July 2025

  ***

  It was a rather unremarkable day for Seika. Work was mostly reading web novels again to scout for potential talent and checking her emails ever so often to answer any questions her authors had for her.

  She sent Mana, Hifumi and Hashima each a message to congratulate them on the release of their newest volumes as well. Hashima’s message was immediately read, but both Hifumi and Mana failed to read their LINE messages all day. Seika assumed that they were both in another world, given everything she knew about them.

  I should visit Romystedt again at some point… there was so much there that I still wanted to see. Maybe I can take Miori and Ayame on a date? A leisurely stroll through the streets? Maybe I can ask Nicola when there’s another festival that we could attend, or if she has any recommendation for restaurants.

  “I want to see more of that world, as well. The spirits that inhabit the night are intriguing.”

  Seika smiled at the observation of her partner, putting a hand on her crystal earring.

  You’re the adventurous type, hm?

  “It’s a welcome distraction from our everyday life. Fighting strange creatures when they come here is well enough, but I’d like to see some of them in their native worlds.”

  Seika nodded and looked at the time, seeing that it was about time for her to clock out. She powered her PC down and let out a little yawn as she stretched, giving Watanabe and some colleagues a little wave in goodbye as she left the office. She contemplated what she should do tonight, seeing how Miori had a shift at Snack Starlight and wouldn’t be at home.

  Her contemplations were interrupted as her earring, or rather Minerva, vibrated in a warning.

  “I’m detecting the shades of the Dream Empress in the city.”

  Really?

  Seika furrowed her brow and fished out her phone, opening her group chat with Miori, Miyu and Momo.

  ‘Seika: It looks like the Dream Empress is active again.’

  ‘Momo: Sit back and relax, Paisen. I still haven’t knocked all her teeth out and I’m gonna finish what I started!’

  ‘Miyu: I’m going to make sure that she’s not getting herself killed. We’ll let you know if we need help.’

  Seika blinked and looked at the messages, scratching her head.

  “Those two are very eager recently. Well, if they can handle it…” Seika sent a sticker showing a thumbs up to the two girls and went back home for now.

  Luna and Sol approached the harbor area of Tokyo Bay. Warehouses lined the docks, the same kind which a certain organization used last year to operate a trafficking ring from, and today one of them was used to hold the victims of a rather stubborn, but nonetheless dangerous villainess. At least that was how far Miyu’s assumptions went regarding that place. Once more, the villainess left the abducted children’s backpacks on the ground, with their blaring alarms serving as a breadcrumb trail, or rather a blatant invitation into the mysterious woman’s obvious trap.

  “She obviously wants us to follow her, again… what do you think she has in store for us this time?” Sol asked bitterly and Luna simply grinned, slamming her fist into her open palm.

  “Does it matter? Let’s kick her ass!”

  Sol raised her eyebrow at Luna, but she didn’t object. She flew beside her partner as they approached the warehouse which the trail of backpacks and personal alarms led to, landing in front of the door. A small crowd had gathered and the two immediately went to work dispersing them.

  “Move along, please! It’s going to get dangerous in a moment!” Sol instructed them.

  “We’ll tell you all about what happened when we’re done, alright?” Luna added with a wink towards the crowd. It took a little bit more convincing, but soon the group of people retreated far enough from the warehouse that the two felt comfortable enough to enter.

  The warehouse was vacant, with no goods inside. It was only a large, empty hall, save for the ghosts waiting for the arrival of the Magical Girl idols. They took the shape of Magical Girls, or of sentai heroes. One looked like one of the heroes of the long-running Dragon Quest series, though his face was replaced by that of a young boy. Youthful dreams, exposed and perverted for the villainesses’ own ends.

  “Not going to face us yourself? Are you afraid of me punching you again, huh?!” Momo taunted into the empty hall. There was no response. Miyu furrowed her brow and scanned their surroundings; as far as she could tell, only the ghosts were present, not even the bubbles trapping the children whose dreams were being perverted into weapons were here.

  “I have a bad feeling about this.” Sol whispered to her partner, who nodded in response. Still, Sol readied her spear and Luna channeled her magic as the two of them approached the phantoms, who looked like they were waiting for the Celestial Sisters to make the first move.

  They would have died then and there, if Sol’s spear weren’t polished to a mirror-like sheen, allowing her to see the strange ripples in the air that approached them rapidly from behind.

  Luna reacted first. She pushed Sol out of the way and summoned a barrier in front of the two, which the rippling air collided with. A screeching sound reminiscent of nails on chalkboard could be heard as their would-be assassin’s blades scratched against the magic shield. This was when whatever magic she used to conceal herself wore off and the two idols were faced with an elven woman. Long black hair fell on either side of her cruel face and her violet eyes pierced them with their cold gaze. She separated from the shield and tossed a dagger Sol’s way, which only barely grazed her as she dodged out of the way.

