Disclaimer: The works of Urobochi Gen (namely, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, among other things) belong to him. I do not claim any ownership over their characters, concept, or story, their franchise, etc. This is purely fan work.
Disclaimer part 2: This chapter ends in a cliffhanger, I had to split it into two. Next chapter predicted to come out in about 2-3 weeks, more details in A/N below. You can read if you don't mind. Actually, do I even have any readers left? lol
Chapter 10:
The frantic days of learning and rehearsing their battle strategies had passed. There was nothing more they could do, because the fateful day had arrived.
It was early in the morning. The sun may have risen by now, but even its light couldn't be seen through the gray rain clouds that blotted out the sky and drenched the land below them with rain. The howling of the wind gave the illusion that it was alive, tearing through the streets with such force that it made it hard for a normal person to withstand. Everyone in the city had already been evacuated to avoid the supposed supercell, but Jeremy and the magical girls all knew that the storm was caused by Walpurgisnacht.
Perhaps in another timeline, some of them would have evacuated along with the civilians. Perhaps some of them would have been held back, only to talk their way out.
But this time, each and every one of them was present and ready. As ready as they could be anyway, given how little time they had.
The six of them stood in a circle with their clothes snapping back and forth under the tempest, out in the open in the middle of a park. They decided that it would give them reasonable visibility in all directions, while still not being so open that when they had to move, they could still quickly take cover behind buildings as needed.
"So..." Kyoko slowly started. "Who do you think we'll be fighting first? Walpurgisnacht, or Adonis? Anyone want to place bets?"
"I thought Jeremy said that we should avoid Adonis if possible," Madoka commented. "We just need to focus on Walpurgisnacht, whenever it arrives. Jeremy said Adonis is our natural enemy, after all."
"Okay, then who do you think will show up first?" Kyoko changed her question slightly.
"Why are we even wasting time on these pointless things when we should be focused on our surroundings?" Sayaka half complained.
"Oh don't be such a stick in the mud," Kyoko laughed, placing a hand around onto Sayaka's shoulder while offering her some of the chocolate she was eating with her other hand. "Here, have some choco, it'll cheer you right up."
"Will it even taste good in this rain?" A disgruntled Sayaka asked, despite still accepting a piece of the chocolate and popping it into her mouth.
"Well, Miki Sayaka's not wrong, it is a waste of time," Homura agreed with Sayaka, much to the latter's surprise. "It doesn't matter who arrives first because in the end, we'll be fighting them all anyway. Also by the way, I'll bet Walpurgisnacht comes first." Homura said with a slight but cheeky smile on her face to show how she was clearly messing around with Sayaka.
"Well, why not?" Jeremy shrugged as he grinned. "We might as well relax and ease the tension. There's no use in being so tense right before the fight. You'll just end up tiring yourself out before it even begins or accidentally hurting yourself later."
"Maybe they will both come at the same time," Mami joined into the conversation. "By the way, what are we going to bet with?"
"Winners get treated to a meal by the losers?" Kyoko instantly suggested. "Oh and I'll also bet on Walpurgisnacht."
"Seems fine to me," Jeremy nodded. "I'll bet on A—"
It was at that moment a multitude of things suddenly happened.
Jeremy's breath hitched. Suddenly, faster than any of the girls could react, he disappeared from sight.
Homura reacted a split moment right after, with the world instantaneously coming to a complete stop. But looking at the scenery, she knew she was too slow.
Where Jeremy had been standing just moments before, was a familiar murky black tentacle that had snuck its way over within the shadows only to suddenly spear out of the ground, piercing through empty air where Jeremy used to be. It was now frozen in space thanks to her time stop. She recognized it. It was the same attack that had caught them off guard in the very first timeline where she had met and fought Jeremy.
As for the young man himself, he had somehow twisted and contorted himself unnaturally out of the way to the point where his body was almost parallel to the ground. However, standing back up from such an awkward position was nigh impossible, so he had twisted and thrown himself off to the side, almost as if he was rolling across a thin cushion of air that separated him from the ground. And to finish, he used his momentum to turn with flourish, landing on one hand and one knee next to Homura as he faced up at the offending spike.
The sudden evasive maneuver wasn't interrupted since she hadn't stopped time for Jeremy, but just by looking at the situation she also knew that somehow he had managed to avoid the strike and move even faster than she had reacted. And if he hadn't dodged in time, she knew it would've been too late already.
"Am I still not fast enough?" Homura groaned in frustration. There was no point in stopping time if she couldn't stop it quickly enough, after all.
"Don't worry too much about it. There probably won't be any more stealthy surprise attacks after this one," Jeremy assured her. "They'd be a lot less useful now that we're aware that HE's here, and I'm sure HE understands that."
At that, Homura nodded, before releasing the time stop.
The sudden appearance of a strange, black thorn-like tentacle in front of the girls, as well as Jeremy's suddenly instantaneous movement to Homura's side, caused various states of panic amongst the girls, but as no one was hurt they all quieted down quickly as they all turned and focused on the appearance of a man with white, shoulder length hair.
He strode towards them calmly, slowly yet with purpose. The girls watched him carefully. They all knew one way or another that this person must've been the Adonis that Jeremy had told them to be careful of.
The man looked older than even Jeremy, but not old enough to the point that his hair should've gone white. He wore a dark brown cloak that covered most of his body, but didn't conceal the elegant handle of the sword that hung at his waist. But perhaps most notable about his features was his face, with pale skin and eyes which shone ablaze of a brilliant but light shade of red.
Sayaka frowned. She didn't know what else could've screamed 'villain' even more than the appearance of the man before them.
They all bristled as the man drew closer, but after reaching hearing distance he stopped.
"Nice weather today," he said callously, looking up at the dark rain clouds in the sky, as if he had just been out for a stroll and hadn't just attacked. "Barely any sunlight, but still just bright enough to see." And at that, he finally turned back to face them. "I see you have avoided that strike properly this time, Jeremy," he addressed the only male in the group, staring him down as he completely ignored the other girls. "I take it you are finally prepared this time? No, you do not have to answer that. Your blindfold tells me more than enough."
Jeremy didn't say anything in response as he slowly rose from his half kneeling position, bringing himself back up to full height as he brushed himself off.
"No need to give me the silent treatment, old friend," the man laughed. "We both know that I am aware of how your perception is far beyond the limits of a normal human."
At that, the girls finally reacted.
"Adonis." Kyoko snarled. She certainly recognized him as the same one who had turned her friend into a witch. She would never forgive him for that.
"And what do you mean, 'old friend?'" Sayaka growled. "We're all enemies here, don't try to be all chummy."
If Jeremy hadn't warned them before, they probably would've attacked already. But now, they were just cautiously waiting for some kind of signal, since it seemed that the man wasn't so keen on fighting just yet, and they were supposed to leave the main fighting against Adonis to Jeremy anyway.
The man meanwhile simply tilted his head off to the side without any regard for concern. "'Adonis', huh? I sure have not been called that in a while. I am surprised you told them that name."
