About two weeks passed. Somewhere in the world it was always night time. Someone was always asleep. Freddy's victims seemed lined up for him.
Every hour he would travel to one country the night was upon. Every hour a new child would fall by his blades. It mattered not to him whether the girl was in middle school or high school. He struck down on them with the most sadistic of tortures. Mercilessly slashing them, showing them visions of the most horrendous horrors he could conjure up.
They would try to fight back with their magical girl powers. They put up a good fight, a decent struggle, but in the end, all they could do was stay his hand a few more moments, delay the inevitable, make his job slightly more difficult.
Using his newfound power, he traveled all over the world at a rate Santa Clause would probably be jealous of. One hour he would be in Canada, the next in Brazil, then England, then Russia, then Kenya, then Vietnam. Kyubey was not lying when he had said Magical Girls were all over the world.
He would frequently return to the incubators' realm to turn in his spoils, and Kyubey would always welcome him with coffee or beer. Kyubey would happily take the tormented souls. Eventually Kyubey decided to give Freddy a total of three lockets to make the visits back to the realm less frequent and tedious. Kyubey still needed to tend to his own clients in Japan, so he would occasionally ask another incubator to tend to Freddy. The incubators were all gave Freddy their kindest treatment. Most had learned now of his deeds for their colony, and were pleased with both him and Kyubey.
Freddy was starting to become too useful in fact. He was killing off magical girls faster than the incubators could contract them, and before some could even harvest any wraiths. Kyubey occasionally had to ask Freddy to take some time off and stop killing magical girls to give the incubators a chance to contract more, and so the girls could harvest some wraiths. During this time, Freddy would either relax in his own private realm in Hell, or he would torture mortals. As Kyubey had predicted, mortals who knew the magical girls he was killing soon learned of Freddy himself, and knowledge and fear of him began to spread, widening Freddy's range of sheep to slaughter.
Meanwhile, Madoka became increasingly worried that so many magical girls were dying off. She always tried her best to get to the dimming soul gems as fast as she could, but the man in the striped sweater beat her to the punch every time. She had to meditate in her realm to learn more about him, to be rushed with whatever information she needed. She even discussed a proper course of action with her fellow magical girls in her realm, including her two archangels, Sayaka and Nagisa.
Even Doobey had tried to do something. He had managed to get an audience with the Grand High Incubator, who explained the everything that the former had missed at the assembly and what the current situation was. Doobey pleaded, but he could not suede the Grand High Incubator to put the Subjects' Rights Act back into effect for humans. His mind had been made up; that the need for more energy had risen above the needs of the humans.
It was pure bliss for Freddy. The screams of his victims filled him with the glee of a rave-goer listening to dub step. He loved watching the life drain out of them, to feel their warm bodily fluids and greasy organs running against his fingers as they pierced their flesh. The endless list of creative killing possibilities. Each dream he would use a new tactic. Also as a bonus, he got to learn dozens of new languages as Kyubey said he would.
Tonight, he was tormenting a magical girl in India. She wore the garments of a belly dancer made of soft red silk. She had a total of six muscular arms she was fighting with.
Freddy had done so much to her. He slammed her again against a tank in his boiler room. She screamed as the hot metal sizzled and scorched her again. So much of her skin had been peeled off. She had lost a leg and two arms. Her clothes were shredded. Her lower jaw and all of her raven hair had been ripped off.
She had put up another good fight for the Springwood Slasher. Freddy sustained a few bruises himself. Nothing a flick of the wrist would not fix though.
She was on the ground, trying to push herself up. Freddy approached her while she was down, and kicked her hard in the side of the head, making her yelp in pain once again as she rolled onto her side.
She was week. She could barely take anymore. Freddy could see this.
She tried to get up once again. She grabbed onto the nearest pipe, and tried to pull herself up, her body trembling. She managed to stagger to her foot, panting and groaning in pain, and trying to keep her balance. Without her lower jaw, she could not articulate any sort of speech. All she could do was pant and moan.
