Woe to you, o earth and sea, for the devil sends the beast with wrath, because he knows that his time is short.

YOUR WORDS ARE MEANINGLESS, SPECK!

"You can't truly believe that, or you're a fool."

THEN TELL ME NOW WHAT THE OMNIPOTENT SERVANT OF THE KING MIGHT LEARN FROM THE DUST.

"You send this beast against us now, and I can feel it. This is a move of fear on your part. You wouldn't have done this if you didn't sense that your end was coming."

SILENCE! YOU ARE NOTHING! YOU ARE THE OFFSPRING OF VAIN WORDS AND HYPOCRITICAL ACTIONS! YOU ARE A CHILD OF WEAK FAITH INTERTWINED WITH ABSENT GODS! NO WORDS YOU CAN IMAGINE COULD BROACH THE MAGNITUDE OF MY BEING!

Kyoko opened her eyes, burning with fire and trailing light behind her as she fell through the atmosphere of the cake planet. The black creature writhed in her hands, trying desperately to tear her apart with its huge claws. Its mouth snapped at her, ripping into her shoulders, but the wounds caught fire and healed in the flame. Still, her focus was on the otherworldly voice that had broken into her mind to taunt her.

I CANNOT BE DEFEATED! I WILL NEVER BE BROUGHT LOW! ALL THIS UNIVERSE AND MORE IS UNDER MY DOMAIN! TEN THOUSAND TO THE TRILLIONTH POWER SUPERNOVAS GO UNNOTICED BY THE INSECTS THAT FLIT ABOUT THE MOTES AT MY FEET AS IF THEY WERE GODS! I AM SALDOR!

"Then send your beasts. Send them and watch them fall."

The alien was crushed and vaporized moments from hitting the ground, a stream of brilliant energy obliterating its atoms. Rising from the smoldering crater, Ophelia raised her spear over the flames that made up her head. Her steed reared up on its hind legs, stamping at the air, its white mane flowing from its neck. Her free hand ran along the fringe of her kimono before moving up to meet the other on the shaft of the spear, bringing the massive weapon down against the ground and lighting it all on fire.

"Send your beasts if you dare!"

Charlotte approached slowly. "Ophelia? That was quite the entrance."

Relaxing her shoulders, Ophelia looked up to the sky. "The others are coming now..."

Charlotte followed her fellow Witch's gaze.

The sky erupted in flames, the mass of the two sister ships burning up as they began to reenter the atmosphere. The steel hulls buckled and glowed as they were battered with immense friction and heat. The frame warped and twisted as the two ships broke apart. Epimetheus spiraled away, exploding and scattering across the sky. It's pieces fell to the ground, most burning away long before they ever reached the surface. Prometheus continued straight on its course, taking the fall at a much better angle.

Charlotte looked back to Ophelia. "It's coming this way. Should we move?"

Ophelia's flame died down, an expression of some sort that Charlotte didn't understand. She could guess pretty well from what Ophelia said. "Yeah, I think we should."

Charlotte bolted away like a shark after prey. Ophelia rode away behind her, her horse's hooves breaking the cake ground as she went. If they had waited any longer, it would have been too long. The Prometheus hit the ground behind them, sending them both flying in the shock wave. Ophelia fell off her horse and crashed through a small outcropping of peanut brittle. Charlotte left a long trail in the ground where she landed, sending cake into the air for nearly five hundred meters.

Ophelia pulled herself up and looked over the crashed ship. "Gee... I hope they're okay." She spotted something moving. A lot of somethings. Small black shapes in the distance running on all fours toward the crashed ship. "Charlotte! We've got trouble!"

Charlotte pulled herself out of the cake and shook the crumbs out of her eyes. "Trouble? What kind of trouble?" She saw the aliens as well. "Oh cripes."

They exchanged only a quick glance before both charging.