"Well, to be fair, Adonis is an easier name to pronounce for them," Jeremy finally responded as he shrugged. "And isn't it customary to refer to others by their family name in this country? Well, maybe I'm wrong, though."
"Ha ha ha! You still get hung up on the weirdest of things, sometimes!" the man guffawed.
"Well, I'll cut straight to the point," Jeremy continued through the man's laughter. "Do you still hate the night sky?"
At that question, the laughter stopped. The amusement that was written all over his face was completely wiped off. He nodded just once. "I still do." It was the first time he both looked and sounded serious in the entire conversation. "And I have no reason to change my views. It's dark, cold, and uncaring. Even the stars in the sky can not change that. While people always look up to the stars, they always end up ignoring the fact that they can only shine when surrounded by complete darkness, as if they can only look up to heroes to hide the darkness within their own hearts. Those brats with you are no exception."
"Yeah, humans suck," Jeremy nodded. "I'm not really any better. But these girls? I think they have the potential. Sure, it could just as easily go the wrong way… but that's always the case, isn't it? For you, for me, for anyone, really. I'm sure there's even a possibility where one of them could end up saving the world."
"I see," Brixus acknowledged. "If that's your answer, then there's no more need for talk."
As one, the two of them drew their weapons. Jeremy magically pulled out a rapier, and the man before them drew his—
Each and every one of the magical girls present immediately fixed their eyes on the weapon he held in his hand, their instincts screaming at them that they had to avoid it at all costs.
It looked like a sword. It should've been a sword. No, it probably really was a sword. But where the blade was supposed to be… they couldn't see it. It wasn't that it was invisible. They could tell that something was there. But unlike a normal blade that reflected light, this one sucked in the light, the absolute inverse of a glowing blade, warping their perception of the reality around it. It may be that the best way to describe it was that it was a black hole in the shape of a blade.
Although it was counterintuitive for some to understand, the real reason the human eye could perceive objects was entirely only because of the light that was reflected off such objects. Then, how could one properly describe the appearance of an object that reflected no light, but instead not just absorbed all light but even pulled in, distorted, and broke apart the light around it?
Either way, the girls knew it was dangerous. They instinctively knew that a single strike from that thing would result in something horrifying. It was possible that a single hit could even result in instantaneous transformation into a witch, or even something worse that was completely beyond their imaginations. Even Sayaka, with her super regeneration, didn't want to find out. It was now that they were truly faced with the understanding of why Jeremy had told them to avoid him if at all possible, of why he said he was their natural enemy.
But despite drawing weapons, still neither of them attacked. Instead, they both just raised their weapons in a salute.
"My name is Jeremy Chang," Jeremy recited. "As my current enemy (friend), I will do whatever I can to stop you, for your own sake."
"My name is Brixus Adonis," his opponent returned. "My old friend (enemy), I shall one day save the earth, or die trying."
Was it some kind of ritual? Or just a normal salute? The girls didn't know. The entire conversation was confusing to them. The only thing they could really understand was that it was very clear these two had more history between them then they were aware of, but otherwise none of it seemed to make any sense from what they knew.
The powers of the two men flared upon finishing their introductions, creating a strong gust of wind that whipped at their clothes, strong enough to even temporarily blow the falling rain around them away. And as one, they stepped forward, lowering their salute into a battle-ready stance.
There was no more need for words between the two of them. It was finally time for the fighting to begin.
The two of them did not immediately attack, but instead warily eyed one another as they slowly paced in a quarter circle, observing how the other would act. Jeremy himself had a second reason for moving, which was simply to move his position so that he would not have to worry about any unassuming victims behind him as he avoided blows.
"Homura," Jeremy said briefly partway. The fact that he finally just called her by name, rather than her full name, was ignored by everyone, especially due to how thick the tension in the air was.
However, it seemed calling out to her name had lessened the tension just enough. "Understood," She replied, understanding the command and picking up Madoka, much to the latter's weak protests. "Good luck, Jeremy." And with that, the two of them simply disappeared.
"The rest of you, disperse." Jeremy instructed.
The rest of the girls didn't need any further reason to do as he asked, immediately leaving the scene as they half leapt and half flew out of there as they disappeared amongst the buildings.
Brixus himself waited for the girls to disappear out of sight. He did not seem to care about them at all. It was only a short time after they all left that he unceremoniously raised his weapon with both hands, entering a longsword high guard with his weapon held above his head. For a few moments, he stood just like that, eyeing Jeremy as he did.
Jeremy tensed for a moment, before immediately running off to the side, just as more of those tentacles shot out from the ground, narrowly missing him. They swarmed him from multiple sides, leaving him little room to evade, but Jeremy somehow managed to slip past in time before they had fully encircled him. Unlike the previous times where they just shot out as a single spike with the purpose of catching their target off guard before they could even notice, this time they actively tried to reach out and pierce, cut, mangle, grab, or whatever else they were tasked to do.
With attacks coming in from all directions, the only way to evade was to move through where they were the least concentrated. Jeremy knew it was a trap, but it was better than getting caught by the tentacles, and so he went for it anyway. With a powerful leap, he barrelled past them, cutting aside the flailing tendrils that got too close as the rest got blown away by the air pressure.
It was then that Brixus stepped forward, delivering a downwards cut.
It was at a distance that with a normal sword, it wouldn't have hit. Even with something as large as a zweihander or a polearm, it wouldn't have hit. But this wasn't a normal sword fight to begin with.
The 'blade' of the weapon Brixus didn't launch sword waves or beams. It didn't launch any kind of magic spell. Instead, it simply, instantaneously extended with magic during the cut. But unlike the indescribable blade itself, the extension was the same murky dark color as the tentacles. It reached further than the eye could see, and with that downwards cut, it almost seemed like for a split millisecond, a wall had appeared that went beyond the horizon.
When swinging any object such as a stick, the principle of leverage means that the tip of the stick will always travel a greater distance compared to the part held by your hands, but the time traveled for both parts is always the same. Therefore, the tip of the stick will always be the fastest. And by the exact same principle, the instantaneous extension that appeared on his weapon resulted in a strike that was faster and harder to evade the further away you were, with parts toward the unseen tip possibly even reaching speeds of thousands of kilometers per second.
To put it simply, there was pretty much no delay between the extension and the weapon itself, no matter the distance.
A normal human would not be able to swing such a long weapon without any issues. It would be very unwieldy, difficult to hold up and swing due to the weight. But apparently, nobody told Brixus that, who seemed to be able to swing the weapon around as if it was barely any inconvenience to him.
With that single downward cut, everything before him was cut in twain, leaving a crater on the ground running from the man all the way to beyond visual range, and had split even the buildings in the distance, creating a loud explosion which blew out all the windows. But those buildings were not simply cut through, nor were they crushed through. Indeed, there was a massive crevice running down the entirety of each building, but the edges were neither smooth as one might expect from a clean cut, nor jagged like one might expect from a crushing strike. Rather, even after the slash was already complete, the edges were continuously crumbling, slowly disintegrating, as if the buildings themselves were being eaten away by something introduced to the areas affected by the attack. And in that manner, the buildings completely crumbled away into dust in a matter of minutes.
