In a house in the village of Goddard, a pink-haired girl clad in a white outfit that showed her legs and her mid-section was observing the runes floating and shifting in front of her even as she a agitated her heart-tipped wand. The four glowing symbols were showing something that she had difficulty believing.

"Four girls after so many years… It must be a sign. It is the dawn of a new age for justice!"

Magical Mari-chan punctuated her sentence by twirling her wand, making a few more heart-shaped sparkles fly around in the process. The world was still suffering from the aftermath of an assault from succubi from other worlds, and injustice had spread far and wide in their wake. However, she had herself participated in the defense of this world by training Rigeo, a Nightmare from another universe who had wanted to train to support her allies. Supposedly, said Nightmare was ashamed of her new role as a magical girl, but her newfound powers had made a difference and had helped her defeat those powerful foes! Magical Mari-chan briefly smiled as she appreciated the idea that a magical girl was once again at the vanguard of the fight against evil. However, she was even more surprised when she discovered that there were two more magical girls running around.

It was an opportune coincidence. While the danger represented by the Land of Night had been sundered by everyone's effort, she regularly heard rumors about fanatics that had a plan to end this world in pleasure… Worse, one of those groups had even planned to use the lingering power in the toxic swamp near Goddard for their summoning. However, with her new allies, she had no doubt that she would put a stop to them!

…But first, she had to summon them. She had no idea where they currently were.

Fortunately, she knew a spell to call her fellow magical girls at the ready, no matter where they were. She traced several cabalistic symbols on the floor and started accumulating energy. Soon, the first of her ally would show up, and Magical Mari-chan knew that even if she would be reluctant at first after being pulled from her current activity, she would gladly support her in her quest to dispense justice and defend the world. She twirled her wand again, and the symbols started glowing more intensively with each passing second. Energy gathered in front of her, forming a visible orb that grew as she chanted.

"By the power of the grudges and with all the love of justice in the world, I, Mari-chan, call to you my fellow magical girl! The world is in trouble and needs us to smite evildoers once again! Come, for the sake of justice!"

As she ended her sentence, the orb exploded in floating stars and hearts that dissipated, and the girl heard a small yelp followed by a thud as a small girl hidden by a black cape landed face first on the floor.

"Muuuh… Just when we were about to eat after training with Lauratt..."

Magical Mari-chan's first victim got up, and the magical girl could see that the white-haired girl she had summoned had two small horns and a tail that was whipping the air around her. She was also wearing what looked like a very short cut school uniform held in the front by a large, pink ribbon. The succubus looked around, and recoiled in shock when she recognized Mari-chan.

"Helloooo, Rigeoooo! How have you been doing? I heard that you did beat up some villains."

Rigeo emitted a whining noise while trying to hide her expression with her cape.

"Awww, don't worry! I just need your help to beat some bad guys!"

"I don't want to be a magical girl again…"

"Buuut, the world needs us! There are more evil monsters that try to mess up the world with stuff they got from people that came from other universes! I need your help! Pleaaaase!"

Rigeo looked suspiciously at the magical-girl for a moment, but she eventually conceded.

"Fine… I suppose you would need my help if they bring in more Nightmares..."

"Yes!" Magical Mari-chan excitedly jumped up and down. "Don't worry, we won't be alone, there are two more magical girls who will help us."

As Mari-chan returned to her summoning circle, Rigeo muttered under her breath.

"In what type of world so many people would want to be like that…"

"Oh! I can tell that at least one of them arrived almost when you did! It only makes sense that a magical girl would join and support a hero on his quest for justice!"

Rigeo frowned as she considered who it could be.

"I cannot imagine that old oni being one… Neither that exotic dancer… Nor that weird mage… No, I can't see who it is…"

"I can tell that she's a feisty one…" Magical Mari-chan was starting to sweat under the effort. "She's trying to resist the call, but there's nothing greater than the call of justice! NOW COME FOR ME!"

