Have you heard? Has anyone told you?
The Rumour of Hotel Fendt Hope.
The fortress built by the Magius stands tall and proud, like a castle.
Within these hallowed halls, all black and white feathers can be safe.
It has everything you could ever need!
Kitchens to make delicious food!
Sleeping quarters customized to each girl's preferences!
Individual bath and shower stalls to preserve privacy!
Lounge areas for socializing!
Prison cells to throw enemies that dare darken the doorstep!
And beneath everything, deep beneath the earth,
lies the sacred chapel where Eve grows.
The place is impregnable, invulnerable, and invincible.
Should an enemy step inside, they shall know only fear.
Like a mother bear, Fendt Hope takes care of her children.
It's incredible.
It's perfect.
It's the safest place you can be.
Come join us!

Everyone except Mami headed through the doorway and began to descend the stairs beyond. They had been descending for a couple of minutes when Iroha spoke up.

"I can't see the bottom," Iroha said. "These stairs look like they've been swallowed up by the darkness."

"I guess they untwisted the stairs," Ashley said.

"Yeah, last time we came this way, it was a spiral staircase," Sana said.

"And I don't feel too well," Iroha said.

"I don't think it's simply the gloomy atmosphere," Yachiyo said. "The further we go, the more I sense strong impurities."

"Hm, maybe the Magius's pet, Eve, has something to do with it?" Kanagi suggested.

"Well, it is the centre of the automatic purification system," Ashley said. "Whenever a magical girl unleashes her doppel, all the impurities from her soul gem are drawn down here."

"Ugh," Felicia said.

"What's wrong, mad dog?" Kanagi asked. "What happened to all that fight you had in you?"

"My chest feels really bad," Felicia said. "I feel like I did when Mom and Dad got killed. It's weird, my heart's beating fast…"

"Don't worry too much about it, Felicia," Tsuruno said. "Whatever's in the air isn't magic, and it's not directly affecting our bodies. If our resolve wavers, we might just get pulled down into the gloom. We've gotta keep our spirits up! C'mon! Cheer up! Yep, yep!"

"Yeah, you're right," Felicia said. "You're right! Hmph!"

"Just don't take out any grief seeds while we're here," Ashley said. "They should be relatively safe as long as they're tucked away, but expose them directly to this air and they'll hatch into a witch almost immediately. They might still suck up some of the impurities even if tucked away, though."

"Are you feeling okay, Sana-chan?" Iroha asked.

"Y-yes, I can manage," Sana said. "But, are you sure this isn't a trap?"

"Because there's so much impurity here?" Iroha said.

"Yes," Sana said. "The air keeps getting thicker with these impurities the further we go down. I'm not sure I believe that the three Magius are down there. How could they be fine in this?"

"Same way I'm fine," Ashley said. "They've acclimated to it. Well… I wouldn't say I'm totally fine, but I've come here several times, so I'm somewhat used to it. The Magius are probably even more acclimated than I am."

"They wanted to hide this place so badly that they isolated it with magic," Iroha said. "I'm certain they're down here."

"You're probably right," Sana said.

"And yes, they're definitely down there," Ashley said. "I can see them."

"And besides," Iroha added. "They might be testing us. If we give up here, that's the end for us. We can't give in to some impurities. We have to stay strong. Otherwise, we can't stop their plans."

"That's true," Yachiyo said. "We don't know what awaits us down there. Mifuyu is preparing to destroy this entire building. We must withstand this until then."

Suddenly Sana's voice was heard.

"They're here… they're here…"

"Who's here, Sana?" Tsuruno asked.

"Huh? I didn't say anything," Sana said.

"Huh?" Tsuruno said. "I thought that was your voice. Am I hearing things?"

The next voice issuing from the darkness was Felicia's.

"What weak little losers, whining about feeling bad in such a small amount of impurities!"

"Hey!" the real Felicia protested. "Who just made fun of me!?"

"That was your own voice, mad dog," Kanagi said.

"Why the hell would I make fun of myself?" Felicia retorted.

"Don't ask me," Kanagi said.

"It looks like we're not alone in here," Yachiyo said.

Then Tsuruno's voice issued from the darkness, giggling.

"Everyone's so confused! Aren't they pathetic, shishou?"

It was followed by Yachiyo's voice.

"Yes, I'm ashamed just thinking they are our allies. Right, Iroha?"

Iroha's voice also responded.

"Yes, we're better than that. Everyone's forgotten who they really are."

"There's no doubt, Miss Yachiyo," the real Iroha said.

"They really have no shame," the real Yachiyo said.

"Yep, the mirror copies have shown up," Ashley said. "I wonder if there's a copy of me…"

"Can I suggest something to you guys, as your leader?" the fake Iroha said.

"Yes, we will follow your orders, Tamaki-kun," the fake Kanagi replied.

"Let's teach them who they really are," the fake Iroha said.

"What about us, leader?" the real Yachiyo said.

Mokyu piped up with one of its cute noises, and the real Iroha nodded.

"Just like Mokyu said, we don't need to listen to these copies," she said. "Nothing they say can change our minds."

"You're right," Yachiyo said. "This cheap trick won't work on us. My resolve was set before I even came here."

"Me too," Iroha said. "So let's eliminate these corrupt copies."

The copies finally emerged from the murk below.

"Allow me to add one more thing," Ashley said. "Other than possibly Miss Izumi, you shouldn't fight your own copies. Facing your doubts and all isn't a bad thing, but it also plays right into the Magius's hands by stalling us. You all know each others' powers well, so I'd suggest you try to pick matchups that give your side an advantage."

"Right, that's a good idea," Iroha said. "But even though you say that, I'm not quite sure which matchups would be best…"

"Well… there's one obvious way to do it," Ashley said. "Your team represents all of the elements except null. Water is strong against fire, so Miss Nanami should take on the fake Tsuruno. Fire is strong against forest, so Miss Yui should take on the fake Sana. And forest is strong against water, so Miss Futaba should take on the fake Yachiyo. Then you and Felicia basically swap opponents… though you two need to be more careful, since that means your magic is strong against your opponent's, but theirs is also strong against yours. And since it looks like I don't have a copy, I'll help out whoever seems to need it most."

Iroha nodded. "Okay, I think I understand," she said. "Though I have no idea what this elements stuff is you're talking about, but you can explain all of that later. Let's follow Miss Taylor's plan!"

As everyone squared off against their designated opponents, the copies began addressing their originals. As for Kanagi and her copy, they stepped off to the side to have a little chat of their own.

"Hey," the fake Sana said. "Do I really deserve happiness, when I'm so useless and untalented? Miss Iroha will eventually get sick of me causing problems all the time."

"I won't fret about things like that in Crescent Moon Villa anymore," Sana said. "It's the best place I've ever been in my life! I feel truly safe there."

"I'll also add that basically everyone deserves happiness," Ashley said. "As long as their happiness doesn't come from hurting people…"

"Y-yeah!" Sana agreed.

"You forgot about avenging your parents," the fake Felicia taunted. "With the Magius, there will be no more witches! Plus Yachiyo won't be able to boss you around. This side is waaay better!"

"But Iroha's not on that side, so it sucks!" the real Felicia retorted.

"But, I'm right here?" the fake Iroha said.

"No, you're a fake!" Felicia said. "Besides, we all agreed to share our problems!"

"Plus there's nothing to avenge," Ashley said. "And getting rid of witches is the easy part of the Magius's plans… well, I mean, not that it's easy, but it's something almost anyone could do if they set their minds to it and worked at it for long enough."

"So I'll get rid of witches in my own way!" Felicia said.

"I'm the mightiest, so I know the truth!" the fake Tsuruno said. "Those Crescent Moon Villa girls don't really get me at all."

"Actually, I've solved that one already!" the real Tsuruno said. "They accepted all of me, including my weaknesses! You could say our bond is what's mightiest!"

"You're just going to end up getting your friends killed again," the fake Yachiyo said. "I can just imagine your tough façade twisting into something else…"

"I'm willing to take that risk," the real Yachiyo replied. "I just can't imagine life without them. That's how much Iroha and the others mean to me."

"Since when did we get so opinionated?" the fake Iroha wondered.

"…that's supposed to be a bad thing?" Ashley muttered.

"Tamaki Iroha isn't that strong of a person," the fake Iroha continued, ignoring the interruption.

"That's not true," the real Iroha replied. "What you see before me is the true me. I'm the new Tamaki Iroha."

"You just floated along through school, never developing any real relationships," the fake said. "You were afraid of saying something off, so you kept quiet. You were always worried about what people thought of you, so you just followed along."

"That's why I never had anyone I could call a friend back then," the real one agreed. "I was just the cheerful, agreeable classmate that nobody could read."

"But thanks to that, you had a peaceful school life," the fake said.

"I couldn't tell Ui the truth, though," Iroha said. "I kept lying to her about school. She was looking forward to going so much. I acted like I was having a great time there, but it was all just a façade. I will never go back to who I used to be. When Ui disappeared and I started spending time with Miss Yachiyo… I started having to stand my ground. And everything around me kept changing. I met so many other magical girls, and formed irreplaceable friendships. We shared our worries and pain with one another. That's why I'm saying goodbye to the wishy-washy person I used to be. Because now, I can finally hold my head up high. I now have best friends that I want to introduce to Ui when I see her again."

"Ultimately, it's still your little sister that you're clinging too," the fake said. "It's Ui. What are you going to do if she never existed?"

"If Ui didn't exist?" the real Iroha said.

"Before you have to deal with the shock of learning that… you should stop what you're doing, like Touka-chan and Nemu-chan said," the fake said. "What you're doing is pointless. Those two won't remember you, and Ui doesn't even exist. Are you going to keep being selfish? Will you keep causing all this pain? Will you continue to trample everyone's desires?"

"What you're saying isn't wrong," the real Iroha said. "Some feathers are grieving for their sisters, who turned into witches. And some feathers want to live peacefully in their own hometowns. Each feather, each magical girl, has their own feelings about this. Everyone in this war has their own opinions and desires. But I believe in my memory, and I believe in the photo Miss Taylor sent me, and I believe in the words of the Eternal Sakura and Ai-chan. I refuse to believe that Ui doesn't exist! I believe that Touka-chan and Nemu-chan will remember her! And this isn't just about Ui, either! This is about Kamihama. The Kamihama we love, the Kamihama that changed me. It's in danger, so I will stop what's threatening it!"

"Even if it means trampling other magical girls' wishes?" the fake asked.

"For every wish I trample, I will be that much more determined," the real Iroha said. "I won't give up until I've seen my stubborn wishes through to the end."

It seemed the others were waiting for Iroha's longer conversation to finish, but now that it was over, all of them attacked at once. Thanks to the shifted match-ups that Ashley suggested, the battle was short and sweet. Ashley helped out a little with Felicia fighting the fake Iroha, and with Sana fighting the fake Yachiyo, but it really was only a little. As for Kanagi's copy, it had apparently run away after concluding their discussion, which meant that five mirror coins clattered down the steps. They picked them up and stowed them away.

"I wanna get this over with and go eat!" Felicia complained.

"Yeah," Sana said. "I want to go home with everyone as soon as possible, too."

"Hm? What's this all of a sudden?" Yachiyo asked.

"They're saying they're happy to be on Team Crescent Moon Villa," Iroha said. "Am I right?"

"Yeah!" Felicia said.

"Yes!" Sana said.

Yachiyo giggled. "I'm glad to be on the same team as everyone, too."

"We might not be able to go home right away," Iroha said. "But let's promise to go home together, after we successfully complete this mission! We'll go back to Crescent Moon Villa, together!"

"Yes," Yachiyo said. "I should think about what to cook for dinner. We'll have to make a seat at the table for Mifuyu, too."

"Are you all finished?" Kanagi asked.

"Everything alright, Kanagi?" Yachiyo said.

"Yes, I wasn't much different from myself," Kanagi said.

"That certainly sounds like you," Yachiyo said.

"Let's get going to where the Magius await," Iroha said.

"We should be almost there, I think," Ashley said.

"Miss Mifuyu should be defeating the rumour soon," Iroha said.

"Yes, let's continue our descent into the abyss," Yachiyo said.

They continued to descend into the darkness. A few minutes later, they finally emerged into a vaulted chamber which was laid out like a garden, complete with flowers. The planters resembled coffins, and Eve hung off the wall at the far end, but the Magius were not visible from the entrance.

"Is this where the Magius are?" Iroha wondered.

"Ugh, the impurities are nasty down here," Felicia said.

"It seems a bit like a botanical garden," Sana said.

"Coffins and flowers, how unpleasant," Yachiyo said.

"Hey, guys, look at that," Tsuruno said, pointing at Eve.

She was truly massive, like a gargantuan white moth decked out in jewels.

"Is that Eve at the very back there?" Yachiyo asked.

"She's at least twice as large as when I first saw her," Ashley said. "Maybe even three times…?"

"That's a witch," Tsuruno said. "That's definitely a witch."

"I actually don't think it is," Ashley said.

As they stepped a little further into the garden, they were greeted by Alina's giggle. Then the three of them came into view around a stand of rose bushes. They were sitting at a table in an open grassy area near the centre of the garden, drinking tea and snacking on sweets. Nemu also appeared to be reading a book.

"So you've finally made it!" Alina said.

"Miss Alina…" Iroha said.

"You arrived later than we expected," Nemu said.

"I knew you'd come with your soul gem on your own if they left you alone, Tamaki Iroha," Alina said. "Those feathers were terribly foolish to go out of their way to fight you."

"Anyway!" Touka said. "Welcome to our chapel! Why don't we all enjoy some tea while gazing upon Eve? We have one more guest than expected, but there should still be enough to go around!"

"So this really is Eve," Iroha said.

"Unbelievable," Tsuruno said. "They're calmly having a tea party in front of such a terrible witch."

"And these impurities in the air aren't fazing them at all," Felicia said.

Alina giggled. "What do you think of our best artwork? Doesn't Embryo Eve give you goosebumps just from looking at it?"

"No, I don't feel that way at all," Iroha said. "I can't look at this witch like she's a work of art."

"We wouldn't be calmly looking at it either if it was a real witch, you know," Nemu said.

"This is very obviously a witch," Kanagi said. "If she was released, and a normal person came into contact with her aura…"

"Yes, she has very sinister energy," Sana said. "I can't believe you've been raising a witch like this."

"I denied your assertion that it is a witch," Nemu said. "Did you not hear me?"

"Then what is it?" Sana said.

"This is an incomplete specimen," Nemu said. "It's neither a magical girl, nor a witch. It's a half witch, an in-between."

"That's it," Alina said. "That's why we worked together to raise Eve. We wanted to push its limit and make it a complete witch."

"That's what you mean by hatching it?" Iroha said.

"That's right!" Touka said. "A half witch will hatch into a full witch! When magical girls become witches, they release phase transition energy. That is what we wanted. If we had that energy, we could expand our Kamihama miracle to the rest of the world!"

"And magical girls everywhere will be saved from their fates," Iroha said.

"Well aren't you quick on the uptake!" Touka said.

"That can't be all," Yachiyo said. "You must be doing this for some personal gain."

"That is secondary," Nemu said. "I want to make the world my parchment. Touka wants to know everything about the universe. And Alina wants to decorate her art forever."

"Yes, our goal is simply to liberate magical girls," Touka said. "We'll turn Eve's soul gem into a grief seed. Once that happens, we've succeeded!"

"Is that why you summoned Walpurgisnacht!?" Iroha gasped. "You of all people should know, Touka-chan… if you summon such an awful witch, people in the city will get hurt!"

"All the more emotional energy for us!" Touka said. "Just imagine it."

"I'm starting to think these girls are the most evil witch here," Yachiyo said. "Anyway, the issue at hand here is about more than just this moment. Witch or not, it's insane to use a mass of impurities like this."

"I agree," Kanagi said. "So what's your plan? Now's the time to act."

"I'd rather chat a bit more," Ashley said. "I have a few things to say to the Magius before we start fighting."

"Well then, go ahead," Touka said. "You've been quiet so far. What's on your mind, Miss Taylor?"

"You explained all that stuff about the half witch," Ashley said. "But really, it doesn't make any sense. Don't you think of yourself as a scientist?"

"Well, yes," Touka said. "What part didn't make sense to you? I can explain more."

"I just think you should be ashamed of that explanation," Ashley said. "It's full of holes. Let me summarize it for you. You have somehow come across a being that you dub as a half witch. You believe that feeding it with impurities will eventually make it hatch into a full witch, thus producing the energy you need to liberate all magical girls. So, my first question is… why would such a being as a half witch exist in the first place? I've never heard such a thing before. When a magical girl turns into a witch, there's no intermediate state. How is it that you came across something that has never happened before?"

"That is still a mystery to us," Nemu said. "We simply found it by chance, at the hospital."

"Yes, we haven't figured that part out yet," Touka said. "I'm sorry, but science is a process, so we won't always have all the answers!"

"Then, my second question," Ashley said. "What evidence do you have that feeding it would ever lead it to hatch?"

"I don't understand what you mean," Touka said. "How could it not hatch? A soul gem will always hatch into a witch eventually, if it's filled with impurities."

Ashley shook her head. "It's a creature you've never seen before," she said. "How can you assume it follows the same rules as a soul gem and a witch?"

"It's the best theory we've come up with," Touka retorted. "All the other theories we devised did not fit the data… but if you have a better theory, I'll listen."

"You mentioned that Eve has a soul gem, but has that soul gem actually gathered any impurities since you… discovered her?"

"Unfortunately, the soul gem is now buried so deep within the structure that we are no longer able to observe it," Touka said. "It did not appear to be gathering impurities at first, but I surmised that it is simply because its capacity is greater than a typical soul gem."

"Well, I do have an alternate theory, actually," Ashley said. "I believe Eve is not a witch, nor a half witch. I believe she is a doppel."

"We considered that theory," Touka said. "But Eve behaves differently from doppels."

"Well, the circumstances are unique, after all," Ashley said. "Her power is to collect impurities, but she didn't have the karmic destiny to control that power right off the bat. Turning into a witch immediately after contracting would not have been surprising at all. But why do soul gems turn into grief seeds? Of course, it's because of emotions. If you separate out the emotions, the soul gem cannot gather impurities, and cannot hatch into a grief seed. Normally, that would be impossible to do, but the power of manifestation is almost unlimited. You created the automatic purification system, after all. If you can do that, you can certainly prevent a single soul gem from hatching into a grief seed. If Eve is the first doppel, and her emotions have been removed, then it doesn't matter how much you feed her. She's never going to hatch into a witch, because she lacks the emotions to do so."

"It's a very interesting theory," Touka said. "But it doesn't fit all the facts. For example, why would we be preventing Eve from transforming while at the same time working to make her transform? That obviously doesn't make any sense."

"I agree," Ashley said. "But the answer is simple. Your memories have been altered by a rumour. You can't make an objective judgement if you don't have all the information. I believe Eve's soul gem will never be able to absorb impurities as long as her emotions are not restored to her. All the impurities you've been gathering have only been building up this monster, not dirtying Eve's soul gem."

"You're not going to try to convince us that Tamaki Iroha's nonsensical memories are real, are you?" Touka said.

"No, there's really no need to convince you," Ashley said. "You'll figure it out yourself soon enough. But it's actually pretty ironic… you became magical girls to save Miss Tamaki from her fate, and now you're trying to kill her. Your contracts couldn't have gone more wrong than that. Ui must be furious at you right now. Well, if she's even conscious."

Mokyu made one of her cute noises, indicating agreement, and Iroha blinked in surprise.

"She agrees with Miss Taylor…" she said. "She said she's furious too…"

"Enough!" Touka shouted. "I have heard quite enough about this Ui nonsense!"

"Well, that's certainly not a scientific reaction," Ashley retorted.

"I don't want to hear another word about Tamaki Iroha's imaginary little sister!" Touka said.

