Magia, Pacem, Bellum Terrarum
We Don't Have A Lot Of Time
Act XLIII - Lacrimosa
The war-torn city square was filled with a tense silence. Audrey, Ligaya and Michi stood vigilant, holding their weapons up as their eyes swept through the city square. Together, they formed a circle around the dazed Lorelei Sankt. The Americana clutched her golden neckerchief tightly with one hand and the M1918A2 BAR strapped to her shoulder with the other. The Filipina silently prayed the rosary as she held onto her M1 Garand rifle, steadying her shaky hands as best as she could. The Japanese girl stood at the vanguard with her naginata at the ready. All the while, the Magni Domina was silent, her heart filled with sadness and fear. None of this seemed real to Lorelei – not the scars of war, nor the metallic stench of death.
"It's… it's just like in the Somme…" Lorelei whimpered, remembering those horrifying sounds and putrid smells clearly.
"Quite interesting, no?" An Incubator stepped forward, sitting before Lorelei with its eerie smile. "Why do you think that is so?"
As he spoke, Kyuubey's kin scattered about the barrier, observing the barrier and the extraordinarily heavy aura that hung about it. Each and every one of them wore genuinely intrigued smiles, drawing Michi's ire ever so nonchalantly. Lorelei, however, did not know what to think or say.
"That would be because a Grand Witch – if I might call them that – is basically a lesser-Dreadnaught." The Kyuubey who remained in the square spoke observantly, unflinching as he muttered out his hypothesis. "She is a Witch born out of the influence of a Dreadnaught's taint."
A lesser-Dreadnaught? Michi's heart was unsettled for a moment, but she shook her head. Pondering these peculiarities would do her no good. The flapping of wings then reached the girls' ears, growing louder and louder. All the while, the offensive aura became heavy. Whatever it was that had manifested from Serafina's gem, they would have to stand and fight this monstrosity.
"She's coming closer!" Michi warned, pointing her naginata at the direction of the noise. "Audrey! Smoke her out!"
"Got it!" The American quickly waved her neckerchief around gracefully, spawning four dozen of her 20mm flak guns in a circle around them. "Here goes!"
The flak guns fired in unison, producing a thick cloud of smoke and shrapnel that filled the city square. The shape of the fallen angel was quickly imprinted in the shrapnel cloud; its forlorn face and blazing sword drawing too close for comfort quickly, coming from Michi's blindside. Michi saw this and a bead of cold sweat traced down her neck. She wouldn't be able to defend in time.
"Ligaya!" Audrey quickly barked, "Get her off our backs!"
"I'll try!" Ligaya cried, raising her hand up to the sky. Three P-51 Mustang fighter planes flew over that city square and the cloud of shrapnel, peppering the approaching Witch with heavy machinegun fire. The Witch shrugged off the plane's bullets, unscathed by the swift fly-by. The attack run, though, was just enough to dispel the Witch's invisible veil and to irritate it into chasing the planes.
With the Witch's back turned to them, Audrey and Ligaya quickly summoned the heaviest materiel of their arsenal. 105mm howitzer guns appeared beside two Pershing tanks and pounded the Witch's back with a hail of shells, wrapping the Witch in a ball of fire. Her wings of black stone spread out, preparing herself to flee from this trickery. Michi, however, was not keen on letting her go.
The Japanese girl leapt forward and whirled her naginata skillfully, running its sharp curved blade through the Witch's wings. Those wings that seemed as soft as feathers fell to the floor with loud thuds and the Witch wailed in agony. Unceremoniously, the angel of black stone fell face first on the cobblestone road.
"Lady Lorelei!" Audrey turned to the Magni Domina who watched the battle in absolute fear. "Lend us a hand!"
"H-how can I?" Lorelei sobbed, shaking her head sorrowfully. "T-that's Serafina you're hurting! That's just cruel!"
"Hurting?" Michi gritted her teeth, "I don't think we're hurting her at all!"
Indeed, even after Audrey and Ligaya's barrage, the back of the fallen angel was barely scratched. The cracks that had formed were mockingly small and the craters the shells had left were shallow. Also, these marks quickly disappeared as the black stone regenerated. The wings that Michi had just cut off too were already starting to grow back.
"Impossible…" Michi gasped, unable to believe her eyes. Could this creature, this 'Grand Witch' that the Incubators called, be resistant to their magic?
Before Michi could gather her thoughts, the creature picked itself up from the ground and swiped its sword into the sky. A long, thin line of flame shot out from the blade and tore through the three Mustangs, incinerating them from the inside out. Coughing up thick, black diesel smoke, the husks of the three decimated planes descended to the earth in wild, tail-spins as they crashed into the city square.
