Fusion Cuisine

by Masterdramon

Before she graduated Luna Nova and became an international magical superstar, Akko was just a waitress at her family's restaurant. But when a family emergency puts that restaurant in jeopardy, Akko drops everything to come back and help. Problem is, she can't do it alone. To pull this off, she'll need the help of the smartest person she knows...a girl she hasn't seen in two years.

15. Part XV: Clearing the Kitchen

Fusion Cuisine – Part XV: Clearing the Kitchen

Disclaimer: In case you haven't figured it out yet, I don't own Little Witch Academia. All LWA-related characters, settings, etc. are the intellectual property of Studio Trigger and Yoh Yoshinari.

[-]

Calabria Peninsula

Fifteen Years Ago

Croix Meridies scratched furiously through the plans for yet another failed experiment, crumpled them up, and then burned them with magic for good measure.

It was about the dozenth attempt she'd destroyed in so many hours.

The two years since parting ways with Chariot had been…difficult. Logically, they shouldn't have been. Unshackled from the burden of babysitting that dolt, her talents had been permitted to fully blossom for the first time since entering Luna Nova.

And others had taken notice. She'd received numerous grants from private organizations and governments alike; forward thinkers who agreed with her that "traditional" magic had grown rigid and stale. To survive in this world of science rather than sorcery, it needed to evolve as well.

Of course, that would've been a lot easier with the Claíomh Solais. With the Grand Triskelion unlocked, altering the fundamental rules of magic would be child's play.

But Chariot seemed content to continue using the most powerful artifact on Earth as a tool for party tricks, and Croix no longer had any say in the matter. Her former friend had made that perfectly clear.

(Friend…pheh. Who was she kidding?)

Croix cast that stray, errant thought aside. She was supposed to be done with these distractions.

Regardless, her magitronics made for an appropriate, if not fully adequate, substitute. Day after day, she was achieving breakthroughs with the technology that other witches hadn't managed in centuries. Drastically more efficient energy generation and transference; automatic spell translation; unencumbered flight, without having to worry about the often-finnicky nature of brooms.

Inarguably and unequivocally, she was a genius. Ahead of her time in every possible magical discipline.

And yet none of it was bringing her any closer to her ultimate goal.

The Claíomh Solais was merely the key to the Grand Triskelion. The latter had existed since the very dawn of magic, and would continue to exist even if Chariot's precious "Shiny Rod" was vaporized to its component atoms.

So there had to be a way to brute-force her way through the door. Bypass the lock entirely and seize the power that was rightfully hers.

Ultimately, Croix was certain her first instinct had been the correct one. The other Words weren't really necessary – mere steppingstones to the Seventh. And though the full translation still eluded her, the core of the Seventh Word was most definitely dreams.

The relationship between dreams and magic was like that of gravity and the other fundamental forces in physics: well-established, but little-understood. The equivalent of a Unified Field Theory for spellcasting was just as much a Holy Grail for witches as for mundane scientists – probably more so than the actual Holy Grail.

Some magical theorists postulated that dreams were not purely mental projections, but instead took place in a separate, physical plane. One where Yggdrasil, and by extension magic itself, was ultimately rooted.

Going by that school of thought, the Sorcerer's Stones functioned by tapping into that "dream realm" – and their limited capacity was a result of the connection being tenuous at best. A far more efficient route had to be possible.

That was when she realized the answer was staring her right in the face. If people were capable of dreaming every single night, then the human mind itself was the conduit.

It would explain so many things that otherwise defied explanation. She decried Chariot's "believing heart" catchphrase (which she, for some reason, insisted Croix had come up with, though she had no memory of saying something so inane) as saccharine drivel, and it was.

Yet there was an undeniable causal relationship between intense emotion and magical output. Many of history's most powerful witches, from Nimue to Queen Himiko to Joan of Arc, had been driven to achieve some great desire, their hopes and wishes translating directly into the strength of their magic.

For a witch, one's dreams quite literally carried power.

But harnessing that power was a far trickier prospect. If she had access to the Yume no Seirei, that would've made things simpler – by its very nature, the spirit transformed dreams into energy, albeit for the purpose of feeding itself. Studying it, under laboratory conditions, might well shave literal years off her research.

Chalk it up to one more thing Chariot had stolen from her. The timing window for geomancy spells was incredibly narrow, and so even if she did return to Japan, the trail to Shira Hasuno's family would've long gone cold.

Yet even if the dream-eater was lost to her, that didn't mean it was impossible to artificially replicate its power. She just needed time.

That was why she'd returned here, to the quiet Italian coast she'd called home a literal lifetime ago. Back then, when she'd gotten the acceptance letter to Luna Nova, Croix hadn't been able to abandon it fast enough.

There was nothing in this place for her. A small, one-room cottage on the peninsula's coast, hours away from the nearest town, where everything from hot water to wi-fi was a chore to obtain, depending on the time of year.

But that's what made it the perfect location to conduct her research. No one else to bother her prodigious mind as she set it to work. No family, no friends, no…that other thing…

Croix shook her head again, more violently this time. What had she just said about "no distractions"?

The point was, on most days she had scarce few ways to pass the time apart from reading. And one of the most interesting books she'd come across recently was the memoirs of Yukano Koki.