"Hmm. It might be because it's not a witch, but it seems Eve is unable to move," Kanagi said.

"I think that's actually because she's restrained," Ashley said. "Plus, there isn't much room down here for her to move when she's that big."

"That's true," Iroha said. "Then… we have to destroy Eve. That way we can cut down the Magius's plans at the root."

"You won't be smug for much longer," Yachiyo said.

"Yeah!" Felicia said. "There are seven of us!"

"Including me, the mightiest magical girl!" Tsuruno said. "But I've got a feeling they have something up their sleeve."

"Of course they do," Ashley retorted. "If there's one thing you can trust about the Magius, it's that they have a plan for every possible scenario they can imagine."

Touka giggled. "I wonder, what could it be? You really are smart, aren't you, miss mighty? And Miss Taylor… well, let's set her aside for now. No matter how hard you try, you have no chance of winning. Your magic reserves, your stamina, and even the environment is not in your favour."

"That's right," Nemu said. "However, to sit this out would be truly irritating, so I shall face you as well. Touka could likely protect Eve on her own, but I will join the battlefield this time."

"Are you feeling all better?" Touka asked.

"I'll be fine as long as I don't make any rumours," Nemu said.

"So, you've come all the way here," Alina said. "Has your memory changed at all?"

"My memories and feelings are the same as they've always been," Iroha said. "All I know is that I have to stop you."

"Grah… how boring," Alina said. "In that case, I wish I hadn't saved you."

"Everyone, ignore the Magius and focus on Eve!" Iroha said.

"I don't care if it's impurities or whatever, this hammer's gonna clobber all of it!" Felicia said.

"Such confidence is seriously irritating," Alina said, getting to her feet and stepping towards them.

"Grr… the crazy lady's coming!" Felicia said.

Touka and Nemu also stood up and stepped around the table.

"I don't think they'll let us through so easily," Sana said.

"Huh?" Yachiyo said. "Something's wrong with my body…"

"Me too," Iroha said. "It gets difficult to breathe whenever I move."

"Soon, you won't be able to move at all," Nemu said.

She opened her book and let loose a flurry of pages towards Tsuruno and Kanagi, who happened to be closest to her.

"Urgh! How is she not weakened?" Kanagi said.

"S-something's wrong, Kanagi!" Tsuruno said.

"Are you alright, Yui-kun?" Kanagi asked.

"No, not at all," Tsuruno said. "I have no strength."

"I see," Kanagi said. "My body feels exceptionally heavy, but it seems they're not feeling the same thing… and nor is Miss Taylor."

"I do feel a bit heavy," Ashley admitted. "But I think I'm still in good enough shape to put up a fight."

Nemu giggled. "You are exhausted from fighting outside. Your resolve and willpower may have helped until now, but you've reached your limit."

"Urgh," Felicia grumbled. "My body's not moving right… and I'm starting to feel sick again. This didn't happen when we fought at the heliport."

"No!" Sana gasped. "I can't stay standing!"

True to her words, she collapsed to her knees, and Alina giggled, making a grab for Felicia.

"Hey!" Felicia protested. "Get your hands off me!"

"I can finally delete the blondie who's been annoying me, Alina, for forever," Alina said. "I've wanted your hair, but you have a lovely complexion, too."

"What the hell?" Felicia said. "Quit it."

"Think of what Karin-chan would say if she heard you talking that way," Ashley said.

"That idiot has nothing to do with this!" Alina shouted.

"You really think so?" Ashley said. "I think Karin-chan is more important to you than you can admit."

"Enough about the idiot!" Alina screamed.

"Doesn't that reaction just prove I'm right?" Ashley retorted.

Alina ignored her this time and turned in a huff to Sana, who was sitting on the ground nearby.

"And you!" she said.

Sana squeaked as Alina leaned down to examine her, and the older girl giggled.

"Aw, what a cute reaction! What, are you trembling?"

While Alina was tormenting Sana and Felicia, Touka and the others were attacking each other, with the exception of Ashley who was just watching. However, everyone on Iroha's side wasn't doing too well.

Touka giggled. "You see? I knew this would happen. I told you! You don't have the stamina, magic, or proper environment to fight us. All those ideas about fighting and friendships may sound cool, but sometimes those just aren't enough, you know? You should use your brain and think more carefully."

"Miss Yachiyo," Iroha said, panting a little, though she was still standing.

"I know we've had back-to-back fights," Yachiyo said. "But my legs have never felt this heavy before. Something's wrong."

"We have plenty of magic," Iroha said. "I know we're exhausted, but… why do we feel this way already?"

"Could it be the environment?" Yachiyo said.

Touka giggled. "Correct, again! We're used to the air being thick with impurities, but you aren't, Tamaki Iroha. You haven't built up the immunity to shrug it off. That's why you keep feeling worse the more you fight. Haven't you noticed?"

"Touka-chan…" Iroha said.

"Contrary to what Miss Taylor said earlier, I don't plan on killing you," Touka said. "But looking at your face really does annoy me. You've gotten in our way so many times. So, let me take out my anger on you, just this once."

"What are you saying?" Iroha asked.

Touka giggled. "Oh, Tamaki Iroha… just wait and see!"

With those words, Touka closed her eyes and unleashed her doppel, a sort of beaked figure in a maid-like uniform with wings made of matches. As with Iroha's own doppel, it grew out from Touka's hair. Touka flapped those wings and leapt into the air – she clearly had full control of her doppel. And the impurities sucked out from Touka's soul gem wafted past her and sank into Eve's immense body.

"W-what's happening!?" Iroha gasped. "Is Eve absorbing Touka-chan's impurities!?"

"Could it be… Eve was causing the doppels?" Yachiyo said.

"I don't think that's quite it," Ashley said. "Eve absorbs impurities, but that alone is insufficient to produce a doppel… she's the centre of the automatic purification system, but not the entirety of it. It has three steps… absorb, convert, manifest. Eve only handles the first step."

Following Touka's lead, Nemu also closed her eyes and unleashed her doppel. Hers also grew out from her hair, taking on the form of a blob-like monster with two arms and a massive cape. The arms ended in something that was sort of like a hand with three fingers, but oddly swollen, with an eye on the palm, except the eye was actually a mouth with a long, thin tongue emerging from it.

"Time to be quiet, now," Touka said.

But as Touka rained down lasers upon the entire forward section of the garden, Ashley summoned her giant teddy bear and placed it above the group as a make-shift shield, then used it as a foothold to hop up into the air and do a flip towards Touka, lopping off one of the wings of her doppel. Startled, Touka halted the bombardment as she fell to the ground, absorbing her doppel back into her body.

With Touka temporarily out of the picture, Nemu's doppel darted forward and lashed out at Ashley with those weird arms, causing Ashley to freeze just as she was about to swing her sword at Touka. A few moments later, after breaking free of whatever had caused her to stop, she threw her sword at Nemu's doppel, then summoned a swarm of small floating teddy heads that bombarded the monster with beams until it retreated back into Nemu's body.

"Great Teddy's Ionic Bombardment!" she shouted.

"Don't interfere, Miss Taylor!" Touka complained. "You're technically still a member, aren't you? You should obey your Magius!"

"Don't be stupid," Ashley retorts. "No-one would obey a spoiled little brat who's throwing a tantrum. Also, I only joined your cult so I could destroy it from the inside, and because it made it easy for me to confront Walpurgisnacht. I was never on board with your plan from the very beginning."

"Ugh," Iroha said. "T-thank you, Miss Taylor…"

"Sorry that Teddy Mk II isn't a very good shield," Ashley said.

"Should've had better screening, obviously," Touka grumbled. "Okay, everyone, gather round!"

She flicked her finger and blasted Iroha with a mini-laser, eliciting a squeal..

"Iroha, are you okay!?" Yachiyo asked.

"Y-yes," Iroha said.

"You couldn't even get close to Eve, could you?" Touka taunted.

"You're like a new feather recruit, so naïve," Nemu said.

"Why would she ever need to get close?" Ashley retorted. "She has a bow."

Ashley summoned a small teddy head in her hand and held it over her head, facing towards Eve. A moment later, a beam was emitted from the teddy's eyes, striking Eve's lower body. It didn't appear to have any effect, however.

"See? No need to get close," Ashley said.

Sana gasped as she tried to shift her position. "I'm out of breath just from moving a little…"

"We gotta fight back!" Felicia shouted. "Ugh, why can't I even stand!"

"We can't let these impurities beat us," Tsuruno said. "We're so close to stopping the Magius. Even Miss Taylor can fight… so we've gotta back her up!"

"An environment that's advantageous for the enemy," Kanagi said. "This was to be expected… are you going to kill us?"

"Like I said, I have no intention to delete you," Alina said. "Well, I guess I wouldn't mind, though… but it's almost time for Eve to hatch. Let's share this special moment together. I'll do you a favour and just watch you gasping in pain."

"That's right, we've come this far!" Touka said. "Eve has grown, and Walpurgisnacht will soon arrive. Let's enjoy some tea until Eve hatches, shall we?"

"Don't be stupid," Yachiyo said. "I have nothing to say to you."

"Besides, you're wrong," Ashley said. "Eve isn't going to hatch. She can't hatch. Your entire plan is based on a false premise. The original sketch you came up with wasn't wrong – the success of the trial automatic purification system proves that – but your follow-up plan is an utter failure."

"Aw, don't be like that," Touka said. "It'll take some time before Mifuyu destroys Fendt Hope, after all."

"What?" Iroha said. "You mean, you don't care if your headquarters are destroyed?"

"To execute our plans, we have to get Eve out of the building," Nemu said.

"You were making us fight on purpose!?" Iroha asked.

"We don't want Mifuyu, the flute sisters, and the feathers to interrupt us later," Alina said. "It would be best if everyone tired themselves out by fighting, so we kept you busy with soul gems and the rumour. It's unfortunate that Mifuyu's body will be harmed, though."

"Joke's on you, because even with them out of the picture, there are tons more magical girls who can interrupt you," Ashley retorted.

"If that's so, then where are they?" Touka said. "I don't see any other magical girls. I only see you guys."

"I must say, I was surprised when the Rumour of the Eternal Sakura was found," Nemu said. "But once we summoned Walpurgisnacht, we had you in checkmate."

"That's right!" Touka crowed. "We win! So let's kill some time, shall we?"

"You're counting your chickens before they're hatched," Ashley said. "Eve and Walpurgisnacht are both going to be destroyed independently, before they have a chance to meet. That said… I agree that there's no point in fighting right now. Our side would just be needlessly wasting magic that would be better put to use fighting Eve once she gets free, and Walpurgisnacht once she arrives."

"Well then, I'll tell you anything you want to know," Touka said. "As a reward for getting this far, I'll tell you things even Mifuyu doesn't know."

She giggled.

"Things that even Mifuyu doesn't know?" Yachiyo said.

"Yeah, like Kyuubey's real goal, and our real intentions," Touka said. "You want to know, don't you?"

"I think it should be interesting to hear what you have to say, at least," Ashley said. "Although it's probably nothing I don't already know… but I'm sure the others haven't heard it all before."

"It all started quite some time ago," Touka said. "I was temporarily released from the hospital, and I found an unpublished book manuscript in my uncle's apartment. The book's title was Magical Girls: Their Hope and Despair. It discussed things learned from interviewing magical girls, and chronicled their lives."

"Isn't Miss Nanami one of the magical girls who was interviewed for that?" Ashley said.

"Oh, I don't know," Touka said. "It's possible, I suppose. She's been a magical girl for suuuch a long time, after all."

"Now that you mention it, I do remember someone interviewing me about what it's like to be a magical girl," Yachiyo said. "It was a bit of a surprise, because he was just an ordinary human, yet he knew about magical girls…"

"Stop interrupting me!" Touka protested. "Anyway… it appeared to be a work of fiction, but it sounded so real to me. That's why I sought out Kyuubey, who wasn't written about in much detail. Then, one night, Kyuubey appeared on my windowsill, and I asked him lots of questions. He told me so many interesting things that magical girls still don't know."

"He still didn't tell you everything though," Ashley said.

Touka ignored her and just continued the story.

"First, I learned more about Kyuubey himself. Kyuubey is a device made by a race that built a civilization in outer space using technology humans can't even dream of. Plus, he had a mission. It wasn't to grant wishes to girls, nor was it to create magical girls who would hunt witches. Those were just incidental measures. His real mission was to save the universe. Want to know why?

"All phenomena in the universe cause a perpetual energy loss for the rest of the universe due to the second law of thermodynamics. As Kyuubey put it, the amount of heat a bonfire gives off is not equal to the energy it took to grow the wood."

"That's probably one of the worst examples you could think of," Ashley interrupted. "The problem isn't loss of energy… it's loss of useful energy. That heat put off by the bonfire? You can use it to do further work, of course, but you can't use all of it. Some of it will inevitably escape."

"I'm the one telling this story!" Touka protested. "And I'm trying to keep things simple for the middle school students! The point is to get the idea across in terms they'll understand, not write a scientific paper!"

"Fine, whatever," Ashley grumbled. "Do continue…"

"Anyway!" Touka said. "As I was saying, this difference in energy gets lost. The universe continues to produce this loss, which will ultimately lead to its death."

"In a few quadrillion years, sure," Ashley said. "Even the Incubator's civilization is unlikely to survive that long, much less ours… the sun will be long burnt out by then."

"Would you kindly just shut up!?" Touka shouted. "Let me finish! Right, where was I… oh, yes. So, in human terms, maybe it's similar to cell division failure, which we know as aging. Kyuubey is working hard to suppress this aging of the universe."

"So, we weren't created to hunt witches?" Yachiyo asked.

"It's exciting stuff, isn't it?" Touka said. "Don't you want to know more?"

Touka giggled.

"…she's allowed to interrupt but I'm not?" Ashley muttered.

"She had a question," Touka said. "Questions are allowed. Comments from the peanut gallery however are forbidden."

"I suppose I do want to know," Yachiyo said. "We're meant to hunt witches, but transform into witches ourselves. It seemed contradictory, but now I know why."

"Surprising, isn't it?" Touka said.

"I'm not sure I believe it quite yet," Yachiyo said. "You could be making this all up."

"Actually, I'll vouch for Touka on this one," Ashley said. "She's not making it up. I've heard the same thing myself, straight from Kyuubey."

"Still, I'd like to know," Sana said. "Does it have something to do with the Magius's true intentions?"

"Yes, it does indeed," Touka said. "I'm glad you've been paying attention."

"Say what you're saying is true," Tsuruno said. "So that means we're just being used for the sake of the universe? Magical girls are tangled up in something to do with the entire universe…? Energy is being lost?"

"It's so simple, isn't it?" Touka said. "We magical girls exist to solve that problem. You see, the problem is that energy in the universe is slowly being lost through all sorts of processes, like the births and deaths of planets and stars. If that loss of energy continues to creep throughout the universe, it will become a chaotic mess of nothingness."

"Heat death of the universe," Ashley piped up.

"Right, there is a name for it," Touka agreed, surprisingly without complaint this time. "It would essentially be the death of everything! It's a matter of critical importance. But Kyuubey discovered a form of energy here on Earth that isn't bound by the laws of thermodynamics. That energy is… human emotions. Joy, sadness, surprise… the amount of energy produced by human emotion is greater than the amount a human consumes between birth and death. And the ones who produce the most energy happen to be young girls. They experience the greatest fluctuations in emotions during the stage between childhood and adulthood. Changes in awareness of the opposite sex, rebelliousness caused by personal growth, balancing of physical and mental changes… this stage is ripe for emotional fluctuation."

"That's not limited to girls, mind you," Ashley said. "Kyuubey mentioned that very occasionally he actually makes a contract with a boy. It's just… more pronounced in girls, for whatever reason."

"I said, no peanuts from the comment gallery!" Touka shouted.

"Calm down, Touka," Nemu said. "You're even getting the saying mixed up now."

"Anyway!" Touka said. "That's why Kyuubey wishes to create magical girls who will fight witches. With the energy he reaps from magical girls, he can fix the universe's energy deficit."

"What's there to gain by creating magical girls?" Tsuruno asked. "Our wishes were granted for some purpose, weren't they? He wants emotional energy. Granting wishes means he'll get…" Suddenly she gasped. "It can't be. This system is to create witches…!"

"W-what's going on!?" Felicia asked.

"I'm not following, either," Sana said.

"He created a cycle that deliberately induces our emotions," Tsuruno said.

"Very good, miss mighty!" Touka said. "By granting wishes, he gives girls hope, but they'll eventually feel despair. It could be a consequence of their wish, or learning that they're fated to become witches… maybe losing their friends, whatever. What's important is that magical girls, symbols of hope, eventually feel despair and create powerful phase transition energy. Hope and despair… a cycle was established for clear-cut results by creating magical girls who feel hope from their wishes being granted, and then despair when they become witches."

"I don't really get it, but basically, you're telling us that we were being used?" Felicia said.

"Is that so unforgivable?" Touka asked.

"Duh, obviously!" Felicia shouted.

"Our emotions and determination to stand by our decision was manipulated," Yachiyo said. "It would be strange if we weren't resentful."

"That's the typical response," Touka said. "To feel hate. To want to eliminate, to destroy Kyuubey. But I don't think that would solve anything."

"That doesn't change the fact that Kyuubey is an evil creature," Yachiyo said.

"Oh, I hate it as much as you do, but I can't see it as evil," Ashley said.

"Even if he's trying to protect the universe in which we all live?" Touka said. "You'd still call him evil when his goal is that noble?"

"Well," Yachiyo said.

"I know the scale of all this is so big you might have trouble picturing it," Touka said. "But you should be proud of yourselves for having that sort of power. You're magical girls who can save the whole universe!"

"It's not like it's a power we have in our possession," Ashley said. "We have to die to make use of it. How could that make us proud? Though I do sorta see your point, but… no, I don't agree."

"So, are you saying we should just become witches, then?" Yachiyo asked.

"No," Touka said. "We have Eve, who creates doppels for us and stops witch transformations. After all, we Magius are going to take over for Kyuubey."

"Take over for Kyuubey?" Yachiyo said. "You mean you're trying to rob him of his duties, and create a world where no witch transformations happen? Unleashing doppels will create energy to maintain the universe, so we won't have to become witches?"

"And once all witches eventually disappear, we can live out our lives in peace," Nemu said.

"You're unfortunately wrong about that, too," Ashley said. "Getting rid of witches is a good thing, but I'm afraid it doesn't obviate the need for magical girls to fight."

"Ugh, I've had enough of your interruptions!" Touka shouted.

"Calm down, Touka," Nemu said. "It does not matter. Anyway… for that purpose, we must transform Eve into a witch. We'll use that phase transition energy to expand Kamihama's forcefield, secure Eve the witch to the new field, and form a gate to return energy to the universe. Then all that's left is to have Eve, who has the power to collect energy and return it to the universe, do that for us automatically. Kyuubey will have no reason to interfere if the universe continues to exist. Even if he wanted to, we'd have our forcefield. We'll have made our own paradise, where magical girls and witches won't be created."

"Hm… Kyuubey has disappeared from this city," Kanagi said. "I guess that means the Magius were behind that as well."

"Our forcefield that keeps Kyuubey out is our insurance," Nemu said.

"You have no guarantee it won't find a way around the field though," Ashley said.

"Perhaps, but we can deal with that if and when it happens," Nemu said. "Touka simplified when she said Kyuubey showed up one day. She actually meddled in his race's network. She tried to steal as much information from them as she could, so they're wary of her. But, Kyuubey himself turned us into magical girls. We figured even if he knew half of our plan, if each unit is essentially the same, they might be concerned about what's going on in Kamihama, but they wouldn't interfere. That said, negative emotional energy occurs when doppels are released, and many people also get caught up in a rumour, releasing more emotional energy. We didn't want a Kyuubey to collect all that energy for themselves. His job is almost over, anyway. Walpurgisnacht will be here soon."

