The Witch Queen's Rose was located well within the palace gardens. Doremi –and by extension, Shadow Doremi- and Aiko knew this well, as did the Queen, for the former three had been there when they saw Hana awaken for the first time. Momoko, having been locked out of the loop, had only their words to go by.
With each step, the group got an ever-worsening feeling that the damage wasn't just limited to the Rose. Indeed, decay was splotched in random places, giving the gardens a desolate look. The lack of a stench still disturbed them, as though time itself had frozen ever since Black Queen's attempt.
It wasn't long before they finally exited the gardens and gazed over Majo Kai.
What they saw made them gasp in shock. Decay mixed in with seemingly-normal patches of flowers dotted the landscape as far as the eye could see. Even the visible buildings themselves seemed to be rotting. The only exception seemed to be the nearby Castle of Majo Kai, and even it seemed different.
"Oh my God…!" Momoko gasped.
"This…This is horrible!" Doremi remarked.
Even Shadow Doremi looked down in shock. "This is even worse than the Shadow World…" she mused, biting her lip.
Aiko said nothing. Her pained expression spoke for itself. On the other hand, the Queen found herself being overcome by the monstrous sight and fled through the air. Concerned, the girls took to their brooms and followed. A little ways away, the Queen descended back to the ground and began trying to use her magic to at least heal the blighted land.
"Jou-sama?" Doremi offered.
The Queen didn't answer. Instead, she continued trying to use her magic to heal the land, but the decay resisted even her powerful magic and refused to be healed off. When her failure became imminent, she ceased and collapsed, weeping tears of silvery ectoplasm.
"Jou-sama?" Aiko began.
"It's my fault," the Queen said, sadly, "Black Queen's spell…It still worked somehow. It caused this devastation…"
"Don't blame yourself," Momoko replied, "It would've been worse if you didn't knock her back."
"We're okay thanks to you," Doremi added, "We would still be…uh, what happened to us again?"
"You four were turned to stone by Black Queen's spell," the Queen replied, clarifying the pink Ojamajo's point, "I do not know how long you were like that."
"Then we would still be statues if it weren't for you!"
"We're looking at a rotting wasteland," Shadow Doremi deadpanned, "How is this better?!"
Suddenly, something burst out of a now-obviously fake portion of the ground and lunged at the group. Shadow Doremi reacted quickly and evaded, knocking into Doremi and throwing her to the ground. Aiko and Momoko took several steps away from their assailant while the Queen readied her magic.
The being looked human, but her flesh had become severely decayed. Her cloak was in tatters and her fingers had distended, resembling claws. Her rotted face looked at them through eye sockets devoid of anything except for a pair of glowing sickly-green orbs.
"…Kiiiillllll…" she muttered. Her voice was deep and sounded like stone grinding against stone. Another word followed, but it was too badly garbled to make out.
"What is that thing?!" Momoko screeched, terrified.
"I don't know!" Aiko replied.
The two girls retreated quickly from the monster at a breakneck pace. Shadow Doremi wasted no time in drawing her poron and shooting a beam of black and slightly-pink magic at it. The attack landed, but the thing barely even flinched. If anything, it only blew off a part of its tattered robes, revealing more dry and cracked flesh underneath.
Doremi thought quickly and drew her own poron. "Pirika Pirilala Poporina Peperuto!" she chanted, "Blast that thing!" Her spell conjured another beam of magic, this one pink, at the creature. Again, it only seemed to blow off a few pieces of it. "Damn it!"
The undead monstrosity continued to press its assault, striking at anyone within reach. Aiko and Doremi managed to dodge a few blows, but Shadow Doremi wasn't so lucky and suffered a large gash across her back. Momoko nearly suffered the same fate had it not been for the Queen forcing her out of its path. Doing that only led to her getting hit instead…and the gash appeared on even her ghostly form, even causing her to feel weakness.
"Jou-sama!" Doremi cried out.