The strike itself was well-planned and executed. A high guard usually implied that he would launch a strike from above, distracting the opponents from the tentacles. And enemies that did avoid them, would be forced to move in the direction he desired, allowing him to strike right where he wanted them to be next. Against most opponents, it would've been more than enough.
But it didn't end there. Brixus did not stop just after one swing. He did not consider it to be a finishing blow. Following through the motions after his downward strike, with the skill of a master swordsman he let tip of his weapon drop back as he brought his hands up, seamlessly flowing into a second horizontal strike, followed by an upward diagonal false edge cut, and on and on, like a steady waterfall that relentlessly crashed down without end, all the while the tentacles would incessantly hound at the opponent, trying to box them in or get in a deadly strike themselves. Even if it had all been done without magic, it was clear that Brixus was a master of the blade, with the speed and form to back it up.
Jeremy, meanwhile, had evaded the first strike by a hair's breadth with a quick side step. By the second, a parrying dagger had appeared in his left hand, which he used in conjunction with his rapier to cut at tentacles while he swung his trailing leg out back to fall into a low stance, allowing him to avoid the second strike as it went over his head. On the third attack, he hopped to the side, leaning back to avoid the false edge cut while at the same time throwing out eight bladed weapons, highly reminiscent of Emei daggers, but customized to have a longer edge. For a moment they spun at a high speed, turning into wheels of death as they flew in an unpredictable yet deliberate manner around Jeremy like drones, before they began moving individually as if each one had been held by a skilled warrior. They did not orbit, spin, or float around him in a simple manner, but instead precisely targeted the tentacles. Sometimes they cut, sometimes they stabbed, sometimes they whirled, all of them cutting away at the tentacles to give himself more room as he continued to evade Brixus' deadly cuts.
All of this was completed within seconds. And it was with this setup that gave him the breathing room for which, after his next sidestep, he counter-attacked. Parrying a strike with his dagger, he at the exact same time thrusted with his rapier. Just like with Brixus' cut, it was a distance that a normal rapier could not have reached, even with a full on lunge. And just like with Brixus' cut, that distance didn't matter, for although the magic he used was slightly different, it used the same principle: A white spear of light magically materialized at the same time as the thrust, instantly extending the stab without any delay. And while thrusting isn't really faster than the tip of a weapon that is swung due to the lack of leverage, it is also far less telegraphed, coming out much faster and is also much harder to see coming.
Still, Brixus was able to intercept it, merely interrupted his own attack to tuck his arms in and took a half step back, simply bringing his weapon in and to the other side of his body to expertly deflect the white spear. The action seemed to cause the spear to dissipate from existence, but perhaps it was also because the magic used to sustain the attack had already worn out. And immediately after, he stepped forward again, simultaneously using the momentum to throw an uppercut.
And from there, the two of them continued to exchange rapid blows, all the while the cacophony of blades and magic striking each other sounding out in pure dissonance. Brixus was a complete juggernaut, barely moving and taking steps mostly only just to put power into the speed of his swings, while Jeremy flitted about like an untouchable butterfly and stung like a bee.
For anyone watching, it was a battle where the concept of distance just didn't seem to matter at all.
Right before the battle had begun, Jeremy called out her name.
Homura had immediately understood what he had wanted. After all, it was the only logical step after all their training and it also coincided with her main desire: to protect Madoka. And with the SAS, there was really no need for her to be nearby, anyway, not when they had telepathy.
So of course, she picked up the girl, wished him luck, and then stopped time so that they could immediately escape from the scene. Since she was in contact with Madoka, there was no need to do anything special with her powers, either—and so they escaped.
Despite the girl's meek protests, she didn't let her down nor did she stop time until they were in a place she felt was fairly safe.
In another timeline, perhaps that would've been at the top of a building, or perhaps even in an underground bunker. But this time, they chose an enclosed location with multiple escape routes to ensure that they could not be trapped.
"Alright, set up the SAS. Quickly!" Homura shouted. "We need to keep an eye on everything, and fast!"
If Walpurgisnacht had arrived first, they would've had a lot more leeway in choosing where to set up safely, away from the battle. Although it was huge, it wasn't particularly fast—at least, compared to them, and with its massive size, it definitely would've been seen way before it would be in range. And since Jeremy would've joined to fight it wherever it was, Adonis would've made his way there as well. Or was it burikusu…? Burikku…? Burikusasu? Ok, she gave up. Adonis it is. Jeremy was right, Adonis' first name(?) was much harder to pronounce.
But regardless, if Jeremy's enemy had appeared first? They had no idea where he would've approached from, so they had no choice but to wait with everyone first just in case.
And now, with the SAS, choosing a hidden spot with many escape routes was probably the best they could do, since they could see any threat coming at them from any direction and react accordingly. There simply was no sneaking up on them unless the enemy somehow had a way to sneak past the SAS. It was such a powerful tool, Homura couldn't believe that he just came up with it and gave it to Madoka. Or was it actually a struggle, judging by the state of his room when she last visited…?
Homura shook her head. There were too many unimportant thoughts running through it, when she had to focus.
"Hey," Sayaka suddenly asked through telepathy. "What do you think that guy meant when he said he would save the world? Why is he our enemy again?"
"I wouldn't have any idea, but have you forgotten that there's a Kyuubey out there that wants to save the universe at our expense?" Homura sarcastically replied as Madoka told the rest of the girls their location. They would spread out to create a sort of a safety net. Not one to surround Jeremy and Adonis, but one that was centered around Madoka instead.
Madoka was their key to information, after all. They all knew this.
Suddenly, a dull boom shook the building they took refuge in. It was followed by more in quick succession, never stopping.
"What's happening!?" Mami frantically asked. Homura quickly looked at Madoka as she was anxiously manipulating the SAS. "No, I just saw some buildings crumble under their own weight! Who did it?"
On the holographic display, they could see buildings far in the distance collapsing. Red planes (not the flying kind, but the flat surface kind) were appearing and disappearing with quick succession, indicating a strike zone before some kind of attack actually landed. It sort of reminded her of red zones that would appear in the maps of games and such, something about AOE? But here, it was in a 3D holographic map, so rather than a red line it was a plane. And unlike in games, there was almost no time to react; one moment a thick red plane would appear, and the next all the buildings in its path would be cut. But it was clear they were all originating from a single point; the location where Adonis was at.
"Adonis and I are fighting it out right now," Jeremy's voice eventually came over telepathy. He was still using the same earpiece had used previously when talking with Kyuubey, but had recently tweaked it some more so that he too could converse with them from a distance.
"I'm trying to keep his attacks directed away from you girls' location," He continued. Indeed, just by observations all of the red lines were not going anywhere towards any of their locations, or even towards any of the shelters. How was he able to keep all that in mind while fighting this kind of battle? "Just make sure to stay out of our area's general direction and you should be fine.
"I'm also updating your SAS with my own data in real time, so in case of an emergency Akemi Homura should be able to stop time and get anyone out of the way of his attacks," Jeremy continued with telepathy, unaware of Homura's own sidetracked thoughts. "Just focus on what you girls need to do. Our fighting has definitely attracted the attention of Walpurgisnacht, she's coming on over from over the sea! Do your best to intercept her and her familiars as we practiced!"