"And when she comes, I will destroy her," Ashley said.

"You're both underestimating Walpurgisnacht," Yachiyo said. "You may have been successful with your plans so far, but just wait until you see that witch. In the end, your plan might be completely ruined."

"Have you seen her before, Miss Nanami?" Ashley asked.

"No, but I have heard from magical girls who faced her," Yachiyo said.

"Well, I have fought her," Ashley said. "She's certainly strong, I'll grant you that. But with enough firepower, she can be defeated."

"If Miss Nanami is right, we just need to release Eve," Alina said. "We never said we could delete Walpurgisnacht. That was never part of the plan."

"What are you talking about?" Yachiyo asked.

"If anything, we're welcoming Walpurgisnacht with open arms," Touka said.

"The more the city is devastated, the more emotional energy will flow out of it," Nemu said.

"Eve will absorb that energy and get stronger and stronger!" Touka said.

"And when Mifuyu and the others delete the rumour and Eve is released, Eve will devour Walpurgisnacht, and it will be destroyed," Alina said.

"Okay, we understand what you're trying to do, Touka-chan," Iroha said. "And we get what you're trying to accomplish by doing it. But that you'd go this far… things have been getting crazier and crazier ever since Chelation Land. I really can't believe it."

"You can barely fight, but you still have the energy to whine?" Alina said. "You losers should just keep silent and listen."

"No," Iroha said. "I will fight to the very end. I don't want this city to fall victim to this. I don't want to leave our future in your hands. And more than anything, Touka-chan and Nemu-chan… I don't want to see you do this. That's why, when Miss Mifuyu gets rid of Fendt Hope, I'll immediately go and destroy Eve. And then, we will destroy Walpurgisnacht!"

"Yes," Yachiyo said. "If your plans succeed, I do think liberation might happen for magical girls. Just as you've said all along, you might be able to save future magical girls. But however logical it might sound, you will still be hurting others. Over one million people live in Kamihama, and they all have precious memories here. I won't let you destroy those memories for your own personal ambitions."

"Yeah," Tsuruno said. "You're only thinking of magical girls in this plan of yours. I have Banbanzai to worry about. We have a shopping centre that our community built together. We have our schools. I can't destroy all of that just so I can be saved…"

"Yeah!" Felicia said. "Kako's bookstore and Ayame's Azalea House might get destroyed if you get your way! Plus, there's Yachiyo's house!"

"Yes, I may have a lot of bad memories about myself and my family in Kamihama," Sana said. "But I don't think you have the right to take away everyone's memories. I've made friends, despite being the way I am. I don't want them to be sad."

"Indeed, if we were to agree to their plan, the city might get destroyed," Kanagi said. "But first and foremost, this isn't a game. If Eve can't be controlled after it consumes Walpurgisnacht… that would be the end for all of us. The world might be destroyed before humanity ever reaches an understanding."

"You're also missing a step in there, Miss Tamaki," Ashley said. "Before you can destroy Eve, you need to free Ui."

"U-um… i-is that so…?" Iroha said.

Ashley nodded, pointing up at the large red jewel just below the creature's head.

"That photo I sent you? It's the exceptionally large red jewel up there."

"R-really!?" Iroha gasped.

"So, you deny us, even after all you've just heard?" Touka said.

"Yes, this is beyond shocking," Nemu said.

"It's more shocking to me that the two of you actually thought the full truth would win anyone over," Ashley retorted. "Why the hell would you expect logic to win over emotions? Especially in a case like this, where you're describing something that is very morally questionable."

"But it's kind of too late," Alina said.

"Yeah," Touka said. "You might not be able to tell, because you're in here, but the situation is actually a lot worse than you guys think."

"What do you mean?" Iroha asked.

"Attack and hurt us to your heart's content if you wish," Touka said. "Even if you managed to destroy Eve, you can't stop Walpurgisnacht."

"Sorry, everyone," Nemu said.

"You're awfully confident about that," Ashley said. "On what basis do you make that claim?"

But Touka just giggled, not bothering to grace her with an answer.

"You basically have two selections," Alina said. "One – you ruin our plans, bringing back witch transformations to this city, and Walpurgisnacht descends upon Kamihama. Or two – you let us go through with our plans to make a world without witches, but Walpurgisnacht still descends upon Kamihama. Either way, the city's devastation can't be avoided."

"I wonder about that," Ashley said. "The city is protected by someone you're not even aware of, after all… though, I'm not sure what form her protection takes…"

"Walpurgisnacht is already near," Nemu said. "Nobody can stop it. There will be sacrifices either way, so it should be obvious which choice to make."

"Yeah!" Touka said. "If we let you girls have your way, everyone will die a needless death. Are you sure you want that?"

"Madoka and Kazumi-chan should be able to defeat Walpurgisnacht," Ashley said. "Especially with the support of nearly every magical girl across the island. Plus, sacrifices are fine, as long as they aren't lives. I don't care if a few buildings get knocked down. I just don't want anyone to die."

"Even if what you say is true, Alina… I've made up my mind!" Iroha said. "You may claim you're saving the magical girls of the future… but I'm going to save everyone's futures! I won't let Eve become a witch by devouring Walpurgisnacht!"

Suddenly the earth began to shake.

"It looks like Mifuyu destroyed it," Touka said.

"Mifuyu may have destroyed herself as well," Nemu said.

"She threw away that beautiful body of hers?" Alina said. "What a loss for humanity. But, thanks to her, we're now on our last spurt."

"Is the labyrinth breaking!?" Tsuruno gasped.

"Everyone hold onto each other!" Yachiyo said.

"Okay!" Iroha said.

The Crescent Moon Villa team grabbed onto each other, while Ashley summoned her floating teddy bear and hopped on, avoiding the tremors by taking to the air. As for Kanagi, she simply braced herself, spacing her feet further apart for a more stable stance.

For a few minutes, the tremors filled the room, leaving no room for further chatter. And then… Fendt Hope's barrier collapsed, dumping everyone back out into reality.

"Ah, somehow we got all the way to the destruction of Fendt Hope without even touching on the battle that destroyed it," I say. "Um… in that case, we should probably backtrack a little…"

"Then, I have a suggestion!" Asuka says. "We've been sitting around and chatting for quite awhile now, so we should take a break and have some tea and snacks!"

"Ohhh, that's a great idea!" Momoko says. "But are you sure it's okay to treat so many people?"

"It's fine," Asuka says. "We're all magical girls here, after all."

She gets to her feet and leaves the room.

"How stupid," Kagari mutters.

"Onee-san, don't say things like that," Matsuri says.

"But we came all the way here for only one reason, and it's been forever and we haven't even gotten a chance to speak!" Kagari says. "Why did we have to listen to all this useless drivel just to ask a simple question!?"

"If you don't want to listen, you're free to go home, onee-san," Matsuri says. "But I found it all pretty interesting. Besides, I think it's important for me to know this stuff."

"Ugh…"

"The two of you seem to be really close," Iroha says. "Now that I think of it… we never actually introduced ourselves properly, did we?"

"That's true," Matsuri says. "Onee-san and I are already familiar with Miss Tokiwa and her team, as well as Ashley Taylor and Miss Hijiri, but we don't really know anyone else here…"

"I haven't really met Miss Tokiwa and her team either," Iroha says. "Why don't we just introduce ourselves one by one? I'll start… I'm Tamaki Iroha."

She gestures to Felicia to continue. The younger girl blinks at her.

"Huh, me? Mitsuki Felicia!"

"Yui Tsuruno, the mightiest magical girl, at your service!"

"I'm Nanami Yachiyo."

"Togame Momoko."

"Minami Rena."

"Akino Kaede."

"My name is Tokiwa Nanaka."

"The name's Shinobu Akira."

"I am Chun Meiyui."

"Natsume Kako…"

"I'm Izumi Kanagi."

"Yakumo Mitama, everyone's favourite Coordinator!"

"My name is Miyako Hinano."

"I'm Hinata Matsuri, and this is my older sister, Kagari."

"Hijiri Kanna."

"Itsumi Inui, at your service!"

"I'm Ashley Taylor… please call me Ashley."

"Akemi Homura…"

"My name is Tomoe Mami… it is a pleasure to meet all of you."

"The name's Sakura Kyouko."

"If I may ask," Nanaka says. "What was the reason you asked me to attend? So far, Miss Nanami and her friends have done most of the talking."

"I chose you because I wanted to hear about the early stages of the battle with Walpurgisnacht," I say. "You were there, right? And Miss Miyako as well – I had the same reason for calling her here."

"Ah, I understand," Nanaka says. "Then it will be my turn to speak in a little while, right?"

I nod. "Yeah, probably after we cover the battle at Fendt Hope," I say.

"I'm back!"

Asuka enters the room, carrying a laden tray with a large teapot, some stacks of teacups, and a plate filled with chocolate chip cookies. She carefully sets the tray down on the floor and begins to distribute the tea.

"If there's not enough for everyone, I'll make another batch," she says. "In the meantime, have a cookie!"

"Are these cookies homemade?" Iroha asks.

"No, I got them from a bakery nearby," Asuka says. "They're really good though, you should try one!"

"Then I suppose I will," Iroha says.

She leans forward to take a cookie, and before long others are following her example. After sipping at my tea and having a few cookies myself, I speak up again.

"Okay, before we get to the battle against the Mother Bear, let's hear from Miss Yakumo, Miss Akemi, and Miss Tomoe. I'd like to hear what happened at the Coordinator's from when I left up to when Miss Tomoe left, and Miss Tomoe's actions from then to when she arrived at Fendt Hope."

"That means it's my turn," Mitama said.

"And I will take over midway through," Mami said.

With most of the magical girls who could handle the revelation having departed already, silence fell over the Coordinator's office for a time. Some girls were crying, others were just huddled up, some where trying to comfort each other. The only ones who seemed composed were Kirino Sae, leaning against the wall next to the door; Oriko and Kirika, sitting together in a corner; and the Pleiades Saints, huddled up in a different corner. The other girls from Asunaro, including one of the Kanna twins, and the girls from France and America had already left, apparently planning to head to Minaminagi Seaside Park. After considering for a bit, Mitama made her way over to Sae.

"How are things, Sae-chan?" she asked quietly. "You don't seem all that put out by this new revelation."

"Hmm?" Sae said. "It doesn't really change anything."

"So you're fine with it. But you didn't volunteer to help out like the others?"

"Why should I stick my neck out for people I don't even know?" Sae asked.

"I suppose that's just like you, Sae-chan," Mitama said. "So, what are you going to do now?"

"I think I'll go home," Sae said. "That should be fine, right?"

"Well… it sounds like the black feathers roaming the streets are mostly heading to Chuo Ward, so I guess it should be safe out there now," Mitama said.

"Then I'll see you next time," Sae said.

With that, she turned and left the building.

"This is honestly too hilarious," Rika suddenly blurted out, her voice shaking with an unsettling mixture of fear and laughter. "I used my own wish to get her to like me… then I broke up with her. And what was it all for? To become a witch!"

"Rika-chan…" Ren said, leaning on her shoulder.

"Seriously!" Rika said. "I guess this is my punishment."

She started giggling, but halfway through it morphed into sobs. Ren hesitantly put an arm around her.

"I'm sorry, Ren-chan," Rika said. "I'm sorry I stopped you."

"Don't say that!" Ren said.

"How am I supposed to face Isesaki-kun after today?" Aimi sobbed. "Even if I do end up telling him how I feel and we start dating, I might kill him. If I become a witch and all. I should've just left this all in my imagination in the first place."

"No, Aimi, that's not true," Kokoro said.

"How can you say that, Kokoro?" Aimi sobbed.

"It's like Masara said," Kokoro said. "Things are as good as they can be. She said I made the right choice…"

"What's good about this?" Aimi sobbed. "We're going to be suffering like this forever!"

"But… if we hadn't made our wishes, something even worse could've happened," Kokoro said. "Like, in my case, for example… if I hadn't made my wish… I could've been killed by a witch while I still felt so miserable about my family. So it was for the best. And now we're going to keep finding what's for the best from here on. For me, for Masara, and for you, Aimi. I think it's fine if you tell him how you feel and start dating. No-one ever came right out and said we're doomed to a life of despair. It's okay for us to be happy."

"I… agree with her," Ren said. "Rika-chan…"

"Ren-chan…" Rika said.

"I got to meet you, Rika-chan," Ren said. "That alone makes me glad I became a magical girl."

"I-I feel the same…!" Rika said. "I'm so, so glad I got to meet you, Ren-chan!"

"See?" Ren said. "This isn't a punishment…"

"Yeah… yeah…" Rika said, still sobbing.

A short distance away from those four, Ayaka was anxiously waiting for Shizuku to wake up. Matsuri was also near the two of them, doing her best to comfort her friends, who had taken the revelation badly – especially Haruka and Arisa. The St Lilliana's trio was sitting on the couch across from them.

"Shizuku-chan… I'm sorry I couldn't keep you safe," Ayaka said. "Get better soon, okay? You're the only one who ever laughs at my jokes, Shizuku-chan…"

"I think she's just tired," Matsuri said. "I'm certain I healed all of her wounds already…"

"Mmm…" Shizuku mumbled.

"Are you okay!?" Ayaka gasped. "Where does it hurt!?"

"N-no… it, um… doesn't hurt anymore," Shizuku said. "Ayaka-chan… thank you…"

"To think that Kyuubey tricked us," Chika said. "It almost feels like a dream…"

"I don't believe it," Irina said flatly. "I won't believe it unless I see it with my own eyes. Turning into witches? It's… too absurd…"

"It is pretty absurd, isn't it?" Chika said.

"But given what happened to us, it's not any more absurd," Karen said. "We still don't know how our soul came to be duplicated…"

"It's true, your circumstance is also quite absurd," Chika says. "In comparison, turning into witches isn't all that strange…"

"I still won't believe it," Irina insisted. "It's not like these guys are the first who tried to tell me that. There have been others. I didn't believe them, either."

"Isn't it more strange not to believe it when you've heard it from multiple sources?" Karen asked.

"I don't want to believe it," Irina replied. "So, I won't, unless I see it myself."

Besides them, Mitama could see Meguru hunched up on one of the armchairs, seeming more lost in thought than distraught, as well as Mayu and Sayuki crying into each other's arms. Throughout all this, the Daito Apartment trio sat in silence – watching, listening, and no doubt pondering some of the same things the others were discussing.

Mitama sighed. It seemed like everything was calming down, little by little, but the fact remained that she had finally broken her neutrality. Her mentor wouldn't be happy if she found out, that's for sure. Although, to be honest, she now realized she had never been neutral from the start. All she'd really done today was switch to Iroha's side. Had Kanagi realized that already…?

"Well, I've gone this far already," Mitama said. "I suppose I can't stay on the sidelines forever."

Just as she was thinking of making a move herself, Nanaka and Akira returned, carrying Tomoe Mami between them, with Riko following close behind. Mitama directed them into the back room and left them there. Riko stayed in the front room and looked around, then took up a post near the door. A group of six magical girls Mitama didn't recognize stepped inside right afterwards. The two with red hair even looked like twins. Judging from the fact that one of those girls wore the same uniform as Tomoe Mami, Mitama surmised that they must be from Mitakihara. One of their group, a girl with purple hair, spoke up after a few moments.

"Um, is there anyone here named Isuzu Ren?" she said.

Ren looked up in surprise.

"Ah… um… m-me…?"

The girl headed over to her with a smile.

"Yes, are you Isuzu Ren?" she asked.

"Y-yeah… um… w-why…?" Ren asked.

The girl dumped a pile of grief seeds on the ground. All of them were spent. One or two of them even looked like they might hatch any moment now.

Ren gasped. "Ah… um…?"

"I was told you could do something about these," the other girl said.

"Eh… well… yes," Ren said. "Yes… yes, I can… um…"

She transformed and pointed her staff at the pile.

"Um… N-nirvana… Soul Salvation!" she intoned.

A blast of light was emitted from her staff, obliterating the pile of grief seeds.

"You're actually pretty awesome, Ren-chan…" Rika said, hugging her.

Ren giggled a bit and powered down again.

"Thank you very much," the other girl said. "I was worried one of them would hatch before we got here, but it looks like things worked out. Really, thanks for that."

"That… it's… no problem," Ren said, blushing a little.

At that moment, three more girls walked in. These ones Mitama recognized, as they were members of the Wings of the Magius. They weren't wearing their feather robes though. Mitama took a moment to recall their names… Yoshida Tamura, Masumi Chihana, and Ayano Hikari. Hikari spotted Rika and ran over.

"Fancy seeing you here, Rika-chan," she said.

Rika looked at her in surprise.

"Ehhh!? Hika-chan!? W-what on earth are you doing here!?"

"Um… Rika-chan… do you… know this girl?" Ren asked.

"U-um… she's a relative," Rika said. "Though I haven't seen her in over a year… wait, Hika-chan, if you're here, then does that mean you're…?"

"A magical girl? Yeah… since like a month ago," Hikari said.

"Ugh… I can't believe someone like you became a magical girl too," Rika muttered.

"I even joined the Wings of the Magius," Hikari said. "But they turned out to be using us…"

"Hah, I can't believe some relative of mine joined such a suspicious-sounding cult," Rika said.

"Don't say that like you wouldn't have thought the same," Hikari retorted. "Did you actually turn them down?"

"Ah, well, I only found out about them today though," Rika said.

"Then you don't really have anything to be smug about."

At that point, Chihana came over to join them, with Tamura trailing behind.

"Oh, so you really do have a relative in Kamihama, Hika-tan?"

"Y-yeah, it's true," Hikari said. "We're only second cousins though…"

"Well, I'm Masumi Chihana! It's nice to meet you!"

"I guess, nice to meet you," Rika said. "I'm Ayano Rika…"

"Um, ah… I'm Isuzu Ren," Ren spoke up.

"Right, and I'm Ayano Hikari… nice to meet you, Miss Isuzu…"

"U-um, I'm… Yoshida Tamura," Tamura murmured.

"Um… to me, you seem to be… pretty close," Ren said.

"Ehh? We're not, we're not!" Rika protested.

"Yeah, we barely see each other at all!" Hikari said. "Like once a year at best…"

"So you really can't call that close!" Rika said. "And besides that, we don't really get along at all…"

"B-but, um… y-you're comfortable with each other," Ren said. "You… you don't, um… hide how you feel about each other… it's… kinda nice…"

At that point, Mitama came to a decision, and raised her voice for an announcement.

"Excuse me!" she said. "I'm going to step out for a few minutes to check things out! I'll be back soon!"

Then she headed for Shizuku and Ayaka and bent down.

"Shizuku-chan, could I ask you to help out for a little while?" she asked.

"Alright," Shizuku said, sitting up.

"Are you really sure you're alright?" Ayaka asked.

"Yes… I'm fully recovered now," Shizuku said. "Though I don't feel up to fighting… if it's just transporting people, I can manage it."

"Thank you very much, Shizuku-chan," Mitama said. "Could you take me to just outside the Magius's base?"

"The Eternal Sakura?" Shizuku said. "Yes… that's easy."

She closed her eyes for a moment, and a portal opened before her. Mitama stepped through, and Shizuku followed her.

"Alright… would you mind waiting somewhere nearby until I'm ready to return?" Mitama asked.

Shizuku nodded. "Okay… I'll find a good place to hide."

Kanoko and Natsuki led the way through the darkened city. Homura, Madoka, Sayaka, Nagisa, and Yuma followed a short distance behind, with Hotaru and Akari bringing up the rear, and Karin hovered between the leading pair and the rest of the group.

Eventually, they arrived at a small run-down building, and stepped inside. It was a cozy little place furnished like a sort of lounge, but at the moment there was a heavy tension in the air, as there were a number of people quietly crying. Homura recognized the quartet from Kamihama that had interfered with her only in a single timeline, but this time they were accompanied by two new girls, one of whom was the spitting image of Elise. It stood to reason that she was Elise's lost sister who they had been trying to revive, but Homura wondered how they'd managed it.