The blade of the Witch seemed much more menacing now as the flames danced furiously and her face was ever so forlorn. From the depths of the earth beneath their feet, the girls could hear the muffled rumbles of explosions – one after another. Then, the complex and heavy aura the girls felt around them was lifted, albeit piecemeal. The girls, though, did not have time to ponder why.
The Witch's eyes of black stone then fell upon Michi who stood firmly at the vanguard, staring straight into the Japanese girl's soul. Seeing Michi, the Witch started to weep. Some way, somehow, this Witch must have remembered Michi and the girls who stood with her. Then, the witch opened her mouth and spoke in a shrill, lamenting voice.
"Chomu, tovaryshi ? Moï tovaryshi !"
Lorelei's eyes grew wide. She understood these words the Witch spoke, having heard Serafina speak her native tongue so often in the past.
"'W-why, comrades?', she said…" Lorelei croaked wearily, translating the words "'My comrades!'"
The Magni Domina's heart raced and she suddenly sprinted out in front of Michi, facing the Grand Witch desperately.
"Stop this madness, Carissima Serafina! Please!" Lorelei pleaded, spreading her arms as if to protect Michi and the rest. "I'll call off the attack, so come back to us! We don't want to fight you!"
"Lorelei!" Michi lashed, abhorred by the Magni Domina's foolishness, "What are you doing!"
All too soon, the familiarity that Lorelei had sensed would amount to nothing. Without warning, the Witch flew towards Lorelei with its fiery blade drawn, still repeating that Ukrainian lament.
"Chomu, tovaryshi ? Moï tovaryshi !"
"Get back!" Michi grabbed Lorelei's shoulder and shoved her out of the way
Michi then raised her naginata as quickly as she could. She caught the obsidian blade mid-flight but at a disadvantageous angle. Steel clashed against stone and Michi quickly felt the immense strength of Serafina's Witch. Even as she held onto her naginata with all her might, Michi was being pushed down by the Witch's sword-arm with such force that she felt her knees would buckle. The heat of the otherworldly flames that arose from the obsidian grew intense too, causing Michi to sweat profusely – it was almost as if she was being baked in the hellish heat.
The steel of Michi's naginata started to smoke and glow red then orange, melting and warping in the intense heat. Before long, the wood too caught flame and coursed down to burn Michi's bloodstained hands. Michi could hold on no longer and her naginata shattered before her very eyes. The fiery obsidian blade then fell down, swiping by Michi's side and grazing her shoulder. Her companions gasped in shock, horrified by how easily their strongest ally was defeated.
Flames seared the Japanese girl's skin with a vicious hiss and the sleeve of her blue kimono was set ablaze, causing her to jump back and throw herself to the floor. Her desperate move doused the flames, but the skin of her arm stung her unbearably. Still, she had no time to nurse her wounds.
"Michi!" Audrey cried, "Look out!"
Michi's eyes shot up to see the Witch approach holding its blade up to skewer her and pin her down to the ground. With a jerk, the Japanese girl braved the pulsing pain of her arm and rolled to the side and the Witch drove her blade straight into the cobblestone path. The obsidian blade was stuck, lodged deeply into the earth.
This was their chance, Audrey thought. She tapped Ligaya's shoulder and the Filipina nodded, understanding Audrey's plan immediately. The American whipped her neckerchief again sharply and replaced her spent howitzer guns with new ones as Ligaya's Pershing tanks adjusted their aim at the Filipina's command. The two girls launched another powerful salvo of firepower to strike at the Witch's side. Yet again, it dealt minimal damage – it did little more than stun it for a moment. The Witch's resistance to magic was made clear to them now. However, Audrey was not yet done with the Witch.
The American girl drew her trusty fire ax from her knapsack and charged desperately towards the distracted Witch. With every ounce of strength she had, she rammed the ax head into the Witch's chest and connected. The Witch then wailed again as a crack appeared where the ax had struck, larger than the ones their salvos of shells had ever dealt. Were conventional weapons her weakness, perhaps? It did not matter – Audrey's strike was far from enough to put down the Witch.
As Audrey pulled out the ax to strike the Witch again, the Witch's stone hands suddenly swept sideways, swatting the American. The back of the hand slammed into Audrey with such force that she was sent flying backwards into one of the building's facades. Blood painted her white teeth and she felt as if her ribs were about to give way. Audrey did not let go of her fire ax or her neckerchief, but she did not have the strength to stand.
