"But I do not love you any longer."

Minou broke her sister's soul gem in her hand and dropped the shattered pieces to the ground. Corbeau's body hit the ground in the next instant. There was silence around them. Tart didn't know what to do now.

Minou looked down at her fallen sister. "At the very least, I will tell Lapin that you died honorably in battle."

Tart was shaking. "Why... why would you do that?"

Riz ran up to join her friend, having seen what had just transpired. She shot a furious look at Minou. "That's pretty heartless. Wasn't she your older sister?"

"Yes." Minou looked up at her. "My older sister by blood. A very foolish older sister."

Tart shouted at her. "How can you say things like that without a trace of emotion? You aren't Human or a Magical Girl anymore!" She readied her sword. "You're already a Witch with a heart that's rotten all the way through!"

From behind her cat mask, Minou laughed. "If that's the case, what will you do, La Pucelle?"

"I will do what Magical Girls are supposed to do!" She slashed the air with her sword, glowing with energy. "I will destroy you."

"Well, that is something to look forward to." She laughed again. "However, I am afraid that I must retreat from the field of battle..."

Not long ago...

"You. Creature. Tell me now. What is your purpose here?"

Kyubey smiled up at the masked girl. "If you mean here on Earth, I'm here to create Magical Girls in order to save the universe. I make contracts with young girls and grant their wishes, and in exchange they become Magical Girls and fight Witches." His tail flicked innocently behind him. "If you mean right here and now, I'm here to talk to you."

She stared down at him. "What if I've already made a contract?"

"This is all at my discretion and mine alone. I can make a contract with you, but only one." He casually hopped up onto the table in the center of the room. There was no one else around for the time being, but she was beginning to worry that her rare time alone was nearing its end. Kyubey was now more level with her, staring not into her eyes, but into her soul. "Contracts with inferior beings are irrelevant."

That was it. "I want you to make me a Magical Girl. One of your Magical Girls."

"Very well then. What is it you will wish for, Corbeau?"

Low muffled laughter cut the tense atmosphere. Riz grabbed Tart's shoulder, pulling her back. Everything about this seemed suddenly very wrong. Minou turned to look back down at her dead sister, whose soul gem she had just personally crushed. A strange sensation started creeping up her spine as she saw that Corbeau was not quite so dead as she ought to have been. Staggeringly, she pushed herself up and back onto her feet, wobbling back and forth for a moment, but she continued to laugh. Not like Minou's amused little laugh. Corbeau's laugh had always been more harsh than her sisters', but now it carried something more with it.

Corbeau's cold grey eyes fixed on her younger sister. "So I guess I was right about you, Minou."

"How..." Minou stepped back, retreating towards her enemies as Riz pulled Tart out of the way. "How are you standing?"

Corbeau looked down at herself. She was indeed standing, and she could see her the broken pieces of her soul gem on the ground in front of her. She turned her hands over in front of her, staring at them intently. "It feels... strange. But that creature was right after all. Contracts with inferior beings are irrelevant." She looked back to her sister. "I think... you'll find that, since you did just destroy my soul gem, the one from the contract I made with our... your benefactor... that contract has effectively been terminated."

Minou frowned. "You can't turn on her now. Where will you go? With them?" She waved dismissively at Tart and Riz, just as Melissa and Elisa appeared through the trees. "There's nowhere else for you to go."

Corbeau shook her head. "La Pucelle's angel was just the way out I needed. His contract encapsulated my soul in a much more... refined place. Much safer." She took off her gloves and cast them aside, revealing the small ring on her finger. "A far smaller target, and with such an obvious one in plain sight no one would think to look elsewhere. Plus, I've added one more wish, all my own, to my ever-growing abilities. It's the best one yet." She narrowed her unmasked eyes at her sister. "Would you like to see it?"

Behind Minou, Melissa was furiously shaking her head. Elisa elbowed her. "Calm down. She won't unleash the Black Plague with her sister right here."

Riz glanced back at the two of them. "Her sister just tried to kill her. I wouldn't be surprised."

The world around them began to blur and fade as red bolts of lightning danced along every surface. The ground broke apart, the grass burning up as jagged stone erupted from below. The ground behind them fell away. Elisa lost her footing and tumbled backward over the edge. Melissa managed to grab her hand and keep her from falling at the last moment. As she hung over the new abyss, she could see the orange glow of fire far below them. Melissa pulled her back, and they landed on the reddish rock that now made up the platform they'd been given in this piece of hell.

