Grand Witch: Grand witches are several times more powerful than the average witch. They do not need labyrinths, and are formed from a cluster of witches and wraiths. Some may know of the legendary Walpurgis Nacht, a beast that scourged Holy Terra in ancient times. Their threat is equal to that creature.
They can be formed by shattering a massive number of grief seeds and grief cubes at the same time, preferably with sacrifices to go along with it. The huge amount of despair released by this action will, if guided properly, condense into a grand witch, and cause it to be born into the world.
Humans cannot perceive it for what it truly is. Only magical girls can act against it. Its kiss can spread for miles, affecting massive numbers of people. Countless humans will die when one appears, as will many magical girls. The best way to defeat such a creature is to prevent it from ever being born.
-Encyclopedia Magica: Inquisitorial Edition
There was an earth-shattering boom, causing Erwine to whip her head around to see the source. The egg-shape was splitting open. White lines covered its length, the whiteness growing brighter and brighter. The glare intensified, great beams of white light beaming out into the now-dark sky.
Then there was an even louder crack, traveling behind a huge force that pushed outwards as the black burst away. The shockwave pushed Erwine back, causing her to lose balance and stumble back a couple steps, her eyes going wide.
In an instant, the sphere cracked open entirely. The entire thing pulsed out then dissipated, leaving behind the entity that was the grand witch. It was monstrous. Erwine could not even describe the emotions it radiated with her words. Those were too terrible to describe.
But the form of the creature was definite. And it could be described by the words of humanity. Four bodies, torsos, heads and arms, sat in a circle. The arms of each torso were fused to the arms of the nearest torso at the elbows. The arms were strangely skeletal. No, they were translucent. The bones were the only things truly solid about the creature, but the dim color and form of flesh could be picked out. That flesh was perfect, pristine. The bones were of perfect form.
Each torso was not translucent, instead being less perfect than the arms. The spinal cord seemed to twist and wind in and out of the flesh, going forwards than backwards. There seemed to be no other bones, simply the massive spinal cord, the vertebrae of which reached out to tear and grab into the nearby flesh.
The spinal cord finally ended in the proper place at the base of the neck, bone sickeningly grew upwards from that point. From the back of each skull protruded a halo made of bone, which hung there as if it was not made of the creature's own body. The face of the creature was perfect, untouched by the ravaging force that had torn apart the torso area. The eyes were closed, eight eyes at peace. The mouth was in a similar way, perfectly content with the world. The hair of the four heads was short and cropped, but made of what looked like cartilage. Bloody cartilage.
The wounds in the torso where the spinal cord emerged from the flesh were gushing blood. It ran down the body of the creature, towards the lower parts, which were even more inhuman. The torso's had structures that looked something like legs. If they had been true legs, then they would have been crossed. But as it was, the legs turned into something different.
The arms of each torso were resting on top of what should have been the knees, but were instead the end of a neck. The necks of rotting dragons. Each neck was as long as the torso and head combined, and there were eight in total, protruding from the spaces where the knees should have been. The necks seemed to move of their own will, twisting around in the air and spitting black flames. The scales of the necks were decayed, falling away as rotten flesh was exposed.
And in between each of the pairs of necks were the real legs of the witch. Massive, slender legs rose from the ground, connecting to an area around the groin of each torso. The legs were like those of a spider, but there were four in total. They had a dozen segments each, and the massive, bristling hairs of each could be seen even from a distance. And the legs were easily one hundred meters each.
If Erwine squinted her eyes, she would have noticed that that the legs did not even entirely touch the ground. They floated barely a few meters above, so that the city was in no danger of being stomped on by the creature.
The entire thing had a black and white coloration, even the blood was pitch black like oil. The fingers of the arms were long and skeletal, each one as long as the forearm that held the hand it was attached to.
The eight arms of the witch were raised high into the air. There was a massive scream, seemingly a haunting chorus of a million different voices, before the fingers of each hand closed.
As the fingers slowly closed in on themselves, black energy swirled around the monster. One ring, then two rings, then three rings of energy, all tilted in different directions, swirled round the grand witch. When the hands fully closed, the rings reached their greatest intensity.
Then the fists opened. A massive wave of force was blasted out, coming close to knocking Erwine and the person who held her back. But Ishna was firm, and she made Erwine watch as the city was torn into by the shockwave.
Buildings close to the witch were torn into pieces in an instant. The foundations held, but the outer walls were done for. As the shockwave went outwards, it smashed apart the walls of other buildings. After it had traveled a kilometer, enough energy had been lost so that it could only now break the windows of buildings, but they were still shook by the force. Erwine and Ishna, being three kilometers away, were untouched.
But that was not even an attack. The rings coalesced into around three hundred individual figures, each one shaped like the shadow of a magical girl. Erwine watched as those familiars of the witch spread out across the city, flying to all corners of it, already raining death and destruction.
Erwine tore her vision away from the terrific sight as she heard motion behind her. Adrianne's daggers curved towards Ishna, the former inquisitor moving fast enough so as to lose several volleys in what seemed like one single smooth motion.
The volley of blades shot towards the girl in blue, Adrianne manipulating them to curve and weave around in erratic paths so as to prevent easy deflection. It was two dozen glints of silver that cut through the cold air.
And it was exactly zero of these glints that even came close to touching Ishna Kleimar. Ishna didn't react as the projectiles were ripped apart by unseen forces. Yet Adrianne still leapt towards her, fresh weapons in her fingers.
"Haven't you learned?" Ishna asked, stepping to the side as Adrianne came in close. "You can't touch me…" Adrianne's left foot landed on the ground, leading to her spinning about, rising her right foot to kick out.
The spinning kick, with its speed and force, would have knocked the head from a human. Ishna merely grinned, raising her left arm. Adrianne gritted her teeth as her leg did absolutely nothing at all. Ishna's arm glowed as she held entirely firm, more damage being incurred by Adrianne.
"Overcharging…" Adrianne muttered. She leapt back as Ishna's opposite arm came out in a near instantaneous strike. The punch barely grazed Adrianne's nose.
A bright flash came from Ishna's side, Erwine screaming, "Flinch!" at the top of her lungs. The girl came leaping forwards, propelled by her wings, swinging her sword in a wide horizontal slash.
Adrianne flew through Erwine's field of vision as the younger girl came to realize that there was no sword in her hands. Erwine saw dust running from in between her fingers as Adrianne face planted, Ishna standing right behind where Adrianne had once been.
How can we fight someone who can stop time…? Erwine wondered. She knew that if she could attach something to the girl, then it was vaguely possible, but she had no ability to do so.
