The role of the PDG units varies widely depending on a large number of factors. The influence of other parties, the number of grief seeds required, and the population of the planet all contribute to either expanding or limiting the role of the PDG unit.

The Arbites, Administratum, and Ecclesiarchy are the main groups interested in maintaining or expanding their own influence while limiting that of magical girls. This is a very broad statement, and there are as many exceptions as there are standard cases, but the worst must be assumed when it comes to these parties. If a significant presence is held by them on a world, then there will not be much chance of the PDG doing much more than hunting wraiths and collecting cubes. Without them, there is a lot more for the PDG to do, and they may be involved in crime-fighting or administrative operations.

However, if the planet requires a high output of cubes, then they will do less, in order to conserve as much magic as possible. The knowledge of the planet's population is also taken into account. If the existence of the Inquisition and PDG units is unknown, the girls will stay in the shadows, and not operate outside of their main duties.

I personally suggest that all PDG commanders keep this in mind. You are not the rulers of the world you protect. You are there to protect it from wraiths. Should you have the chance to do more, then carefully make the assessment, and submit the request to Sect council for approval. I'm not going to be kind to any more incidents regarding the PDG's sphere of influence.

-Message from the Grand Inquisitor to every sect council in the Imperium.

Adrianne was doing her best to look like she was unimportant. It was certainly working, as the guards near her had stopped paying much attention to her. They now talked amongst themselves, throwing glances at Adrianne every now and then, but overall, they did not seem to mind her presence.

She had not said much to them, but she knew that she would never say much to them. She had to move soon, and these men would die after forgetting she ever existed.

Adrianne started to walk down the hall. Not the way Erwine and she had come, but instead down the hall in the other direction, further into the building. She walked right past the guards, and they forgot she existed.

They did not notice as she strolled on down the hall. Adrianne would only exist to the eyes of cameras, and anyone watching the film afterwards would be unable to see her.

She could have walked slowly and not been noticed by anyone, but she ran instead. She knew that she had a mission to accomplish, and wanted to get higher in the tower before stopping her use of magic.

Adrianne carefully scanned the large corridors she went down, looking for a lone person. As she was about to round a corner, she saw a man come around that corner. He was a guard, possible making rounds. It did not matter.

Adrianne paused where she was. As the man walked past her, she kicked out backwards. Her foot hit the back of his knee and he fell forwards. "What?" he muttered as he started to get up from his knees. His word was filled with fear.

He knew that he was involved in things he should not be involved in. He knew that the Inquisition would come eventually. He did not know that he would be one of the first to fall.

Adrianne spun around, her right leg coming up to kick the man in his head as he came up. This knocked him down onto the ground. Adrianne stopped her spin, and leapt on his back. She pressed a knife she summoned against the back of his neck.

"Where is the elevator?" Adrianne asked, "Five seconds, quietly,"

"In the room to the right!" the man shouted, "It's hidden, in the room to the right!"

His shouts could have blown Adrianne's cover. She pressed the knife forwards, gently, it broke skin. She kept going for a second, and his head was hanging limply from half of a neck. She tossed the dagger away, particles trailing from the dissipating object as it flew, and then lifted up the body. Adrianne walked over to the door to the right, and twisted the knob. It was locked.

They clearly weren't preparing for a simple raid by the Arbites. That room they took Erwine into, obviously a throwaway, expecting some kind of betrayal. Even this floor is set up with nothing to find on it. Whoever set all this up knew that the Inquisition would be coming at some point. But that doesn't explain why this is all so easy. Knowing her…she made it this easy, she does love to toy with me.

She found the key on the dead body she held. She would not be noticed, nor would the man she carried. He was part of the field she generated, a field that shielded anyone from being noticed. Adrianne was not invisible. She was seen, heard, felt, and smelled by everyone's senses, it was just that she prevented minds from interpreting those signals correctly.

So she and the body she carried would not be seen. The key opened the door, and Adrianne found that the door did lead to the elevator. The box itself was a meter in front of the door, as there was a control panel in the space before it which could be used to call the elevator if it was not there. She had to admit that it was clever. By putting the elevator here, they forced any infiltrators to search around and eventually be caught.

However, Adrianne was good at covering her tracks. She did not even leave any tracks due to her magic, and those she killed could be hidden somewhere. And even if dead bodies were found, Adrianne could only be found by a telepath.

The man Adrianne had killed was a strong one. He should not have broken so quickly. It would have been strange, and nonsensical in any other context. But in this case, he had been attacked by something he could not see, hear, or feel. The knife had not even been felt. He had been knocked down by a ghost, in his mind. The only thing he had sensed was Adrianne's voice, as she had allowed him to hear that much.

Adrianne walked into the elevator itself, and ordered the doors to close. She looked up after putting the body down. She summoned a dagger, and then used it to cut an opening in the ceiling large enough for a human body.

She slipped the guard's body out of that, forcing it slowly through the hole in the ceiling. It slid off of the side of the cube-shaped elevator, hitting the wall before tumbling down a few meters. It sounded as if the elevator shaft was quite short, then Adrianne realized that this hidden elevator only started on this floor, or possibly the floor below.

It did not matter for her. She only needed to go upwards, or at least she hoped that was all she had to do. She then hit the button to move the elevator upwards a single floor. She had made sure to close the door when she got into the elevator, and her hiding of the body would unsure that she would be unnoticed until the guard was reported missing.

The elevator reached its destination, and Adrianne stepped out of the way of the door as it opened. She opened the door to the next floor, and immediately stepped out as fast as she could. There was no one in the initial room, but she heard voices outside. She hesitated, and waited for someone to come investigating.

