Get the hell out of here, you damn hiatus! No one likes you, jerkass!

Update, ho~!

Merry Christmas...

...happy Boxing Day, whatever.


- Chapter 7 -
Hunter (III)


Glimmering white...

With her mouth agape helplessly and her eyes wide with fear she stared in silent horror as it all happened far faster than she had any hope of reacting-

Open, ominous maw...

-There was not a single thing she could do to change this dreadful outcome. 'This couldn't be happening!', she mentally screamed in anguish at herself. Yet, deep down, she knew... This was remuneration for accepting her new lot in life that she was promised, and one that she would have to pay dearly. This was what she would get for bringing others into this life of hers. The girl was incredulous, but she still understood that she would suffer the consequences of her own undoing-

Sharp teeth...

-Because even though she was a Puella Magi, she was still human and at the mercy of cruel, merciless, and often unkind Fate-

Thus, she stared into the yawning abyss that would steal her life away in one swift, messy snap of its powerful sharklike jaws, afraid and disbelieving and resigned...

That was when the whistling bolts of silvery light slammed into the Witch's head with an explosive force like minaturized battering rams. With the ease of a hurled ragdoll it tumbled to the side of its barrier, roaring an inhuman bellow that was more akin to mad guffawing than a proper scream of pain.

...And then, a figure in red whoosed by in hot pursuit.

She blunk once in response, and then twice.

Her eyes again widened when she saw a pair of ebony and ivory blades appear in his hands with a flash of light. She felt slight confusion when she detected the telltale influx of magical power waft from the man, for while she could clearly tell that he was certainly no magical girl he had doubtlessly used some form of magic to seemingly create those weapons from thin air.

However, the golden haired girl could spare no time to ponder the significance of this when the battle against the Witch had resumed, with the man in red and black silently carrying on in her stead, taking on her role of Witch-Hunter.

Hunks of strange not-flesh had flown from the Witch's body and littered the ground upon the impact of those projectiles, but the damage might as well have been aesthetic for all the good that it did to impede the Witch that had almost devoured her in a single gulp. The Witch slithered like a caterpillar and lashed like a snake, shaking the area every time it slammed to the ground attack. Flashing steel struck against razor-edged teeth and the dark flank of the Witch as he answered the serpentine thrashing attacks with deft parries and counters of his own. Swift blows were traded equally from both parties with neither side seeming to claim the advantage.

Wait-
-That was wrong.

The Witch, powerful and fearsome as it was, had far more in common with a wild animal than a person, presuming that such an assumption could be made about something as alien and different from a human as anything could ever be. While it was certainly true that it had some form of intelligence, this Witch was more a creature of instinct than logical, rational thought. Unlike the undoubtedly experienced man it was fighting to the death with, it could not reasonably forumalate or strategize anything to deal with this threat to its current existence. That was the major difference between the man and the Witch.

But- to compensate for this glaring weakness it possessed, the Witch had an unnaturalresilience to damage, among other traits that made hunting this particular one a nightmarishly hellish experience for any unaware Puella Magi...such as herself.

It was a stalemate. a war of atrition between man and monster, not unlike the battles fought during ancient times when legendary beasts roamed the earth during the time of civilization's infancy.

-For a moment, anyway.

His swords were gone, banished to the ether he had pulled them from, and the man in the red mantle leapt back and put distance between himself and the demented grinning clownish caterpillar. The swords he had dismissed were replaced with a firm-looking bow, notched with a shining golden weapon that was wider at its base than its tip that was aimed right for the incoming Witch.

He narrowed his eyes, and drew back on the bow string...

It lunged for him.
It snarled like a laughing clown.
It had a predatory gleam in its dead, dollish eyes.
It hungered for his corded flesh.
It practically drooled the entire time it was fighting.

...And the Diamond Pounder shot straight down the Witch's gullet.

A split second later a detonation that roared like thunder exploded destructively like a potent, volatile bomb somewhere in its midsection, just below the "neck" of the head and in the first stretches of the thing's throat. Its long, serpentine body ruptured violently, blowing away massive chunks of Witch like a fleshy waterballoon, leaving just a few stringy strands of whatever equated to skin and bone for this particular creature. She knew a serious wound like that would be enough to send any living creature into shock, if not outright kill it instantly.