A kunoichi who was active during the Kaiei Era, Yukano had married her martial skills and spywork with a distinct talent for witchcraft. When Commodore Matthew Perry first made landfall in Japan, intending to force open its trade ports at the barrel of a gun, Yukano had been tasked by her lord with neutralizing him.

Japanese sorcery of the time, compared with the Western flavors taught at Luna Nova, had a far greater emphasis on communion with and manipulation of spirits. And Yukano, confident in her skills, had gone straight for the most powerful yōkai she could find.

The very same Yume no Seirei who would one day be sealed by Shira Hasuno.

She struck a bargain with the spirit: take care of the American military, and it could feast upon every dream she would ever have, for the remainder of her life.

In terms of the wider history of the opening of Japan, Yukano's actions wound up a mere footnote. The storms the Yume no Seirei kicked up in Shimoda, while devastating, ultimately wound up delaying the construction of the American consulate by only a few years. The forces at play were far too potent for even a mighty witch to hold at bay.

But that didn't stop the Yume no Seirei from collecting its payment nonetheless. And a curious thing happened when it did.

Perhaps Yukano had assumed the ability to dream was something she wouldn't miss. It wasn't vital to the process of life, like eating or breathing. Dreamless sleep was even something a lot of people actively desired. At worst, she might've felt it a worthy sacrifice, in service to lord and country.

Except that wasn't all she lost.

With all her dreams wiped away, Yukano found that her ability to perform magic was simply…gone. As if she'd never had it in the first place. No matter how hard she tried, not even the tiniest spark escaped her wand.

The experience, by all accounts, had broken the woman. For a witch to lose her magic was like having every limb amputated at once. Simultaneously blinded and deafened. The way she'd interacted with the world since childhood, the way she perceived it, was changed, suddenly and irrevocably.

Her memoirs were scant on any further details. Yukano had refused to speak of it to her dying day, retiring to the quiet and anonymous life of a noblewoman. Even this much was solely the result of historians painstakingly reconstructing her few surviving writings.

But it was enough to teach Croix two things.

One: That the power of dreams was inexorably tied to power over magic.

And two: That it was transferrable.

The dreams the Yume no Seirei ate went to waste, collecting in its cursed belly. But what if there was a way to harness that "dream fuel," and use it to empower another witch?

She knew she was on the right track. But for months, her progress had more or less completely stalled. Tantalizingly close to a breakthrough, but with the next step just out of reach.

Because even she wasn't heartless enough to snatch a witch kid off the streets and experiment on them. Even though that'd likely be the most expedient path. Yukano's example made it clear that stealing the dreams of someone who was already a witch was unconscionably cruel.

Except…

Croix's eyes suddenly shot wide with realization.

Except witches weren't the only ones able to dream, were they?

Hastily, she grasped for another piece of scratch paper, setting her pen to it and scribbling like a madwoman.

"If they won't miss it…" she whispered to herself, barely able to keep the gleeful grin from spreading across her face. "Then what does it matter, really?"

[-]

Akko put her all into pushing against the Yume no Seirei's influence, fighting every instinct that told her it was futile.

The mist was thick enough now to cut with a knife. It choked her mouth, her nose, her lungs; blinded her eyes and deafened her ears, until it was the only thing she could sense in any direction.

Apart from Takeuchi's cold, cruel voice, which despite everything, she could hear just as clearly as if he was holding a microphone.

"Don't fight it, little witches," he said. "This is a good thing! You're being cured of your disease. Without the stain of magic upon it, this world can finally begin to heal."

There was no hint of his usual, simpering smugness. These words were spoken with utter sincerity. If she could see his face now, she imagined it'd be covered with tears of joy.

Really and truly, Takeuchi believed in what he was doing. Which was the scariest part of all.

"Imagine how many others are in my shoes, somewhere out in the world," he went on, his voice shaking with emotion. "Shackled by a curse they have no hope of lifting on their own. A curse that's about to disappear. No magic means no curses, after all."

"You got hit…with a nasty spell…" she could hear Sucy's voice cough out. Perhaps because of her carefully cultivated resistance to her own poisons, or simply sheer spite, the Filipina witch was managing to speak when Akko could barely string two thoughts together. "And…your solution…is to wipe out…all magic…?"

Sucy took several, gasping breaths, before spitting out, "That's like…getting bit by a poodle…and deciding to…kill every dog in the world…"

"I'm not debating this with you, girl," said Takeuchi. "You do understand, I trust, that I've already won? This lovely spirit has enough stored-up mana to scrub away the dreams of every man, woman, and child in Japan. And then, one nation at a time, I shall cleanse the rest of the Earth. Until the age of magic is nothing more than a nightmare memory."

Akko felt tears start to leak out of her own eyes, hot and stinging.

If Takeuchi was telling the truth, then it was all over. No more little girls would get to be like her, watching in wonder as their idol made rainbows in the sky and transformed into mermaids and centaurs. Everything she'd spent her childhood aiming toward – getting into Luna Nova, seeking the Seven Words, restoring magic with her friends at her side – was about to be for nothing.

And Diana…

Akko bit her lip. The two of them had just found each other, after all these years spent apart. Was that about to be ripped away too?

"I know you all must be exhausted after the past few days. So go ahead and sleep. A peaceful, dreamless slumber," Takeuchi told them, actually having the gall to add a caring caress to his voice. "And when you wake up, it will be to a better world. In the end…you may even thank me for it."