"From the sea?" Madoka panicked, zooming out on the SAS a lot. It was only then they noticed her on the SAS, over the sea just as Jeremy had indicated. And of course, as expected, preceding it were a large number of smaller red objects: its familiars, all steadily approaching the town.
"All right!" Kyoko shouted in their minds. "It's our turn now!"
And so, it was time for the girls to prepare for their own battle.
Although they were to intercept Walpurgisnacht, it's not like they were to go out to sea and stop them there. And so, they waited for her to appear. But Walpurgisnacht was, of course, not the first thing to show up.
First came the storm. It was already raining hard before, with the winds blowing at high speeds, but now it came down even harder than ever. Lightning repeatedly crashed across the sky, always followed almost immediately by the crash of the thunder, indicating just how close the lightning was.
The stormy sea, already crashing back and forth onto the shore, began to bubble and foam. From it, a thick fog began to rise, quickly creeping up along the coast and onto land. In seconds, any of the girls who were on the ground would quickly find everything below their knees submerged in the mist—and that fog would only continue to rise.
Then the trumpeting of an elephant sounded, heralding the arrival of the minions. Each one of them made noise as they stomped or rode their way in while roaring, screeching, or stomping to make known their presence. They paraded onto the coast in a massive yet colorful swarm, with animals and carts of all kinds in nonsensical colors and sizes, but perhaps most notable were the large green and red elephants, with the opposite colored cloth draped over their backs and around where their eyes would be. The overall color scheme and design of the procession was so colorful that it could only be called a circus, so clownlike were they all. And as they marched, they pulled on buntings: strings upon strings of triangular pennant flags, leading all the way up and far into the heavy fog, attached onto something that yet could not be seen.
The girls knew not to attack them, passive as they were. They would not attack as long as they were left alone. The real enemy was just up ahead.
Walpugirsnacht's presence was so strong that it could be felt, even before they could see it. The air felt heavy, with an oppressive pressure so thick that it seemed like you could drown in it. Even the ground trembled and shook, with the buildings in their surroundings quivering, threatening to collapse at any moment.
No, they weren't just threatening to collapse. They too, like the trees, were being ripped and torn off from the ground, rising into the air in pieces. And it was then Walpurgisnacht appeared, slowly breaking through the fog.
Perhaps the first thing to notice was the massive gears that seemed to float, lying flat on top of one another in the sky, slowly turning as they approached. Perhaps it was the massive, feminine form of a body, hanging upside down from the lowest but largest gear. Or perhaps it was the frilled blue crinoline dress that seemed to defy gravity, just touching over the edges of the largest gear yet completely exposed the front to show that there was nothing inside but a single gear shaft. Or maybe it was the twisted grin that seemed perpetually plastered on its face, or how around its neck Walpurgisnacht was being pulled forward by the buntings held by the minions.
But what was apparent to all was not just its appearance, but the maniacal laughter as it approached, echoing and distortedly inhuman. And right as it had started laughing, the floating chunks of buildings around it also burst into vibrant flames.
Perhaps, in another timeline, Homura would've been the first to attack, launching a veritable storm of explosives, rockets, bullets, and the like all while time was stopped. But Homura was not on the front lines this time, having been relegated to a support role in the rear.
Instead, the first to attack was Mami. Jumping up into the air to fly higher than Walpurgisnacht, she launched hundreds and hundreds of muskets from her person. They slowly spun as they spread out, before all of them settled into place, all lined up and pointing down at the massive witch.
With a graceful smile, she waved her arm to the side as she announced her attack. "Tiro Volley!" And just as the name implied, the muskets fired waves and waves of magical bullets in volleys. So many were the bullets, that it seemed like literal walls of them were slamming into the witch one after another, knocking it back and down towards the ground. But as the muskets could only fire one shot each, the storm of magical bullets had to end eventually.
"Do you really have to shout out your attack names every time?" Kyoko joked over telepathy as she merely watched from the side lines.
"Hey, it's important to me, okay?" Mami pouted. "Alright, it's your turn coming up soon."
The final wave of bullets crashed into Walpurgisnacht, just enough to cause it to crash into the shore with a loud screech. On a normal day, perhaps it would've created a massive cloud of smoke and dust, so great was the impact. At the very least, it felt like the crash had caused an earthquake on its own. But all that smoke and dust was instantly suppressed by the heavy rain, with the rest blown away by the powerful winds, revealing…
"No way, it's unharmed even after all that?" Sayaka cried out.
Walpurgisnacht didn't even seem to have a scratch on it despite the bombardment.
"Just keep moving according to the plan!" Kyoko shouted. "The only way to find out what will work is to keep trying!"
A great number of ribbons suddenly burst out from and around Walpugirsnacht, tying it down and criss-crossing every which way, even out into the open space around it. Many of them shot towards the ground in an attempt to anchor it in place. Others wrapped around every conceivable part they could get into, even attempting to jam the massive gears on top. The ribbons had appeared from the bullets that Mami had fired. Even if they had failed to penetrate, they would do their best to constrain and restrict Walpurgisnacht from taking action, all the while providing footholds for the other magical girls, who were melee specialists, to approach.
The initial plan had been fairly simple, all things considered. Mami was also delegated to a support role. But unlike Homura, who was far back in the rear, Mami would make use of her abilities to provide direct support. She was tasked to suppress and restrain Walpurgisnacht, while shooting down familiars and anything else that could threaten Sayaka and Kyoko as they made their approach. Combined with Madoka's support, there would be nothing she could miss. Some time ago she had discussed her powers and the sheer versatility it could have with Jeremy, both for offensive and defensive purposes, and she was putting it to full use here.
Sayaka and Kyoko, on the other hand, were tasked to safely do as much damage as they could, to try and find a weakness that they could exploit. Since no one really knew if it had one or not, the only thing they could do so far was to just keep hitting it from every angle they could get, while Madoka and Homura would analyze the data with the SAS' assistance. With Mami making such a grand display, most of the attention would be on her. And if they couldn't find one in the end, then all they could do was to whittle away at Walpurgisnacht's defense. Well, they could also assist Mami in staking her in place with their weapons. But the number one priority, they had all agreed, was to not overextend and leave themselves exposed. It would not be a true victory if someone died or turned into a witch.
Not only that, Jeremy had stressed, but as long as you didn't die, you would always have a chance. It was more important to survive so that you could eventually find a way. There was no need to wear yourself out to the point where you were vulnerable. There was no particular reason why they had to defeat Walpurgisnacht as quickly as possible, not when they had many options to control her movements. All the civilians had already been evacuated to the shelter, too, so all they had to do was keep it away from the shelter, which wouldn't be too difficult a task between the three of them. And especially when considering how their magic and soul gems worked, overexerting themselves was the worst thing they could do.