There were three men in front of the door, and they noticed the arrival of the elevator, dimly hearing the sound through the wood. One of them moved to open the door, and he looked inside, wondering why no one had walked out of it yet.

Adrianne did not want anyone dead. She could escape if she had to kill, but it would be easier if no one died. They would all die anyways when the Adeptus Arbites mopped this place up after Adrianne was done with it.

The man stepped into the room and looked around briefly, before shaking his head and closing the door. Adrianne stepped past him as he walked in, slightly bumping into him as she moved past. He did not feel her. Adrianne slipped past the three men without alerting them, and quickly moved down the corridor.

The hallways on this floor were narrower than the ones before, and they featured at least one guard in each corridor. Adrianne moved quickly, but also made sure that she did not disrupt anything or anyone.

She heard the banter of the guards, and other men as they walked through the halls. The floor was also filled with various officials walking about, talking to one another or into voxes. Adrianne recognized them as major officials in several different trading groups which operated on this planet. In fact, they were all here.

The inquisitor shook her head, thinking of the purges which would occur when she was finished with this. She could destroy the entire economy of this planet and the subsector by wiping out the houses represented here, but that was not an option.

She would have to make sure they stayed in line in the future, but that was a problem for another time. Adrianne continued to move through the halls, dodging the individuals traversing the halls.

Adrianne remembered to do something she had forgotten to do before. She removed the ring from the knot of her ponytail, and then transformed into her magical girl outfit. It did not make much of a difference, but she liked it more than what she had been wearing. It also allowed her to use her weapons more freely, as magical girls were inexplicably more powerful when wearing their uniform.

Adrianne was searching for any sign of an important room, trying to find individuals moving towards a single point. She could not determine any important location. She immediately imagined that the various rooms were interconnected by passages between them that could only be accessed from within the rooms. This would allow men and material to move without alerting any observer to an important point.

She would have to find someone to ask about this problem. Adrianne followed two official-looking men, currently engaged in a conversation about tariffs, into a room. She slipped in right as the door was closed, and was happy to find that the room was a small office, where one man sat behind a desk, and the other sat in front of it.

Adrianne moved forwards, and knocked the man in front of the desk out with a single blow to the back of the neck. The other man jumped up, his mouth opening to exclaim something. Adrianne leapt forwards and punched him in the gut.

He fell backwards from the magic-enhanced blow, and was then slammed against a wall by something that he could not see or feel. His mouth was being covered, again by something he could not feel.

A girl appeared in front of him. She was a magical girl. The seal on her hand, the seal on her soul gem, told him that she was an Inquisitor. He started to shake in fright. "Where is the central meeting location for your leaders?" Adrianne asked, "Tell me in the next ten seconds or you die. Do not shout, or you die."

The hand was taken away, and the man quickly stuttered out, "It's on the next floor up! This floor is only a place for the upper officials of the trading house, but most of them meet on the next floor!"

Adrianne nodded, smiled, and the man died as his neck was twisted in a way necks were not supposed to be twisted in.

Adrianne stood up, and shook her head. She groaned, bringing a hand to her face. I should have known it would be on the next floor, she thought, this was a completely waste of time and magic.

The inquisitor considered her options. I go all the way back to the elevator, or I find another way up. The girl looked at the ceiling. This is a hive tower, too thick of a floor. Would take too long, and I don't know what I would find.

Then, she looked to her right. The building was a hive tower. Which meant that there were windows in some areas. This room had a large window on one side, on the wall that a dead body now lay against.

Erwine was not in the most ideal situation at the moment. A gun had been pointed at Isael's head, but Osbeorne was now looking to change the subject. "Let's speak about something else, as we cannot trust this girl with too many of our secrets," he said, glancing at his companions, "Perhaps…perhaps we can talk about a reward for her?"

"That is a good idea," Kaskellie said, and Isael supported him. However, both men seemed to act that way only because they were afraid of Osbeorne and what he could do to them. Erwine got the impression that Osbeorne was actually in charge here.

"First of all," Osbeorne said with a smile, "I would like to offer you a job,"

"A job?" Erwine repeated, surprised. She did not expect to be involved in such negotiations. She had to stay safe and undercover until Adrianne could finish, but she had no idea when that would be.

"Of course," Osbeorne said, excited now. His sudden change of moods disturbed Erwine a little, but she rolled with it and continued to speak.

"What kind of job?" she asked.

"A job for the Osbeorne Company," the man said, "There are many roles you could fill,"

Erwine was disturbed by this. She knew that it was illegal for any organization that was not of the Imperial Government, or the Mage Knights, to employ magical girls in any capacity.

She realized that this would only help Adrianne in her efforts to defeat this organization. Erwine had been told that the Osbeornes had managed to avoid all accusations of crime, even though they had committed many.

This man had just confessed. But to ensure that he was guilty, Erwine asked, with a surprised look, "Really? Magical girls work for you?" Besides, she needed to buy time, and acting like a normal magical girl just being introduced into the situation would work well. It wasn't like she had to play the part, all she had to do was keep her cool, to display that she knew that there was supposedly nothing to fear.

Osbeorne nodded, "Yes," he said, "And you can too, if you would like to. I might even recommend that course of action over any other options you may have."

"Why would that be?" Erwine asked, only asking because of the few seconds in which Osbeorne paused.

"Because all of those other options shall no longer be options anymore," Osbeorne said, "Or maybe they will be, but not for long,"

"Excuse me," Isael said, "But isn't that a bit too much about our plans?" He spoke in a haughty tone, filled with anger and excitement at getting a kind of revenge after his previous humiliation.