"N-no!" Lorelei now panicked, seeing Audrey and Michi groan in pain. "Don't do this, Serafina!"
The Witch then turned to Ligaya and Lorelei standing together in the middle of the square, staring at them with its lifeless stone eyes. The Magni Domina whimpered, seeking shelter behind the young Filipina girl. As the Witch slowly approached the two of them with her blade raised, Lorelei felt as if death was looming over her.
Still, she could not raise her scepter to fight this monstrosity before her – this was still Serafina, after all. Ligaya, however, did not give up the fight.
"But what do you want us to do then, Lady Lorelei?" Ligaya cried, pleading the Magni Domina to act. "We can't just stand here and do nothing!"
The engines of the two Pershing tanks that Ligaya had summoned roared ferociously as they accelerated, both of them trained towards the Witch. Their 90mm guns fired one high-explosive shell after another in quick succession as they closed the distance between them and the Witch.
As the tanks skirmished with the Witch, Ligaya took the Magni Domina's hand and dragged her along to regroup with her friends. Ligaya lifted Michi back up to her feet and helped the Japanese girl to walk. Then, Ligaya led the two over to Audrey who was still stewing in the pain of the backhand blow. She laid Michi down next to Audrey and had a quick look at their wounds. They were going to be alright.
"Please heal Audrey and Michi, at least, Lady Lorelei." Ligaya said, drawing two Grief Seeds from her satchel – one for Lorelei and one for herself. "If you do not want to fight, then leave the fighting to me!"
Lorelei hesitated for a moment, but soon did what Ligaya had asked. She knelt down between the American and the Japanese girl then laid her hands over their injuries, bathing them in bright white light. The stinging of Michi's burns and wounds were eased and Audrey's fractured ribs were healed.
The Filipina then turned back to the center of the square to see how her Pershing tanks fared. She needed to buy her friends some time to let them heal – ten minutes would do. If she could buy them that time, they could try to defeat this Witch together again. Ten minutes, though, was too much to ask – Ligaya's heart quickly sank.
Before the tanks could ram the fallen angel as Ligaya hoped they would, the Witch skillfully slashed at the tanks. In that flurry of swipes, the Witch sliced the M3 90mm tank guns off their turrets and wrecked their treads. As the Witch passed by the immobilized tanks with her flaming blade in hand, the engines of the two tanks caught fire. The dancing flames ate their way through to the fuel tanks and to the ammunition storage and the mighty Pershing tanks went off like fireworks. Two of the toughest tanks in the service of the United States Army could not last more than two minutes against the Grand Witch.
Having made quick work of the tanks, the Witch set its black eyes on the girls again, walking towards them in a lethargic gait. They were next.
"F-frau de la Cruz!" Lorelei stammered, seeing the derelict tanks set ablaze, "Are you sure you can handle this?"
She knew Ligaya wasn't proficient in melee combat at all. The Magni Domina's wavering resolve quickly waned, knowing all too well the answer to her question. Ligaya, however, did not share this sentiment one bit. Rather, Ligaya's determination remained solid. Why was this girl so determined? Even she herself must have known that she could not defeat this Witch.
"Should that really matter?" Ligaya asked, extending her hand forward. "If we give up now, then all is lost… but we can still try!"
Olive green light flashed before Ligaya, summoning a new Pershing tank for her to command.
"My father fought for me, even as death stared him in the eye. My mother still smiled as she drew her dying breaths!" Ligaya clenched her fists, "They sacrificed their lives for me… and I have no intention of letting it go to waste!"
The Witch wailed bitterly as it raised her blade, signaling an impending charge. The Filipina, though, stood resolute and cried,
"I will not give up! Not now! Not ever!"
With a mighty thrust of its newly grown wings, the Grand Witch flew forward, dragging its fiery blade through the cobblestone roads and leaving a trail of fire in its wake. The lone Pershing tank revved its engines and drove to confront the monstrosity. Ligaya ran behind her tank, her M1 Garand firmly in hand and determination shining in her eyes.
The Witch struck first, swiping its obsidian blade upwards, tearing through the tank's lower glacis with ease. However, the blade did not swipe through as neatly as it had done on the first two tanks and the Witch was shocked. Its dark eyes turned to that extraordinarily tough tank and saw it emanating olive green light.
Ligaya laid her hand on the Pershing tank and imbued it with magic, repairing the hull and multiplying the armor's integrity. No matter how hard it tried, the Witch could not pull out her blade. Thus, Ligaya trapped the obsidian blade firmly in the lower glacis but only barely. As the Witch doubled its effort, the flaming sword slowly cut upwards, overpowering Ligaya's magic.