"I'm fine!" Jou-sama called back, despite her wound dripping ectoplasm.
The undead mouthed something that none of the girls were able to interpret and reached out its claw. Suddenly, a burst of shadowy-blue magic impacted it from behind, drawing its attention. The source of the attack rushed in closer, revealing itself in the process.
"Shadow Ai-chan?!" Shadow Doremi gasped.
The being was definitely an adult, but it was very much recognizable as Shadow Aiko. Her lack of a shadow confirmed it, though something seemed a little off. One thing that gave that away was the psychotic grin seemingly welded to her face…
Regardless, the blue Shadow summoned what seemed to be a more advanced poron with a diamond-shaped Shadow crystal inside; it quickly turned into her signature weapon: A giant hammer.
"How about this, ya dead bitch?!" Shadow Aiko shouted, maniacally. She swung with tremendous force, knocking the undead to the ground. It tried getting up, but the blue Shadow neither gave nor took any quarter with her assault, violently pounded it into the ground. "Had enough yet?!"
The group could only watch in shock and surprise. A Shadow had just come in and saved them in a way that a Shadow would normally do things. Shadow Doremi herself gulped in apprehension, much to everyone's surprise. Her body language told them all they needed to know, prompting them not to ask but to worry for this Shadow's sanity.
By the time they returned their attention to the so-called "fight", Shadow Aiko had bashed and battered the undead thing into the ground. It could barely move now, but the blue Shadow didn't seem the least bit interested in showing mercy. With one final psychotic smirk, she slammed her mallet down, Shadowy blue magic blazing, right into the undead's remains. It could never hope to take the blast in its condition and was forevermore laid to rest.
No sooner than she finished off the undead, Shadow Aiko turned to the group. "Which of you is next?" she asked, her voice taking a far more faux-pleasant tone, "I'm waiting! And I REALLY DON'T ENJOY THIS FUCKING WAITING!"
She even didn't bother waiting for a reply, opting instead to rush in for a kill like the maniac she clearly was. The girls barely had time to dodge before she was on top of them. Despite their best efforts, the insane Shadow still managed to get a solid blow off on Momoko, knocking her senseless. Giggling madly, she refocused her efforts on a new target.
"Momo-chan!" Aiko cried out, rushing over to the yellow Ojamajos's unconscious form.
Shadow Aiko took the opportunity to make an attack, but Shadow Doremi had already morphed her poron into her own signature weapon -a bastard sword- and intercepted, causing both of their weapons to impact one another. The adult blue Shadow decided to change her target to the pink Shadow. She was certain it was going to be easy, given she was already crushing the young Shadow Ojamajo via sheer pressure alone.
Doremi got a cheap shot off, relieving enough of the pressure for Shadow Doremi to escape. She did so, and quickly swung at the now-distracted blue Shadow, slicing her mallet-holding arm off. To everyone's surprise, she still stood, grinning maniacally despite the blood spurting from the stump.
It didn't take long for the adult blue Shadow to rush the terrified Doremi with her remaining arm. She was without magic, but that no longer seemed to be much of an issue for Shadow Aiko. A spell from the Queen knocked her off balance just enough for the pink Ojamajo to dive out of the way. She was just in time, for if she hadn't, she would likely have been killed, given the deep indent on the rotted ground.
Shadow Aiko got back up, despite most of her blood now scattered about the immediate area. Momoko was just now waking back up –much to Aiko's relief- and was shocked to see the adult blue Shadow continuing despite the severe blood loss. Doremi, Shadow Doremi, Aiko, Momoko, and the Queen huddled together, fearing the worst.
Shadow Aiko loomed over them, still grinning maniacally. "You should consider yourselves lucky…" she muttered, chuckling, "But let me tell you something: Some things aren't what they appear to be in this world. Especially that…that…"
Shadow Aiko didn't get a chance to finish, her last words dying in her throat as she finally collapsed from blood loss. Moments later, she dissolved into nothingness, as all Shadows do when they die. The group took a while to recover from the shock and still feared it to be a conjured illusion. When nothing happened, Doremi warily got up and retrieved Shadow Aiko's poron, which had reverted to normal.
