Chapter 1 –

Transition in Time

Homura gazed up at the condensing storm clouds, her mind numb with grief at her failure to accomplish her goal once again. Clenching her fist tightly around the bright red ribbon her best friend had given her before making her wish, her white coat and silver skirt soaked with rain from her previous battle, but now feeling like they're soaked with her and Madoka's tears. Near her, the familiar soft tink of a grief seed landing on the ground sounded, Walpurgisnacht's. Sauntering almost smugly up to it, staring at her intently, was the annoying white rat that was the cause for all this suffering.

"Amazing, is it not, Homura Akemi? Her potential was so great that immediately after making her wish she was able to defeat even Walpurgisnacht in a single shot! Though I guess we have you to thank for that massive potential, do we not?" Tilting it's head slightly to the side, the creature that looked like a cute anime mascot mixture of a cat and a rabbit with it's ever present, infuriating smile, stuck upon it's face regarded her in an approximation of curiosity and mocking.

"What are you talking about Incubator? How could I have possibly been responsible for Madoka's potential?" Glancing down at him in a small glare before returning her attention back to the growing cage shaped witch descending from the storm, looming imposing in her oppressiveness like a mountain. Her heart clenched with grief, as she reaffirms to herself her goal, to prevent this from happening. 'About a minute left before I can leave,' she thought to herself, instinctively feeling the sand in her shield moving.

"We managed to figure it out a little before Walpurgisnacht descended. You, Homura Akemi, are a time traveler. If I had to guess, you wished to save Madoka Kaname in your original timeline. Though the fact that it manifested in time magic is unique. Very few magical girls have had time magic throughout humanity's history. How many times have you repeated this loop? How many times have you failed to save Madoka Kaname?" the Incubator informed the magical girl. Questioning her on her failures.

Pursing her lips slightly, she debated about whether or not to answer it's question. As much as she hated the creature, she could not deny the fact that it did not lie directly. It omitted information as was useful, but if asked directly, it would always answer the truth, simply because it saw no reason to lie. Maybe she could get some useful answers out of it before she left. "About a hundred. I stopped counting a while ago. It made the grief easier to ignore." She finally answered, the last of the sand falling. She would leave after she got her answer.

"Ah, that would indeed explain Madoka Kaname's massive potential. After going back one hundred times, every time after Madoka Kaname died or turned into a witch, that would add each previous world's potential and destiny to her. Her karmic weight, if you will, would increase every travel point. Every time you try again, you unknowingly would make it harder on yourself. Though I guess by the same logic, you would increase your own karmic weight as you forced reality to change for you, even if not by the same amount." the Incubator answered her, making her heart clinch tighter. "You will make an excellent and powerful Witch when you finally fall. Please by all means, continue with your attempts Homura Akemi. When you and Madoka Kaname finally fall, we will gain the energy of over one hundred realities, more than enough to meet and vastly exceed our quota." it spoke mockingly into her mind. As if her failure was assured and she was merely delaying the inevitable.

As the form of Madoka's Witch finished forming and began to move, the symbols of the witch's name formed in her mind once again. Even after long since learning her name, having learned to read the glyphs from the Incubator in an early timeline, when she still believed in Kyubey, she read them once more, allowing the name to burn her failure into her soul to always remember. Kriemhild Gretchen, the Witch of Salvation. Turning to glare at the Incubator, she snarled, her anger flaring in response to his mocking. "We shall see Incubator. I will save Madoka, and I will not become a Witch to be used in your games!"

She grabbed the top of her buckler, the shield opening, exposing the hourglass filled with purple sand, all the sand in the bottom half. 'I will find a way to save Madoka! I will find a way to save everyone if it means spiting that rat!' she snarled in her mind. Unknown to her, the sand in the hourglass began to glow an incredibly soft green, right before she jerked her shield counterclockwise, inverting the glass against the flow of time.

As reality broke around her, the last thing she saw with a hint of smugness was the Incubators face splitting into pieces. But immediately after that, she realized something wasn't right. The travel wasn't smooth, she was losing control. Panic set in, 'This is not right, something is wrong! This is nothing like what has happened before!' Homura blacked out for a moment as she began to hurtle uncontrollably through time and space.

S-*-*-*-H

"Oh wow…"

As Homura regained consciousness, laying on what felt like stone, she heard the sound of someone marveling at something, as well as the sound of a couple of other people standing up. Quickly pushing herself up into a standing position, she took in the room around her, which looked a lot like a dungeon or basement in a medieval castle. On the floor which she just stood from was a geometric alchemical style circle like from an anime or manga she had seen Madoka or Sayaka read. To her left stood three boys, looking to be high schoolers at the youngest or college aged at the oldest. What stood out to her was the fact that each of them was holding a different weapon.

The oldest looking one that stood closest to her was holding a spear. His long blonde hair tied up in a stylish ponytail, similar to but not as long as Kyoko's long red hair. He was wearing a rather nice-looking blazer over a simple pair of slacks and a V-neck t-shirt.

To his left was a slightly effeminate looking boy, with chin length black hair, wearing a black jacket and some jeans. He was holding a sword.