"I'm not the strongest Puella Magi there is…" Ligaya grunted as she fought back the blade with as much magic as she could muster. "But I'll do what I can!"
The Filipina then quickly snapped her finger, causing the Pershing tank to disappear. The Witch's sword arm suddenly shot upward as the resistance clamping its blade down vanished, throwing the Witch wildly off balance. Ligaya grinned.
"Stay down!" Ligaya shouted, drawing her father's balisong knife and launching it at the Witch's knee.
The small, sharp Batangas blade hit its mark and the Witch howled desperately, thrashing around as it tried to pull that tiny blade out of her knee. The Filipina then raised her M1 Garand and blasted the Witch with lead as quickly as she could pull the trigger – bursts of eight shots in quick succession. The cracks and craters they left were deep marks, but the Witch still stood strong. A lone Garand could only do so much damage, after all.
"Please stop this…" Lorelei shook her head, unable to watch Ligaya's ultimately fruitless struggle, "Talk to Serafina… please!"
"That's not Serafina anymore, Lorelei." Michi then spoke from where she lay, "Grand or no, this is a Witch and we, Puella Magi, must defeat it. Was not Salvae created to fight Witches as well?"
"So you would just choose to kill your friend?" Lorelei's voice cracked
"Would you like to leave Serafina like this then, Lady Lorelei?" Audrey countered, "Serafina did not want this. The best we can do is to end her suffering."
"B-but!"
The rapid cracks of Ligaya's Garand rifle suddenly ceased, replaced by the loud shots of her Peacemaker revolver. She did not have a lot of ammunition with her left, and the Witch was starting to regain its footing.
"Her final wish was for death." Michi then spoke, sitting upright as she turned to Lorelei "With the way things stand, only you can grant her this final wish!"
As Lorelei listened to Michi speak, the Witch drew her blade again and was finally able to shield herself from Ligaya's thinning gunfire. A telltale click echoed through the city square, causing Ligaya's heart to skip a beat. She had fired her last shot and the Witch was poised to strike.
Jerkily, the Filipina summoned one last Pershing tank that appeared before her to parry the Witch's blade in the nick of time. She did not have enough magic, though, to imbue that tank as strongly as she had previously done. Thus, the flaming obsidian sword carved slowly but surely through the tank's armor sideways. The Magni Domina gasped and shakily turned around to face Serafina's Witch.
"Serafina!" Lorelei holding onto her scepter half-heartedly, "Don't make me do this!"
The green gem that encrusted the Filipina's metal bracelet rapidly grew dark as she countered the Witch's strength with what little magic she had left. The searing blade then found its way to the fuel tank and ignited it – a large tongue of flame burst through the engine's exhausts. If she tried to make her tank disappear again, the sword would definitely cleave Ligaya in half… but if the blade dug any deeper than it already had, the tank would definitely explode.
"LADY LORELEI!" The Filipina screamed, feeling the blazing heat grow hotter and hotter. "DO IT! NOW!"
Lorelei Sankt gulped. She knew she had no choice.
"I'M SORRY, SERAFINA!"
The Magni Domina raised her scepter up high and a powerful bolt of lightning came crashing down to strike the fallen angel down to its knees with pure force. Lorelei then aimed her scepter at the downed Witch and a sea of lightning came forth, caging the Witch in crackling sparks and flashes. Audrey, Michi and Ligaya shielded their eyes as the bright, bright light threatened to blind them.
Fragments of black stone started to crumble from the Grand Witch, falling down to the street like dark snow. The lightning coursed through the fallen angel's body, overcoming her magical resistance and splitting the stones so painfully slow. Lorelei couldn't bear to look at the Witch any longer. Tears rolled down the Magni Domina's cheeks as she heard the Witch cry out in pure agony.
Robbed completely of her strength, the Witch threw herself down onto the floor, its back straight and its head lowered. As the lightning purged the last wisps of life from the Witch, the black stone finally shattered. Serafina's corpse then descended from the invisible strings from which it hung and landed softly onto the cobblestone road. A small black Grief Seed then appeared in Serafina's hand, only to roll off her palm and onto the street.
Act XLIV – Passus Regina
The complex barrier that Serafina had spawned promptly vanished and the girls were returned to the Edificio Gumamela.
