With the energy locators in their hands to guide them towards the Witch's location, the boys had ran around the block in order to chase it down. The Witch was fast, quickly leading them out of the block and somewhere else in mere minutes. The boys were now pursuing it on the path to school, panting during their long run, when the blip on the locator suddenly stopped moving on the map. Speeding up to catch up to it, they came out of the tree-filled path and were met with the tall gates of their school. With the Witch inside, the tall gates had a menacing aura to it.
The Witch having stopped inside the building, there was thankfully no one to be seen in sight as it was a Sunday. But the boys had to take it down before it could hurt anyone. Taking a running start, the boys leap over the tall locked gates of their school. Sanbey clung to Mamoru's shoulder as they did a three-point landing, kicking up a bit of dust, too.
"Stay close," Mamoru advised, "It's near."
Taking gingerly steps towards the school-double doors, the school grounds felt almost ominous since no one was around. The giant middle-school was a barren and empty; they could see no one inside through the many windows that made up most of the school's sides. At the entrance, Mamoru grabbed the door handle and pulled it, but it was locked, as expected.
"Here, let me get that," Hideki stepped forward to try and break the door open, but Mamoru waved a declining gesture.
"No need. I have this covered," a smug grin on his face, Mamoru then sparked his hand with his Control magic and grabbed door handle again. Holding it for a while, Mamoru's Control energy surged through the door like electricity and a second later, they heard the door unlock. Mamoru got a impressed whistle from Takuya as they then opened the doors wide. Passing by the shoe lockers, the entered the lobby and were greeted with a cold breeze as they had shut the doors behind them just in case.
The lights were shut, so the entire lobby was encased in overwhelming darkness. Their footsteps echoed through the halls as they walked, lights from their Soul Gems underneath their clothing being used as improvised flashlights. The group came to a stop, as just a few meters ahead of them, they could see the glowing, shifting entrance of the Witch Barrier floating in the air. It emitted an oppressive aura that was almost palpable and as the boys stepped closer, Sanbey hopped to the floor, tails swaying back and forth.
"Wait, hold on," Sanbey said, the stripes around his body flashing for a second, "This Witch... It's the same... It's the same one from nights before. The one that tried to kill you boys."
Hideki slammed his fist into an open palm, eager to give some payback for what it nearly did to them if Homura had not intervened, "Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's kick this thing's ass and make it regret trying to harm us."
Takuya and Mamoru shared a worried look as Tateyama knelt down to place his laptop bag on the floor, "What do we do, Mamoru?" Takuya asked the Puerum Magi leader, and Mamoru was quick to give out his orders calmly and precisely. Takuya noted that Mamoru had been getting better at commanding them over the time of their training, but still seemed almost worried whenever he did.
"Hideki, Takuya, you two head into the Witch Barrier and confront the Witch itself. Tateyama and I will stay to monitor the situation and the perimeter. We'll call you back if we need to and will assist you instead if the first option is nonviable. Sanbey will stay here with us for telepathy, since I doubt the comm would work inside there," Mamoru cut through the air with his arm, ending his stream of orders, "Understood?"
Takuya and Hideki gave clear nods, both of them materializing their Soul Keys into their hands in a flash.
Tateyama flipped open his laptop and zipped open a small bag containing two cameras similar to the ones he had placed on the surveillance bugs. He gave them to Mamoru, who then went over to Takuya and Hideki once they were done donning their armor and gear, "Here. With these, we can see what you see, allowing us to get a good look of the situation," Mamoru clipped one onto the side of Takuya's aviator goggles and attached the other one to the side Hideki's glass visor through an adhesive, "How is it, Tateyama?"
Tateyama hit a button on his keyboard and opened up a camera program. Through it, he got a good look of what the two were seeing, "Ready."
Once they were done, Hideki and Takuya approached the floating entrance of the Witch Barrier. A black, 2-dimensional, circular plane floating in the air, it spun around in a clock-wise position with unreadable marking engraved in its edges. Heading in first, Hideki jumped into the entrance, followed by Takuya, both of them disappearing into the Witch Barrier. The entrance still floating in the air, Mamoru looked over Tateyama's shoulder and saw the footage coming through the cameras on their headgear. Praying to God that they would succeed, he wished them luck.
The inside of the Witch Barrier was dark, damp tunnel as they remembered from before. A train-track ran on the ground and further down the cave as they could see black ooze being secreted from the cave walls and ceilings. Their shadows below their feet was noticeably absent and all of this made Hideki's hand tremble slightly as they trekked down the tunnel in search of the Witch. Hideki could still remember the feeling of rusty, metal chains digging into his skin, Mamoru screaming in pain when he was cut across the chest by one of those Familiars and the fear that ran through him.
