Haigeki

by Xylix

His friends kidnapped by magical girls, Ranma is pushed beyond his limits to retrieve them.

5. Siege

Author's Forward – This release is a bit behind schedule. You can thank my Skyrim obsessed beta reader for that. Thankfully, things didn't go too far off course.

Those of you that watch my profile might have noticed that progress has gone to a standstill. The cause is that the next few chapters are huge and were edited only once. I had to double back and give them a nice polishing. Given holiday disruptions, I guesstimate that I'll be back to writing new chapters around February.

Beta reader: obsidian_fox

-oOo-

Chapter 5: Siege

-oOo-

The sudden absence of sensation was dizzying. No longer did I burn with the inferno of haigeki or drown in the sludge of shuken. That intensity had vanished along with last scraps of my soul. Yet, I could not help but remain cognizant of their existence. Within me, haigeki and shuken persisted. Like the smoldering embers left by a fire, they waited, ready to gobble up the slightest imperfection that dared defile their shrine.

That awareness should have felt unnatural, but, to the twisted me that had been recreated from the remnants of Ranma Saotome, both haigeki and shuken belonged. My ki flowed with their presence, and my aura flexed with an ease I had never before experienced. I felt... perfect. It was as though my entire life was one long road that led to this moment. This new Ranma Saotome, forged by tenki, was the person I was meant to be. It felt so good, so right, that I wanted to stay like this... forever.

My guts wrenched as though I had swallowed something rotten. A girl forever. How? How could I think such a thing? No. I couldn't allow this. I had made a mistake. I had to change back, right now, before the allure of tenki overwhelmed my sense of self. Hysteria swallowed my thoughts. I reached out and grasped the threads of haigeki and shuken. My whole body shuddered as I prepared to unravel what I had become.

Suicide.

That frigid, rational thought pierced my panic. Coldness eclipsed emotion and I could think again. Releasing tenki was suicide. Only minutes ago, I had torn my body asunder with haigeki then welded the fragments together with shuken. Without tenki, I would be on the floor bleeding.

There was no turning back. I was saving Akane and Ukyou as a magical girl, or I wasn't saving them at all.

I repeated those thoughts in my head, using them to banish my fears. Terror receded and in its place grew a fragile calm. What was done was done. Tenki was complete. The consequences of my choice were something I could deal with later.

Worries safely repressed, I counted up the damage I had dealt myself.

I wiggled my fingers and toes. I kicked my legs and rolled my hips. I formed an aura. I strained my abilities both physical and metaphysical. Everything worked. My motions were smooth and my ki flowed freely. Sure, it glowed pink instead of blue, but it still worked.

Which meant it was time for the real test.

With the toe of my shoe I flipped the hand mirror up into the air. I caught it, wrapped the object with my aura, and rejected its existence with raw haigeki.

Pale, pink light pulsed and the mirror burst. Shards of glass and plastic scattered through the tent and a silvery film puffed out in a cloud of confetti. I marveled at the ease of it. Ki had answered my will effortlessly.

Amused by my prior experiment I attempted haigeki's opposite, shuken.

The result was magic.

Plastic pieces, hued in fading pink, leaped up into the air, and gathered in my hand. Pale threads stretched between the remaining fragments in a spiderweb. Handful by handful it seized the discarded pieces and pulled them together. The jigsaw puzzle assembled itself in seconds then, as though the components were liquid, melded into a whole. The hand mirror was restored.

Except, the mirror I now held was not the same as mirror I shattered. Just as I had been reconstructed in the image of my megami no ooi, so too was the mirror. Plain, beige plastic was now metallic pink and embellished with floral decorations. The glass surface had been wiped clean so that the splotches of dirt that had dotted it before did not mar the surface.

Personally, I liked old mirror better.

Still, I couldn't help but grin. Magic. It wasn't proper to call it anything else, but this magic was ki. The sheer idea of it made me giddy. To be able to wield ki so freely opened up whole new worlds. In my travels, Pop and I had encountered dozens of esoteric arts that had eluded us. Wizardry, mysticism, specializations that required a dedication as intense as what I had given the martial arts, all were now within my reach.

Power like this made anything possible.

Then, it all came crashing down. This power had a price. To use it, I had to be a magical girl. Not just for a moment, but for the rest of my life.

That was a price I wasn't willing to pay.

... or was I?

I shivered again and looked into the mirror to change my train of thought.

Magic, it seemed, had a better fashion sense than I did. The saccharine offense to sensibility I had inflicted upon myself had been repainted with the strokes of a master. In terms of style and depiction, I was unchanged. The effect, however, had been elevated from realm of childish cosplay and into the world of aristocratic elegance.

Twin rivers of glistening pink brushed my hips, silken curtains tied back by stylish satin ribbons – black with white lace and bejewelled by crystals of amethyst. My new, lighter, complexion complemented the coloring of my dress, which now consisted of pinks both deep and pale. Ruffles, ribbons, bows, streamers, and gossamer frills, again in black and white, added contrast, diversity, and distinction.

The conservative style of my dress had given way to alluring. My skirt had shortened dramatically, ending well above my knees. Cleavage, once hidden, was now exposed. It was pinch of spice amongst the sweetness of my costume, a temptation that pressed the border between wanton and proper.

But, what I fixated on, was my face.

My lips, delicate arches brushed with color and gloss. My cheeks and chin, those of an angel sculpted by an artisan. My eyes, jewels set betwixt dark lashes and framed by glasses of metallic pink.

I stared for a long time, failing to recognize that the girl reflected was me.

It was more than mere appearances. The character I exuded had changed. Rough motions had been refined into girlish gestures. My posture and presence reeked of ladylike charm. It was a tiny change, but as small as it was it obliterated the boundary between truth and illusion.

I was no longer a tomboy playing the princess, but rather a princess who had stopped playing the tomboy.

And that gave birth to a new worry. Tenki had altered the way I moved. Could I, as a magical girl, still fight? In retrospect, I had been foolish of me to overlook that possibility. Tenki was built on a megami no ooi, an aspect of beauty. It reinforced that aspect with amplified spiritual strength. What would happen then if that aspect included notions like 'cute', 'clumsy', or 'fragile'? The answer was obvious. In such a case my spiritual strength would turn against me if I engaged in something unfeminine, like fighting.

A gilded cage. I wondered how many girls had found themselves trapped in exactly that.

Nervously, I started a kata, and quickly found points of resistance. When using my most brutal and forceful styles, my speed and strength were reduced by a tenth.

Whew. It'd be annoying, but I could work around that. My preference was for speed and finesse in the first place.

I practiced a bit longer to work out the kinks. As I did so I noticed other things. My fluttering skirt displaced air like usual but produced no drag. Dangling earrings danced with my motions but never caught nor tangled. Most impossible of all was my shoes. Tenki had turned my flats into a pair of ten centimeter heels. Heels that should have killed the flex of my ankles and shortened my stride, costing speed and agility. Heels that, in defiance to physics, imparted no disadvantage.

Somewhat disgusted by the utter waste of magic, I brought practice to a close. I stuffed my duffel bag with my discarded clothes and zipped it shut. Catching my image one last time, I flashed myself a smirk. The result wasn't even half as condescending as normal, but the unadulterated arrogance of Ranma Saotome shone through.

Good. Anything less wouldn't be proper.

I stepped from the tent and into the light.

-oOo-

When I stepped through the gates the land shifted. Hills swelled and fell as much as a meter in height. The earth skewed to the sides as the breadth stretched and shrank. Trees squirmed, their branches writhing about themselves until they formed new shapes. The buzz of insects assaulted my ears, joined by the twitter of birds. I stumbled, but shuken took hold. Reality rewrote itself and my landing became a graceful drop.

Adrenaline hit. Faster than my mind could adapt the signal danger struck. I went still. Dead ahead was a gaggle of girls. The young ladies were spread out on a blue blanket in a chattering circle. At their sides were a pair of baskets, the tops open, displaying the treats contained inside.

I processed the sight in an instant then kicked into high gear. I skittered to the side and vanished behind a thick trunk. I was a second too slow. A narrow glance revealed one girl rising, her eyes scrutinizing my prior position.

Whoosh. Waves transversed my fluffy dress as I took to the air. Hair and ribbons trailed behind. My profile hidden, I flew to the upper branches of the tree, landing so lightly that the leaves failed to sway. I secured myself in the thick foliage and suppressed my presence, cursing the colors of my dress the whole time. Pink was too bright a color for proper stealth.

With tense muscles I watched, ready to dispose of the entire picnic crowd if they tried to raise the alarm.

A brunette in a yellow sundress approached the tree I was in. She set a hand on the trunk and leaned forward to peer out and into the woods.

She never looked up.

"What are you looking at, Aya?" another girl asked.

Aya, the brunette, abandoned her search and pivoted in her patent leather shoes. Her dress swayed with the motion. "Nothing," Aya answered. "I thought I saw someone, that's all."

With that the picnic resumed, five girls sipping tea, nibbling cookies and sharing gossip and laughter. I let out a breath, closed my eyes for a long moment, and contemplated. If I moved I'd almost certainly be seen, it was pure luck I hadn't been spotted already. I couldn't out wait the girls either, they were set for a very long lunch.

Should I risk it? I grimaced and weighed Akane and Ukyou against a half hearted promise. No. I couldn't. Sorry Pop. I offered up the silent apology to my father and cloaked myself within the Umisenken.

Only, it didn't work as planned. The ghostlike aura of the umisenken clashed with vibrancy of my megami no ooi. The nature of the techniques were too different. The umisenken called for a non-presence, an aura that subtly exuded ignore me. In a way, it was embracing the spirit of Gosunkugi and raising it to the nth degree.

But, my megami no ooi was reversed in polarity. It was beauty born in part from my arrogance and self confidence. My aura was one that begged to be looked upon.

Eyes scrunched in concentration I wrestled with the technique. Eventually I forced my spirit into a middle ground. The result was a lesser form of ki based stealth, that didn't come close to the nigh-invisibility granted by the umisenken. But, if I was correct in my assumptions, it would still be enough to make eyes slide off me as though I didn't exist. To tell the truth, the result was probably more than good enough, but to my trained perfectionism it was a badly botched solution.

Obscured by ki and hidden by stealth I flitted amongst the trees and away from the girls. I paused after gaining a good bit of distance and glanced back at the gate from whence I came.

The portal was gone. In its place was a brick wall as tall as my waist topped by iron bars thrice again higher. Beyond was Tokyo. The city that I saw was silent and empty. From the Institute I could not see the hustle and bustle that lay hidden, just as I couldn't see the girls picnicking from within Setsuna's bubble.