Osbeorne glared at Isael, angry, but then stopped. His gaze lightened up, and he looked back at Erwine. "Mr. Isael is correct," he said, "I will tell you more about the future when this operation is complete…and if you choose to work for us, of course."

A strange tune was in his words. Erwine knew why it was strange. It was the same tune she herself had been singing the entire time. The tune of telling a lie, of leading someone along to buy time. She suppressed the panic that surged up, telling herself that her own paranoia, paranoia sustained by her desire to not fail, brought about this wild interpretation of the man's words.

"So you give me no reasons to work for you?" Erwine questioned, her tone serious, and establishing clearly that there was going to be no deal lest she heard some good reasons why she should work for the Osbeorne's.

"That's not what I said," Osbeorne said, "I said that I'll tell you about the future if you agree. However, there are many rewards one can gain from working for me and my company."

"For example," Osbeorne said, "You can have wealth. Massive amounts of wealth. Far more than you would have working as a guard on this planet, or in any role that a magical girl can fill."

"I can promise you safety. This sector is going to change soon, and it will become safe for people like us. You can have riches and safety from the tyranny of the Goddess and her foolish Imperium. Power is another thing you are denied by the corpse god. You can have enough power to control millions, you may even have control of an entire world."

"Are you serious?" Erwine asked, "What are you planning to do? You mean rebellion, do you not?"

"Do you have a problem with rebellion?" Osbeorne asked, his voice accusing Erwine of being disloyal.

Erwine shook her head. "No, I am just afraid of such drastic action, especially now."

"Why now?" Osbeorne asked, "What are you afraid of, exactly?"

"I am fine with working in the shadows, under the eyes of the Imperium and its servants. But acting out in the open would bring down the wrath of the Goddess's armies. Can your company stand against the Mage Knights?"

"My company will simply rule the sector, we have friends that can protect our new lands," Osbeorne explained, "There is nothing to fear, here, Ms. Vivian."

"I believe there are things to fear," Erwine countered. She was only talking because she did not want the conversation to end. She was trying to learn as much as she possibly could before Adrianne was done. She had no way of telling Adrianne without violating her orders to stay telepathically silent, so she had no way to inform the inquisitor that she was learning important information.

"What is there to be scared of?" Osbeorne said, "I honestly have no room for girls who are scared of taking risks,"

"I am not afraid of risks, if the reward is great enough," Erwine said, "But the reward in this case is death at the hands of the Mage Knights,"

She understood now that she was doing something that was not advisable. She wondered if anyone else she knew would be doing this in this situation. The smart thing to do would be to simply agree with what was being said and state that she would consider her options.

She had already been worried, but the questions she had been asking had been normal. Digging any deeper at this point would only scare her more, make her even more agitated. She had to increase the power of her own magic, amplifying the effect it had on her mind. There was a bit of pressure in her head, like a growing feeling of discomfort, from this, but she could bear it.

Arguing may gain her more information, but it also put her at greater risk. Erwine could only hope that Adrianne would finish her job soon, as Erwine was starting to become more and more scared.

She could barely keep herself in her seat, wanting to get up and start yelling at these men. She could not comprehend the reason for their heresy, nor why they even believed that they and an entire sector could secede from the Imperium and escape retribution.

Erwine was not sure if she was angry due to the argument she was in, or if it was because she was angry at the stupidity the men she spoke to displayed in their plans.

Isael intervened at this point, "Ms. Vivian," he said, holding a hand up to Osbeorne, "I would like to apologize for my companion, he can be a bit too fanatical at times. We should move onto something more present, or at least not so far into the future."

"And what would that be?" Erwine asked. Her body was trembling. She was not even sure what she was feeling anymore. It could have been fear, anger, or maybe even excitement. All she could do was hold that emotion down and try to act calm. If I didn't have my magic…then the mission would have failed already.

"Well," Kaskellie said, "I was thinking of what you would receive as payment for this current mission, and-"

The door burst open. Several guards stormed into the room. Osbeorne was up, his mouth opening in a shout. He was cut off as the guard spoke quietly into his ear. Osbeorne's face twisted in rage. He nodded, saying something back, before gesturing for the guards to leave.

The little girl nearly leapt out of her chair when the door opened, and only the fact that the other men were all distracted by the guards prevented them from seeing her look of horror. It was only barely under control when the three looked back.

Erwine was scared. All she could think of was that Adrianne had been caught. Or she had been found out. It will be clear that she was disguising herself as my servant! Erwine started to panic, but she calmed down a little as Osbeorne sat without saying anything more.

She forced her hands from the edges of her seat down into her lap, concealing the tight clenching of her fists with the folds of the dress she wore. She was still not entirely used to the thing, and perhaps that random concern comforted her as it flickered briefly into her mind.

That, and her magic. The pressure in her head increased to a massive level. It was starting to seriously hurt now, every second was a moment of torment for Erwine. She suddenly pitied those she'd used her magic on in the past, now that she felt what it was like to be hit by such an overwhelming force of suggestion. It was like she was losing all control over her thoughts, forced to be calm. She actually had to reduce affect, lest she became a mindless dead weight in the chair.

Once he was seated and comfortable, he smiled, and said, "I apologize for that interruption, but I was just informed of something important to me."

"What is it?" Erwine said quickly. That was too quick of a reply, she told herself, he knows for certain now.

"Oh, nothing," he said, his hand making a gesture as if to wave the issue away, "Nothing you should worry about."

Adrianne was facing the window that led to the outside of the hive tower, as well as a kilometer long fall to the ground below. She held her arms out, a dagger appearing in between each of the fingers of her closed fists.