He had even suggested that they rotate as necessary, or to fall back to rest and recover if the situation called for it. Sayaka could've also done a similar barrage that Mami did at the start with her swords, for example. Or they could fall back and defend Mami who would more safely try to find a weak spot from a distance. But most of the girls felt that all of those contingency plans weren't really necessary at the time. But now, though? With how Walpurgisnacht had apparently taken Mami's bombardament without a scratch, they felt there was some truth to his logic.
Especially now that despite it being bound all over with Mami's ribbons, Walpurgisnacht didn't even seem to try and struggle, however, and just continued to cackle, spitting out fire as it did so. It didn't seem to be angry about being bound, considering how it continued to laugh with glee. Was it not bothered by the restraints? Or did it simply not care? They didn't know. But although they hadn't seemed to have done any real damage to the massive witch, hope was still within sight.
After all, as long as no one died, there would always be hope.
Jeremy mentally frowned as the battle continued to get more and more chaotic. He wouldn't show it on his face, however. Any sign of weakness was something that could be exploited.
It was fortunate that Walpurgisnacht and her familiars had been stopped at the shore for now, but he had no idea for how long. The more enemies there would be on the field, the more annoying it would be to keep track of them all.
The worst part was, of course, the absolute lack of magical energy he had. He was still drained after helping to restore Sayaka. The more important functions were still okay, and he still had some in reserves, but to fight against Brixus and Walpurgisnacht in this state was tantamount to suicide. It was fortunate, then, that Brixus still hadn't noticed and had only thought he was wearing the blindfold to assist in his other senses rather than because he hadn't bothered to magically restore it. It would be best if he could end the fight quickly, but he didn't know how feasible that would be, especially when fighting Brixus.
If there isn't enough energy, then just steal it, you thief.
Jeremy mentally paused. Certainly, it was true, but when did his thoughts get so aggressive?
Outwardly his movements went unchanged. He slipped past another dark slash, siphoning off energy from it as it passed by a hair's breadth, and parried the next, with the intention of draining as much energy as he could for his own use—only for the parrying dagger in his left hand to break from the impact. But he was already expecting that to happen sooner or later with the amount of punishment it was taking. With slowed time on his side, he leaned his body to the side, whipping his left arm back to fully avoid the strike, and using that motion to launch the disintegrating dagger fragments at the tentacles behind him like a shotgun, shredding them to pieces. The moment the shards left his hand, a new weapon was randomly pulled out: this time, it was a small, but heavy one-handed ax. Anyone who saw it would've thought he had it hidden up his sleeve, as implausible as it was.
The moment he grasped the handle, his demeanor immediately changed. Suddenly, without even looking at it, he was swinging it around like he had been wielding it this whole time, chopping away at tentacles with such force that it could easily cut through all the tentacles in his way. The parts that had been cut off immediately dropped to the ground, losing almost all their energy to Jeremy who had, of course, taken as much as he safely could for himself, before immediately launching it all with his rapier enhanced magic spear thrust back at Brixus. With this weapon in hand, he slowly, erratically approached Brixus.
But even the ax didn't last long, the head eventually snapping off the handle from the rough usage as it spun, flipping up into the air. Jeremy jumped up after it, avoiding a horizontal strike at the same time. Using the broken handle, he caught the head with strings of magic before spinning to use the centrifugal force to launch the ax head at Brixus, who just knocked it aside.
The next weapon that came out was a pair of twin dao. The moment his hand grasped them, his demeanor had changed once again as the rapier was returned. He swung them both with a single arm, chopping his way through before his right hand joined in to grab the second one from his left—and then he was a whirlwind of blades. Combined with the eight flying blades that he was also meticulously controlling with magic, he was a veritable storm, cutting everything that got close. The tentacles were shredded to pieces, which he proceeded to use as projectiles for his ranged attacks. While the projectiles were much slower in comparison to how instantaneously the spear thrusts could hit, they were far more numerous in number.
Unless he deliberately picked one that he wanted, Jeremy didn't know what weapon would come out of his storage. It was entirely chosen at random. But he knew how to use every weapon he had, how to adapt to it, and how to instantly change form and style as needed to the situation, and flow from one form to the next. It was a mishmash of styles that focused more on unpredictability and variety, and it worked especially well with time on his side. It was not a technique that any sane or normal person would ever want to use. But because his weapons couldn't withstand the battering they were being put through, it was the style he had chosen to use for now as he could easily swap whenever necessary.
With weapons that you pilfered, with techniques that you imitated, and magic that you stole. None of it was yours to begin with.
Jeremy blinked. All of his thoughts just now weren't really wrong, but there was definitely something wrong. No, he had an inkling something was wrong for a long while now, but he never had the time or chance to look into it, with how much he was prioritizing taking in energy to recover or helping the girls out. Was he getting too stressed lately? Regardless, it didn't matter. He had to focus. He would have the time to figure it out after this was all over.
In that brief moment of distraction, he had lost some ground in his attempt to close the distance, his twin dao had shattered, and even 2 of his flying blades had broken and fallen to the wayside despite not being used to parry the big cuts that Brixus launched.
"What is wrong, Jeremy?" Brixus asked calmly. It wasn't particularly taunting, but rather more out of curiosity. "Why have you not gone all out yet? You can not prove anything to me or win at this rate."
Jeremy, discarding his broken weapons, merely thrusted with the next weapon to appear in response: a halberd. It created another magic spear as usual, which was summarily deflected. He couldn't go 'all out' to begin with since he had nowhere near enough magic to do so. He was mostly fighting on instinct and technique alone right now, while trying to gather more power as the fight went on. But to fight entirely without magic was too obvious, so not only did he have to use the energy he had absorbed, he had to use a good amount of it just to make it seem like he was still at a normal condition. But even that was pushing it.
"Are you perhaps concerned about having to fight that giant monster afterwards?" Brixus continued. He was most definitely referring to Walpurgisnacht there. "If you really believed in those brats, then you should not have to worry at all. Otherwise, what would be the point of all this?"
Certainly, he was right. But he was still wrong about the underlying reason, and Jeremy planned to keep it that way.
His halberd snapped in two at that point. Rather than switching, he just decided to use the two broken pieces as a heavy axe in one hand and a short staff in the other. They weren't properly balanced by any means, but he would make do. He had a reasonable amount of energy for the next step.
With the broken haft, he lunged, taking a sudden but huge leap forward, piercing through the swarm of tentacles. He pushed his control over time to the limit to close the distance in the blink of an eye.
It was still slower compared to the magic spear thrusts he had previously launched at range. He knew Brixus wouldn't have any trouble dealing with this attack. However, it was also easier to fight at close range when Brixus was continuously launching slashes that virtually had no range limit. If he really needed to, he could even force the fight into grappling range, making it difficult to properly swing a sword—although that had a slew of its own big problems as well, Jeremy knew.
Brixus, of course, saw the attack coming. With a single swing of his weapon, the haft in Jeremy's hand disintegrated into a cloud of dust upon contact. Jeremy was also expecting this, having used his magic to deliberately exacerbate the dust cloud enough to stay up in the rain, which allowed him to help keep his other hand hidden from view. That hand was now already coming in to swing the head of the halberd in. Including the 6 remaining flittering blades that spun in close vicinity, most people would've gotten blinded or overloaded with all the visual information and missed the second arm coming in.