Against her will, Akko realized that he was partially right – she could barely keep her eyes open beneath the suffocating weight of the fog. Sleep suddenly seemed like the most wonderful thing in the world.

Unable to keep standing any longer, Akko fell to her knees. Beside her, though she could not see any of them, she sensed the rest of her friends do the same.

All except one.

"Gaaaah!" Takeuchi bellowed, sounding like he was struggling violently with something. "Let go of that, you wretched little…!"

And then, all of a sudden, the fog cleared. As if a great gust of wind had blown it all away.

Revealing a furious Takeuchi, grasping for the Somnarca that'd been wrested from his grip.

By none other than Robbie, Lotte's coffee spirit.

"Told you he can't be put to sleep," the Finnish witch said with a smile, as Sucy slowly helped her to stand. An empty carafe, which she must've used the last of her strength to open, lay at her feet.

With the Somnarca no longer acting as a conduit, the spell the Yume no Seirei had been casting was disrupted, and the larger spirit looked quite thoroughly confused. Robbie, meanwhile, sped off in the opposite direction, following their earlier plan to get the Somnarca as far away from Takeuchi as possible.

"Get that bothersome pest!" he ordered, spittle flying from his mouth as he jabbed a finger toward the retreating spirit. "Let nothing stand in your way!"

The Yume no Seirei wasted no time in obeying her new master, shooting after the other spirit like a rocket. Robbie's eyes went almost comically large with fright as she unhinged her jaw like a snake's – leaving no doubt what she intended to do if she caught him.

But when the pair of spirits were mere centimeters apart, the Yume no Seirei suddenly froze in place. She gazed down to the tendril of smoke that linked her to Takeuchi, which had gone taut as razor wire.

The cause quickly became clear: Takeuchi being buried down to the waist in a gaping hole in the floor.

"What the hell is this…?" he snarled, gasping and grunting as he struggled to pull out his trapped legs.

"Oopsie. Clumsy me," said Sucy, standing on the other side of the hole and grinning evilly. She had an empty potion vial between her fingers, tipped to its side. "You should count yourself lucky the manticore venom didn't burn off your feet."

The Yume no Seirei continued to rage and hiss at them in utter silence, bearing her pointed teeth. But it seemed she couldn't travel more than a small distance away from her summoner. The witches all stepped back, staying out of her range.

Given his vulnerable position, the spirit had no choice but to pull back, curling protectively around Takeuchi. Unfortunately, he was already close to freeing one leg, and working on the next.

"After the Somnarca!" Diana exclaimed, gesturing in the direction Robbie had retreated. "If we can destroy it, we'll still prevail this night!"

"That spirit still has our wands, though," Jasminka muttered, her lip shaking.

But at this, Akko stepped forward, hands gripped tightly around the Shiny Rod, and said, "Not mine."

The rest of the witches didn't need to be told twice. They bolted toward the rear entrance of Kagari's, following after the tiny sprite, who'd fled entirely in the chaos.

"Run all you like! It won't matter!" Takeuchi roared after them, sounding more and more unhinged with every word he shouted. "Nothing will stop me from freeing this world from the chains of magic! Nothing!"

[-]

They barely made it out of the restaurant before the roof exploded.

To be clear, this was in no way a figure of speech. The top of the building quite literally blasted off from its foundations, sending debris in every direction, as a plume of dark energy shot into the night sky.

"I don't think the Yume no Seirei is very happy right now…" said a shivering Lotte.

Akko's own reaction was surprisingly muted. She thought the sight of her family business erupting like a volcano would've bothered her more, but perhaps because she'd already seen Takeuchi desecrate the place for his sick ritual, the pain she felt was rather dulled.

Or, it could simply be a function of just how exhausted she was right now. That was also a possibility.

"Oi! Something tells me things didn't quite go according to plan," Amanda called out, descending on their broom alongside Hannah and Barbara. "I mean…y'know. Just picking up a few signs."

"Did anyone see in what direction Robbie fled with the Somnarca?" asked Diana hopefully.

"So that was him. He moved so fast, we weren't sure," Hannah replied, pointing her arm down a side street. "He shot off in that direction. Sorry, I lost track after that."

"But why would he run from us?" spoke Jasminka with a frown.

"I think he's just panicking," explained Lotte. "Spirits can't 'die,' exactly. But if they get eaten by a bigger spirit, they cease to exist as an independent being. Robbie probably got scared and forgot all about the plan. If we find him again, I'm sure I can calm him down."

Seeing that the surrounding streets were quite clearly barren, Constanze posed the other obvious question via Stan-bot:

[Where did all the ghosts go?]

"The professor duo managed to wrangle them all on the other side of the restaurant. Croix jerry-rigged some weird gadget that draws them in like a magnet," said Barbara. "So this is probably our best chance. Find the little Sprixit, grab that stupid box, and blow it to kingdom come."

"Sprixit?" repeated an uncomprehending Diana.

Both Lotte and Barbara turned toward her, and stated in perfect, deadpan unison, "Night Fall reference. You wouldn't get it."

"…Well either way, we'd better hurry," Amanda told the others, eyeing the still-rising energy pillar warily. "The big bad can't be far behind if that's any clue."

"Pssh. I wouldn't worry too much," Akko scoffed loudly. "That Yume-whatever is powerful, sure, but it can't go more than like two meters from Takeuchi. What's the worst it could…"

That was the moment a great, ethereal claw emerged from the restaurant's now-open roof. The rest of the Yume no Seirei followed shortly after, now at least ten times the size she'd previously been.