The towering newcomer landed on her feet, her back turned, and while the magical girl admired the wondrously fluffy tails and long purple mane that covered her backside, Rigeo gulped loudly and cautiously made a few steps away from Mari-chan.

"Ooooh, a kitsune! I'm surprised! You know her, Rigeo?"

The Nightmare simply nodded, even as she felt her body heating up and starting to sweat in fear.

"Daji…"

The kitsune slowly turned, revealing a purple, furry kimono that didn't even cover her intimacy, black thigh-high boots and golden eyes glowing with an apparent mad hatred. Rigeo cowered under the kitsune's gaze, but the latter ignored her and turned toward Magical Mari-chan, her teeth bared.

"Greeting, you little morsel… You interrupted me when I was about to have myself a nice meal, and I am getting really hungry. May I know why you summoned me here before I gobble you up?"

Magical Mari-chan hesitated answering, her expression frozen in an uncanny smile.

"I… need the help of magical girls to deal with bad guys and spread justice and love..."

Daji answered with a cold, inhuman chuckle.

"Do I look like a magical girl that would fight for love and justice? I ruined kingdoms, devoured heroes and people like you dime a doze- oh…" She looked down, her face red before she muttered. "I get it. I got screwed by people I ate once again. I suppose it's only fair. Very well, I will at least hear you out."

"There are those villains that want to once again to try drowning the world in pleasure after the failure of the Land of Night…"

"Mmmh… They actually sound fun. But if they do that, they'll kill everyone in record time and I might not even get a good share of men, and in the long run, I'll end up alone and unable to go back home… Alright, you haven't seen Daji here." The kitsune wrapped herself in her tails. When she removed them, she had been apparently replaced by a blue-haired girl with fox ears. She was wearing a corset and a skirt of the same color, and Her ensemble was completed by a white cape and thigh-high kneesocks. As the tails disappeared behind her back, she did a victory sign with her hand around her eye, while her other hand was occupied with a thin sword.

"Tadaaaa! I'm Kyosaya, glad to meet you!"

While Mari-Chan enthusiastically returned the greeting, Rigeo remained suspicious of the girl.

"This is someone you actually devoured…"

The magical girl giggled, which only further creeped out Rigeo.

"I was feeling bad for her. Her leader apparently lost her head or something, I don't exactly remember. Please summon your last pawn and let us get started..."

"On it!"

Mari-chan once again started her summoning ritual. "Awww, this one is resisting too… Come on! We're going on an awesome adventure! Aaaaand voilà!"

The next instant, a human shape appeared and somehow brought with her a cloud of dust. When the air cleared, the trio could see that the newcomer was covered with scales and was wearing a black chest plate. What attracted the trio's attention was the impressively large sword that was currently sheathed in her back.

"Oooh, crap, how I forgot about that…"

The dragonkin looked warily at her surroundings, then her sight locked on the one who summoned her. Her expression turned into pure rage. "You…"

Granberia pulled out her sword which ended under Mari-chan's throat in the blink of an eye.

"I was relaxing in the Monster Lord's Castle arenas for once I didn't have to deal with any succubus… Give me one good reason to not end your existence now."

"I huuuuuh, I forgot it was you and I needed the help of magical girls to take care of some bad guys that wanted to drown the world in pleasure."

Magical Mari-chan saw the dragonkin's sword lower ever so slightly as Rigeo and Kyosaya nodded. Granberia groaned.

"I should inform Tamamo or Alma Elma to take care of that matter but both are missing… Even those Lilith Sisters could have stepped in but they're currently away… And as a Heavenly Knight sworn to defend this world, I can't simply ignore it."

"And certainly not as a magical girl bound to the laws of justice!"

Granberia glared half-heartedly at the magical girl, but she sheathed her sword.

"Very well. I shall accompany you, but I have no reason to make myself ridiculous by turning into a magical girl!"

"But you will look too conspicuous like that!"

Granberia brought her face barely an inch away from Mari-chan.

"This. Is not. Negotiable."