Despite the severe loss of vision at that moment, Brixus still managed to swing his weapon up to intercept the attack. But right as when the two weapons made contact, the head of the halberd exploded. Jeremy used his magic to turn it into a shaped charge on a stick. The explosion was mostly focused entirely in Brixus's direction, with a powerful concussive force propelling all the shrapnel into peppering all over Brixus' body. Meanwhile, the rest of the concussive force plus the recoil had sent Jeremy flying back a few meters.
The two combatants stood there for a moment as they looked at each other. Jeremy discarded the remains of the halberd, a longsword appearing in his hands as he tossed out another 2 more of the flying bladed weapons to replace the broken ones. Brixus was of course bleeding, with bits of metal sticking out of his body all over. However, if he was feeling any pain out of that, he didn't seem to show it.
"Okay, I have to admit, that was good," Brixus nodded, as the metal debris slowly seemed to be pushed out of his body on their own, as the wounds began to repair themselves at an uncontrollable speed. "I do not think I have seen you do that before. But it is not enough."
And then Brixus exploded with a frenzied storm of magical power as he roared, taking a step towards Jeremy as he raised his weapon. It was so strong that the wind was practically visible from all the flying dust and debris, whipping about as it completely overturned the weather in the area. The murky tentacles increased in number by a hundredfold, waving about as they shot out of the ground. The healing of the recent wounds he had just received, having been healing uncontrollably, had turned cancerous, with blobs of flesh growing and expanding outwards.
Brixus swung his weapon repeatedly, but this time not at Jeremy, but to cut off cancerous flesh, allowing himself to maintain his human form, which also seared his wounds at the same time, scarring it black. It was all done in a second. But even after being cut off, the countless bits of flesh wiggled and multiplied, turning into all kinds of grotesque forms made up of muscle, bones, and sinew that moved forward like little familiars under his command. They grew all kinds of limbs, from human legs to limbs in the shape of something you might find in a random animal in the wild, to even hellish tentacles made of human flesh, blood, teeth, fangs, and horns, all of which allowed them to move and attack, even if by strangely hobbling or dragging themselves forward.
Jeremy sighed, frowning at the disgusting sight. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. They both knew Brixus contained far more power than any single human should've ever held, and with the injuries Jeremy had inflicted it was now going out of control. They both knew that sooner or later, Brixus would end up dying at this rate, regardless of what they did.
If only he himself was at his full potential, he could answer in kind. But alas, he would have to make do. Raising his weapon, Jeremy prepared to fight once again.
"Sayaka-chan! Dodge to the side! There's a building coming from above!"
The virtual Sayaka on the holographic display moved to dodge the attack with ample time just as it was launched, following Madoka's warning.
"Thanks, Mado-tan!" Sayaka cheered. "Man, this is almost too easy with you here! It's almost like you can see the future!"
In all actuality, Madoka found it fairly easy to work with the SAS, as long as it wasn't dealing with attacks from Adonis. Adonis simply launched them too fast for her to keep up, and then there were also so many tentacles that it filled up that part of the screen, making it hard to see what was going on over there unless she zoomed in, which she couldn't afford to do. She could only be thankful that Jeremy was keeping him occupied off to the side.
If anything, she found it easier dealing with Walpurgisnacht than with Jeremy spoofing the SAS back when they were practicing. Unlike with Adonis, the SAS was somehow able to predict and give warning well before any attack from Walpurgisnacht was launched, making it far easier for her to keep up.
If anyone was feeling uneasy, it would be the girl who was standing by her side.
"Are you okay, Homura-chan?" She asked during a lull in the fighting.
"I'm fine," the stoic girl replied as she stared at the holographic display, almost as if trying to bore holes into it with just her sight. "It just feels weird, standing back and not really actually doing anything while everyone else is fighting."
"You too, huh?" Madoka asked.
But before Homura could answer, a third, childish voice joined into the conversation.
"That's a pretty interesting device you got there. Mind if I take a look?"
Homura immediately spun around, whipping out a Beretta 92FS pistol and immediately fired three times at the voice, having recognized it belonging to Kyubey. Madoka herself had ducked, mostly out of instinct from the gunshots. However, Kyubey was behind cover, so the bullets missed. Perhaps it was expecting Homura to shoot from the beginning.
"This time you decided to hide, huh?" Homura sneered.
"Calm down, I just want to talk," Kyubey said nonchalantly. "And it's a waste of time and efficiency to have to replace my body in the current situation, so can you put the gun down?"
"No," Homura refused. "There's nothing for us to talk about. If we let you talk, you're just going to find a way to convince Madoka to turn into a witch."
"That's one thing, but not what I wanted to talk about today," Kyubey denied. "I wanted to talk about something else. Something more important than your hatred towards me."
"About what?" Madoka asked, deciding to give it a chance, much to Homura's disapproving glare.
"Well, it's about Jeremy's enemy, actually," Kyubey continued, taking Madoka's answer as acceptance that he would be allowed to speak. "And I also want to take a look at that device Madoka has."
"Fine. you can talk, but you can't look at the Sasu," Homura ground out, lowering her pistol ever so slightly. "You don't need to look at it to talk, do you?"
"Is that what it's called?" Kyubey asked as it stepped into view. It made its way over, as if unconcerned that Homura was still armed. It hopped up onto the table where the SAS had been laid out. "I mean, with everything that is going on right now being displayed there, it'd be a lot easier if I could refer to it, wouldn't it?"
At that, Homura capitulated. "Fine. But if anything happens, I'm shooting you, no questions asked."
"You sure are violent today, Akemi Homura," Kyubey acknowledged. "Now, about that guy… you girls call him Adonis, right? The first thing I want to get out of the way is that Adonis is essentially a common enemy for everyone, even for us."
"And?" Homura prompted. "Maybe we should side with him against you instead?"
"Homura!" Madoka protested.
"Fine, fine, I was just joking," Homura sighed. Her jab was completely nullified with Madoka's intervention, but she wouldn't blame the girl. She wouldn't have wanted to team up with Adonis, either.
"It wouldn't have worked, anyway," Kyubey replied, taking the jab at face value. "Brixus may be an enemy to us all, but he doesn't actually consider me as one. So he has no reason to attack me unless we give him one."
"And you know this because…?" Homura pressed on.
"Well, Brixus and I had a chat before. Since you girls were refusing to talk to me anymore, I just took the opportunity to see what he's like. He's unexpectedly easy to talk to for someone who claims to hate humanity," Kyubey continued. "And that's the second reason why you teaming up with him wouldn't work. He'd just try to kill you all at some point."
"He hates humanity?" Madoka asked as she looked up, perplexed. "But isn't he a human, too?"
"I don't know," Kyubey shrugged. "I don't really understand how you humans think sometimes. But that's not the point. The point is that he's an enemy for everyone. You, me, Jeremy, possibly even the rest of the world."
"And why do you consider him an enemy?" Homura asked contemptuously. "Just because if he had his way, you wouldn't have anyone else left to turn into a magical girl?"