"You had to say it," growled Sucy through pointed teeth. "You just had to."

The spirit, however, was not looking at them. Instead her attention was firmly fixed in the opposite direction.

That enormous claw shot out like a hawk diving upon prey, pulling back to reveal she held about half a dozen of the smaller phantoms in her grip.

Then in a single motion, she detached her jaw once more, dropped the ghosts into her cavernous maw, and swallowed them all in one bite.

Now that it was clear what the Yume no Seirei was trying to do, Ursula and Croix rose in the distance to stop her, the former unsteady on her broom but managing to hold on. But the spirit shrugged off their spells and magitronic attacks like they were gnats, utterly undeterred as she seized and devoured one ghost after another.

And just as absorbing those two witches in the fifties had changed her (his? their?) outward gender expression, so too was the effect of consuming dozens of smaller spirits quickly becoming apparent. With each one she wolfed down, the Yume no Seirei gained more arms, heads, breasts…

Until she was the size of a skyscraper, her multitudinous limbs and other body parts thrashing about in such vivid horror that it left each of the witches utterly speechless.

"Years of reading Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man did not prepare me for this," said Akko with a gulp, to which Hannah of all people vigorously nodded.

Takeuchi strode out of the restaurant a few seconds later, his gait steady and purposeful. Though the same tendril of smoke still linked master and servant, limiting her range to a certain distance around him, she'd now grown so large that said range was likely close to a full city block.

"I tried to make this easy for you girls. You would've been lucky enough to be the very first witches cured of your sickness," he hissed. "Instead, you test me. Over, and over, and over again. Well then…fine. We can do this the hard way."

He gazed upward at the abomination his summoned spirit had become.

"Kill them all. Every last one," he ordered. "Their pet fairy won't be able to leave the Ring of Ouroboros. Once they lie dead on the ground, we can pry the Somnarca from their cold hands."

[-]

Akko didn't have time to think through her actions – not that that was ever her strongest suit.

Instead, as the Yume no Seirei's clawlike hand descended upon them, she planted the Shiny Rod in the ground and shouted, "Phasansheer Shearylla!"

The same miniature version of Yggdrasil that'd saved their lives in Takeuchi's office burst forth in an instant. Its branches of golden energy spread out with incredible speed, tangling up the spirit's numerous limbs and trapping it in place.

One of the branches even stretched out far enough to provide Ursula and Croix with cover as they flew toward their former students.

"Obviously, we've missed a lot," said the latter, grimacing in exhaustion as she knelt upon her magitronic Roomba. "Can someone give me the skinny?"

"The big boss is basically pulling off your old trick. 'Cept he's gonna Dream Fuel Spirit everyone on Earth, instead of just one crowd," Sucy drawled, glaring pointedly. While Akko had long since forgiven her, the Filipina witch had never been quite so charitable. "Lotte's 'little friend' ran off with the box. We need to find it and end this."

"There's a trail we can follow!" Lotte added, pointing to the ground. Sure enough, there was a narrow line of what looked uncannily like coffee grounds leading into an alleyway; difficult to see in the dark, but now clearly visible beneath Yggdrasil's golden glow.

"You guys go. The sooner we destroy the Somnarca, the better," Akko declared, before turning to her old teachers. "You too. Everyone else had their wands snatched, so you need to do the nullification spell thingy."

Both Ursula and Croix had stiffened at the mention of Dream Fuel Spirit, but ultimately they nodded.

The former hugged Akko tightly around the shoulders, while her wife said, "If that's really his plan, he doesn't have a clue what he's messing with. I certainly didn't. Wiping out the dream energy of every person on the planet…who knows what the long-term consequences would be…"

"We won't let it come to that. We'll smash that stupid box to pieces," Amanda spoke confidently. "But Akko, what're you gonna do?"

The Japanese witch tightened her hold on the Shiny Rod, which was growing hot from the sheer amount of mana coursing through it. The Yume no Seirei's constant thrashing was putting considerable stress on the projection of Yggdrasil.

"This is the only weapon that can stand up to that thing," she told the others. "I'm starting to think that's the real reason it came back to me, one last time. So I'll hold her off…as long as it takes."

"Not without me at your side," Diana cut in, before anyone else could object to this clearly terrible plan. "I'm the only one able to share its power with you, after all. You can use my mana for backup, if nothing else. And besides…"

"Besides?" repeated Akko, raising an eyebrow.

"Besides, even if there was nothing I could do personally, I would still insist on joining you for this battle," she said. "You will never have to fight alone again, Akko. This, I promise you."

Something in Diana's tone told her that promise extended far beyond "traditional" fighting.

Seized by impulse, and not caring that everyone was staring, Akko surged forward and captured the other woman's lips with hers.

When she pulled away a few seconds later, she saw her own goofy smile mirrored not only by Diana, but each and every one of her friends as well.

Jasminka beamed; Lotte let out a shocked, wide-eyed gasp; Amanda wolf-whistled; while Sucy just grumbled, "Finally."

But that brief glance was all Akko had time for. The facsimile of the World Tree was starting to fade, the Yume no Seirei breaking free of its branches one writhing limb at a time.

"I love all you guys. And I trust you'll do what you need to do," she said. "Please just trust us to do the same."

[Always, Akko.]

