Kouhime Iori got on the bus and carrying with her hand is a large golden toolbox. The entrance of the bus rocked a little as she stepped up carefully as to hold her balance, without looking at the driver or anyone else inside the bus. She turned to the card detector and pulled out her necklace pouch, which contained her pass-card. Sliding the card on the bus, the sensor turned green and she continued further inside. She took three seconds to scout for an empty seat, and chose to sit on an empty spot near the window at a seat before the last to her left. After making sure that her toolbox is safe under her seat, she placed herself comfortable and looked at the window, huffing all the while. The toolbox was quite heavy to carry around, and she was glad that she could finally take it easy for now.
The bus's door closed loudly, and there was the sound of exhaust blaring inside the bus. As the blue-white vehicle left the station, it passed by a black and red sedan with ease and moved closer toward downtown Mitakihara without any issue. Passing the road around the park, the bus went inside an underground passage and the view from her window became darkened with shades. The tunnel's lights passed her by in perpetual quickness, and the girl found herself admiring them with a hand resting her cheek before the window.
It wasn't until the road became darker than usual, or how it should have been to everyone, that her head jolted back in surprise. Outside of her bus were shadows creeping up along the wall with red marks slithering with them. Pressing her hands before the glasses, she felt reality shook and the shockwave made her want to hurl. Being forcefully pulled inside a magical barrier wasn't the most pleasant feeling in her recent memories, because her entire concept of the body was being overwritten to fit with the nature of the world, but something went wrong and there was only intense backlash that remained welling inside her being.
The bus was still moving, but everything inside it became weird. She wasn't really paying the utmost attention to everything inside the bus, but the people inside it was definitely being controlled by the ruler of this magical barrier. She could feel intense curse emanating from them, akin to disease, but inflicted toward each person's soul and chaining down their heart. A man without their heart will be no more than a beast running on their instincts, and that was what they shortly became. Slowly, they rose up and directed their sight onto Kouhime, the only one remaining without being controlled by this mysterious curse the girl felt. Their eyes were hollow and a big smirk formed from their faces, elderly or young. The glow inside them were perverse, savage in nature, which made Kouhime put up a guard as she was ready to bail the bus with her golden toolbox in tow.
The bus slowly stopped with no terminals in sight. The threatening atmosphere stopped in an instant, and it went somewhere outside the mechanical vehicle. Kouhime stopped to assess the situation and found herself sweating more than she should be. After the driver left with the second-to-last passenger, she was left alone inside the shrouded buss. The metal parts of the bus had been stamped by tribal markings now, with all of them in some form or another created from embroideries that created an almost natural discrepancy to its intended vision. The red-haired female was unnerved beyond her mind when she slowly walked outside of the bus, not forgetting her golden toolbox.
Finally setting her foot on the solid ground, she placed the golden toolbox. "Open," the girl said after that and the toolbox complied by opening itself wide. The toolbox was big and heavy, almost like a big luggage and for a good reason too. Because in its three compartments were held both normal mechanical repair tools and magical repair tools enchanted for the more specific purposes, like mending an unrepairable gash in an old machine that had its spare parts out of production or simply fixing something that is related to magic. The toolbox opened from all sides but down like a futuristic gadget, complete with light markings that traveled around the edges of the golden toolbox. From the top compartments to the middle, were normal repair tools like wrenches and screwdrivers, with the medium to big power-tools resting in the middle compartment, powered by either batteries, electricity, or Kouhime's own magical power. The lower compartments consisted of talismans, charms, and enchanted items like shapeshifting knifes and life-infused duct-tapes that may mend anything that was split into two. She had never used it before, so she never knew if it would truly work or not. Her master said that she were to only use it during emergencies, but never specify what kind of emergencies she should be using it for.
After rummaging the lower compartment, Kouhime pulled out a small book of spells the size of her pocket and the shapeshifting emerald sword that glowed before her. Contrary to popular belief, most magical items doesn't need to be activated by shouting some foreign pronunciations. Most of the time, you could just supply it with a contact of magical energy. Furthermore, most magical items doesn't become a normal item when it's overused, it will just hibernate with the lowest possible output in magic available. Now she was set to explore further into enemy's territory: Starting by casting a levitation spell "Levium" to the golden toolbox and make it follow behind her wherever she went. For now, she went further inside the small tunnel before the bus.
The tunnel proved to be big enough past the entrance, with the hallway expanding horizontally and upwards the further in Kouhime went. As she passed by a street lamp, something that shouldn't belong in an underground tunnel, she found the sight before her growing wilder by the second: After passing three more street lamps, she found herself within a large sub-tropical rainforest, but still within the underground shade of the tunnel. Kouhime couldn't really believe it at first, but it all made more sense when she mulled about it. From her resistance to the seemingly alien geography, she was sucked in a reality-altering boundary that conformed to a specific pattern. The problem is, who or what is strong enough to do all of this? Most mages she knew wasn't this skilled or hardcore, and that is if she was pondering within the possibility of it being a mage. It could have been an ordinary human, a natural phenomenon, or something else entirely bordering on something akin to monstrosity. Whoever or whatever was creating this must not be right in their heads.
And that is if they have a head.
The girl huffed. She then pressed both of her hands onto her cheeks to calm herself down. Feeling the sense of real warmth across her cheeks calmed herself down, she stepped further into the forest depth. Before long, she found herself guided by the street lamps lined before her and deeper into the line of thickets. She could've sworn that to her sights were glowing red orbs that seemed to be following on her deep from inside the thickets, and was made apparently clear before her the glowing orbs were made out of fire, and they hovered eerily above the grounds as if observing her. She was now outnumbered fifteen to one, and she would rather stay where she was if only to increase the rate of her survival. She could try and defeat them using the tools in her disposal, but without assessing the situations further, she feared that what she was doing were an exploit of recklessness on her part.
Finally at the end of her path, she looked into what seemed to be fortress made from stones and woods. The large stone and wooden gate slowly opened to welcome the mage. Even the inside of the castle was still dry dirt. It was an unpleasant feeling on her shoes, the whole experience inside the boundary notwithstanding. Although, she could now see the same embroidery markings found on the metal parts of the bus be found on the walls and ceiling of the fortress, as if it was intentionally done to mark something. Was it a clue to the true master of this domain?
Soon, the girl found herself before a large door leading somewhere. Going by the red-head's hunch, the door would lead to the throne room where the perpetrator would be residing in. She took a deep breath before entering the door. Uncharacteristically light, the double-door moved with such ease that even a girl like her could open it without spraining even a strand of her muscles.
Behind the door was a throne room made out of pink and gold, along with many lights that shone from all corners of the room. Before her were the same people inside the bus. They were now worshipping something big sitting on the throne, chanting some impossible language not fit to be said by man all the while. It was a gigantic bipedal beast covered in furs. Its body and limp wasn't connected with flesh but with pink flames that glowed softly with malicious heat. She couldn't help but stare at the magnificent abomination. A head of a bull with four sets of pink eyes forming a childish grin with its many sharp teeth as big as a bordering fence, and an abstract anatomy that doesn't conform to the rules of nature. Whatever made that faux-Minotaur either had a horrid sense of humor or they were insane to the core.