"Okay." Mari-chan then looked at Rigeo who was awkwardly hiding her blush, then at the disguised kitsune who was smiling evilly. "This miiight have been a horrible idea." She shook her head, then returned to her usual peppy attitude. "Bah, I'm sure it will be fine. Come, fellow companions, let us go on an adventure!"

A series of unenthusiastic groans answered her.

Granberia shivered as the quartet arrived in sight of the Toxic Swamp of the Gold Region. The place was bringing out bad memories of her transformation in a magical girl, but she still remained steady as she got closer: whoever her allies were, if they did think that nothing good could come out of this place, they were probably on the good side and more certainly right. She thanked her exceptional constitution as she could easily waddle through the noxious muck even as the strange trio accompanying her had to use wards to protect themselves.

Her supernatural senses picked up on the presence of several monsters ahead, mostly ghosts and succubi, including a few strange-looking ones that she never saw before. Once again, her senses warned her that at least one of the strange sex demon had an unusual nature that she shared with the one that was currently accompanying the party. Even from afar, she could hear what the group was saying.

"…So we need what in the end? To be at the heart of devastation, a devastated heart, someone with a heart of devastation… What does that even mean?"

"I don't know… Esuka is the one who got the damn book in the first place, she just told us to go there and check if there was something about devastation here. Aaargh… why didn't she get more info than that?! Pass me the jewel! Maybe we can at least charge the damn bauble here and make her happy!"

Granberia frowned as she could hear the disturbance from afar. She wanted to rush in, but memories of the failure of her latest intervention were still present in her mind.

"Wait, let me try infiltrating them with my mimicking power."

The magical girl with fox ears transformed into a succubus not so different from the ones from the group. She then surreptitiously made her way to the group.

"What's taking so long? We need the jewel now for our ritual!"

"What is she doing?"

"Shhh."

Granberia focused. The fox's action reminded her of one of Tamamo's lesson on infiltration about overwhelming someone to be accepted. The dragonkin didn't see the point, but if her companion was as devious as her fellow knight, then chances were she was doing exactly that. Her partners apparently had something else in mind, however.

"What she's doing is certainly not for justice! Let's fiiight!"

Magical Mari-chan jumped on top of the promontory that had been hiding them, star-shaped sparkles flying around her, attracting everyone's attention.

"Ta ha! For great justice, we will crush you lot with the power of our friendship!"

The group of monsters glared at the magical girl, then at the disguised monster.

"You brought her in, didn't you? Attack!"

"Magical star!"

Magical Mari-chan twirled her wand and released a star-shaped bolt of magic, knocking down one succubus while the disguised one reassumed her magical girl appearance and started exchanging blows with several opponents. Rigeo whined under her breath, but she pulled out an umbrella and readied her weapon all the same.

"Magical Rigeooo, TRANSFORM!"

The girl's outfit transformed into the tackiest clothing Granberia ever saw: She was now wearing a red hat topped with a white lotus flower and crowned with a heart-shaped ruby surrounded by wings at its front, her outfit became a red and white frilly dress with the ribbon at the front expanding to an impractical level, and her long gloves were now also adorned with frills while transparent feathery wings appeared in her back, and last, her weapon became a wand adorned with wings.

"Love meteor!"

She twirled her weapon toward the fight and a heart shaped meteor appeared from the sky to crash in the middle of the group of monsters, surprising them as they scattered while the two other magical girls were leading their own fight. A group of monsters ignored the magical swordsman and directly charged the remainder of the party. Granberia lunged forward with a war cry of her own, taking them by surprise before she slashed at them with a fire-imbued blade, knocking several of them back. However, a few ghosts and succubi remained still, unaffected by her attack. One of the sex fiends chuckled.

"Such violence… It won't work against us, fufufu… Now let's have fun!"

Granberia gritted her teeth even as the succubi came closer.

"They're Nightmares! Only pleasure skills work against them!"

"What?"