That fear was now replaced with the tranquil fury as he was ready to spring his wrist-blades and cut down the Witch, the verniers on his back and legs prepared to flare open and throw him at his enemies as Hideki's breath made his glass visor fog up a bit. Takuya was behind him watching their backs, goggles on, bow raised and a Recicio bolt pulled back on the bowstring. The place brought back bad memories, but they were mentally and physically ready to take down the Witch.
"Any visual?" Mamoru inquired in.
"Nothing yet," Hideki kicked a pebble at his feet away, "But, I got a bad feeling about this. This place is giving me the creeps," looking on the ground below, Hideki saw something move between his legs. He faintly heard something forcefully burrowing out of the ground, followed by the rattling of a metallic chain and Hideki shouting, "Below us!"
They then leap to opposite sides of the train-tracks as chains splurged below from where they were and were almost close to snaring the boys in their snake-like grip. The Witch's attack had begun, signaled by shadowy hands bursting from the ground like zombies in a movie. Humanoid-shaped Familiars began burrowing onto the surface while thick, black ooze dripped from their forms that had no consistent shape nor form; almost like living shadows. They wielded their bloodied, chipped pickaxes and their faceless features emitted a blood-curling screech.
The train-track between the boys rose up like a wall, creating a chain-link fence that separated the boys as the Witch's Familiars gathered around the boys. Steeling their hearts, the two Puerum Magi lunged at their targets with their new powers.
"Payback time!" Hideki summoned his short buster blade over his head and slammed it onto the gathering enemies below him. The ensuing shock-wave pushed away nearby enemies and created a crater as debris and familiars flew into the air. Abandoning the clunky blade, Hideki sprung his wrist-blades and flew into the air to dice Familiars left and right, black ooze spilling onto his armor and visor like blood.
The living shadows dissipated into a black mist upon death as Takuya rained down his shining arrows on them. His magnetic boots clinging him to the cave ceiling, the bronze archer's arrows cut apart the helpless enemies like flies. Seeing some of the Familiars spawning from the ceiling around him, Takuya kicked himself off the ceiling and crushed a shadow Familiar below his boots and into the dirt. One lashed at Takuya from behind, but he swooped underneath its arm and stabbed his grappling hook into the back of its head. Wrapping the wire around its neck, Takuya decapitated the Familiar with a pull of his sharp wire.
Hideki was like a blue bolt of lightning zipping between the crowd, cutting one by the leg, grabbing the injured Familiar and then using it to clobber another Familiar like a living club. Panting, Hideki back-flipped over another Familar and kicked open his backpack verniers to drive him back towards it, "Goddamn things are everywhere!" he dive-kicked the Familiar into the dirt and the impact kicked up a large cloud of dust. Hideki's fist punched through the head of another enemy and he announced, "Takuya, I'm activating my powers! Can't waste anymore time with these small fry!"
Hearing Takuya confirm his order, Hideki clasped his hands together and his dark blue Soul Gem started to shimmer with power. The black body glove under his armor glowed with Recicio as they traveled up his body and gathered into his arms as a set of transparent, burning gauntlets, the A. I module announcing, "Strength Amplification powers activated. Diverting all energy into arms. Time limit is 5 minutes."
Dashing towards his giant blade and picking it up from the crater with ease, Hideki let out a battle-cry as he then swung the heavy blade through the air and used it to cut through the crowd around him. Wielding the weapon that was now light as a small dagger, Hideki cleaved apart the living shadows with brutal efficiency and speed, some of the Familiars even starting to retreat back into the ground. Looking behind to see Takuya surrounded by Familiars, Hideki dashed towards the wall between them and curled up one of his hands into a burning fist.
Pulling back his arm, Hideki drove his his fiery fist into the wall, the chain-link fence bursting outwards to create a wide hole and the sound of the impact sounding almost like a gun going off as it echoed through the tunnel. Hideki flew through the entrance he had created and tackled the crowed around Takuya with his wrist-blades. Black ooze stained his armor and drenched him in black blood as he cut apart the arms and legs of his enemies, making sure that he wasn't in Takuya's firing range at the same time. Within moments, the crowd began to thin.
Grabbing the last one by the back of the head, Hideki simultaneously drove his elbow and knee into its skull, crushing it between them like a nutcracker before the living shadow dissipated into nothing. Kneeling on one knee, Hideki panted, black ooze dripping down his visor before he wiped them off with both hands. Takuya went to his side and helped him up to his feet, "Thanks," he coughed, the fiery Recicio on his arms fading away.