"Wow, the atmosphere's tense in here," Natsuki said.

"I don't recognize any of these girls," Karin said.

"Ah! Karin-chan!" Riko piped up from next to the door.

"Oh! Sorry, Riko-chan, I didn't see you there," Karin said.

"Um, Ashley-nee asked me to give this to you, Karin-chan," Riko said.

Riko held out a scrap of paper.

"Huh? What is it?" Karin said.

She took the scrap of paper and unfolded it, reading the words written on it.

"Hmm… she says she's going to be fighting a really strong witch soon and would like my help," Karin said. "But that aside… what on earth is happening right now? It looks like the power went out… and there were weird magical girls in black…"

"Ah! Miss Mitama told us all about it," Riko said. "They're part of a cult who wants to save magical girls from turning into witches, but they sacrifice people to do so, so we have to stop them!"

Karin blinked. "Huh? Um… I'm not sure if I heard you correctly there, Riko-chan," she said. "Did you say something about magical girls turning into witches…?"

But before Riko had a chance to answer, Akira appeared from the back room and interrupted the conversation.

"Natsuki! Kanoko!" she exclaimed.

"Akira!" Natsuki said.

"Really glad to see you're both okay!" Akira said. "I was getting worried cause you hadn't shown up."

"We're fine, but we aren't sure what's happening," Kanoko said. "Riko-chan said something about a cult…?"

"Oh, it's her!" Karin exclaimed, pointing at Akira. "She was the one carrying the pigtailed girl!"

"Mami! Where's Mami!" Sayaka exclaimed.

Akira gasped and opened her mouth to answer, but Madoka managed to chime in first.

"Is she alright!?" Madoka asked.

"What happened to her?" Homura asked.

"Please, tell us!" Nagisa said.

"Um, whoa, calm down!" Akira said.

Nanaka stepped out from the back room. Karin blinked, clearly recognizing her.

"You must be her friends," Nanaka said. "She is unconscious, but she'll live. This way, if you please."

The Mitakihara girls all followed her into the next room, where Mami was laid out on the bed.

"Mami!" Madoka said. "I'm so sorry we took so long to find you!"

"Mami… I'm sorry too," Sayaka said. "After all the times you've helped us…"

"Miss Mami," Homura murmured. "Even though I understood the pain you've been through, I was too scared to do anything about it…"

"Mami-nee… I want to eat your cake again!" Nagisa said. "I promise I'll be less self-centred! But… only a little bit…"

"Yuma doesn't really know Mami-nee very well," Yuma said. "But Yuma will do anything you need her to!"

"And from now on, we promise, no matter what happens to you," Madoka began.

"We'll accept you with open arms, Mami!" Sayaka said.

"Please come back to us and fight by our side!" Madoka said.

"Let's look for a way to avoid turning into witches together!" Sayaka said. "Find a new answer with us!"

"Please, open your eyes, Miss Mami!" Madoka said.

"I want you to wake up, too!" Nagisa said.

Suddenly Mami's eyes fluttered open with a gasp.

"Mami!" Madoka exclaimed. "I'm so glad you woke up!"

"Yeah, thank goodness you're okay, Mami!" Sayaka said.

Mami sat up on the bed and looked around, blinking a few times.

"Well, I guess you're not okay okay," Sayaka amended.

"Are you alright now!?" Nagisa asked. "Is anything wrong!?"

"Thank you, everyone," Mami said. "I'm alright now."

"Thank goodness… I'm so relieved!" Madoka said.

"Mami-nee… you're really alright?" Nagisa said.

"Yes, Nagisa-chan," Mami said. "I'm really alright."

"Mami," Sayaka said. "Please don't push yourself too hard anymore."

"Now that Miss Mami is awake, we have something else we need to do," Madoka said. "Sayaka-chan… Homura-chan… Nagisa-chan!"

"You're going to go save her, right?" Sayaka said. "I'll go with you."

"I suppose I can go too," Nagisa said, feigning reluctance.

"Thanks, Sayaka-chan!" Madoka said. "Let's go, Homura-chan! We need to go help Iroha-chan!"

"I really think it's safer to stay here," Homura said. "Besides, we need to focus on defeating Walpurgisnacht."

Madoka shook her head.

"No, we have to look at the bigger picture," she said. "Did you forget what Ashley-chan said? If we don't deal with what the Magius are up to first, Walpurgisnacht will get even stronger!"

Homura sighed. "I guess you're right," she said.

"Mami, you should stay here and rest up!" Sayaka said. "We can leave Yuma-chan to keep you company."

"No!" Yuma protested. "Yuma wants to come too so she can help!"

"No," Mami said. "I'll go too."

"What!?" Sayaka gasped.

"But you do need to rest!" Madoka said.

"You've only just woken up," Nagisa pointed out.

"Thank you for worrying about me," Mami said. "But really, I feel fine already. And more than that, I have something that I must do."

"In that case, we can do it for you," Sayaka offered.

"If it's not too much trouble," Homura said cautiously.

"Right, so you should just stay here and rest!" Nagisa said.

"I appreciate it, I really do," Mami said. "But it has to be me."

"No matter what?" Madoka said.

"Yes," Mami said. "I must tell the feathers of the Magius's real intentions. This is my responsibility. I'm the one who aided the Magius, so it must be me. It wouldn't mean as much coming from anyone else. So let me go with you… no, never mind, you're going to help Miss Tamaki. That means we'll be working separately. But I can tell you where she is."

"You're really set on going?" Madoka said.

"Yes, I am," Mami said. "Please don't stop me."

"Alright," Madoka said. "But I'm going with you."

"What?" Mami said. "Aren't you headed to meet with Miss Tamaki and the others?"

"I'm sure Iroha-chan has Miss Nanami and her team," Madoka said. "Ashley-chan should be there too, and Inui-chan. So, I can afford to take a little detour."

"That's true," Sayaka said. "But Madoka, you got one thing wrong. It won't be just you going. We're coming too."

"That's right," Homura said. "We'll go with you."

"We can't let Mami-nee do this alone!" Nagisa said.

Madoka blinked at her. "Wait, did you think I was going to go by myself!? I was just about to ask you to come too, you know!"

"You guys," Mami said with a giggle. "You've gotten so strong already."

Madoka giggled. "I mean, as magical girls go, you've got more experience than most of us, Miss Mami, but we're your friends and allies!" Madoka said. "Now if only Kyouko-chan were here too, we'd be complete…"

"Why are you bringing up Kyouko all of a sudden!?" Sayaka gasped.

"Yuma hopes Kyouko is okay," Yuma said.

"Miss Sakura is strong," Mami said. "Even more so since she managed to recover her original magic. I'm sure she'll be fine. But anyway, Miss Kaname, you're quite right. Thank you, and please do join me."

"You got it!" Madoka said.

"In that case, I can lead you back to the heliport," Nanaka said. "You are not as familiar with Kamihama as we are, right?"

"I've been here for some time now, but even so, you're quite right," Mami said. "Thank you for the offer. I will take you up on it."

The girls from Mitakihara followed Nanaka and Akira back into the main room. Karin, Hotaru, and Akari had apparently disappeared, but Riko, Natsuki, and Kanoko were still there. Oriko had apparently joined them too.

"Ah, are you going back?" Riko asked. "Let me come with you!"

"I have no objection to that," Nanaka said.

"Oh, Natsuki-chan, did you get the full explanation?" Madoka asked.

"Ah, um… yes, about magical girls and witches, and soul gems, and the Wings of the Magius, and Walpurgisnacht, and Eve," Natsuki said. "Riko-chan tried to explain it as best she could, and Miss Mikuni was helpful enough to fill in some of the things Riko-chan didn't quite get. It's hard to believe, though… is it all really true?"

"Yes, unfortunately, it's all true," Madoka said. "And what happened to Karin-chan?"

"Ah, she sensed a really strong witch a moment ago and decided to go take it down," Natsuki said. "She seemed to think someone called Ashley-chan might be there? She mentioned it seemed too strong to defeat alone, so those other two girls who were with her decided to follow her too, and that trio from Daito also went with them. I hope they'll be okay… it was a really strong witch… even with six of them, it could be troublesome…"

"Huh? Ashley-chan isn't around here though," Madoka said. "Well, I guess she'll find that out, anyway. Did she hear the explanation too?"

"Some of it," Natsuki said. "She left halfway through…"

"Alright, well… Oriko-chan, how are our prospects looking right now?"

"Ah, the outlook has not changed appreciably," Oriko said. "Please be careful, Miss Kaname. If you let your guard down at the wrong moment while fighting Walpurgisnacht, you could die."

"Well, it's still awhile till we get to that point," Madoka said. "We've got to find Iroha-chan first… then I'll see you later, Oriko-chan. Come on everyone, let's go!"

Homura, Madoka, Sayaka, Mami, Nagisa, and Yuma left the place together with Nanaka, Akira, and Riko, and Nanaka lead them northeast into Chuo Ward. Since the power was still out, they ignored the train stations and ran the whole way.

"This way!" Nanaka said, directing them off the main road down a narrow alleyway.

Suddenly Yuma squealed as she tripped over the edge of the curb, but Akira was quick to react and caught her before she face-planted on the sidewalk.

"Whoa, you okay?" Akira asked.

"Yes! Yuma is fine!" Yuma said. "Thank you for catching Yuma! Yuma almost fell over!"

"It's pretty dark out here," Madoka observed. "I better be careful too…"

"Right?" Sayaka said. "And there's trash everywhere."

"The main road is much better lit, even at a time like this, but this shortcut allows us to keep a low profile," Nanaka said. "It's not the ideal place to walk, but follow along and try not to get lost."

"Not only did you bring me to the Coordinator… but now you're showing us the way back to the heliport," Mami said. "We keep causing you trouble… I'm very sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Akira said. "We need to help each other out at times like this."

"That's right," Nanaka said. "We were on our way back anyway. There's a chance that the battle may still be raging at the heliport. The more firepower we have with us, the better."

"Did you have to put it like that?" Akira complained.

"This may not be something that you wish to speak about," Nanaka said. "But we have some things to ask you, Miss Tomoe. About the three magical girls governing the Wings of the Magius. The ones who are the ringleaders behind all this turmoil."

Mami sighed, and Madoka looked at her.

"Miss Mami…" she said. "You don't have to…"

"It's fine," Mami said. "I'll answer any questions you have as best I can."

"I am much obliged," Nanaka said.

"What do you want to know?" Mami asked.

"We heard from the Coordinator about what their ideals appear to be," Nanaka said. "But no matter how lofty the ideals they put forth… if they use unjust means to accomplish them, people are sure to lose faith in them. And yet… up until now, the Wings of the Magius have not imploded. They've continued on like that for a whole month. Is that merely proof of how much the feathers trust them?"

"To be quite honest, I don't think they trust the Magius," Mami said. "Even if they had faith in the Magius's abilities, they didn't trust them as individuals. The one the feathers trusted was a magical girl named Azusa Mifuyu. She's the second-in-command after the Magius. Many of them also trust the third-in-command, a magical girl named Kagura San."

Nanaka blinked. "Azusa… Mifuyu… she's a well-known veteran magical girl in Kamihama. I see. In that case, I can understand. I have not heard of Miss Kagura, however… perhaps she is not from this city."

"Though I was revered as a saint… I don't think they really trusted me either," Mami murmured. "If Miss Azusa spoke to them, she might get through, but I don't know if I can… but even so…"

"Mami…" Madoka said.

Mami slapped a fist against her palm. "Even so, I have to do this," she said. "I'm going to tell the feathers about the Magius's true intentions, and what they've been doing. That is what I must do as someone who was complicit, as the 'Saint of Salvation'. That's what I believe."

"So, you're going to take responsibility," Nanaka said.

"But the rumour was what made you do it," Akira pointed out.

"Even so, I can't erase what I did," Mami said.

"Um, Miss Mami," Madoka said. "We—"

But before she could finish speaking, Akira interrupted.

"Alright, we're here," she said. "It's on top of this building."

"There may still be fighting going on," Nanaka said.

"Yes, let's all proceed carefully," Mami said.

"Ah…" Madoka said.

"We don't need words," Sayaka said. "Let's show her how we feel with our actions!"

"I think it'll be alright!" Nagisa said. "Probably!"

"I really hope so," Homura muttered.

"Madoka-nee, let's go!" Yuma said.

"Okay!" Madoka said.

They entered the building and climbed the stairs, all the way to the top. Once they emerged onto the roof, they found that there were still scattered groups of magical girls fighting there. Yachiyo and her friends were gone, as was Ashley Taylor, but all the other magical girls who had come to help were still there, and quite a few feathers still had some fight left in them. However, the particularly strong black feather, Nanase Yukika, was no longer present for some reason. While Mami and her friends watched for a bit, perhaps deciding what to do, the other three rejoined the fight.

One of the black feathers, a girl with green hair visible beneath her hood, let out a groan. Mami searched her memory for a nickname and came up with Maya. Yes… she was sure she remembered that girl being called Maya.

"I… I can't… fight any… longer…" Maya said.

A white feather with flashy silver hair spilling out from her hood sighed, panting heavily. Mami fancied she remembered that girl being referred to as Myu by the other feathers.

"W-why…?" Myu wondered. "When we have the numbers on our side…"

"You ask why?" Ria asked, panting just as much as the white feather. "Why, that's because I, Ami Ria… have taken… command here…"

"You're out of… breath… Ria," Manaka retorted, also panting. "And besides… no… never… mind…"

Tsumugi giggled a bit. "You're out of breath too, Manaka-sempai…"

Emiri let out a long sigh and clutched at her head. "I can't go on anymore… I'm sooooooo tired…"

Hinano sighed too. "I mean, look at how many of them there are," she said. "But still…"

Two more black feathers spoke up then to complain. One of them seemed to have black hair, though it was hard to be sure – it might have been some other dark shade, such as brown or purple. She also had pink stockings, and Mami felt that she'd seen met her a couple of times. Was it… Kuro? Something like that? The other one had blonde hair, and Mami was pretty sure she remembered her being called Tori by other feathers.

"Ugh!" Kuro wondered. "But, why? Why would the Magius do such a thing? No-one ever said they'd do this… strip away our will… I can't believe… they did that to us…"

"I really, really don't get it," Tori muttered to herself. "How could they do that to us… all I wanted was to be freed from this terrible curse! I just wanted to protect my little sister, why did it have to come to this!?"

Then a pair of white feathers interrupted them. One of them had blonde or light brown hair, and Mami was certain she was the one who other feathers had been referring to as Hime. The other one looked like she had green hair and was someone who didn't typically speak much, so Mami wasn't sure what her nickname was.

"Hey!" Hime snapped. "Why are you stopping!?"

"Walpurgisnacht," the green-haired one mused.

"Yeah? So what!?" Hime said. "We're almost free! Why are you bringing up random nonsense at a time like this, Majime!?"

"No, well… it's just… something I heard," Majime said.

"We were lucky," Hinano said. "Some of them have lost the will to fight. Perhaps we could've just waited for their organization to fall apart on its own."

"But Myako-sempai!" Emiri protested. "You look totally… fine…"

"No I'm already kinda… actually, yeah. I think it just comes with experience," Hinano said, a touch smug. Raising her voice, she continued speaking. "Heeeeeeeeey! Is everyone okay?"

"Yes!" Asuka exclaimed. "No problems here!"

"How can you be so… plucky about it?" Sasara said, gasping for breath.

"I… I'm doing fine!" Himika said, panting only a little. "Somehow or other…"

"I'm back!" Riko said. "I'm okay!"

"It'll take more than this to—" Rui began in a strident voice, then cleared her throat and continued in a normal voice. "Ah, um, I mean… I can still continue!"

"Ugh, I'm totally beat," Komaki said.

"Me too," Koito said. "This is really tough…"

"Ahh, I suppose we're hanging in there," Hazuki said breathlessly.

"A little tired, but alright," Konoha agreed.

"I… I can still keep fighting though!" Ayame declared.

"No issues here," Masara said, her voice devoid of expression as usual. "I can still fight."

"I… I'm still alive… s-somehow," Kako said, panting heavily.

"I suppose I am alright," Meiyui said.

"I… I'm still barely okay," Konomi said.

"Everyone seems to be okay," Hinano said. "Alright, those of you who have the energy, round up the feathers in one place!"

"Got it," Hazuki said. "That way we can keep an eye on them better."

"Leave it to me!" Asuka said.

"I'll help," Masara said.

"I can help too!" Riko exclaimed.

"A-and me too!" Ria said. "I'm Riley full of energy, aren't you impressed? Augh! No, I'm Ria! Ria!"

"Enough with the one-woman show," Manaka retorted. "If ya got the energy, get a move on…"

As the magical girls of Kamihama began to drag the unconscious feathers and herd the conscious ones into the centre of the helipad, Mami decided it was about time to speak up.

"Everyone!" she shouted.

"Hmm? That voice…?" Hinano said. "Tomoe Mami!"

"The saint?" Maya said.

"She's come to save us?" Myu wondered.

"But she's with the Mitakihara magical girls," Hime pointed out. "And two of the Kamihama magical girls."

This time a new black feather spoke up, one who'd remained silent until now. She had wavy brown hair peeking out from under her hood, and Mami thought she'd remembered that girl telling others to call her Hana.

"She betrayed us?" Hana said. "But I came this far because I trusted her…"

Another black feather, this one with light brown hair that was quite long, spoke up. Mami didn't remember her name, though her appearance was more memorable than many of the other feathers. Perhaps they had never crossed paths before. However, based on the fact that she was with a black feather with bright green hair, Inui and Ashley were pretty sure that the two were Hagumu and Shigure, respectively.

"I… I don't think she would just betray us all of a sudden," Hagumu said. "I mean… just think about what happened recently… and besides… hasn't she helped a lot of people?"

"S-save… save us!" Kuro begged. "Why did it turn out like this… what did… the Magius… want to make us do?"

Some of the other feathers were also muttering under their breath or whispering with nearby feathers.

"Please calm down," Mami said. "I will explain everything. So please settle down and listen."

"First explain why you're with the magical girls of Mitakihara and Kamihama," Hime demanded.

"Prove to us you didn't betray us!" Maya demanded.

"Please calm down and listen," Mami repeated. "First of all… I've parted ways with the Wings of the Magius."

"Y-you did?" Maya gasped.

"Why… how… why are you talking like this!?" Kuro exclaimed, her voice wavering.

"So that means… you betrayed us?" Hana said. "You betrayed us all?"

"She's a traitor?" Hime said. "She's abandoned us?"

"After so long, when we were almost there," Maya said with a sigh. "Why do this now?"

"Wait, is she planning to prevent our liberation?" Hime asked.

"It… it can't be that simple," Hagumu protested. "She… she must have a reason!"

"Y-yeah!" Tori piped up. "Our saint's a good person! She… she wouldn't hurt us!"

"Miss Mami!" Madoka spoke up anxiously.

"It's alright," Mami said. "You don't have to believe me! Forget about trusting me or not trusting me. I only want you to know this! Because it's something that involves every one of you! Something important!"

"Is this about Walpurgisnacht?" Majime asked.

"You know about it?" Mami said.

"Yes," Majime replied. "I… overheard a bit…"

"What are you talking about?" Myu asked.

"I'll explain everything, including Walpurgisnacht," Mami said. "I was close to the Magius, so I'll tell you all I learned from being with them. What those three are thinking, what their ideals are, what they've done… I'll reveal it all. I won't hide a single thing. So please, just listen to me for a little while at least."

"I want to hear her out," Majime said.

"Me too," Myu said.

Hime sighed. "I'll listen."

"If the white feathers say so, then…" Hana said.

"I… I definitely want to hear it!" Tori said.