At the end was the youngest looking boy, wearing what looked like a high school uniform, with curly blonde short hair, holding a bow. Her heart clenched slightly, immediately thinking of Madoka.

Looking down at herself, she noticed she was still wearing her magical girl outfit, and on her left arm. '…that is not MY shield…' was a simple looking shield with a softly glowing green jewel in the center instead of the clock themed buckler she was so used to, and Madoka's ribbon in her right hand. She also noticed that her soul gem was gone, not in it's normal diamond form on the back of her hand, nor as a ring on her finger. Her prior panic was quickly returning. 'What is going on?'

"What's all this?"

It seemed the others were just as confused as she was. "Where are we?" the sword boy asked some guys in robes in front of us.

"Oh heroes! Please save our world!" the one that seemed to be in charge begged, quickly kneeling and bowing kowtow, touching his forehead to the floor, making Homura feel extremely uncomfortable at being shown such reverence, though she refused to let it show on her face.

"What?!" was shouted by the boys, while the more reserved Homura made a sound of confusion and a slightly curious look on her face. "What is that supposed to mean?" asked the blonde spear wielder.

"There are many complications in this situation, but to offer a simple answer to your question, we have just completed an ancient ceremony and summoned you four heroes." The man, priest Homura supposed, answered, raising his head to answer clearly, but not getting up from kowtow.

"Summoned?" she muttered softly. That would make sense, and she supposed it would be possible with magic. While the boys looked a bit dubious despite the evidence. Homura did not blame them, she would be too if she was not a legitimate magical girl. Her perception of reality was twisted as it was. Even if it was a prank, she decided to at least hear them out. 'I need to finish this quickly and get back to Madoka.'

"Our world teeters on the brink of destruction. Heroes, please lend us your strength," he continued while she was thinking, lowering his head back down. "Well, I can at least…" she started before she was interrupted.

"I don't think so."

"Yeah, me either."

"We can go back to our world, right? We'll talk about your problems after that."

The other three interjected. Homura glared at them slightly at being interrupted. They turned to look at her, all of them smiling, before suddenly looking slightly confused at her glare, as well as also just realizing in that moment that she was there and so young.

Shaking his head slightly, the sword wielder pointed his sword at the priest, and nearly shouted, "Don't you feel any guilt for calling people into your world without their permission?"

"Besides," interjected the boy with the bow, "even if we save you and bring peace to your world, you'll just send us back home, right? That just sounds like a job to me." He glared at the priest. "I wonder how much you've considered our opinion on this. I wonder how it could be worth our while. Depending on how the conversation goes, keep in mind that we might end up enemies of your world."

Homura narrowed her eyes slightly at them. 'So that is what they wanted. Compensation and confirmation of standing. I guess that makes sense.' Seeming to realize what was being asked, the priest quickly scrambled back up to his feet. "Yes, well, we would very much like you to speak with the king. He will discuss future compensation with you in the throne room." He answered the two younger looking boys.

"Whatever."

"Fine."

"I don't think it really matters who we talk to, but whatever."

These three were definitely more outspoken than Homura. While she shared their sentiments to a degree, she did not see a reason to be quite as rude. While a certain blue haired idiot would say otherwise, she could be blunt and callous, but she tried to not be rude, as it served to only make matters worse than they needed to be.

Looking away from the boys, she turned to look back towards the priest that had summoned them. "If you'll follow me, I'll take you to the king now." He said, leaning against the heavy looking iron door to slowly push it open before pointing in the direction they needed to go. Homura quietly followed behind her softly complaining companions, she carefully put the ribbon into one of her coat pockets, taking in everything around her.

As they walked out of the relatively dark room into a well lit stone hallway, Homura was suddenly surprised by something simple, 'The air feels…fresher…than I'm used to…' she thought to herself, looking out of the large windows over the medieval looking town below them and out towards the surrounding countryside. 'Though considering this world looks to not have any major technological developments, that would make sense.' Homura felt the desire to stop and admire the view for a moment, to gather herself, but she resisted the urge, as they shortly reached the throne room.

"Huh, so these kids are the [Four Holy Heroes]?" asked an old, important looking man. With his long gray hair, neatly trimmed beard, bright purple robes and the golden crown upon his head, it was easy for Homura to determine that this must have been the king. While reserving further judgement, the magical girl did not develop a good first impression of him, with the blatant condescending tone in his voice. 'To summon us from our own worlds, to protect his own, and then proceed to treat us like we are below him? Either he believes in his own superiority that much, or something else is going on.'

"My name is Aultcray Melromarc XXXII, and I rule these lands. Heroes, show me your faces!" the king declared. Homura furrowed her brow slightly, resisting the urge to comment that they were all already looking up at him. Her opinion of the man took yet another hit. She had the feeling that it was just going to continue.