She was outnumbered, but this situation needed her to do something radical, and her heart wouldn't just let these poor people be left alone without help. She was not going to abandon anyone ever again, and she was ready to fight the impossible being on top of the throne.
It seemed that the Minotaur found her bloodlust to be appealing to it, as it ordered its followers, the glowing orbs of fire which were observing the girl until now began lunging themselves toward her. Kouhime's instinct kicked in and she let her feet guide her escape by kicking the floor and leaped back so that the flames hit each other and knock themselves cold, but what happened was the flames merging into a bigger fire that grinned before her. It was a big black and red fireball now that had a face which grinned from ear to ear using the flickering flames shown from its face. "Hunger... Fire!" the being called out, maybe referring to itself. The Hunger Fire began to blaze anew and lunged its gargantuan body toward the red-head.
The girl picked up on its approach and dodged to her right, all the while using her magic to swing the levitated toolbox to the side of the fireball with the help of centrifugal force. Against all odds, the golden briefcase, which should be phasing through a fire of all things, got into contact with the fireball and sent it flying away onto the left-side of the wall of the throne room and made a loud crashing sound with a blast of rubbles flying everywhere. Now she knew that the walls are at least not made of fabric, but made of stone. Controlling the briefcase again with her Levium spell, she pulled it back in mid-air and caught it in-motion with her left hand. She let go after a twirl and the golden toolbox floated around Kouhime in a fixed revolution.
The Minotaur grinned before he snapped his claws, and from the ceiling came around two dozens of fireballs that slowly descended toward the red-head. Kouhime felt a lump form in her throat as anxiety and fear began to envelop her thought. Yet, she need to pull through on this one, or else she would be abandoning the people inside this creature's domain to their untimely death.
And she didn't want that to happen ever again.
Magical Horizon
Scenario 1: The Girl of Cerberus
The blonde girl turned toward the girl in red. Her turquoise hoodie and waist-short jeans caught the proper and prim middle-school girl without much problem. It was either that she had gotten used to her casual attire, or she had accepted the facts that the red-head didn't have any other clothes to wear but that two-pieces of clothing alone. Excluding her undergarments of course. The blonde girl smiled as the red-head noticed her and greeted with a hand-wave.
"Did you wait long, Mami-san?"
"Come on, drop the "-san" already. We're equal when we're going to battle. Didn't I ask of you to do at the least that?"
"Well," the red-head turned to the right with a slightly flushed face. Her ponytail swayed behind her as she made the slightest head movement. "Even if you asked me, it's kinda hard to transition from calling you that after being with you for so long, you know?"
Mami-san giggled. Her smile was growing wider and wider, almost ear to ear. She was truly at her prime this month, and today was not an exception. It was time to show her good side to her friend who had received the same miracle as her. Turning around, she began moving toward where a tunnel was located, but she stopped before entering it. "Isn't it time for us to go? Kyubey had sensed a few people already being inside. It's why he sent us this emergency call in the first place, right?
"If by call, you mean appearing out of thin air unannounced? Sure." Kyoko sighed in exasperation. She thought that she could just take it easy today, especially when Mami had promised to bake her favorite dishes for the whole afternoon. "Where's that four-legged white sheep anyway? Calling us like that but had no decency in showing up here himself." The girl continued her round of sighing, this time with an understanding tone to their unique situation. Given the option, she seriously wanted to return home right away with Mami, but she had a job to do. Before she took out something from her pocket, Mami turned to her.
"I'm still going to fulfill my promise, Kyoko," the blonde-haired older girl smiled at her. "I'm still going to make you a delicious apple pie. That, you don't have to worry about. In-fact, I think the pie I'll made after this extermination will be my best pie yet."
The red-head smiled, her eyes were full of stars.
"Alrighty then!" she cracked her skull before dashing toward the tunnel, the barrier ready to intercept her brute force entrance. "Then let's get this over with!" There was a flash of bright red light that enveloped the scene as the ponytail girl dashed through the ancient-looking psychological barrier. Pumped up, the prim and proper girl followed behind her with another flash of light following suit. This time, it was of the color of passionate yellow.
Mami-san was at her peak of happiness.
Rolling to the side, Kouhime Iori dodged the barrages of flames directed square to her head. The barrage was almost relentless, and there was hardly any time to breathe. The red-head magician was having a hard enough time dodging the small-sized burst of fire-bullets that the larger fireball sputtered from their insides, and added with the Minotaur now glaring at her with such intensity made her even more cautious and paranoid at the same time. It was something she truly despised: Being cornered. However, with so many people's life on the line, she had to make sure that everyone came out of this ordeal safe and sound.
The alchemist jumped back with her hand holding a red marker she used to drawn a straight line back, to where she landed on her two feet. Still ducking, Kouhime side-stepped with her hand holding the red marker moving on a straight line perpendicular to where she was moving. Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't be plausible, but Kouhime could easily draw the line without making even a millimeter of mistake. Almost like dancing, her swift movement made her look like a flash before the layman. Made possible by the power of magic being implemented on her feet and ankle, her concentration was through the roof as she completed a complicated pattern of a circle containing three stars, with each of their edges not touching against each other and had three centimeters of distance each from one another. Hurriedly, the girl moved the toolbox above her for the fire above and dashed toward the center of the circle. Once there, she pressed her right palm to the ground and the pattern began to glow bright in red. Suddenly, a large pillar of fire appeared around her and as if it was a living tree, the trunk of the fire began growing flame branches that smacked and stabbed through the magical balls of fires and destroyed them with ease. In total, about fourteen of them were destroyed on one go.
Standing up, the girl looked at the Minotaur who was now standing up before its throne. There was a moment of silence between them. Her red-eyes met with the Minotaur's fakes and a lump began to form inside Kouhime's throat. She silently walked toward the throne, still maintaining her safe distance, while pointing toward the Minotaur with her magic wand. "You're next."
And the Minotaur roared. The beast jumped toward the girl, but far enough that he was not in-range to hurt her. When the beast stomped on the ground, it shook, and the wall trembled. Suddenly, the beast outstretched its right arm toward the girl and there was nothing happening, but after sensing something spinning from behind her, she hurriedly ducked down and rolled to the side. There was a loud sound with a slashing mark where she was ducking at. The girl switched her focus from the slashed red carpet to the beast's hand, where there was a gigantic metallic axe shining deviously. It was a deceptively wooden bleak-colored metal with its stick as long as a pole, and the blade as wide as a guillotine. One hit from that, there will be limbs flying around if she's not careful. Even being grazed by it too is as dangerous as being hit.
With a grin, the beast lifted its occupied hand and threw the axe toward the girl horizontally. Kouhime easily dodged it by jumping up and float as it passed below her with her magic, but the assault didn't end there. The beast pressed its feet down and launched itself forward to greet the girl with its equally gigantic free hands. Using the golden toolbox as a support, the red-head mage leaped above the shoulder of the Minotaur and blasted its face with small barrages of fireballs, flinching him with a small amount of damage. Some of it damaged its eyes, but there was no sign of the beast being damaged at all. Her hand which touched the witch felt nothing but coldness, even though it was fur, and the toolbox went below the closing palm to which it floated behind the girl again. The instance she landed after a front-flip there was a loud crushing sound, and it signaled Kouhime to turn around and back-step away. As she was jumping away, she peppered the beast with a barrage of fireballs akin to a rapid-firing machine gun, but there wasn't any sign of damage. Even when she hit it in its back, the beast could hardly felt it hurting.