Somehow, the robotic voice of the Stan-bot seemed brimming with emotion over those two simple words.

And with that, Akko and Diana turned to face forward, as the most terrifying foe they'd ever encountered loomed over them, roaring silently.

"And here I thought defeating a literal nuclear missile would be the height of our world-saving careers," Diana quipped, her mouth curled to the side.

"A joke, right at the final battle?" Akko shot back, mirroring the grin. "I've been a terrible influence on you, Miss Cavendish."

Then, as the other nine witches fled the scene, they both grasped onto the Shiny Rod in unison, and charged forward.

[-]

Following Robbie's trail was not difficult. His expelling of coffee grounds seemed to increase the more panicked he was, which was very.

The hard part was navigating the actual layout of the streets. Kagemori Shopping District, having been secretly designed to double as a seal for an ancient spirit, was laid out in a very unusual arrangement. Rather than neat little rows, the buildings twisted around each other in spiraling, concentric circles, the "mouth" of each loop curling into the next – like a serpent eating its own tail.

Judging by the ways the coffee trail coiled and twisted and doubled back over itself, Robbie had gotten hopelessly lost in his desperate flight. Soon, there was enough coffee spilt all over the streets that they had no choice but to split up.

Lotte, Sucy, Amanda, Hannah, and Barbara went in one direction, with Constanze, Jasminka, and the two professors taking the other.

"Not that I don't trust those kids…" said Croix. "But I've never seen a spirit that powerful before. Not even that nuckelavee we took out to unlock the Fourth Word."

"Don't remind me. I still have nightmares sometimes," her wife replied with a shiver. "I get your point, though. No matter how much faith I hold in Akko and Diana, the most they can do is hold the Yume no Seirei at bay. We need to accomplish our mission as soon as possible."

"Bright side, at least those two finally figured out what everyone else knew like…five years ago," Croix added, smirking. "Please tell me we weren't that oblivious at their age, Cherry."

"We were worse," Ursula practically moaned. "But I suppose it worked out in the end, didn't it? I hope the same can be said for them."

Constanze flashed two enthusiastic thumbs-up.

Jasminka, who was bringing up the rear of the group, let out her own little chuckle. It warmed her heart, more than she could describe, to know that her friends had found something so good in such a dark time. Already she was planning what kind of cake she should bake to celebrate.

"Chantilly? No, Akko is lactose intolerant. Perhaps a good red velvet? I think I still have some vegan butter back home…should be able to make a non-dairy frosting from that," she mumbled to herself, losing herself in that train of thought despite the seriousness of the situation.

That'd always been an issue with her – as evidenced by the number of walls she'd walked into while mentally reworking a recipe.

But somewhere in the morass of flour and eggs and whether she had a mixing bowl big enough for a cake that could feed eleven, her subconscious noticed a few things about her surroundings.

One, that none of the other witches, nor the Stan-bots, were looking directly at her.

And two…

That the only two wands left among their group, those of Professors Ursula and Croix, were sticking out of their back pockets.

Jasminka stumbled, suddenly unable to find her footing. As words in the kind but stern voice of her папа rang through her ears.

You need to remember, my dear daughter. The most important instruction of all.

If this chest is ever threatened…you will do anything to protect it. And I do mean anything.

Make me proud, Jasna.

[-]

Looking back on it years later, Akko wouldn't have been able to say she remembered the battle much at all. It passed by in such a blur.

The Yume no Seirei was so large now that it could no longer move swiftly, but it also had so many limbs that it scarcely mattered. They protruded out in every direction, thrashing about like overgrown vines. Each clawlike fingernail as large as her head, and sharp enough to slice it in two.

So…not really a lot of room for mistakes.

As a result, she and Diana were in constant motion. The Shiny Rod was shifting forms every few seconds, drawing off each of them in turn so that neither witch risked fully exhausting her mana.

They dodged each strike with careful maneuvering on the Shiny Balai, counterattacked with the Shiny Arc or Axe, and even got some mileage out of the Shiny Sprinkler (as Akko had so imaginatively dubbed the Fourth Word's form) by drawing up mud from the ground and spraying Takeuchi with it.

The latter formed the crux of their – well, Diana's – plan. The Yume no Seirei was all but invincible herself, but the fact that she couldn't move more than a short distance away from Takeuchi meant she was still dependent on their link to some degree. That was a weakness they could exploit.

Or at least, they would, if not for the fact that the spirit had resorted to turtling in place, using a dozen of her multitudinous arms to protect her master at all times. The only reason they knew he was still there was his constant monologuing.

"Typical of witches. Fighting only for your own selfishness," he said, as they dodged one attack after the next at breakneck speed. "Have you ever given thought to the victims your magic leaves behind? How much better off they'd be, if some silly girl hadn't gallivanted off to school, and learned to warp reality with a stick?"

"Don't give him the satisfaction of answering," Diana advised in a low voice. "He clearly has no idea what he's talking about."

"Do I now?" he shot back, apparently having better ears than they expected. "I've done my research, little witches. Why are you so desperate to cling onto your dreams, and the power they grant you…when those same dreams have caused you both nothing but pain?"

For just a moment, Akko and Diana each froze upon the Shiny Balai. Unfortunately, that moment was enough.

One of the Yume no Seirei's arms cracked through the air like a whip, sending the witches hurtling to the ground. Diana tried to right their trajectory before impact, but only succeeded in slowing their descent enough to make the crash dreadfully painful rather than fatal.