"Now then, I shall begin with an explanation. This country- no, this whole world- is on the brink of destruction. We are under attack from something known as the [Waves of Destruction], and we have already suffered the first of what is prophesized to be many. Our legends spoke that when the sands within the [Dragon's Hourglass] began to fall we should summon the [Four Holy Heroes] to protect us. When the sand first began to fall one month ago, we ignored the legend, believing it to be nothing but a fairy tale. We paid dearly for that mistake. When the sky opened up and began to release thousands of monsters into this world, several towns and villages were destroyed, and many lives were lost. While my knights and this country's adventurers were able to eventually kill the majority of the monster, legend speaks that each wave will be worse than the last, and that if the waves are not stopped, then they will continue until there is nothing left of this world. So after ignoring it once and suffering the consequences, we decided to heed the legends and have summoned you [Four Holy Heroes], please hear our plea and save our world from the [Waves of Destruction]!"

Homura narrowed her eyes slightly. It all sounded so…fake and cliché. But then again, she had thought something similar about magical girls before she encountered her first [Labyrinth]. Plus this sounded like it would not be a quick mission. If she helped this world, what would happen in her world, to Madoka? Would she be able to return to March 16th in her hospital room? Would she return to find Mitakihara a ruin and Madoka a Witch?

"All right," said the boy with the bow, "I think I understand where you're coming from. But does that mean you are basically commanding us to help you?"

"Seems all fine and good…for you." Continued the sword wielder.

"I agree. All this sounds pretty self-centered to me. If your world is on the road to destruction, just let it burn. I don't see what it has to do with us." Spoke the spear wielder. Homura could hear the soft condescending giggle from standing next to him, telling her that he must have actually thought it was cool or something like that despite his words. Homura decided it was finally time for her to say something.

"As they have said, we do not have a responsibility to help you. If we dedicate our time and lives to helping save your world, do we get anything else besides a 'Thank You, Goodbye'? What about sending us back to our own worlds after everything? Some of us have important jobs that must be completed." Homura spoke clearly to the old king, who seemed to do a small double-take when he finally looked at her. It annoyed Homura deeply that everyone would think less of her for being so young. She was sure just from looking at how the boys held their weapons that they had no combat experience while she had years, if not over a decade, of experience by now.

"Ah, yes, well…"the king stumbled slightly before looking at his attending vassal for a moment, coughing slightly into his fist to regain his trail of thought. "Of course, we were planning on compensating all of you for your efforts, on top of providing you general support financially or otherwise as we are able." The king answered the three boys first, before turning his attention back towards Homura. In his eyes, she saw hesitation and confusion, "…As for returning to your own worlds, [Shield Hero], legends state that you may return if that is your desire upon completing the [Waves of Destruction]. It has been written by previous Heroes that have decided to stay here, that they were offered rewards by the [Holy Weapons] for completing their task. What those rewards were, they did not write down, just that they were offered. Does that answer your question, madam?"

Homura felt some of the panic and tension she'd been feeling since her arrival fade. If it was possible to return to her world, even if it was after Madoka fell, she felt confident that she could still reset back to the hospital. 'Besides, maybe I can learn things that I'll be able to use in my world.' She thought to herself. If they were able to perform summoning magic, it was likely that magic was more widespread here rather than being limited to magical girls and Witches, surely there would be things that she would be able to use. Every advantage she could get to throw at Walpurgisnacht, the less likely Madoka was to contract.

"Oh yeah? Cool. Well, as long as you promise that, I don't think we'll have a problem." Responded the spearman.

"Don't think you've bought us off. As long as we aren't enemies, I'll help you out, though." The bowman.

"Agreed." The swordsman.

"Me too." Homura responded.

"Very well then, heroes. Now, if you'd please tell us your names." The king gestured his hand towards us.

The swordsman stepped forward first, not even glancing at any of us other three, annoying Homura slightly at his rudeness. "My name is Ren Amaki. I am 16 years old and a high school student." Committing his name to her memory, she looked over him in detail. She admitted that he was a decently attractive young guy, relatively short, only a bit taller than her at maybe 160 cm (5 foot 3 inches). He was definitely an effeminate boy; it would be easy enough to mistake him for a girl if he cross-dressed. He looked and gave off a stereotypical pretty boy swordsman from one of Sayaka's manga.

Stepping back to his spot, the taller spearman glanced over at the other two, before stepping forward. "All right, I'll go next. My name is Motoyasu Kitamura. I'm 21 and a college student." To Homura, he gave off similar vibes to Mami, but if she was a boy instead, like older brother vibes. He stood at a respectable 170 cm(5 foot 7 inches). Homura would not be surprised if he were a bit of playboy, he was certainly handsome enough.

As he stepped back, the Bow Hero glanced at her before stepping forward himself. "Okay, my turn. I'm Itsuki Kawasumi. I'm 17 and still in high school." Standing at about the same height as herself, roughly 155 cm (5 foot 1 inch), he still looked older despite his short stature for his age. He gave off the air of being a quiet musician type, while having some kind of inner strength. If the Spear Hero was an outgoing older brother type, then Itsuki was the soft-spoken younger brother.

Watching him step back into his spot, she finally stepped forward. "I guess I am last. My name is Homura Akemi. I am 14 years old, and a middle school student." Looking up at the king, she saw him looking back with a conflicted look in his eyes. Almost as if he hated her but a part of him did not want to. She narrowed her eyes slightly in confusion before stepping back next to Motoyasu.