Pausing, the beast picked up the axe he got stuck on the wall with one hand and turned around to Kouhime. The red-head flinched when she saw the grin got incredibly wider now, and the teeth it had been showing became even sharper and bigger than before. It would look so comical if it didn't look like the deadliest weapon in existence right now. Coupled with how its big, red eyes leered at her, she could feel the pressure of someone between the dead and the living.
"Damned beast. What sick individual created you?"
Kouhime shut her mouth as she dodged another axe throw, this time it was thrown vertically, aimed toward her head as it was done the last two times. She side-stepped to the right and met with the Minotaur lunging at her from the ground with its right arm out-stretched and ready for a lariat. The thing aimed at by the hand was of course her head, and she was getting really tired of that. She ducked down and slid on the iced floor, but not before forming a small green-colored magic circle with her marker, which she used to cast a spell as the Minotaur's feet touched it. As if it was a bear trap, the magic circle shot out an ebony trunk that pierced through the beast's left foot and made it roar in pain.
"How do you like that you raging bull!?" Kouhime let out a small grin from her stoic face, riding the momentum of her attack damaging the Minotaur. The same loud crash she had heard before felt futile in her ears now. However, her smile was quietly replaced with disgust when she saw what the wound became. Out of the hole of the wound escaped black blood that behaved more like an ooze than a liquid. The way it became nothing as it touched the air only prove that this monster was nothing human nor was it natural. It was nothing but an ordinary monster created from some sick phenomenon the world had no control over.
If she ever discover who made this, she would end them without a glance.
Standing behind the Minotaur, the girl once again distanced herself as far as she could from the beast, who was now pulling out the axe stuck on one of the stone pillar, definitely ready to throw the same axe again toward her. If anything, she knew what worked and what didn't work now, and she was confident that she could take the simple-minded beast down or persevere against it in attrition. Taking a deep breath, the girl quietly observed the beast as it readied itself to strike and launched the axe toward her diagonally, placing its hand as if it was about to crush Kouhime with a roar. There was a room to dodge by ducking to the left or jumping to the right, and since she needed to draw another magic circle, she needed to dodge to the right. In her mind, she was thinking about which spell to choose and which variation to cast. As she dodged, the toolbox launched out a yellow marker which landed to the palm of Kouhime's palm, and was then used in-motion to slid the pointer to make a circle, before moving it with her finger and onto the ground. The girl expected the Minotaur to lunge at her now, but the Bull was now sprinting toward her with an axe in her hand, ready to cleave her in two with it. Kouhime felt something jolting down her throat as darkness began clouding her vision.
Kouhime was careless.
She wasn't paying attention enough, thinking that a fight could be won by just her wit and spirit alone. She thought that the beast was simple, but maybe the simple one was herself. She recognized the motion the beast made as the axe was flying diagonally at her. It was the same gesture the monster used to call back its axe. She hadn't been paying enough attention, creating an illusion of patterns that ultimately made her slip-off and mistaken. The blade was closing in further, slowly moving closer to the center between her eyes. She ducked down and she wouldn't be able to dodge a strike from her upper left. If she went to the right she would be crushed and trample by the Minotaur, and if she were to jump she would have her legs chopped off no questions asked. Wouldn't it be painless just to die by a swing of a large blade? Wouldn't it be more painless to just die right there and then?
Her feet moved in desperation, with her hand still tracing a line, now crooked, toward the right. There was life inside Kouhime's eyes as she pushed her whole body to her right. Her soulful howl was feral, desperate, and wild. The answer was obvious, and she won't let hesitation cloud her judgement. The toolbox hovering before her launched itself toward the blade of the axe as she moved to the gap in-between the Bull's stride. Its hoofs were as sturdy as metal, and as thick too, but it was the only chance she had to be alive and she damn well would take it. As there was a loud crashing sound of her golden toolbox, there was also a clashing sound of metal, which meant that the blade of the axe was now stuck on her toolbox. Using this moment, the girl pushed herself forward and rolled down in-between the beast's legs, hoping for the best and screaming for her life all the while.
Sweating bullets, the girl was kneed in the stomach and she felt her inside about to burst, but her eyes refused to die down the flames of her will. She struggled past them and kicked the ground for the final push past the Minotaur. There was another crashing sound and as she turned around panting, she saw her golden toolbox now in two with everything inside now strewn about on the floor. Her sight turned to the ground, where the yellow magic circle was now right below the Bull's head. Smirking, she placed her palm on where the yellow line ended with the other hand covering her wounded stomach.
"Eat this you abomination! Thunder Spike!"
From below the Minotaur, a blinding light flashed and blinded the Bull, then there was a thunderous howl where the bull's roar echoed all over the room. Once the bull showed its face toward Kouhime, she smirked when one of the bull's eyes was now scarred with a straight line of red. Blood began dripping down the bull's chin and the bull roared once more, now enraged more than ever. Still smirking, Kouhime laughed weakly.
"I guess playtime's over huh? Too bad I couldn't pierce your skull," standing up, Kouhime clutched her stomach. "Come on, Bullman, do your worst! I'm not afraid of your stupid dinky axe!"
With a roar, the Minotaur charged toward the middle-schooler, and as she couldn't do anything to prolong the fight, she closed her eyes smiling. She could try dodging the axe, but in the long run it would be pointless. She could try fighting back, but her fighting style wouldn't allow her to do that. If there was any regret, it would be not being able to save the people abducted from the bus.
There was a clash.
"You know, for such a stupid dinky axe, it sure packed quite a punch."
Kouhime opened her eyes, and a figure clad in red stood with her back before her. Both of her hand used some sort of a shield made out of chains and blades to block the axe. The red ponytail swayed with the wind blowing from the clash, and the picturesque vision before her seemed so magical at present. Slowly, the girl moved one hand to the other where the hilt of the chains and blades were, before pushing back the Minotaur by swinging the axe away with her shield. It happened so fast before her eyes, and she couldn't believe that a girl her age would have the power to push away an opposition as big and robust such as the Bull.
"N-No freaking way."
"Yes. Freaking. Way!"
With each emphasis, the girl clad in red changed the form of her shield into presumably its original state: A spear. And then within the next emphasized word pulled the spear back ready for a thrust. After a split-second, she grinned and thrusted the spear straight through the Minotaur's chest. The resulting stab created a shockwave that reverberated the room. There was a piece of metal stuck on the Minotaur's back, something that even Kouhime couldn't even hurt beforehand. Still in awe, the bulky arm of the Bull was now forming hole alongside the loud sound of gunshots. She couldn't believe it when there was now a beehive out of the chunk of steel making up the arm, in which the beast was pushed to its side with each gunshot and then even further to the side until a large cannonball appeared to launch the bull crashing straight through its throne.
"Kyoko, you shouldn't try to steal my thunder like that," the sound of a prim and proper girl came from Kouhime's right. Turning to where the sound came from, she found a blonde girl with a cannon on her hand. "And excuse the pun, it was definitely not intentional."
"Amazing."