  She wanted to shout a question her way, but the assassin never let up. She dashed to the side, tossing dagger after dagger to keep her two opponents busy deflecting as she circled around them. She leapt towards Luna, aiming to ram her daggers into her back. It was now Sol’s turn to save her partner; she ran to her side, tackling her aside as she met the assailant with her spear. With the elf being mid-jump, she should have impaled herself, but with the quick use of magic she defied the laws of nature and propelled herself off a suddenly appearing magic circle. She was diving sideways, and Sol noticed too late that the woman had some kind of crossbow construct mounted on her left leather gauntlet; a razor-sharp metallic tip pointed straight at the idol and flew towards her neck, and it was only thanks to Luna’s quick use of a fireball catching both the arrow and the assassin that Sol drew her next breath.

  The two quickly stood side by side, looking at the blazing inferno in front of them. The winds of the fire now dispersed the ghosts of the children. They were nothing but mirages, adding insult to the injury of this trap.

  “We should get out of here and warn Minerva and Bellona!” Sol suggested and Luna nodded before the two made a break for it towards the warehouse’s door.

  Just as they reached for the door handle, they hit a hard obstacle. As if there was an invisible wall, their hands came to a stop, and a faint blue glow emerged wherever they pushed.

  “No way…” Luna mumbled and fired a few firebolt spells at random into the room. Wherever she aimed, blue flashes of light accompanied them hitting something invisible.

  “I’m afraid no one is leaving until either you are dead… or I am,” a soft voice spoke to them with dripping sadism. The inferno of the fireball died down, and the assassin stood in the middle of the flames, entirely unharmed as multiple wooden talismans dangling from her necklace emitted a blue glow from within their carved runes.

  “You’re the one who stalked Miori! What do you want?!” Sol spat, but the elf only grinned, drawing two short swords from sheathes on her belt and approaching them slowly.

  “Isn’t it obvious what I want? Just look at you! Wearing the guise of astral warriors, even though you were cast aside by the mistress. You should have crawled into a gutter and died, but instead you continue to besmirch her name by dancing and singing like pleasure district girls, wearing her heraldry! Her iconography!”

  Luna and Sol exchanged a short look – then Sol balled her left hand into a fist and gritted her teeth.

  “So you’re a servant of the High Enchantress?! I still have unfinished business with her,” Sol hissed, narrowing her eyes at the assassin. The otherworldly woman gave her a mad grin and licked her lips in return, readying herself for further combat.

  “Too bad you won’t leave this place alive, then.”

  “An incursion! A Shadow,” Minerva spoke up in Seika’s mind as she stood in front of her apartment’s door. She blinked and cupped her earring, furrowing her brow.

  “Today’s got a little bit of everything for everyone, huh? First the Dream Empress kidnaps children, and now this.”

  She turned away from the door and walked back towards the elevator to ride it downstairs again.

  “Fill me in, then,” she urged Minerva to continue. Her mind was already made up and ready to face the creature.

  “Strangely enough, it’s not a regular one. It’s an Empress.”

  A wave of nausea washed over Seika as she heard that it was one of the higher rungs of them. Luckily, she didn’t have a panic attack this time. She was, however, very confused.

  “An Empress?! Right from the start? How come we can detect her?” Seika furrowed her brow, recalling the Shadow that managed to swallow one of the Kuma Group girls a year ago.

  “She must have been born recently – some unlucky magic user probably got swallowed the moment she emerged. Or she came like this from another world directly.”

  “The latter sounds more likely,” Seika confirmed, fishing her phone out of her pocket as she left the house, opening the Magical Girl group chat.

  ‘Miori: Bellona told me. I should come along.’

  ‘Seika: Don’t. Your shift has just started. Besides, I figured out a countermeasure against an Empresses’ regeneration abilities.’

  ‘Miori: The moment you think you’re struggling you withdraw and give me a signal, got it?’

  ‘Seika: I will. I’ll come over once I’m done and have a drink, how about that?’

  ‘Miori: It’s a promise.’

  Seika grinned and stowed her phone before she entered a narrow alley near their house and transformed. Minerva Crimson ascended into the sky, shooting towards the place the Shadow’s presence guided her: Harajuku.

  ***

  It took her barely a minute to arrive above Takeshita Street. It was bustling with activity as always, with people coming and going to and from specialty stores. She could feel the creature’s presence, but there was no visible hint that anything was wrong. And despite that, she couldn’t even sense the presence of a pocket dimension, either.

  It’s out in the open, but it’s not causing anyone to panic?

  “Be on your guard anyway. Shadows are devious creatures who keep surprising us with weird abilities.”

  You don’t have to tell me, partner…

  Minerva descended and stood in the middle of the bustling street, letting her eyes wander. People shot her a few odd glances, and a few realized that her presence meant trouble, so they accelerated their steps – soon the street cleared out, save for a tall woman wearing a black dress, who stood with her back to Minerva. She hadn’t moved at all since the Magical Girl arrived in Takeshita Street.

  “Hey, miss! It’s dangerous here. A monster is lurking somewhere in a corner and waiting to abduct people.”

  She walked over to the woman, who only turned around as Minerva was only a meter away from her. Minerva stopped dead in her tracks as the tall, strange woman faced her; if she had a face.