"I should be saying that," Takuya mused with a wide smile, looking down the tunnel which started to light up. The entrance to the Witch's domain, they guessed, "Let's finish this, together," getting an eager nod from Hideki, the two then ran down the tunnel and towards the light, "Mamoru, we're heading towards the Witch! We're doing good!"
"Careful. We do not know the Witch's capabilities, unlike her servants; exercise caution."
"You got it!"
Reaching the end of the tunnel, there was a blinding light and the sounds of chains rattling.
The light dimmed down and the two boys had now entered the Witch's main domain: the two looked as the place had a pure white sky marked with spinning black stars that flew overhead, leaving a glittering black trail of stardust. They stood on a black platform hovering in the air and Hideki leaned forward to see the bottomless chasm below them. It was like a black hole under their feet, seemingly endless and spanning the entire area. Hideki snapped back up when more of the platforms formed in the air, carrying the shadowy Familiars and getting closer to the boys.
"Great, more of these things!" Hideki's verniers flared, "Let's deal with these things and get rid of the Witch fast!" flying off the platform, Hideki zoomed towards the nearest one approaching them and dove onto the platform like a missile. He kicked two of the Familiars off and ducked under a swung pick-axe to plunge his wrist-blade into a third one's stomach. The two other Familiars fell to the chasm below, howling in fear as they disappeared into the black abyss.
Sniping his targets from afar, Takuya picked off the Familiars on the platforms that were nearing Hideki one-by-one. Seeing a large shadow forming under him, Takuya looked up and saw another platform descending down on him to crush him, "Uh-oh," Takuya jumped off before he was sandwiched between the two platforms and fired his grappling hook at the bottom of the platform he was on. Pulling himself towards it, his boots magnetized him to the bottom as he stood upside down and resumed firing.
"Just die, already!" Hideki snapped one by the neck and the shadow fell to the floor. But it did not fade away as Hideki turned his back on it to parry a pick-axe with his wrist-blades. The shadow behind him gargled, its chest bubbling and rippling open as the Familiar twitched violently. A pair of hands tore from its chest and ripped the Familiar's chest open like a door. One hand wielding a curved dagger, Hideki turned around only for something to dash past him like a blur. He blinked, before a wound suddenly opened on his abdomen, spraying blood as the Puerum Magi screamed in pain, "The Hell-?!"
Takuya saw the blur coming towards him and fired his grappling hook at another platform. Zipping him away, Takuya saw the black blur dash past him in slow motion, a curved blade swinging close to his neck before Takuya had got away, "What was that?!"
Hideki clutched his bleeding abdomen, gritting his teeth as blood seeped through his fingers, "It's the Witch! It's right there!" feeling his knees go weak, Hideki saw the black blur come to a stop and hover in the air. The Witch let out a child-like, ringing cackle as Hideki narrowed his vision on it: the Witch was a legless, demonic creature, its torso covered in a torn, ripped shroud with a bleeding, scarred face that had black leather straps covering its eyes. Chains dangling from its arms, its rotting teeth were as sharp as the knife it carried.
"M-Mamoru! Tateyama!" Hideki tried to stand up, but faltered and fell to his knees. He felt his insides burn and his head flooding with pain. There was something on that curved blade when it had slashed him. Grabbing the sides of his head, Hideki started to feel nauseous. His vision started to blur and he felt like he was going to throw up. Against his will, Hideki's armor and gear vanished into blue particles and he collapsed on the platform, the camera Mamoru had given him falling to the chasm below.
Outside, Mamoru and Tateyama could hear Hideki's cries for help. Tateyama slammed his fist on his keyboard in anger when he saw the footage from Hideki's camera cutting off and turned to Mamoru, who was also beginning to panic, "Hideki, what's wrong?! We can't see anything through your camera!"
His words were drawn out, distanced between each other, Hideki sounding as if he was in pain, "Goddamn Witch hit me with some k-kind of poison! I-It's sealing my magic...! I... can't..."
Tateyama and Mamoru called forth their Soul Keys and plunged them into the Gems on their chest. Summoning their weapons and gadgets, Mamoru ordered Sanbey to stay put before the two leap into the entrance of the Witch Barrier and disappeared. The striped Familiar hesitated as he stared at the footage shown on Tateyama's computer. Seeing the chaos through Takuya's camera, Sanbey then followed the boys in, as he could not just stay put and let any of his charges die on him.
Running through the dark tunnel, Mamoru looked behind and saw Sanbey catching up to them, "Sanbey! I told you to stay behind! It's too dangerous!" he warned him as he slowed his pace and let Sanbey jump onto his shoulder, "What are you trying to do?!"