She hurled the daggers at the window, the glass cracking as the weapons impacted a dug a few centimeters into the fourth of a meter thick window. Adrianne moved forwards, and then yanked the daggers out, holding them as she did before.

She stabbed this time, making sure that each dagger hit the space that it had hit previously. This caused the shattering of the window as the magic weapons pierced the glass.

Adrianne felt the rush of freezing cold air that existed at this height in the sky. It instantly lowered the temperature of the room, yet the inquisitor did not mind. She could handle the cold.

The sounds of the city far below started to drift up to the window where Adrianne stood, and she took in all the noises for a few seconds before starting to move. She jumped out of the window, before turning around immediately as she fell.

Daggers were in between her fingers as she jumped. The daggers were thrown upwards, the angles they were thrown up lining up so that they struck the window of the room right above the one Adrianne jumped out of. They dug into the glass, cracking it as the glass had cracked in the previous room, but they did not do enough to stick.

Strong chains had sprung from the ends of the daggers as they were thrown, and these chains now wrapped around Adrianne's arms. As soon as they caught her weight, the daggers were pulled from their tenuous positions in the glass.

She was several dozen meters below the window now, and would not have much of a chance to recover if she did not get into the window immediately.

Adrianne immediately retracted the chains at will, spinning around as the daggers came back in towards her. Without even catching her weapons, she used the force of her spin and the whipping of her arms to send the daggers back towards the window. This time, they dug in all the way, but not enough to break the glass.

Adrianne did not need the glass to be broken. She started to retract the chains, using her magic to push herself forwards as she was pulled as well. She bent her left knee close to her body as she let her right leg straight in front of her. She was coming at the window diagonally, and she was being pulled so that she would hit the center of the window with her right foot.

There was a loud crash as the glass broke. Adrianne instantly bent her right leg and curled up, twisting sideways as she flew into the room. She barely avoided hitting the ceiling as she came in and observed a room containing three people.

One man was wearing the clothes of a man affiliated with the Osbeornes and their trading company. The other two were armed guards. Adrianne's knives were coming back in towards her.

Her spinning motion led to her moving towards the door, and she kicked out with her right leg to push herself off the door as she hit it. She pulled her arms in towards her. The daggers had been in the air around the window, and then slowly pulled forwards as Adrianne entered the room.

She pulled the daggers inwards with one solid yank, and then spread her arms out. This led to a slicing motion which mauled the faces of both of the guards. Adrianne was already moving forwards, and her arms were behind her, as was her right leg. So she kicked out with her left and struck the man behind the desk with a flying kick.

He was knocked backwards by the combined force of the kicking motion, Adrianne's speed, and her magic. This combination was enough to knock him out of the window. He had been hit in the chest, so he might have been dead before he hit the ground, but Adrianne had felt only bones crunch beneath her impact, so he would have a nice long fall.

It was to be a contest between whether he would die from lack of oxygen, lack of blood flow, or by hitting the ground first. But the inquisitor did not care how the man died. She did not even need him to die.

Most of these men and women are just working for this trading organization as legitimate members. They don't know what they're really into. She looked out the broken window, even as the cold air rushed in and the oxygen level dropped.

Her kick was taking her close to the window, but she brought her right leg forwards and kicked off the lip of the window. She flew back into the center of the room and landed with a roll.

Standing up from the roll, Adrianne found herself right in front of the locked door. She briefly turned around. The man she kicked out the window, his scream, muffled by the air and the fact that this chest was smashed in, still echoed in the back of her head. Most of these men and women are just working for this trading organization as legitimate members. They don't know what they're really into.

She looked out the broken window, even as the cold air rushed in and the oxygen level dropped.

Gritting her teeth, and letting a whispered apology escape from her lips, Adrianne turned around, only to face the door again. The door was certainly locked, but it was locked from the inside. So she undid the lock, activated her magic, and then opened the door.

She closed it quickly to avoid detection, before advancing on into the hallway beyond the door. It was not very occupied, there only being two guards walking their normal patrol routes.

Interrogate them? No, too long, chance of being found if more arrive. Best find the meeting room on my own. Adrianne walked off down the hall, looking for a place around the center of this floor. She had memorized the shape of these three floors, knowing them to be where she would operate, so she had a good idea of where the center was.

It only took her around one minute of searching to find a large pair of doors. Unfortunately, she saw these doors from the end of a hallway leading away from the room where they were. The doors were guarded by around a dozen armed men.

Or women, Adrianne thought, let's not be biased here. It did not matter who was standing guard at the door, what mattered was that they were there. And they would see Adrianne enter. They would notice if the door opened on its own. There was no way to get around them.

Adrianne had no choice but to remove the threat. She had to kill them. That would be hard to do without alerting anyone else, but she was confident in her abilities as a magical girl.

They were all in front of her. She was facing them directly, although they could not see her. They occupied a large, rectangular room. The hallway Adrianne was in was an entrance from one of the long sides, while the short sides featured hallways leading off to the right and left. The large doors were on the long side opposite Adrianne.

The inquisitor smiled, and daggers appeared in between her fingers. She started to walk down the hallway, formulating a plan in her head as she walked. She did not even need a complex plan. She just needed a way to kill all these men without the people inside knowing.

To do this, she simply walked into the middle of the rectangular room. The men were deployed in a semicircle in front of the door, looking around warily, wondering if they were going to see any action.

They would not see any action, in fact. They would not battle anyone on this day. A few of them were somewhat worried, as they had wanted to be in on the action against the Inquisition which was due to occur in a couple hours.

Others were happy that they were safe on this floor and that they did not have to worry about any inquisitors. Another few were sad that they were even involved in all this. They had not wanted to be involved. They did not want to betray the Goddess.