"Now then. Ren, Motoyasu, Itsuki, and…Homura, correct?" The king seemed to hesitate before announcing her name, but to her it did not feel as if he was struggling to remember it, but whether it should be included. Her intuition was telling her that something was going on. Something that she would not like. Receiving confirmation all around, he then clapped and spread his arms open. "Now then, heroes, please confirm your status and give yourselves an objective evaluation."

"Huh?" Homura, along with the Bow and Spear Heroes were confused. "Excuse me, but how are we supposed to evaluate ourselves?" Itsuki asked.

Ren let out a loud sigh, like he thought they were stupid, and he did not want to waste the time to explain it. "You mean to say that you all haven't figured it out yet? Didn't you realize it the moment you arrived here?" Homura turned to glare slightly at him, annoyed at his "know-it-all" personality. "I mean," he continued, "haven't you noticed any weird icons hanging out in your peripheral vision?"

Homura raised an eyebrow at him, before turning her attention to her peripheral vision. It was then that she noticed a small circle with a shield in it at the bottom right corner of her vision that would move as she looked around. "Just focus on that icon." The Sword Hero explained.

Focusing her full attention on to the icon, it seemed to open just like an internet window on a computer until it filled her field of vision almost completely with a semi transparent window.

{ Homura Akemi

Class: Shield Hero LV 1

Equipment: [Small Shield] (legendary armament)

[Magical Girl Clothing]

Skills: none

Magic: / [Time Manipulation] / (sealed)

[Mana Manipulation]

[Barrier] }

There were several other things on the screen that opened, but there was one thing that caught Homura's attention the most at the moment. She glared softly at the grayed-out words [Time Manipulation] and the word sealed next to it. Her greatest power, and it was sealed for some reason. Was it because she did not have access to her shield or her soul gem? Or did it have something to do with the world itself? While not something she ever investigated, she knew in mythology and from Sayaka and Madoka's interest in manga, that it was not uncommon for the world itself to be believed to be sentient or alive in some form. Her second thought was how…game like everything seemed. She knew LV was a common abbreviation for [Level] in video games and was used to refer to how strong someone or something was.

"Level 1…that makes me nervous."

"Good point. At this rate, who knows if we'll even be able to fight at all?"

"What is all this?"

Homura kept quiet, but silently agreed with the other three heroes. She also knew it was common in video games to start at level 1, but it was still concerning. How could a level 1 be expected to fight something said to cause the end of the world?

"Do these things not exist in your worlds, heroes? You are experiencing [Status] magic. Everyone in this world can see and use it." The king explained to the confused heroes.

"Really?" Homura softly muttered. Despite not being familiar with gaming beyond her interactions with Sayaka and Kyoko's interests in it, she found it amazing to be able to have numerical expressions of your physical body.

"And what are we supposed to do? These numbers seem awfully low." Ren asked the king.

"Yes, well, you will need to go on a journey to further polish your abilities and to strengthen the legendary weapons you possess."

"Strengthen them? You mean these things aren't strong right from the get-go?" responded Motoyasu to the king's explanation.

"That is correct. The summoned heroes must raise their legendary weapons by themselves. That is how they will grow strong, along with the heroes themselves."

Motoyasu began to lazily spin his spear around, thinking out loud. "Why don't we just use different weapons while these are bulking up? Seems smart to me."

Homura agreed to herself silently. She was used to needing to wield other weapons to do anything by herself anyways. With only a shield currently, she doubted she would be able to do much.

"We can work all that out later on. Right now, we should focus on improving ourselves, just like the king asked us to do." Ren cut off the conversation before it could continue. Again, Homura had to agree, but she knew she would need to at least look into getting a weapon before setting out.

"Are we going to form a party? The four of us?" Motoyasu asked us. Homura looked slightly confused at the word party. And then she remembered the explanation given to her, what seemed so long ago, by Sayaka when they were still on friendly terms. In video games, a party was a group of characters that worked together, sharing items and experience to level together and complete the game. The [Magical Quintet] as Mami had named them so many timelines ago could be considered a party in video games.

"Wait just a moment, heroes." The king interrupted, just as all the heroes were getting ready to leave together. "The four of you should set out separately to recruit your own companions."

"Why is that?" Itsuki asked.

"According to the legends," the king began to explain, "the legendary weapons you possess will interfere with one another should you form a party. Both your weapons and yourselves can only grow when you are apart from one another."

"So, if we stay together, we will not level up?" Homura decided to ask for an explanation. In response to her question, a window like the status magic filled her vision, from the sounds the other three made, they received the same notification.

{Attention: The Legendary Armaments and their owners will experience adverse effects if they fight together.

Caution: it is preferable that the heroes remain separated when possible.}

Homura gained a small look of confusion on her face. The way the message was worded and timed, was almost as if…the weapons were sentient. Looking over the message she noticed off to the side, while the original shield icon was a bit larger, a few smaller circles had appeared over it, at the top was one with a question mark, it was brighter than all the others, and next to it was a yellow exclamation point inside of a triangle. She had seen similar things while on the internet doing research on guns and how to make explosives. It was normally a [Help Menu] of some kind. That would help figure more things out about the world she found herself in.