I considered returning and warning Hikaru. If Setsuna was to be believed, it would be easy enough. All I'd need to do was walk to the fence, and another gate would open for me. I looked back at the girls and, a moment later, snorted with contempt. No point. If Hikaru and crew could not crush wimps like those, then nothing I did or said would be able to help them.

I turned my back on the picnic and flew through the light forest that surrounded the Pretty Princess Institute. The woods broke after a quarter of a kilometer, opening into an empty expanse that stretched almost a fifty meters. There was no cover. The few perfectly trimmed shrubs that broke the green grass were so short that I'd have to squat to hide behind them. Even then, I would remain exposed to any girl that so much as glanced out the second or third story windows.

Frowning, I tapped the rim of Michiko's glasses. Each press cycled the zoom feature causing the rooftops to leap closer. I swept my gaze across the building's top and found no guards. Nodding to myself I killed the zoom and fiddled an expanded list of selectors. One last touch and the glasses came alive. Orange ghosts made themselves apparent, the faded shapes of girls sheltered behind the school walls.

I waited. Girls moved through the halls in pairs and triplets in low traffic. I waited some more. There! A break.

Seizing the moment I dropped from my perch. Calves and thighs constricted. Muscles exploded with strength. I shot forward. I crossed the emerald lawn in a flash, my body nearly horizontal. Gravity fought to plant my face into the turf while I kept myself aloft with the thrust of each step. With my weight so far forward, I had no traction. I made do by piercing the earth with the toe of my shoes and shoving forward with enormous strength. The earth tore in my wake. Each step ripped hunks of sod from the ground and threw it backward.

In the blink of an eye I had reached the Institute's wall. My wild dash didn't slow. Instead, I threw my weight upward, jumping off the ground and then off the wall. My legs strained with effort required to redirect my momentum and concrete cracked beneath my feet. Then I was flying high into the air.

My ascent did not stop at the building's three story height. Instead, I rose twice again higher, floated for a moment at the peak of the arc, then landed silently on the roof.

My head jerked to either side. No unwanted companions. I checked the woods. Nobody was pointing at the weird girl who had jumped atop the Institute's roof. Good.

I crouched low so that I was out of sight and gave myself time to relax.

Next came the hard part. The Pretty Princess Institute was big. The eastern, school-like wing, on which I stood, had three floors. Attached was a central building that stretched a story higher. Further to the west was a long, squat extension with only a single floor. As a whole, the Institute was large enough to serve a thousand.

And that was accounting for the fact that this was a boarding school.

The east wing was nearly as broad as Furinkan, again giving me the impression that this was where the girls were held. Here, I imagined, would be the kitchens, gyms, class rooms, and maybe even the dorms. Though, the squat building could easily have been reserved for the last. The central building, with its wide domed top, stained glass windows, steeples, and arches was too fancy for the daily life of prisoners. A location like that would be reserved for special gatherings, such as those times where the faculty felt the students needed an extra dose of boredom.

The eastern wing was definitely the place to start. But even knowing that did little to reduce my problems. The east wing itself was huge, and I would have to find Akane and Ukyou within it. Then, the greatest obstacle of all, I had to get them out.

There was, though, one factor that played into my hands: my trump card, Michiko's glasses. Truth be told, I didn't fully understand their limits, but I knew that they could show at least two kinds of auras. First was orange. That was the color Hikaru had been hued with at the mall. It was the color I was shrouded in now. It was also the color of the silhouettes that the shined through the walls. Orange, I was sure, stood for magical girls and those of similar power.

The second color I had seen was green, and that only once. Green had been the color I had been painted with at the mall. I didn't know what green stood for. It could have been for high levels of ki, or it could have been for magic. Thanks to Jusenkyo's curse, both those factors applied to me.

Whatever green stood for, it didn't matter. What was important was that Akane and Ukyou would probably be highlighted in a color other than orange. Which meant that I could use the glasses to spot them through the walls...

Of course, that was assuming that they hadn't been transformed like Kodachi. In that case...

I shut that thought down. I would deal with problems as they showed up and no sooner. Clearing my mind I refocused my attention on the roof. Michiko's glasses showed only a handful of orange figures moving beneath me. Damn. The penetration was less than I had hoped.

Well, it wasn't like I had expected this to be easy.

With the flick of my finger I disabled aura mode. Yes, the ability to spot auras was useful, but aura mode obscured my vision with the ghost girls and distracted with a hundred other useless details. Better to use that feature only when it was needed.

I gave the woods one last look over and nodded to myself. Clear. It's a go, then.

Hooking my ankles around a steeple, I dropped off the edge of the roof. Upside down, I swayed forward and grabbed ahold of a third story window. Then, with a smooth motion, I pulled the glass open, grabbed the top of the frame, and flipped to land inside.

Click-clop, click-clop, click-clop. I paused. Two girls, both wearing hard soled shoes, were approaching. Quickly, I reached back and pulled the window shut. Once my entry was concealed, I dived for the first empty office and disappeared from sight. Only a second later, a pair of girls rounded the corner and started crossing the hall I had occupied.

I slid the office door shut without a sound. I waited.

The office I had chosen was surprisingly ordinary. Neat stacks of papers sat on an oak desk, and a computer was positioned to the side. Behind the desk was a black leather swivel chair. The executive seat cut a sharp contrast to the uncomfortable wooden stools that stood in a row to the side of the room. It was easy to imagine unruly students forced to sit on the stools, nervously waiting for the judgment of authority to fall. The oak desk gave name to its owner by means of a bronzed plate. M.D. Kamiko Ogura.

Muffled footsteps passed the office with nary a peek. I slipped out into the hallway behind them, and flashed over linoleum tile like a ghost. I tapped the rim of the glasses as I ran and swept my eyes across orange phantoms. Scores of female figures blurred by, but none showed a color other than orange.

It became clear, as I traveled, that the rooms on the third floor were intended for administration and overflow. I passed by rooms used for storage, rooms used for clubs and activities, a laboratory filled with scientific equipment, and a number of offices. I recognized most of the name plates: Chiyo Mori, Akina Ishii, Dr. Michiko Nishimura, and Gondul Skadadottir, but there were a handful of offices for women I had yet to meet.

It was in a tiny hospital room that I spotted my objective: a dozen girls with colorful auras of light blue, purple, and red. Each of the shades was spattered with splotches of orange and crowned by a ring of green.

A grin spread across my lips. Gotcha.

I backpedaled, retraced twenty steps, and bound over a railing. I allowed myself to fall two meters before grabbing the edge of the third floor. I swung, released, and landed on the second floor in a single motion. Stealthily, I stalked my target, using my glasses to zero in on the colorful auras. It wasn't long before I came upon the wooden door that separated me from the girls inside.

With a flick of my finger, the spectral auras vanished from the surface of my glasses. Carefully, I peered through the vertical window and into the room.

The room was filled with girls all sitting at desks. A classroom, but the clothes the girl were wearing were far from that of a typical Tokyo school girl. Gone were seifukus and skirts. In their place were full ball gowns and elaborate dresses. Satin, silk, and bold colors decorated the ladies within. Sparkling tiaras crowned every head, glittering jewels hung from every ear, and brilliant pendants graced every neck.

I found Ukyou amongst the class, barely recognizable in her dark blue gown. Like the rest she sat studiously facing the front. Her demure behavior wasn't what I had expected. My thoughts stopped for a second and confusion descended. It was cleared away an instant later when I remembered what this school specialized in: brainwashing.

I reached for the door's handle and stopped again. Wait. I had only seen Ukyou. I scoped the room a second time. No Akane. Not that I could see.

I considered. Should I move on? Should I keep searching until I knew for certain where both the girls resided? No. The window revealed only half of the classroom, so there was a decent chance Akane was merely out of sight. Besides, even if Akane wasn't inside, Ucchan probably knew exactly where Akane had been stashed.

And, frankly, I didn't like the idea of leaving Ukyou alone a second longer.

So I kicked down the door.

Bang! Laminated particle board tore from steel hinges, sending chunks of wood and tiny splinters bursting out in a cloud. The heavy door cracked across the center and flew across the room. It wobbled in midair, the two parts flipping and flopping. Crash! The broken door hit heavy brick and shattered into jagged strips and shrapnel. Girls raised their arms to shield themselves from the debris.

I paid them no mind. This wasn't a repeat of Furinkan's assault. I chose where the door would fly, and I knew that the little crap it had kicked up wouldn't cause serious injuries. Content in my superior morality, I strode into the room with a cocky strut and a giant smirk.

"Sorry, but class has been canceled on account of an ass kicking and a prison break," I declared with loud authority.

Shocked eyes fixed on me. At the front of the class were Lilac and Akina. Instructors. That much was obvious. Between the two of them lay a girl surrounded by sparkling lights that quickly dissipated. The downed girl let out a wheezing, wet, cough and hacked red droplets onto the floor. I grimaced. Aborted tenki. Hopefully she'd be okay. Internally, I apologized for my stupidity. Then I focused on more important things.

I glanced across the room. No Akane. Damn.

"Excuse me," Akina said, her haughty voice shattering stillness. The woman adopted a relaxed pose, setting a hand on the podium. "But I decide when class ends. So I'm not quite sure what it is you think you're doing here."

I tore my eyes from Akina and focused on Ukyou. I wasn't going to let idol wanna-be set the pace. The more in charge I was, the faster I would get these girls rescuing themselves.

"Ucchan. Grab the girls and head for the gates," I ordered, meeting my childhood friend's eyes. I made a nudging motion with my head toward the front of the class. "I'll take care of the trash."

Ukyou's face was shrouded by confusion that transformed into shock. "Ranchan?"

Akina's violet eyes flickered to me, to Ukyou, and to me once more. Ruby lips curved with mirth.

"Saotome-san," Akina said slowly, as though she found my name pleasing. She scrutinized me from head to foot. "That is certainly a drastic improvement over your prior thuggish look. I approve. Your manners, on the other hand, remain as brutish as ever."

Akina paused and addressed her companion. "Naomi, please escort Saotome-san to Ogura-sensei's office so that she may be properly enrolled."

Lilac, or Naomi as Akina had named her, pulled a violet wand out of thin air. Little petals snapped out of the instrument, forming a blossoming flower. The girl stalked forward, grim faced and threatening. My diaphragm quivered at the sight. It was all I could do to keep giggles from slipping past my lips. Playing the part of the dark suited gangster didn't suit her at all. Her violent expression did nothing but make her cheeks puff out cutely.