Then she recalled Adrianne's cabins. That would work…Erwine realized as Adrianne quickly got to her feet, weapons back in her hands. And Ishna won't hurt me…Erwine saw that only her sword had been taken from her, so if I distract her, then I can give Adrianne a chance.
Erwine summoned her sword again, gathering her magical power into her voice as she shot towards Ishna, pushing her wings as hard as she could. Taking a deep breath, Erwine shouted as loud and as forcefully she could.
She gathered all her hatred towards Ishna, towards Adrianne, towards the situation she found herself in, and projected it out at the one who had masterminded it all. Even now, the smirk on the girl's face only added to Erwine's anger.
"Die!" she screamed, swinging her blade at her. Ishna's face merely changed to one of pride as she caught Erwine's blade in one hand. That hand was coated with a blue sheen of magic. Erwine had heard vaguely of the practice.
Overcharging, something that should generally destroy one's body. It involved pumping magic energy throughout the entirety of a body, making it far more powerful and effective, but also quickly degrading the body, meaning that there had to be equally fast regeneration of the body. Only the best magical girls could do it for perhaps a minute at a time, yet Ishna didn't seem to be fazed at all.
Ishna's hand crushed down, then twisted as she stepped to the side, getting out of the way of Erwine herself. The sword was torn in two as Erwine swung her foot in and punched with her free hand. Ishna disappeared, appearing behind Erwine. She stepped back as Erwine spun about once again.
"What do you want?!" Erwine cried, "Do you even want to hurt me?!"
"Not at all," Ishna shook her head. Her knee raised up, still bent. Then she spun smoothly as someone came from behind. Her leg snapped out. "Adrianne on the other hand..." That girl jerked to the side, barely dodging the kick. Ishna snapped out her opposite leg, bringing the other one back to the ground.
Adrianne stabbed out with one dagger at the floor, while her other one was sent at Ishna. A dozen copies appeared around it, all trailing chains behind them. They first flew towards Ishna before they curved to wrap around the girl's leg.
Ishna's foot collided with the dagger, and the weapon shattered. Adrianne's hand felt the wave of telekinetic force trailing out in front of the kick. Her hand crunched as she was hit as well. But her daggers did grab Ishna, and Erwine was behind the girl.
From behind, the young one swung at her opponent's back, her blade growing a bright silver. Ishna chuckled. She leapt off the ground with her right leg, then kicked out behind her. Her foot hit only the blade, the telekinesis tearing up the metal.
Adrianne yanked her back down, holding tight onto the chains. Ishna merely let this occur. Adrianne leapt up towards her, arm cocked back to strike out. Adrianne flickered in and out of existence for a brief second. Ishna raised her right arm to block behind her head as the daggers came at her.
They were knocked aside, and Adrianne was merely amazed. She was to the side of Ishna, no longer holding the chains. She twirled in the air, landing perfectly on her feet as Ishna destroyed the chains.
Adrianne stepped back beside Erwine. Erwine was amazed as well. You were gone…she said quickly.
I used my magic to make myself invisible to any observation, remember? It didn't work, it seems. Ishna turned around, anger on her face. "Though I saw that coming, it still angers me." She spat. She took a second to calm herself, then a grin was on her face again. "You're still so much fun, Adrianne. Always you've been a lovely bundle of surprises, but this just takes the cake."
Adrianne's eyes widened. Daggers were in her hands again. "Erwine…" she whispered, "It worked…my magic worked on her."
Erwine's eyes went wide. "But she's so powerful-"
Ishna cut in, her voice smug as she explained. "Power has nothing to do with magic, not raw power that is. Emotions are what drive magical girls. And Adrianne is motivated by thirty years of emotions that have been building up for a very long time."
Adrianne leapt forwards, determination on her face. "Yet she still can't win!" Ishna moved faster, pivoting on her foot to chop downwards at a point behind herself. Adrianne cried out as the hand hit her in the back of the neck. Ishna's knee came up, knocking her back again.
"I can see it all!" Ishna cried, "Every second after this one! Your actions are so boring!" She raised her hand again as her left pulled Adrianne's head and pressed it against her knee. "If anything, this is mere punishment for Erwine!" Ishna cried. The chop came down again.
"Good luck!" Adrianne cried hoarsely, the call clearly directed at Erwine. Stop moving…she added.
Erwine rushed forwards. Then she found a shield blocking her. She struck at the barrier, but it was too late. Adrianne sounded serious, and Erwine knew there was little else she could do, she froze. There was a sickening crack and Adrianne's body fell to the ground with a thump. The girl's eyes were blank, and her chest didn't move.
"Adrianne!" Erwine called, wondering why she cared at all.
Then the world was tinted grey. Ishna grinned as she strode towards Erwine. This is what she gave me…Erwine realized, in the split second that her eyes widened and Ishna knew something was wrong.
Erwine cried, "Freeze!" as she rushed forwards. The command had no effect on the girl, but Ishna found her eyes darting back to the lifeless corpse beside her. Erwine cast her blade at Ishna.
And though Ishna's hand wrapped around it an inch from her heart, she found herself bleeding. Then her face widened into a grin as her other hand chopped. Both chains were severed, telekinetic forces tearing them apart.
Erwine found a hand carefully feeling her face as Ishna's telekinesis held her down. Time was still frozen. But the connection that held Erwine to Ishna was gone.
"That's just amazing…" Ishna whispered, "She actually hid from me…her power to hide. In the end, she burned up almost all her magic just to avoid my divination. And it worked, too, attaching the chain to me and then to you, making sure they were invisible."
She shrugged, "Clever, but unfortunately she still lost. You still lost, Erwine."
"Then just get it over with!" Erwine growled.
"No." Ishna replied, "That's not an option at the moment." She giggled as time started to move again. Already, the city was in chaos.
Sounds echoed throughout the expansive mass of buildings. Most were signs of struggle. Though the sky was dark, and rain came down hard, that did not stop flames from shining out through the darkness. The grand witch was slowly moving, ripping apart the city was it moved.
The clouds were alive with the sound of thunder, and the sky flashed with bolts of lightning. "A beautiful mass murder…" Ishna whispered, "Don't you agree?"
Erwine shook her head. "What do you want?"
"You keep asking the same questions."
"You keep giving the same answers…" Erwine replied, her face steady.
Ishna giggled. She stepped away, laughing to herself. Then she stopped suddenly. She looked over her shoulder, head bending back at an unnatural angle. "You…even when you were moving in the stopped time…I should have been able to see that happen."
She smiled gleefully. "Yet I could not. Therefore, they're already starting to unravel!"