"I guess it's true then," Motoyasu muttered. "So you think we should try to form our own parties?" Ren asked,

"I will attempt to secure travel companions for you all. Regardless, evening draws near. Heroes, you should rest for the night and prepare for departure on the morrow. In the meantime, I will find companions from the village below." The king explained in response to Ren's question. All the heroes chimed in some words of thanks.

S-*-*-*-H

The four heroes were led to a bed chamber from the throne room by a maid. Before any of the heroes could make a comment about how inappropriate it was, the maid turned and bowed to Homura. "This bed chamber is where Lord Amaki, Lord Kitamura and Lord Kawasumi will be sleeping. We servants ask you, Lady Akemi, to please rest here with the other heroes until dinner while we prepare a separate bed chamber for you."

Homura looked slightly uncomfortable at the subservience being shown to her but knew that it was something she would likely have to get used to being a [Holy Hero]. "That is fine for now. I trust my fellow heroes to be respectful until then." She gave a sharp look to the three boys she was summoned with, each of them flinched slightly and appeared to start sweating. While they were not planning to be anything other than gentlemen to the only female in their little group, the young girl's glare was top notch and well-practiced.

The maid bowed a bit deeper, "Thank you for understanding, Lady Akemi. I shall come to you after dinner to escort you to your bed chamber. If the Lords would like, I can ask another servant to escort you back here?" the maid asked the others after standing back up. "Uh, yeah, that'd be great. Thanks." Motoyasu answered her, still working to regain himself from Homura's rather effective glare.

Bowing once more, this time to all the heroes, the maid turned and left, leaving the four to enter the room. All of them gave various expressions of shock at the ornate room and extravagant decorations, while each of them moved to sit on a separate bed. They each began to inspect their weapons before reading over various parts of the [Status Menu]. Homura was glad to see her hunch of there being a [Help Menu] was correct.

According to what she was reading, the [Legendary Armaments] required no maintenance at all, similar to the magical weapons she was familiar with. The material of the weapons would also react and adapt to the level of the hero. There was also a feature of the weapons that was apparently called the [Weapon Book], a screen like her [Status] that kept a list of all of the unlocked forms that were available for the weapon to transform into. The [Help Menu] opened up while she was looking at her [Weapon Book], wondering how to unlock the seemingly endless amount of forms.

{ Weapon Book:

A compendium of forms unlocked by the user for [Weapon Transformation]. New forms are unlocked through [Absorption] and [Weapon Copy]. }

'[Weapon Transformation]? [Absorption]? [Weapon Copy]?' Homura thought to herself. As she focused on these highlighted words, new windows expanded from each of the words, the original window still open.

{ Weapon Transformation:

Weapons can transform into different forms that grant new equipment bonuses including stats, skills, and abilities. Additionally, with enough experience or prerequisites, the user may permanently retain the equip bonuses even if they switch transformations.

Note: some bonuses remain exclusive to a specific form. }

{ Absorption:

Weapons can absorb loot such as items and materials to unlock new variations of the [Legendary Armament] and may equip said variations if they meet the prerequisites. These prerequisites are typically previous variations unlocked or a specific level or skill requirement. Absorbed loot is not consumed and is put into [Storage] for later use by the user, even if used to unlock a new variation. }

{ Weapon Copy:

The user can copy weapons of a similar class to the [Legendary Armament] that they encounter and store them for later access in the [Weapon Book]. Equip bonuses may still require materials to unlock. }

Homura quickly processed the information before zoning in on a word that made her heart speed up slightly. '[Storage]?Is that like…my shield's power?' With a bit of hesitancy, she pulled up the information window for [Storage].

{ Storage:

An interface available to the user through the [Legendary Armament]. Items placed in front of the weapons jewel and willed into being absorbed will be placed into an internal pocket dimension. While there is no limit on the actual internal storage, the [Legendary Armament] is only capable of absorbing or dispensing a maximum of one cubic meter at a time. If an item placed into storage has a corresponding weapon variation, it will be unlocked if prerequisites are met. The item will not be destroyed. }

Biting her lip slightly, she realized it was almost identical to her previous shield, but apparently now having an interface available through her [Status]. Being struck by an idea, she decided it was worth trying out, but the only thing she had on her that could work was…Madoka's ribbon. Hesitantly reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the ribbon, still damp with rainwater. Narrowing her eyes slightly, she contemplated if it was worth the risk. Taking a steadying breath, she decided to trust her shield, after all, it worked for her before, she had no reason to doubt that it would fail here in a world of magic.

Holding the red ribbon in front of the green jewel, she willed it to be absorbed. The jewel began to glow with a bright green light, before the ribbon seemed to dissolve and be drawn into her shield.

{ Ribbon Shield conditions met. }

{ Companion Shield I conditions met. }

Homura's eyes widened slightly, "Ah!"a small startled sound came from her lips, surprised that a shield was apparently unlocked from a simple ribbon as well as not expecting a pop up suddenly. Glancing down at the now blinking [Weapon Book] icon, she focused on it, and a new window popped up.