Lilac stepped close and placed her flower rod against my neck. "Move," she yipped, sounding rather like a puppy.

I tilted my head to the side, and regarded Lilac with disdain. It was a tricky expression. My megami no ooi was built on smiles and sweetness, and it wanted to replace my sneer with something cuter. To make it work I twisted my spiritual aura, distorting my megami no ooi slightly. The result was... perfection, a queen looking down upon an insect.

Then my scorn transformed into a haughty smirk. Play time was over.

With ruthless efficiency I expanded my aura, wrapped it around Lilac, and rejected. Haigeki squeezed her with the hand of a giant. Lilac's feeble, unschooled shuken splintered when faced with my superior power. In a single instant, I had stripped away her invincibility.

Lilac froze and a dawning awareness began to seep into her eyes. While that confusion reigned I seized her wrist, tugged her off balance, and rotated her joints until they locked. I added the slightest bit of pressure so that the bones strained at the breaking point.

Clack, cla-clack. Lilac's flower rod rattled on the floor. Her numbed fingers were splayed open, no longer able to retain their grip. I offered Lilac an apologetic smile, then threw her face first through the wall and into the hall beyond.

Clap. Clap. I made a show of brushing off my hands in the dead silent room.

"Ranchan!" Ukyou hissed between clenched teeth.

My eyes jerked back to my friend, who was still sitting in her seat. She glared at me with an expression of thinly masked anger and desperation. The way her shoulders were twitching was disconcerting.

"Kuonji-chan, I don't believe I gave you permission to speak," Akina snapped from the front of the room.

Akina's words hit Ukyou like a hammer. In instant Ukyou went as stiff as a board, her face white and skin waxy. She stood straight for a second, then toppled to the ground, arms and limbs jittering across the floor as a series of spasms wracked her body. Ukyou's lips twisted back in a rictus of agony, a silent scream and all the more horrible for it.

Anger roared, and I twisted to face Akina. A shout exploded through my throat, temporarily dashing aside the dulcet voice tenki had given me.

"What the hell did you do!"

"Discipline. Something you will soon have a first hand experience with," Akina explained. She stepped forward, sliding in front of her podium. "Since it appears Naomi has fallen, I will end this farce."

Nen-nen korori yo, Okorori yo, she sang. Soft, silvery notes flowed forth. A tangible wave spread across the room, a haze of air reverberating with the sound. The music wrapped itself around me and my bones began to quiver. Numbness spread through my skin.

Akina's lullaby, I recognized it. I wasn't going to fall for the same trick twice.

I unleashed my aura, and power met power. Akina's weapon wasn't sound but the magic born from her spiritual presence. To counter it, I used the same. I pushed her spirit back with my own. Her shuken pressed into mine, but I dashed her power by rejecting the world she sought to impose. It was a struggle. Akina's magic sought to slip around mine. It formed itself into spikes and drilled into places I left soft. In terms of both skill and power, Akina and Lilac could not be compared.

Weariness sank into me. While I scattered the bulk of Akina's assault, slivers of her song continued to slip through and sap my stamina.

But, that was all the lullaby could do.

"The... tiara."

Ukyou's gasp redirected my attention. Ukyou's brown eyes met mine, chips of adamant will drowning in a sea of pain. I faltered at the sight, then struggled anew to push aside Akina's spell. Ukyou, however, would not let my mind wander. With a strong hand, wrapped in a silken glove, Ukyou grabbed my ankle. Fingers clamped onto my skin, and iron strength conducted the tremble of Ukyou's seizures into me.

Faced with such an intense will, I could not look away.

"... tiara... off!" Ukyou garbled through the agony.

Bōya wa yoi ko da, Nenne shina~. The notes of Akina's song cut deeper. I wobbled, my eyelids drooping for a second before I threw off the intrusive magic with a burst of strength. Damn. I shot a look at Akina, who remained at the front of the class, then at Ukyou who's gaze burned up at me. Damn. Damn. Damn. Fine. Ukyou first. I'd just have to bear the lullaby for the time being.

Moving as fast as possible, I stooped down and thrust my fingers through the gaps in the silver headdress. Ukyou's body went rigid at my touch. I could see the muscles of her jaw straining as she ground her teeth together with enough force to crush rock. I reared back and pulled with all my strength.

The tiara did not fly free. Instead, it was Ukyou that was ripped from the ground. The girl flew up into the air. Rising. Rising. Higher until her head, then her waist, then her feet floated above me. She came to a sudden stop, my grip on the tiara preventing further ascent. It was that last jerk that did it. The headdress tore free and with it came clumps of dark hair and slivers of bloody skin.

Thud! Crash! Ukyou landed hard on the flat top of a desk. The table broke under her weight, all four legs cracking from the force of impact.

Dizzily. I pushed against Akina's aura only to find that it had retreated. I put the woman in my peripheral vision and risked focusing on Ukyou instead.

"You okay there, Ucchan?" I asked.

"I'm not dead," Ukyou croaked back. She waved a gloved hand toward the front of the room. "Just... take care of Akina for me, and I'll get the rest of the girls free."

Nodding, I shifted my attention back to my opponent. Akina no longer sang. Instead, she watched me with wary eyes, her ruby lips pressed into a frown.

"To repel my magic with so little training, truly, you are worthy of the Director's interest," Akina observed. An amused smile grew upon her visage. "It seems that I am left with only brutish tactics to subdue a brute. A fitting circumstance, if uncivilized."

I rolled my shoulders and kicked a few desks out of the way. The tables clattered across the room, bowling over their cousins and freeing a path between me and Akina. To the side, Ukyou worked, knees atop of a pinned girl while she wrenched a tiara free. Tears, sobs, and silent screams marked her progress.

"Well, you're in luck," I replied. "Because uncivilized is a language I'm fluent in."

Akina's answer was to place her hands over her navel and draw an incredible breath. Her chest swelled. Her mouth opened wide. I could feel the all the air in the room go still, as though every molecule was waiting for her to sing.

But I moved first. In an instant, I condensed my aura and, with a shout, projected it across the room. Not at Akina, but at the wall behind her. "Moko takabisha!"

A sputtering bullet burst from my hands, lacking any recoil. The ball of blue made it two arms lengths before sparks of pink light ripped their way out of the interior. My ki blast exploded, scattering dense energy in every direction. Watery pellets bounced across the room, thudding off the surfaces with no more power than a tennis ball.

What?

I froze, trying to understand, then the answer hit me. Stupid. Of course my moko takabisha wouldn't work. I didn't have a confidence aura right now so much as a cutesy one.

Akina unleashed a series of percussive notes, crushing my lament. What she uttered was not a song. There were no words. Instead, Akina's celestial voice became an instrument and with it she played music that was fast, violent, and deadly.

The ground exploded around me. Desks shattered into splinters and cement cratered as though struck by a giant hammers. Fists of sound formed in midair then lashed out. Invisible projectiles attacked from every direction, catching me unaware.

In a different world, I would have been flattened in an instant.

In this one, every bullet missed.

Shuken. The same impervious defense that thwarted me so many times now worked in my favor. The moment Akina's attack started, reality bent. Tenki took grasp of my body and made me dance. Effortlessly, I floated between imperceptible sonic bludgeons. There was no intent behind my dodges. Neither will nor awareness were required. Instead, shuken resisted. My aura imposed upon the universe a new law, one that declared with supreme authority: Ranma Saotome can never be hit.

Invincibility.

Above all else, that was the greatest power tenki granted. And now it was mine.

Briefly, anyway.

Akina's attacks were drenched in haigeki. Even when they missed, they struck the citadel of my soul like the shots from a cannon. My aura wavered with every blow and sharp cracks tore through my shuken. My impenetrable defense crumbled under Akina's assault in bare seconds.

But seconds were all I required.

I was neither Lilac nor Carrotcake. I had never learned to rely on tenki as my sole means of defense. I did not need shuken. I already possessed the skill and agility to weave between my enemy's attacks. So, when the invincible defense granted by shuken caved, I was already moving.

I leaped, flipping over the vague distortion that shot through the air. Acoustic bombs flashed by and detonated along the wall behind me. I span in midair, the toe of my heels brushing fragile ceiling tiles. I pulled my body tight and slid between four more shimmering bullets.

My evasions bought me no more than a handful of breaths, but that was all the time I needed. My aura had stabilized and the invincibility of shuken had been restored. I gave my body to the magic, letting it move me through a spray of invisible pulses. My defense could not hold for long. My shuken warped as it struggled to impose fantasy, and pink light sprayed out where Akina's blasts tore gaps through my aura.

For two tense seconds my finger pounded the rims of my glasses and finally found aura mode.

Invisible energy was suddenly hued with a ghostly green.

A sonic bullet clipped my arm, sending reverberating shocks through my bones. I swayed to the side and danced back to avoid the follow up. I quickly noted the three misty balls of green that were forming on every side of me. A trap. One that would have been far deadlier only moments ago. I dived to the side. The pulses released an instant too slow. They flashed through my afterimage and crashed into the floor and walls of the classroom, pulverizing what remained of the room's internal structure. The hall and the adjacent bathrooms now lay exposed to view.

I retreated, but moved slow enough to ensure Akina followed. A sonic shower peppered my wake, reducing the hall to rubble. I made no attempt to reply. My strategic goal was to save Ukyou, and the further from her the fight became, the better chance Ukyou had of escape.

While I ran, I learned. I exposed myself to Akina's assault and discovered the extent of shuken's defense. My magic held against the barrage for no more than three seconds. After that, I needed at least as much time to coerce my aura back into working order. If I waited even longer, shuken would restore itself, but I could not consider that a viable tactic while within the heat of battle.

I studied Akina's attacks. Her sonic bullets came in sets of six. Beyond that, the sky was the limit. She fired her shots with varied beats, in series or parallel. They came from every direction: front, back, left, right, above, and below. The bullets formed wherever Akina willed, the domain of my aura the only boundary she could not breach.

I twisted around a corner and fled down another hall. A symphony of destruction chased after me. It was time to end the chase. Already, I could see the signs of a school rising to the alarm. Soon, allies would rush to Akina's side.

Ukyou had enough breathing room.

In a sudden shift, my retreat became a forward dash. Seven steps sent me rocketing forward. Acoustic bullets met my charge. I ducked and slid underneath. Shuken responded to my will and traction vanished. I coasted over tile as though it were ice. Two pulses passed overhead. Displaced air sucked my pigtails up and into the whirlwind they left behind.