Shadow Doremi looked apprehensively at her Light half from the short distance. She knew that she and her friends only used their porons' weapon forms when they were dead serious.
"We just barely survived that one…" the Queen muttered, "If…if she had lived just a little bit longer, then we…we…!"
"We know, Jou-sama," Momoko replied, trying to comfort the ghostly Queen, "Which is why we should count our blessings."
"But," Aiko began, "What did Shadow Aiko mean? Her last words…what was she referring to?"
"I couldn't possibly know," the Queen replied.
Doremi walked back to the group. "Even though she is our enemy and tried to kill us like a psychopath," she began, "I think Shadow Aiko at least deserves a proper burial."
"Are you sure we can even pull that off?!" Shadow Doremi asked back, "What if there are more homicidal crazies out there?! The longer we stand here, the bigger our chances of getting gruesomely murdered!"
"And Jou-sama is still hurt from the zombie," Momoko added, pointing out the gashes still on the Queen, "What's gonna happen?"
The Queen felt around her form at the injuries. "It feels so…cold," she explained, "It feels like…evil. Pure evil."
None of the girls knew what to make of it. Even the Queen could barely understand what she had just described. In their present state, it was clear they would never truly understand what it means without help.
"Let's get out of here," Shadow Doremi suggested, "Before something else-!" Several forms the Ojamajos spotted appearing over the horizon prompted them to interrupt the pink Shadow. "I told you more of them would show up!"
"Then let's get-!" Momoko called out, only to be cut off by a beam of magic.
It was as Shadow Doremi had feared: There were many other Witches and even a number of Wizards among them. All had similar psychotic grins as Shadow Aiko and were clearly intent on killing them all for pure pleasure. The group braced themselves for a quick death…
…and then a bright light appeared overhead, causing the psychopaths to cower and keep their distance. Then, a new form made its presence known. It descended and quickly and effortlessly blew back the vast majority of the insane Witches and Wizards. Those that remained dared not attack.
The bright light subsided, and the group was able to get a better look at their savior.
She was a young woman who appeared to be either in her late teens or early twenties who wore a long flowing white dress and had very long, blonde hair styled in twin tails. Her seemingly delicate features belied a powerful white-colored magic that struck everyone as familiar.
"You encroach upon my realm again?" she began, tranquil anger evident in her tone, "None of you are allowed here. Now begone, or face my wrath…again!"
The insane Witches and Wizards, grinning with neither glee nor malice but with fear, hastily retreated. Once they had fled, the woman turned, revealing her amber-colored eyes. Her features were strikingly familiar…too strikingly familiar to be a coincidence.
"H-Hana-chan?!" Doremi called out.
The woman smiled sweetly. "Yes, Mama," she replied.
The group could hardly believe their ears. This woman was claiming to be Hana, and yet she was clearly an adult. The Queen even used her magic to discern any spells this woman may have cast. None were detected, confirming her to be at her biological age.
"It's…it's really you?" Aiko asked.
"Of course it is," Hana replied, kneeling down. She then gave a hug to Doremi. "I…I missed you sooo much! Mama!"
Shadow Doremi looked over the horizon. "Um, guys? Light Hana?" she began, "Aren't you-?"
"Oh!" Hana replied, releasing Doremi, "Let's continue this at the Castle, okay?"
The group nodded, having been rather-bluntly told that the outside was extremely dangerous. Hana snapped her fingers at that. Her spell, which the Queen mentally noted to be surprisingly powerful, teleported everyone present right to the Castle as promised.
Hidden nearby, another being could be discerned. Though she was hooded, several of her features were quite clear. She wore a visor over her eyes and her dark-colored clothing made hiding amid the rotting wastes simple. She clenched her teeth.
"Damn it!" she muttered, "Damn it all!"