"M-me too!" Shigure piped up for the first time.

"Yeah… please explain yourself!" Hagumu said.

Another black feather piped up at this point, a girl with red hair who'd remained silent until now. Mami seemed to recall some of the other girls referring to her as Tenshi. Though that didn't seem like a name, it would do for now.

"Ah! Um, so, well… I think… whatever her reasons are… she probably did it because… because um… you know! Um… she's a saint, so… you know… she cares…?"

Everyone stared at her for a few seconds, and then they turned back to face Mami.

"So, yeah," Hime said. "We're waiting."

"As some of you may know, the Magius have been raising a witch-like creature that they call Eve," Mami said. "They plan to transform it into a witch and harvest the energy released when that happens to expand the scope of the automatic purification system, so that magical girls across the planet can benefit from it.

"However… what they haven't told you is that in order to hasten Eve's hatching, they've summoned a terrible witch to this city. Perhaps some of you have heard of Walpurgisnacht, the witch of legends. She is such a powerful witch that she doesn't hide inside a labyrinth like other witches do, but instead flies through the sky, pursued by her retinue of familiars. Where Walpurgisnacht goes, disaster follows. Normal humans, who are unable to see witches, normally perceive her presence as equivalent to a typhoon.

"In other words," Mami concluded. "When Walpurgisnacht comes… Kamihama will have no way of escaping unscathed. The people of Kamihama… if you have family or friends here, they will not be safe."

"What?" Maya gasped. "We weren't told about that! I have family here! And friends, and my school!"

"W-w-w-what in the world!?" Tenshi gasped. "T-that's… that's horrible…"

"I… I never knew," Hagumu muttered.

"I… how can I protect her like that…?" Tori wondered.

"Anything the Magius would prefer you didn't know, they haven't been telling you," Mami said.

"I knew it," Majime said.

"The Magius tried to kill civilians," Mami said. "And it wasn't their first time. There's another thing you feathers weren't informed about. They used a rumour at Chelation Land. They tried to kill innocent people there. All to fulfill their mission… their mission of gathering energy, that is."

"Magical girls are one thing," Myu said. "But totally innocent people…"

"All those people… my dad and my mom," Maya said. "They were in danger… I… I didn't realize…"

Kuro suddenly broke down sobbing.

"I can't believe it… and I would have… I would've been…"

"So what?" Hime said stubbornly. "Seriously, so what!? You're going to pretend like you're a good person now? You were the one who led us!"

Mami gasped. "You're right… I did," she said.

She fell silent for a bit, apparently lost in thought, but eventually nodded.

"I know," she said. "This late in the game, this may come off as selfish wishful thinking. Even so, I will stop the Magius. And I will protect this city from Walpurgisnacht. That's the one thing I can do, as someone who helped the Magius."

"You say all that, but what am I supposed to do?" Kuro asked, still sobbing.

"I agree with Miss Mami," Majime said. "I also believe there's a line that shouldn't be crossed."

"Can you really stop Walpurgisnacht?" Maya asked. "Can my dad, mom, and friends really be saved?"

"Wait a minute!" Hime exclaimed. "What do you think you're all saying!? We're almost free!"

"She's right," Hana admitted. "We're so close to getting everything we wanted!"

"H-hey, calm down!" Myu protested.

"That may be so," Majime said. "But I wouldn't be happy if we were freed at the cost of the city of Kamihama."

"You're not even from here," Hime retorted. "What a hypocrite!"

"Hypocrite?" Majime responded. "For thinking that summoning Walpurgisnacht to Kamihama is a bad thing? I'm a hypocrite for feeling that way?"

"Well…" Hime back-pedalled a little.

"I just can't approve of it now that I know," Majime continued. "It's not about good or evil. It's like… you know. It's a matter of pride, and of the prayer I made to myself."

"Fine," Hime said stubbornly. "I will continue pursuing my dreams, and show no mercy to those who get in my way."

"Right… Kamihama is no concern of mine," Hana said. "I don't want to become a witch… if one little city is all it takes to decide whether I become one or not… I couldn't care less."

"I won't let you… I won't," Maya said. "I won't let you destroy the city!" She turned to Kuro, who was next to her. "Aren't you from Kamihama too, or near enough? Don't cry, fight back!"

"I can't," Kuro sobbed. "I can't… liberation or Kamihama… I can't choose…"

"What about you?" Hime asked Myu, who happened to be nearby. "Are you going to work towards liberation as a white feather?"

"I…" Myu began.

"You can only follow your own heart," Majime spoke up. "This isn't about good and evil at this point."

"Sorry," Myu said. "I choose liberation."

"Then let's go!" Hime said. "We'll crush the traitors and free ourselves!" She let out a wordless yell. "Destroy all traitors, and all those who would stand in the way of liberation!"

"What!?" Mami gasped. "W-wait a minute!"

"Those who want to protect their hometown!" Majime said. "Those who care about justice… follow me! We'll stop them!"

"Protect Kamihama!" Maya shouted. "Protect our hometown, our families, and our friends!"

"Y-yeah!" Shigure agreed.

"We can't just let them destroy the city!" Hagumu said.

"I… um… p-please… please don't fight!" Tenshi pleaded. "Please… l-let's talk this through…"

"I… even if my home is spared… it wouldn't feel right," Tori muttered to herself. "Building my salvation on the back of the rest of the city…"

With those declarations, the feathers that were still standing began to fight amongst themselves. The only one who didn't join in the fighting was Tenshi, who kept looking anxiously from one side to the other, paralyzed in indecision. Even Tori got up and fought back after some hesitation. The two sides weren't equal in number, with several more choosing to fight for justice compared to those desperate for liberation, but the difference in numbers didn't seem like it would be enough for one side to definitely prevail

"Stop!" Mami protested. "I'm not surprised that you have opposing views. But I forbid you from using force to settle this! That won't solve a—"

But her speech was interrupted by a stray shot from Hana.

"Shut up," she snapped. "We don't need you anymore, saint."

"If you get in our way, we'll end you," Hime said. "And all of the traitorous feathers with you!"

"Stay focused on our goal!" Myu exclaimed. "This is our problem to deal with!"

"How can this be happening?" Mami wondered. "Did I make another mistake? Should I not have told them?"

"Miss Mami," Madoka said.

"Miss Kaname," Mami replied.

"Let's stop them," Madoka said. "We still can."

"She's right," Sayaka said. "You have us!"

"Eh… this is such a pain," Homura grumbled. "Do I really have to?"

"We'll help you, Mami-nee!" Nagisa said.

"Yuma wants to help too!" Yuma said. "Yuma will do her best!"

"We will help as well," Nanaka said.

"This is about Kamihama, after all," Hinano said.

"You guys!" Mami said. "Yes, you're right. This is no time to be just sitting idly by!"

With the girls of Mitakihara and Kamihama joining in with the feathers who had chosen the side of justice, the remaining feathers didn't stand a chance of winning. They were suppressed and restrained in no time flat, bound with their own chains. Those who had blades attached to their chains, which was common among the white feathers, had had them detached first.

"Urgh," Hime groaned. "Kamihama magical girls are total beasts… we can't beat them at all…"

"Why… why?" Hana wondered. "I can't understand… liberation is so close, so why?"

"I think that's enough for now," Nanaka said.

"There, that's… good," Maya said, panting. "That's good, right?"

"I'm sorry… I should've held them back," Majime said.

"I can't believe… we're actually fighting amongst ourselves," Tori muttered.

"U-um, so, um… is… is everyone okay?" Tenshi asked anxiously.

"It's not your fault," Mami said. "I should've worded it differently."

"Precisely," Kuro said. "If we'd never known, then we wouldn't be agonizing over it now! We'd be able to just pursue liberation…"

"We wouldn't be fighting amongst ourselves and tearing ourselves apart," Myu said.

"You still would've found out someday," Mami said. "You can't run away from the things you've done. Someday you will have to face up to them."

"Must be nice for you," Hana muttered. "You have friends who will accept what you've done. That's why you can talk like that!"

"It's not fair… it's completely unfair," Hime said. "You're strong, and you have friends who care for you…"

"I have no idea what I should do at all," Myu said.

"It's because of all of you," Hime muttered. "You were too easy on this fake saint, and now she's spoiled rotten!"

"Yeah, that's right," Hana said accusingly. "If all of you had just never come to this place…"

"Bunch of hypocrites," Hime muttered. "I'll never forgive them."

"If only we could at least take down one of her friends with us," Hana said.

"Stop it!" Mami shouted angrily. "They have nothing to do with what I did!"

"Wait, Miss Mami, that's not true," Madoka spoke up.

"What?" Mami said.

"We decided to accept you as you are, no matter what," Sayaka said.

"We're not going to just abandon you when you're in trouble," Madoka continued.

"You really are an idiot," Homura muttered. "Every single time…"

"But… this is my problem," Mami said. "There's no need for you to take the blame."

"Even so," Madoka said.

"Yuma doesn't really get all the complicated stuff," Yuma said. "But even Yuma can tell that Mami-nee needs someone to support her!"

"Well, if I feel like it, I'll support you," Nagisa muttered.

"But…" Mami protested.

"Well, I guess she just won't get it unless we spell it out," Sayaka said.

"…did you actually think just telling her would be enough to convince her?" Homura retorted.

"There are some things that can't be conveyed in words," Nagisa mused.

Madoka grabbed Mami's hand and squeezed it. Sayaka did the same with her other hand, and Nagisa stepped forward and hugged her from the front. Homura let out a sigh and, with apparent reluctance, laid a hand on Mami's shoulder.

"Whenever you're struggling, let us be by your side," she said. "When you just can't get to your feet, and you're not able to move forward…"

"Grab our hands, just like this, and let us walk with you!" Sayaka finished.

"Because no matter what, no matter when…" Madoka said.

"We're on your side!" Sayaka said.

"We're your allies!" Nagisa said simultaneously.

"We're your friends!" Madoka said at the same time.

"Well… if Madoka says that… you know she means it," Homura muttered.

"You girls…" Madoka said, trying to hold back her tears. "I don't know what to say…"

"We've always believed in you, Miss Mami," Sayaka said. "We always knew you'd come back to us."

"We want to make sure we understand each other this time around," Madoka said. "We don't want to just lean on you, we want to support each other. We especially don't want to see you die. I couldn't bear to lose you ag— um, ever…"

"And that's why we came to Kamihama," Sayaka said.

"Those things you did with the Wings of the Magius," Madoka said. "We already decided awhile ago that we'd help you deal with the fallout!"

"I… I don't know what to…"

"You're always like this, Mami," Homura said coldly. "You always take too much upon yourself until you break. Every single time. It's been a thorn in my side for a very long time now, so if you could stop that, I would really appreciate it."

Madoka giggled a little. "Homura, it's great that you're trying to help in your own way, but you could say it in a somewhat nicer way, you know… and is it really okay to be talking about that?"

"Whatever," Homura muttered. "It's still true, anyway."

At this point, Mami's attempts to hold back the tears broke down, and she began to cry.

"Um, I…"

"It's alright," Madoka said. "You're alright now, Miss Mami."

"We're here," Sayaka said. "We're right here with you."

"Look down," Madoka said. "We're all holding hands."

"Keep… keep holding my hands," Mami muttered. "If you do… I'll feel… just a little bit less scared…"

"Yes! Of course we will!" Madoka and Sayaka said in unison.

Silence fell for a bit. It seemed Nanaka and the others had prevented the feathers from interrupting that scene. Homura supposed she should be grateful for that, at least. After a bit, Mami managed to dry her tears, and then she turned to the bound pro-liberation feathers who had been badmouthing her.

"Do you guys have someone like that?" she asked.

"What?" Hana said.

"Someone whose words you'd trust unconditionally," Mami said. "Do you have someone like that?"

"Of course we don—" Hime began.

"Miss Mifuyu," Myu spoke up.

"Oh," Kuro said.

"Yes, if it were Miss Mifuyu," Maya said.

"I… I could trust her," Majime said.

"I could too," Kuro said.

"Yeah… if it were Miss Mifuyu," Hana agreed.

"Ah… yes… Miss Mifuyu could… definitely solve this!" Tenshi agreed eagerly.

"I agree," Hagumu said, and Shigure nodded vigorously beside her.

"Um… yeah, I could definitely trust… what Miss Mifuyu says," Tori said.

"Same for me," Hime agreed. "But Miss Mifuyu must already know about this…"

"So she was just using us like disposable pawns from the very start?" Hana said.

"No!" Myu protested. "She'd never…"

"She'd never do something like that," Majime said.

"Miss Mifuyu isn't… that kind of person," Tenshi said.

"Ugh… I don't know what the truth is anymore," Kuro muttered.

"I want to hear from her," Maya said. "I want to hear what she has to say."

"M-me too," Tori said.

"Y-yeah, I really… want to hear it," Tenshi agreed.

Several of the other feathers who hadn't been as vocal also spoke up, agreeing that they would trust Mifuyu. Mami sighed.

"How embarrassing," she muttered. "Bawling my eyes out…"

"It's not embarrassing," Sayaka said, smiling. "And crying isn't a bad thing at all. It makes you feel better!"

"She's right!" Madoka said. "We've already proven that."

"Um… if we helped you cheer up even a little, Mami-nee, then… I'm glad!" Nagisa said.

"Yuma is also happy that Mami-nee isn't hurting anymore!" Yuma said.

"It helped," Mami said. "Thank you. I'm alright now."

"Things appear to have calmed down here too," Nanaka said. "For the moment, the feathers seem to have lost their drive to fight."

"I see," Mami said. "Would it be alright if I left you girls to handle things here?"

"You have another task you must carry out?" Nanaka asked. "I understand. The magical girls of Kamihama will handle things here."

"Thank you," Mami said. "Miss Kaname…"

"Yes!" Madoka said.

"Miss Miki."

"Yeah!" Sayaka said.

"Homura-chan."

"What is it?" Homura said.

"Nagisa-chan."

"Y-yes, Mami-nee!" Nagisa said.

"Yuma-chan."

"Yes!" Yuma said.

"I'm sorry for keeping you waiting," Mami said. "I'm going to head to Hotel Fendt Hope… to where the Magius are now. Miss Tamaki and her group are almost certainly fighting there now, and I have something I must do there too. Will you help me, so I can take responsibility for what I've done?"

"Of course!" Madoka said.

"We'd follow you even if you said you didn't want us to!" Sayaka said.

"Um, I'll try my best not to drag you down!" Nagisa said.

"Yuma will come too! Kyouko might be there!" Yuma said.

"I wouldn't be able to protect Madoka if I didn't come with you," Homura said.

"Also," Mami said. "We can talk and run at the same time, but… I have something else I'd like to say. It's… about me."

Madoka nodded. "Alright… let's go!"

The six of them headed north, Mami leading the way, hopping from rooftop to rooftop at first, until they left the region of skyrises and found a way to return to ground level.

"Miss Mami…?" Madoka said after a minute or two.

"Um, well… it's a little embarrassing, so forgive me, but I'm going to face forward while I talk," Mami said. "What you said to me before… it made me very, very happy. You said you'd stay by my side, and it truly moved me. That's why… that's why I want you to rely on me, too. Not as a veteran magical girl, but as your ally… and as your friend."

"You got it!" Sayaka said. "When things get rough, we'll depend on you! Yes, it's not good to keep things all bottled up!"

"Well, I'm scared of all sorts of things," Madoka admitted. "But even though I can get scared if I'm alone, and I might not know what to do sometimes… when I'm together with you guys, I can stand up and fight. So I'll rely on you too, Miss Mami."

When Homura didn't immediately say something, Madoka gave her a nudge.

"Come on, Homura-chan, you say something too," she said.

"Eh? D-do I have to?" Homura protested.

"Yes, you do!" Madoka said sternly. "Miss Mami worked up the courage to say all those words, so you have to respond to her!"

"W-well, um… it's difficult," Homura muttered. "I'd come to think of you as someone who couldn't be relied on at all… someone who'd make the same mistakes every time… and partly because of that, I got used to working alone. But this time… this time was a bit different, after all… this time, I got a chance to partner with you, and it has been… somehow… oddly fulfilling. Although I was a bit reluctant at first, but… I have to admit that Ashley Taylor might have been right about that, and Madoka urged me to try it too, so… I suppose I can try to rely on you once in awhile. Besides… the Mami in front of me has clearly changed from the one who couldn't even defeat Charlotte no matter how many times she tried…"

"Um… you've been saying a bunch of strange things there," Sayaka pointed out. "It almost sounds like you met Madoka and Miss Taylor before you met Miss Mami…"

Madoka giggled. "Is it really okay to let your guard down so much, Homura-chan?" she asked. "If you keep doing that, I'll have to tell them everything…"

"Well…" Homura muttered.

"But before that, we should finish the discussion we were having," Madoka said. "I had one more thing I wanted to say… where were we… right! So, Miss Mami, if we let others take some of the weight when times are tough, it'll all work out! Sayaka-chan and Homura-chan taught me that. So, we'll tell you when we're having a hard time, because we want to share things like that with friends and allies."

"Thank you," Mami said.

"Now, can we get back to what you're hiding, Madoka?" Sayaka said.

"Um, I don't think there's time to get into all the details right now," Madoka said. "And there are some things I can't tell you, but… Homura-chan, is it okay if I tell them the basics? I'm sure they'll believe us now."

"Fine," Homura said. "I won't stop you."

"The truth is, Homura-chan and I have come back from the future," Madoka said. "Actually, it was just a few days from now, come to think of it. Walpurgisnacht came to Mitakihara instead of Kamihama, and Homura-chan tried to fight it all by herself, but she couldn't do anything at all."

"What?" Sayaka said. "Why would Homura be fighting by herself? Why weren't all of us helping her?"

"Well… except for me and Homura-chan, all of us here were already dead," Madoka said. "Even Kyouko-chan didn't make it…"

"But even then, at least you could've helped her!" Sayaka said.

"I wasn't a magical girl at that time," Madoka said. "I think that's maybe why everyone died… because I took too long to decide on my wish, because Homura-chan desperately wanted me not to make a wish, because I was slowly learning the truth about what it meant to be a magical girl. Although, Nagisa-chan had died before any of us had a chance to even meet her… I'm not sure what happened to Yuma-chan, either. I never met either of them in the previous timeline."

"Don't tell me you're blaming yourself?" Sayaka said.

"No," Homura said. "It's partly my fault, too…"

"It was really awful, watching all of you die," Madoka said. "First Miss Mami was killed by a witch… then Sayaka-chan accidentally found out that soul gems are our lives, and not long after that she turned into a witch. Kyouko-chan had hope that maybe you could be restored, and died trying to put the plan into action. And that just left Homura-chan as the only one who could still fight… or so it seemed. It was actually Ashley-chan and Oriko-chan who managed to gather people to put up a proper fight against Walpurgisnacht… but because everyone else had died, I begged Homura-chan to take us back in time."

"So, you're saying Homura can travel back in time?" Sayaka said.

"Do you believe it?" Homura asked.

"Well, it sounds too crazy to believe," Sayaka said. "But Madoka wouldn't lie, so… I believe her."

"I see," Homura muttered. "Miss Taylor was right about that, too…"

"Yes, Homura-chan's power isn't just time stop," Madoka said. "She can also travel back in time. Although for me that was the first time I'd gone back, Homura-chan has been reliving the last month and a half over and over and over and over to try and find a way to save everyone."

"Wow," Sayaka said. "I didn't realize you were carrying something quite that crazy on your shoulders, Homura… I wish you'd said something earlier."

"If I did, would you have believed me?" Homura retorted.

"Well… I think if it was back when we first met, I might not have," Sayaka said. "But a bit later… like around when you told us about soul gems, or maybe a week or so after that… I probably would've. Especially with Madoka backing you up…"

"I could have never imagined that you had something like that going on, either," Mami said. "Both of you… I wish you'd said something earlier."