  She wore a veil which obscured wherever her face would have been, but there was only a black void underneath. Minerva recoiled, put off by the figure’s uncanny movements as it leaned closer. She summoned her sword to her side, only a moment too late as the person, no, the creature jumped at her, dragging her into its pocket dimension.

  ***

  Once the two were in the pocket dimension, the creature grew several sizes. It was still shaped like the silhouette of an elegant woman, but now it tore away its veil to show the dark void underneath. Minerva could feel a draft, like the void contained a vacuum which relentlessly sucked in the surrounding air and objects.

  “I preferred the pile of naked women.” Minerva commented dryly, and her other half chuckled in her mind.

  “Me, too. But for now, focus! Let’s get the victim out and then go have a drink at Snack Starlight.”

  Minerva jumped out of the way as she saw that strange, gaping void where the creature’s face should be pointing her way. Her intuition was proven correct as the clothes on display in front of a store were immediately sucked in by a powerful gale heading for the creature’s maw and vanished inside the void.

  “Have I ever told you that it’s annoying that they all have different shapes?” Minerva complained to her crystal companion, landing on top of a nearby building while looking down at the creature.

  “A sickening number of times,” Minerva proper answered her, with her answer unchanged from all the other times they had this exchange.

  “I think we should plug her head hole and see where that takes us.”

  “Agreed.”

  Minerva moved. The creature swung its head around towards her, sucking up more items on the street into its maw, and this was just what she wanted it to do. She summoned a large boulder, tossing it the creature’s way before dodging out of the way of the sucking vortex forming around its face.

  It struck the creature in the face, and judging by the sound it made, it plugged the vacuuming hole good. Minerva could see its head slowly engulfing the rock as it was obviously just a matter of time until the creature had swallowed it and the whole thing would start over again.

  She hurried to the side of the flailing creature and touched its torso, attempting to locate the victim inside.

  “Found her. Balled up in the torso so we can remove the head and limbs. It’s… an adult?”

  Minerva furrowed her brow skeptically. Maybe this was a former Magical Girl, but in that case, Minerva should be facing a queen, not an empress. She couldn’t dwell on the thought as the creature’s flailing limbs almost hit her and its void in place of a face finally swallowed the boulder. The creature’s neck bulged cartoonishly as it gulped, before all the mass of the rock simply vanished from existence. A loud, horrifying shriek came from the void in its head as it turned to face Minerva again. Wire mannequins and the newest fashion on display were devoured wherever the creature looked and Minerva had to keep moving. It followed as she jumped on the rooftops above the tight shopping street and attempted another swipe with its large clawed hands. Minerva in turn extended her cane towards the Shadow and pierced the reaching arm with an icicle. Its black flesh was torn at the elbow, and the arm fell down, stretching out in a disgusting display until the final piece of flesh still connecting it to the body tore and it fell to the ground. The creature looked at the damage to its limb and Minerva could almost see a befuddled expression despite the lack of a face. The stump bubbled and as Minerva suspected, the creature started to regenerate, drawing on the magic energies of its occupant.

  Time for my trump card, then.

  Minerva extended a hand and cast her stasis spell on the creature’s stump. It shrieked, turning its head and Minerva had to jump aside to dodge the vacuum pull of its endless void.

  “I’ve had quite enough of that gaping maw of yours!” the Magical Girl declared, dashing forwards in a daring attack while still focusing on preventing the arm from regrowing.

  Her blade left a silver trail in the air, and the strange void died down. A moment later, the creature’s head fell on the pavement next to its own feet and it stumbled around, disoriented.

  “Get her out, now!” Minerva proper shouted in their shared mind, and she followed through, reaching out a hand and touching the creature’s chest. Ripples went through the shadowy body as the monster’s victim slid free from the mass of darkness which held them in place as an energy source.

  “It’s alright now! You’re safe!” she declared, eagerly awaiting to see the face of whoever was trapped inside.

  She saw an ornate carnival mask emerge.

  “Thank you, hero. Now, rest well!”

  Minerva’s eyes widened as she recognized the Dream Empress leaving the defeated Shadow. She wanted to jump a step back, summon her weapon to her side and ready herself for combat as she realized that she was in trouble, but her body wouldn’t obey her.

  She stumbled backwards and looked down. She was back to wearing her white office shirt, which slowly stained red from her chest. Minerva was still in her brooch-sized form, oddly enough. More worrisome than that were the cracks forming across the entirety of her surface, originating from a knife stuck in its center. A strange white liquid dripped from the blade near the handle, which was still firmly in the hand of the Dream Empress. White mixed with red as she yanked the knife back out of Seika’s heart, letting Minerva fall to the ground where she cracked and shattered into half a dozen pieces.

  Seika’s lips trembled as she fell on her knees, then on her side. She felt a pool of warmth spread around her, which kept soaking her shirt as her consciousness faded, with only a single thought.

  No… I must… warn them all… Miori… Ayame…

  ***

  Maria Hattori looked at the woman lying on the roof of a small shop in Harajuku. A puddle of blood grew around her with the ever-weakening beat of her dying heart. A pitiful death for the lover of the woman she loathed so much. She turned the bloodstained knife in her hand, where remnants of mistletoe poison brightened the dead woman’s lifeblood into a pink hue.