"Uh... Mami-san, I think our mysterious girl is feeling a bit... shocked," the girl called Kyoko laughed to the girl she called Mami-san. "Hey, girl, what are you doing inside a Witch's barrier all conscious and all? Are you like the two of us? Or were there some kind of shenanigans that made you the way you are now?"
"I'm sorry, but what is this "Witch Barrier" you're talking about?"
"Then you're not one of us," Kyoko nodded, Kouhime could have sworn that there was sadness in her still-apparent smile. "But that only makes you more awesome for being able to hold this long with that Witch. What's your name?"
"Kouhime," the red-head mage replied. "Kouhime Iori."
"Then, Kouhime-san. I'll save my questions for later. It looks like someone's back for more beating." Mami-san quickly caught their attention and their eyes synchronized with her sight. On the throne was the same Minotaur as before, still battered and beaten but now looking menacing with its impossible grin agape and showing the depths of its stomach, which looked more like a void than a throat that lead to its stomach. "Can you continue?"
"I can't move pretty quickly, but if the two of you could fight on the front-line, I can support you from the back," Kouhime talked as she wobbled toward her destroyed toolbox. "I know it's not much, but I know for sure my elemental alchemies will be useful somehow."
Kyoko and Mami-san nodded. "Alright then, we'll leave it to you. Just make sure that you're not pushing yourself too hard. Okay?" Mami-san's words befit her image as a prim and proper girl. Being called respectfully by Kyoko also mean that either she was more powerful than her and she respected the blonde girl, or she was older than her, and it could also be the two combined. Either way, her words was reassuring to Kouhime. "Kyoko, get in-front of me, I'll snipe and do anything necessary to keep it away from Kouhime. Kouhime, stay back and protect yourself the best you can."
"Alright."
"Leave it to me!"
"Go!" On Mami's signal, Kyoko materialized an identical red spear and braced herself as the Minotaur leaped above her, now with one axe in each hand, to cleave Kyoko into three. Grinning, Kyoko dodged to the right, dodging the axe slash and spun her spear above her head before jumping herself and impaled the Minotaur's left arm into the floor. Taking her chance, the blonde-haired girl aimed for the joint and shot a barrage of musket bullets square at it. With a loud successions of piercing sounds, one hand holding the axe stayed on the floor for good. Slashing the axe with a roar, the red and yellow magical girls stepped back to guard Kouhime, who was busy making a magic circle surrounding the broken to pieces toolbox. Sticking her wand at the place where the lines meet, a bright black glow appeared below the toolbox and it floated. Slowly, the toolbox was reconstructed from its bits and pieces before it became its original form.
"Pardon me for asking, but, what was that?" Mami-san smiled as she said it, honestly curious about it. "Is that one of your "Elemental Alchemies" you spoke of before?"
"Yes! I use colored markers to distinguish their magic circle usages, but what I've just casted was a variation of the Time-Elemental magic: Repair. As the name said, it lets me repair broken objects to how it was before, but I can only use it on things I have owned for a long time."
"Well, that sure sounded more magical than our powers," Kyoko chuckled. The Minotaur was now before her and its free hand was swinging its axe from Kyoko's right, aiming to cleave her intestine into a mess. Still talking, Kyoko jumped and cartwheeled above the swung axe and impaled the other arm into the ground again. "Well, maybe only for me. Mami-san's power is way out of league from me."
"Don't be humble, Kyoko. Your magic is pretty great too, you know?"
"Thanks," Kyoko's smile was sad as she said that, and Kouhime took notice of it. "But that's the truth. I admire your magic for how amazing it is. Wished I could've done something like that with my power."
"You'll get there someday. I am sure of that," The prim and proper girl slowly walked toward the Minotaur with muskets in hand and with each step, she summoned two muskets to shoot at the Minotaur until she was close enough to shoot at the Minotaur at point-blank range. She opened her palm before the Bull's head and suddenly, a white and yellow cannon appeared to greet the feral beast. "Trust yourself more, Kyoko."
There was a loud triumphant noise and the Minotaur was blown away back to the throne, leaving the other hand and axe stuck on the floor. Kouhime still couldn't believe what just happened or was just happening before her eyes, but her brain knew it was something amazing. Whoever they are, they must be pretty significant in real life too, thought Kouhime. Yet, she couldn't shake this feeling of suspicion regarding the two of them. Something was still amiss, but at the same time she trust them both with her life.
At least for now.
Another roar came and the ceiling opened again, this time something big appeared from it, and not another fireball. It was a large skeleton that descended from the hollow darkness above the girls. Instantly, Kouhime turned to Mami-san. "The passengers!" Mami-san nodded and shot from her hand a single large ribbon that split onto many arcs that hardened to make a cage for the Witch's hostages.
"I've shielded them! Kouhime, Kyoko, brace for impact!"
At her signal, the skeleton trembled the ground on impact, and all of them could feel themselves on air for about a second or two. The thing before them was large, but it was only an upper torso with ribs and hands and a heads linked to how a human anatomy would normally be. At seeing the imposing thing, Kouhime couldn't help but swallow her fear. Looking closer, the skeleton held on her hands each a cross-shaped stick with strings coming down from each sides of them. Its skeleton head was cackling mad with about a hundred green and black fireballs becoming its eyes that observed the three of them.
Lifting its hand slightly, it brought the Minotaur from the throne back to center stage, walking like a puppet would instead of how it motioned like an animal. Kyoko, Mami-san, and Kouhime was mortified at the sight of said revelation. Lifting the other hand, a blue string pulled down something from above, and it was another Minotaur. Now there were two Bullheads looking before the three magical girls, but it didn't make them falter. Kyoko strongly readied her spear while Mami-san continued to guard Kouhime with her musket battalions. Kouhime quietly opened her toolbox and pulled out another magic wand from it.
"Push comes to shove," the red-headed mage remarked with a chuckle. "Let's just hope I'm still in my top form for this."
"It seems you have a plan, Kouhime?" Mami-san turned around and looked Kouhime in the eyes, confidence and trust brimming out from them. "Alright then, if it would swiftly end the battle, I am all ears."
"Well... it's not a "plan" per se, but it's more of an all-out attack. If you could distract the three of them—" as she said it, a hundred fireballs began raining from above, each of them in different size and the same entity that Kouhime had fought before, "Great, more fireballs. Well then, if Kyoko and Mami-san could distract all of them for at least a minute, I can show you the extent of my magical prowess. How was that?"
"I'd score it eighty-five out of a hundred, but let's hear it out. We ourselves do not want to expend more energy than we could as a matter of fact. A minute is enough for me, but how about you Kyoko?" Mami-san summoned three muskets which bullets shot through many fireballs that made them explode as she said that, and then she turned to where Kyoko was, fighting against two Minotaur with lightning-speed reflexes on dodging their axes. "Can you do it, Kyoko?"
The ponytailed girl bounced of the wall as she replied. "Hell yes I can! Now let's kick some ass, Mami-san!"
"There you have it Kouhime. I wish you luck!"