Time for a finisher! Freddy thought. He turned his back for a second, and called upon his power. He lifted his hands, and caused a large cylindrical furnace to rise from the ground. The furnace door slid open on its own, allowing a mighty roar of flames to erupt from within. The pulsating heat was so intense and so bright the vary air seemed to waver with heat around the two adversaries. It was unbelievable that such a tiny furnace could contain such a great fire.
Freddy turned back to his victim. She was about to move, but was too slow in her injured state. With a swift movement, Freddy drove his claws into her, one into her chest, the other just above the groin.
With a swift and strong movement, Freddy lifted the girl over his shoulders, and threw her into the hungry fire. The merciless flame burned her far worse than any other pain she could ever imagine. She shrieked as the flames ate away at her body. She tried to claw her way out of the furnace, but the coal beneath her suddenly shifted and hardened around her foot. It were as though a strong hand was holding her ankle, or her foot was encased in burning cement. She screamed and struggled, desperate to loosen her foott. With two hands she gripped the side of the furnace walls and tried to push her way out.
Freddy approached her slowly. She reached out to him. He only smiled sadistically before waving "goodbye" to her in the most taunting way possible, his knife fingers singing with each wave. Finally, he grabbed the steel handle of the furnace door, and slammed the door shut, slicing off two of her arms as he did so. The two burning mounds of flesh fell to Freddy's feet.
She continued to scream for another few seconds.
"Alright," Freddy shrugged nonchalantly. "I think you've had enough." He pulled one of his lockets and flicked it open. Black wisps started to snake out of the air slits and were sucked into the locket. One it was inside, the fire within the furnace started to die down. It was over.
"Another one for the wall," Freddy chuckled to himself. If his count was right, that was his third kill; his lockets were full. Time to check it with Kyubey.
Freddy's claw ripped another hole leading from his boiler room to the Incubator's Quasi-Physical Room, and he stepped through into the familiar solid surface in the glassy void.
"Oh Kyubey," Freddy whistled, "you're number-one man is here with a few fresh kills! Still fresh from the oven!" He jingled the lockets on his fingers playfully.
"Excellent!" Kyubey's voice exclaimed. Freddy turned to face the incubator on his usual glass cylinder pedestal. A large mug of beer sat on another stool at his side. "Let me have them!"
Freddy opened one locket at a time, releasing the torrent of black energy from the confines. Kyubey danced as he caught each stream in his back, a new pose for each stream.
"Wonderful!" Kyubey squeaked as Freddy snatched up his beer and chugged it down. "We're making excellent progress I must say."
"That's the same thing you've been saying the past few nights," Freddy groaned, finishing his beer and wiping his face on his sleeve.
"That's because it's true," Kyubey replied matter-o-factly.
"Hey, you ever get tired of jumping back and forth between here and Japan?"
"Not at all. Such a trip is no different from a short commute to and from work for you humans. Why do you ask?"
"No reason. Just wondering. Makin' chit-chat."
"Are you tired of traveling between here and the dream world so frequently?"
"A little I guess," Freddy shrugged. "But it's no big deal really."
Just outside the room, as the two continued conversing, Doobey snuck around and started listening in. Using his incubator senses, he could see and hear what was in the room without actually being in there.
Penny was only the first. In the past few weeks, Doobey had lost many more of his beloved clients to Krueger's reign. He had tried to think of a way to stop Krueger. He had met with him in person and asked him to stop, only to get the eyes of one vessel gouged out. He would frequently listen to his and Kyubey's talks in case either gave out a clue for what to do.
"Now Freddy," Kyubey said, "I have a special request for you."
Freddy finished his second glass of beer before turning back to the cat, greatly intrigued.
"Yeah? What?"
"Have you been to Japan recently?"
Freddy thought for a second. "Hm... Yeah, I might have gotten a few girls there. Why?"