Erwine furrowed her eyebrows. "What do you mean? You can't see my future?"
"I can and can't," Ishna said, "Foresight is no done deal. Mine's just the most accurate out of perhaps anyone's since the Great Prophet herself. It's entirely possible that the future observed is the incorrect one."
Erwine was released. She raised her great sword again, staring with hatred at Ishna. "You seem pleased that you cannot see my future, why?"
"It means that I'm right…" Ishna said. She shrugged, "I mean, I have done everything I've done for about a hundred years now based on a guess. An educated guess, but a guess nonetheless."
"You've killed…you've killed so many people based on a guess you made?" Erwine was astounded, "What guess was this? What could be so important?"
"Getting you into the right position to bring ruin to an entire realm." Ishna said, "And it seems that you're in that position, giving how large your web of possibilities has become. Even I can't see the end."
Erwine shuddered, "You…no…that's not true. You mean…you want me to destroy the Imperium for you?"
"Did you not just say that you'd do anything for me if I brought you with me?" Ishna asked.
Erwine gritted her teeth. "That's…" It is what she had said. "But why?"
"Why not?" Ishna shrugged. Erwine knew there was more to this than mere psychopathy, or so she thought. But there was no way to prove anything at the moment. All she could do was hope that there was more than a mere desire for murder.
"What am I going to do?" Erwine asked.
"That would ruin the surprise…" Ishna replied, "It's your destiny. You shall fulfill it no matter what." Flickering lightning in the distance and the booming of thunder only made her words more dramatic as her finger pointed out at Erwine.
Ishna's fingers closed around a dagger. She turned her hand around. A barely visible ripple of force shot it back at the person who fire it originally. Adrianne grunted as it landed in her gut. Erwine looked to the side, seeing the girl there.
She stared into Adrianne's eyes for one long second, and came to the conclusion that she didn't care. Ishna shook her head as Erwine looked back, "Are you truly so uncaring?" she wondered.
Adrianne's muscles tensed up. Her eyes went wide as her arm started to move. It moved on its own. She fought it with every bit of strength she had, her limb slowly approaching her stomach. Erwine swallowed as Adrianne's fingers wrapped around her dagger.
The girl winced as she yanked it from her own body. Her eyes darted to the side, watching Erwine's blade raise into the air. Adrianne steeled herself as her other hand was forced to the ground, the dagger-wielding hand above it. Her hand froze there, Adrianne refusing to die.
A cry of pain escaped her throat as her hand fell to the ground. Erwine's blade had been a flash as it severed the appendage. "Ohohohoho," Ishna laughed, "So you still care about her life?"
"You're wrong." Erwine replied. She glared at Adrianne. Her head tipped back, turning to the side to stare at Ishna. "I need Adrianne to kill you. And besides…death is too good for her."
"That's cruel…" Ishna commented.
"Cruelty is all she deserves." Erwine stated flatly.
"It seemed like you might be forgiving her. For a moment, I thought you did." Ishna shrugged, "Of course, I don't see why you would forgive her. Why forgive someone who has only destroyed lives, who has done nothing she set out to accomplish?"
Ishna's tone dropped down low, her words conveying so many other meanings as she said lowly, just barely loud enough for Adrianne to hear, "Such a lust for revenge. So great that it drives you to overcome all my sight. Yet it's also so great that you cannot help but destroy yourself and those around you for the sake of this perverted passion." She giggled.
Erwine was about to speak. She was surprised to hear Adrianne cut through. "You act as if I didn't know that already…" the former inquisitor shakily got to her feet. Her disheveled hair fell all around her face, her eyes staring through the tangled locks. Her free hand wiped away the gold, leaving only her hatred staring into Ishna's eyes.
"Ishna..." Her words were low, but her determination was obvious. "I'm no hero. I'm no real inquisitor. This has all opened my eyes to that fact…" A sort of cocky grin came onto her face, "And there's no option but to accept that fact, is there?"
Adrianne stared into Ishna's eyes. "I'm no slave to anybody anymore. Just try to stop me, Ishna. It doesn't matter how long I have to chase you, eventually, you'll make a mistake."
"What?" Ishna scoffed. She danced about on one foot, saying, "You want those thirty years I took from you back? You want Airi's life back? You want Nadine's life back?" She tipped her head back, looking back at Adrianne, "How romantic…"
"I do ask myself while I'm still doing all this. I do wonder if it's just to suffer…to keep hoping to get rid of this pain that has plagued me for so long…" Adrianne shook her head, certain in her intentions, "No. It's not to get my past back. It's not to get Airi and Nadine back. I get it now, for too long I've been fighting for myself, wishing that I can get what has been gone for so long."
"Now…It's not about my life, nor about theirs. It's about your existence," Adrianne shot, "As in, as long as you continue to exist, you will have an enemy."
"I could kill you right now." Ishna laughed.
"Then why not do so?" Adrianne replied. Ishna didn't seem fazed by the question. "You're playing a game with me, with all of us." Adrianne said, "And that facts means that eventually, you're going to make a mistake.""And as I said before…" Adrianne's voice rose suddenly, "I will destroy you when you do!"
"Good luck…" Ishna replied. She took several steps towards the two, hands clasped behind her back. "But…I doubt you'll succeed."
Adrianne moved forwards. Erwine's sword blocked her. "No." She said, "Adrianne, your hand is still damaged, and you burned yourself dry on magic, I'll take her from here."
"There's no way you can-" Adrianne quickly said, before another voice cut her off.
"That's so wonderful Erwine…you've finally become the thing Adrianne always dreamed of you being." Ishna said. Her voice was rife with amazement, "It's just so beautiful…seeing you in this state after all you've been through to reach this point. Truly a most magnificent journey."
"What?" Erwine asked. Several seconds of silence passed, Erwine looking over to Adrianne in that time. An unspoken question was on her lips.
"I'm sure you didn't actually want to know…" Adrianne said, ashamed of herself, "But it's the truth. I won't deny it."
"This is what you wanted all along…?" Erwine asked, "What you did to me…you planned that?"
"I did no such thing." Adrianne replied, "Unfortunately…it merely served to act as the final catalyst for your transformation into the being I wanted. I wish that it could have been done a more peaceful way, but with the way you were, there's no way it could have been done in a peaceful manner."
"I'm sorry…" She said softly, looking in the girl's face, "But Erwine…there's a part of me that's overjoyed with you right now."
Erwine's hand went to her mouth, covering it as she gasped in shock. "You so easily raise your blade against Ishna, without a second's hesitation." Adrianne gritted her teeth, the shame clear on her face. "I hate the fact that I love it, but I can't deny it."