Traction changed. My feet stopped and my body swung forward. I pushed off, flipping into the air and over a third blast that struck low. I twisted acrobatically in flight, rebounded off a wall, and ran along the opposite. The final trio of Akina's sonic series missed.

Open.

With a final leap, I was on her. A high, spinning kick flashed over Akina's head when she dipped low at the last second. The attack, sharpened with a haigeki boosted ikisasu, sliced Akina's aura in two. I floated forward, twirling into an elbow strike. Akina reformed her guard and pulled her aura tight, but my attack slammed into the defense before it was readied and blew her back several steps.

I allowed no respite.

I dived after Akina and peppered her with lightning fast side kicks. The strikes pummeled Akina's arms and eroded her mystical defense into vapor. Heavy blows bruised her limbs, and two kicks slipped through, punishing ribs and abdomen.

Then, just as quickly, I withdrew. I could have dared more, but Michiko's glasses showed a ghastly green haze forming so thickly around Akina that it blocked her normal orange hue. I prepared myself for a counter assault and was not disappointed.

The instant I pulled back, Akina unleashed a deafening scream. It wasn't so much a sound as a force. Stone powdered. Walls shook. Windows burst. The air reverberated, pulsing lines of pressure forming with such density that they warped the light. The screech was a wall of destruction that expanded in every direction in the blink of an eye, leaving no possibility for evasion.

The magic hit me harder than a shoulder check by Panda Pop. I was plucked from the ground and flung a dozen meters down the hall. Pink light sparked around me. My aura was resonating with the sound and spewing out energy. My shuken held, barely, and I landed on the ground feet first. Stiletto heels dug into tile, carving trenches as they slowed my pace. Then the gale passed. Except for the ringing of my ears, I was uninjured.

I stalked forward and answered Akina's blast with one of my own. Again ki condensed between my hands, swirling inward in a cyclone of light. This time I did not draw from my confidence. Instead, I kept my magic pure, empowering the attack with nothing but haigeki. Frustration, spite, and anger were pooled together in a orb of destruction. It glowed pale pink, a false innocence that obscured the malevolent forces contained within.

I thrust my hands forward and shouted. Ki passed into breath. Breath became words. Will was made manifest. By naming my technique, I amplified it and gave it solidity. "Tenshi osakebi!"

Heavenly light flashed, and stone was rent asunder. A tremendous gap was torn through the school's outer walls. Daylight poured in through it. The destruction left behind was shocking. It looked as though an eighteen wheeler had careened through the hall and then done a couple of three-sixties for good measure.

In the center of the carnage was Akina. The black bodiced girl hovered a few centimeters above the shattered floor. Her voice warbled and a sphere of distorted air shimmered around her, tinted a faint green by my glasses. Despite the power of my attack, my opponent remained untouched.

Akina's tone cut off, and she settled to the ground.

"Attend to the escaping students," Akina called out. Her voice was crisp and it cut through the rumble of shifting stone. "You'll do no good here."

It took me a second to realize that Akina was talking to the gawking crowd that surrounded us. My eyes shifted through the group. There were about a dozen girls. None had rated higher than Kuno on the Daisuke-Saffron scale. From the absence of readiness, I guessed that most lacked combat experience. I could take the whole group single handedly. But I had more than myself to worry about. Unless Ukyou had learned tenki, there was no way she'd be able to beat even the weakest of this lot.

I would have to trim their numbers. Until Hikaru and his gang showed up, I was the only thing standing between Ukyou and captivity.

"Tee-he-he-he-he!" A shrill laugh rang out, the voice just short of nails-on-the-chalkboard. A spiral of dark petals wafted through the hollowed out corridor. "I, Lovely Liquorice Kodachi, shall dispose of this trespasser and prove you unworthy of the Director's honor, Senshi."

Perched on the broken shards of a teetering third floor was Kodachi Kuno. She was wearing the same black, gothic lolita outfit as she had when I fought her on the roof, but now the ribbons of liquorice were bigger and more abundant. More subtle was how her aristocratic face had been rounded out into a softer, cuter visage.

This was the result of Chiyo's cotton candy cocoon. Kodachi had undergone as second metamorphosis at her master's whim. Chiyo, however, had failed in her goal of ridding Kodachi of that hideous laugh.

Akina's violet eyes flashed, and her ruby lips thinned. "Assist the other girls, Kodachi. I will handle Saotome on my own."

"I only take orders from my mistress, not you, worthless witch," Kodachi sneered back. "This interloper will fall by my hand. It is already clear you cannot win. No doubt, a product of your inferior breeding. Tee-he-he-he!"

The crowd of spectators made no moves while Kodachi and Akina talked. Untrained fools. I turned that negligence to my advantage and gathered a second ball of virulent pink energy. "Tenshi osakebi!"

With a twist of my wrists I deformed the sphere. The ball became a beam that slashed from right to left. The elongated fan of pink light pierced the space Akina had occupied the instant before.

I missed, but it didn't matter. My attack had done its job. Like a giant sword, my ki had cut its way through the second floor. Gaps as wide as my arm where hewn through struts and walls. The destruction spanned a sixty-degree arc in front of me. Suddenly bereft of its support, the building groaned. Enormous masses began to shift. Pillars, strained by the earlier fighting, crumbled. The third floor fell upon the second.

Girls scrambled and dived to the side, seeking shelter from the slow motion catastrophe. Dust erupted from the floors and ceilings in a cloud that shrouded everything. The ground lurched beneath my feet, its angle changing as one end rose and the other fell.

The orange hued ghosts of girls rushed to find sanctuary. I attacked.

Dancing through debris and dodging falling rubble I found my way to the closest girl. A young witch no older than fourteen. Her pointed hat had fallen to her feet, and she was clinging to a pin board for balance. She struggled to pull herself up, her legs slipping out of underneath her.

I offered no pity.

I closed in and smashed her upside the head. My fist plowed into the witch's temple, her shuken offering nothing but fractional resistance to my ikisasu. The girl slumped and rolled down the tilted corridor.

I whirled on.

Ten loping strides brought me to a princess. She evaded my opening strike, a sweeping round house that threatened to remove her feet. She answered with the inept swipe of her wand. Rainbow light slashed out in the attack's wake, but missed by a meter. I didn't allow a second chance. Completing my spin, I hit the princess with a second round house, this one burying itself into her left kidney. The girl was flung back and into a wall. She slumped there, gasping for breath while clutching her side.

Next was a school girl, magical knight duo. The two slowed me for all of five seconds before joining their companions on the floor. That was all it took. The flow of battle had shifted.

Roaring fire halted my progress. I dodged back and long tongues of flame stretched out in pursuit. Air whistled above me and I slid to the side. A giant club crashed into the ground and crushed the floor into finer gravel.

I leaned to avoid the backslash and faced my opponents. Three oni were gathered in a semi circle around me. Each of the horned demons stood half again as tall as I did. All were armed thick branches torn from trees, the occasional twig and leaf still attached. I ignored them and utilized Michiko's glasses to see beyond. A distant, orange ghost, wreathed in green flames, was offering support.

I dealt with the ranged attacker first, firing off lance of pink that stabbed out and into the distance. Without waiting to see if I had hit my mark, I flung myself forward. The oni moved to block. They swung at me with broad strokes. Their weapons were heavy and their attacks slow. Even if I had been tied down by chains, I could have evaded them all. I answered with fists and feet. The demons crumbled and vanished into puffs of smoke. All that they left behind were small, smoldering, paper seals.

Shikigami.

I swung my gaze and found the summoner. She was perched at the peak of the tilted floor, a young woman wearing a beautiful onmyouji outfit. She held in her hand two more ofuda, which she promptly threw. Green mist flowed into the seals, and a pair of oni took form.

Only to be ended by my blurring hands. I crushed the paper slips between my fingers and then tore them in half.

An instant later, I was on her.

The onmyouji retreated as fast as she could, and withstood my first few attacks with a modicum of skill and a large helping of shuken. I could see the desperation rage on her face as she tried one last bid to ward me off. A living gun, made of demonic flesh, materialized around her arm. She opened fire. Two bright pulses flashed on either side of me as I swayed around the assault. In the following second the onmyouji's shuken caved. My next kick struck her in the chest and slammed her into a wall. I finished by punching her in the face and driving her head through the concrete.

Music heralded Akina's return to the fray.

No sooner did the first note reach my ear than I was in the air. A barrage of sonic bombs pummeled my prior position. I twirled in midair and landed, upside down, on the rebar mesh that divided school from sky. I swung side to side while maintaining my perch. Sonic hammers flashed by so close that they sheered bits of pink ki from my aura before wasting their energy on the blue heavens above.

I gazed down. There you are.

Akina was on the first floor, standing in a zone cleared of strewn rubble. With my target sighted, I unhooked my feet and kicked off. I rolled while I descended, evading two more sonic bullets and the slash of a red liquorice whip. I hit the inclined second floor feet first. Kodachi's whip snapped after me, but with cavorting steps I skipped away.

"Tee-he-he-hee!" Kodachi giggled as she slung her whip in crazed motions.

The red candy ribbon cracked twice, slicing great hunks from the ground beneath me. The overhang broke loose. I allowed myself to fall with it. I plunged two and a half stories from the askew second floor that now aspired to be the third.

With a haunting voice, Akina sang a bar of six bullets. They met me in midair. I slipped between the acoustic assault, contorting as I fell. Skirt, ribbons, and long pigtailed locks were set awhirl with my acrobatics. I landed on a toe, tenki making my touchdown look impossibly soft. With my aura barely quivering, I returned fire.

Akina wove between punches, her head bobbing side-to-side. To an outsider, it would have looked like a two world class fighters slugging it out. That apparent evenness was a lie. My ikisasu was carving great hunks from Akina's shuken. She compensated by willing her aura back into place. But, there was a time limit on her invulnerability and it was quickly running out.

Of course, both of us knew that.

While she defended with shuken, Akina prepared her counter assault with haigeki. Potent power gathered around her forming a haze of thickening green. The HUD on my lenses flickered thrice and then shut off. I caught glimpse of my opponent through unfiltered vision. Aureate star in regalia hair, Akina danced to the beat of my assault, an enchanting idol shimmying upon the stage. Sparkling light moved with her, highlighting her golden skirt and midnight bodice.

Then she screamed.

The atmosphere shook. Resonating force exploded out. Physical objects were catapulted away. Rubble too heavy to be thrown was shaken into dust.

