It'll take some time to fully mold your new minions into the desired shape. About a week at the most to break them to your will so you can rebreak them at your leisure. While they're cooking away, it's a good time to get your hands dirty once again.

Which is why you're currently on the outskirts of this city, stalking – No, following your love. From an appropriate distance. Yes.

Your devilish wings flutter behind you, keeping you aloft. A shimmering haze surrounds you. An adaptive camouflage spell you picked up off another Magical Girl so very long ago. Not very effective at short range, not nearly as effective as optical camouflage. Still, it gets the job done, and maintaining this spell is relatively inexpensive. The essence drain's minor so far, negligible really.

It'll have to increase if you want to get closer, but with your enhanced hearing and sight you can see what's going on below you quickly.

The city's outskirts are comprised of poverty-ridden slums. You're far away from the central districts. There are no lush parks here, no modern megabuildings towering imposingly in the sky. There are buildings lined with corrugated metal, improvised structures hastily cobbled onto cheap concrete pre-fabs. Grime and trash line the streets; this isn't a place where the sweeper-bots go.

The sweeper-bots probably get disassembled by the gangs and sold for parts if they go here.

Not that the criminal element's out in force today. They've all learned to keep their heads down at this point and stick purely to covert dealings. The presence of three Magical Girls in this city'll do that to crime. The nail that sticks out gets hammered, and any crimelord dumb enough to act overtly enough to attract Infinity Princess' attention probably got sword-beamed into the ocean years ago.

That girl has absolutely no chill.

Mmh. Love that about her~

So it's just the poor hobos out on the streets. Poor, smelly hobos, sleeping on tattered ratty mattresses, shivering from the cool sea breeze that continually rolls into the area.

Terminus City is an ugly place once you get down to the streets, huh? It's almost like the deeper you go, the closer you get, the more the city tries to eat you alive. What a horrible place. You're doing your loves a favor by corrupting them. No pure soul should have to endure the hell of having to maintain order in this disgusting hive. It makes pure souls stand out starkly in these miserable environs. More straightforward to track with a bit of familiarity.

Which is how you find yourself here, staring down at Luminous Libromancer on the streets far below.

Luminous Libromancer certainly makes for an anachronistic sight in the miserable slums of Terminus City. She leans against a wall, nose buried in a book she's carrying. Her robes flutter in the sea breeze, and she shivers and wraps them a bit more tightly around herself, pulling up her hood. You watch, enraptured, as she yawns, blinking her eyes cutely.

Nnh~

You just got to see Luminous Libromancer's cute sleepy face! Ooh, you just want to pinch the cheeks of that sleepo beepo! Aah! The poor baby, it is pretty early in the morning. The sun's only just about to rise.

Now, just what is your love up to so early in the morning. Is she waiting for someone? She must be…

"Yo! Libromancer!"

You perk your ears up, channeling a bit of essence to your ears to enhance your hearing and a bit more to enhance your sight. Your head swivels as you focus on the group approaching your love.

Ooh…

That's a group of three Magical Girls right there~! The pieces click together in your head quickly.

Oh, so that's what she meant when she said she had to go train some rookies! That's why she's so busy! These aren't Magical Girls, they're newly-contracted Magical Girls!

If you think about it, it makes sense that there'd be more Magical Girls in Terminus City. Frankly, it's more of a surprise that there aren't more Magical Girls in the city already. The population's honestly big enough to support around a hundred Magical Girls running around. Contractors do love to target girls who display strong emotions.

And this city's the sort of place that'll definitely draw those emotions out of you in one form or the other.

Still. That's just cute. Mini-Magical Girls! Adorable little babies to... completely and utterly corrupt and humiliate! Ooh, you want to do all sorts of things to them now that you've seen them! The one in the nun robes'd look good on her knees. The one in the punk outfit looks like she has anger issues; how would you go about training her? The one in the huntress outfit looks cold and standoffish. Would she retain the same attitude after a few screaming orgasms…?