"It's his very existence," Kyubey said, gesturing at the SAS. "Look, have you noticed what his attacks are doing? Every man-made object that gets hit by those swings of his are crumbling away into dust. His powers are pure chaos, and it's accelerating entropy. I wasn't able to get an accurate read on how much chaos he's holding within himself and that weapon of his, but the possibility of destroying the world, or even more, is there. I don't even understand how he's able to contain that much chaos and hold himself together, it's incomprehensible. And if he ever loses control if it all… well, I don't want to know what will happen if he does. He's like a ticking time bomb. And that's why I believe it would be in everyone's best interests if we worked together. His very existence is a threat to everyone."
The two girls glanced at the SAS only to notice that it was practically a wasteland already where Jeremy and Brixus were fighting. There wasn't a single building left standing intact, but instead it was filled with debris.
"Speaking of the Sasu, whoever made this is pretty ingenious, for a human with what limited technology you humans have," Kyubey said, looking at it. "It's not perfect as there's a lot that could be improved, but it's certainly doing the job. I'd like to study it—"
"Denied," Homura instantly rejected it. "No studying it, or I shoot."
"So how do you propose we work together?" Madoka asked, returning back to the main topic.
"Well, the offer to turn into a magical—"
"Also denied," Homura interrupted, raising her pistol. "If you don't have any other suggestion besides turning Madoka into a magical girl, then you should just leave."
"I was asking Madoka, not you." Kyubey objected, turning to look at the girl in question.
"...No, I also don't want to turn into a magical girl," Madoka responded after a brief pause. "Is there any other way?"
Kyubey merely tilted its impassive face as it blinked. "Well, I will always keep the offer on the table. Although the situation doesn't call for it now, I can not see how Jeremy can win."
"What do you mean?" Homura narrowed her eyes. Even Madoka wasn't sure why Kyubey could make such a claim. She trusted Jeremy would find a way to make it through.
"Well, it's just by how they fight," Kyubey said, looking at the SAS. "Brixus moves with the countenance of a skilled swordsman. He has the mastery, he has the power, and his movements are very efficient, and he even has numbers on his side. Jeremy on the other hand is a weird amalgamation of things, but nothing seems to be mastered. He's also constantly wasting energy to move erratically and dodge every attack. I can not even follow the logic behind some of his movements or weapon choices; it just doesn't make any sense. I can not predict how Jeremy will act or how long he will last, but no matter how I look at it, even if Jeremy somehow was able to dodge everything, he would tire out first. So unless the situation changes, I believe that something needs to be done."
"...Well, I'm sure Jeremy can figure something out," Homura eventually said. "But so what? Are you saying there's no choice but for Madoka to turn into a magical girl to resolve this situation? Because if so, you can get out of this room right now."
"Well, I'm just saying that is a very likely possibility," Kyubey said. "But other than that, I can help with information, controlling the Sasu, keeping an eye on Adonis, that kind of thing. It must be hard to see what's going on with all the tentacles, right? Which, by the way, shouldn't you be keeping an eye on the Sasu?"
"Ah!" Madoka exclaimed, frantically turning to check out the status of the battle. She moved a bit too fast and lost her balance a little bit, but Homura placed a hand on her to keep her steady. But the situation on the holographic screen wasn't as intense as she had expected.
The battle had come to a lull. Walpurgisnacht was still breathing flames and throwing buildings, but was otherwise still immobilized. Even Adonis and Jeremy were just standing there, a few meters apart as they seemed to be just looking at each other.
But then, something happened and the holographic display showed an absolutely massive reading around Adonis.
"Oh no, that's bad," Kyubey commented apathetically. "Adonis is releasing too much chaotic energy from his body. Is he losing control?"
"No, that's not the only thing that's happening!" Homura pointed out. "Everyone, get back!"
The command went through over telepathy as the three girls who had been fighting outside all leapt away from the witch.
On the screen, Walpurgisnacht seemed to have reacted to the outburst produced by Adonis. The gargantuan gears at the top slightly expanded, despite being restricted by Mami's ribbons. A light seemed to shine through the cracks. The gears then retracted back, and then they ever so slowly began to grind. Despite being jammed by Mami's ribbons, they were starting to move.
"What's going on?" Mami asked in a panic as she regrouped with the other two magical girls. "Is it going to do some special attack?"
And then the gears broke free, spinning freely as Mami's ribbons were torn apart and the fragments sent flying. Walpurgisnacht herself broke free from the rest of the ribbons soon after, laughing maniacally as she did so.
"All it did was break free, huh? It's no big deal, we can just knock it down again like before," Kyoko laughed.
"Incoming!" Homura shouted. On the screen, the three girls jumped in time to dodge a magic starry beam of magic that was fired through where they used to be grouped up. While it was relatively fast, it was nowhere near the speed of Adonis' sneak attack at the very beginning, and with ample warning from Homura it was easy to evade.
And that was when an army of blue figures danced out from the giant witch.
"Familiars?" Sayka asked. "Why do they look like magical girls?"
"These ones are aggressive, just take out any that get in your way!" Homura shouted in their heads, ignoring her question in favor of the urgency of the situation. "Quick, pin Walpurgisnacht down again!"
"I'll launch another Tiro Volley. Kaname-san, Sakura-san, please cover me!"
"It's moving towards Adonis and Jeremy's battle!" Madoka noted with alarm. "Please, hurry!"
Mami could be seen urgently launching out as many of her muskets as she could as she tried to take control of the situation again. The Tiro Volley was soon fired off, probably with her signature move name calling, but this time not only did the blue magical girl-like familiars intercept by twirling into the way, Walpurgisnacht had even launched a building towards Mami, blocking most of the shots in the process.
"Mami! Dodge it!" Madoka screamed as Mami was in the middle of her volleys.
Mami wasn't able to react in time, but she didn't need to. Homura had frozen time for all but her, allowing her the time to escape. Madoka only noticed because she was also in physical contact with Homura when it happened. "Thanks, Akemi-san! That was a close one!"
"I'm releasing it," Homura said curtly, as time resumed shortly after.
"Wait, why is it speeding up towards where Adonis and Jeremy-san are fighting?" Kyoko asked. "It'd be hard to fight if it all gets mixed up together!"
"I'm on it!" Sayaka shouted, also jumping up as she prepared a barrage of swords. The swords were launched, but just like before it was intercepted in more or less the same manner. Sayaka had to dodge 2 buildings this time, too.
"Damn it! Has she started predicting our moves?" Kyoko cursed.
"Watch out! There's familiars coming in on both sides!" Madoka warned the girls. "I think they're trying to box you in!"
And just as she had predicted, a building was launched from above. Again, they were able to avoid the strike, but now that they were focused on evasive action, it was difficult to attack or even attempt to restrain Walpurgisnacht.
