enough it seemed as the monster dodged on its spider-like legs. If one did not know better, it almost seemed like the fire was making it move faster. The benefits of being in this sort of environment were not limited to attacks. Alicia was still busy with her own monster, and another two would become clear as well. One was moving to confront the archer as she switched between melee and ranged combat on the fly, while the other moved towards Rina at a diagonal angle.
The flail came in again, catching and casting the flames towards her. Its knife glowed a brighter color as the temperature rose and it maneuvered about. This time around it would try to catch one of her limbs, though with the chain made of fire it would be a lot more painful than being caught with normal steel.
On the plus side, there probably weren’t many monsters left besides these, if any. A small comfort.
Alicia had her own problems it seemed. She had only a few moments to think of a battle plan. The only downside with fighting indoors, was a lack of vertical maneuverability in most buildings. Glaring at the fire monster, Rina lunged towards the one swinging at her. Dodging under the beasts swing, she drove a sword into its gut, before leaping upwards and landing behind it, swiftly taking her other sword to the creature’s neck, already forming a new blade to defend against the other one.
Dodging around the oncoming blow, a howl was her reward for the successful strike that followed. Metal sank into its body, causing it both pain and hindering its movements. Yet she would find its smaller blade waiting for her when she went for the neck strike. It glowed with a brilliant incandescence, a sign of the power imbued in it.
That power displayed itself as it swiped at her sword. The blade was burning hot, warping metal and outright slicing through her created blade with ease. That certainly ruined her attack, and made it all the more dangerous as the other monster closed in, both stabbing at her as they engaged in melee combat.
“Shit-” Rina had barely a moment to react as her attack was completely countered. Unable to dodge in time, one of the creatures blades cut into her shoulder, earning a pained grunt from the magical girl. Well, fine! If they wanted to get her this close-!
Rina made no effort to disengage. Instead, she simply tackled the one in front of her, launching herself into it. Both of her blades would sink into its molten body as she hoped to knock it over. Nothing her regeneration couldn't handle.
It was a move that the monster had not been expecting. Most people would not simply tackle a being made of fire, even with magic to aid them. So at the very least she had the element of surprise on her side.
Admittedly, knocking over something with four legs was a bit on the trickier side, but its mass and previous wounds staggered it and sent it tumbling. Its smaller blade slashed and stabbed, the smell of scorched flesh filling the air as the incredible heat burned what was not cut. Plus she had earned a bit of breathing space from the other monster, a fleeting reprieve to finish off this foe.
As soon as the beast fell, Rina rolled off of it, righting herself. Before it could reorient itself, she brought two more swords down, impaling its head and neck.
“Tch...” Rina winced as she stood, her wounds visibly regenerating from the burns. Jeez, that hurt, but at least she had only one more to deal with now.
Her blades landed soundly, impaling the monster before it could harm her more and killing it. It faded, its body adding to the soot and ash that already covered the place. The fire continued to rage, but it did seem to be lessening a bit now that there were less monsters keeping it actively stoked.
Over to the side, Alicia was successfully able to kill one of her monsters as well, lopping off two of its front legs before flipping over it and filling its back with arrows.
”This is what we get for not bringing a Water girl with us,” she observed as she clashed blades to mace with her own final opponent.
Rina was met with her own, the monster using its flail in sharp jabs and throws, rather than the sweeping blows like the previous ones had. Perhaps it was learning, or maybe it assumed those would be harder to block and get around. They’d find out soon enough.
“If you know one,” Rina grunted in reply, forming a blade in an attempt to deflect the sweeping strike from the beast.
“Better late than never.” The archer attempted to close in, using her other blade to strike the beast's other arm.
”They’re on the way. Though we may be nice and crispy by then,” Alicia answered with a grunt. Weaving, she found one of her blades entangled by a chain of fire The weapon was wrenched from her grip and sent clattering away near Rina, forcing her to fight one handed for the moment.
Meanwhile the monster jumped back as she tried to close in, the monster leveraging its mixed combat capabilities to keep out of arms reach. It was wary of her blades, moreso than its companion had been. Heat rose, stifling in spite of regeneration, and with smoke to match it. At least the burning figure was not difficult to make out amidst everything else.