It did not matter who they were. It did not matter what they wanted, or what they did not want. All that mattered was that they worked for the enemy. The Goddess forgave all, did she not?

Adrianne threw three knives to either side of herself. They flew into the air, before Adrianne split each knife into two knives that were the same size as the ones before. They appeared in the air, leaving the field Adrianne projected. There was no noise, as the soldiers had no time to see the daggers coming.

Each dagger pierced a man's skull, killing him instantly. Adrianne wondered if anyone would see the men die. A quick look down each of the hallways revealed that no one did.

The inquisitor walked past the dead bodies, and approached the door. It was locked by a complex electronic system, as well as a more conventional one. It was a complex one that prevented one from easily hacking the control panel and unlocking the door.

One would need both one skilled in cogitators, as well as one skilled in picking locks. Adrianne did not have either. Or she had one, as she had acquired some skill in picking locks, and could do so quite well. She had no way to defeat the electronic device, however.

So she simply took a dagger she summoned, and cut down with it. The blade of the weapon cut into the wood of the door and destroyed the locking bolts of both mechanisms. Adrianne sighed, that was easy.

She then slowly pushed the door open, and then walked into the room beyond the door. She found herself standing on a circular floor, which surrounded a lowered space in the middle of the room. The door was closed softly behind her.

The lowered pit was where a large table sat. It was a hololith, and it was showing a map of the sector. There were five walkways down into the center of the pit, and voices came up from that space which was about a meter lower than the rest of the room.

Adrianne walked forwards, resting her arms on a rail which prevented those on the outside rom falling into the inner pit. There were railings anywhere where there were not stairs, and railings even bordered the sides of the staircases. At least they had safety in mind, Adrianne remarked to herself, as she saw the proceedings taking place below.

There was her target about five meters in front of her. It was a rogue magical girl. She was dressed in the colors of the Osbeorne house, but she was also sporting touches of her own uniform. She spoke loudly, to a watching audience of around ten other men.

They were all part of various trading corporations across the subsector, and even a few in other subsectors. All of a sudden, there were several more traitors to root out of the sector.

"-this will lead to the ultimate collapse of the economy of this sector," the rogue girl said, pointing to the plans displayed on the hololith, "At that time, the Imperial government should be censured, and the Inquisition asked to investigate. This will not only draw them away from more important tasks onto our distraction effort, it will also draw them into the open, allowing us to strike at them and wipe out the only ones who could possibly stop us."

Adrianne had at first thought that this entire operation she had been investigating was a plan to take down the sector, and bring the entire area under the rule of the enemy. However, things were now different, and she had always suspected that this would occur.

The collapse of the sector is a distraction, she thought, so they have something more important. Stealing grief cubes makes magical girls die, and that does not cause localized economic collapse. Therefore, they have a deeper plan with the grief cubes, and they intend to use Osbeorne to ferry the cubes, as well as set them up to take the blame for the collapse of the sector.

Clever girl, Adrianne thought, collapse the sector while you suck the grief cubes out of it, and then set up Osbeorne to take all the blame for the entire thing, allowing you to get away with your goods and use them for whatever purpose you want them for.

It was time to move. Adrianne had heard enough, and she had to restrain the magical girl before she could escape anywhere. An alarm should be raised in the next five seconds.

Adrianne leapt over the railing, casting ten knives out into the air above her. They stuck into the ceiling while chains shot down from the bottoms of the daggers. These daggers hit the officials around the table in the heads. The daggers and chains disappeared as Adrianne threw out two more knives.

The ceiling was supported by six large beams. It was a purely stylistic touch, and Adrianne liked it a little. Her knives wrapped around two of the beams before shooting back down.

The daggers and the chains behind them wrapped around the wrists of the magical girl multiple times as she turned around to face Adrianne. They circled her wrists about six times before the daggers stabbed into the palms of the girl.

The chains pulled tight, and the girl was raised half a meter into the air. She started to bleed from her palms, but she kept a straight face, and managed to block out most of the pain she felt in her hands.

The building started to screech as alarms went off and the sound echoed off the large room's walls. The door was not locked, and it would be entered soon. Adrianne had laid a few traps before entering the room entirely. She would be safe for a time.

Adrianne said nothing as she dissipated her magic field. She could now be seen by the girl. Adrianne held up the back of her right hand, showing the inquisitorial seal on her gem. "I am an Inquisitor, you will tell me what I want to know,"

"Or what?" the girl asked, "Kill me?" She did not seem to fear death.

Adrianne acted as if she had said nothing. "Where is the main hub for the shipping network operated by the Osbeornes?" she asked.

"As if I would tell you," the girl said, before spitting at Adrianne. The globule landed on the inquisitor's cheek. Adrianne reached up with a dagger she summoned, and wiped the spit off.

Balancing the spit on her blade, Adrianne lashed out suddenly and slashed the eyes of the girl. Blood flew out, and covered the face of Adrianne. The girl screamed a little. She was no longer as cocky as she was before.

"You can't see me now," Adrianne stated, "Are you still willing to play this game, or would you prefer a quick death to slow torture?"

"You can't torture me," the girl said, "The guards are coming soon, you'll have no choice but to flee,"

Adrianne chuckled. "I doubt that, highly," She stabbed the dagger into the girl's intestines, and started to twist the blade around. The girl squirmed, but could not break free from Adrianne. A quick drag of the blade sliced open a hole in her stomach. "You have five seconds before I start dragging your intestines out," Adrianne said. Her voice was the monotone of a person who was tiredly stating a fact.