  “It really can kill gods. And their wielders beside. Good,” she noted and turned her back on the woman on the ground. Her next goal was Snack Starlight, where her other target was working a shift. As she ascended into the sky she thought about the bloody scene behind her, which made the scar on her shoulder ache. Today she would finally get her revenge and move on.

  Sol let out a yelp as she crashed into the wall of the warehouse, following a powerful kick of her adversary. The elf in front of the Magical Girl idols wasn’t magically enhanced, as far as she could tell, but she was a highly skilled and trained elf assassin utilizing her species’ agility to its fullest potential. She dodged any of Sol’s spear thrusts or Luna’s fireballs with ease, even managing to dodge thunderbolts. Meanwhile, the two idol Magical Girls could barely keep up, and it was all they could do to avoid being sliced by the assassin’s many blades. Just now, as Sol landed against the wall, Luna erected a hasty barrier in front of her which stopped the assassin’s follow-up thrust aiming for her jugular.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “Oh I’ve waited for this for so long! You little fakers, sullying the mistresses’ honor! I’ll take my time gutting you, mark my words!” the assassin screamed at Sol with a mad grin on her face, putting her weight behind the thrust as it kept clashing against the barrier. Sol’s eyes went wide as she saw strange, curvy runed glow on the blade, and she quickly listened to her instinct, which told her to dodge to the side. The magic barrier broke, and the dagger embedded itself in the warehouse’s wall.

  The assassin let out a disappointed click of her tongue as she looked at the two idols who stood side by side again.

  “You know, despite being fakers, you show some impressive teamwork. If you weren’t lowly humans, I would even go as far as praising you.”

  “Shut your trap!” Luna shouted and magic circles appeared around her hands. She shot multiple blue glowing magical projectiles towards the assassin, which she sidestepped with ease, showing Luna a mocking grin before the Magical Girl kept gesturing. The projectiles changed course, circling back for the assassin, who turned her head in surprise and had to dodge quickly in a less graceful manner than before. She kept dancing as the magical projectiles kept hunting her, and one even grazed her shoulder, tearing her armor open.

  “Oh, you insolent…! I think that’s quite enough of you!” she shouted and suddenly made a beeline for Luna. Sol jumped in her way and the assassin dodged over one of her spear strikes with a graceful jump. Luna immediately abandoned her projectiles and erected a barrier in front of herself, then the assassin played her trump card: she grabbed one of the wooden charms dangling from her neck and held it in front of her. A glow emitted from the charm and Luna went wide-eyed as her barrier fizzled out, just a moment before the assassin’s boot hit her square in the face and sent her flying into the nearest wall. She crashed into it and fell down on the ground, motionless.

  “Momo!” Sol shouted, but the assassin was immediately on her. She tried to keep her at a distance with her spear’s reach, but the elf simply dodged from side to side, like this was merely a dance for her. She finally grabbed the spear haft and held it firmly in place, bringing herself face to face with the idol Magical Girl.

  “And now, finally… the moment I’ve been waiting for.”

  Sol grimaced and let go of the spear to bring her opponent off-balance, attempting to punch her instead. The assassin, however, caught her blow and showed her a mad grin. The next moment her dagger’s handle was painfully thrust into Sol’s chest, and she stumbled backwards. The assassin followed up, stabbing Sol over and over, and Sol screamed. Even though she was protected by a magic charm, she felt the pain of every hit, like searing hot iron was rammed into her chest, over and over. Sol kept walking backwards until she hit a wall and slid down. Her transformation came undone from the damage and she sat there, as a black-haired gyaru, staring at her opponent. Her chest was bruised all over from the lethal blows to her Magical Girl form, and she grimaced as she could barely move. The protective ring that saved her life during this ordeal blackened and turned to ash.

  “You know… none of this would have happened if you simply picked different outfits to perform in. But you had to keep up your little farce… keep pretending that you wielded the mistresses’ powers. I bet people are mocking her name now, because of your little show!”

  Miyu grimaced and simply spat in the elf’s face, who looked at her with a monstrous, offended expression before she drove her dagger into Miyu’s thigh. Her vision went red, and she let out a long scream as she assassin twisted her knife in Miyu’s flesh.

  “Oh, that was unwise! Very, very unwise! You are a mere human! An insect compared to my glorious people! I will properly show you your place before I end you.”

  “Don’t bother,” Miyu pushed out between her teeth and through the pain, showing the assassin a strained smirk as she saw her confused expression.

  “I just needed your undivided attention for a moment.”

  The assassin’s body yanked to the side, struck by multiple arrows made of light. She yelped in pain, turning around to see Luna, who pointed multiple of those same arrows drawn on a bow’s string at her.

  “What…? How?! It’s daytime! My mistresses magic is perfect! There is no way this would be possible! How dare you?!” She reached for her knives, but Luna simply let go of her bowstring. No matter how skilled or agile this elf was, there was no way she’d dodge multiple arrows at short range while she was already wounded. Three arrows hit her chest, slightly spaced apart, and the elf’s hateful visage froze in a surprised expression as her body slumped backwards on the ground.