It was the early morning in Manila now and sunlight revealed the poor state of the grand building. Her marvelous façade of stone and concrete that had adorned the Calle Escolta for over a decade lay in ruin; covered in large, smoldering craters and lined with gaping pockmarks and wide cracks. Her doors had been smashed by artillery fire and the glass of her windows lay in shattered fragments on the sidewalk. The insignias of the Manila Branch of Salvae, impressions of a rook standing before two crossed swords carved into the stone, were covered in dust, debris and soot. Even the brass '8' fixed to the wall by the entryway was blackened and warped, unhinged as the number now hung sideways. The whole place looked as if it had been gutted by a fire. None of the Manilenyos who had frequented the Escolta would recognize it – and neither would Lorelei.
It was such a magnificent building, Lorelei remembered. Under Elise's care, the building flourished and its beauty grew year after year. It was the dream post of every Puella Magi of Salvae and the pride of Elise de Lamarliere. Now, the Edificio Gumamela was merely a husk of its former glory, housing the corpses of the girls who had admired and loved it. The Edificio Gumamela's fabled caretaker Elise too lay dead as her building seemed ready to crumble.
Lorelei then started to feel empty, as empty and desolate as the Edificio Gumamela she and Elise had built together. The dream she had lived for these past three decades ended so abruptly, like a candle blown out by the wind. All that was left was this nightmare of a reality, a cold draft that seeped through the shattered windows, freezing her very soul.
"Lady Lorelei!" a voice suddenly called from the fourth floor hallway, followed by the shuffle of rushing feet.
The remnants of the Puella Magi of the Philippine Expedition burst into the room, led by Anne-Marie Doucette and the Carissimas of the US and Mexico. They panted heavily, bearing many wounds and bruises from the battles they had fought. However, they still managed to encircle the Magni Domina and the last of the girls they had come to arrest.
Audrey and Michi, now mostly healed, picked themselves up from the floor and stood beside Ligaya. Together, the three of them watched their captors with careful eyes. There were less than thirty of them now – weapons were summoned en masse as the girls of the Expedition tried to bare their teeth. One could easily tell, though, that a haunted fear lingered in their hearts. Still, the thirty girls were ready to do battle if their captives resisted.
The last three of the Padre Faura magi all tossed their guns to the floor and raised their hands up over their heads.
"You three…" Anne-Marie Doucette faced the girls, her hand cautiously tapping the Webley pistol holstered at her hip. "Transform back to normal and surrender your gems peacefully."
The Japanese girl's lips crumpled, but she did as she was told. With a flash of turquoise blue light, Michi's kimono disappeared and gave way to her travelling clothes. Her darkened blue gem materialized in her hand. Audrey and Ligaya followed suit.
In that deathly silent room, Audrey, Michi and Ligaya's footsteps echoed as they approached Anne-Marie to hand her their gems. The girls of the Philippine Expedition clutched their weapons as their three captives passed by them. They knew who these three girls were – the American and Filipino discipulas who Lorelei had once chosen to become Carissimas and the Japanese rogue whose naginata had ended the lives of dozens if not hundreds of Puella Magi.
Together, the three of them would surely be more than a match for their shattered troupe. To see them surrendering to the wounded Anne-Marie without question baffled them. The Canadian Carissima watched the three girls carefully, wondering what they were up to. Once her eye lingered for a moment, though, she saw her Magni Domina rise up from where she knelt and hobble somberly away from her army. She was headed towards the spot where Serafina and Elise's corpses lay, and in her hand…
"The black king…" Anne-Marie's thoughts escaped her lips.
She and the other Carissimas had seen Lorelei with that old chess piece often. Whenever she was sad, lonely or burdened by her thoughts, she would take out that piece and would eventually be calmed. This time, though, as she knelt beside the two corpses, the black king no longer gave her peace. Anne-Marie squinted then saw a peculiar figure in Elise de Lamarliere's partially opened hand. It was a white queen.
The Magni Domina gently held onto Elise's hand and shakily placed the black king piece beside the white queen.
"So… it's checkmate, huh?"
Then she wept bitterly.
Act XLV – Casus Tortus
The battered walls and windows of Elise de Lamarliere's room cast long, dark and crooked shadows onto the chessboard floor, starkly contrasting the bright morning sun. Behind that veil of shadows, two bright, round and red eyes gazed. A silhouette of the curious white creature sat in that darkness comfortably, watching the chaos in its midst with a satisfied smile.
"Lorelei Sankt. Why do you weep?" The creature spoke as it stepped out of the darkness and into the sunlight, "Do you not see that Ms. Larivenko and the Mademoiselle have each done this world a favor?"
"What favor have they done?" Lorelei tearfully demanded, sobbing as she held onto Elise's cold hand. "All I see is cruelty – the basest cruelty! They are victims of your cruel design!"