{ Ribbon Shield

-Abilities Locked- Equip Bonus: Defense +3, skill "Bind" }

{ Companion Shield I

-Abilities Locked- Equip Bonus: Companion Growth Up (small) }

Homura stared at the two windows that popped up curiously. The information made some kind of sense even if she had never played video games before. The only thing she was unsure on was what 'Companion Growth Up (small)' was.

"Hey! Little Homura! Did you just unlock a new shield?!" Motoyasu exclaimed, jolting out of bed and startling Homura out of her focus. When she started paying attention to the three other heroes, she saw that all of them were staring at her in surprise.

"Ah? I...suppose?" Homura muttered in answer. "How did you unlock a new shield already?" Ren questioned her. "Can you show it to us?" Itsuki followed up.

Homura looked between all of them, unsure on how exactly to change to either of the new shields. So as she's quickly learning to do, she checked through her [Help Menu], and found her answer fairly quickly.

{ Changing the Weapon and Unlocking [Abilities]

Changing the weapon refers to changing the form of your currently equipped [Legendary Armament]. If you hold your hand over the weapon and think of the name of the weapon you wish it to become, the weapon will change into the desired form.

[Abilities] can be unlocked by simply using the equipped weapon a certain amount. Once unlocked, the equip bonus will be applied to the owner at all times.

[Equip Bonuses]

[Equip Bonuses] are imbued abilities that can be used while a certain weapon is equipped. So if a weapon has the [Air Strike Bash] ability, that ability can be used as long as that weapon is equipped. If a weapon has an equip bonus of "attack +3," the user's attack stat will increase by 3 while the weapon is equipped. }

Making the required gesture, Homura changed her shield into the Ribbon Shield. With a small sound of rushing wind and a flash of light, her previous pentagon shaped Small Shield changed into a pink raindrop shaped, the tip of the drop point towards her elbow. The edge of the shield was wrapped in a material that looked like brass or gold. The entire shield was wrapped in several different swaths of different width ribbons, the same shade of red as the ribbon that formed it. The entire shield reminded her of Madoka.

"It says it's called the 'Ribbon Shield,' I unlocked it by letting the shield absorb the ribbon given to me by my...best friend." Homura muttered, answering the previous questions that she was asked.

"A ribbon?" Ren asked. "That's strange. I don't remember there being any weapon like that in Brave Star Online."

"Brave Star Online? Don't you mean Emerald Online, Ren?" Motoyasu interjected.

"You're both wrong, this world is obviously Dimension Wave." Itsuki cut in as well before Ren could answer. Homura narrowed her eyes slightly in confusion as she looked between all three of them as they started arguing. From the gist of their words, she was able to figure out that they were talking about what game this world was, and from how they were disagreeing on many other things, such as other popular games, she was able to figure something else out.

"Maybe all three of you are correct." Homura cut off all of their arguing. They all stopped and looked at her, blinking as if they had forgotten she was here. Homura scowled at them in her frustration. She was yanked away from her mission of saving Madoka, into a world that worked like a video game, and all three of her supposed senpai were acting like children. I reminded her painfully of Sayaka and Kyoko. She quickly crushed those feelings under her heel like always and swept them under the rug.

"What do you mean by that little Homura?" Motoyasu questioned her, giving her what he must've thought was a charming smile. Homura scowled a bit more at the nickname she didn't see going away anytime soon.

"It's simple Kitamura-senpai. I might not know much about video games, but I do consider myself an avid reader." 'Or I used to, when I was stuck in the hospital.' she thought to herself, "If all of us are from a different variation of Earth, maybe even from different times, that would explain the different titles for your games. As well as why nothing else matches up." She continued to explain.

Itsuki and Motoyasu nodded at her very possible explanation. After all, they already could confirm multiple worlds exist, they only had to look around to verify that. Ren though, crossed his arms and gave her a questioning look.

"If that's the case, then why do you have a weapon that none of us know about? And on that note, does that shield have any skills or anything useful like that?" he asked her.

"I can not speak for your worlds," Homura began, looking towards Ren. "But in my world, we do not have the technology to simulate an entire world like this. Maybe the games were based on this world, possibly even made by a past hero that returned to your world. If that is the case then maybe the maker did not know it existed. Or if we go with the idea that the games in your worlds were placed there somehow by this world, then it is possible that it and many other things were not included in the game due to technological limitations. As for skills…"

Homura looked at the window for the Ribbon Shield. It said it had the skill [Bind]. As she looked at it and thought about using it, the knowledge kind of just unfolded in her mind. It reminded her of when she first became a magical girl, and the basics of her powers were just there in her mind. So she raised her shield arm up and pointed at Motoyasu. Before he could react she uttered the command just loud enough to be heard.

"[Bind]."

Three purple rings appeared around the Spear Hero before quickly shrinking into him. As they did, they pulled his arms against his torso and his legs together.

"Wah!" he exclaimed, struggling to stay standing before falling straight on to his face. Homura smirked slightly down at him, before noticing that the skill name in her [Weapon Book] had grayed out, just like her [Time Manipulation] had, but this time it was missing the /sealed/ notation.