"How cute…" Ishna commented. "Adrianne…you ought to just let go."
"Cease your games!" Adrianne screamed at her, turning towards her. "You're trying to get me to turn, it's so obvious! You try to fill my heart with despair by making me feel the guilt that I choose to ignore, but it won't succeed! I have already let go of Erwine, she is stronger than I have ever been!"
"If you want me to turn into a witch, then come into my mind and make me do it!" The shout was a demand. Ishna laughed at it.
She kept on laughing, even as Erwine leapt forwards. Adrianne moved along with her, her hand mostly regenerated. Together, the two charged at Ishna. Somehow, they hoped that they could land a blow. That they could do something to her.
Together they struck, and together they missed her. Ishna leapt back towards the very edge of the building. Erwine and Adrianne paused, wondering what she could do next. "Well…this is getting boring."
Erwine felt Ishna's gloved finger gracing her chin as the girl appeared in front of her, "This has been the most excitement I have ever felt in so long…" She whispered, her words so obviously true. "I loved it, I thank you both for that much."
She appeared back where she was before. "I guess I'll let you two have some real fun now. I can always pop in and save the day if necessary."
"Wait!" Erwine shouted, even as Adrianne leapt forwards again. She watched the golden-haired girl go, running after her.
Ishna smiled, raising her hand. "Goodbye!" she waved. Then she spread her arms out and fell backwards. The blades of her foes tore through nothing but the cold air.
Rain splattered all around them, the pattering sound more and more apparent as they stared over the edge. Ishna was gone. The pattering was briefly overshadowed by a thump. Adrianne's body hit the floor, her breathing slow as her energy fled from her.
Erwine ran forwards, looking over the edge. There was nothing there. She sighed, hanging her head in defeat. They weren't any closer to actually catching her, that much was clear.
Erwine looked around, wondering what to do. She didn't have much time to consider her options, given the wider situation. Then she found herself feeling faint as well. Her knees collapsed, and she found herself sitting down beside where Adrianne lay. She crawled over the wet roof to lay a hand on Adrianne.
The girl was breathing, but it was faint. Adrianne's eyes cracked open, staring up at Erwine. "I'm sorry…" She said, her tears mixing in with the cold water that already ran down her face.
Erwine kept her hand there, but looked back to the witch. It had advanced about two kilometers at this point, and was still tearing into the city. So many had to be already gone, and there would be many more deaths before this thing was even close to being stopped.
It seemed to have been deliberately avoiding the building Erwine and Adrianne were on, but now that Ishna was gone, dark shapes could be seen approaching. Erwine got to her feet, doing her best to summon her strength. She looked down, "Get up." She ordered, "I'm not protecting you from everything."
Adrianne struggled to do so, even as Erwine's fingers gripped around her newly-summoned blade. Erwine grabbed the former inquisitor and tossed her backwards, as the attack began.
Three of the creatures streaked in at Adrianne and Erwine. Already, dark bolts of energy shot out at the pair, loud insidious cackles audible over all else. As they moved to reply, a figure appeared out of the corner of their eyes. Leaping through the air, a blonde-haired girl spun, carrying a large rifle of some kind.
The weapon boomed once, and a massive shot took one of the familiars. The starry substance it was made of was blown away, and the girl landed to fire two more shots. The familiars were surprised, and had no time to dodge the shots.
All three were blasted apart in a matter of two seconds. Erwine and Adrianne looked up at the person who had helped them. Standing there, holding an anti-tank rifle longer than she was tall was Juno Eskel. "Adrianne, Erwine," she said, "Sorry for not helping, but we needed to control the familiars, and I could see you two were being played with,"
Erwine glared at her for the last part of the sentence, but realized that it was true. Ishna could have killed us both, but she needs me for this purpose of hers. "Any ideas as to why that Ishna doesn't want both of you dead?" Juno asked.
Adrianne was silent, still struggling to maintain her balance. Erwine took one look at her, then spoke for herself. "She wants me and Adrianne alive." She considered her words carefully. If I give away too much…they might just want me dead as well. I can't allow that to happen. "I don't know why, but I think she has some greater purpose for the both of us, I can't imagine what."
"She's a diviner, perhaps she's some plan," Adrianne added in quickly. Juno nodded. There was far too much literally going through her mind right now for her to be entirely concerned with that. Being the oldest magical girl on the planet, all communications were ultimately passing through her head.
The lord inquisitor turned to look at the witch. "That thing…" she said, "We'll stop it, but it'll take some time…"
Lightning flickered through the sky to strike at the buildings and streets, explosions erupting from wherever they touched. The flames from the dragon heads covered out to roughly half a kilometer, and a massive expanse of scorched earth was in the wake of the creature, and was slowly being created in front of it.
It's already destroyed about ten kilometers of the city in total, Juno explained, switching to telepathy, and it's estimated that roughly half the city will be gone by the time we stop it. If you're wondering, that amounts to roughly twenty-seven million casualties, if not more, that estimate is around the best case, assuming our rescue teams are one hundred percent successful."
Another familiar came screaming in at the three. It screamed, but in a way that sounded like a twisted kind of laughter. It extended an arm, the shape distorted, and with its handless wrist, fired a volley of black bolts at the three.
Adrianne jumped to the side, already flinging three daggers. Juno rolled forwards, firing her gun as she went into the roll. Erwine simply stepped to the side, not attacking. It was not lazy. She knew that she could not do anything that the other two could not do better at this range and in this situation.
The slug from the anti-tank rifle hit the familiar in the head, right before a trio of knives went into its body. With a brief flash, the shape winked out of existence.
"How do we beat the thing?" Erwine asked.
Juno looked at the witch as she came out of her roll, Well, the only way to destroy the thing is to beat it down until it's gone, she explained, It's far more resilient than any other witch. Conventional attacks will hurt it, but there's a chance that not even a blast from orbit will kill the thing.
Adrianne stood near the edge of the roof and nodded in agreement. She turned to look back at Juno and Erwine, The best way is to get in close. There's usually some kind of focal point of the creatures energy that if hit, will at least do more than just firing at it will. However, the witch ultimately has a huge seed at its heart. If this seed isn't properly handled, or if it's destroyed, then it will collapse and release the witches that made up the creature. So we have to be incredibly gentle in the final stages.
Another half a dozen creatures then flew in from all directions. Their screaming laughter combined into one atrocious dirge that hurt the ears of all who heard it.
They fired dozens and dozens of bolts, covering the roof of the building in blasts. Adrianne leapt off, leaving a couple knives impaled in the roof. She held herself on the side of the building with the chains, before she used the pull of the chains to launch herself back up.