"Cruel?" Kyuubey hummed, sounding puzzled, "I still do not fully understand this concept of 'cruelty' you and your kind speak of is. All of this that has transpired thus far is of my design; I will not deny this fact. I would not go so far as to call it 'cruel', though. Their sacrifices… no, the sacrifices of every Puella Magi who had lived in the past and those who will succeed you serve a higher purpose!"
Lorelei raised her eyes to the creature, pained by how unflinchingly this creature spoke those cold, cold words. Michi's eyes then sharpened. She knew what the Incubator was trying to do.
"The universe both humans and we, the Incubators, share is dying, fading into the oblivion from which it sprouted." Kyuubey then continued, "To cut a long story short, the birth of Puella Magi and the manifestation of Witches counteract the degradation of the universe. Thus, the cycle of Puella Magi and Witches and the eternal war they have waged since the dawn of human history exists."
"And the Taint of the Dreadnaught is your way of ensuring that this cycle continues." Michi interrupted, her tone cold and belying rage. "Is that correct?"
All of the girls in the room stopped and turned to Michi, surprised by her curt response to the Incubator's explanation. Kyuubey looked intrigued by this sudden interruption.
"Why, yes." The Incubator tilted its head, "It seems the Mademoiselle imparted her knowledge to you, Michi Hideyoshi. Thus, you are aware that this cycle and the taint exist for the maintenance of the universe. Why do you think the Mademoiselle told you this, of all people?"
Michi's eye twitched, taken aback by Kyuubey's words.
"Tell me." Michi said plainly.
"That would be because the Mademoiselle was a fool who believed she could stop this cycle." Kyuubey replied. "She also thought that you would also try to break it in her stead."
The creature then turned to Michi and smiled.
"I can see it in your eyes – you have already taken up her foolish cause."
The Japanese girl's face grew pale. She remembered Elise's dying words clearly and the Incubator knew.
"If you are as wise as I first thought you to be, then might I suggest that you forget those words and let nature take its due course, perhaps?" Kyuubey blinked, but kept its eyes fixated on Michi's. "To break this cycle is impossible to do, Hideyoshi-san. Even if you or Elise had succeeded in breaking the cycle and shackling the Dreadnaught to an unnaturally powerful Gem, the world would be thrown into chaos and stagnate."
"Elise wasn't a fool." Lorelei promptly interrupted, grasping Elise's hand tighter. "She was a brave girl who fought for me and held the Dreadnaught down all this time! Thanks to her, she gave me a second chance in life!"
"That may be so." Kyuubey nodded, "But ask yourself this, Lorelei Sankt… where did this second chance in life come from? Surely, you were unable to create time. That would be absurd!"
The creature then sighed and wagged its tail.
"You are living on borrowed time, Lorelei Sankt – time that Elise de Lamarliere has stolen for your sake, and for your sake alone. In order to allow you to build the future you had dreamed of as a child, a world of peace and prosperity where no Puella Magi was homeless, hungry or lonely, Elise stole the futures of the girls of Salvae, Terrae Magicae. Their future is your future now – bound to your fate whether they like it or not."
Lorelei's heart suddenly throbbed and she clutched at her chest in pain. Her long, flowing gown and the mighty scepter she wielded disappeared in a flash of bright white and her Soul Gem appeared in her hand. It was pitch black, darker than any gem she had ever seen. Somehow, this darkness mingled with the brilliant white of her gem, forming a checkerboard pattern. Then, her eyes were drawn to the silhouette of a girl walking away to the depths of that sea of black and white.
"Elise…" Lorelei croaked, staring deeper and deeper into her gem. Her eyes then grew cloudy and her vision started to blur. "D-don't leave me here…"
Kyuubey's lips twitched slightly upwards. The bells of the Manila Cathedral then started to toll.
"Lorelei!" Michi lashed out, pushing the girls of the expedition aside. "Don't listen to that demon! Get a hold of yourself!"
The Japanese girl's words came too late, masked by the second brassy strike of the bells followed by the third. Lorelei turned to Michi with her glazed eyes and flashed an unsettlingly bright smile, her voice ringing eerily clear in the midst of the tolls.
"You will stay with me, right, Elise?"
Eight strikes rang clear in the city of Manila that morning, followed by the bitterest sobs of the Magni Domina who stared at the frightened Michi, if not through her.
"Stay with me, forever."