You clap your hands together, rubbing them with glee. This was a great find~! And it presents you with some valuable opportunities. It'll be easier to pick these untrained girls off… And then you've got yourself some willing informants who'll help make the task of corrupting their seniors that much easier.

Ah, you're so happy you decided to follow your love today...

Oh, wait, they're still talking. Better listen in.

"Libromancer, what gives, I thought Infinity Princess would be training us today!" That's the pink-haired punk speaking. Her eyes are narrowed, she sashays her hips aggressively as she walks up to jab Luminous Libromancer in the chest with one of her talons.

"I too believed Infinity Princess would be training us. A change in instructor this late is… Suboptimal," The girl in the huntress outfit speaks now. You try not to squee as you watch her cat-ears twitch. Hee~ Your cute minions should look pretty similar to this girl once they finish percolating…

"Well you're not getting Infinity Princess today. You're getting me," Luminous Libromancer huffs.

"But why?" The girl in the nun's habit pipes up.

"Infinity Princess is a self-sacrificing idiot who doesn't take care of herself, so Steele and I had to frogmarch her into forced bedrest for the third time in as many months," Luminous Libromancer complains. "Then Steele claimed that she had a board meeting to attend, so she'd be too busy for this bit. So congrats. You get to spend time with me now."

"…" The three new Magical Girls look dismayed by this blunt confession. You're too busy taking mental notes.

"… I wanted to spend more time with miss Infinity Princess though…" The girl in the nun's habit complains, pouting cutely.

"You and the rest of the city," Luminous Libromancer grumbles. "Alright, so just… Tell me your names so we can get a move on. Daylight's burning away. Chop, chop."

"You don't even know our names?!" The pink-haired punk snarls.

"I have met and talked with you all of three times including this conversation," Luminous Libromancer replies. "Of course I don't remember your names; nobody would after that little exposure."

"But don't you have an eidetic memory?"

"... I'm not going to waste valuable brainpower memorizing information that might be useless," comes Luminous Libromancer's curt reply.

You grin. What an absolute circus going on below. This is great. You almost wish you had some popcorn to munch on, or a cute girl to molest while you watched this conversation play out…

Then you frown as your ears pick up on something. A low drone, a dull muted roar. Almost like the sound of a jet engine. You turn, catching sight of a dull red speck rapidly approaching from across the horizon.

Oh. Oh, shit.

"Useless?!" The punk snarls. "I'll show you useless, you-"

You're too busy dropping out of the sky to eavesdrop on this conversation. You tuck your wings in and allow yourself to fall freely to the ground. Your eyes glow pink, and a swathe of sparks showers your form. It shimmers briefly, goes translucent, then entirely transparent as the optical camouflage spell you've spun up takes effect.

You'd prefer not to go through all of this, you were perfectly comfortable hanging around in the sky, but it can't be helped.

It wouldn't do to catch the attention of the second of your loves this early.

"Oh, don't mind Libromancer; she's just cranky because she typically sleeps in!" A new voice rings out over the sudden roar of her suit's engines.

Steele Maxima drops out of the sky in a blur of red and silver and the roar of her boot-jets. Her suit gleams in the dull morning light. Mechanisms whir and click as she stands, gives the group a jaunty salute.

"… Steele." Luminous Libromancer's eyes narrow. "What're you doing here?"

"Officially I stopped by to see how the Eastview restoration project was going, and man, it's clearly not going well. I'm gonna have to fire so many guys for fucking this up, they were supposed to have started weeks ago and this district still looks like… This." Steele sniffs, then mimes gagging. "And it smells worse. Ick."

"Don't play coy."

"Fine, fine! Unofficially, mama Steele stopped by to give her babies some gifts~! And to make sure you and the newbies weren't at each others' throats. Which you were. Seriously, my suit's sensors could pick up on your argument a klick out, you were that loud. I'm pretty sure every monster in a hundred block radius could hear you too. Because again, you were that loud."