“Almost makes me miss that dolphin and the beach!” Rina replied curtly, the flail from the monster meeting her blade – except she had positioned it slightly just to wrap around her blade. Smirking, the archer would make a move to shove the blade into the ground – with the flail still wrapped around it to prevent the creature from moving.
The monster was not expecting her clever tactic, eyes widening in response as it yanked at the flames only to find it stuck in place from the sword. After a moment it cut its losses, releasing the chain and letting that flame die out even as it crafted a new weapon for itself. But that left an opening for Rina to take advantage of, one that would not last long.
Smirking in a bit of self satisfaction, Rina lunged forwards, driving her sword into the creatures chest. A second and third blade were quickly formed, finding themselves soon impaled into the creature's neck and gut. Disengaging, Rina leaped backwards and knocked a particularly large blade into her bow. The metal wire string pulled back tight, a sharp snap barely audibly over the fire as it launched the sword towards the target.
The searing blade that it held deflected her initial blow off course. But without the flail to assist Rina’s speed soon proved superior as she stabbed and then shot it, finishing the monster off for good.
At about the same time Alicia was wrapping up with hers as well. She only had the one blade. She had maneuvered well and utilized her Light magic too, causing it to knock out a support pillar and bringing down part of the floor above on top of it. With the monster pinned, she was able to finish it off.
Yet they could not rest easy. One last monster appeared from the smoke, late to the party. Looking at its fallen comrades, a screech filled the air. Power flared, radiating from the being as it drew on its magic. In turn the fires nearby were pulled towards the monster, merging with it and making it stronger. And not just this room. It seemed like all the fire in the building would be drawn in that way as it grew in both size and power.
Joining Rina, Alicia retrieved her other sword and returned the weapon to bow form.
”We probably shouldn’t let that thing finish,” she observed, already stringing arrows to renew her attack.
“Tch, always one more crawling out of some hole.” Rina grunted, already making more blades to use. She'd preferably get in close and use her agility to her advantage, but with the fire growing more intense her regeneration probably couldn't keep up.
“Lets not give it a chance then!”Stringing up another sword, Rina launched it towards the beast, keeping her eyes on the creature for some sort of weakness or opening.
As the heat flowed in, the monster grew. Extra legs sprouted out as well as extra arms. The heat around it intensified, and space shrunk that they had to maneuver in as well. It was drawing on the fire, using it to make itself stronger. While that boost might not last long, it would make it much more difficult to defeat.
”I’ll flank left,” Alicia said, crouching low while moving in that direction. Rina would find that the short blade had lengthened more to an actual sword, one that swatted her blade aside as it moved towards her. Fear was vanishing with its rising power, and it would follow up with a kick from one of its many legs aimed at her.
Rina narrowed her eyes at the beast as it lunged forwards. Hot flames blasted towards her as it lashed out with one of its legs. The archer dove to the right, opposite of Alicia, rolling along the burning floor and firing a few quick shots as she came to a stop.
Her shots found a bit more purchase this time around. While one or two arrows would be avoided entirely, the others struck home. But with the increased size and mass of the thing, they did less damage than they had done previously. Soon the heat had them melting, limiting the harm they would do to its mobility.
Coming to a stop on the other side of the monster, Alicia began to marshal her magical energy. This would take a few moments and might cause more than a little collateral damage, but at this point they had little choice.
For now Rina would need to buy time as she earned the monster’s ire. Walls of fire swept towards her, burning and consuming with a suffocating heat and scorching flame. It then swung its flail at her, though by this point it was more dangerous, now sporting several balls at the end that caused explosions when they struck, rather than the one she was used to. But they’d known this wouldn’t be easy to deal with going in. What was one more challenge.
Rina grimaced as she noticed her blades had little effect. She cast a glance over to Alicia who was...doing something? Well, she'd just need to buy Alicia some time to do whatever it was she was doing. If she had an idea, then she'd let her do it. Rina formed a blade, larger than the ones she had used previously. If it was going to melt her blades, then she just needed to make them bigger.