"Well, um… we had some good reasons not to tell you earlier, Miss Mami," Madoka said. "Like… do you remember what happened when you first learned the truth of magical girls?"

"Ah," Mami said. "You mean… you've seen me go crazy before…?"

"Well… I haven't, but apparently Homura-chan has," Madoka said.

"What do you mean, go crazy?" Sayaka asked.

"According to Homura-chan, whenever she learned the truth, Miss Mami tried to kill everyone," Madoka said.

"I can't believe that…!" Sayaka protested.

"Well… I can't say if it's true or not," Mami said. "But that is what happened when Miss Mifuyu told me about it, so I could believe it…"

"S-seriously?" Sayaka said. "But that's so unlike you…"

"I-I know," Mami said. "I don't know what came over me… I guess… it was like everything I'd lived for was suddenly proven to be fake…"

"So, did you meet the Wings of the Magius before, too?" Sayaka asked.

"No," Madoka said. "According to Homura-chan, they never appeared before, in any previous timeline. Walpurgisnacht always came to Mitakihara, not Kamihama. In other words, this timeline is uncharted territory… but it's also working out much better than ever before. After all, everyone is still alive, and we even have new friends – Nagisa-chan and Yuma-chan. Not to mention, Ashley-chan is on our side too…"

"What's your relationship with her, anyway?" Sayaka said.

"Actually, we should cut this conversation short now," Mami interrupted. "We're almost there."

"Alright… but we have to continue this conversation later, alright, Madoka?" Sayaka said.

"I don't really mind that much," Madoka agreed. "Sure. So, Miss Mami! You can start relying on us right away!"

"Ah, right!" Sayaka said. "What should we do?"

"Yes, I'll be counting on you," Mami said. "Here's what we need to do. I need to get into Fendt Hope and undo a spell I set up there when I was still under the influence of the rumour. Then… after I've done that, I think the best course of action would be to destroy Fendt Hope and defeat the rumour."

"Okay," Sayaka said. "It sounds pretty dramatic, but if that's what you think we need to do, then we'll help you with it."

"Yeah, we'll help you all the way," Madoka said.

Finally, they arrived at a barrier and stepped inside, where they found themselves at the top of a grassy hill with a massive cherry tree, bare of any leaves or blossoms. There were a few feathers present, attempting to get past Mitama who was constantly getting in their way.

"This is the rumour that's linked to their base," Mami said.

"Oh," Madoka said.

"W-wow," Sayaka said.

One of the black feathers was sprawled on the ground, sobbing. A white feather next to her had been brought to her knees.

"Mitama… is so s-scary…" the white feather gasped.

"What on earth happened here…?" Homura wondered out loud.

"Hm?" Mitama said. "You're those girls from Mitakihara, aren't you?"

"Oh!" Madoka gasped. "You're the Coordinator of Kamihama!"

"Yakumo Mitama, a pleasure," Mitama said. "The way you say it, have you met another Coordinator?"

"Y-yeah, Miss Pernelle took me to one in Tokyo," Madoka said. "Um, I'm really sorry about that… Ashley-chan didn't want you to see my memories, you see…"

"Oh, is that so?" Mitama said. "Well, I won't force my business on someone who doesn't want it. It's true that a Coordinator can see some of the memories of the client, so if that disturbs for you, then you shouldn't make use of our services."

"Um, Madoka, you're still keeping some secrets from us, aren't you?" Sayaka said. "Didn't you just say you'd tell us everything?"

"Ah, um… I meant everything about… that," Madoka said. "There are still things I promised Ashley-chan not to tell… so I can't share those, even with you, Sayaka-chan. I'm really sorry!"

"Anyway… what happened here?" Homura repeated.

"Hmm… well, Yachiyo's team asked me to keep guard here," Mitama said. "But those feathers wouldn't listen at all… so in order to get them to behave, I messed with their soul gems, juuust a little bit."

"You do mean… just a little bit, right?" Sayaka said.

Mitama giggled.

"Yeah, it definitely wasn't a little!" Sayaka exclaimed.

"I'm really sorry, but we don't have time to chat," Mami said.

"You're going to go stop the Magius, aren't you?" Mitama said.

"Yes," Mami said.

"Miss Mami… are you alright now?" Mitama asked.

"What?" Mami said.

"You've come to my shop for services before, haven't you?" Mitama said.

"Oh!" Mami gasped. "I'm alright. I can't say I'm not afraid of anything… but I'm alright. Because… I'm not alone."

Mitama blinked. "I see. You're doing okay now, then."

"Yes, I am," Mami said.

"I'll protect this area, so don't worry about anyone coming up behind you," Mitama said. "Although Yukika-chan managed to get past me earlier, I don't think there are any other feathers who could pull that off. All of you take care, and be on your way."

"We will," Mami said. "Let's go!"

"Yeah!" Madoka, Sayaka, and Nagisa exclaimed at the same time.

"Yuma too!" Yuma added, a beat later.

As Mami lead them towards the fold in space, Mitama had a final thing to say.

"Come back safely, girls."

As Homura and Mami finish their account, silence falls for a bit, and is broken by a knock on the door. Asuka jumps up to answer it. It's Mifuyu.

"Good afternoon," Mifuyu says.

"Oh, hello," Asuka says. "Come in, come in!"

Mifuyu comes in and joins the circle, taking Asuka's cushion at Asuka's urging. Asuka disappears for a moment to find another cushion for herself.

"Miss Mifuyu, you're already up!?" Iroha gasps. "Should you really be moving around so soon?"

"I feel completely fine," Mifuyu says. "In fact, I feel more than fine… I heard what happened from Ui-chan, and wanted to thank you, Miss Tamaki."

"There's nothing to thank me for," Iroha says. "I just did what anyone would've done…"

"Even so, when compared to what happened to Miss Sana, I can't help but feel guilty," Mifuyu said.

"Did you speak with Sana-chan?" Iroha asks.

"Yes," Mifuyu says. "It was… a short and painful conversation. And Nemu has not yet awoken, either. I was not sure whether I should, but… I have to ask, excluding them, how many other casualties were there?"

"It's possible I'm missing a few, but I know of nine magical girls who died," I say.

"And… how many of those were feathers?" Mifuyu asks.

"Um… three, I think," I say. "Miss Yuzuki, Miss Kuroe, and… the girl who called herself Maimai."

"Kirika was technically a feather too," Homura points out.

"Ohh, right, so she was," I say. "So, four feathers died, then."

"I see," Mifuyu says. "I will have to shoulder their deaths…"

"It's really difficult to bear, isn't it?" Iroha says. "But there's nothing we can do, is there?"

"It's sad that I'll never see Suzune-chan again," Matsuri says. "I'd only just reunited with her, and now she's gone again…"

"The Pleiades Saints lost another member, too," Hijiri says. "And their method of revival won't be very effective with a shattered gem, so they're pretty despondent right now… I'm a little worried, to be honest."

"This would probably be a good time to restore Kazusa Michiru's soul gem and give it to them," I point out.

"I thought about that, but I wonder how Michiru-chan would take the loss," Hijiri says.

"Huh? What do you mean by 'restore'?" Iroha asks.

"Ah… you don't know our story, of course," Hijiri says. "Um… how should I put it… basically, Michiru-chan turned into a witch? Kazumi-chan and Michika-chan were attempts to revive her, by creating an artificial body capable of using magic from a grief seed. It didn't work out, though."

"Oh, but then that means… you have a way to turn a grief seed back into a soul gem?" Iroha says.

"Actually… I have a suspicion that your power can do that, Miss Tamaki," I say. "Though not as easily as Elise-chan can…"

"A-are you serious!?" Iroha gasps.

"You did heal Miss Mifuyu's cracked soul gem," I point out. "That's a similarly unusual ability."

"Yeah, I'm certain I wouldn't be able to do that with my healing magic," Matsuri says.

"I don't think Yuuri-chan is capable of that, either," I say. "Nor Miss Miki. Moe-chan can do it, though… and you as well, Miss Tamaki. But most healers can't."

"Miss Elise is one of the girls who helped us at the helipad, right?" Yachiyo says. "Can she really turn a grief seed back into a soul gem?"

"Yes, that's right," I say. "She's a friend of my host family in Mitakihara. Anyway… I think that's enough of this depressing talk for now. Miss Mifuyu… since you're here now, why don't you tell us about the battle on the grounds of Fendt Hope?"

"Huh? You want to know how that went?" Mifuyu says. "I don't think there was anything remarkable about that battle…"

"Yeah, but there could be some small detail that I can use," I say.

"I don't quite get what you mean," Mifuyu says. "But sure, I can tell you what I remember."

"Well, you did miss my explanation earlier," I say with a sigh. "But I don't really feel like repeating myself…"

"That's okay," Mifuyu said. "I can just ask the others after you're done here. Now, let me see… if we start when everyone left Fendt Hope after defeating the soldier bear… ah, yes. I remember, we headed out into Fendt Hope's garden area via one of Maimai's tunnels, and found Miss Nanase fighting the witches all by herself, protecting the other feathers who had been tied up."

"Right, that was our doing," Inui says.

"Indeed," Mifuyu says.

"Come to think of it, I wonder how Miss Nanase got there?" I say. "After all, Miss Yakumo was guarding the entrance…"

"I never asked," Mifuyu says. "There wasn't any time. I suppose she just got by Miss Mitama somehow."

"Well, that's certainly true," Mitama says. "I even said so myself back then, right? Homura-chan said so a moment ago. She was just faster than I anticipated, and she had two other feathers with her, so she was able to get by while I was occupied with them."

"Alright," Mifuyu says. "Then, once we were outside, I freed a few of the feathers who asked to help, and we started facing the witches…"

"You've got another idea coming if you think you can take me down with numbers!" Kyouko shouted.

She and the other magical girls were surrounded by witches on the lawn of Fendt Hope. They were not hiding inside a labyrinth, perhaps because Fendt Hope itself was already a labyrinth, which meant they were an oddly surreal contrast against the very realistic hotel building and grounds.

Other than Kyouko, there were sixteen other magical girls currently fighting. Momoko, Rena, and Kaede worked as a unit, dispatching one witch at a time. Inui led a team of six former feathers who had abandoned their feather robes, which included Tomomi, Chiyoko, Sue, Maria, and Maimai. Mifuyu was backed up by the Amane twins, who had finally completely abandoned their feather robes, and they had been joined by four feathers – a white feather who identified herself as Konoha, black feathers who went by Yumi and Nami, and lastly Nanase Yukika, who still wore the gold pendant of the Magius.

Besides those fighting, a large number of feathers watched from the sidelines, all of them bound with what appeared to be spiderwebs. There were five white feathers without pendants and about six or seven black feathers, of which only two or three wore pendants.

"Goddammit," Kyouko grumbled. "I can't believe how many witches they prepped."

"They're from Alina's collection," Mifuyu said. "It seems she released them as a defense measure."

"How can you sound so calm about this?" Kyouko asked. "It's boggling my mind. She's basically saying, 'Here, play with my pets.'"

"You're a little late to the party realizing Alina's a tough nut to crack," Momoko said.

She swung her sword at a familiar that was sidling up to her, destroying it in two blows.

"So, Miss Mifuyu," Momoko said. "We just gotta stay here and beat these things back?"

"Yes, we need to wait until Ya-chan and the rest get underground," Mifuyu said. "Once they're there, I'll destroy Fendt Hope."

"Easier said than done, with this many of them," Rena said. "My stamina does run out, you know?"

"It'll be okay, Rena-chan!" Kaede said. "We've got grief seeds from Miss Mitama! And the witches we beat will drop even more!"

"Please rein in your optimism," Mifuyu said sternly.

"Huh?" Kaede said.

"Magic and stamina are two different things," Mifuyu said. "If you get so injured you aren't able to move, you'll play right into their hands."

"So we gotta take out these guys while making sure we don't get hurt ourselves," Momoko said.

"Yes, that's right," Mifuyu said. "You too, Amane twins. Especially doppels. Do not use them."

"O-okay!" Tsukasa said.

"We understand!" Tsukuyo said.

"Even if we get rid of our impurities, it's no use if we run out of steam," Tsukasa said.

"Let us take the utmost caution, Tsukasa-chan," Tsukuyo said.

"For sure," Tsukasa said.

"Ashley also thinks doppels may have dangerous side-effects if used too often," Inui piped up. "So there's another reason not to use them, if you needed one."

"Ignore any witches that aren't attacking!" Mifuyu said. "Only fight when necessary. We have to hold out until the time is right!"

After all, she had to do what little she could to atone for all the sins she'd committed as second-in-command to the Wings of the Magius. The weakening of her magic and the Magius were both completely out of her control… even though she said she'd defeat the rumour, it was a real gamble whether she could actually pull it off. Having this much backup should help, but even then… Nemu had contributed countless pieces of her life force to Hotel Fendt Hope. Other rumours couldn't even compare to it. These witches were going to wear them down… would they still be able to defeat it once the witches were dealt with? Even so, she had to do it, regardless of the consequences. Even if it meant blowing out her soul gem, it had to be done.

If she'd had the courage to part ways with the Magius sooner, the damage would've never become so severe. She, with her seven years of fighting experience and also her diplomatic experience negotiating between east and west, had done a lot to earn the trust of the magical girls who answered the Magius's call. It would not be a stretch to say that the Wings of the Magius had been so successful because of her reputation. She had been the reason why so many magical girls had joined in such a short time – just under a month. But she hadn't been able to stop the Magius when they turned to more sneaky, underhanded methods. So now… it was up to her to finally put an end to it. She knew she should've acted sooner, but now, she had to do something to stop the Magius from controlling everyone's fates. They were out of control, off the rails. Even if it cost her her own life… she had to end it, at all costs.

They formed a defensive circle around the bound feathers, striking back whenever a witch had the idea of attacking them, but holding back and waiting whenever the witches seemed hesitant to strike. In this way, they slowly whittled down the number of witches. Finally, they were down to the final witch.

"Rena, Kaede, this is the last one!" Momoko said.

Kaede restrained the witch with her vines.

"I got it pinned down!" she said.

"Nice one, Kaede!" Rena said. "Momoko!"

"I'm gonna settle this in one blow!" Momoko said.

Momoko and Rena attacked at the same time, and sure enough, the witch fell in a single blow. Rena sighed.

"I'm totally wiped," she said.

"But at least we can now enjoy the view of this huge garden!" Momoko said.

"Yeah!" Kaede said. "Now all we have to do is wait for Miss Yachiyo and the others to get to their position."

"Doncha think it feels too easy?" Kyouko asked.

"Do you think something else is coming?" Kaede asked.

"Yeah, you'd get what I mean if you spent any time around those Magius guys," Kyouko said. "They don't lay half-baked traps like this one. It's not their style."

"I think so too," Inui said. "Ashley said we should expect to face a very powerful witch here, but those ones were all on the weaker side."

Just then, a portal to Alina's labyrinth appeared before them once more.

"Told you," Kyouko said.

"Still, it's only one!" Kaede said.

"Yeah!" Momoko said. "We can handle one, easy peasy!"

Then she blinked as the witch popped out. Just as Inui had predicted, it was a ridiculously strong witch. The twins gasped at the sight of it.

"Or not…" Momoko said.

"Miss Mifuyu, isn't this…?" Tsukasa said.

"One of Alina's pet witches!?" Tsukuyo gasped.

"Indeed," Mifuyu said. "And it's not just some random witch from her collection. This is her precious angel, to which she fed other witches so it could protect them."

"This is no precious angel!" Tsukasa said. "This is a demonic monster!"

"S-she created something this heinous?" Tsukuyo gasped.

"Only the Magius and I were aware of its existence," Mifuyu said. "Or so I thought… it sounds as though Miss Taylor also found out about it, somehow."

"It's making me break out in a cold sweat," Tsukasa said.

"I hate to say I told you so," Kyouko said. "Wish I was wrong. They got anything else after this?"

"I can't guarantee there isn't another," Mifuyu said.

"Then it looks like we gotta stay on our toes awhile longer," Kyouko said. "Still, they should be here any minute, yeah?"

Everyone who could fight gathered between the witch and the bound feathers, going on the defensive to gauge the witch's strength. Konoha protected them from the initial onslaught by transforming her chains into a massive shield, presumably using her unique magic. While she diverted that torrent of water, Kaede and Chiyoko tried to restrain its movements with their vines and webbing respectively, and Kyouko, Rena, Momoko, and Yumi charged in close to attack, the latter pulling out a sword and shield.

As the witch's opening attack was cut off, Konoha reverted her shield to its original form, the standard chains of a black feather. The Amane twins activated their Flute Blossom Resonance, restricting the witch's movements even further, and Mifuyu and Chiyoko joined the front-line fighters with their chakrams and crescent-shaped hooked blades, respectively. Tomomi also followed them, splitting her pruning shears in half and wielding them like dual daggers.

Inui shot off arcs of pink flame from behind, while Nami, Konoha, and Yukika attacked with the black feather chain techniques. Sue, Maria, and Maimai stood with the Amane twins at the back of the formation, watching for an opportunity to act.

They had been all attacking at once for almost a minute before the witch finally managed to break out of its restraints, tearing apart the web of silk and vines and spinning in place, sprouting arms that sent several of the magical girls flying. While Sue and Maria focused on healing the injured, the witch turned its attention on the Amane twins, spewing a quick jet of water at them which caused Tsukuyo to squeal.

"Tsukuyo-chan!" Tsukasa said.

The attack was interrupted when Yumi leapt up and stabbed the witch from behind, using a tunnel created by Maimai to get close without needing to deal with its newfound arms, but before the twins could react, the witch recovered and attacked again, spewing a much stronger jet of water this time.

"Watch out!" Mifuyu said.

She leapt out of one of Maimai's tunnels and dragged the twins out of the way of the watery attack.

"Are you two okay?" she asked.

"Y-yes, thank you very much," Tsukuyo said.

"This isn't an easy enemy," Tsukasa said. "We have a lot more to worry about than just getting hurt."

"Yeah," Momoko said. "This thing's capable of facing down all of us at once…"

"Just how much did she feed this thing to get it this strong!?" Rena exclaimed.

"Oh no," Kaede whimpered. "My legs are shaking…"

"Try not to wet yourself, okay?" Rena said.

"Oh my god are you serious!?" Kaede protested.

Suddenly the witch moved towards them, aiming the water cannon at Kaede.

"Wait… hold on, it's coming for me!?" Kaede gasped.

"Flute Blossom Resonance!"

The twins played their flutes in unison, stopping the witch in its tracks.

"There! That should halt its movements for a short time!" Tsukuyo said.

"It's time to punish you!" Maria declared.

She raised her hands above her head and opened and closed them, as if the hand puppets were talking. It wasn't entirely clear what that did, but whatever it was, the witch seemed to be affected – it shuddered, letting out a keening wail. Meanwhile, Kaede let out the breath she'd been holding in.

"Kaede-chan?" Tsukasa said.

"I-I'm fine…" Kaede said.

"This isn't good," Mifuyu said. "We need Ya-chan's team to hurry, but… I'd like to keep them from having to face a protracted battle with the Magius."

"Still, there's seven of them, and only three of the Magius, right?" Momoko said.

"I'm worried the exhaustion from all these battles could be taking a toll," Mifuyu said. "Not to mention I'm not sure they can fight properly in there… other than Miss Taylor…"

At that moment, the witch broke free of the Amane twins' magic once more and began to move again, aiming its water cannon at Mifuyu.

"I-it's already moving again!" Tsukuyo gasped.

"Miss Mifuyu!" Tsukasa said.

"This will be tough, but we have to find a way to defeat it by ourselves," Mifuyu said.

"Hey, no need to look so down," Kyouko said. "It'll work out."

"On what basis do you make that claim?" Mifuyu asked.

"I mean, look," Kyouko said, pointing away from the building. "They're here."