"There's a very particular magical girl there I'd like you to deal with. One of my own personal clients at that."
"I'm listening..." Freddy smiled, getting excited already.
Outside the room, Doobey was listening more intently as well. He was getting excited. It would normally be around this time he would have a smoke. But not today.
Kyubey's eyes shone to fill Freddy's vision with visuals of a dark-haired magical girl in a white-and-purple dress, great radiant wings on her back, and a violet bow in hand. She blasted off dozens of wraiths that stood before her with near-perfect accuracy and agility.
"Her name is Homura Akemi. She lives in Mitakihara, Japan. As you can see her skill here, and based on our readings, she is a very powerful magical girl. One of the strongest ever. We're not sure why though. A commoner like her should not have this must potential. It matters not though. She is very powerful, and if my hypothesis is correct, the stronger the girl, the more energy she can supply. And no matter how powerful, she should be no problem for you."
Two more girls suddenly appeared in Freddy's vision, one red and wielding a massive spear. The other in yellow clothes and firing off volleys from muskets.
"She is accompanied by these two girls," Kyubey continued. "Kyoko Sakura and Mami Tomoe. They are not as powerful as Homura, but if you could deal with them along with her, that would be great."
The visions ended and Freddy found himself back in the room with Kyubey.
"No problem," Freddy said with a grin. "Consider it done."
"Excellent!" Kyubey exclaimed. "I'll be here, eagerly awaiting your success."
"Don't get too comfy," Freddy chuckled as he set his beer mug down beside Kyubey. He then slashed his claw behind him, opening up a tear back to his boiler room, and leapt through as he broke out into a maniacal laughing fit.
So that's who he's going after next! Doobey thought to himself, backing away from the walls of the Quasi-Physical Room. I gotta get to Japan! I gotta warn that girl!
He was about to turn and run and head for Japan, but as soon as he turned, he came face to face with two more incubators; Antsubey and Ruubey. They were two of the many incubators who had supported Kyubey's plan.
"Hello Doobey," Antsubey greeted him. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, um..." Doobey stuttered. "Hey guys. I was just..."
"Stuttering and pausing, taking time to think of an answer," Ruubey stated robotically. "You're trying to come up with a lie. You have been listening to Kyubey's conversation with Freddy, and now you plan to run ahead to Mitakihara to warn his next victim."
Kyubey left the Quasi-Physical room, the crystalline door breaking down and rebuilding automatically as he passed through. He turned to face Antsubey and Ruubey. Between both of them, Doobey was held in an opal-colored prism, unable to move.
"Kyubey," Ruubey announced. "We caught Doobey spying on you and Mr. Krueger. It seems his attachment to the humans has gotten so strong he feels compelled to help them."
"I'll use a terminology you can understand, Doobey," Antsubey said sternly. "We have a great thing going here, and you're NOT going to fuck it up for us!"
"I can't say I'm surprised Doobey," Kyubey stated. "You've been on a tight leash ever since you've started taking drugs and became an invalid. Now there is no denying that you are a threat to our operation. You must be eliminated."
"Hey hey," Doobey stammered. "Come on guys. We're all friends here. Look, let's just go talk to the Grand High Q and get this all worked out."
"You've already spoken to the Grand High Incubator," Kyubey replied. "He has nothing more to say to you and will not see you again." He turned back to Ruubey and Antsubey.
"Kindly put him through the Eradicator."
"With pleasure," Antsubey replied.
The two female incubators dragged the prism away while Kyubey turned to head over towards Japan.
Author's Note: I probably shouldn't have spent so much time writing this when it's finals week and I'm barely prepared. Need to study more. But I met with some friends today and we talked about Madoka a lot and that put me in the mindset for this story. Couldn't stop thinking about Madoka all evening.
Had fun writing this chapter. I love writing the villains. Listened to a lot of "evil" music while writing this.