Another barrage of muskets blared throughout the room, and it was the signal Kouhime needed to start. "Doble Levium." She raised both of her hands and two markers floated in mid-air. The mage was stationary as she motioned her hand to encircle the gigantic skeleton puppeteer, the Minotaur, and the fireballs. Blue lines were quickly formed and roamed around the arena, creating a border between normalcy and spiritual. Fifteen seconds have passed and two circles formed as a cage. Thirty seconds have passed and six conjoined stars were created below. Forty-five minutes have passed and encryptions of many symbols were decorated on the circle and where the stars would align. One minute had passed and Kouhime had completed her task. Closing her eyes, she called out to the red and yellow girls before her, telling them to step back behind her. After making sure that the hostages wasn't in range of the attack, she pointed her wand toward the walls and the markers slid along and traced a big blue line on it. Witnessing the creation close to a work of art itself, Mami-san and Kyoko couldn't help but stare in awe.
"Here we go," Kouhime took a deep breath and opened her eyes, releasing all of her excess energy as she planted the two magic wands toward the ground. "Mother of Elements, Father of Dimensions. I hereby cross my path again with you to summon a miracle! Ice Coffin!" The lines along the wall shined brightly before sharp small icicles appeared from each centimeters of both lines that quickly thrusted themselves forward to cut anything that was in-between them. Creating something akin to an ice bridge between the walls, Kouhime didn't stop and began reciting another chant. "Now to finish the tower of knowledge, I besiege upon my opponents a freezing heaven-stab! Tree of Cocytus!" And the magic circle down below glowed in bright blue that sprouted little bits of ice needles here and there, before spreading to sprout on each inches of the magic circle that grew to a rapid pace that encased everything it touched in ice. As soon as she saw the head of the skeleton was encased in ice, Kouhime stopped the flow of magic and pointed toward it. "Now, Kyoko, Mami-san, attack!"
"Good work, Kouhime!" Kyoko dashed forward and leaped to thrust a powerful stab toward its head. The ice slowly cracked and Kyoko jumped back while looking at her yellow-garbed partner. "Mami-san, your turn!"
"Yes, yes," Mami-san giggled as she summoned something akin of a large cannon that was impossible to procure in such a short time. With elegance and warmth in her voice, she cheerily declared toward the frozen foe:
"Tiro Finale"
And a large beam of light launched itself toward the beast in full magical force. The beam of light pierced the encased skeleton and a hole was the only thing that was left of it. The hundred fireballs was gone, and in its place was an egg-shaped metallic vial that contained something dark swirling inside it. Slowly, the vial descended onto the ground before bouncing on it with a small echoing tink with silence following afterward. The rest of the ice shattered and everything was in pieces. The surrounding view became distorted as everything blurred and mixed in-between within the same area. There was something else lurking in the background, a shade of black that disappeared somewhere else. However, the fact remained that after a while, the distorted view turned into normal, and the throne room became something akin of a maintenance room made out of stones. Grimes and molds were all over the place. It was dirty and icky all over and even below the girls. Kouhime felt the barrier becoming undone, and it was a victory for the three of them.
The Bull-Persons left by that thing suddenly stood up, but opted to disappear from everyone without as much as a sound.
Yet Kouhime couldn't cheerily jump in celebration.
Her whole body was exhausted. All she could manage was a cheerful victory yell, but considering where she was, she hurriedly regretted it as the smell of sewer made her want to puke her afternoon meal.
"Tch, what a way to kill the mood," Kyoko said. "Oh well, let's at least carry these people back to the bus. I knew there was something fishy about that bus."
"Truly," Mami-san sighed. "Alright, I'll help carry them, Kyoko you do the rest, okay?"
"What do you mean do the rest?"
As she said that, Mami-san created a wheelbarrow with seats on each sides, carefully-built to be able to include every single people the Witch had abducted. Sighing, Kyoko said a single complain, but when she placed all of them onto the wheelbarrow, she seemed content for some reason.
"Oh, right, Kouhime, would you like a ride too? You must be pretty exhausted."
"No, I'm fine," Kouhime shook her head. "If any, I would like to help you push the cart. Contrary to my look, I'm pretty athletic. I can at least help you out with manual labor."
"Thanks."
"No, no, no, that won't do," Mami-san said with an angry tone. "Kouhime shouldn't be doing that! Don't you think a lady like her should be carried by you instead of pulling with you, Kyoko?"
"What am I, an ox?" Kyoko said with frustration on her face. "Moreover, am I not a lady myself? I'm a girl too you know?"
"Its fine, Mami-san," Kouhime laughed. "Why don't the three of us push the wheelbarrow together?"
"If you must, then I certainly can't disagree," she said. "Fine then, give a space for me, ladies, let me show you how a veteran Magical Girl push a cart!"
"Pushing a cart had nothing to do with being a Magical Girl though."
"You shush!"
As they pushed the cart toward the exit, a white-pink beast appeared. Its smile permanently affixed to its circular face without any sign of it wading away. Its ears a long thick lobe stretched until slightly above the ground. On all fours, the thing bounced around as if it was alive and real.
"So I see."
After carrying the passengers into the bus, it turned out that all of them were being abducted inside a sewage maintenance room inside the tunnel. There was confusion from Kouhime's point of view, but Kyoko said that she was normal for thinking about it that way. The mage had learned about barriers where the inside was reshaped to what the caster projected, but not at the scale of that monster. There were too many things happening inside the barrier, and it couldn't be realized without a strong magical catalyst to fuel it. Whatever it was that created it would be at the same level of greatness as a Philosopher's Stone.
Before they woke up everyone, Kouhime pulled out her bus card and swiped it two times at the scanner. Turning to Mami and Kyoko, she stared at them with suspicion. "Take the bus with me. We'll have a chat," though there was no denying of excitement on her part. Seeing two "Magical Girls" and then talking to them afterward was quite a rare experience. Kouhime looked toward the window and found two girls staring back at her. The three-seaters that were once empty was filled with three beautiful girls, or at least Kouhime thought of it that way. If she were to speak of elegance, Mami-san was prettier than her by miles, and if she were to talk about her own energetic flair, the girl called Kyoko would be better at expressing herself than her. Compared to the two of them, Kouhime would look pretty bland by comparison. Her oval face and toned body would give her a bare pass on the matter of beauty, but she found herself looking at her own reflection on the mirror to the left of Kyoko most of the time.
Without meeting her eyes, Kyoko started. "So, what's this about a chat?"
"Maybe Iori-san wants to know more about us?" Mami-san's intuition was sharp, Kouhime felt that she could read her like an open book. "Well then, let's start with the introductions, shall we?"
"Sounds good," Kyoko said.
"Alright then. My name is Kouhime Iori, I'm from Fuyuki, nice to meet you."
"Mami Tomoe," the blonde-haired girl replied. "You can call me Mami if you want, but please do not call me Tomoe, it sounded like we're pretty distant don't you think? A shame since we're both Magical Girls."
"My name's Kyoko Sakura," the ponytailed red-head greeted with a foxy grin. "Nice meeting you here, Kouhime. Sorry our introductions were quite a bit late."