Act XLVI – Dies Irae
At the eighth toll of the bells of the Manila Cathedral, the lone, crisp sound of cracking glass echoed in the devastated room of Elise de Lamarliere. Everyone's eyes were on Lorelei as the Magni Domina held her gem up as if in a trance. Lorelei's cloudy blue eyes were tearful and unfocused as her entire body started to float up from the chessboard floor. Then, the Magni Domina's eyes went blank.
All of the sudden, the girls of the Philippine Expedition started acting up as well. Sharp pains started to assail them – pains emanating from their rapidly darkening gems. Every single one of them was brought down to their knees as they gasped for air, choked by this unknown force that had wrapped itself onto them. All of them were forced to kneel with their heads lowered towards the floating Lorelei Sankt.
"No… not this time." Michi said, transforming back into her blue kimono and summoning her naginata. She held her pole-arm like a javelin and trained it at the Magni Domina's gem.
"Are you sure you want to do this, Hideyoshi-san?" Kyuubey then piped up, watching the whole ordeal with delight. "You do know that defeating Lorelei, whether she has manifested or not, would mean that you will inevitably succeed her as the Dreadnaught Witch?"
Michi suddenly froze, her naginata almost slipping from her hands. She had an excellent shot at the gem from where she stood, but her spear arm suddenly lost all of its strength.
"On top of that," Kyuubey added, finding Michi's faltering resolve rather amusing. "that one strike would mean the death of tens of thousands of Puella Magi around the world – a grand massacre!"
"Genocide…" Michi's irises dilated, reflecting the vicious scenes from her past. The Japanese girl could not move a muscle.
"Michi!" Audrey then cried, "What are you doing? Go for it!"
"I… I can't do it…" The naginata slipped from Michi's hands. It fell to the floor with a dull thud.
Audrey and Ligaya could not believe what they were seeing. The two of them quickly broke out of their lines and dove for their weapons. Ligaya retrieved her balisong knife while Audrey picked up her M1918A2 BAR from the floor. The American shot at the gem with her automatic rifle and the Filipina tossed her blade.
The blade and the bullets though were slowed down by an electromagnetic field that encased Lorelei and her gem. They inched closer and closer to the gem but fell pathetically short, dropping to the floor with metallic dings. There was no turning back now.
Lorelei and the remnants of the expedition she had brought with her manifested in unison. Audrey, Ligaya and Michi quickly found themselves bearing witness to the birth of another strange barrier – a world of black and white. The American and the Filipina held their gems at the ready, preparing themselves to fight the horrors of this world. Michi, however, stayed kneeling on the floor and crying in shame.
Marble tiles of black and white were laid out all around the three girls, replacing the now weathered tiles of Elise's room. These tiles coalesced and formed winding paths that sprung outwards from the shattered windows of the Edificio Gumamela. Staircases and broad roundabouts lined their surroundings like a maze that continued upwards as far as the eye could see.
At the top of the staircase maze was a vast plane of black and white that extended outwards. Here, pillars shot up in odd intervals into space and blank monotone discs spun suspended up in the skies as they mingled with the clouds.
One by one, the bodies of the girls of the Philippine Expedition were lifted out of Elise's room and towards these discs by ethereal threads that bound them gently then were absorbed into them. Once they were consumed by the discs, intricate designs of black lace were imprinted on their facades like tapestries – a different and distinct one for every Puella Magi they now housed.
These intricate discs all swirled around the body of Lorelei Sankt, or rather a specter of her who weightlessly flew atop that world of black and white. Beneath these platforms and promenades that branched out from the battered windows of the Edificio Gumamela, the city of Manila could be seen; her citizens unaware of the oddities that sprouted out of the war-torn building and claimed more and more of the sky. Dark, looming shadows were cast down onto the occupied capital and the grand walled fortress of Intramuros, but the Manilenyos did not see them. They did not know what was coming for them and their beloved city.
Audrey and Ligaya looked out the windows, watching that vast world of black and white expand further and further out to the distance. All the while, that specter of Lorelei Sankt grew further and further away.
"What's happening?" Audrey asked, turning to the lone Incubator who perched itself on one of the windowpanes to watch the mad marvel. "What's going to happen now?"
"Isn't it obvious by now, Ms. Burnham?" The Incubator wagged its tail merrily. "Manila will burn at the hands of Lorelei Sankt, and the rest of the world will follow!"
From those black-laced tapestries that hung from the skies, Witches started to emerge, clawing their way through their tapestries as they burst from the seams. Then, all at once, they descended down gracefully onto the promenades to take their places on the chessboard floor. From where Audrey and Ligaya stood, the Witches all seemed to take a strange, almost uniform shape. They were like chess pieces – the Grand Witches that sprung from the Carissimas took the shape of officers while the Witches of the Zealots and bound Aspirants appeared in the shape of pawns. This host of Witches and the Grand Witches that oversaw them came together in a mass of absolute horror – they would not let these surviving Puella Magi pass.