"I can't let you all go alone! I don't want to lose any of you, not if I could help it!"
Mamoru grimaced, knowing that Sanbey did this because he had already gone through the emotional pain of losing Homura just like them. Looking at Tateyama beside him, the lance-wielding Puerum Magi gave him an acknowledging nod, "Fine! But, stay close!"
They reached the light at the end of the tunnel and were blinded by the ensuing light. Teleporting into the main domain of the Witch's Barrier, the light dimmed and they landed on a black platform beneath their feet as they were now in a completely different area. Far away from them, they could see Takuya fighting off the living shadows on a platform while protecting the unconscious Hideki at his feet. The floating platforms converged on them, swarms upon swarms of Familiars intending on rushing them while there was no signs of the Witch itself.
Mamoru fumed when he realized that the platform they were on was inert, "Is there anyway to move this bloody thing?!" seeing the pair in the distance beginning to get overwhelmed, they looked around for any other solution. Sanbey pointed him to a platform floating overhead them as it was on its way to Takuya and Hideki's direction, "Over there!" Mamoru leap up to the platform above them and threw his shield at its occupants. It ricochet between them as a distraction before Mamoru cleaved them apart with his axe, "Tateyama, over here!" he let his bionic arm around his waist hold onto his axe and extended a hand to catch Tateyama.
Tateyama was going to follow suit when he heard something behind him and turned around to block an attack with his giant shield. The Familiar's weapon flew away into the chasm below when Tateyama smacked it awat with his shield, the white-haired boy then driving his long lance into the Familiar's gut. He gasped when the Familiar grasped the lance's shaft to pull itself closer to Tateyama, chains rising from beneath Tateyama to snare him in their metal grip. He struggled to break himself free, the chains digging into his black body glove that lacked any sort of armor.
"Tateyama!"
"Mamoru, behind you!"
Hearing Sanbey's warning, Mamoru turned around and parried a blow from a Familiar behind him. More of the living shadows began to drop onto the platform he was on and the Puerum Magi leader held up his shield to protect himself and Sanbey. He had no time to rescue Tateyama, now that he was cornered as well.
Fighting to break free of the chains, Tateyama could see the impaled Familiar's chest start to bubble and rip open from a pair of hands inside its chest. Before Tateyama could activate his Defense magic, the Witch then burst out of the Familiar's chest with a blood-curling screech and the sounds of a curved blade swinging through the air following suit. Tateyama's eyes shot open as he felt his windpipe cut open and flood with his own blood as the chains released him from their grip. The Witched burrowed back into the dead Familiar before it faded away and Tateyama dropped onto the platform, choking violently on his own blood as his lance and shield vanished.
The sight made Mamoru pause, as Sanbey cut through a Familiar that tried attacking him while he was still frozen with shock.
Tateyama could hear his friend scream out to him, pleading him not to die. He couldn't move. He couldn't even lift a finger if he tried. Below him, the black platform he was on began to crumble right under him under the Witch's influence. Was it over for him? From where he lied, he could see Hideki in the distance with Takuya fighting to protect him. He begged God that Hideki would at least make it out alive if he couldn't. That alone would make him happy. Tateyama closed his eyes and flooding his mind were all the memories he had ever made with his friends. The memory of how Homura had saved them. Knowing that he was going to join Homura first, a tear trailed down his cheek.
"Tomoe..."
The platform crumbled into pieces and Tateyama fell to the abyss below him. His hair fluttered in the wind as he saw nothing but darkness encompassing his vision.
"Tateyama!"
"Mamoru... Hideki... Takuya... Tomoe... Tsukuyo... Goodbye..."
"Ikezawa!"
He felt something wrap around his body. The feeling was warm and soft. Tateyama felt like he was being pulled back up as he slowly opened his eyes to see that hundreds of yellow ribbons had snared onto him, saving his life. His vision blurred. He felt someone pick him up and carry him. The pain that came from the wound on his neck slowly disappeared. Opening his eyes once again before he lost consciousness, Tateyama's eyes widened at the sight of the Puella Magi that carried him in her arms, "Tomoe...?"
It was like a miracle had happened.
The sudden apperance of a Puella Magi had attracted the attention of the Witch and its Familiars, as the floating platforms drew away from Takuya and Hideki and towards their new enemy at the entrance. Carrying Hideki on his shoulders, Takuya looked over to Mamoru and fired his grappling hook to swing over onto his platform. He shot the Familiars surrounding him and landed beside Mamoru, laying Hideki down as Mamoru stared at the Puella Magi. They had not even noticed her when she arrived and none of them knew who she was.