Slowly normalizing itself, the bus driver woke up and so did the passenger. The bus had been moved by the power of magic, and the transition to normalcy was natural enough that the bus driver didn't notice anything different with his surroundings. The man gradually got used to the feel of the wheel and continued on as if nothing had happened, except for a short lapse of time passing. The bus was by all means late beyond its schedule, but Kouhime was fine with it. She needed time to interrogate the girls beside her, and trapping them beside the windows was all part of her plan. She had laws to follow, and identifying someone which had the same capacity of magic as her was the top priority considering the situation. Her title and rank would be compromised if she were to even forget her basic rules and protocols.
"So, what are you going to do now, Kouhime?"
"I was about to fix the buses in Central Mitakihara. Something along the line of repairing and replacing their parts. Maybe I need to tune it up a bit or change something along the way in their blueprints. Not the easiest stuff to do, but it gets me by."
"You're a mechanic? That's pretty cool."
"Oh come on, it's not that great," Kouhime laughed it off. "I'm just using a bit of magic to do things here and there and making it sticks with normal tools."
"That's even better."
"Yup," Mami said with a smile. "I agree with you, Kyoko."
"Gee, thanks," Kouhime shrugged, her eyes not daring meeting the girls for she sure she would be wavering her sight elsewhere soon-after. "Most people I know would be thinking it strange for a girl to work as a mechanic. I'd rather enjoy it."
"Well, we're not most people now, are we?" Mami said with confidence. Kouhime agreed with a smile. Her eyes met with Mami, who was smiling to her. Looking at the mirroring image of her face behind Kyoko, she could feel their smiles being the same length. "That goes for you too, you know. You aren't exactly a Jane Doe, right?"
"Compared to you two, I'm still not much of a magus."
"You mean Magical Girls, right?"
"Oh, I know, how about we go to my place and celebrate for some cake after Kouhime's done with her? I was going to bake Kyoko her favorite later on anyway. So how about it, Kouhime? Are you up for a round of my apple pie?"
"Wait a minute, why do you keep using that."
"What?"
Kyoko poked her head out to meet Kouhime's.
"Magical Girls. I thought you're trying to be cute, but I can see that you're not joking at all. Do you girls know the term of Magus at all?"
"Can't say I know," Mami said. "Why?"
Her eyes were now onto Kyoko's and as they met, she could feel worry and from her shaking body she could feel fear. "Well," she looked toward the blonde-girl beside her, who was expressing something similar to the red-head friend of hers, but there was a sense of calmness from her eyes. She stared at her for a short while, until Mami gave her a nod of approval, telling Kouhime to reveal what was on her mind. Nodding back, Kouhime continued. "Then I'll have to be blunt here. Who are you, what are you, and what are you girls fighting? Those creepy unnatural things we just fought, what are those?"
Kyoko was about to answer but Mami shoved her hand between her and Kouhime. It was not an easy question to answer, especially by a novice like Kyoko. She feared that Kouhime would misunderstand on the natural concepts of Magical Girls. She had finally found someone outside of her circle of magic that could potentially understand what she and Kyoko is. There was not a chance that she would let Kyoko possibly ruin it for both of them. First and foremost, she need to appeal to the girl before her. Resolving her determination, she pulled out two things from her pocket. One is a yellow-colored gem inside a metallic egg-shaped container. It was a yellow gem that gleamed as the bus found itself travelling an open park-scenery road. However, there were a bit of darkness mixed in that twirled inside of it like worms. The other thing was a pitch-black stone with darkness swimming inside it. It was almost indistinguishable to the thickest shade of buildings passed by the bus along the road.
"These two things are the core of our worlds. You can even say that these two are what makes our world go around."
"Our?" Kouhime tilted her head. "Do you mean "Magical Girls"?"
Her magic certainly didn't work that way.
"That's right." Mami turned to Kyoko with a smile. Kyoko slowly smiled back to her. As she found what she saw enough to make her breathe more easily, she returned her eyes to Kouhime. "This might be too hard to swallow, but the yellow gem on my right hand is the source of my magic power. Think of it like a power generator of magic. Of course, it doesn't have limitless energy, since it need to be purified again to resupply its magical energy." Kouhime didn't move from her seat, and her eyes were still glued to Mami. The blonde-haired girl brightened her smile when Kouhime began to nod slowly to her explanation. "Naturally, the next thing I want to show you is how to purify this gem. If I put the black gem closer to mine," as she said that, the black mist twisting inside the yellow gem was sucked out into the stone, which only leave a pristine and clear-shined gem. Of course, Kouhime could only blink at it. She could feel sweat starting to protrude from her forehead as chill ran down her spine. The girl wanted to stand up and said what came first into her mind, but she would rather tell Mami without raising a fuss. Seeing the wide-eyed girl, Mami stopped and she began to stare. "As you can see, the Grief Seed left by the Witch—that is the large thing we fought before—purify my Soul Gem. Only the witches have Grief Seeds, and their familiars—those Bull-Persons or Minotaurs—doesn't, and it is our job as Magical Girls to protect the peace of mankind by defeating them."
The bus' roaring engine made the ambience as the three of them began staring. Biting her lip, Mami continued.
"Excuse me, Kouhime. Is something wrong?"
"The Philosopher's Stone." Her sight was affixed and her lips were trembling. The words sounded so foreign to Mami and Kyoko that it made them turn their heads in confusion. Suddenly, something came from inside Kouhime. It was a realization that she couldn't be possibly sharing with them, but if she were to dig deeper into the matter, she would need to disclose the information to them. The sight of the gem itself was repulsive enough for her, but to be that close to another one made her throat sore. Cold sweat began to form from her forehead as her eyes slowly placed themselves toward confrontations, straight toward Mami's eyes. "Mami... right?" the mage started. "Are you from a family of mages? Do you know the existence of mages beforehand?"
"No, and another no I'm afraid." Mami's response was short and it troubled the red-head mage even more. Continuing, the blonde-girl's expression became a frown. "I came from a normal family, and I don't think my father or my mother came from a family with mage lineage at all. What about you, Kyoko?"
"I'm from a family of Christian practitioner myself. My dad was a priest handling a branch of church somewhere in Fuyuki up north," Kyoko turned to the window, her reflection shown a narrowing eyes and a small frown. She looked toward the ever-distant setting sun that was being blocked by the skyscrapers jutting toward the sky as the bus passed them by. Now there were more cars on the street and pedestrians on the sidewalks. Kouhime followed Kyoko's eyes, but even she didn't know what the ponytailed girl was looking at. The bus headed toward a flyover and turned right toward Central Mitakihara, her stop for today. "What of it?"
"Then who gave you that gem?" Kouhime hesitantly asked. "That gem called Soul Gem, who gave you that?"
"Actually—"
Before Mami could say anything, she was suddenly interrupted by something. Her face who was showing a sign of trust was clouded with anxiety, which soon turned into a slight frown with her eyes assessing everything that was Kouhime Iori beside her. She narrowed her eyes at her, and the sudden shades coming from a second tunnel created a foreboding image of Mami's eyes glowing dimly toward her. There was silence longer than ever before. Kouhime stared directly at Mami's eyes, but she could see Kyoko not knowing anything as her expression remained unchanged, with her face showing unknowing anxiety that made her stare back at the two of them silently.
"Well, Mami-san?"
The ice wasn't broken, what came from the blonde-haired girl's mouth was only scorn.
"Before that, Kouhime, who are you?"
Kouhime stopped, breathing in air and placed one hand on her chest.