Granberia recoiled in shock, even as she avoided the smiling sex fiends. Fortunately for the dragonkin, another of Rigeo's meteor stopped most of the monsters dead in their track. Several ghosts remained, and the dragonkin's magic ability were too limited, unless…

"Ghhh… No! I won't use that!"

She slashed at the ghosts again, throwing large waves of fire around which only got a limited effect against her targets while tiring her out. Worse, one of those Nightmare succubi pierced through and was already looking salaciously at her as she was wiggling her fingers. Granberia gritted her teeth, hesitating between a humiliation that would debilitate her for a few hours and one that might accompany her for the rest of her life.

Too bad.

"Magical Granberia, TRANSFORM!"

Granberia's armor became a voluminous white dress with pink trim that covered her full body, with a pink corset around her midsection. Her outfit was completed by a large pink bow right on the level of her sternum and one as large as her head was resting on her hair. Her large black sword had been replaced by an umbrella assorted to the dress. She pointed her new weapon toward the Nightmare.

"Love Meteor!"

The Nightmare froze in surprise, but she soon resumed her assault when she noticed that no magical attack arrived to crash on her. She heard Magical Mari-chan shout across the battlefield.

"This is an advanced spell! You need to practice to learn it first!"

Granberia lost her composure and started running as fast as her large dress allowed her to. Fortunately, before the Nightmare caught up to her, Rigeo threw herself at the sex fiend and used her free hand to incapacitate her in record time. Granberia gratefully nodded and pointed her umbrella at a pair of ghosts, and a large magical star kicked both of them away.

The dragonkin checked around her to see if her allies of misfortune needed reinforcement: The human was holding her own remarkably well against a powerful-looking succubus, while the girl with the fox ears was holding back a trio of powerful-looking succubi with alarming ease while casting the occasional spell. Granberia was impressed by her skill, but her expression of sadism didn't make the dragonkin quite at ease. She decided to support her to finish the fight faster.

"Magical Granberia, cast off!"

She sighed in relief when her clothes were replaced by her usual armor while the familiar weigh of her blade filled her hand. In a lightning-fast dash, she was by the side of her ally, and together, they took down the remaining monsters while Rigeo was making sure that no Nightmare went in the way of the two swordsmen. However, Granberia noticed too late the lone succubus taking off with a strange jewel in her hand.

The fight lasted for a few more minutes before the last monsters either fled or surrendered, beaten and broken. Although she was clearly exhausted, Magical Mari-chan was ecstatic.

"We won thanks to the power of friendship! It's another victory for justice!"

Rigeo just awkwardly transformed back and tilted her cap forward to hide her face, while Granberia and the still-disguised Daji were staring down at one of the monster they captured. She was a succubus wearing a combat bikini with reinforced boots and a well toned body. The dragonkin only said a single word with all her authority.

"Speak."

The succubus emitted a raspy noise as she chuckled while gasping for air.

"Do you really think I know much? And besides, you're a bunch of goody two-shoes! What you will do to me is nothing compared to what my partners will if I talk!"

Daji smirked and stepped even closer to the succubus before leaning forward. Her expression changed while her blue eyes transformed into her real, vertically-slanted yellow eyes.

"Are you sure about thaaaat? I can pamper you if you want..."

The succubus recoiled and raised a hand to protect herself, making Daji chuckle.

"…Fine then. Our leader acquired a book from Alipheese-knows-where which could help us summon an entity to drown the world in pleasure... She's currently hiding in Lady's Village and took residence in the mansion of their past 's all I know."

Magical Mari-chan twirled her wand. "Then it is decided! We will go to Lady's Village ourselves and beat these villains in their lair! But first! Let's make sure you don't escape!"

A magical cage appeared around the succubus who simply groaned while glaring at the quartet. Mari-chan ignored her, and enthusiastically beckoned her allies to follow her.

"Come on! Let's go! There's a whole region to cross!"

"Using a harpy feather would have been simpler… and shorter… and less tedious."