But the Witch still lived. In the form of a tiny pink children's doll, its original form, it abandoned the irreparable, limp, broken, ugly black shape that it had morphed into earlier in an attempt to get away from the red and black thingthat had nearly destroyed it so thoroughly.

...that was shortlived.

He jumped again, only this time to chase after his fleeing foe. A flash of light - of magic - and the man's twin swords were back, only to be replaced an instant later. No, they were not replaced, she realized, just merely altered. Alteredinto souped-up variants that resembled a beautiful pair of black and white wings. Their length was increased immensly, and without a doubt so was their power.

The last thing the Witch knew before it was anhilated was being on the receiving end scissoring attack using the sharp edges of both his swords sliced the head off of the tiny pink Witch in one clean, swift motion.

With that, it was over.

And Mami Tomoe slumped to her knees, feeling as exhausted and helpless as the little girl that she truly was.

Xth

The world around distorted with the Witch's deaththroes. The man alighted on the ground with a soft thud and began to casually walk away. Mami Tomoe could clearly make out the features of the man that had apparently saved her life. The short white hair that stood up in spikes, his tanned, golden skintone, and his piercing steel-grey eyes seemed to bore into her when he turned and made eye contact with her. He stared - no, glared - at the yellow Puella Magi, almost as if he were silently judging her.

No, she knew this feeling.
It was more like disapproval than anything else.

"A true soldier does not lose themselves to their emotional highs and lows." His tone was even and stern, critical too. "Especially one as experienced as you, Mami Tomoe. Not only did you compromise yourself, but you also compromised the lives of your companions. And such a person who gives in to that has no right to fight on a battlefield."

...she felt her eyes begin to water, but only because she could not reasonably refute a single word that the man was saying to her, because she knew that he was certainly in the right. Not without being defiant and stubborn for the sake of being defiant and stubborn.

She had been careless, and as such she had been so close to almost paying the price with her own blood. She knew that much. Worse still, she might have endangered Madoka and Sayaka with her follies. If that had happened, she knew that Madoka would have surely mourned her death, and for whatever reason the knowledge of that certainty ate her up inside and made her feel like she could vomit.

"You know better than that. But, even though failure was entirely plausible at least the danger has come to pass." He still wore that cold expression, but somehow it seemed a little warmer, if only barely, "Do not forget: you have been granted a second chance at this. You will live to fight more battles, battles with which you can use to redeem yourself. Do not waste this opportunity, otherwise you shall regret it even worse than if you had just died here and now."

Mami tipped her hat in shame in a way that obscured her eyes. "Oh...okay then. I'm sorry."

"I'm not the one you should apologize to." He replied, motioning to the pink and blue-haired girls off in the distance crouching behind the giant frosted donut that was rapidly fading into nothingness.

All of this was still much to take in, even for her. But somehow, it seemed a little better than it had before. "Y-you're right. You're absolutely right, sir."

"If you want a name for future reference, then just call me 'Archer', Mami Tomoe. Like how everybody does." A curt answer. But before Mami could reply, Archer seemed to be interupted by something. "Alright. Alright. Yes, taken care, as you can see from here. Very well, I'm going then, Master."

With a brief farewell, too short to even be considered a proper one, the red man who had definitely saved her from certain death slipped away from their sight, like a crimson-veiled phantom.

Homura Akemi watched the entire ordeal and the proceeding interactions between her knight and the golden girl from a distance through the scope of a high caliber sniper rifle.

Xth

When all was said and done, the two bystanders had stark opinions of what the recent turn of events portended for the future of their gang of comrades and friends. On one hand, Madoka Kaname seemed uncertain and apprehensive to Witch Hunting, but not without a strongcuriosity that stifled her feelings of doubt and would have laid to rest those feelings were it not for her strong rational side. On the other hand...Sayaka Miki became enthralled to the point of being wholly enamored with the concept of becoming a "Hero of Justice", someone like that man in red who swooped down out of nowhere, whaled on the Witch and provided excellent - albeit unexpected - backup for Mami in her time of need.

"You know, if I can help you fight then there's no way a Witch can stand up to both of our power!" Sayaka enthusiastically mused while conversing with Mami, heedless of the danger because she was able to see just how much of the tide of battle a 'partner' was able to turn. "What do you think about that, Mami-san?"

"But it's dangerous, you know?" Her words displayed her concern for Sayaka, but Mami was definitely more at ease and had composed herself since the near-fatality she had almost experienced. If anything, almost dying had done wonders for her mentality as a friend to Sayaka and Madoka and as a Puella Magi.