"That's not what we're discussing about right now—"
"Then this isn't a discussion, but an interrogation." Mami's expression remained unchanged. It was an honestly weird transition. She went from the nicest girl Kouhime had ever known to an untrusting bi—"What you're doing isn't beneficial for me or Kyoko at all. I cannot put more trust on you until you divulge everything about you first."
"Wait, Mami-san, what are you talking about?" Kyoko hurriedly interjected between them. But her voice was unheard by the blonde-girl, and she continued with her barrages of words.
"Beneficial for you?" Kouhime replied with a tone of confusion. Was she being used by Mami just to gather more information for her? She wouldn't judge her since in a way, Kouhime realized she was doing the same to them, but this change of behavior from her was just weird. "I know it seems I'm just trying to get more information from you, Mami-san. But listen to me. What you have there, it's dangerous—"
"Before you continue further, I want you to introduce yourself. Not just your name, I want to know who exactly are you, who are you working with, what is your goal, and why do you have the same kind of powers as us!?" Mami raised her voice, creating herself a barrier with how stern she put out her words toward the red-head mage before her. But what she didn't realize was how fragile her barrier was. The girl before her quietly changed her expression from calm to utter bitterness. Her glare pierced through her persona and shattered her defenses. If looks could kill, then Mami would be dead right now. Still, she pressed on further. "I have said my piece. I've given you information about the Witches and their Familiars. I'm not talking any further until you say so."
"Kouhime, it's fine, you don't need to tell us. Just ignore what Mami-san is saying right now and—"
"...My sister's magic is not the same as yours."
"Excuse me?"
Mami's word was only natural as she lacked any sort of context to Kouhime's reply, but Kouhime couldn't let her seemingly innocent insult go. Rage had already consumed her. She was done playing nice. Especially since Mami became weird in a matter of minutes. There was something else playing around with them, and she was having none of that. It was obvious that whoever they were was mocking her through Mami-san. Biting her lip, the girl let out the poison that had welled up inside her throat. She pulled out from inside her chest a necklace with a red-colored gem attached to silver chain-made necklace. It was something smaller than the gem Mami was holding, akin to a red-colored pearl attached to a necklace.
"What is that?" Kyouko groggily asked. She had just to ask. Her face full of worry turned into regret soon after.
"This is my sister," the red-head mage said. "My source of power. I was born without any magic, and my sister sacrificed herself and became like this. Now I took on her job as the Killer of Aberrations. What I witnessed inside that barrier, it was nothing like I've ever seen before. From how those Bull-persons was controlled by something... impossible to conjure by anything human, to you two. Your magic came from that Philosopher's Stone, a crystallization of a human's or a lot of human's life. Look at those size compared to mine. What you are holding contains at least a lot of lives. From whom did you stole... no, from whom did the giver stole doesn't matter. What are the both of you, anyway!? Magical Girls? That's not right. You're just Magical Dolls! I shouldn't have trusted the both of you."
The ambience returned, this time there were people staring at them in silence.
"I shouldn't have trusted you the most, Mami-san," Kouhime added. "You said that my magic is the same as yours? Don't make me laugh. My sister gave me her magic with her love, and your magic is something you borrow from something else entirely inhuman. What you have isn't an Object of the Heavens, but an Object of the Devils instead. As the one entitled with the name Girl of Cerberus, I will hunt you down someday. You two better forget about protecting that peace, because what you need to protect from now on is yourselves."
As if on cue, the bus stopped. Central Mitakihara station was surprisingly empty. Maybe it had something to do with the bus being late. Still, the fact remained that the silence of the outside world didn't matter the least to change the silence inside the bus. Kouhime stood up from her seat and bowed to the two of them. "Excuse me Tomoe, I'm declining your offer for cakes and teas this later. My job won't be ending with just repairs and maintenance it seems." she said with disgust. She took her golden briefcase with her and strolled out of the bus hurriedly. The bus slowly closed its door and left with the two "Magical Girls" still inside it.
The darkness inside her began to stir once more.
"Kyubey."
"Yes, Mami?"
"I protected Kyoko didn't I?"
"Yes you did, Mami."
There was silence.
The bus rode further into another overpass and went left, going to South Mitakihara. Kyoko turned to the window with frown on her face, and her eyes staring blankly toward the sunset now turning into a twilight. Unease grabbed hold of both of them as they stopped talking and even looking at each other.
The bus was now mostly empty, and there was a stuffed doll-like thing on all four between the two Magical Girls. Its perpetual smile and red eyes stared blankly toward Mami, with a reflection of void inside of them.
"Don't feel down, Mami," it began to talk. "I'm proud that you managed to push away someone as dangerous as an Aberration Killer of all things. I knew my intuition was right when I sensed her powers. Truly, it was regrettable that we couldn't get a potential ally, but safety first, right? Can't help but to stay away from dangerous people."
"Say, Kyubey."
Kyubey turned toward Kyoko, whose eyes were still somewhere in the distance.
"Leave Mami alone, she's trying her best not to cry right now."
A smile began to form on her face, and she looked at Kyoko with trickling tears on her face. It was only one drop or two that left down her chin, but it was still plenty for someone as strong as her. As if natural for her, she pulled something out of her blue-denim jacket and handed it to Mami. "Come on, wipe your nose."
"Thanks," it came out really weirdly with snot clogging her nose.
"Feel better now?"
"No."
Kyoko huffed a sigh, smiling as she switched places with Kyubey by picking him up. As her right shoulder leaned to Mami's right, her smile widened. "It's fine. You can cry all you want."
"I... want to be friends with her, you know? But Kyubey said that if we befriend her, you'll be in danger, Kyoko. I can't afford to take the risk."
"There, there, it's fine. I get what you mean," the red-head assured the blonde. "You're going to find her again, and you'll have the chance to make up with her." Kyoko said, as she turned toward Kyubey, who was busy staring at the two of them. It never failed her to give her the creeps just from looking at its face. "Until then, you'd better train me hard, okay? Come on, don't be sad forever, okay?"
"Yeah."
"Thank you."
The bus engine roared as silence befell the two of them again. Before long, Mami fell asleep, exhausted, and Kyoko once again turned to Kyubey. Its eyes met with her and she almost flinched. Taking a deep breath, she had made her decision.
"I guess it's time for me to leave."
"Four repairs, three tuning-ups, and two alterations on the main body," Kouhime yelled toward the mechanics that were resting behind her. All of them looked at her in awe, a minute before their eyes were of reluctance and disapproval, probably from how fast she was on inspecting the buses in need of repairs. Allegedly, she was only to repair one or two busses, but something inside her made her want to pull off something more extreme to her. Her eyes twitched when she saw the mechanics being dumbfounded and started tapping her foot repeatedly, arms crossed. "Come on, we have no time to be dillydallying! Move!"
"Y-Yes Ma'am!"
Even when they were all ten to twenty years older than her, they hurriedly gave out an almost salute and ran to the warehouses for the spare parts and the necessary tools to repair the busses she inspected. Gritting her teeth, she couldn't help but think about what happened inside the bus an hour ago. Clutching her sister, she walked outside of Central Bus Transit garage in a sour mood.