"How was the witch made?" Erwine asked as she spread her wings and jumped backwards. The wings helped propel her, and she swung her sword out to the right. There was a familiar there, and it was almost cut in half by the blade. But it dodged upwards, and only lost its legs to the blade.
It curved in the air and came back around to fire at Erwine. Another one was further right of the current one attacking her, and it turned to fire at Erwine as well. She threw up her wings as a shield around herself, and the shots were deflected.
Erwine had started to move forwards as well, and opened her wings as hard and fast as possible to knock the familiar right in front of her back. She propelled herself fast with her wings, curving to dodge the shots of the farther one.
Made by a large amount of grief cubes and seeds being placed in a single area. Multiple magical girls were most likely sacrificed, turned into witches themselves, in order to jumpstart the reaction. They functioned as a catalyst, the grief released by their transformation kicked off the birth of all the other witches and wraiths. They all fused together to form one large witch, Juno explained, as she ran straight forwards.
A familiar came in towards her, and another one came in from the side. She jumped into the air, firing straight ahead. She then curved, pointing her gun at the other familiar. Black bolts flew towards her, and she would not be able to get out of the way in time, were she not a teleporter.
The large sphere first seen was the fusion process occurring. We came close to completely interrupting it, and we are lucky that we did so much .This thing would be far more powerful otherwise, Juno explained, as she disappeared.
She teleported right in front of the creature firing her rifle into its face. The familiar's flat head was already half-impaled on the long barrel of the weapon before the gun fired.
Adrianne leapt up from below the lip of the roof and threw daggers to either side. Three weapons went into the two familiars to either side of her. Chains were attached, and she pulled the two creatures into each other, smashing them together to finish them off.
We need to move fast. The familiars are only meant to distract us. If we close in, then we can take advantage of the witch's slow speed and low mobility. If we stay far away, then it just picks us off with lightning, Juno said, and as if to emphasize her point, a massive bolt of lightning hit the building she was on.
A massive detonation rose from the center of the building, as Erwine flew in towards the farther-away familiar. She struck in, jabbing with the sword she held, before she immediately pushed herself back, spinning around to tear the other familiar in half.
Her spin took her within distance of the building, and her feet touched the roof as the lord inquisitor continued to speak. You see my point, if you look closely, the witch is not hitting anything near it with its attacks. The lightning seems random, not exactly targeted, so that means that the lighting is merely generated by the creature. It's magically enhanced, but is somewhat natural.
The building was starting to collapse. The top half was tipping forwards. Adrianne leapt off, going as far as she could before flinging her knives. Juno leapt off, before teleporting to the next roof.
Erwine was near the end of the roof, so she ran down the increasingly-steep slope before leaping off and flying into the air with her wings spread. It was only a short trip to the roof Juno was on, but Adrianne's daggers had not made it all the way to the roof. She was pulling herself up, but a familiar came in as she did so.
Juno was firing off into the distance, taking pot shots with her rifle. The problem was that the familiars were very quick, and her shots were slower than their speed. She did not see Adrianne about to be blasted off the roof.
Adrianne heard the creature behind her, and kicked off the side of the building and spun around, flinging her knives. They hit the creature, but she did not have the chance to get out of the way. She knew that she could survive with some damage, and threw up her arms.
Erwine flew in, grabbed Adrianne, spun around and folded her wings in front of herself. The bolts hit the blue wings and did nothing to either girl. Erwine flew up and landed on the roof. She instantly checked her soul gem. She could feel in her mind that she was running low on magic, but she had three nettings of cubes. One on each hand, and one on her head.
They were doing their jobs, and Erwine figured that she had about an hour of this level of use left, before she had to even start to worry about her magic levels. She flew onto the roof and dissipated her wings, dropping Adrianne off. The inquisitor looked at Erwine, who only looked back with annoyance in her eyes.
"Do better next time," she said, "I shouldn't have to help you." Before she walked off towards Juno. Adrianne was left frozen, consistently left considering past events now that the focus of her hatred was no longer present. The dark sky still let down buckets of rain.
She meekly walked towards Juno and Erwine. The former was still firing shots off at all the familiars flying about. There was the sound of boots hitting the roof, and Juno turned to see five magical girls touching down.
Erwine and Adrianne turned to see the five, and Adrianne was surprised as she recognized the girl who was clearly their leader. She wielded a pair of long curved blades, resembling scimitars, but each over a meter long. She was the receptionist from the archive offices, judging from her hair.
She saw Adrianne and nodded to her, before reporting to Juno. "Juno," she said, addressing her commanding officer by her first name, "We've contained most of the familiars. A few strays are running about, but the teleporters and flyers are on those ones. There are about forty girls now free for an attack on the witch itself. Telepaths have dispatched a distress signal, and we already have a return message from the Multi-Sector Overwatch Committee."
She cocked her head to the side, and her eyes widened. A lightning bolt flickered over her head. It went above by about five meters, but a few stray bolts flickered down to strike at the group. A shield raised up instantly, and the bolts were deflected, crackling wildly into the air before dissipating.
"Well," the girl said, as if nothing had happened, "They just heard back from the Segmentum Sect. They are discussing the situation, but reinforcements are already on the way from MSOC. Word is that there's also a unit of mage knights in the sector. We may receive help from them if this is a wide-scale attack."
Juno nodded. Another bright blue bolt came from behind her. It was a one in a million chance. She was struck in the back, launched forwards several meters. She would have flown right off the building if Erwine had not caught her.
Her back was scorched down to the bone, and she was lucky that her soul gem had not been destroyed. Due to the magical nature of the explosions generated by the bolts, hitting a magical girl had cancelled part of that enhancement, so Juno was not entirely annihilated.
Erwine found the girl's soul gem on a necklace, and held it up. It was already darkening, but it was clear that the body was dead. Erwine looked at the gem in awe, "How is she alive?" she asked with wonder.
One of the girls who had just arrived ran over. She knelt down next to Erwine, taking the gem from her and removing the necklace. It was not hard, as the neck did not really exist anymore. She placed it in a box of cubes, before she applied her hands to the girl's body.
"Move on," the healer said as she started to do her job, "Juno will be fine in about…five minutes, at the most,"
Erwine was astonished. "That would have annihilated a human," she said, looking up at the receptionist girl, "How?"
"That's a forty year old healer right there," the girl replied, "And magical girls are very tough. You'll understand when you die for the first time."