The blast hit me head on. I did not retreat, but instead endured. In the face of raw rejection I imposed fantasy. Haigeki warred with shuken and my aura distorted under the mystic pressure. Crushing force squeezed me in vise. Air shoved its way into my lungs, bloating them to the bursting point even while my chest was compressed by the hands of a giant.

The wave passed. Splinters of pink energy scattered in the attack's wake, fragments of ki torn from my megami no ooi by the tidal forces inflicted. A slump of weariness followed, notable more by its suddenness than by how it marked the limits of my strength.

Silence. My abused ears rang. Warm liquid rolled from the channels. My body was shouting out its agony, but the adrenaline washed away all pain. The advantage was mine.

Akina's scream had been more strategic than offensive. Short range favored me just as long range favored her. If it had driven me back then I would have been forced to wade through a sonic shower while her shuken recovered. Instead, we remained face to face. Better than that, Akina had pulled from her reserves to unleash the attack, and that had left her aura depleted.

In mystical terms, Akina was defenseless, and while she was no half-trained girl, Akina lacked the ability to withstand my skill.

I had won.

It took but a single step to put me back in range of Akina. I started by burying my fist into her gut. Her frame folded around my arm, and her body lifted into the air. I seized Akina's right arm with my left and jumped. My body twisted in a tight circle and Akina's arm twisted with me. Wrist and elbow gave way with a sickening crack. I released and flipped head over heels. I landed on Akina's back with one foot while kicking downward with all my strength.

The blow landed right as we both hit ground.

Akina went still.

Victory.

Pain.

My triumph was cut short. A rain of tiny candy bullets scattered across my back. Each of the red liquorice bits penetrated two centimeters into muscle. They flayed the flesh from my back, reducing pink cloth and creamy skin to a mess of pounded meat.

I threw myself out of the way. A line of bullets trailed after, powdering stone and perforating broken walls. I rebounded off of two surfaces while avoiding the confectionery death. Only then did I find cover that was sufficiently thick.

I huddled behind the pillar for long seconds, listening to Kodachi's insane giggles. Icy numbness was spreading through my back, and my aura was recovering slowly. I took direct control and focused the bulk of my spiritual strength to rejecting the poison that was flowing into my veins. The hellfire of haigeki tore into Kodachi's magic and reduced it into nothingness. Numbness ceased its growth and began to fade. I replaced haigeki with shuken and eased it into my wounds. The magic was cool and soothing. I felt pain fade away as flesh reknit and torn silk was restored to perfection.

"Tee-he-he-hee! Run all you like little girl," Kodachi cackled. "But I, Lovely Liquorice Kodachi, will cut you down."

I held my hiding place for a few more precious seconds so that my wounds could heal further. Then I stepped out and into view.

"Sorry to disappoint, but running is not in my play book," I replied.

I casually leaned against a wall and watched Kodachi through the broken rubble. A shower of water sprayed between us. Beams of sunlight passed through the scattered droplets, shedding prismatic light.

Grrraaawww. The school let out a long, hideous groan. The floors above us shifted, sliding to the side a centimeter or two. Dust poured from the ceiling in waterfalls. Neon lights flickered, and sparks shot from exposed wiring. A sharp crack, like the fire of a gun, echoed from some distant locale.

Quietly, I pondered Kodachi. She wasn't in my plans, but now that she was here I had the opportunity to save her as well. The question was, could I afford to drag an unwilling or unconscious girl with me while I sought to find Akane?

No. I couldn't. The answer came easily. Tatewaki might hate me even more for it, but Kodachi was further down my important person list than Akane.

"Foolish girl, your arrogance cannot hide your weakness. Even now my poison steals away your strength," Kodachi crowed. Long lengths of liquorice formed around her as she spoke. "Beg for mercy all you like, but I will never grant it. Tee-he-he-hee!"

Poison. Weakness. Kodachi, as always, thought too highly of herself. Sure, I was breathing hard, but I still had more than half my strength. Time, right now, was as much a foe as an ally. It brought Hikaru closer, but also Chiyo and Gondul. For that matter, I had not missed how Akina's body had vanished. Tenki had cured my wounds. Tenki would certainly cure hers. If Akina and Kodachi double teamed me, things could get ugly.

Another series of cracks sounded like a line of firecrackers going off. The whole school rumbled, and the second floor slid half-a-meter along its inclined perch. I grinned. I could use that again. But first, a lure.

"Beg? A maid? I think not." My words were imperious, as though spoken by nobility. I played the part, straightening myself and taking the haughty stance of an aristocrat. "Your poison, serving girl, has already been nullified. As though it were ever a threat. A creature of your stature could never hope to defeat a lady of true breeding."

Kodachi struck at me with a wide slash. Razor candy whipped through the wall, traveling from my left to my right. I slipped around the attack, following the curve the liquorice whip. The twined strands kissed my right shoulder as I moved, a line of blood and icy numbness marking its touch.

"Insufferable wretch! I shall put you in your place," Kodachi screeched.

She raged. Kodachi attacked again and again with wild swings, her liquorice whip snapping to and fro. But fury did not blunt Kodachi's skill. The slash of her whip was as accurate as ever. If anything, the danger had increased. Anger fueled Kodachi's haigeki and, in turn, empowered her attacks. Her candy whip no longer sliced, but instead obliterated.

I fled from Kodachi's rampage, vanishing deep into unstable halls. There, darkness encroached. Fluorescent lights did little but sputter, and daylight was held at bay by the intact structure of the second and third floors.

The liquorice whip snapped out again, flashing past my cheek. It eradicated the support beam behind me.

"Pitiful," I scoffed. "They allow girls of this quality to attend? I am not impressed."

Kodachi's whip answered my disdain, rolling, twisting, and shredding concrete like putty. The hall groaned with its weakening structure. I took that as my warning and subtly strengthened my shuken. With all my magic occupied, I relied on nothing but raw skill to dodge. At the same time, I goaded Kodachi further. It wouldn't do for her to become aware too soon.

"Perhaps I am wrong?" I queried. "Are you part of the serving staff?"

"Die!" Kodachi screamed.

Red liquorice swirled and then stabbed out in a candy spear. The attack drilled through my afterimage and annihilated the pillar behind me. The hall groaned again. Sharp cracks echoed out, stone and steel shattering under the shifting weight. The ceiling sagged, and the fight was brought to a sudden halt.

Rather than look at me, Kodachi stared at the ceiling. I offered an unappreciated smirk and released my shuken.

My aura rolled out in every direction. Crudely woven ki sank into the stones and dispersed through the hall. It imposed upon the broken school an idea. Reality bent the slightest bit, and a world already primed unleashed its fury.

All at once, crooked crevasses shot through walls and ceiling. Kodachi backpedaled and then turned to run, but I had lured her too far from safety, and the breaking structure imbued with my spirit had become a malignant force. Cracks gave chase, spreading like lightning and reaching out far ahead. They allowed no hope for escape.

The school collapsed. It fell as a single entity, all its weight focused inward. It was as though the building itself was intent on burying my opponent.

"Wow," I said. I gazed in admiration of my handiwork. "That was kind of awesome."

Kodachi was entombed by a mountain of rubble. I, only half a dozen meters away, was untouched. Every wall had caved away from me. Steel supports had serendipitously twisted so that they had served as a shield from falling debris. Sunlight now warmed my back, and I indulged in it. I grinned uncontrollably, my pride surging at my rapid mastery of magical girl magics.

"It seems that you'll leave no stone standing, Saotome-san. Barbaric."

Akina. She stood upon the broken remains of the school's roof, a furious angel glaring down upon me. I smiled back, unable and unwilling to hide the joy of victory.

"Please," I retorted. "I didn't see you hesitate before ripping the school apart."

Onmyouji, Fencer, and Lilac were gathered at Akina's flank. Five monstrous oni sprang into existence around them and moved to cut off escape. I paid the shikigami no mind and instead pounded the rim of my glasses until aura-mode turned on properly. I scanned the mountain of rubble. An orange ghost was buried beneath. Kodachi was pinned but not dead, exactly as I had been aiming for.

"I, at least, do not delight in such savagery," Akina answered. "You, on the other hand, are a beast. Smiling at the destruction you wrought, gloating over the pain inflicted upon your enemies, truly, you are deserving of the title, senshi. The Director will be pleased that you live up to her expectations."

I gave Akina an odd look. I was uncertain if her accusations of barbarism were supposed to be insults or compliments. Not that it mattered to me. Words like cute, sweet, and pretty had far sharper barbs when turned against me.

"Good for her, then. But I really don't care what the Director thinks. Let's get this over and done with. I still have a girl to pick up." I attempted to crack my knuckles, but tenki apparently considered that act too unfeminine. I concealed my mistake by stretching my arms instead.

Akina descended and failed to hide a wince at the small drop. She opened and closed her right hand a few times, but I could see that the limb did not move easily. The fact that Akina's shuken had failed restore her arm's functionality was a sign that Akina was on her last legs. I shifted into a stance, plans snapping together on how to take advantage of that fact.

Akina sighed. "I'd be a fool to face you again," she admitted. "While I wield my magic with greater skill, you have proven yourself to be the superior warrior. I already see how this fight will end. No. I will not repeat my mistake. This time we will hold you here until either Chiyo, or Gondul arrive to resolve the matter."

A new, cheeky voice chimed in. "Tough luck there, Akina-chan, because your time just ran out."

Past the gathered magical girls and atop a tower of rubble was Hikaru. The salary-man was wearing a broad grin and a button-up shirt drenched with sweat. He tapped a sawed off shotgun against his shoulder in a lazy gesture.

Behind Hikaru was a dome of yellow. It expanded in an accelerating rush. The boundary swept over Hikaru and smashed into the gathered girls. Akina attempted to throw herself back but moved seconds too late.

The expanding dome hit Akina in the air. She stopped. All color leached from her clothes and skin leaving behind nothing but gray. Impossibly, Akina did not fall. Instead she sat in the sky, a statue undeterred by gravity.

I glanced down at myself. All I had felt when the magic hit me was a slight tingle.

"Ranchan!" Ukyou shouted.

Ukyou crested the broken rubble in an energetic leap. Her princess gown had been shredded in the fighting. The skirt was stripped, exposing legs and torn stockings. She was also barefoot, her heeled shoes long since abandoned.

Just behind Ukyou was Syaoran. He landed on the rubble next to Hikaru, his hands hidden within the long sleeves of his robes and crossed against his chest. I didn't catch more than that because Ukyou shoved herself into my vision and grinned like mad.