  “Miyu, are you alright?!” Luna was immediately by her side, freezing with her hands hovering above the knife in Miyu’s thigh and applying healing magic.

  “I’m… alright… please, you have to find and warn our paisens!” Miyu pushed through her teeth while fighting the pain in her leg. She rummaged through a little bag and dropped a magic ring as it slipped from her fingers.

  “Take… this. Find… them. I’ll get myself patched up… and I’ll follow.”

  Luna bit her lower lip and hesitantly picked up the ring.

  “Alright, but ya better believe I’m immediately coming back for ya and get help!”

  Miyu managed a strained smile and nodded. Luna grabbed the wooden talismans off the elf’s necklace and destroyed them with a quick fire spell, which collapsed the barrier encasing the warehouse, then she took off at high speed. Miyu followed her with her eyes and let out a long sigh. She objected to using the modified earrings provided to them by Madame Bille at first, but she couldn’t deny that they saved her life today. Especially Madame Bille’s modification which allowed them to store energy for their weapon forms to use them for a limited time during the wrong time of day.

  ***

  “Come on, read yer texts!” Luna shouted at her phone as she flew across the sky while checking the Magical Girl group chat. She immediately wrote ‘The abduction was a trap! There are enemies coming for you, watch out!’ but neither Seika nor Miori’s status on the message changed to ‘seen’. She scrolled up, looking at messages mentioning a Shadow Empress and cursed quietly. She slipped on a locator ring, flying to wherever Seika was. She just hoped she wasn’t too late.

  Miori would be lying if she said she wasn’t worried. So far, Seika only fought one Shadow Empress, with the help of a creature called ‘Kuma’, and it was a close one back then. She appeared confident in her ability to take this one on her own, but Miori wasn’t entirely convinced. She was aware of Seika’s ace in the hole, her stasis magic, which she could use to halt the regeneration of enemy creatures, but Shadows were such diverse and strange monsters that no one plan to fight them would work on all of them.

  She placed her phone on the counter to keep her eye on it, looking for a notification, while she served her regulars at Snack Starlight.

  “So, Miori, you’re in a relationship with a woman, eh?” one of her regulars noted, and she nodded with a little smirk.

  “Two of them.”

  “Haha! Our Miori’s a greedy one!” another regular laughed.

  The news that Miori was taken spread fast among Snack Starlight’s clientele, and most of them welcomed it. While the occasional flirting happened, people were aware that this wasn’t a hostess bar, or any other establishment in which the waitress was ‘available’. Most of the men coming here were married businessmen either way, to varying degrees of happiness, as it were.

  Miori heard the door to Snack Starlight open and turned to face the newcomer, bowing towards them as she saw high heels descending the stairs. As she raised her head again, she froze for a moment.

  Maria Hattori stood in the entrance, looking Miori in the eyes and showing her a rather self-satisfied grin.

  “Welcome to Snack Starlight, valued customer!” Miori said robotically, reverting to her fa?ade.

  “Hmm, what a charming little watering hole! And to think that they employ an up-and-coming star model!” Maria announced with a little laugh.

  Her regulars exchanged a few looks before stealing some glances at the business suit-wearing woman who sat down on the seat right in front of Miori. They gestured for Miori behind Miss Hattori’s back, as if to signal for her that she should let them know if that woman was causing trouble, but Miori just shook her head at them.

  “Whiskey,” the extravagant woman announced.

  “That will be five thousand yen.” Miori replied sarcastically while meeting her eyes.

  “Oh my, an expensive little watering hole. No matter, I’ll pay. All for an opportunity to have a little chat with you.”

  Miori noisily exhaled through her nose and closed her eyes, then she nodded. She turned around, prepared the round ice with the gravity press as usual and poured the whiskey, serving it to her ‘customer’.

  “Here you go. I hope you enjoy it.”

  Hattori reached out for the glass; her lips curled into a little smile, and all of a sudden, she grabbed Miori’s wrist as she answered.

  “I doubt I’ll enjoy it as much as killing your girlfriend.”

  There was an eerie silence in the room after those words and Miori went pale. She looked deep into the other woman’s eyes to search for a lie in them, and as she found none, she was overtaken by sorrowful rage.

  ***

  “Get back here!” Bellona shouted. Miori immediately transformed after Maria’s provocation without caring about whether her regulars would see her or not, and Maria fled upstairs. Bellona immediately followed, into the streets of Kabukicho. It was eerily quiet around her, and soon she realized that she was alone in the street.

  A pocket dimension?

  “Stay vigilant!”

  Bellona nodded and readied her halberd, letting her eyes dart around. Her adversary waited for her at the end of the street, right below the neon torii gate. She looked at Bellona with cold eyes and held a knife, from which a strange, white liquid dripped down on the ground.

  “Are you going to cleave me in two, mighty Magical Girl? I’m just a normal woman,” Maria spoke in a mocking voice. Bellona still saw red from her earlier words and rushed her without a second thought. She opened with a thrust of her halberd, which Maria dodged with uncanny agility. She, in fact, grabbed the halberd by the haft and moved in to attempt a stab into Bellona’ neck.