"Salvae, Terrae Magicae was an interesting organization while it lasted." Kyuubey hummed, sounding rather content. "Thanks to Elise's wish and Lorelei's dream, tens of thousands of Puella Magi came to be bound together into that organization – that's virtually every Puella Magi in the world! Now, all of them walk the earth as Witches!"
Faint trails of darkness branched out in every direction. Many more of those intricate discs of tapestry lay scattered around the world, tied together by a faint trail of darkness to the miasma that formed around the specter of Lorelei Sankt. These discs and the Witches they housed were being drawn slowly towards Manila, at the command of the Dreadnaught Witch who spawned them.
"So…" The American wiped the sweat from her forehead as she took anxious breaths, "That means we're the only ones left who can stop this."
"Quite right." The Incubator nodded. He then hopped off the windowsill and onto the world of black and white that continued to unfurl. "I would recommend, however, that you act soon. Your chances grow slimmer by the minute, after all."
The Witches then slammed onto the black and white promenades, causing the chessboard world and the Edificio Gumamela it stemmed from to rattle and shake. Crumbling concrete and stone flowed down from the ceiling as large, structural cracks formed beneath Audrey, Ligaya and Michi's feet. Heralded by the most unpleasant moaning of wood, steel and mortar, the Edificio Gumamela would soon topple to the ground. Audrey and Ligaya struggled to stay on their feet, but Michi just stayed where she knelt.
"It's over..." The Japanese girl raised her head to see the Dreadnaught Witch and the world of black and white she spawned. "We can't win… we never even had a chance."
…
.
…
Epilogue
Tears drenched the sheets of Madoka Kaname's bed as she lay there restless. Her eyes were red from crying and her voice was cracked, doing her best to suppress her sorrowful sobbing.
"Sayaka-chan…" The girl sniffed, wiping her eyes with her sleeves. "And Kyouko-chan too…"
Lying beside her was a small notebook of hers where she had sketched in her free time. There, five small figures were drawn in pen – Mami, Sayaka and Kyouko on the first page, then Homura and herself on the next. The shadows cast by the curtains of her room covered the first page, blurring her three friends into darkness. The sight made Madoka feel bitter.
All of the sudden, another shadow was cast, covering her sketch of Homura. It was the shape of an Incubator. Madoka quickly jolted upright in fright and hastily grabbed her notebook. She then turned to her window and saw the silhouette of the little white creature she was starting to loathe.
"Ah, you're still awake." Kyuubey said, staring at Madoka from behind the windows. "May I come in?"
"Leave me alone." Madoka sobbed, shaking her head as she refused to open the window. "I don't want to talk to you!"
"Still emotional, I see." The creature pawed the glass of her window, asking Madoka to open it again. "Are you still going on about what happened in Sayaka's barrier?"
The young girl then raised her teary eyes up to the window and saw that the silhouette was gone. Did Kyuubey leave perhaps?
"Or is it because of the dreams you have been starting to see?"
Kyuubey's airy voice startled Madoka again and the notebook slipped from her hands. This time, he sat amongst Madoka's stuffed toys, wagging its tail with intrigue.
"D-dreams?" Madoka tried to gather herself, but to no avail. "What are you talking about?"
The creature then pointed to the notebook that had fallen to the floor and a shiver ran up Madoka's spine. The pages of the notebook had turned and now showed a different set of sketches. On the first page was Serafina Larivenko, Elise de Lamarliere and Lorelei Sankt, their faces and costumes shaded in pencil. Then, on the next were Audrey Burnham, Ligaya de la Cruz and Michi Hideyoshi on a chessboard plane.
"You know about them, don't you - the actresses on the stage?" Kyuubey turned to Madoka. He then hopped off Madoka's table then laid a paw on the opened second page. "Or should I say… Walpurgisnacht."
To Be Continued
Episode 16 Preview
The fate of the world hangs in the balance
Though our hearts are nervous, we hold our heads high
The pen that will write history lies in our hands
Our hands tremble, but we stand firm
We cannot see the future, nor can we return to the past
This is the reality that lies before us
There is no room for fear and hesitation
There will be nothing left for us if we do
So then, we must march ever forward.
We must chase that faint, faint light as distant as it may be.
For at the end of it all…
Nothing else matters.
Nothing else matters.
-Audrey Burnham-
-Ligaya de la Cruz-