Avoiding the flail as best she could, Rina fired the blade towards the creature's head. A particularly large blade was loosed towards its legs, in an attempt to knock it over.
Understandably the monster viewed the sword aimed at its head as the greater threat, and it focused on blocking that. While it did so, her following shot was more successful and caused it to stumble, dropping on one side.
From behind Alicia struck. A beam of dazzling light fired from her bow, not a simple magical arrow but rather a concentrated burst of energy that slammed into it like a hammer as she drew on her Blood Magic. It wasn’t the same reckless expenditure like what she had done back in the Overcity during the trip to Justine’s castle, but it was similar.
The monster screeched, thrashing in pain under the force of the spell. She did her best to keep her aim steady, but it did gouge into the ceiling and walls beyond a little bit. As the spell faded, Rina could see that a large chunk had been torn from the monster. Two arms had been blown off, and its left side had been savaged so as to reveal the fires burning within.
Whirling about, the monster responded surprisingly quickly as it swung at Alicia.
”Oh shi-” She managed to get out an exclamation of surprise as she dove out of the way. Yet the force of the impacting flails caused the ground to collapse, throwing her down to the floor below in a cascade of rubble and smoke.
With her likely incapacitated, the monster returned to Rina. Even now she could see that it was starting to regenerate itself with its gathered fire. If she didn’t finish it now, the fight would likely just get tougher.
“Alicia!” Damn, Rina didn't have time to worry about her. She narrowed her eyes at the fiery beast, ignoring the intense flames as she formed another sword. Tsk, if only she had a little more in the way of physical combat. Ignoring perhaps, a bit of better judgment, Rina moved in closer to the creature, leaping upwards, spinning she formed a large blade similar to how she had done at the stadium just a few months prior.
The massive blade slammed into the monster and the floor below, likely taking out another chunk of the floor with it.
What resistance the monster put up could not match against sheer force of mass. At best it could wrap the chains of its flail around the blade, trying to yank it to the side. While that might have saved it immediate termination, it caused the floor beneath it to crumble once again.
Legs grasped for purchase but failed, sending it tumbling to the floor below, and then the floor below that as damage from the fire took its toll on the building.
Yet it rose again, voicing its anger as legs rose to pull itself back up to her. At least she could see that Alicia was alright, the magical girl already pulling herself back to her feet and only moderately worse for wear. Moving to the edge of the hole, a sigil formed in the air in front of her before a veritable storm of arrows was sent down at the monster, courtesy of her Barrage powers. She intended to end this, right here and now.
Rina landed just on the floor above, at the edge of the broken floor. As Alicia moved to fire a barrage of shots at it, Rina formed several blades, knocking them into her bow. A swift upwards motion as she loosed the arrows, and the blades would impale themselves in different parts of the creatures body.
The monster roared, swinging and clawing as it suffered under the pummeling blows. It almost pulled itself away, only for Rina’s blades to pin it in place. It was the equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel, and with a last burst of fire that roared upwards and singed what eyebrows they had left, it fell just like its comrades.
Dismissing her weapon, Alicia nodded to Rina.
”Let’s get out of here,” she called. With the monster dead, most of the fires were outright gone. It had taken them with it. But she’d prefer to talk in fresh air, rather than here where firefighters might stumble upon them.
“Phew...” At least it was finally dead. Rina's bow disappeared, along with the rest of her unused blades. The monster should dissipate by itself soon enough and any evidence should be gone by the time others showed up anyways.
“Hey Alicia,” Rina walked alongside the other girl as they left.
“Mind coming back to my place? I have something Beacon is going to be interested in.””Sure. Lead the way,”Alicia agreed with a nod. She had the time, and after all of that she didn’t mind a break to relax either.And if Katarina wanted to talk it was probably important.
The two of them headed off, leaving the monsters behind and their work here finished. The city could rest easy, knowing they were a bit safer.
To be continued….
Renose
BrokenPromise
Azure Bubbles