  “That substance on her knife can kill us!” Bellona proper shouted in her mind. Bellona reacted promptly, dropping and de-summoning the halberd, making Maria fall off-balance. Bellona followed up by throwing a punch, which caught Maria in the chest and catapulted her backwards, making her crash against a nearby building. She remained motionless on the ground for a few seconds before she started to laugh.

  “Ah… ahahaha! I knew it wouldn’t be that easy to land a hit on you!”

  Maria got back on her feet despite the brutal hit and impact she took. She looked bruised, but way better than she should have looked from taking the brunt of a superpowered being’s punch.

  Maria’s body jerked from side to side and she let out quiet moans as black, feathered wings sprouted from her back, ripping her business suit in the process.

  “Unlike Minerva Crimson, who didn’t even realize she had been stabbed in the heart until she was already half dead!” she declared as her face twisted into a cruel, inhuman visage.

  “You’re lying!” Bellona screamed and charged her again. This time she didn’t take any chances: multiple swords were floating around her, ready to dissuade her opponent from even approaching her while she made full use of her halberd’s reach. Maria kept her distance, looking at Bellona with disdain in her eyes.

  “That damned halberd! None of this would have happened if you just minded your business! But you ran me through! You almost killed me! And worst of all, you ruined my beauty!”

  Bellona kept slashing at her, and her opponent nimbly dodged every thrust, swipe and strike as if she was dancing. She was tempted to trade verbal barbs with her as well, but her mind was entirely occupied with Maria’s declaration that Minerva and Seika were dead. She needed to get out of this fight and find her, as fast as possible. She rushed Maria, who dodged to the side, then she sent out her swords, which soared through the air in a wide arc before they curved around and shot right for Maria from multiple angles. The woman barely dodged them – she even got cut on her arm, cursing quietly. Bellona closed the distance, raising her halberd for a downwards chop to cleave the woman in front of her in two. Her halberd met something hard, and Bellona was blinded for an instance as a bright light swallowed Maria Hattori, revealing the Dream Empress in her place, who held her strange scythe across her body, catching the blade of Bellona’s halberd.

  “Oh dear, that was close one! You almost cut me through my scar!” the masked woman announced before she kicked Bellona backwards. Bellona grimaced and braced herself against a tower shield she summoned behind herself, launching towards the villainess, halberd at the ready, and brought it down in a mighty swing, while letting out a blood-curdling scream of rage.

  ***

  “My, you actually managed to beat me in here,” the villainess said with remarkable calmness, considering that the halberd’s blade had completely sunk into her chest. “Maybe I should have used some dream ghosts in here as well, hm…”

  Bellona grimaced and yanked her halberd out of the other woman’s flesh and bones, jumping back a short distance and assuming a defensive stance. The Dream Empress stood there with a hole in her, but there was no blood, and her nonchalant body language even appeared to mock her opponent.

  This isn’t good. Any ideas? Maybe the cheirosiphon?

  There was no reply.

  “Bellona?”

  “Oh dear, I think your crystal friend is a little unresponsive right now…” the Dream Empress announced. Their surroundings grew darker, and the woman let out a mad cackle.

  “Either way, I only needed to keep you from realizing that you have been dreaming since I touched you. Time for you to wake up!”

  ***

  Miori opened her eyes and immediately let out a scream as she felt a debilitating pain in her left arm. She saw a knife embedded in her forearm, while Bellona, the blue crystal, was pinned against it by the blade. A strange white liquid mixed with Miori’s blood as it dripped on the ground, and the crystal slowly cracked before it shattered into half a dozen pieces, which fell to the ground and scattered. All except for a single, small piece lost their shine and turned black. Miori stared at the pieces with wide eyes, her lips forming words, but she brought none out, while tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. A whimpered “Bellona…” was all she could muster before the Dream Empress entered her field of vision and grabbed her by the throat with surprising, terrifying strength, dragging her somewhere. She could make out a familiar shape nearby: the head of a certain world-famous lizard, modeled to peek over the edge of the roof. Miori now realized that they were high up over the streets of Kabukichō, even more so as the villainess held her over the edge of the roof by her throat, letting out a mad cackle.

  “Oh, how many times I’ve dreamed about this for the past five years! To finally hold your life in my hands!”

  Miori looked at her with tear-filled eyes, still struggling and kicking her legs. One of her high heels fell off and down into the street below. This alerted people to what was happening, at least judging by the sudden screams and shouts coming from below.

  “Did you really kill Seika…?”

  The villainess in red didn’t give an answer, but the silence was telling. All strength left Miori as it dawned on her that the woman she had been in love with for seventeen years, who she gave up so many things for and chased after for nine years, who she only got to love for one short year, was now gone.

  “Now… they told me to strike your womb with this,” the Dream Empress mused, lifting her black scythe into view.

  “I am not sure why, since I am going to kill you anyway, but a deal is a deal. How about this, then…?”

  She brought the blade of her scythe between Miori’s legs.

  “I’ll drop you, and it will cleave you from cunt to neck, how about that?”

  Miori gritted her teeth, grabbing the villainesses’ wrist with both hands in desperate defiance.