Luminous Libromancer purses her lips, looking more than a bit annoyed. "I thought you were at a board meeting."

"Yeah, I'm supposed to be. I had to step out, and I have to get back because they insist on having me there in person. I'm using a robot as a decoy, but that only buys me so much time. Thirty minutes tops before they figure out I'm not where I'm supposed to be… No, no, Mr. Harris I think that's an excellent proposal; just give me a minute to consider its merits…" Steele suddenly says aloud, her visor extending a microphone.

"…" The three new Magical Girls seem to just watch the byplay.

"… Do we… Do anything?" The one in the nun's habit breathes out quietly.

"Nah, let them fight," The punk grunts, folding her arms across her chest.

"… It is enlightening to watch how our seniors talk amongst themselves…"

"Are you on the phone right now!?" Luminous Libromancer demands.

"Using a robot as a decoy! Virtual telepresence! I've done this before, you know how this goes, gosh you're lucky I'm good at multitasking," Steele groans, slumps exaggeratedly.

Oh, you like how energetic this girl is. Almost as much as you like her outfit. Briefly, your eyes trail across the luscious expanse of exposed tummy, the curve of her plump thighs… Mmh. So much delicious caramel skin to nibble on~

Hee.

"Anyways, listen up. Mama Steele's come bearing gifts!" Steele affects a punchier pose. A compartment on the back unit of her suit opens up, and she reaches in to grab a few items. They look like…"

"Bracelets?" The three new Magical Girls question.

"Communicators and trackers. Yeah, I know we use telepathy for a lot of things, but having an analog option's always a good idea. Having trackers is an even better idea. It lets all the rest of us come in to save your ass if you get cut off," Steele explains, before reaching down again to grab a few disc-shaped items. "I also have these. Stun grenades. Pop one of 'em in a monster's face and the noise and the light'll be enough to distract it. Or you could pop 'em in a gangster's face, that's also an option. They work on humans too."

"… That's it?" The punk's reached out to grab a grenade. "I expected more from Terminus City's genius inventor."

"There's more gear cooking away in the labs, but that's the kind of thing that has to be personalized," Steele waves away dismissively. "Although, there is one last feature those bracelets have. Yo, shorty! Hit the button right there!"

"M – Me?" The nun asks.

"Yeah, you!"

"Okay!" The nun squeezes the button then eeps as a shimmering blue disc-shaped forcefield radiates outwards from the bracelet wrapped around her wrist. It hums and buzzes as she turns her wrist, raises her arm.

"Energy shield. Not enough space in there to make it omnidirectional, or to install a more robust battery, but it'll get the job done. Shields'll recharge from your mana reserves as long as you have the bracelet on, and it'll protect you from a lot of things? Guns, bigger guns, rockets, artillery shells, tank shells, missiles…"

"Okay, that's more impressive," the punk begrudgingly admits.

"Thanks CC, I do try," Steele grins.

"It's Crimson Champion."

"Hey, I give out nicknames all the time. At least I bothered to remember your names, Crimson Champion, Heavenly Testament, Primal Huntress…" Steele sings out, pointing to the punk, the nun, and the cat-eared huntress. "Unlike a certain someone."

"… Oh just leave already so I can get this over with," Luminous Libromancer grumps.

"Yeah, just about to. Just gonna run one quick scan just for paranoia's sake. Monsters can be the absolute sneakiest bastards, and my suit's sensors picked up on something when I was touching down… Ooh, I should put a scanner onto the next iteration of those bracelets. Tie them into my satellite network…"

Ugh.

You fell in love with this girl because of her magnificent brain. You have to laud her for having the presence of mind to be this paranoid. You don't survive in a place like Terminus City, especially as the CEO of one of the leading companies in the world without being a bit paranoid.

It's still inconvenient at this juncture though. Especially since you're right here, trying not to be observed.

--

80/100 Essence