The quartet of magical girls was crossing through the wastelands that made for the central district of the Gold Region. While Granberia's presence alone was enough to make most monsters reconsider attacking the party twice, the journey remained a chore for the party, if only because the tension within the group was unbearably heavy : Rigeo was keeping to herself in shame, Kyosaya was getting bored and kept whining, and Granberia was glaring at the Magical girl that had brought her there. The extremely monotonous and dreary landscape they were currently going through was also making its fair share of work to make everyone feel as miserable as they could.

"Soooorryyyyy! It's not my fault defending justice doesn't pay as much as it could! And it's not my fault the general store was closed either…"

Granberia simply groaned. Walking at a brisk pace took the dragonkin no effort, and she even had the opportunity to spend a minute to nostalgically gaze at the Gold Volcano. However, they were in the middle of nowhere when the sun started setting on the horizon. The only settlement they could reach was Gold Port, and Magical Mari-chan remembered important information only when they arrived in sight of the city.

"Oh, right, the local inhabitants aren't overly fond of monsters, soooo… You might have to hide your nature."

"Wouldn't it be a good occasion to dispense justice to those baddies and show them the error of their way?" Kyosaya enthusiastically twirled her staff while smiling.

"It's… More complicated than that. It requires… A more subtle approach. And besides! We have a greater goal right now!"

The fact that the fox girl did visibly enjoy putting Magical Mari-chan on the spot didn't escape the dragonkin. Still, she groaned and put on a broad cloak she used to carry around to hide her nature while Rigeo did the same and the fox girl's ears disappeared. The quartet managed to check-in an inn's room without issue, and most of the party was enjoying a well-deserved rest when Granberia decided to leave the group in the middle of the night.

I have no reason to stay involved with them… I should inform Tamamo or Alma Elma. They'll know what to do more than me.

She attempted to directly teleport back to the Monster Lord's Castle from inside the inn, but her spell was blocked for a reason she couldn't understand. She delicately got up and silently left the room, carefully opening then closing the door back without a single noise, and watching her step as she avoided the creaking wooden planks with an impressive dexterity. She felt ashamed to leave the group without a word, but a part of her reminded her that she had been brought in against her will in the first place. She groaned in exasperation as she exited the inn.

"Taking your leave already?"

Surprised, Granberia pointed her sword at an amused, fully revealed Daji.

"I have no reason to associate myself with someone who deceives her own allies!"

The kitsune stepped closer and raised an eyebrow. "I didn't deceive them. You showed up just after I transformed. We're working together, Granberia."

The dragonkin frowned. "…I don't remember ever telling you my name…"

"You're right, but even we heard of the legendary Heavenly Knights." Daji grinned. "In my case, I heard about you from the one that is also your girlfriend…"

Granberia lowered her weapon slightly, completely dumbfounded. "Girlfriend?"

As Daji kept smiling mischievously, Granberia jumped in surprise when she understood what the kitsune meant. She ground her teeth in frustration and made several indignant noise.

"Khhh…"

"I got a lot of… exciting details about the physical nature of your relation. But it didn't quite look like that she was aware of your gig as a magical girl."

Granberia became livid as her phalanges bleached around the grip of her sword.

"Daaaaamn… Youuuu…"

"But I come from another world, so what do I know of the famous Heavenly Knights? I'm sure that she would appreciate learning more about you…"

"No… She… Wouldn't…"

Still grinning, Daji shrugged. "If you say so… Are you sure about that? I mean if she came here to replace you, you would be free to go."

"I'll stay… It's fine, I'll stay." Granberia kept grimacing. Her fighting instinct told her that taking this opponent head on one-on-one could end quite badly for her.

"Good… Well then! Get back at the inn. I'm going to take a small stroll in this village, I'm pretty sure at least one or two villagers can appreciate my company. See you tomorrow!"

Even after Daji left, Granberia stood alone outside under the moonlight a few more minutes, her grip tight around her sword as she panted in absolute rage.

I need to see Tamamo. If only to avoid suffering this offense ever again…