"Ah, jeez, quit it already!" Kyoko shouted in frustration as she stabbed through one familiar and slashed through another with the tip of her spear. A flurry of strikes cleared the immediate area around her, and then she split her spear into sections, using it to wrap up more familiars and throw them off to the side to give them all some space to work with. However, that was completely pointless in the end because she, along with the others, had to evade another building yet again, completely resetting any progress they had made. What made it all the more frustrating, however, was how it was starting to feel like Walpurgisnacht's laughter was being directed at them and their futile attempts to do anything to it. "Why hasn't she run out of buildings already? I'll launch myself at this crazy witch if I have to!"
"No kamikaze attacks," Jeremy's voice suddenly came over the telepathy.
"I know!" Kyoko shouted. "I wasn't going to!"
"Anyway," Jeremy continued without much delay or acknowledgement. "She's already getting close, so I'll try to do something. Just try to keep up with Walpurgisnacht and be ready to attack or restrain her when I do. Spread out again, it'll make it harder for her to target you all at the same time. Mami, provide covering fire as necessary. Oh and Homura, stay put. Don't try to provide fire support, there's the risk of revealing your position if you do, even if time was stopped and you did it elsewhere."
"How did…?"
Madoka turned towards the girl to see her frozen in her tracks as she had been approaching the window, with some kind of rifle in her hands. She hadn't even noticed herself, so how did Jeremy notice from all the way where he was? Was his SAS that much more advanced than hers?
Looking at the screen, she could see Jeremy zipping all over the battlefield, avoiding hundreds of tentacles as they all chased after him, along with the blinking of walls appearing multiple times every second. Those must be Brixus' direct attacks with his weapon, she guessed. There were a slew of weird things with all kinds of appendages on the ground that chased after or tried to intercept him, but they were all too slow compared to him.
A line of light suddenly appeared, connecting the two fighters. A spherical flash also instantly appeared around Brixus. This also repeated multiple times a second, sometimes even at the same time as the walls were appearing. Madoka was certain the lines were Jeremy's attacks based on what she had seen before, but this time it was blocked by some kind of magical field, which wasn't there before, which also allowed Brixus to attack unperturbed.
Walpurgisnacht was quickly closing in as well. The other three girls on the field, having been told to spread out and just to keep up, were having a much easier time doing just that, as they fought their way through waves of the blue girl-like familiars. There wasn't any need for her to give any warnings, at least not right now.
Wondering how Jeremy would handle it, Madoka opted to watch him instead.
Then, it happened. Another wall had appeared— Brixus had launched yet another cut. Jeremy, instead of simply avoiding or parrying it, brought his hands up as he turned to the side to avoid it, palms parallel to the attack. And then, he turned, and with him, the wall also curved. He almost seemed to be dragging or even pulling the wall, moving it around him despite not having any physical contact with it, before he launched it directly at Walpurgisnacht.
It was so fast that no one had the time to react. Walpurgisnacht was hit dead on by one of Brixus' slashes, instantly slamming it back with a hideous screech and a large flash of light. Brixus himself was already in the middle of his next swing, which was also subsequently redirected towards Walpurgisnacht. Walpurgisnacht, meanwhile had raised a building to launch at Jeremy, perhaps in retaliation from the first strike, perhaps to intercept the second, but the building didn't even get the time to be launched—not that it mattered anyway, because it got instantly bifurcated by the second attack, disintegrating into dust and not even able to reduce the power of cut as it slammed into Walpurgisnacht again.
"Now! Pin it down!" Jeremy commanded as he reverted back to his evasive maneuvers again, forced to flee as the tentacles got too close.
"Wait, that attack actually damaged it!" Kyoko observed with excitement. "Do that again!"
Indeed, the first attack had seemed to destroy whatever magical barrier that had initially protected Walpurgisnacht from damage, and the second had created a small gash running across its body. But otherwise, it still seemed to be going strong, even as Sayaka and Mami rained their attacks on its body to tie and pin it down in place once again. Even Kyoko was creating red diamond lattices in an attempt to restrict its movement and lock out the familiars. And this time, their attacks were also going through too, clearly damaging the witch, however minor it was.
"I don't think he can, he's too tied up with fighting," Homura commented. But perhaps for the first time they've ever heard her, she actually sounded hopeful. "But it does look like you girls could do the rest. Just focus her down."
"All right!" Sayaka cheered. "We got this!"
It seemed like nothing could go wrong now, they all thought. Even Madoka was starting to relax. Once one of their enemies was taken care of, all that would be left would be teaming up on the last one. Although, she still wasn't sure how they would help with fighting Adonis, as most of the strategies they had discussed were on dealing with Walpurgisnacht..
"Ah," Kyubey suddenly reported without any flair, its beady eyes staring at the SAS. "It's over."
Madoka initially thought that it was referring to Walpurgisnacht. However, there was something strangely ominous about the way it said it. And before she could think about it further, she noticed it on screen.
Jeremy had tripped.
He had tried to recover from it, twisting his body as he cut and hacked away at the offending limbs. But that blunder was all it took for a tentacle to graze his leg, despite his efforts to dodge in the unexpected situation. And that was all it took to bring him down. Instead of leaving just a scratch, his leg turned black and blue and swelled from the attack, severely restricting his movement, but before they could even see anything else the rest of the tentacles simply swarmed his position, and then it was impossible to see anymore on the SAS. Even the 8 flying blades were not enough to keep them all at bay.
"There's no way he's surviving that," Kyubey said dispassionately as it turned towards Madoka, who was in complete shock at the unexpected event. At that very moment, Madoka was unable to process anything else in her surroundings other than two things: the event that had just happened before her eyes, and Kyubey, who was expectantly waiting for her answer. "So? What will you do?"
Would she be forced to make a wish, after all?
A/N: Yes, I'm still alive. No more 3 years of waiting or however long it's been.
Actually, this was a (partial) chapter I've been wanting to write since ages back, so it wasn't so hard to write at all. I guess it took me about 2-3 weeks of writing, plus distractions + work + living at a hotel + etc. Not too terrible a pace, I guess? It's something.
But it was starting to get too long, so I will have to write the next half for the next chapter. If at a similar pace, I'd expect it to also take 2-3 weeks. Maybe even shorter, idk.
Anyway, on to the chapter. I feel like there's something I need to clarify right off the bat. Jeremy is not a reference to anything in particular in the Fate series, despite how it might seem. He's a character I created back in highschool, so around 2009ish? Whereas I only discovered the Fate series in 2011. I did like it back then, but now it's more like a like/hate relationship since I mostly just like it for certain things (mostly concepts) now. Also, FGO is boring as a game, come at me. I think I mentioned before (in ch 1?) that some things fit Jeremy surprisingly well, which was more coincidence rather than reference. That's just how it is sometimes, I guess.
Also, it was fun not having to do so much dialogue again. I mean there was still some and I still fall into the same caveats, but eh
But as for other things, not much to say, I guess. I'm still in the thick of things so I'll still be writing over the next few weeks. I very much do want to get the next chapter out to resolve the conflict. Everything I want to say in the A/N can be said in the next chapter since it'd be the second half of this battle. Did I rush this chapter a bit? Maybe? Oh well...
Thanks for reading through all of this. If you've enjoyed this story so far, please look forward to the next chapter.
And comments would be very much appreciated.
Actually, is anyone alive still even reading or enjoying this nonsense...?