They turned to see Mami and Madoka enter the grounds together, followed by Sayaka, Homura, Nagisa, and Yuma.

"Tiro Finale!" Mami shouted.

The cannon blast pushed the witch back significantly, though it wasn't enough to defeat it. However, while it was staggered from that attack, Kaede and Chiyoko were able to leap in to bind it in place once more with their vines and silken webbing.

"We'll be providing backup from here on out!" Mami announced.

"Talk about taking your time, Mami!" Kyouko complained. "What took ya so long? I thought you'd get here earlier."

"There were quite a few things outside that I needed to take care of," Mami said.

"Kyouko!" Yuma shouted. "Kyouko, Kyouko, Kyouko! You're okay! Yuma was really worried!"

"Of course I'm okay, you little runt," Kyouko retorted. "It'd take more than a few witches to get to me!"

"Miss Tomoe, what happened to the rumour?" Mifuyu asked.

"It looks like she's completely back to normal to me," Momoko said.

"I am," Mami said. "My apologies for what happened. But yes, I'm alright now. I am no longer a shepherd of our kin. I'm just a proud magical girl fighting the good fight! Let's give them a hand, Miss Kaname, Homura-chan, Miss Miki, Nagisa-chan, and Yuma-chan!"

"Thanks so much for your help yesterday, Kyouko-chan!" Madoka said.

"I told ya, there's nothing to thank me for," Kyouko retorted.

"Yuma and everyone else is here to help!" Yuma announced.

"I just felt like helping," Nagisa muttered. "So don't get the wrong idea, okay?"

"And hey, your old pal Sayaka-chan's gonna be pitching in here, so… one measly witch will be a piece of cake!"

"Hey, don't get carried away," Kyouko retorted. "This witch ain't anything like the other ones you've fought. You best be on your guard!"

"Of course!" Sayaka said.

With Sayaka and Yuma joining the front line, the feathers Yumi, Nami, and Konoha backed off to take a little break, leaving Yukika as the only remaining fighter in a feather robe. The two of them more than made up for the three retirees. Mami and Madoka joined the middle line with Inui, firing arrows and bullets as needed, and Nagisa broke out her bubble swarm to reduce the witch's movement, then followed it up with some explosive bubbles.

But the witch was still incredibly strong. It managed to break free from its restraints and tried to fire its water jet at Madoka, perhaps detecting she was the most dangerous one present. However, Kyouko and Mami wove a shield together that completely blocked the attack. Mifuyu managed to use her illusion magic to disorient it for a bit, causing it to fire at unoccupied areas of the garden, and Inui even tried her charm magic on it, but it didn't seem to have any effect at all. In the end, this meant that they were reduced to just attacking it with their weapons, over and over and over again, while restraining its movements whenever they got the chance.

"I think we're getting close," Mami eventually said. "Miss Kaname, could you use your Pluvia Magica?"

"Um… yes, I could," Madoka said. "I should probably get everyone to stand back when I'm ready to fire, though… also, if we could hold it in place at that moment…?"

"Understood," Mifuyu said. "How long will it take you to charge your attack, Miss Kaname?"

"Um, hmm," Madoka said. "If I release it when it's about half-charged, then probably about… twenty seconds?"

"Is half charge enough?" Mifuyu asked, startled.

"Yes, um… I think fully charging it might destroy the whole building," Madoka said.

"Right… we want to do that anyway, but it's still too early, so that wouldn't be good," Mifuyu said. "Okay. Everyone in the forward part, get ready to retreat on my signal! Kaede-chan, Chiyoko-chan, get ready to bind it in place as soon as it stops moving! Miss Tsukuyo, Miss Tsukasa, I'll need a Flute Blossom Resonance in about fifteen seconds… I'll signal for you!"

"Understood!" Tsukuyo said.

"For sure!" Tsukasa said.

"I got it!" Kaede said.

"Okay!" Chiyoko said.

"I'm ready when you are!" Momoko shouted.

Madoka put her hands together for a moment, starting to charge her magic power. Then she nocked an arrow of light to her leaf bow and pulled it back, aiming almost straight upwards and pouring all her magic power into that one arrow. For about twenty seconds, she continued pouring in magical power.

"Now, freeze its movement!" Mifuyu shouted.

"Flute Blossom Resonance!"

Kaede raised her staff to call up fresh vines, and Chiyoko fired strands of silk to bind the vines together and hold the witch in place.

"Alright, now retreat!" Mifuyu shouted.

Everyone who had been attacking the witch with their weapons backed off, and then Madoka released her arrow.

"Pluvia Magica!" she shouted.

A magic array appeared up in the sky, slowly rotating in place, and her arrow struck it dead centre. Almost immediately afterwards, a rain of smaller yet otherwise identical arrows emerged from all over the magic array, bombarding the witch with so many arrows that it was practically shredded into pieces. When the rain of arrows stopped and its magic array faded from existence, there was nothing left except the grief seed. Not only had the witch itself been obliterated, but there was also no trace of the vines and silk cords that had been holding it in place, and the garden beneath it was razed, leaving behind a patch of bare, slightly scorched earth.

"W-we won," Rena said.

Kaede sighed. "I'm exhausted…"

"I understand ya wanna sit down and relax," Momoko said. "But we gotta stay alert for the next one."

"It's strange," Mifuyu said. "I used so much magic during that battle, but the corruption in my soul gem hasn't increased much…"

"Oh! That's one of my abilities," Madoka said. "It's kinda an aura effect… so you'll use magic more efficiently or something when you're near me."

Mifuyu blinked. "That… that's an incredible ability," she said. "If you're here to help, Miss Kaname… I think I really have a chance to defeat this rumour."

They waited a few moments, alert for the second witch Momoko had predicted, but it never appeared.

"Weeeell… I don't sense another one coming," Momoko finally said.

"Yes, it seems we're in the clear," Mifuyu said.

Momoko sighed.

"Thank you very much," Mifuyu said. "We owe you and your friends a lot, Miss Tomoe. You saved us."

"Saved you?" Mami said. "I only did what anyone would. Besides, this is just a small part of my penance."

"Penance," Mifuyu said. "I feel the same way you do. I wasn't able to help you, even when you were merged with that rumour."

"Still, I do remember that you resisted the Magius," Mami said. "Plus, if I hadn't been fused with the rumour upon learning the truth about magical girls… I would've been unable to bear the weight of my own fate. I do regret that the situation grew worse due to my involvement, but the rumour is the only reason I had time to process and face my fate."

"I never woulda guessed you guys would all show up together," Kyouko said. "Even Yuma came along. You are aware that Walpurgisnacht is on its way here, aren't you? Anyone with a lick of sense would huddle in their rooms…"

"You're the one who shared that info with us, Kyouko," Sayaka retorted. "Like we could just stay tucked in our rooms after hearing that!"

"Yeah!" Madoka said. "I feel the same way! It's scary, and thinking about it makes my chest tight, but I want to save everyone. I knew all the friends I made in Kamihama would be fighting. I couldn't just abandon them!"

"Okay, but Homura doesn't look too happy," Kyouko said.

Homura sighed. "I tried to stop them," she said. "But no-one listens to me anymore… so I had to come along to keep her safe."

"Well, don't push yourself too hard," Kyouko said.

"I'll push myself as hard as it takes," Homura retorted. "If Madoka and the others are fighting, then I can't possibly back down… and besides, I need to protect her from Walpurgisnacht."

"By the way, Miss Tomoe?" Mifuyu said.

"Yes?" Mami said.

"Did someone from your team remove the rumour for you?"

"No, actually," Mami said. "Miss Nanami freed me when we fought each other."

"Ya-chan did?" Mifuyu said.

"Yes," Mami said. "How I was, I could've even killed her… and yet, Miss Nanami did not give up on me. I felt so much guilt for dragging Miss Kaname and the others into all of this… I was tormented by my sense of responsibility to them… and Miss Nanami said that feeling of responsibility was far more praiseworthy than liberating us. I think that's what she was trying to tell me, anyway."

"I see," Mifuyu said.

"I want to say goodbye to my past self once and for all, and make amends," Mami said.

"That's what I want, too," Mifuyu said.

"That reminds me… I have a favour to ask of you, Miss Mifuyu." Mami said.

"A favour?" Mifuyu said. "From me?"

"Yes," Mami said. "I want you to send a message to all the feathers in Kamihama. The ones that fought outside have stopped fighting, and now, they don't know what to do."

"Because you returned back to your normal self after being used by the Magius?" Mifuyu said.

"Yes," Mami said. "Despite that, they can't seem to come to a decision. Though they desire liberation, they're being used by the Magius like tools. They no longer feel like they know what the correct choice is."

"But why are you asking me?" Mifuyu asked.

"You're the reason those girls placed faith in the Magius at all," Mami said.

Mifuyu gasped, for she knew that to be true but was startled that Mami had realized it as well.

"Those girls still believe in the Magius's plan," Mami continued. "But they no longer believe in the Magius. They all know… they know how hard you've been trying to keep everything from falling apart, and how you held the Magius in check. They believed in the Magius only because of you."

"That's for sure," Inui said. "The Magius knew that too… they tried to get rid of you quietly because they knew they'd lose almost all their followers if they made an example of you. Without you, the Wings of the Magius basically wouldn't exist."

"I hardly think I had that much influence," Mifuyu said.

"Don't underestimate yourself, Mifuyumin," Inui said. "You may have been second-in-command, but the Magius are a pair of spoiled brats and a tortured artist. Without you as their intermediary, they'd have zero ability to command anyone. They would've had to do their work alone, just the three of them, maybe at best with a handful of additional allies. And they're not stupid. They knew you had that much influence. Heck, they probably recruited you first specifically because of your reputation."

"Miss Itsumi is correct," Mami said. "You did have that much influence. You were the linchpin that held the Wings of the Magius together. Everyone is waiting to see what you have to say. So please, let them hear how you truly feel!"

"Do you really think that will change anything?" Mifuyu asked. "The feathers that are still in this base certainly won't be moved. They'll believe in the Magius whether I support them or not. They are dedicated enough that they will follow the Magius on their own."

"You're not wrong about that," Ryo spoke up. "But I can't say seeing you go against the Magius hasn't shaken me a little…"

"The Magius have broken that dedication," Mami said. "You will get through to them if you try now."

"I agree," Inui said. "The ones left on the base are the outliers. Most of the feathers look to you first and foremost, Mifuyumin."

"Even so, I do not think there is a way to do that," Tsukuyo said.

"For sure," Tsukasa said. "Us feathers can communicate with telepathy, but… even we can't communicate with anyone outside."

"No, she can reach them," Mami said confidently. "Why, I have two magical girls capable of manipulating sound standing before me."

The twins stared at her for a few moments, then gasped.

"You mean us!?" they exclaimed in unison.

"I suppose it's possible," Mifuyu said. "Alright… I'll send out a message. I'll pour my heart and soul into a message to the rest of the feathers in Kamihama. Miss Tsukuyo, Miss Tsukasa… are you ready?"

"W-we probably can't use our flutes, right?" Tsukasa said nervously.

"Probably not!" Tsukuyo said. "Let us try to envision the sound spreading across a vast area…"

"I've never done this before, so I'm not sure how to do it," Tsukasa said.

"Come on, you two!" Mifuyu said. "Let's do this!"

"Y-yes!" the twins exclaimed in unison.

The two of them focused for a few moments, and then spoke up again.

"H-here goes, Tsukuyo-chan!" Tsukasa said.

"I am with you, Tsukasa-chan!" Tsukuyo said.

"I must impart my feelings," Mifuyu muttered. "How I truly feel right now… to the feathers…"

She took a deep breath, and then began her speech.

"Feathers, can you hear me?" she said. "This is Azusa Mifuyu. I have split from the Wings of the Magius. I'm certain that those of you who were affected by the rumour understand my choice to no longer follow them. I wish I could have stopped them before you were all put in harm's way… but they captured me because I resisted, so I couldn't send this message until now.

"The Magius have gone too far. I'm sure most of you are unaware of this, but they planned to kill innocent civilians during the Chelation Land incident. The very people us magical girls should protect. And now, the Magius are poised to strike Kamihama itself. What's more, they have resorted to summoning Walpurgisnacht to Kamihama. Walpurgisnacht is one of the most powerful and heinous of all witches, legendary for her ability to bring chaos and disaster. The Magius plan to use her to accelerate Eve's hatching. They grossly underestimate her. Kamihama may be nothing but rubble by the time she's done with it. Even if their plan succeeds, our futures will be completely at the Magius's mercy.

"If that does not bother you, please continue to fight for the Magius. But if you doubt them even a little, I beg you to join our effort. Lower your weapons and prepare for the arrival of Walpurgisnacht, as we will be the ones facing it in battle."

She fell silent for a few moments, and the twins opened their eyes.

"That's it?" Tsukasa asked.

Mifuyu nodded. The two of them then collapsed to the ground with a sigh of relief.

"Did it get through…?" Mifuyu wondered.

"I felt it transmit," Tsukuyo said. "I am certain that the feathers have heard your words."

"So you really have left the Wings of the Magius," Ryo said. "I wondered if it would come to that someday…"

"That's correct," Mifuyu said. "I couldn't turn a blind eye to what was happening any longer. The Magius were willing to hurt innocent bystanders for the sake of salvation, all to save a select group of magical girls. So I have resolved myself not to aid them in their selfish endeavours… I'm done with them. Do you hate me for that?"

"I can't see eye-to-eye with you on this," the Instructor said. "Are not magical girls superior to regular humans? I cannot deny that it's unfortunate for innocent bystanders to be hurt for the sake of salvation, and you are correct that we are the ones who protect them from witches, after all. However, I don't see a problem with letting a few humans die for the sake of salvation, as collateral damage. Even so… I may disagree with you, but I do not hate you."

"I see you've really taken Touka's lectures on magical girl supremacy to heart, Miss Kagura," Mifuyu said. "I doubt I could say anything to change your mind at this point, but… you're correct, we cannot see eye-to-eye on this."

"I… think I do hate you for this," Sorashi said. "I can't accept it. You were the one who brought us all together, and now, at the last minute, you've betrayed us? I almost couldn't believe my ears when the Instructor told me… and to hear it from your own mouth…"

She shook her head angrily.

"Count me out," she said. "I'm not going to fight for your city. I won't try to stop you – obviously I'm only one girl, and there's nothing I can do against a whole city full of magical girls. But I'm not going to grace you with my support. It makes me sick just thinking about this… about what you've done to our hopes for liberation…"

"As for me… I can't bring myself to hate you, Miss Mifuyu," Ryo said. "To tell the truth, I was already seeing the doubt in your eyes, and it reflected back to me a little…"

"Me too," Ikumi said. "If Yumi-chan and Ryo-chan have rejected the Magius, then I have no reason to stay with them either. I was already feeling doubts thanks to Miss Tamaki's words, anyway… not to mention my experience with the Rumour of the Dreaming Mirror and Miss Kusch. You can count on my support."

"I too respect you more than I respect the Magius," Yukika spoke up. "Though I would not have put it quite as harshly as Miss Itsumi, she is essentially correct about the Magius's disposition. I would have left within a week of joining if not for you and Akatsuki-sempai being members."

"I don't hate you, Miss Mifuyu," Fuu said. "Honestly, I really wish you hadn't done it… I had gotten my hopes up, that liberation might finally be achieved. But I can't argue with anything you said. I can't deny that what they were doing was wrong. And so, I don't hate you."

"You're really a very hard person to hate," Maimai said. "I'm sure there won't be very many among the feathers who'd hate you for splitting from the Magius. You should be more proud of what you've done!"

Chiyoko nodded. "Yeah… um, you did the right thing. Even if a few of them do hate you for it, like that Sorashi girl… that's on them, not you. You've done nothing to be ashamed of."

"Yeah, you're fine, Mifuyumin," Inui said. "Heck, I bet Sorashi'll be the only one who actually hates you for splitting."

"U-um… I can't hate you either," Mana muttered.

"M-me too," Amu said. "You've been so good to us, after all…"

"Y-yeah…" Aoi said.

"W-what they said," Nami said.

"I agree with what most of the others have said," Konoha said. "All the feathers, myself included, have always had you to thank, for protecting us. And I think you're the only one who truly grasps what's happening. So, I… I believe you, Miss Mifuyu."

"It could mean reducing magical girl freedom to nothing more than a distant dream again," Mifuyu pointed out.

"I understand," Konoha said. "All that stuff about Chelation Land, and Walpurgisnacht… I never even knew about it. I didn't know you tried to stop them from using such violence behind the scenes… or that they held you captive for it, either."

"I always knew that I was taking a huge risk," Yumi admitted. "But to think the Magius would sacrifice that much to see it through!"

"They were just whispering pretty nothings in your ears and using you to the very end," Kyouko said. "It's what ya get for trying to have someone else take responsibility for your fate. That's how it got this far."

"That hits close to home," Mifuyu said with a sigh. "I'm no different from them."

"Still, you did what you could," Kyouko said.

"Yeah… you helped free the girls they brainwashed," Inui said. "And you were the one who convinced Miss Sakura that maybe joining up was a bad idea, weren't you?"

Kyouko nodded. "You're better than these guys, y'know."

"Putting aside the fact that I was forcefully silenced, I'm just as guilty as them," Mifuyu said. "We should've come to our senses a long time ago."

"To be honest, I thought the same thing," Inui admitted. "But Ashley said we should wait a bit longer… I won't go into detail about her reasoning, but I think I can sum it up like this. Her view is… even a tragic outcome can have hidden benefits. She wasn't willing to sacrifice people – and I would have stopped her if she was – but she believed that allowing Kamihama to be ravaged by the witch would actually improve things for the east side of the city."

Ryo blinked. "I don't get it… how could that be…?"

"Well… I'm not too sure myself," Inui admitted. "But maybe if you wait and see, you'll see what she meant."

"In any case… there is still something we can do," Mifuyu said.

"Miss Mami!" Sayaka said. "This means we've accomplished our first mission, right?"

"Yes, we have," Mami said.

"You have another one?" Mifuyu said.

"I need to clean up the mess I made here, once and for all," Mami said.

She summoned one of her guns and aimed it at a third-floor window.

"H-hey now, hang on!" Momoko protested.

"Yeah!" Rena said. "Who knows what kinda rumour'll pop out if you destroy that place!"

"I'm sorry," Mami said. "This is something I must do. They'll never make it to where the Magius are if I don't. And we will fail if we simply try to smoke the Magius out."

"You're talking about what you were working on when you were with them, right?" Mifuyu said.

"Yes," Mami said. "I have to clean up this mess. I'm the one who made it. So, do excuse me, but I have to do this!"

"But really, hold on a second, Miss Tomoe," Inui said. "If all you need is to get inside… why not use Maimai's power?"

Mami blinked at her. "What power do you refer to?"

"I can drill right through space!" Maimai said.

"Or to put it in simpler terms, teleportation," Inui said.

"That… yes, you have a point," Mami said. "If you can just get me to the third floor lounge…"

"You got it!" Maimai said.

She thrust out her drill, opening a tunnel like before. It seemed to pass through the air and drill right through the window.

"There you go! Just follow that path!" Maimai said. "I'll even keep it open until you get back, if you want!"

"Thank you very much!" Mami said.

Without hesitation, she headed down the tunnel. After a few moments of hesitation, Kyouko decided to follow her. Then Inui took out her communicator and pressed the speak button.

"Ashley, you there?" she said. "Miss Tomoe just entered the building, but she's heading for the third floor lounge rather than your location… is that okay?"

Ashley's voice issued from the communicator.

"It should be fine," she said. "I know she needs to do something to open the way for us, but I'm not completely sure where it is… I only assumed it was here at the blockade, but it might be on the third floor. I'm sure she'll link up with us soon enough if that's necessary."

"Okay," Inui said. "Then let me know once you're safely underground, okay?"

"I'll do that," Ashley said. "Ashley out."