"Hadiens Prime!" the girl yelled immediately, "Hadiens Primes! The sector capital!"

"Where on Hadiens Prime?" Adrianne shouted. A second passed, and her hand let go of the hilt of her dagger, fingers tightening around the curled ropes and started to pull, as the shouts of dying men came from behind her. She had set up several traps, consisting of thin chains strung around various points, which would fire her knives if those chains were crossed. She had only laid three, but the other guards would move more slowly. She started to pull harder after a split second.

"Hadiens itself!" the girl shouted, "Supposedly Administratum buildings, but they're really used by Osbeorne!" That's a lie, Adrianne thought, she'll say anything to end this.

"Anything else!" Adrianne demanded. She gave a larger yank, and more of the girl's guts pulled out. She strayed away from looking at her blood-soaked hand, staring at the girl's eyes as she did the horrific deed.

"That's all I know! Please kill me!" the girl begged like the little girl she resembled. She died, as Adrianne stabbed a dagger into the soul gem at her waist.

Moving her hand quickly away from the hilt of the dagger, Adrianne caught a drop of blood on a finger of the hand that had not been in her guts. Wiping her other hand off, the inquisitor already had out a small book. Opening it to a new page, Adrianne made a small marking with the blood, before blowing on it to dry it faster.

The book was closed. Adrianne looked up at the dead girl as guards lined up behind her. She had died a sobbing wreck. That was not how a magical girl was supposed to die.

Not according to the Goddess.

"Are you sure?" Erwine asked. It had been a minute since the guards had come in to tell Osbeorne something, and she had not learned anything they had set. She was asking if Osbeorne was really sure that what he had learned was nothing important. "I really would like to know," she pressed, "I don't like being left in the dark."

"You don't?" Osbeorne asked, "Well, I guess I can give you a hint."

"What?" Erwine asked excitedly.

"Could you prove your authenticity by changing your gem to egg form?" Osbeorne asked, "Please?"

Erwine frowned. It was not what she expected, and she calmed down a little. She did as she was told, and changed her gem into the larger egg. "Why?" Erwine asked, "Did someone say that I was not who I said I was?"

Osbeorne shook his head, explaining, "No, no one said anything to disprove the truth of what you said," Erwine smiled, happy that she was safe. She knew that smiling was not necessarily a bad thing to do in this situation.

Osbeorne said nothing more. Isael spoke, "Let's go back to the topic we were on before, your reward for the mission at hand,"

Kaskellie nodded, "Yes, that was a rather unpleasant interruption," he commented, glaring at Osbeorne as he said this. The two stared for a few seconds, before Isael tried to decrease the tension by saying, "Gentlemen, we are not here to bicker, we are here to discuss with Ms. Vivian things more important than our own personal feuds, or whatever else is important to us." That last part of the sentence was clearly directed at Osbeorne.

That man shook his head. "I was not engaging in anything personally important to me, except my own safety," he said.

"What can threaten us here?" Isael asked. Erwine still had her soul gem in her egg form. She had gotten caught up in staring at the silvery item, and found it quite interesting. She had done this before, and honestly, she only did it because it made her look like more of the rich girl she was meant to be.

"Well," Osbeorne said, "Could you hand me your soul gem, in egg form, Ms. Vivian?"

"Why?" Erwine asked, worried. She was not going to hand her soul over to this man. Not unless he gave her a good reason why.

"I would like to use it to emphasize a point," he said, "Ms. Vivian, please?"

Erwine was looking at him, and he was reaching his left hand out. His right hand was on his lap, while he leaned forwards and extended his left hand. Erwine shook her head, "No, I'm sorry, but I cannot,"

"Well then, Ms. Vivian," Osbeorne sprang forwards. His left hand grabbed at Erwine's left arm, and he drew his gun from his coat. "Or should I say Inquisitorial scum?!"

Erwine had her gem in her right hand, and she clamped down on it as Osbeorne pulled her upwards and jammed a gun against her head. "Get her!" he yelled, "There has been several killings on the upper floors, she brought someone with her!"

Isael jumped up, helping to twist Erwine around. He grabbed her left arm, holding it horizontally, preventing it from moving as Erwine struggled. Osbeorne held Erwine's back against his chest as he wrapped his left arm around her throat and pressed her right hand against her head. Against her right hand, which held her soul gem, he pressed the muzzle of his gun. "Don't move," he ordered.

Erwine did as she was ordered to do. She understood that a single shot would kill her. She was too scared to resist anyways. She had never expected for this to happen. She had not failed Adrianne, as the inquisitor could still complete her mission and get out. She had failed herself.

She tried to play the only card she had left to defend herself with. "Let me go!" she shouted, "I am Alexandra Vivian! My parents shall be outraged if they here of this treatment of me!"

Her left arm started to hurt. It started to hurt a lot. Erwine had been in fights in school. She could take pain, but she also knew that at this rate, Isael would break her arm. He was pushing forwards on the upper arm while pulling her forearm backwards.

She shut up immediately. Guards had entered the room several seconds ago. They were holding their guns at Erwine. They knew how dangerous a magical girl could be. "She's no threat," Osbeorne said, "She's young, and she's scared. I bet this is one of her first real missions, is that not right?"

Erwine struggled, but her fear had overtaken every rational sense she once had. She knew that she was a magical girl. She could summon her weapon at any time. She could kill all of the men in the room before they could know what was happening.

She could, yet she did not. Her fear was simply too great. She had killed before. She had been covered in blood before. She had cut men in half, cut them down like animals. She did not want to do that again.

She could not do that again. So she did not truly resist the men holding her down.