Standing on a strand of ribbons, the Puella Magi had covered an entire radius of 20 meters with her yellow ribbons, linking the platforms together to create bridges while also preventing the floating platforms from even moving. Running on the wire-like ribbons, the Puella Magi then jumped into the air and landed in front of Mamoru and Takuya, laying down Tateyama next to Hideki.
"Keep him safe for me, will you? I'll take care of this. I'll save the introductions for later, okay?" she said with a confident, almost-motherly tone, summoning a pair of ornate muskets into her gloved hands. Smiling to herself, the Puella Magi wore a Western-styled outfit with detached sleeves and a corset, their colors a mixture of white, brown and golden. She had a golden skirt with a brown trim, boots and knee-high stockings. Her Soul Gem was attached to her hat like a hairpin with a feather adorning it, glowing a bright golden color like her hair that had two ringlets pulled into pigtails.
The Witch flew through the air and pointed its bony finger at the Puella Magi, howling at its army as they surrounded the boys and the Puella Magi.
Leaping into the white sky, the Puella Magi fired her flintlock rifles at the platforms of Familiars, scoring more than 4 kills with just two mere shots. Landing on her web of ribbons, the Puella Magi raised her arms in the air and summoned more into her hands, firing shot after shot into the army. Her shots were focused, disciplined and accurate to a point that it rivaled or even bested Takuya. All signs of a hardened veteran. She was like a radiant Goddess as she then jumped into the air, spinning all the while as hundreds upon hundreds of flintlock rifles formed behind her in rows. As if she had an entire army behind her, the Puella Magi landed on a ribbon and aimed her weapons at the now-panicking remains of the Witch's army.
They fired and the sound of rumbling thunder echoed through the Witch Barrier as the bullets tore into their targets, destroying even the platforms they stood on as the Witch zipped through the barrage, howling all the while in anger. Nothing remained of her army but smoke and debris.
"Behind you!" Mamoru shouted.
The Puella Magi, without even looking, flicked her finger as the Witch approached her from behind. Yellow ribbons materialized around the Witch and ensnared the demon in their iron grip. The Witch fought to break itself free by swinging its curved blade until another ribbon snared its arm and tightened until it broke its wrist. The Witch cried in pain, its curved blade falling to the chasm below.
"You've given me a lot of trouble chasing you," the Puella Magi turned around, her tone carrying anger and irritation under a layer of discipline and class, "And not only that, but now you've hurt my friend. This is something I cannot forgive you for," jumping into the air once again, the Puella Magi pulled out a strand of ribbon and the Puerum Magi's jaws unhinged as a gigantic, ornate cannon formed in her hands. The Puella Magi pointed the enormous barrel of her cannon at the ensnared Witch and smirked, shouting out words that rang through the Witch Barrier.
"Tiro Finale!"
The firing mechanism of the giant flintlock cannon kicked in and the sound of it firing was almost akin to a hundred bombs going off. The recoil pushed back the giant gun as the enormous ball of fire that it produced devoured the Witch and burned it away with the ribbons holding it. It screamed in pain as it turned into nothing, the barrier breaking apart like glass before everything around them finally disappeared like a shattered dimension. Back in their school once more, the Puella Magi landed on the school lobby's floor and caught a black item in her palm before pocketing it and turning to the stunned boys.
Takuya had healed up Hideki and Tateyama's wounds as Mamoru stood up, speaking for the group despite the fact that he was still visibly shocked and amazed at the same time, "Thank you... for the assistance. I-I appreciate you saving the lives of my friends and I," he attached his axe to a clip on his belt and extended a hand for a greeting, "I am Tezuka Mamoru, leader of the Protector Servorum that guard this city from the Warlocks. We owe you our lives, Puella Magi."
"'Protector Servorum'?" the Puella Magi said to herself, looking at them with confusion as she swept her gaze on them. Clasping her hands together, the Puella Magi shook hands with Mamoru and smiled at them, "I suppose we can discuss this elsewhere, Tezuka? You can all come to my apartment to rest. You friends will need it. We can talk as well and clear up any questions we have. I know I have much to ask," she gave an amused chuckle.
"Understood. And you are?"
"Tomoe. Tomoe Mami."
A/N: I've been meaning to ask this for a while now, what's everyone's opinions with the story so far? Such as, the direction its been going in and the quality of the later chapters. I'm grateful for everyone that's been sticking to this story ever since I started it during my novice days, but I just can't help but think if I'm doing anything wrong.