She looked at Adrianne, "Before we too get shot, I suggest we move," she said, then added, "By the way, I'm Liselotte, Liselotte Arna,"
Erwine stood up. She had yet to truly regain her composure, but she could function. "How do we approach the thing?" she asked. The witch, as magical girls had tried to move in, had formed a massive wall of lightning around itself. Only the magical girls who had closed in the first place were able to function safely near it,
Liselotte grinned, "That's the fun part," she said, then looked behind herself. There was a bright flash from behind her, about a kilometer away, and Erwine was shown something that came close to the true power of a magical girl.
Laelia had yet to truly recover from the events earlier in the day. She and Ayelen were still not working well together. Luckily, Laelia had Celestine. Ayelen didn't have anyone else to rely upon.
She looked up at the massive leg of the witch as it moved forwards once again. The massive hairs of the beast's legs were charged with static electricity, which jumped out to shock anyone who tried to approach.
A dozen machine guns had been rotating around Laelia for the past twenty minutes of combat. She had emptied thousands of rounds into the witch, and the creatures around its feet.
She realized that the witch was going to succeed in tricking the others into trying to approach it. The lightning would prevent them, and if they did get past, then they would have to deal with the dozens of spiders falling from the underside of the creature.
The spiders were about three meters high, looking like standard spiders but larger. They emitted lighting from their jaws, capable of wounding a magical girl badly. However, Laelia did notice that they exploded in a rather satisfying shade of green blood.
Her shield was up as she stood in the intersection of a street. The leg was about ten meters away, and she knew that it could clear that entire distance in about one step. Her shield was actually extended to about five meters out, the reason being that the lightning from the legs would kill Celestine if she tried to go out of the shield. Laelia was barely holding the shield and firing up at the legs at the same time.
Suppressing the more active hairs with some kind of attack seemed to work in stopping the lightning from becoming too intense. Celestine had her rapier out, and with her invisibility, she used Laelia as bait, striking at the spiders that sought to strike at her.
There was an effective wall of the creatures in a half-circle in front of Laelia at this point. Every time one was killed, another few would fall from the bottom of the witch. But they had a job to do, and that job was preventing the spiders from advancing to the people actually doing damage.
The other six magical girls caught with the witch: Estelle, Sechylia, Justinia, Sanae, Ayelen, and Wei, were all busy attacking the dragon heads of the creature. Their efforts had already brought down one, and due to the distance of the heads from the legs, the static electricity did not affect them.
The leg was moving now. It had been slowly getting closer, and Laelia had held this position for ten minutes now. Her true internal clock told her it had been ten minutes, but the rest of her told her that it had been around an hour.
She retreated as the leg moved, Celestine running with her. The dragon head to the right of this leg was destroyed, but the one to the left was still alive. It was strangely mobile and responsive to attack, so it was hard for the others to land solid hits on.
Celestine had run ahead of Laelia, who was falling behind due to the need to keep her shield up. The spiders were starting to catch up with her, and the force of the leg landing could knock her down. Celestine jumped back, flipping herself over. She swung her blade in a wide arc as she went through the air. Her magic increased the length of the blade, and it cut through two dozen creatures.
Laelia saw her do this and immediately made the shield solid for humans. Celestine hit the edge and kicked off the solid surface. She flew backwards, grabbing onto Laelia before jumping away from the fresh wave of lightning bolts traveling through the air. She landed at another intersection of streets, but this one was farther down from the leg.
They were now two steps away, and the spiders scurrying to catch up, bolts flickering through the air to strike at the shield. Laelia got up from the ground, where Celestine had held her after the jump. The two had talked little after figuring out the plan.
She dissipated her guns, saying telepathically, I can't keep them up anymore. I need all my magic for the shield. Her voice was tired, faint. Celestine turned around to look at her. The spiders were close, five seconds from getting inside the shield.
I got you, Laelia, Celestine said, just keep the shield up, and we stop these things from going after the others. The rest of the magical girls in the city will be here soon.
Laelia shook her head, I can't do it, she said, it hurts too much. I can't even enjoy this anymore.
Enjoy this? Celestine asked with a frown. The spiders came into the shield, and as Laelia fell back down to her knees, the violet-haired girl engaged the enemy. Her sword was once again covered in blood as she swung it carefully and efficiently. You don't need to enjoy fighting to fight.
It would help, Laelia said. She shook her head, I can't even crack a smile at any of this.
Celestine could feel that Laelia was suffering. Though she did not know why, or what she could do to help, Celestine knew that she had to try. Why can't you smile?! She shouted, not angrily. It was more a cry for help, a desperate one.
You know exactly why, at least act like you understand, Laelia said, her voice becoming lower and more lifeless. Don't act like you don't. Betrayal can only make one person hate the betrayer.
Celestine gritted her teeth as she realized the truth of the statement. She did not particularly like Laelia at the moment, but she was willing to listen, more for the sake of her own survival. She took a bolt to the right arm, and immediately switched her blade as she lost feeling in the scorched limb.
A creature lunged and bit her in the right leg. She lost the foot at that moment, as the lightning surged forth and blasted the flesh off the bone. She fell backwards, striking out to clear the spiders out of her immediate area.
She knew that this was it. She could not possible hold them off any longer. Laelia had only distracted her. She looked at the face of one spider as it prepared a bolt to finish her off.
"No!" a shout from behind Celestine tore her out of her grimace. Laelia leapt forwards, two dozen guns forming up around herself. She held her hands out, before clapping her hands together. The two dozen weapons formed into one single cannon. It was roughly five meters long, and about half of one meter wide at the widest points. It looked like a large version of one of Laelia's machine guns.
She opened fire as she floated back down towards the ground. The gun fired with the speed of a magically-summoned machine gun, firing dozens of rounds a second. But it hit with the force of a tank cannon.
Within five seconds, the entire street was clear of spiders, and a few shells had even landed on the leg itself. The constant gunfire from the Laelia had done great damage to the leg, and black blood was showing in a few places.
The street was also now covered with craters. As the gun dissipated, Laelia fell forwards, unconscious. Celestine crawled over to her, and checked her soul gem. It was low, and she had already burned through a full netting. She had only one more, and the fact that she was so powerful told Celestine that something more was going on here.
Ayelen, could you get down here?! She shouted, Laelia needs you immediately, and I am out of the fight for the moment. She is out as well, please get down here.
There was no affirmation from Ayelen. But there was from Sanae. She was with Ayelen at the moment. We are moving, give us a second. And unlike other times when one says to give a second, Sanae and Ayelen were actually there in one second, their forms a blur as they leapt in, landing smoothly.