"Ranchan, looks like we got here just in time to pay you back," Ukyou said.

"I had everything under control," I retorted. I was a little miffed she could think otherwise, but mild irritation was not enough to eclipse the elation of seeing her free. "What are you doing here? And what just happened?"

"Syaoran stopped time," Hikaru replied, answering the second question. "Kuonji's here because she insisted."

"Damn right!" Ukyou said.

"Stopped time?" I glanced at the frozen statues. Magical girls held still in mid action. Stopped time. I couldn't believe it. Not even when I was staring at the result. "Is that... possible?"

"Yep," Hikaru said, smiling like he'd done it himself, "Pretty awesome, isn't it?"

"Sakura's magic, not mine. I am merely borrowing it." Syaoran scanned the terrain. "We should leave. This spell won't hold forever."

I shook my head. "I'm not going anywhere without Akane."

"We talked about this," Hikaru said.

"Stuff it, Hikaru," I shot back. "Hey, Ucchan, where did they take her?"

Ukyou hefted a big rock and tossed it a few times to judge its weight. Then she looked over a shoulder, her face conveying regret. "Sorry, Ranchan, but I haven't seen her since the first day. They dragged her off almost immediately for adjustment. Ogura-sensei had her eyes on us. I'm sure I was next." Ukyou gave a weak smile. "Thanks for the save, Ranchan. But next time, lose the frills."

With that, Ukyou turned and threw a hunk of concrete at Akina's head. The crumbling rock shattered on the woman's skull, causing no apparent damage. "Take that, bitch!" Ukyou cursed.

"Any guess where she'd be?" I asked.

Ukyou closed her eyes and shook her head. "You should probably check the west wing. Just past the cathedral. I've only heard rumors, but supposedly that's where they stash the problem cases."

I glanced across the school. We were on ruined the east wing of the Institute. Joined to the east wing, and undamaged, was the segment Ukyou had called the cathedral, a gothic structure with sweeping arches and stained glass windows. Beyond that, but invisible from where I was standing, was the west wing. The west-wing was a long, squat, one-storied structure. I could probably search the whole building in less than ten minutes.

"I hate to rain on your parade, but we definitely don't have enough time for that. It's a miracle that Gondul and Chiyo haven't shown up yet, and staying longer is just pushing our luck." Hikaru shuddered. "Worse. The Director herself could intervene."

"Oh, silly Hikaru, it wasn't a miracle. I merely wanted to watch Ranma-chan beat up Akina-chan," a sweet, yet malicious voice said.

Chiyo Mori sauntered across the rubble that was once the east wing. Crackling yellow bolts sparked off her powder blue dress. Syaoran's magic was shattering on the surface of Chiyo's godlike aura. Frozen time held no grip upon Chiyo. She daintily stepped through the debris, twirling an embroidered umbrella above her head as though she were walking through a sunlit park.

Chiyo stopped and smiled at us. The grin was wide enough to split her face in two. "But since all that is done and over with, how about we play instead?"

"Chiyo." Hikaru's expression became guarded. "Shit. No choice. We leave. Now."

"You can run if you want, but I'm not leaving without Akane," I said stubbornly.

As though to contradict my words, my hands shook. Chiyo. I couldn't beat her. Not even with tenki. If someone as weak as Akina could give me trouble, I would have no hope when pitted against Chiyo's insane strength.

Hikaru's eyes flashed. "Kid. Don't be a fool. Save her later."

"I'll save her now."

"A fool is exactly what she is, Hikaru-kun," Chiyo interrupted. The angelic monster twirled prettily on the mound of rock. "But don't worry. She'll be gooey sweetness soon enough. Ah! I know. How about an early birthday present, Hikaru-kun? I can give you a cute candy princess to play with."

"That'll never happen," I growled. I glared up at Chiyo.

Chiyo's brown eyes flickered to me. "Stupid girl. Didn't you learn anything the first time? What you want is-"

"Hey, Chiyo, can you give us a minute?" Hikaru asked loudly. He flashed a broad grin. "For old times sake?"

"Hikaru, Hikaru. You're so mean interrupting a cute little girl like me. But, since I love you so, I'll let you have your talk. Just don't keep me waiting. You know how... impatient I can be," Chiyo said with a giggle.

Hikaru dropped his smile and switched back to me. "Give it up, kid. If you reach for too much, you'll end up with nothing. It time for us to run away so we can fight another day."

"Damn it, Hikaru, you know I can't leave without Akane." I said.

Truth be told, I kind of wanted to be talked down, but my damn pride refused to cooperate. Besides, how the hell could I leave Akane behind? That wouldn't happen. Ever.

Hikaru opened his mouth to say more, but Syaoran cut in.

"Nigata. He must do what he must." Syaoran turned to me. "Go. We will hold her as long as we can."

Hikaru gave Syaoran a sharp look. "You aren't serious, are you?"

Syaoran answered with a measured gaze.

"Shit. Fine. But just so you know, if we die, I'm blaming you," Hikaru grumbled. "Here's to hoping Chiba shows up quick and bails us out."

I glanced at Ukyou. She shook her head.

"I'll stay out of the way, sugar. I know I'm useless here. Find Akane. We'll chat later over okonomiyaki."

"Time's up!" Chiyo chirped. "I hope you're all sorted out now, because all this talking is so boring." Chiyo said. The girl casually discarded her umbrella and made a show of pulling out a pair of candy-cane battle axes.

"Syaoran, please tell me you've got something really good up your sleeves," Hikaru growled under his breath as Chiyo stalked forward.

Syaoran whipped out a pink backed card. "Fiery," he whispered. Flames exploded around him and formed into feminine spirit. "Take her, Hikaru, and don't give Sakura a reason to scold me again."

That was the last I saw, because I turned my back and ran. Behind me a shout of Raitei Shourai rang out, and the clash of battle began.

-oOo-

I wasted a minute trying to reach the west wing before I realized it was impossible. Once within ten meters of the building, no matter how fast I ran, it remained that far away.

Damn. In frustration I tapped the rim of Michiko's glasses. Colors played over the lenses and I saw that the entire west wing was wrapped in a thin green fog. Magic. I grimaced and swung my eyes back to the east.

Bright lights flashed in the distance. A cacophony of bangs sounded from the fierce fighting. The battle grew further away, indicating that Hikaru and Syaoran were being forced into a rapid retreat. Given the gap between the fighting and the iron gates, I guessed that I had five minutes, at best. After that I'd be fighting Chiyo... alone.

Shit. It wasn't supposed to be like this. I shook my head and rid myself of the darker thoughts. Focus on Akane, Ranma. Ukyou was safe. One down. One to go.

With the west wing off limits, I entered the cathedral.

The huge, oak doors opened into an ancient stone temple. The cathedral was dim and became dimmer when the heavy doors closed themselves with their own weight. The only light was that which filtered through the dozens of stained glass windows four stories above. They painted the ground with the mirror of their shape. A crescent moon on a dark background, silver vines entwining.

Though Ukyou had named this place 'the cathedral', the great chamber was no place of worship. Benches were lined up facing a throne so that authority could be disseminated, not religion. Yet, I could not deny the majesty of the design. Epic pillars stretched high and arched overhead to form a dome. Dozens of unlit chandeliers hung from the rafters. The granite floor was polished to a sheen. Emblazoned at my feet was a giant seal depicting the same moon and vines with even greater detail.

The chamber made me feel small and unworthy. I had an inkling that was the point.

A figure rose from the front most bench. Gondul. I recognized the warrior from her armor: steel helmet beset with wings and mail shirt covered by a corslet.

Gondul stepped out into the path between the benches and thudded the butt of her iron shafted spear against the ground. "Fight me with honor, warrior!" she shouted, her strong voice echoing throughout the chamber.

I ignored her. Instead, I scanned the western wall with my glasses. Ah ha. Cut into the stone of the cathedral were a pair of double doors leading into the western wing. Michiko's glasses showed that they were free of green mist. I had my entrance. With the flick of a finger I snapped the aura mode off and faced Gondul.

I gave an apologetic smile. "Sorry, but I don't have the time to deal with you."

Even as I delivered my retort, I moved. I dashed across the stone floor and vaulted over wooden benches. Bang! Bang! Bang! Jagged javelins of lightning struck. My shuken shook, but held. Truth was overwritten by a lie. Blasts that should have hit instead missed and I was thrown to the ground in a tight roll so that the brilliant energy wasted itself against the cathedral's walls.

Chung! Gondul landed in front of me with a metallic clang. With two heavy steps she was between me and the door.

"I give you no choice, warrior. We will fight here, upon the sacred grounds of Her Majesty," Gondul declared. "But to honor your commitment, I shall set your Akane free should you prove victorious."

"I would prefer if you didn't make such a promise, Gondul," a new woman spoke.

The speaker was tall and dressed in thick layers of cloth that washed across the ground. A circlet of silver, crusted with diamonds, embraced her brow. The metal ring parted at the woman's forehead and there, dangling from short chains, was a yellow crescent moon. The woman held herself with a regal stature as she strode in from the back of the cathedral. She swept her way up the daises and sat in the throne. From there, she gazed down upon us as though she were a god.

Her presence sent chills down my spine. I could not fathom her strength. Of this woman's spirit, I could only catch the briefest glimpses, and what I saw shone like the sun. Even the air shimmered around her, a tangible result of power so raw that it defied imagination.

Gondul faced the woman and knelt. The Valkyrie set her spear flat on the floor and bowed her head until she could see nothing but stone.

"Your majesty," Gondul greeted.

An opportunity. I dived for the door, uninterested in the scene playing itself out. Gondul did not rise to stop me. She didn't need to. Before I could reach the double doors, vines grew out of nowhere and swallowed them. They did not stop after denying me my route. Thousands upon thousands of tendrils continued to spread and expand. They covered the entire western wall, then spread further until every path in and out the cathedral was bocked by a mass of ligneous tentacles.

The chandeliers lit as one filling the darkened cathedral with a warm glow.

"None of that," the woman proclaimed from her throne. "My senshi has challenged you to an honorable duel, and it would be a disgrace if you did not answer."

The woman paused. "Though, I must respect how you place duty above glory. Very well. I will honor the promise of my knight, Gondul. Should you defeat her, I will expel a girl of your choice."

I relaxed into a loose stance. "You must be the director, Artemis. Why should I believe anything you say?"

Artemis's expression turned stern. "Whether you trust me or not, girl, is irrelevant. The moment you stepped into my realm, you belonged to me. It is only at my sufferance that your sacrifice will have any meaning. Do not try me further, or I will crush you where you stand."