"L…Lyonne…" Akko coughed out, the Shiny Rod transforming once again in order to heal their injuries with golden light. Unfortunately, it couldn't do much about their sheer exhaustion, which was rapidly catching up to them now that the adrenaline rush was over.

The two witches reached for one another by instinct, struggling to their feet in unison.

"It seems I struck a nerve," said Takeuchi, from within his protective cocoon. "I could see it in your eyes, the moment we met. That you were both just like me."

"We're nothing like you," Akko responded through gritted teeth.

"Oh no? Well how about you tell me if this story seems familiar, then?" he asked coolly. "I used to watch the White Lotus Witch every day as a child. Used to dream of being just like her. But soon, I realized that was impossible. I tried…to forge a new path in my life. I couldn't be a part of her world, so I submerged myself in the farthest thing from it. I'd succeed in the mundanities of business, and spite her ghost in the process."

Two of the Yume no Seirei's fingers parted slightly, just enough to expose Takeuchi's wrathful scowl.

"But achieving that brought me nothing. It all felt so…empty. No matter how rich or powerful I got, it didn't matter," he continued. "Because I knew, deep down, that I'd always be that same miserable failure that my mother abandoned. Nothing could change that."

There was no longer any taunting cruelty or self-righteous confidence in his voice. Only sheer, unvarnished hate.

"After she cursed me, I realized just how pointless it was to dream of better things. We all have a Shira Hasuno in our life, ready to tear down everything we've built. To expose to us how little any of it actually matters," he said spitefully. "So wouldn't it be better not to have a dream at all? I'm freeing humanity, not just witches, from that burden. From that pain. And in the process…"

Another shifting of the spirit's protective fingers exposed his eyes at last. They were brimming with tears.

"For the first time ever," he murmured. "I am bringing meaning to my own life."

The Shiny Rod twitched in Akko's hand. Takeuchi had clearly shared more than he'd originally planned, and his guard was down. This was the perfect chance to strike.

But she was no longer certain that was the right path.

Instead, contrary to Diana's instructions, she decided to answer his speech with her own.

"You know what? You're right about a couple things. My dream didn't pan out the way I wanted," she said. "The dreams you have as a kid…they're big, and grand, and epic. The real world doesn't always work that way. Things get…complicated along the road. And not everything turns out the way you thought you wanted. But you know what else?"

Akko took a single step forward. The Yume no Seirei's fingers reflexively closed up, shielding Takeuchi even further.

"I wouldn't give any of it up for the world," she went on, her face set with determination. "Just because that dream wasn't everything I expected…that doesn't take away any of the value it brought to my life. It just means I need to choose a new dream."

At this, she cast a lingering glance at Diana. The British witch flushed for a moment, grasping her meaning.

Then, she put on the very same expression of purposeful resolve, and joined Akko at her side.

"Your entire plan is predicated upon the connection between dreams and magic. And yet, did you ever stop to wonder why one fuels the other?" she asked the unseen businessman. "You may deem them inessential to the human experience. You may believe the world would be better off in their absence. But on both counts, you are simply wrong."

"Oh? And how so?" he demanded in return, sneering.

"Dreams do not place food in your stomach, or air in your lungs. But they are the sustenance of your soul," said Diana. "We wish and hope and pray for things in life, not because they will happen…but because along the way, they can help us find what truly matters. Magic is the same way. Its worth lies, not with the destination – but the journey it takes us upon."

"And yeah, it's true it can be used to hurt people. I…was one of them," Akko admitted in a quiet voice. "I'm sorry you were, too. But that isn't a reason to throw it all away. It isn't a reason to give up."

The spirit's fingers shifted again, and now they could see Takeuchi face in full, wide-eyed in shock.

"What…are you talking about…?" he whispered.

"Perhaps you don't know quite as much about us as you think," Diana answered, squeezing Akko's hand for support and receiving the same in turn. "Or you'd realize this isn't the first time our dreams have been stolen from us. When we were just little girls, a horrible spell used the spirit of our dreams as fuel, and left us virtually unable to use magic."

"We're not just trying to talk you outta this plan 'cuz it's horrible. Though it is," said Akko. "It's also not gonna work. It took years – a lot more years in my case – but we got our magic back. We had to start right back from zero, but we did it. Because no matter what you throw at it, you can't kill a dream."

"Not when the dreamer…" finished Diana softly. "Is willing to dream again."

Takeuchi was quiet for a long time, the hands of the Yume no Seirei revolving around him in a steady rhythm, like they were spinning pottery.

Eventually, however, he hissed out, "That…That's just banal nonsense. Do you even hear yourselves? This isn't some insipid magical girl anime, where 'the power of love' can overcome any obstacle. This is reality, and in that reality, You. Have. Lost!"

Through another gap in the fingers, they caught a glimpse of the businessman pointing accusingly at them.

"Even if you are telling the truth, it changes nothing. It just means this'll need to be more than a one and done," he said. "If I have to unleash my pet here two or ten or a hundred times, then so be it! Not a cure, but a routine vaccine. Inoculating the world from your evil, so that no other child will have to go through what I…I…"

Then abruptly, Takeuchi's voice fell away. His mouth continued to move, but no sound came out, his body going stiff as a board.

And a moment later, he fell to the ground, clutching at his chest and screaming in agony.