Ayelen ran towards Laelia, while Sanae ran down the street. She went as fast as she could, weapons sheathed at the moment. She was a melee specialist after all, and nineteen years old at that. She still could not compare to the likes of a mage knight, but she could easily hold her own against the enemies coming out from the witch.
Ayelen knelt down next to Laelia. She looked concerned, but there was also an amount of hatred on her face. She looked almost…pleased that Laelia was in pain. Celestine did not ask, only saying, "She's running out of magic very fast. She's powerful, but she's already burned through two soul gems worth of magic. You need to do something."
"And you want me to do what?" Ayelen asked,
"You know exactly what I'm talking about." Celestine replied harshly. Her words were like venom to Ayelen's ears. "No matter what Laelia says, she's suffering because of what she's done. You need to forgive her."
"I don't need to do anything," Ayelen replied, anger in her voice.
"Unless you want her to die," Laelia said, "You have to do something."
Sanae leapt forwards at the front most spider. She kicked out as she flew through the air, her leg hitting the ugly thing's face head on. This stunned it, and she landed with her other foot on the ground to punch at the thing.
This flattened out into a spear with her fingers. The fast-moving strike burst a few of the creature's eyes as it went. The spider went down, stunned but not dead. Another one fired a bolt at Sanae, but she rolled to the side and lunged out of the roll hit it in the face.
She hit it twice more with spears to the eyes, before rolling aside again. She smiled to herself. She had been experimenting, seeing if she could just use her hands and save the magic. She could not.
She reached to her belt. On it was her wakizashi and katana, as well as one other sheath. She removed a tantou from that sheath, the finely made blade flashing as lightning crackled overhead. The blade curved as it went, so the tip was slightly lower than the base of the blade.
Holding the blade in her right hand, she leapt into the mass of creatures. The leg was around twenty meters away, putting Sanae in danger of being hit by the electricity, but not in too much danger.
She flipped the blade around in her hands as she stabbed and slashed, all her cuts made expertly and efficiently. Not a single drop of energy was wasted on any fancy maneuvers.
She suffered grazes here and there, but she kept fighting, as Ayelen spoke with Celestine. "I cannot just forgive her!" Ayelen cried, "It's not how it works!"
"Yes it is!" Celestine demanded, feelings for Laelia overriding any care for Ayelen. "She's going to turn into a witch at this rate!" Celestine had tears in her eyes.
"Like you even care about her!" Ayelen replied, "You're relationship was always just a game you two played to get information, don't act like you two are suddenly comrades!"
Ayelen flinched as Celestine grabbed her by the collar. "Don't act like we're not," she growled, "I don't want her to die, but there's nothing I can do. I'm not as close to her heart as you are. Right now, you're the only person who has any chance of saving Laelia." She looked to the girl's gem, which was only growing darker by the second as her body struggled to recover. She was all out of grief cubes as well.
Ayelen was clearly displeased with this verdict, but she realized that she had to do this. The witch was still advancing, and all the help that could be gathered was necessary in order to destroy the creature.
Laelia's eyes opened, and she found herself being embraced by Ayelen. Celestine was gone, off to assist Sanae. Her foot had healed sufficiently, and her arm was almost back to full condition. "I'm sorry," Ayelen said, "For all the things I did and said earlier." She did her best to sound sincere, but it still seemed as if she was forcing the words. In fact, she was forcing the words. It wasn't difficult at all for Laelia to understand this. Her expression changed to one of confusion to disgust.
"Don't apologize to me just to make me feel better," she growled, struggling to get to her feet, pushing Ayelen away as she did so. Facing away from the girl, water dripped from her soaking hair as she snapped, "I don't want you lying to yourself just to try and make me feel happy. You were not in the wrong back there, you were not the one in the wrong for four years. Don't you dare apologize to me again."
The blonde stumbled to her feet, trying to straighten her back. Ayelen stood up as well, as Laelia sorted herself out. Ayelen gritted her teeth, looked the girl in the eyes, and shouted, "I hate you! I hate you for what you did! You…you made my life happy, but that doesn't excuse the methods you used to make my life happy! But I also hate it when people are sad, maybe because you made me like that, so I want you to smile!"
Laelia stared right back at Ayelen. Previously, Laelia had a grim look on her face. It balanced out, showing a neutral expression. Laelia walked forwards, and pushed the girl aside. "When you give me a reason to smile, I'll smile," Laelia replied sadly, "I thank you for being so truthful, but I would prefer that you be happy. So how about you just forget about all this, and go on to live a happy life?"
The girl brought up her shield, and ran forwards to join the battle once more. Ayelen froze for a few seconds, before a determined look grew on her face. "I guess if she sees me being happy, then she might smile," Ayelen whispered to herself, then shrugged. "I guess…I guess she just wanted to help me, so why should I hate her?"
She was moving when she heard a massive explosion. She whipped around, to look up as the wall of lightning which had previously separated the witch from those outside of the wall had a massive hole blown in it.
She would have seen what had done it, but the light of the event blinded her for a few brief seconds. She could say later that those few seconds were like staring upon a star itself.
Estelle's day was getting worse and worse. First, she found that Adrianne had done something which was really not something one should do, and to a person who was practically her daughter. That threw off her beliefs about the inquisitor, and made her question everything she was doing.
Then, she had found that Erwine had become a different person as a result of that, and had managed to completely break Adrianne. Things could not have gotten worse, until the grand witch appeared.
Then Estelle realized that apparently this day was out to make her miserable as possible, and then became dedicated to defying the day. It was a silly quest, but one that drove her on throughout the battle.
Especially because she was a telepath. She was good in any area of combat besides fighting a witch. It was very hard to attack a creature's mind when it did not really have one to attack. So she was restricted to using her halberd.
And when fighting a massive fire-breathing, dragon head, such a weapon was not the best thing to be using. She was not as bad off as Sechylia, who was basically hiding inside a building hoping to not be seen. Until Ayelen and Sanae left, they were doing quite well together.
However, the biggest damage dealers were Justinia and Wei. The two could do more to the heads in a few seconds then Estelle could do in five minutes. So the inquisitor had resorted to the strategy of using herself as bait. She ran about, doing her best to make herself an obvious and easy target for the massive heads.
The girls had to be on the roofs of buildings to even begin to get the proper height to attack, but Wei kept launching herself upwards with her various programs, and Justinia used assistance from Adrianne to gain a good height, even though she could use her rocket launchers at a long distance.
Estelle ran across the ground, feet pounding as the head above her aimed at her. She could hear the sound of the fire preparing to release, and as it did, she leapt forwards and up. Kicking off a building, she twisted in the air to grab onto another one on the other side of the street.