  “Now, stop struggling, and…”

  “There they are! Please help!” the voice was that of a young girl, and Miori realized that she recognized it. As she looked up, she saw Mana Kanno leave a portal, though she looked a bit different than she did the night she brought her to Hitoishi. Namely, she now sported cat ears and a tail. She also wasn’t alone. A strange man, dressed in wizard robes stepped out of her portal; his wizard hat had laurels around the brim, and he wore a cloak featuring an eagle. His hair glowed in a purple hue, as did his eyes, though they were soon replaced by a burning blue as he channeled magic and lightning arced around his arms and hands.

  “Now, put her down gently and you won’t get hurt,” the wizard snarled.

  The Dream Empress turned her masked face towards him, slowly pulling her scythe away to point it towards the wizard.

  “Not a step closer, or I will simply drop her!” she announced.

  “If you do, I will kill you immediately,” the wizard responded, narrowing his eyes. Miori could see Mana sneak off to the side, obviously trying to get in a position to save Miori. She suddenly heard a gasp, originating from the wizard.

  “…that weapon. It was my father’s. Where did you get that?”

  Miori could feel Maria freeze, as if that question made her realize something. The villainess quickly turned around and raised her scythe to strike her, but she was hit in the back by a lightning bolt, dropping Miori in the process.

  She could hear Mana scream and the wizard shout a curse as she fell. She stared into the sky as the edge of the roof grew ever more distant while her tears left a glittering trail.

  We’ll be together again, Seika. Ayame, I’m so sorry that I made you start a relationship with two women who would only bring you endless grief…

  Just as she expected to hit the street below, she was caught. She felt a draft on her face, like she was moving at a high speed and blinked her tears away to clear her sight. As she turned her head towards the person who saved her, she let out a loud, shocked gasp, but tears of relief filled her eyes now, instead of sorrowful ones.

  “Seika… what happened to you?”

  A few moments prior…

  ***

  Darkness surrounded her. It was familiar, as she experienced it once before. Or maybe she even experienced it three times. The darkness before birth, she witnessed it twice. The darkness as she almost bled to death, which she also experienced, while at the same time watching herself experiencing it.

  Wake up already. Are you planning on staying on the ground all day? Some goddess you are. Whole nations built their iconography around your symbols, and here you are, taking a dirt nap.

  She was confused. Those were her thoughts. Her inner voice, but it spoke to her like it was an entirely different being.

  Open your eyes.

  She tried to. It was a struggle to get her lids moving. As she strained, she felt her senses returning to her. The sense of temperature was first. She was cold, which was probably normal if one lost almost all of their blood. Next was her hearing. She heard sobbing, intermingled with quiet whimpers, vocalizing “Paisen! Paisen, please wake up! Don’t be dead, please!”

  She recognized this voice. It was Momo, also known as the Magical Girl idol Luna. She was an airhead, but a sweetheart, she remembered that much.

  The next sense was touch, and she extensively felt Luna’s hands on her, shaking her to wake her up, while also desperately channeling healing magic.

  There’s no healing magic to bring back the dead. Good thing you aren’t, just yet.

  She regained her sight afterwards. She opened her eyes, accompanied by a gasp to fill her lungs with air again, after an extended period of time without. She saw the blurry shape of Luna jumping a little and falling backwards.

  “You’re alive! H-how?! Wh…what’s with the hair?! Are you transformed, or, like…?”

  She groaned and got her aching muscles to move. She felt her own magic energies coursing through her, mending the damage done to her body by her death, or rather, coming very close to it.

  Pick yourself off the ground.

  She nodded to no one and put her hands on the ground to slowly push herself up. Finally, she was kneeling. Good enough.

  All of you.

  She was confused by what her own thoughts meant by that, until she saw the crimson shards on the ground. They were darkened, like coagulated blood. She scooped them up and looked at them.

  How fortunate, that the blade pushed the surviving part of your soul into your dying flesh. Make yourself whole again!

  With a glance downwards she saw the still open wound in her chest. A small, red glow emerged from the hole, and she concluded that this was where the rest of her would go. One by one she pushed the shards into herself. She felt them merging with the shard that was embedded in her dead heart, but even now, as they formed a whole crystal again, it was cracked and mostly inert.

  “What’s going on? Seika, is that you?”

  You scared the slang out of her. Poor girl.

  She shook her head and squinted at the idol, but it didn’t help. She finally noticed that she was wearing glasses, counteracting her perfect eyesight. She took them off and stowed them in her chest pocket, and while she did so, she passingly saw a red and green glow reflected on the glasses, so she grabbed a strand of her hair and pulled it in view.

  It was glowing red, so she assumed her eyes were responsible for the green reflection. And yet she wore the appearance of an office worker.

  Admire yourself later. We have something to do. Miori is in danger.

  She nodded and got on her feet, looking at poor Luna, who was still staring at her with wide eyes.

  “Where is Miori?”

  ***

  She rapidly approached Kabukichō, with Momo struggling to keep up even while transformed. She had no time to waste; she had to save Miori and Bellona and would do anything to achieve it. She noticed Jove long before she saw the rest of the scene, and despite still being hundreds of meters apart, the two made brief eye contact.