[-]

On some deeper, intellectual level, Jasminka could tell what was going on. Takeuchi had been lying when he said he wouldn't give her any more commands – or at least, hadn't told the whole truth. He didn't need to, when he'd already left one last, insidious trap in her mind.

But that part of her mind was small, and drowned out by the far greater part that'd been conditioned to obey without question. Conditioned for months.

As if in a daze, she found her hands reaching forward, snatching both wands before anyone could react.

"Shit!" said Croix, making a desperate grab for her wand that came up short, as Jasminka's feet carried her out of reach without conscious thought. "She's compromised again!"

Constanze turned around as well, looking distraught. Jasminka was sure she knew why. She'd asked her best friend to knock her out if it looked like Takeuchi's programming might be returning.

But that'd been predicated on the assumption that Conz would have a wand, and she would not.

"Jasminka, think about what you're doing. You can fight this," spoke up Ursula, ever the encouraging mentor. "I believe in your strength."

That small part of her wanted to shout and holler with agreement. But it was powerless to push to the surface, in the face of the cresting waves of папа's (Takeuchi's? папа, Takeuchi, папа, Takeuchi, папа, папа, папа…!) inescapable orders.

"I…have to stop you…" she gasped out, wands aimed at both of her former teachers. "Have to…protect…"

Ursula and Croix looked toward one another. Their body language was clear: could they reach and disarm her before she managed to fire off a spell? Was it worth the risk?

But among the gathered witches, one alone didn't hesitate. Conz surged forward, not to make a grab for the wands or tackle Jasminka to the ground…

Instead, she grasped her around the legs, and hugged tight.

Constanze Amalie von Braunschbank Albrechtsberger would never be able to speak as others did. That ability had been denied her from birth.

Yet as Jasminka found herself looking down, the depths of her friend's eyes told her more than a thousand sonnets. Jasminka saw only love, and kindness, and acceptance.

The very same she'd always received from her parents, and her brothers. Something utterly absent from the ghost of her папа's voice that commanded her now.

Slowly, gradually, the maelstrom in her mind started to settle.

"Hey, there you guys are! We found the box!" Amanda's voice called out from some distance away. "Guess where our li'l friend here was hiding out? And if your first guess was 'coffee shop,' then congratulations, you have accomplished the stupendously difficult task of being smarter than Amanda O…"

But their voice trailed off as they drew closer, and the rest of the witches realized they'd walked into the middle of a standoff.

Jasminka exchanged glances with her former dormmate, and then with the rest of her friends in turn – Hannah and Barbara clutching at each other in fright, Lotte holding and stroking Robbie like he was an overpampered kitten, and Sucy grasping the Somnarca between two fingers, as if it was a piece of garbage she wanted to touch as little as possible.

Her heart twinged a bit at the sight of the casket, but only a bit. Takeuchi's orders weren't entirely silenced, but they were heavily muted, like she was hearing them through earplugs.

Her shaking palms opened, and the wands clattered to the ground.

Ursula and Croix wasted no time. They both dove for their wands, linking hands as Sucy placed the Somnarca at her feet and hurriedly backed away.

The married couple nodded once to one another, aimed their wands forward, and shouted in unison, "Inanitas Summa!"

A semi-translucent magical barrier appeared around the chest as soon as they fired, its color turning from clear to furious red as the protection spell attempted to fend off their attack.

But these weren't the witches who'd unlocked six-sevenths of the Grand Triskelion for nothing. They poured all the mana they had left in their bodies into the barrier, until cracks started to form.

Finally, their nullification spell took hold, and the Somnarca flopped to the ground – completely unprotected.

"The artifact should be vulnerable now," said Ursula, panting heavily and collapsing to one knee alongside her wife. "We should hurry, though. If that was a quad-cast barrier, and I'm pretty sure it was, then it'll regenerate in a few minutes."

"Won't need a few minutes to take care of this," Amanda replied, stepping forward and cracking their knuckles. "Been itching for some payback."

But before they could reach the box, Constanze slid in front of them, her arms spread.

The German woman then turned to Jasminka, making her signs slowly and deliberately, so there'd be no room to misinterpret:

[Will you do the honors?]

As Jasminka stared at the Vessel of Dreams, the voice of Takeuchi in the guise of her father let out one last, furious scream of command.

And she ignored it.

With all the strength she had left in her body, she brought her foot down on the casket, shattering it into a thousand pieces.

"Call me plongeuse," Jasminka whispered, to the thunderous applause of her friends. "Because I just took out the trash."

[-]

"What's going on?" asked Akko in a hurried panic. No matter how much she disliked Takeuchi, there was no way she could hear the murderous screams coming out of his lungs and not be affected. "Why is he…?"

For a few moments, Diana looked as confused as the brunette witch. Then, she snapped her fingers, the last few pieces coming together at last.

"They must have done it. Destroyed the Somnarca," she said. "Spirits this powerful need an anchor to remain on the mortal plane. He must've linked the two together, but if the artifact is no longer of this world…"

Akko's eyes slowly followed the other woman's, before coming to rest on the plume of smoke that connected Takeuchi to the spirit. A connection that was now shaking violently, like a piece of string being stretched to its breaking point.

"The only thing keeping her around now…" she realized aloud. "Is him."

Hurriedly, Diana knelt down next to the man in question. "You need to let go," she implored him, all enmity tossed aside. "This is too much for any single person to withstand. Much less someone without magic. Dismiss the Yume no Seirei from your service, before it's too late!"