Sayaka shot back up, her eyes darting around. The hull of the ship was cracked and broken, light from outside streaming in. The others in her group were pulling themselves up at various different speeds. She let out her breath when she concluded that they were all fine. Fukawa was still limping, but she'd been hurt before the crash. Rory and Nakashima seemed a little bruised, upset, and dirty, but were otherwise fine.

Sayaka shouldered her pilfered rifle. "See, now that's how you kick some serious alien ass."

Another of the black aliens appeared through a hole in the hull, reaching down a long claw and grabbing at Fukawa. Its hand wrapped around her head and it hauled her into the air, but before Sayaka could even ready her rifle to fire a giant red spear smashed the beast apart. Fukawa fell back into the corridor and frantically wiped the remaining slime off her face.

A spattering of the alien's blood began to drip down from above, corroding through the hull and eating away at the steel. It hit the deck below them and kept going. Fukawa dashed away from the acidic blood, taking shelter behind Sayaka. Rory and Nakashima were trapped on the other side of the acid. Sayaka looked up to see the giant form of Ophelia.

"Kyoko..."

Ophelia waved briefly, then turned and batted away another alien. She looked back down at Sayaka. "Get them out of here. There's a whole army of those things heading your way and I can't get through the hull in time to stop them. They're inside the ship!"

Sayaka looked back down at Rory and Nakashima as Ophelia turned back to face more of the monsters outside. "Come on! We have to go! Now!" Rory covered his head and ran under the dripping acid, miraculously making it through without a scratch. Sayaka looked to Nakashima. "Hurry! There are more of those things coming!"

Nakashima had just about gathered up the necessary courage to run through the dripping acid when an arc of electricity flared behind her, illuminating the dark corridor to her back. Sayaka, Rory, and Fukawa saw the virtual wall of the monsters squirming and writhing right behind her. They overtook Nakashima in an instant, tearing her apart before their eyes and continuing their charge as if she wasn't even there.

"RUN!"

The three of them turned and ran full speed. Reaching a corner, Sayaka stopped and let the others go on without her. She turned and raised her rifle, emptying the entire clip into the horde approaching. For every one that she killed, another crawled right past it and took its place. She pulled the clip out and replaced it, emptying that one as well. The black mass kept coming unabated. Sayaka dropped the gun and stood.

"Alright, you alien assholes! In the words of my generation: fuck you!"

The next second, the mass of black aliens met the full force of the harder-than-steel armor of Oktavia von Seckendorff.

Hitomi opened her eyes, coughing out some black dust. She looked around her at the dark room. The walls were crushed and warped, the equipment of the sick bay scattered about and broken. She was surprised she had survived. She saw holes in the hull leading out to the corridor and to other parts of the ship. Half the deck was also missing.

Captain Douglas sat up, finding himself pinned against the wall by the unconscious Osakawa. He shoved the other man off of him and stood up. Glancing around, Hitomi caught his eye. "You alright?"

Hitomi sat up and groaned. "In pain, but alright."

The door to the sick bay fell in, and Madoka stepped through. "How's everyone doing? I need a towel."

Douglas shook his head. "I can't find Mami." He pointed at the hole in the deck. "I think she might have fallen down there."

Homura wobbled in behind Madoka. "Down there? That's the cargo bay, isn't it?"

Douglas nodded. "Let's go."

There was a wet cracking sound from the corner of the room. Silently, all four of them turned to look at Osakawa. He was still unconscious, laying in the corner. Another crack came from him, with no sign of what it was. After a third crack, his chest started moving. It wasn't moving like breathing, but bulging out in the center. After a fourth crack, the middle of his chest began to turn red with blood.

Homura covered her face with her hands. "Oh my God! What's happening to him?!"

Osakawa's chest burst open and a small pale alien's head poked out, wasting no time in screeching at them. Homura screamed. Madoka and Hitomi ducked out of the room, grabbing Homura and pulling her along. Douglas took one glance at the hole in the deck that led down to the cargo bay. He reached out and grabbed the bed, no longer in the center of the room, and lifted it over his head before bringing it crashing down on top of Osakawa and the alien spawn, crushing them both.