My eyes darkened and my face was marred by a scowl. I didn't like this woman's tone. "You talk like you've already won."

"And so I have," Artemis declared. "But believe whatever you wish. I will not argue with a peasant. Face Gondul or not, but be quick about it." Artemis's eyes shifted to her knight. "You may rise."

Gondul stood and faced me once more. She gave a slight bow and thumped her spear against the ground again. "Honor me with this battle."

I looked past her and at the woman on the throne. "So, if I win, Akane and I walk free, right?" I said, confirming the promise.

"No," Artemis contradicted. "Win and a girl you name goes free. You, Saotome, now and forever belong to me."

I grimaced and grunted. "Good enough, but I'm don't think I'm making any promises about surrendering." I shifted my eyes back to the Valkyrie. "Well then, let's fight."

With a swift whirl I stole the first strike, a spinning kick that slammed into Gondul's helmet. The attack hit with enough force to crush boulders, and cut into Gondul's aura with a haigeki sharp enough to slice Akina's shuken in two. I may as well have thrown pebbles at a charging bear. Gondul's only reaction was for her head to sway to the side by a single centimeter.

I hopped back. My leg had gone numb from the sudden stop. Crap. The Valkyrie was tough enough to make Ryouga seem soft.

Gondul stretched her neck and stepped forward. She started with a single, slow, probing thrust of her spear. I batted it aside...

...At least that was what I tried to do. The weapon slipped past my arm as though it didn't exist, and shredded my shuken like paper. The spear's broad leaf blade bit flesh and sliced along my ribs.

I hissed and jerked back. Shit. What the hell? I blocked that. I knew I blocked that. How?

A second thrust followed the first. This time I devoted my full attention to defending. Carefully, but swiftly, I went for the spear's haft. Again, I missed. When my palm should have touched steel, the spear was no longer there. Instead, the weapon had teleported half a meter lower, where it cut a shallow wound into my right thigh.

I ground my teeth in frustration more than pain. Once could have been a fluke. Twice was an impossibility. How? There was no way I would fail to block such a slow thrust. So what technique had Gondul used to slip her spear past my guard?

In irritation, I waited for the third attack. Gondul obliged. The weapon surged forward then vanished like vapor when it met my guard, only to puncture the skin on my right arm causing crimson droplets to fall to the floor. Ah! I felt it that time. When the spear thrust, reality bent. The weapon carried with it an absolute law on par to the one invoked by my shuken. Where my aura declared with all my mystical strength: I cannot be hit, the spear declared with even greater force: I never fail to pierce my target.

Magic. Gondul's spear was magic, and the worst kind too. It neutralized my magical girl defense with power to spare, rendering me completely defenseless. But, like the aura of a magical girl, the spear's law was not absolute. Power yielded to power. To defend against the spear, all I needed was a law that was even greater.

I danced back a dozen meters and gave myself breathing room. In the break of battle, shuken poured into my wounds, sealing flesh. Bleeding stopped and scars vanished. But, like all things born of tenki, the healing was a half truth. The injuries remained, hidden away by the magic that seeped into them. When tenki fell, some fraction of their existence would return. I was all too aware that, if my wounds were severe enough, I would die.

Then again, that had been a risk from the moment I had forced my unready body into this state.

Gondul pursued with a lazy walk. Her arm stabbed out twice as she approached and crackling electricity jumped out at me in an energetic bolt. Again shuken saved me, causing my body to sway to the side so that the lightning missed narrowly. The second attack I avoided on my own. I dodged Gondul's aim instead of her lightning and was rewarded when the bolt hit a wall far to my right.

Then we returned to melee. Gondul opened with the same slow stab, an attack that imparted neither strength nor speed. I stepped in, my left hand blurring to intercept. To assist my block I used haigeki. I focused the whole of my energy into a single point and utterly rejected the spear's law. The weapon's magic faltered. My palm met steel and I swept the blade to the side.

The unexpected defense left Gondul's guard open, and I dove in without hesitance. When the two of us were face to face I lashed out. My right fist pounded into the Valkyrie's nose in a machine gun blur so fast that it looked like a single strike. The ikisasu enhanced amaguriken blew Gondul's head back. She retreated a half step. I followed, readying a second punch with my left arm. I never got a chance to deliver it. The Valkyrie's buckler blindsided me.

The rounded shield smashed into the side of my head with the force of a battering ram. The speed and power behind the blow sent me spinning. I flew through the air for two meters before smashing atop a wooden bench. I bounced and then landed on my feet. My legs wobbled, and I fought to get my reeling senses back under control.

Gondul did not pursue. The Valkyrie was busy wiping away the blood that had been pouring from her nose.

Shaking the last bit of fog from my head I flashed Gondul a smirk. Gondul answered with a sharp nod and the thump of her spear against her chest.

Then she struck.

The lazy speed Gondul had shown was cast aside. The Valkyrie crossed the distance between us in the blink of an eye. She thrust. This was no a half hearted blow. Gondul's entire frame was centered behind her spear, propelling it forward at the speed of lightning.

I fell back. It was but a single step but it garnered for me the tiniest fractions of a second. I brought up my arm and batted the weapon to the side with the swiftness of the wind. A blur of thrusts followed, dozens of attacks delivered in a single second, each targeting a different vital. The dizzying speed of the Gondul's jabs threatened to overwhelm my defense. I pulled heavily from the amaguriken, using the technique to increase the velocity of my hands to the max. All the while, I continuously neutralized the spear's law, lest I be gutted.

I retreated at nearly a run, and Gondul pursued in an unending avalanche. I fought to find my rhythm. Nicks and cuts appearing by the score. Every microsecond counted. A touch too slow, and the blade of Gondul's spear would slice flesh. If I let my haigeki waver, the weapon would sneak past my defense and unleash a crimson spray.

Blood began to seep into my clothes. Desperately, I sought to work the magic of shuken into my guard. Finally, I found the desired combination, and I won for myself breathing room. For now, I could hold against Gondul's assault.

But not for long. It had cost me two minutes to solidify my defense, and already I could feel my arms growing heavy. I was throwing away ki as though it were water, and working my muscles until they burned. Soon my movement would slow, and Gondul would eviscerate me.

It was impossible to win by defending. I had to attack.

So that was what I did.

Sharpening my haigeki, I lessened my defense and stepped in. The shift in my style created openings and Gondul found them instantly. Her spear scored two hits, cutting deep and severing muscle. With my strength already concentrated there was little energy left to heal the wounds, so I grit my teeth and ignored the pain.

I would gladly pay that price twice over to take back the offense.

Another step and I was in range. The nearness stifled the Valkyrie's spear work, and I used that to my advantage. I drove my knee into Gondul's ribs while lashing out at her chin with my left fist. Gondul countered by spinning her spear like a staff. I jumped. The haft swept under my legs while I rolled in the air and kicked. My stiletto heel clanged against Gondul's helmet, but otherwise showed no effect.

The Valkyrie shortened her grip and thrust up at me. I gathered haigeki in my foot and hooked the weapon with my right shoe. I shoved down, pushing the spear aside, and bouncing back into the air with a tiny hop. While suspended, I gathered my aura into a single point. It was a risky gamble, but ordinary attacks were failing to penetrate Gondul's shuken.

"Tenshi osakebi," I shouted while thrusting my hands at Gondul's face.

Light flashed and at the same time Gondul's spear struck true. The wide leaf blade slashed across my stomach, slicing a trench into my flesh before penetrating my right breast. The recoil of my attack blew the two of us apart. The spear lurched. The wound tore larger.

I smashed through several benches in an uncontrolled heap. I hit the ground and rolled. Short, gasping breaths escaped my lungs, and pain obscured everything. My dress was drenched with blood. I had a hand over the wound, squeezing it closed. I didn't remember putting it there. Robotically, I stumbled to my feet.

My mind sputtered and restored its function. I summoned up all my ki and converted it into shuken. Cancerous ice spread through the laceration, and the blood that was oozing through my fingers slowed. Numbness dulled the pain and my thoughts became clearer. It wasn't enough. I wasn't holding a breast anymore, but a hunk of meat. I couldn't heal a wound of this size, not fast enough, and not with the energy I had left.

And, across the room, Gondul was pulling herself to her feet.

If she attacked me now, it was all over. Dizzily, I drew deeply from the embers of my endurance and fired off another tenshi osakebi.

The pink bullet flashed across the cathedral only to meet Gondul's shield. The attack ricocheted off the steel surface into a nearby wall. Stalk and sap splattered across the room.

Gondul jerked her leg free from a tangle of vines and shook broken stems from her armor. She took a few lurching steps forward and then jumped. It was impossible for a blow to be more telegraphed. She flew in a predefined arch, her spear drawn back to deliver a fatal thrust at the end.

Weakly, I realized that I no longer had the strength to dodge.

Legs shaking and vision blurred, I shifted into a stance to absorb the attack. I put my left hand forward to defend while my right hand held together the two halves of my breast. My ki sputtered. Tenki resisted my attempts to refocus my spirit. It cared more for the utter perfection of my appearance than for my survival. I made it yield.

Gondul landed.

My hand snapped out at the last instant and grabbed the haft of the spear. Death was cast astray, but the Valkyrie herself had yet to stop. Gondul, armored with steel and massing three times what I did, bowled me over and crushed me to the ground.

A wrestling match ensued. Gondul knelt atop of me and attempted to wrench her spear free from the granite floor. I held my grip and used what remained of my strength to hold it there. Gondul added a second arm and I released my wound. With my freed right hand, I punched the Valkyrie in the face as many times as physically possible.

Gondul took my blows with little more than a grunt. With her whole body, she pulled back. The spear ripped free. Victorious, she lifted the weapon high, while at the same time smashing me across the face with her gauntleted fist. My muscles tensed in preparation, ready to reverse the pin the moment Gondul struck.

"Enough!" Artemis commanded.

Silver vines burst from the stone floor. They encircled my body, and pulled me tight against the ground. Others spiraled up the Valkyrie, and held her in place. Muscles bulged in Gondul's arm. Tendrils stretched and began to snap. Then, all at once, violence drained from Gondul's eyes. After a few long seconds, the vines released the Valkyrie.

Gondul stood and faced her queen once more.

"Your majesty," Gondul intoned.

I struggled helplessly against the tendrils that held me in place. "The fight wasn't over!" I snapped.