Takeuchi's next few breaths came out in rageful, seething bursts.

"N…Never…" he choked out, every syllable seeming to push his body to its breaking point. "I'll…have…n…nothing…left…"

"But you'll die if you don't!" Akko exclaimed.

"There…are…w…worse…things…" said Takeuchi, now fallen to the ground in a miserable, sweat-soaked heap.

He didn't, or couldn't, elaborate. But then Akko chanced a glance upward, and saw one very likely explanation.

The Yume no Seirei's original face had been buried beneath the dozens of additional ones she'd taken on by absorbing the lost souls. But now it was creeping out of the morass, eyes wild and bulging, and though she still spoke no words, her expression all but screamed:

I. WILL. NOT. GO. BACK.

Given that the spirit was tasting freedom for the first time in over half a century, she clearly didn't care a whit about Takeuchi's life. If it meant extending that freedom for another few seconds, she fully intended to drain him dry.

Akko and Diana could just step back, and allow that to happen. It wouldn't take long. And the damage the spirit could inflict in the interim was unlikely to amount to much.

But neither of them considered it, even for a moment. Despite everything he'd done…and though he had no believing heart worthy of it…

This was why they strove for a world of magic.

"Sybilladura Lelladybura!" they both cried in unison, taking to the air on the Shiny Balai once more.

"Akko, we need to completely sever the spiritual link!" said Diana, as soon as they were out of swinging range from the abomination's many hands. She pointed at the tether between the barely conscious Takeuchi, and the servant whose very existence was now killing him.

"Think the Shiny Arc would do it?" asked Akko, squinting at the increasingly violent motions of the smoke-trail.

"If we aim it at the precise correct spot? I believe so," Diana told her. "But we'll face the same conundrum we did when freeing our brainwashed friends. As soon as we dispel the Shiny Balai, we'll go into freefall. And no one is around to catch us this time."

Despite the severity of the situation, Akko found herself grinning in reply.

"Then I guess we're just gonna have to grow wings," she quipped, patting the shaft of the Shiny Balai like a favorite pet. "Remember, my regular wand's in here too. Should be enough juice for one more spell."

Diana cocked an eyebrow. "Metamorphosis Magic?" she responded, her expression faltering a little. "It…has been a while since I've practiced at it, Akko. And it was always more your signature than mine. I know a few bird forms, but to call on them in a situation like this…"

But the Japanese witch's grin only widened further.

"Hey, don't sweat it. That's what this baby's for," said Akko, pulling out one last surprise from her pocket.

It didn't take long for Diana to recognize the device the other woman was now slipping onto her wrist.

"Conz' Harmony Gauntlet. Must've fallen out of his jacket when he fell over, so I swiped it," Akko explained, though she was certain Diana had already connected those dots. "Croix said it can be used for two or more witches to share their power. So we can support each other where we're weakest. Me for your Metamorphosis Magic, and you for my…uh, everything else."

"You sell yourself short as always, love," declared Diana, surprising both of them with how easily the term of endearment slid off her tongue. "But very well. We started this together, after all. It's only fitting that that is how we finish it."

This whole time, they'd been rising higher and higher, farther out of the Yume no Seirei's reach. But Diana halted their momentum just as they reached what would've been eye-level with the spirit – if she still only had one set of eyes.

"Right there. Where the link reaches its apex," she muttered, pointing again. This time she indicated the very top of the tether, right before it disappeared into the rest of the creature's bodymass. "If we cut it there, the rest of Takeuchi's drained lifeforce should return to him. He'll likely get a nasty shock as he reabsorbs it, but at least he'll live."

"Gotcha. Getting ready," said Akko, fiddling cluelessly with the knobs and dials on the Harmony Gauntlet.

Constanze hadn't had the chance to provide an instruction manual, so she'd just have to chance things and hope for the best. The warm blue glow of the magitronic circuitry seemed a good sign, at least.

Diana took a deep breath, and then placed her own hand on top of it. A warm, thrumming sound echoed through the air, and a heady sensation filled Akko's entire body.

"I think it's working. But only one way to find out," she spoke, breathing heavily. "Metamorphie Faciesse!"

In an instant, the two witches vanished from view. Replaced by a pair of barn owls, one with brown feathers and the other with white, carrying the Shiny Rod between them with their talons.

Normally, Akko had a lot of trouble managing human speech while in animal form. But that was the most effortless her transformations had felt in years. Sharing mana with Diana made a spell she'd been casting since her first term at Luna Nova feel fresh and new again.

She looked into owl-Diana's glassy eyes, and knew at once she felt the same way.

But there would be time to address that later. For now, the two birds turned their sights on the maniacal spirit – the one who was passively killing the man who'd freed her, simply to remain unchained a few moments more.

Like Takeuchi himself, her circumstances were pitiable, at least to a degree. But that didn't justify either of them paying their pain forward to others.

"Noctu Orfei…" Akko's beak made the sounds, joined in perfect harmony by Diana's. "Aude Fraetor!"

Seeing them preparing to fire, the Yume no Seirei flailed and snarled wilder than ever, but there was nothing she could do to stop them now. Nothing that could block the arrow of light the owl-witches had summoned forth.

In her very last moments, they saw her close each and every one of her countless eyes. Accepting what was to come.

"SHINY…AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARC!"