She moved under the head as it scorched the ground, exposing itself to assault from Wei and Justinia. The latter girl popped out from behind a building, a dozen launchers around herself.
With a cacophony of loud bangs, she fired them off. They would've all hit the massive target, but the long neck of the creature allowed it to whip around wildly, dodging half the rockets simply because of its random flailing.
Wei, meanwhile, was on a building, a large matrix building itself around her. Multiple levels of slowly rotating circles, inscribed with strange symbols were formed in front of her. Four lines extended through the center of the circles, and arranged themselves pointing towards the witch.
The flames were coming towards her, but she did not seem to mind. She was focusing on what she was doing. Her hands, raised in front of her, were glowing brightly. Thin white lines of energy attached her fingers to the four long lines, which resembled spears now, in the center of the circles.
The flames closed in, but Wei's hands glowed brighter than before, and she jumped away. The white lines, previously slack, grew taught, and yanked the spears. The long lines of energy spun around as the flames cascaded over the entire construction. Wei was in the air, safe from the flames as she moved backwards.
The lines spun around, before fusing together to form one long projectile. The various lines formed into a single long line, like the tether of a harpoon. The circles then shot out both forwards and backwards as the arrow-like projectile shot forwards at the head.
It was so close to the creature that it could not dodge in time, and it was speared by the shot. Wei landed on the street, close to the lightning wall, before she turned to another construct she had made. It was a series of rings facing upwards, and she tossed the line out, letting it drift into the center of the rings.
Then it was pulled down, like a magnet attracted by its opposite. The rings tightened around the line as it touched the ground, holding it in place. The line went tight as the dragon neck wrestled around, trying to escape from the harpoon spearing it.
But it was caught. Wei knew that the trap would last for barely a minute before it would fail. But that would be enough time for Justinia to do massive damage to the witch.
Wei fell to her knees, tired from what she had just done. She was certainly very powerful, but she lost a lot of magic whenever she did such a thing. Her actions had already cost her two soul gems worth of magic. She had one more netting left before she would be out of options.
Justinia opened fire on the witch. Her rockets torched the skin off the trapped head, ripping off the flesh and digging deep into the bone beyond. The head could not attack her, trapped in one place.
Wei tried to stand up, wondering if she would make it through this battle. The matrix she had just fired off had taken several minutes to construct, and she would have to do that several more times to take down the other heads.
Then she lost the ability to see for a few seconds. The witch was about to suffer the wrath of around fifty magical girls. It was to be a display that few things could top.
Erwine watched as the bright blue beam of light shot over her head and crashed into the wall of lightning. It hit the wall, energy expanded out along the surface of it as the beam continued for a few seconds. Before the beam ended, there was an earth-shattering eruption of sound, accompanied by an equally overwhelming flash.
Erwine stumbled as the wall was blasted apart, the beam even punching through to hit the creature beyond. The leg of the witch was even scarred by the beam a little, such was the force of the attack. "What was that?!" Erwine shouted.
Liselotte walked up beside her, "That," she said, her voice proud, "Was a magical programmer combining her force with two ranged specialists. A sniper and a cannon type, to be specific. Combined age of about two-hundred years, and plenty of grief cube support means that things like that are possible."
Erwine's jaw dropped at the attack, feeling that such a thing could feel even a titan. Liselotte pointed with one of her swords, "But as you can see, the wall is down." Indeed, the entire wall of lighting had gone down, not just the sector that had been hit. "And now we are really going to attack the thing,"
She raised her other arm, pointing that sword high into the air. She took a deep breathe, before striking downwards and pointing straight forwards, All teams! she shouted, Destroy the witch! Prevent a catastrophic collapse of the seed!
The Goddess Protects! she shouted, before leaping from the roof and moving forwards. Adrianne paused, seemingly lost in thought. Erwine took several steps forwards, before pausing. She looked over her shoulder. Adrianne's face was covered in water, the rain still pouring down hard. Occasional shivers passed through her body as her distant gaze stared out at nothing in particular.
"Adrianne," Erwine cut into her thoughts like a blade through flesh. The girl tensed, eyes instantly going to the source of the noise. "Come on," she insisted. "There's no time to dawdle." Yet Erwine didn't move herself.
Adrianne brought a hand to her face, trying to wipe away all that covered it. "I'm coming…" She whispered. "I'm coming." The repetition only made the affirmation stronger.
"Thank you," Erwine said, looking at Adrianne. "For…for what you did to me. Though I'm not sure this is who I really want to be, I think that it's a step on the right path." Her words were spoken with the utmost seriousness. She was not lying.
The reaction from Adrianne could be described with so many words. Joy, shock, horror, fear, wonder, the list went on. And the expression that seemed to finally sort itself out was some ungodly combination of all the words on that list.
It finally ended with her falling to the ground, weeping. "Don't…" She said, holding a hand out in case Erwine would approach her, "I don't want your sympathy."
"I don't intend to give it," Erwine sternly said. She found that while the words could be found to cruel, it was so easy to say them.
Adrianne fell over onto her hands and knees, tears dripping down onto the already soaked roof. Steadying herself, yet still crying, she stood up. "I was such a fool, wasn't I?" she asked, wondering if Erwine would judge the question to be worth answering.
"You were no fool." Erwine said, "You were something worse than that." Her words carried little emotion along with them, but that didn't stop them from tearing deep into Adrianne.
The former inquisitor looked back at the girl who formerly treated her like family. "We'll end this cursed tale of ours one day," she promised, "And I look forwards to that end."
I should have listened to my dreams. A dream kept telling me to run away, to take my family and run far away. But I couldn't. I just couldn't, how could a little girl like I do that? Now I realize I should have at least tried. Because now, that family of mine is dead, and I'll never be the same again.
This is the last entry I'll write as a normal girl. I'm contracting as soon as the Incubator comes back.
-Annoymous diary entry, circa M39, from the world of Cochielis, after suffering massive damage from a grand witch.
The greater someone's destiny, the more of a presence they shall have in the flow of time. People or things that are destined for great things, or have been a part of great things, shall form a massive entity amongst all the smaller little bits.
It would make sense that these large objects, centers of karmic forces, should function like a star does. A star's gravity is due to its mass. Karmic force can be equated to mass. The greater this force, the more that shall be attracted to whoever the force is tied to.
Reports have shown that girls destined for great things have disrupted diviners around them, put out strange dreams into the minds of those sleeping, even caused irregularities in reality itself. The universe is not the rigid substance that we believe it to be. It is more malleable than many other things.
-Reflections on Fate, published by the Ordo Wyrd, disbanded after the publication of this text.