"Huh." Ren made a small sound, smirking slightly down at Motoyasu rolling back and forth on the floor like an idiot. 30 seconds after she cast the skill, a soft sound similar to something breaking rang out in the room before he jolted up from the ground, glaring a bit playfully at the smirking magical girl.

"Har har har, looks like we got a young jokester here boys." Motoyasu said to Ren and Itsuki, gesturing towards Homura.

Chuckling softly, Itsuki made a shrugging motion. "Eh, Ren did ask her if she gained a skill. Plus I think you were kind of asking for it, calling her 'Little Homura' all the time. Besides, a restraint skill at level 1 that lasts for 30 seconds? That would be useful for any of us, but more so for the Shielder."

Ren nodded, looking down at her shield thoughtfully with a small frown. "While I don't enjoy the thought of using something so 'girly', I can't deny it would be a very useful skill. And what she said about limited processing power restricting the game would make sense."

Seeing the other two nodding, Homura bit her lip softly in thought. She glanced down towards her [Status Menu] and seeing an icon that looked like an open treasure chest was glowing. Opening it, she saw the words [Item Menu] up at the top. The only item shown was lit up white, had a simple drawing of a ribbon to the side and the name "Madoka's Ribbon". She curiously tried to open it, when she did a new window popped up, and in the background she noticed the item in the menu dim to a light gray, and the treasure chest icon close and dim to match the others. She guessed a new item would be lit up, letting her know it was new to her shield at a glance.

{ Madoka's Ribbon: quality: fair, a ribbon from a magical girl, given to her best friend.

Equip Bonus: Magic Defense Up (small)

Dispense? [Yes] / [No] }

She knew from her [Help Menu] that she should be able to pull out items from her shield, even if they were used to unlock a new shield. Selecting the [Yes] button, the jewel on her shield let out the same soft green light that it had when it absorbed the ribbon before the same ribbon seemed to fall out of the jewel, Homura making sure to quickly catch it.

"Wait a second! Homura, that's the same ribbon you just absorbed? How was it not consumed?!" Motoyasu exclaimed, pointing at her and the ribbon in shock. Homura looked at him confused.

"What do you mean Kitamura-senpai? My [Help Menu] said that absorbed items are not consumed even if they unlock a new shield." Motoyasu blinked in surprise before he seemed to space out, apparently going through his own menu, the other two apparently doing the same thing.

"Ah!" Motoyasu made a sound of surprise, jerking slightly. "The menu just glitched but now it's saying the same thing little Homura just said!"

"What do you mean? My menu doesn't say that at all!" Ren scowled at Motoyasu, wanting to call him a liar. Itsuki nodded in agreement.

"Well at first, mine didn't say that." Motoyasu began to explain, "but then I thought 'I just saw little Homura pull out the same ribbon she just used. She has no reason to lie to us. I believe in little Homura.' Then all of a sudden, like I said, my menu seemed to glitch out for a moment before it was added and a notification flag popped up next to my help icon. So I think you have to believe it first."

Homura flicked her eyes between the Spear and Sword Heroes, wondering if they really did have different information in their menus and if it was influenced by something as simple as belief. Itsuki made a soft sound of surprise before Ren gave a sigh and looked again, jerking slightly for a moment before glaring at the menu in front of him. Apparently it was true.

"So not only is there more weapons in this world than the games we know, but now our [Help Menus] are apparently incomplete too?" Ren scowled. "Now I feel like I'm coming out of a beta period and the devs have changed everything because they're assholes. I think Homura's gonna have the easiest time because she doesn't have to relearn everything." Homura tilted her head to the side in confusion, not quite getting what he was talking about, even though Motoyasu and Itsuki were nodding along, eyes closed and arms crossed with serious looks on their faces.

"Well," Homura began, glancing down at her ribbon, internally glad that she just confirmed she'll be able to get it back from her plan. She knew Madoka would support it, and she knew from many repeated timelines building rapport with her fellow heroes was going to be important. Now hopefully it would go more smoothly than with Mami Tomoe and Sayaka Miki had with the last several dozen timelines. "As long as I get this back, I do not mind letting each of you unlock the weapon. We are all going to need to work together if we want to save the world, if the king is to be believed." She stated, hesitantly holding the ribbon out to Motoyasu.

The Spear Hero blinked down at Homura in surprise before smiling at her, taking the offered ribbon and holding it up to his spear. Once it was absorbed into his spear, he changed it into a relatively simple looking spear that was wrapped up in a similar red toned ribbon with a long strand hanging from the bow tied below the blade. As he went to dispense the ribbon to give it back to the Shield Hero, he blinked in surprise with a dumbfounded look.

"'A ribbon from a magical girl?' What is this, an anime?" Looking at Homura in confusion, he looked even more confused when he saw her looking to the side with a soft blush on her cheeks. Dispensing the ribbon and offering it to a very confused Itsuki, he continued to look at Homura intently. "Little Homura...are you a chuunibyou?"