Riz looked around in every direction, including up, to see only darkness, fire, and rock. She had a guess that the stone platform they were on was floating through the void on the end of a long chain, as the only things she could see around them were more rocks, all unnervingly chained to something too far away to be seen. All the chains, though, led in the same direction.

Tart looked over to Minou. She stood perfectly still, like the slightest move might attract the attention of some massive beast. Tart's mind went elsewhere, though. Corbeau was gone, and so was Tart's beloved France. She shouted at the void around them. "What have you done!? What did you do to... to everything!?"

Riz sighed. "Tart, I don't think..."

Corbeau's voice answered, booming through the air. "What have I done to it? I have done nothing but to the five of you. My most hated enemies... well, and the redhead."

Elisa shouted at Corbeau, wherever she was. "Well, I am sorry! Give me another chance, I'll make you hate me too!"

"That won't be necessary." Their rocky platform shook violently, knocking Riz and Minou over. Only Tart remained standing, having planted herself using her sword. "This is merely a demonstration."

Riz pulled herself over to the edge of the platform, looking over and into the fire below. There, curling up the side of the rock that they were all on top of, something held them in place. Further along, she could see another one in each direction. Gigantic fingers belonging to a hand that was below them, hidden under the rock. She turned to Tart and the others. "'Demonstration'. Emphasis on 'Demon', I'm guessing."

They all looked back up to find Corbeau's gaze bearing down on them. She was enormous, and it was clear that her hand now held them in place. Her lips curled into a smile wide enough to consume the rocky platform with them on it. She wore no mask over her eyes, which glowered at them malevolently. The gleaming steel of a silvery scythe blade arced through the air away from her, the giant weapon held firmly in her other hand.

"Behold. I have been granted power beyond that of the dark gods who ruled the world before the time recanted by Moses."

Riz stood and called up at her. "Who granted you this power? You were always a monster, but what kind of evil being have you become now?"

Tart nodded, jabbing her sword in Corbeau's direction. "Now we truly must destroy her! There's no telling how many she could kill like this! Maybe even the entire world! It has to end before it goes any farther!"

"Though try as you might to flatter me, you only insult my abilities. Destroy the world? How narrow your mind. I have a much greater object in my sight. But first, I want to... play a game with the lot of you."

Before they could inquire as to the nature of this 'game', she turned and threw the rock in her hand. Riz lost her footing and collapsed onto the rocky face as it flew through the void. She managed to keep hold, as the others mostly were able to keep their footing. Minou, however, was tossed off the platform the instant it was thrown and disappeared into the darkness. Snapping out of the trance she'd been stuck in, Minou lashed out with her weapon, which wrapped around the chain attached to the stone platform.

Tart looked ahead to see that they were careening towards another rock platform and were going to crash into it. There were other rocks scattered around it, some larger and some smaller, that offered an opportunity to avoid the collision. She shouted to her friends. "We have to jump!"

Elisa grimaced. "I don't like this!"

Riz looked up, seeing what was coming. "Oh... this is gonna hurt."

They jumped together, pushing off the falling platform and towards the nearest stationary rocks. They all managed to land on their feet just as the two rocks behind them collided, both shattering into thousands of shards that flew in every direction. Minou effortlessly leaped off the chain and floated down to another nearby platform. She took a deep breath and sighed in relief. She knew better than to think it was over, but she had survived the first assault from something beyond her understanding. She considered it a success.

Corbeau's voice echoed around them. "I have decided that you may leave of your own volition. The way out is in the direction you have been going, but I must warn you that the doorway only admits one at a time. To open it, you must use another key each time. Unfortunately for you, there are only four keys." Her laughter rang out, shaking the air.

Riz glanced back to where Corbeau had been standing, seeing the colossal figure stalking away. "So we find these keys, and she'll simply let us leave? I doubt it will be that easy."

"What about Minou?" Tart pointed over to where the other girl was making her own way from one platform to another. "If she gets out before us, we won't be able to all escape."

Elisa nodded. "And she's only got to find one. Assuming we're not just being lied to and toyed with for fun, two of us should head straight for the exit and keep her from getting out while the other two find three of the keys. She'll absolutely find one of them before us anyways, so we need to beat her there."

Tart looked in the direction they had to go. "Alright. We'll stick together as long as we can and split up when we need to. Let's go."