"Where are the others?!" Osbeorne asked, "What are they after?!"

Erwine said nothing. She could not betray Adrianne or the others, but she would not resist. She did not want to die. No matter what she did, she was facing an outcome she did not want at all.

Osbeorne glanced to one of the men standing guard at the door, and nodded for him to come over. "Make her talk," was all he said.

Before the guard could make it all the way,Erwine heard a voice in her head. Tell me exactly where everyone in the room is. It was Laelia.

I've been found out! Erwine shouted, I can't stop them! She started to ramble on telepathically, loosing the contents of her horrified mind out into that of Laelia's.

Calm down! The girl shouted back, and Erwine paused for a moment. Listen and do exactly what I say, and you will survive, Laelia said, we will get you out, but I need to know where everyone is.

Erwine struggled to calm herself enough so that she could reply in an intelligent manner. She did not have much time. The guard was starting to punch Erwine in the stomach, repeatedly. The punches were harder than any Erwine had ever felt, yet they still did not equal the pain of being shot.

There is a guard in front of me. A man is behind me holding a gun to my gem. There is a man to my left holding my arm, he can break it. There is another man to the left of the man holding my arm. Two guards are by the door. Erwine managed to calm herself down.

She had been beat up before. Back in the days when she was just a normal girl, she had been bullied by other kids. She had taken her share of beatings, but this was more than any of those. But she had always focused on the pain when she was being hurt. She had focused on the pain, and that made her focus on making the pain stop. Usually, that would result in her fiercely retaliating against her attacker, but in this case, Erwine was too shocked to move. She focused on the pain in order to tell those who could save her how to save her.

A second later, there was the sound of a machine gun firing. A hail of shots tore through the wall to the right and in front of Erwine. The bullets ripped through the guards near the door, and the two men died in seconds.

An arrow pierced the chest of the man hitting Erwine, and he fell to the ground dead. Another arrow hit Kaskellie, to the left of Isael, but the latter man as well as Osbeorne were unharmed. Erwine wondered why, then realized that she could be shot if Osbeorne was shot. A trigger finger in spasm resulting from his death could cause him to pull the trigger and destroy her soul gem.

He did not do it now because he needed leverage against the others. The man wanted to live, and right now, Erwine was the only ticket out he had. The wall in front of Erwine had a large gap in the parts nearest the door, while there were also two holes in other parts.

She could not see Airi and Laelia, but she knew that they were there. Erwine was now being held tighter by Osbeorne, who shouted, "Come on! Shoot me! You can shoot me all you want, as long as you don't care about this one!"

He was starting to walk towards the door, as Isael continued to hold Erwine's arm in such a way so that she could not move it at all. She was forced to be dragged along by Osbeorne as he tried to escape.

A burst of gunfire was aimed at the window. The glass shattered in several places, but the pane was mostly intact, until several chains could be seen outside, pulling a figure in towards the window. Adrianne smashed through the window, landing on her feet, brushing the glass off of herself as she stood from the crouch she was in.

She glared at Osbeorne, who still had his gun to Erwine's gem. "You want to try me?" he asked, "You can't win,"

"No," Adrianne replied, a sly smile on her face, "We already won,"

Erwine frowned. What does she mean? What is she talking about? Her tone…she means that the mission has ended, and now she's going to save me!

"Not until you get me, or else someone is learning all about you and your presence," Osbeorne said, "I'm faster than you think, and will you really wipe out a building filled with people so important to the sector?"

"No," Adrianne shook her head, "I won't even kill you, nor will those two," she gestured behind her to the wall.

"So you're letting me go?" Osbeorne was perturbed. What?! Erwine thought. No! Adrianne! What?! Please…don't do this!

She opened her mouth. "Adrianne, please don't do this!" she screamed, "Don't leave me here! What are you doing?!" She had been crying, but now she was shedding tears even more rapidly than before.

Adrianne glanced at Erwine and shook her head, before she spoke to Osbeorne, "You can do whatever you want with her, I don't need her. She was just a tool to use and expend on this mission alone. She was a little expensive, but she got the job done, and that's what tools are good for, right?" The inquisitor was not lying. Erwine could tell that.

Perhaps that was when the little girl inside Erwine suffered a more fatal wound than ever before. The two had only known each other for less than forty-eight hours, yet the master was abandoning the student. The liar was leaving the tricked behind.

Erwine screamed more, "Adrianne! What are you doing?! What did I do?! Did I fail you?! Don't do this to me?! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

Her eyes were empty now, her face emotionless, only watching as Adrianne moved through the room. She was too horrified for the moment to even respond to the world.

Adrianne started to walk towards the door, moving right past Osbeorne, who turned to face the inquisitor as she walked. I failed, Erwine thought, and now I am paying the price. I could have done this mission correctly. But I did not, and this is what I get.

"She is so useless, even though she did help a bit," Adrianne said, "I have to say that it is quite depressing that she failed, but as you know, the strong survive, the weak…" she glanced at Erwine, and shrugged, "The weak are left behind,"

That angered Erwine. Was it her desire to please Adrianne? Was it her desire to fulfill the command that had driven her since her dream? That command to follow Adrianne no matter what?

Erwine was horrified. She was filled with rage. More rage than she had ever felt before in her life. She wanted to kill now. She wanted to kill no one but Adrianne. She could have tried, but she was too afraid to fight back against those who now held her.

She was desperately struggling, but as Adrianne walked out the door and down the hallway, clearly intent on following the path that would lead to the exit, Erwine realized that she had to do something, or else her wish would have been made for nothing.