Maybe it was the right time for her to buy a can of juice or two. She needed something to distract her mind, and if her job wouldn't help, a can of lychee juice definitely would.
After walking for about three minutes, she found herself a vending machine. The red exterior was outshined by the glowing lights that came from the vending machine itself. It was below a lamppost that made yellow light clashes with bluish white neon. Yet there was something else that caught her eyes, a blonde-haired girl a bit taller than her that was kneeling down with one hand trying to reach something under the red steel container. Oddly enough, a white cat was trying her best to do the same thing. As the girl's hips swayed with her motion, she could see the flashing image of a girl's panties subliminally invading her brain through the girl's mini-skirt, and after enough tries, she wanted it to stop.
"Uh... miss? I'll treat you a drink. Don't need to expose yourself to people walking around, you know?"
Hearing Kouhime calling out for her, she instinctively jumped and had her arm knocking on the red steel itself loudly. Pulling her hand out slowly, she held it with her free hand and looked at Kouhime with a pout. Stomping toward her, Kouhime could feel trouble brewing before her.
"Two drinks," the girl said. Two fingers outstretched on one hand to emphasize what she wanted. Kouhime nodded, and the girl's face turned bright with a warm smile. "Thanks a lot, miss...?"
"Kouhime."
"Then Kou-chan it is."
"Kouhime is fine," the mechanic smiled wrily. "Now pick your two drinks."
"You can call me Minako," the blonde girl said. "This town is really big huh? I wasn't expecting something grand when I was moving to Mitakihara, but it seemed that this town have almost everything. A replica of Tokyo Tower was being given an expo all year long was definitely a surprise for me."
"You're flattering this town too much," Kouhime said as she picked up her coffee. Popping it open, she turned to Minako after taking a sip. "When there's light, a big shadow follows it. Know what I mean?"
"I'm sure you don't mean that at all," Minako replied. "I could tell."
"Well aren't you sharp."
"I'm just experienced."
The two of them stayed silent, drinking their drinks for a while. The stars were nonexistent here, and the only thing glowing brightly were the airplane lights and skyscrapers' tip blinking red and green in perpetual motion.
The sound of a can being thrown inside a garbage bin made Kouhime turn toward the sound. It appeared that Minako had finished her orange juice and waved toward her with one can of juice on her other hand. "See you later Kou-chan, I hope we'll meet again!"
The cat below her meowed, and Kouhime couldn't help but wave at them with a smile.
After a long while, her expression turned sour again. Throwing the can into the garbage bin, she turned around to where she came and paced further away from the lamppost. Clutching her sister again, the Girl of Cerberus trudged the chilling night.
Thank you for reading Magical Horizon. This is SaberMacro.
I had an idea to make it since two years ago, but I hesitated on making it until now. After rewatching my favorite Magical Girls anime for the upteenth time, I think I need to make this dream of mine a reality. I love the Magical Girl's genre so much I could consume it without needing any food or sleep.
Anyway, this fanfiction will mostly feature elements from seven primary stories, and one of them is an original story I came up with to bridge in the plot of various other Magical Girl's stories. I'm sure you guys can figure it out yourself.
This scenario's Trust Point comes from surviving Three Turns from the Minotaur.
For anyone curious, this is the current statuses of our known Magical Girls:
STATS
Original
Name: Kouhime Iori
Title: Girl of Cerberus
Origin: Original
Age: 14
Type: Ranged-Support
Level: 3
HP: 1580
MP: 115
SP: 38
Bio: (Unlocked the further the story progresses)
One:
The Girl of Cerberus is tasked in annihilating aberrations. It is a title meant to be held by someone who have the capability to exterminate aberrations given by the Clocktower Magus Association.
Two:
?
Magic Signature: Markers of Various Colors
Special Power: Elemental Change (5 MP per-change), Levitation of Objects
Can change her elements usage between Thirteen Elements available for her usage. However, anything other than the Cardinal Four Elements and Thunder, Ice, and Time is pretty taxing for her. The Cardinal Four Elements are: Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth.
Attacks:
Projectile Shot (P) (10-MP):
Shoot a single projectile corresponding with the afore-drawn magic circles' and its element. Known attacks so far are: Red marker means Fireball, Blue marker means Ice Needle or Water Ball, yellow marker means Thunder Pole. She can also cast this simple magic directly with her wand.
Create Wall (SP) (15-MP):
Makes a wall of something appear with a high intensity of growth rate. Blue marker means Ice Wall or Water Wall
Encase (SP) (30-MP):
Makes an element sprout upward in a large scale. Blue Marker means Ice Coffin.
Skills:
Focus (15) – Increases hit-rate and evade-rate by 30 percent for one turn.
Accel (10) – Increases Movement by 3 panels
Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Name: Tomoe Mami
Title: -
Origin: Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Age: 15
Type: Ranged-Sniper
Level: 10
HP: 6390
MP: 325
SP: 60
Bio:
One:
Tomoe Mami arrived in the witch barrier after being alerted by Kyubey. She cared deeply for Kyoko to the point of almost-possessive. She likes to bake her favorite cake every day, though she would go overboard sometimes. She wields rifles made out of ribbons and used it to wreck her foes. Very flashy.
Two:
?
Magic Signatures: Ribbons
Attacks:
Crossfires (P) (25-MP):
Summons Muskets to shoot at enemies with. The rifles summoned are actually ribbons that are quantum-engineered to become muskets. Each rifles can only fire one bullet before needing to be replaced.
Tiro Finale (P) (140-MP):
Summons a Gargantuan Cannon to blast enemies' heads clean-off. A finisher of sort that is also Mami's signature attack. You can expect the girl to finish the boss of the dungeon with this baby.
Skills:
Sharpness (15) – 100% chance to hit the next target
Snipe (25) – Increases non-SP attack's range by 2 without reducing its attack powers
Name: Kyoko Sakura
Title: -
Origin: Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Type: Close Combat-Attacker
Age: 14
Level: 8
HP: 4820
MP: 230
SP: 54
Bio:
One: Kyoko Sakura is Mami's disciple who is staying with her during the start of the story. She wields a spear to fight and makes Mami support her while she fights the enemies head-on, but will always let Mami finish the boss of the dungeon with her finisher because she thinks it's cool. Comes from a family of Christian.
Attacks:
Spear of Valor (20-MP):
Summons her spear and uses it to fight her foes. She can stab, slash, thrust, or impale her enemies with her spear's versatility.
Chain of Bindings (25-MP):
Summons her spear and stretches it by transforming the sticks onto chains that wraps themselves into her enemies as if her spear was a living and breathing snake. The tip of her spear can also move to stab the enemy somewhere it could reach after holding the enemy in place.
Skills:
Intuition (10) – 100% chance to dodge the next attack.
Instinct (20) – 100% chance to critically damage the opponent with her next attack.
Cheer (20) – Recovers an ally's health by 30% of their maximum health.
Well then, until next time, readers.
Good Bye
NEXT TIME:
Scenario 2: Lyrical Magical
"You think so too, Artemis?"
Artemis nodded. From her forehead came upon a symbol of yellow crescent moon. Seeing the cat agreeing with her, Minako looked at the moon, who was slowly unraveled by the distant cloud.
"Then I cannot wait."
With a giggle, the figure of a supermodel was blended into the city's night life.