Damn it. Just a little longer. A little longer and I could have saved Akane. But, even as I thought that, I realized it was no more than delusion. I had lost. No. I had never had a chance in the first place. I had been courting death the entire fight, and Gondul's defense had been too solid to be breached by casual attacks.

Attempting to drag this fight on longer was suicide.

Reality, however, did nothing to dim my pride.

"Silence!" Artemis thundered. "I am witness to this battle, and it was by my assent alone that any boon be granted to the victor. You have lost, Ranma Saotome. So declares I, Artemis Serenity Silvervine, Director of the Pretty Princess Institute, aunt of the late Serenity VI, and now reigning Queen of the Moon Kingdom. So mote it be."

Artemis whirled and faced the warrior kneeling before her. "And, Gondul, how dare you! Was I not clear that Saotome was to be captured? She is mine! Her life is to be ended to my hands only. Do not treat it so carelessly."

"As you will it," Gondul answered back.

"And be sure to not forget it," Artemis reprimanded. Then her voice cooled. "Now, once Saotome willingly kneels to me, I will allow the continuation of this battle. But, Gondul, you will not face her while wielding Gungnir. It is one matter for my senshi to battle against one another to see who is the best, and another for them to cause the other's death. I can no longer trust, Gondul, that you will not unwittingly do the latter. Arise."

Gondul stood and then bowed to the Director. The Valkyrie turned and faced me. Feral yellow eyes, like those of a wolf, met my own. I swallowed my pride and gave tiny nod of acknowledgement. Of all the girls I had fought, Gondul alone deserved to be called an artist of war. I had to honor her that.

Gondul thumped her spear in reply then retreated from the room.

"Michiko," Artemis called out.

At once the silver bikinied beach babe made herself present, her silver heels clicking on the stone surface. Michiko had expanded her wardrobe from when I last saw her. She now wore a lab coat over her silver bikini bathing suit. The white garment cut off at the woman's calves, and was barely able to hold in her bountiful breasts with a single button.

Grudgingly, I was forced to admit that Michiko was, in fact, superior to Hinako-sensei.

"How is she," Artemis asked.

Michiko bent down next to me and plucked the glasses from my head. She held them in her hand for silent seconds while the magic of her shuken fought to restore the glasses. Silver spread throughout the frames, and pink sparks shot from every surface. Eventually, the energies died down and Michiko placed the glasses on her nose.

Michiko examined me for a while after that, her fingers running across the rims in a series of rapid taps. After a long moment, she stood, removed her glasses, and slid them them into the front pocket of her lab coat.

"XT-11's spiritual matrix has yet to crystallize. The experiment may proceed," Michiko proclaimed. "However, XT-11 is in critical condition and should be relocated to a medical room immediately. XT-11 has forced her tenki and has taken severe wounds since. The risk of death is significant."

"Salvage her, Michiko, and proceed with the experiment. But remember that she will be one of your sisters, so treat her with care."

"I have already altered the parameters to account for your intent, Director." Michiko reached into a different pocket and pulled out a syringe. She depressed the plunger slightly, spewing out a small amount of liquid.

I glared at Michiko. Michiko cocked her head to the side slightly at my expression, then promptly ignored it. Pinned to the ground by vines, there was little I could do when she thrust the needle into my neck. Unconsciousness followed swiftly.

-oOo-

Ending Notes:

Trivia

Onmyoji – Kind of a cross between a priest and a wizard. Onmyoji were court sorcerers in the older eras of Japanese history. Typical onmyoji powers center around banishing evil spirits, divination (astrology), and control of shikigami.

Shikigami – Demon-like beings controlled by an onmyoji as servitors/familiars.

Gungnir – The mythical spear said to have been owned by Odin. Gungnir is a powerful weapon that embodies the law that it always hits its mark.

Techniques:

List of techniques mentioned or appearing. Common Ranma ½ techniques are not included. All martial arts / ki / ki-like techniques are in (crappy) Japanese. Most magical girl powers are in English.

Tenshi Osakebi[lit. Angel Warcry] – A variation of the moko takabisha, which itself is a variation of the shi shi hokodan. The tenshi osakebi is compatible with Ranma's tenki and uses haigeki instead of confidence as its primary power source. The attack has great 'weight' due to the perfection of the spiritual aura it is based upon and on top of that deals additional damage by causing whatever it hits to rip itself apart.

Tenshi osakebi is in the same league as Ryouga's ultimate shi shi hokodan, but is significantly less powerful due to a much shorter charge time.

Acoustic Bullet (unnamed) – Akina sings three bars unleashing exactly six sonic bullets. Bullets may be manifested anywhere Akina's aura/music reaches, with more distant locations manifesting with greater delay. Acoustic bullets are nearly invisible and travel at a high velocity. This makes the attack difficult to dodge. The destructive effect of any single bullet is akin to a base level moko takabisha, though the rates of fire cannot be compared.

Sonic Blast (unnamed) – Akina screams creating a unidirectional sonic force the repels the target while dealing heavy sonic damage. The power required for this attack takes several seconds for Akina to gather. While preparing a sonic blast Akina in incapable of using other sonic attacks. She does, however, remain able to defend herself.

Characters

This is a brief guide to characters to help you keep track. Major Ranma characters will not be mentioned.

Naomi Aoki (Lilac) [PPI, Elegance] – A magical girl that has flower based magical attacks. Of the three girls that attacked Ranma's class, she fought Ranma for the longest period. Lilac's magical powers are best suited for long range support.

Akina Ishii (Singing Star Angel Akina) [PPI, Elegance] – A magical girl (woman) who's powers derive from music. Akina fights by singing songs or sounding out single notes. Akina is a skilled and experienced magical girl, having nearly half-a-dozen years of combat under her belt. This allows her to compete with Ranma despite the fact she is slightly weaker in terms of raw strength.

GondulSkadadottir [PPI, Invincible] – A Valkyrie/magical girl. She rides the spectral wolf, Garmr. Beautiful and ferocious, Gondul wields her spear in battle with the skill of a master martial artist. Unlike Chiyo and the Director, Gondul doesn't have crazy spiritual power, but she makes up for it with experience and talent. Her defense, invincible, is rare manifestation. When attacked, Gondul ignores and absorbs attacks suffering only minor harm and knock back.

Gondul possess several magic tools include a drinking horn that can take away and restore memories, a dancing sword that can fight on its own if its wielder is wise, and the legendary spear Gungnir.

Tenki: Why Magical Girls

There were lots of good questions about tenki last chapter and that reminded me of a little essay I wrote up but forgot to tag to the end of the last chapter. This essay was intended to preemptively address questions that could reasonable result from facts I never had the chance to present. Specifically, the deep underlying reason as to 'why magical girls?'

To understand tenki, it is first necessary to understand priest techniques. Within the scope of this story priest techniques are techniques that rely upon the 'perfection of spirit' to purify or seal evil. Spiritual perfection here, more than anything, means perfect purity. This in turn requires absolute dedication to a selfless goal. Traditionally, the purity needed for these techniques is sought through the pursuit of religion and the willful abandonment of all worldly desires (hence 'priest techniques').

Humans that have a high levels of 'talent' for priest magic are rare, as this requires a natural tendency to produce a pure aura. Commonly, masters of priest techniques are individuals born with the 'soul of a saint'. However, since purity is the only requirement, there are numerous users of priest techniques that possess dubious moral views.

Now, simply acquiring a level of purity sufficient to use priest techniques isn't hard. Most humans have sufficient compatibility to reach the most basic levels, given several years of dedicated training. Transformation (e.g. nirvana, enlightenment) is, on the other hand, nearly impossible to achieve through traditional methods. Great men have spent their entire lives and failed to obtain this desired state. The number of humans that have done so throughout history can be counted on two hands.

Ranma is completely incapable of reaching nirvana. He has a hard enough time producing the pure aura required for even basic priest techniques. This is what Ranma means when he says he has no talent in the area.

Now, humans are creatures that seek shortcuts, and in doing so they found plenty of other paths to transformation. Most of these methods, however, come with horrific costs. The traditional opposite of enlightenment is to utterly reject the world by sinking into decadent selfishness (e.g. to seek pure evil). The resulting transformation produces what can only be described as a demon... though many demons would reject the notion that something so vile is in any way related to them.

Needless to say, decent people don't turn themselves into monsters. For those that do not wish to sink to such a level there is a generally easier and safer path: tenki.

What tenki does is make use of the fact that beauty and purity are mystically associated. Because of this an aura of beauty can, oddly enough, be used to purify. With this pseudo purity trait self-purification becomes possible and through that means, transformation.

Now, what makes tenki special is the numerous benefits an aura of beauty offers. First is that the mystical purity associated with beauty is 'false'and therefore transformation is easier because it is always easier to create 'false perfection' than 'real perfection'. This is only amplified by the fact that beauty itself is only 'skin deep' meaning that a facade of beauty is sufficient for tenki. Similarly, the depth of the spiritual transformation is shallower, lessening the potential for fatal spiritual damage.

Second is that beauty is somewhat subjective ('in the eye of the beholder'). This means there are many avenues to creating perfect beauty, and further, the user's 'faith' in their own perfection has mystical weight.

Finally, beauty is overt. This means that sensing and evaluating the perfection of a megami no ooi is much, much easier. This, in turn, makes it easier for a user to make changes to their aura (or state of dress) and determine whether these changes make their megami no ooi more or less perfect. In extreme cases an individual skilled at manipulating spiritual energies could directly alter their aura until sufficient perfection is reached.

All of these make tenki comparatively easy. In fact, tenki is the easiest known way to achieve transformation... at least assuming that the subject in question is good looking...

This, of course, leaves the remaining question: why magical girls? The answer again is influenced by multiple traits.

The first reasons are purely mystical. Females, through their ability to give birth, have stronger mystical associations to creation and life than men. This makes tenki, the creation of a fantasy universe, easier and safer. Likewise, the mystical association between beauty, perfection, and purity is stronger for females than males.

The next reason is cultural. Due to culture women have better access to body modification (cosmetics, etc...) than men. They also have better access to elaborate clothes and other beauty enhancers. This makes constructing a facade of beauty easier for women than men. Beauty is also culturally more important to women, so women are, by and large, closer to the requirements for tenki in the first place.

In the case of Ranma there are two additional reasons. First is that Chiyo's cotton candy cocoon greatly advantaged Ranma's female side. The second was that Ranma didn't fully understand tenki. He wasn't sure that it was safe to use tenki as a man and wasn't willing to risk killing himself in the attempt without at least minimal confirmation that it could work.