She could not let her own sacrifice go to waste. She could not let the loss of her humanity, the loss of her own soul, go to waste! Erwine started a long, extended scream, conveying sorrow, rage, hatred, and regret in one extended cry. She opened her left hand, and her greatsword appeared in that hand. She swung backwards with it, as much as she could. Had the blade been shorter, than she would have been unable to hit Isael with it due to his grip on her arm.

As it was, Erwine was wielding a blade longer than she was tall, and the end of the mighty weapon slid into his side, the pain from the cut causing the man to lose his grip. His fingers let loose her arm, and Erwine was free to continue her swing. The blade stopped as she swung it around in her fingers, directing the bloodstained tip at Osbeorne's side. Before she had entirely stopped moving her arm, the limb was pushing sideways. This action drove the zweihander through the man as Erwine leaned backwards and pulled her right hand away from her head.

The corrupt man had first been distracted by the cry of his comrade, and Erwine's smooth movement had resulted in barely a second passing before Osbeorne was hit. Osbeorne's gun fired, attempting to attain revenge for the strike that would certainly kill him. The bullet passed right in front of Erwine's eyes and flew out the window. Erwine was angry at this man. He was a traitor. He had found her out. He was responsible for her failure.

Her anger, raw and unchained, was directed at the one thing she could direct it at. There could have been a mouse there, and she still would have held it responsible, such was the fury she had.

Erwine dragged the blade forwards, moving her own feet so that she was not even nicked as the blade emerged from the front of his lower torso. Then she struck backwards, her grip still reversed. Blood sprayed out onto her body as she cut the man's body into two pieces. His legs, no longer attached to a brain, fell down, dragging down Erwine's legs to thump against the floor. The top part of his body hit Erwine as well, still warm arms and fingers clawing at her as the brain didn't realize that it was dead.

The little girl, not even fifteen years of age, was now soaked in the warm crimson liquid that all humans gained life from. The two halves of Osbeorne's body lay behind her, near her feet. The widening pool of blood only served to taint her footwear more. Erwine was silent, perfectly emotionless for a second. Then she realized what she had done.

Her feet carried her forwards, leaping away from the man's body. She spun around to observe the mess of flesh, bone, and blood, looking down at the blade in her left hand, recognizing the weapon as that of the murderer. And she herself was that murderer.

Flipping the blade back to a normal grip, Erwine clasped the hilt with both hands. There was no anger, no fear, and no terror, in her wild eyes. Only a small hint of mania. A small hint of a crazed mind.

She lunged forwards, blade swinging down. Blood spurted up as the metal met flesh. Twice more she repeated this. Now there were smaller bits. The scene was still horrifying. Erwine wasn't mentally stable at this point. It was the child in her that told her to cut away her demons.

Yet that child didn't understand that cutting up a dead, bloody body would only make things worse. And so she continued, over and over again did her great and magical weapon meet the soft and normal flesh of the human being who could once be identified by sight alone as Osbeorne.

Now it would take some DNA testing. For his parts were scattered across the room. The chairs were soaked in blood and guts. A bit of every kind of internal organ was somewhere on Erwine's body. Tiny fragments of bone, shiny bits of white stained by the dark blood, decorated the spots where purchase could be found on the contours of her clothing and hair.

Empty eyes stared out at the bloody mess. It looked as if a dozen people had been killed. Yet only two had died here. One was lucky. He had a body to be cremated. The other served as a rather macabre decoration for the once-bland meeting room, in which he had intended to entrap the one who had so brutally slain him.

A million years, maybe even another lifetime entirely, had passed for Erwine in the space of a few minutes. Before then, she had been crying. No emotions were on her face anymore, just a blank stare conveying an utterly broken mind.

A single, solitary tear slipped down her cheek. It was only the vanguard leading the charge. Her knees gave way next, dropping her down to the ground. Her right hand pushed her blade down as her palms splayed flat. A gruesome gathering of shades of red met her eyes as she stared down, but she was too clouded by her own tears to truly notice.

The guards would be coming. There had to be hundreds of them in this building alone. Erwine doubted she would live for much longer. Even if they didn't get her, she could feel the grief filling up her soul, ready to consume her. The will to fight was not in her.

Discarded by the only one she cared about, Erwine thought back to the moment she contracted. In that moment, she knew that she was going to be ground up by the ruthless machine that was the Imperium. Had she known that it would be this quickly?

The answer to that was no. Erwine would never have contracted then. I did my duty to us all. I helped Adrianne. Even if it was for only a short time. That's just how the Inquisition works, it seems.

She could almost feel her heart shatter as she remembered something. Her hands gave away, and she feel face first into the mess on the floor. Nada, the look on the girl's face when she left. Her promise to the girl, to become a hero.

Erwine's mind was slipping away. She couldn't hold on much longer. She knew that in a few moments, the shock, the pain, the horror…they would all rush in at once and overpower her. She would die peacefully, yet in vain.

Before she could, Erwine Braune, a little girl broken by a machine greater than her, opened her mouth, letting out soft words, which she wished with all her heart could reach her dearest friend. "I'm sorry Nada, I guess I'll…see you later."

The recent violence within the buildings of the Osbeorne Group has been reportedly chalked down to a criminal attack. Apparently, a shadowy group of rogues thought they could steal information on trade. Their efforts were thwarted, but not at the loss of much life. The Arbites has launched a full investigation of the matter.

Some eyewitness reports say that magical girls were involved, but the Osbeornes and the Arbites investigators both deny those claims. Security footage is being reviewed as this article is written, and the group hopes to come to a conclusion on those responsible. The lead investigator states, "Rest assured, there is no rogue group of magical girls in operation on this planet."

-Article in the Siothea Bugle