  The stranger from another world. Father.

  She saw relief in his eyes, then she saw the rest of the scene unfold. Miori was dropped down the fifty-meter-tall building by the red-clad villainess, tumbling towards the busy street underneath.

  She accelerated towards Miori and managed to catch her ten meters above the ground. She kept to the street as she flew away from the scene, fully prioritizing the blonde’s safety over facing the villainess. If what she saw was correct, she would be in for a thrashing by Jove himself, and part of her pitied that wretched woman.

  “Seika… what happened to you?”

  She made eye contact with Miori. She decided to answer truthfully.

  “I’m not sure.”

  For now she approached Sayaka’s clinic to get Miori’s arm treated.

  Mana wasn’t entirely sure what she was witnessing. The friendly man she met, Jove, just turned into a force of nature. A beast, even. Lightning arced around his whole body, and he sent bolt after bolt at the screaming woman in red. Burns appeared on her clothes and her body spasmed while she tried to resist him. Mana was sure that a human would have long died from this treatment, but that woman was obviously more resilient than that.

  “MY FATHER’S SCYTHE! YOU STEAL MY FATHER’S SCYTHE, WHICH SEPARATED THE SKY FROM THE EARTH! YOU WIELD IT AGAINST MY DAUGHTERS TO MUTILATE THEM! THERE IS NO MERCY FOR ONE LIKE YOU!”

  More lightning shot the woman’s way, and she screamed, but still didn’t succumb. She now managed to bring her scythe in front of her, which acted like a lightning rod.

  “Oh I didn’t need this scythe to mutilate them… all I needed was a little concoction and a knife to kill them. One of your daughters lies at your feet,” she snarled, and Jove looked like he wanted to call her bluff, but as he glanced towards the ground, his eyes widened at the sight of the cracked crystal shards that surrounded him.

  This was all the distraction the masked woman needed. She threw a knife Jove’s way, and it was all he could do to move to the side so it wouldn’t hit him right in the chest. It hit his arm, and Mana watched in horror as it turned to crystal and crumbled off his shoulder.

  The villainess quickly started a follow-up attack, using this moment of weakness. Scythe raised high she rushed Jove, but her weapon hit one of Mana’s barriers, which she quickly erected, then she was hit by a follow-up Blast spell, soaring away. She stopped her uncontrolled flight with her wings and slashed at the air, opening a tear in reality.

  “Tch… well, I’ll leave you to grieve your daughters… High King!”

  With those words of farewell she vanished inside the strange space behind the cut, and it closed. Mana quickly ran to Jove’s side. He didn’t appear bothered by the loss of his arm, but his eyes started to fill with tears as he picked up the shards of the crystal.

  “Bellona… what did she do to you?” he asked the crystal shards, caressing a small one which still shone brilliantly, unlike its blackened siblings.

  “Is she…?” Mana started.

  “Grievously wounded. She’s alive, barely…”

  He got up and carefully placed all the pieces into a pouch.

  “There was something strange going on with Minerva, too. Take me to her.”

  Miori inspected the bandage wrapped around her arm and grimaced with a tear-stained face. Sayaka disinfected the wound, closed it up with stitches and properly bandaged it, but given the loss of Bellona this still didn’t feel like she was properly treated.

  “So, uh…” Sayaka started, looking at Seika. Since delivering Miori here she just stood in the corner, almost motionless.

  “I can’t treat a hole in the heart. Is that even still Seika, or is she like some… no, that would be messed up to say.”

  “I am not sure who I am…” Seika responded quietly, staring into the distance. A red jewel sat where the hole in her chest opened, pulsing as if it was a replacement heartbeat.

  “Well, whatever happened to you, one thing is certain: you saved Miori. So be proud of that,” Sayaka spoke, scratching the back of her head.

  Miori stared at the ground, and tears welled up in her eyes again. Seika saved her, but was she still herself? Was she even still alive, or was some kind of shard of Minerva puppeteering her body? Not to mention, for all she knew, Bellona was dead now. She felt utterly lost.

  Her thoughts were interrupted as a portal opened in the room and Sayaka let out a groan, walking over to Mana to pinch her cheek after she entered through the portal.

  “You can’t just keep appearing in people’s apartments and clinics like that, young woman!”

  “Ow, ow! I’m sorry, but I brought someone!”

  The purple-haired man Miori saw earlier entered through the portal and stepped towards Seika, completely ignoring Sayaka’s protest or demands that he should introduce himself. His left sleeve was torn, with no arm underneath.

  He scanned Seika up and down with a worried expression, before it made way to a tearful, genuine smile.

  “My daughter… my beautiful, brilliant daughter. Thinking of truly merging with her on the fly to save her life… you must love her so, so much to do that…”

  He wiped at the corner of his eye with his remaining hand before he turned towards Miori.

  “Let me introduce myself: I am Jove. Minerva and Bellona are my daughters. I know what you are thinking, what you are wondering about. And yes: Seika is alive. Minerva is alive. And Bellona, too. And if you’re willing to help, we can return everything to the way it used to be. Are you with me?”