Blushing a bit harder, Homura turned to glare at him. "No. Back in my world, me and my friends were legitimate Magical Girls, fighting Witches to protect the normal people."

Motoyasu blinked before busting out in laughter, Itsuki chuckling as he unlocked the Ribbon Bow, laughing a bit harder at seeing the description on the ribbon that prompted Motoyasu's question. "So Homura's a chuuni? Who'd have thought that 'cool, serious' Homura was chuuni." Itsuki chimed in, passing the ribbon to Ren.

Homura turned to glare at Itsuki, "We are in a world that works like a video game, and that is more believable than 'magical girls are real and I am one of them?'" she bit out.

As his laughter started to ease, Motoyasu smirked at her, "That's like saying VRMMO's are real, but everyone knows that those are only possible in SciFi anime." He chimed back. Ren then pointed his new Ribbon Sword at the Spear Hero.

"What are you talking about? VRMMO's are real and have been around for over a decade now. Almost all games that aren't mobile games are VR games." Now it was his turn to be offended. Motoyasu, Homura and Itsuki all turned to look at him in shock. Ren then blinked in confusion.

"Wait, do you mean to tell me that your worlds don't have VR?" He sounded so shocked. VR must have been a simple fact of life in his world if his shock was so deep rooted. Motoyasu and Itsuki looked back and forth between Homura and Ren.

"...Do your worlds have [Innate Abilities]? Like my [Accuracy] ability? Or something like [Poison Negation] or [Deadly Aim]?" Itsuki asked. The other three heroes looked at him in confusion.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Motoyasu asked.

Itsuki scowled slightly. "About 25 years ago, scientists discovered that a decent amount of people had various abilities, roughly 20% of the population, that make them seem like natural prodigies or sometimes freaks of nature depending on the ability. My [Accuracy] ability ensures that as long as I have a clear line of sight I will always hit my target. [Deadly Aim] is the advanced version of [Accuracy] and guarantees a hit even without a clear line of sight." he explained.

"Most abilities manifest in childhood. Whenever someone develops an ability, they're sent to a special school to train the ability." he continued. "All abilities are given a rank from E to A, and the topmost abilities are given an S ranking, but those are exceptionally rare. Roughly a dozen confirmed S rank ability users exist out of 9 billion people."

All of the heroes looked between each other. "What the hell?" Motoyasu scowled as he crossed his arms with a huff. "Am I the only one from a normal, non anime world? What a rip off. The only remotely anime-esque thing to happen to me was waking up here in this world after getting stabbed by a couple of girls I was dating."

Homura glared slightly at him at hearing him casually admit to dating multiple women. She figured they found out about each other and then turned on him. While she felt that killing him was excessive, he brought it upon himself. Itsuki scowled at him as well. "Well if you were cheating on them, then it's only right that you received Justice."

Motoyasu turned and scowled at him. "Oh really? And can I ask what led to you waking up here? I'm going to guess you died too?"

Itsuki shrugged in response, still scowling at him. "I would believe it's possible. The last thing I remember was crossing the road on my way home from prep school when a dump truck came around the corner at full speed. Next thing I knew I was waking up on the altar with you three." Turning to look at the Sword Hero, he asked, "What about you Ren? What happened to you?"

Looking between Motoyasu and Itsuki, Ren decided to humor him. "I got caught up in a murder case on my way home from school. It was the talk of the town at the time. I was with a good friend of mine. I remember a guy jumping out at him. I pushed my friend out of the way and got stabbed instead. I managed to knock him out with my bokken from kendo practice. The last thing I remember was the criminal getting arrested and everything going dark." He explained, rubbing his side softly as he spoke.

They all turned to Homura after his explanation. "What about our resident magical girl?" Motoyasu chuckled out. Homura just glared at him, trying to decide how much to explain to them. The Spear Hero obviously doubted her story about being a magical girl.

"There was a giant Witch, called Walpurgisnacht, that had begun to attack my city. To the normal people, she appeared like a supercell storm that developed almost out of nowhere. My other friends had all died in the last few weeks before this happened. I was the last magical girl in the area, and decided to at least try and stop her. My best friend showed up not long after I had been thrown into a building. That was when she gave me her ribbon before making a contract with the entity that created us magical girls. She managed to kill Walpurgisnacht at the cost of her own life. I was dying myself from my own fight with the Witch. That was when I was summoned here with you three." Homura explained. All three of them looked at her in pity. Even if she was a chuunibyou, they could believe she watched her best friend die, and she was being delusional on how it had happened to protect herself.

Before they could continue on with their conversation, there was a knock on the door. Homura went to open the door, it was the same maid from earlier.

"Good evening Lady Akemi. I have been sent to retrieve you and the other heroes and escort you all to the dining hall. Following dinner, I will show you to the bed chamber that has been prepared for you." Homura nodded. Dinner and sleep sounded good. While she wished she had more time to grill the heroes about their games for more information, she knew she could do so at a later date, maybe even as early as tomorrow. She made sure to retrieve Madoka's Ribbon back from Ren on their way to the dining hall. Tomorrow would be the start of her second quest, one she unfortunately had to complete in order to be able to even return to save Madoka.