Douglas turned to the door. "Its dead! Come on!"

Madoka peered back into the sick bay. "Oh. I coulda done that."

"Let's go!" He jumped down into the cargo bay.

Madoka looked to Hitomi and Homura. "Cargo bay."

The three of them crowded around the hole in the deck and climbed down as best they could before being forced to drop the rest of the way. Douglas was way ahead of them. The entire cargo bay had broken in half, and the deck beneath the sick bay was on an angle. Douglas was at the bottom, pulling apart pieces of debris and throwing them aside. Hitomi sat down and watched as Madoka slid down the angled deck and started to help him.

Homura looked over at Hitomi. "You're not helping?"

"My leg... I think I'd just get in the way right now." She looked back. "What about you? Aren't you going to help?"

The were interrupted by Madoka calling out. "I found her! Mami!"

Douglas jumped on her, pulling bent pieces of metal off of the pile. "Mami! Mami, are you alright?"

The two of them had to work together to move the last piece out of the way, and almost dropped it back on top of her when they saw what was under it. Mami coughed harshly, unable to move her hand to her mouth as it was trapped under a large crate. There was blood coming from under the crate, leaving no doubt that it had crushed her arm. Worse, there were several thick cables sticking straight up out of her, having gone right through her body. Blood leaked out of her mouth as she wheezed again. At the other end of the cargo bay, Fukawa and Rory ran out of a corridor. They slowed down when they spotted Homura and Hitomi, and stopped dead when they saw the rest.

Mami felt Douglas' hand wrap around her own. She smiled. "I was... waiting for you... to come."

Madoka backed away. She felt like this was their moment, and she shouldn't get in the way.

Douglas gripped Mami's hand tightly. "You just hold on now. We'll get you out of this and fix you up. You're going to make it."

Mami shook her head. It was barely visible, but he could tell. "Don't worry... Ty... I know I'm going to be... okay." She gasped. "It hurts a lot."

"We'll get you out of there, Mami. You'll be fine."

"No, see... look at my side... see that piece?"

He looked down to see one of the cables sticking out of her side, just above her hip. "I see it. Mami, I-"

"It went in my back... and I guess it got bent... it's... practically wrapped around my spine. You're not getting me out."

"No. No, we'll find a way. We'll get it out. You'll be fine. You'll see. You'll see."

"Listen... when I go... I won't be able to tell you... what I want to say... so let me say it now."

"...okay."

Struggling, she lifted her hand up to reach his face. "I missed you so much."

"I missed you too."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

"I'll miss you when we go."

"I'll miss you too."

She gave a short laugh. "You... do you know... what you said to me... the last time we parted ways?"

"No." He shook his head. "No I don't. What did I say."

"You said... we will meet again."

"That's exactly what you said before you left."

"It's... a miracle... that we found each other again in... in all this empty space. I can't imagine... we'd be so fortunate... that it would happen... again..."

He squeezed her hand. "It was good to see you again."

"At least this time... I get to... say... good... bye..." Mami closed her eyes. "I'll... always... love... you..."

Just as she went completely still, a cool breeze blew around them. Douglas, Madoka, and the others looked up to see the shining form of Candeloro floating over them. Madoka knew the others wouldn't recognize it, but she could tell that Candeloro's form had changed. The sorrows of the Witch were alleviated. The darkness was gone, leaving behind only the shimmering blue dress and the yellow frills and ribbons. The radiant light that washed over them was warm and purifying.

Candeloro moved over their heads, floating towards the far side of the cargo bay just as a swarm of the alien monsters crawled out of the corridors on either side of them. Her ribbons snaked gracefully through the air and pierced the aliens straight through, turning them all to light which quickly dissipated. The ribbons moved on, sliding through the cracks in the cargo bay bulkheads and pulling them apart, opening up and escape for the survivors.

Out beyond the hull of the ship, Madoka could see three more huge forms waiting for them. Her friends were ready to leave.