"And THAT is why you need me! Or at least someone to help you out if you get into a pinch. C'mon Mami-san, what do you say~?"

Mami merely smiled,"You should find something really worth wishing for before you decide on this, then you can go visit Kyubey whenever you want." The message was more-or-less clear: 'Don't you dare forge a Contract without thinking it over long and hard, and if you do decide to go with it then don't squander it on anything worthless that has no meaning to you that you will come back to regret later on.'

"Blegh," Sayaka moaned as she nevertheless agreed to follow Mami's advice, "Fine, whatever you say. I'll abstain for a while until its safe and I'm good and ready. Sheesh."

"You sound like a daughter complaining about promising her mother that she won't date anyone until she moves out of the house, Sayaka-chan." Madoka giggled.

Sayaka's expression went from dour and bummed-out to sneaky and lecherous in a heartbeat. "Really, Madoka-channnnn~? You sound like you're oh-so familiar with a concept like that~?" Sayaka's hands lewdly clawed in Madoka's general direction, "Spill it! Who's the guy! Or is it a girl?Or maybe it isn't even human~?"

"S-S-Sayaka! Get away from me! Hey! Don't touch me there!"

"No one suspects the Miki, Madoka-channnn! Confess!"

...Mami just smiled and sipped tea, relieved that after their hair-raising adventure that things had gone back to some semblance of a peaceful life, far-too temporary and illusory that it might be in actuality. All the while she never stopped thinking about the man in red and what he had to say to her. She had decided that she would take his callous words of guidance to heart, and would follow them to the grave.

As she breathed in the exquisite aroma of that blend of Earl Grey that she brewed, Mami idly wondered when she would meet that man again, the closest thing she had to a mentor-figure of sorts, and pondered what sort of other things he could teach about about life, death, living and what it meant for the fleeting existence of of warrior-souls such as themselves.

Xth

Elsewhere, in Homura's apartment, things were going along swimmingly.

Except for one thing...

"...Archer." He tone seemed almost...accusatory.

"Hmm?"

"You're fatigued, aren't you?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I can tell," Homura's eyes narrowed slightly, "You do not seem as...perky."

A single grey eyebrow of his raised. "...perky? Is that your word for it?"

"Well? Stop making this seem like pulling teeth and answer me. Are you or are you not fatigued?"

"...a little."

"This could be serious. You're my familiar, so tell me - What can I do to assist you?"

"It's really not that bad. I just overexerted myself a tad in those last battles of ours. It is nothing to be concerned about. I'm only a tad depleted, prana wise, and the magic isn't regenerating as promptly as I would want it to." Archer explained, "With rest I should be able to recover back to my fighting potential...theoretically speaking."

"How much rest is required for your stores to replenish themselves back to maximum capacity?" Homura inquired.

"With ourconnection, I do not know. My estimate is that if I do not exert myself at all during the next, say twenty-four to thirty-seven hours then that should be adequate enough." He shrugged slightly, acknowledging how he might be wrong since he did not account for any sort of margin of error.

"Does it really have to be that long? Is there no other way to speed up the regeneration process?"

Archer shrugged again. "I could draw a runic circle that siphons the mana directly from the air and recharge inside of it that way like a magical cellphone charging station, but I wouldn't guarantee on it working. My skill is adequate enough for at least that, but if I don't have anyone to spotcheck for me then I could make a serious error and ruin it all. Magic of that sort isn't my usual forte because I only have a passing knowledge of Magecraft, remember? Otherwise if that's a bust, then I'll have to wait it out the old fashioned way, filter feeding mana like a Ghost Liner sponge."

Homura nodded briefly in response to Archer's words. "We cannot afford to wait for so long without backup, now that this World Line has diverged with the prevention of Mami Tomoe's death. You say that if you had assistance, you could make it work?"

"Maybe. Drawing and reagent placement is an exact science, at least for this one."

"...tell me what I need to do."


Too bad this update is just the Xth Loop: Realta Nuavariant, otherwise this scene would have obviously become a little more...aquatic. :3

Oh, yeah, Homura is getting some hands-on training with actual magecraft now. Howabout that? It's not much for now, but it's a start. And not to mention incredibly relevant later on.

Also, Mammies finally made her debut, Of course, so did Sayaka and Madoka, too. Eh.

And now, I sleep. Sleep, and be restored!