While waiting for Mami to do whatever she was doing, Mifuyu went around cutting the bonds of the various feathers watching. Sorashi, Miyuri, one other black feather who wore a pendant, and the Instructor simply walked off, exiting the barrier, but the rest stood around, ready to fight.

"You know, I was there the entire time too," Momoko says. "Is there a reason why you asked Miss Mifuyu to explain these events instead, Miss Taylor?"

"No, not really," I say. "Since she was here, and she played a key role in the battle, I figured I might as well ask her… but if she hadn't shown up, I would've just asked everyone else who was there instead – you, Miss Homura, Miss Tomoe, Miss Sakura…"

"In any case, I do not mind giving my view of the events," Mifuyu says. "Having everyone else chime in with their own notes from time to time has been helpful too."

"Oh, actually, while we're off topic anyway, I had something I wanted to get from you, Miss Mifuyu," I say.

"If it's in my power…" she says.

"Do you have any contact info for the black feather who called herself Mana?" I ask. "She was one of the ones who stayed on the base. You probably untied her yourself. She had black hair… but that's about all I know about her."

"A black feather with black hair named Mana," Mifuyu says. "I suppose that would be Yaeko Mana… she's from Takarazaki. I do have a phone number for her, but before I give it to you, could I ask what you want it for?"

"Apparently, her little sister turned into a witch around the same time as Anna Mel," I say. "If I ever get an opportunity to save Anna Mel, then it'll probably also include an opportunity to save Yaeko Mana's little sister. If I don't ever get that opportunity, then I'll probably never call her, but… I wanted to have it just in case."

"I don't understand," Mifuyu says. "How could you possibly find an opportunity to save Mel-chan? She died a long time ago…"

"Right, you weren't here when we talked about this," I say with a sigh. "Um… the others can fill you in on the details, but basically, it might be possible to travel back in time through the Mirror Witch's labyrinth, as far back as when the witch was first born."

"Hmm… and Mel-chan turned into a witch not long after the Mirror Witch was sealed away in the Mirror Mansion," Mifuyu says. "I see what you mean, but even then, travelling back in time through a labyrinth doesn't seem possible…"

"Well, it's just in case the theory works out," I say. "You might be right. It might turn out to be impossible. But on the off-chance that it's possible, I want to keep the option open, which means I need a way to contact her if that happens."

"Alright," Mifuyu says. "I'll give you her number."

"Can you send it to Inui too?" I ask.

"Sure," Mifuyu says.

She takes out her phone and fiddles with it for a bit, and then Inui and I both receive a notification. I pull it out and confirm the number, then put it back away. Inui does the same.

"Now then, let's get back to the story," I say.

However, before Mifuyu has a chance to continue talking, Kyouko cuts in with her own account.

Kyouko had a feeling Mami was about to do something crazy, so she decided to follow her just in case. She hopped into the strange tunnel that Maimai had made, tailing Mami from a distance. First, Mami made for one of the rooms near the lounge area on the third floor, bashing down the door and taking out the resulting rumour bears in seconds. Within the room was a painting of a teddy bear with a bouquet of flowers at its feet. Mami strode up to it and took the painting down, forming her ribbons into a knife and slashing through the image. The colours faded away, revealing only a mass of ribbons, and as she cut them, the frame itself also collapsed and crumbled into dust.

Then, Mami headed for the stairs and descended the grand staircase three steps at a time, heading straight for a corridor set between the facing flights of stairs on the first floor. There they found the Crescent Moon Villa girls along with Ashley Taylor and that silver-haired girl, with Felicia about to hammer the floor into oblivion. Mami fired a shot, destroying Felicia's hammer and causing her to lose balance and fall over. After explaining things to them, she repeated the procedure on the painting. This time, it caused a rumour to come out. Mami fought and defeated the rumour and watched while the others descended the staircase that had opened up.

Once she'd watched the others disappear into the dark depths, Mami groaned and collapsed to her knees.

"So this is what happens when you destroy your own magic," she muttered. "How humorous… but I'm glad I made it in time. I'm glad I was able to bury my past."

Kyouko sighed.

"Why're you smirking like that?" she retorted.

Mami gasped. "Miss Sakura…"

"Here ya go," Kyouko said.

She extended her hand, and Mami blinked at the grief seed she was holding.

"A grief seed…?"

"Better than nothing, right?" Kyouko said. "You can sacrifice yourself all ya want, but think about your friends a little, would ya?"

Mami took the grief seed and used it to purify her soul gem.

"Were you worried about me?" she asked.

"I'm not the one who's worrying," Kyouko retorted. "Your friends are. C'mon, let's go. We'll get blown up with the rumour if we don't get outside."

Together, the two of them headed back up to the third floor and used Maimai's tunnel to get back outside.

A minute or so after releasing all the feathers, Mifuyu spoke up.

"I sense something near the chapel!" Mifuyu exclaimed.

"Seems like Miss Yachiyo made it in time!" Momoko said.

"Yes, I'm glad we could tell they made it!" Mifuyu said.

"Now we just need to wait for Miss Mami to come back out," Madoka said.

"But we can still start charging the attack now, for those of us who need to," Mifuyu said. "It should only take a minute or two for them to emerge."

"Alright, shall we then, Miss Mifuyu!?" Momoko said.

"Yes," Mifuyu said. "Everyone, get ready to use all the power you've got!"

While they waited, several of the girls present began to build up power in preparation for an attack. After about a minute, Mami and Kyouko finally emerged from Maimai's tunnel.

"What are you waiting for?" Mami called. "Attack it now!"

Nearly all the magical girls present, even the feathers, unleashed their best attacks upon the building. Only a few abstained from attacking, including Maimai – likely they simply didn't have any attack magic. The attack took out a massive chunk of the building, including the entire front façade, and in response, a massive tree appeared on the lawn before them, filled with the smaller bear head rumours hanging like fruits. The trunk was covered in windows, implying it to be a residence of sorts. There were massive screws through the roots that looked as though they were somehow holding the tree in place.

"This is the rumour!?" Momoko gasped. "I never would've imagined it was like that."

"It's as I expected, but it really looks ghastly, doesn't it?" Mifuyu said.

Mami settled down to rest, a good distance away from the rumour, and Kyouko stayed beside her, just watching for now.

"Okay, it looks like all those little bears are the familiars," Mifuyu said. "Feathers, could I ask you to focus on dealing with the familiars? Just do your best to make sure that no-one else has to deal with them, so we can all focus on the main body."

"Understood," Konoha said.

"We'll do our best!" Fuu said.

"That should be a cinch for me," Ryo said.

"I'll stick with you too!" Ikumi said.

"And me!" Yumi added.

"I'll keep all the feathers healed up as needed," Sue said.

"I'll help with that too," Maria said.

"Alright, then I'll focus on the familiars too," Inui said.

"I'll try to divert any familiars that get away from the other feathers!" Maimai declared.

"I'll keep them at bay," Chiyoko said.

"I'll do my best too," Tomomi said.

The rest of the black feathers – Amu, Mana, Nami, Aoi, Sal, and one or two others – remained silent, but stepped forward, gripping their chains.

"Let's do this!" Mami said.

"You don't gotta tell me twice," Kyouko retorted.

"We'll defeat this thing, and then go destroy Eve and Walpurgisnacht!" Madoka declared.

"For now, let's divide our forces into two teams, plus the support," Mifuyu said. "Myself, Miss Momoko, Miss Rena, and Kaede-chan will be the reserve team. We'll have the girls from Mitakihara take the offensive first. You can arrange yourselves however you see fit. I'll take command. Amane sisters, please build up for a big attack."

"Um, let me join in that attack!" Kaede spoke up. "I want to be useful…"

"If that's okay with you, then I'd be grateful for the assistance," Mifuyu said.

"Understood," Mami said. "Then Kyouko, Yuma-chan, and Miss Miki will get in close to attack the rumour, while Miss Kaname, Nagisa-chan, and myself will attack from the back. Nagisa-chan, please use your explosive bubbles. And Homura-chan, please attack from the back with us, but be ready to use your power if something happens."

So Sayaka, Yuma, and Kyouko got started by charging in and attacking the tree trunk, seeking a weak point. The screws didn't seem to take much damage, but the windows appeared to crack a little even with just a normal attack. Attacking the roots or trunk directly also left shallow scratches, which seemed promising.

Mami, Madoka, Homura, and Nagisa stood back and aimed at the upper reaches, seeking to sever a branch or two. Madoka was using her leaf bow as usual. As with the close-range fighters, the attack dealt only light damage, which was promising in that it showed they were able to damage it, but also a little worrying, since none of the damage seemed more than superficial. Madoka's arrows seemed to be the most effective, but even that wasn't all that substantial.

While the Mitakihara girls were attacking, Mifuyu stood back to observe, and Kaede and the Amane twins retreated behind Mami and the others and began to charge up their magic for a big attack. Momoko and Rena stood by Kaede, connecting with her and sharing their power.

While all this was going on, the rumour itself was not sitting idle. In fact, all those bears hanging from the branches had already swung free and charged at the attackers, but thanks to Maimai's spatial tunnels, they found themselves facing the feathers instead. The ones still wearing robes took the front, fending off the worker bears and attempting to restrict their movements with chain techniques. Sue and Maria stayed at the back of the formation, healing anyone who needed it, and Maria also jumped in every now and to provide a distraction if it looked like the worker bears were about to break through. That left Inui, Chiyoko, and Tomomi to fill in the middle – Inui formed her pink flames into the shape of an arrow, while Chiyoko used her silken lines to snatch one worker bear at a time, dragging them behind the line straight onto Tomomi's pruning shears.

However, the worker bears respawned a bit faster than the feathers were able to take them out, which meant that after a minute or so, Maimai was too overwhelmed to redirect them all away from the main fighting force. As a result, at least five worker bears avoided her tunnels, instead flying straight towards Sayaka and Kyouko. Sayaka squealed in surprise at suddenly finding a bear in her face. Kyouko was more composed, blocking its attack with a chain net and then stabbing it with her spear.

"Sayaka-chan!" Madoka exclaimed.

Sayaka recovered quickly, stabbing the bear in the face, but it was only the start. More worker bears were already descending from the upper branches, and they seemed to have figured out Maimai's tunnels by now and were starting to avoid them. Seeing that, Maimai closed the tunnels and began to open new ones, but that still created an opening for the bears to break through to the primary fighting force. And to make matters even worse, the worker bears weren't all they had to contend with now. A door slid open in the side of the trunk, and several soldier bears popped out. They weren't quite as large as the soldier bear that they'd fought in the lobby, but they still looked like they would pose quite a significant threat.

"Crap!" Sayaka gasped.

But before she could even move to fend off the combined worker and soldier bear attack, she vanished entirely, and a series of explosions broke out amidst the swarm of bears. She reappeared a short distance off to the side, together with Homura.

"Thank you, Homura," Sayaka said

The explosion had destroyed every one of the worker bears and most of the soldier bears as well. Perhaps deciding to err on the side of caution, the remaining soldier bears retreated back inside the trunk, and the entire tree began to sidle backwards.

"The rumour is pulling back!" Mifuyu exclaimed. "Everyone, back off for a moment! Amane sisters, Kaede-chan, now's your chance!"

Kaede raised her staff above her head and shouted her attack.

"Judgement Earth!"

Tsukuyo and Tsukasa also screamed their attack in unison.

"Cherry Blossom Symphonic Storm!"

A whole host of vines sprouting up from the ground seized the rumour, preventing it from retreating any further, and as the twins raised their flutes to their lips, it looked as though a flurry of cherry blossoms was filling the air, but these blossoms were sharp and deadly, slashing at the rumour wherever they touched, destroying the worker bears that spawned like fruit faster than they could grow in. Mixed in with the blossoms were shadowy branches that appeared to stab the rumour from all sides. And to top it all off, Kaede unleashed some sort of massive beam from her staff, tearing through the rumour like a tornado.

As the attack died down, they could see the level of damage dealt – scratches everywhere, all the windows heavily cracked, even the screws looked chipped. The Mitakihara girls immediately resumed their attacks, aiming as much as possible for the most damaged areas. Kaede's vines were still holding it in place so it couldn't move, but it seemed like it was trying to struggle free.

"We stopped it in its tracks!" Tsukasa shouted.

"Miss Mifuyu!" Tsukuyo said.

"I'm on it!" Mifuyu said. "It's time to end this!"

She flung her chakrams with as much force as she could muster at the most damaged-looking section, then followed up with a dose of her illusion magic.

"Assault Paranoia!"

Though the chakrams struck their target just fine, and the tree even shook from some unseen, illusionary assault, somehow it seemed that the tree was less hurt than it had been before the attack. As Mifuyu looked on, panting heavily, many of the deeper scars and larger cracks were already beginning to close up. The only bright side was that it had stopped moving entirely, as if stunned. The Mitakihara girls took advantage of this to continue pressing the attack.

"T-that can't be!" Mifuyu gasped. "I hit it with everything I had! When did I get so weak?"

"Aw, quit talking like an old granny, Miss Mifuyu," Momoko retorted. "You're way stronger than most magical girls."

"If you think you're weak, then that must make me totally worthless!" Kaede said morosely.

"Yeah, this rumour is just ridiculously strong!" Rena said.

"But that attack only stunned it momentarily!" Mifuyu said. "And look how fast it's healing itself! Is there any way to deal it a lethal blow!?"

"Let's keep at it a little bit longer," Momoko said. "You Mitakihara girls! Let us take over for now!"

"You won't last if you keep fighting like that!" Rena said. "Fall back!"

"Yeah, let us help out more!" Kaede said.

"T-thank you so much!" Madoka said.

"I'm not happy about it, but I guess we have no choice here," Sayaka said.

"Yuma needs a break!" Yuma gasped, panting a little.

"Yes, let's take a short rest," Madoka said.

"I agree," Mami said.

"Well, it ain't my style to rest in the middle of combat, but this ain't a normal battle," Kyouko said. "I'll take your offer."

As the Mitakihara girls stepped back and the others stepped forward, the rumour shuddered suddenly, and new worker bears began to spawn in the branches. Mifuyu joined Momoko and the others on the front line, gripping her chakrams tightly.

"Rena, Kaede! Keep your guard up!" Momoko said. "One punch from that thing could really hurt!"

"Okay!" Kaede said.

"You don't need to tell me that!" Rena retorted.

Before moving in to attack, the four of them performed a series of connect skills. Kaede connected with Rena, who connected with Momoko, who connected with Mifuyu. In addition, Tsukuyo stepped forward just long enough to connect with Kaede.

"Alright, let's move closer and attack together!" Momoko said. "It's in a good position now!"

She took a deep breath, then bellowed at the top of her voice.

"Get wrecked!"

The three of them leapt in along with the shout, attacking with their respective weapons. Kaede wielded her staff sort of like a club, bashing it on the windows. Mifuyu leapt in a beat behind the others, attacking the trunk with her chakrams.

"Do we even have enough people?" Momoko gasped.

"Yes, the feathers are here too!" Mifuyu said. "We should be alright!"

In fact, the feathers had managed to destroy all the worker bears so far and were once more keeping them in check.

"But I might have been a little naïve in telling them to only focus on the familiars," Mifuyu said. "Everyone! We must defeat this rumour and drag the Magius out of hiding! If you can spare anyone, please come help out over here!"

Konoha, Nami, and Mana piped up in response.

"Alright!" they said.

As they made for the rumour's main body, Inui, Tomomi, and Chiyoko stepped in to fill the spots they vacated.

"Homura-chan!" Madoka said.

"What is it?" Homura asked.

"Let's hurry up and defeat this rumour, and help Iroha-chan!"

"Well… regardless of the reason, let's destroy it no matter what," Homura said.

"Just be careful with the explosions, you two," Sayaka said. "Homura usually uses her guns so that's mostly fine, but Nagisa-chan, please keep those bubbles away from me, okay?"

"Um… I can't really control them that well," Nagisa said. "All I can do is warn you if one is heading for you…"

Sayaka sighed. "I guess that'll have to do… but anyway, Homura, this time I want you to go all out with the explosions. Nagisa-chan too, don't hold back! Just make sure I don't get caught up in them and everything will be fine!"

"I do have a sizable quantity of grenades," Homura said. "Perhaps if I were to throw them inside the trunk at the moment it opened…"

"Yeah, that's the stuff!" Sayaka agreed.

"This time, let's all attack together!" Mifuyu shouted.

The Mitakihara girls rejoined the fray, attacking the trunk with all the power they could muster. A series of explosions high up in the branches must have been caused by Homura's magic, and they thinned out the worker bears enough that several more feathers were able to step forward and join the primary battle. Then the door slid open once more to let out a pack of soldier bears. This time, the soldier bears attacked with a vengeance, spinning straight at their attackers and sending people flying in all directions. Kyouko managed to hold back two at once using her chain barrier, and Kaede managed to capture two with her vines. Chiyoko stepped forward and trussed one up in a bundle of silk, rendering it immobile, then stepped in close and stabbed repeatedly it until it disintegrated. Momoko and Rena barely managed to dodge the initial attack and fight back, as did Sayaka, but most of the feathers ended up on the ground.

Just a few seconds after the solder bears mounted their attack, there was an explosion from inside the rumour's trunk, and the entire tree shook. Cracks broke out across all the windows on the trunk, and a few shards even came loose and fell down onto the ground.

"Oh!" Maimai shouted. "Look, now's the time to attack!"

She ran over to Yuma, who had been sent flying by the soldier bears, and thrust with her drill, opening a tunnel to just in front of the trunk. Yuma hopped up and charged through the tunnel, smashing the windows to smithereens.

Then Inui and her team ran over to take on the soldier bears, freeing Momoko and the others to follow Yuma's lead. Momoko, Rena, Kaede, Mifuyu, Kyouko, and Sayaka charged in with a yell, while Madoka, Mami, Nagisa, Homura, and the Amane twins fired upon the tree from behind.

"Please work!" Madoka shouted.

There was another explosion from within the tree trunk, causing the entire tree to shake, but the rumour still wasn't ready to give up. Inui and the others had already defeated all the soldier bears, and there hadn't been any worker bears spawning ever since that explosion, so at first glance it might seem that the rumour had no other way to attack, but then the entire trunk twisted, and one of the branches swung down at Madoka with incredible speed and force.

"Madoka!" Homura screamed.

But before she had a chance to act, Mami leapt in with a barrier of ribbons, and the slam attack bounced off with a boing sound.

"Are you alright, Miss Kaname!?" Mami asked.

"Miss Mami… y-yes!" Madoka said.

"Kyouko! When I untie the ribbons, pull the rumour away!" Mami shouted.

"You got it!" Kyouko said. "Kugatachi!"

As Mami dispelled her ribbon barrier, Kyouko inflated her spear and shot it up at the branch, which was already coming back for a second swing. The power behind the attack this time was enough to sever the branch from the rumour entirely, and it disintegrated in midair before it even reached the ground.

"Aaand, Rosso Fantasma!" Kyouko shouted.

Splitting herself into six clones, she leapt in to rejoin the frontline attack on the trunk, stabbing anywhere that was already damaged. Homura let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness… that caught me off guard," she said.

"Thank you very much, Miss Mami, Kyouko-chan!" Madoka said.

"That scared me," Mami said. "I'm so relieved I was fast enough… ouch…"

"Miss Mami, are you hurt!?" Sayaka gasped.

"It's just a scratch," Mami said. "I'll be alright."

"Alright!" Inui shouted suddenly. "Take my ultimate attack! Heart-throbbing Passionate Inferno!"

The rumour was suddenly covered in a vortex of pink flames, spreading from the trunk up through the branches and even causing some parts to ignite with a more conventional orange flame.

"Me too!" Chiyoko shouted. "Venomous Web!"

She leapt into the air and fired a net of silken webbing, studded with what appeared to be instances of her unique weapon, the strange blade consisting of a pair of crossed crescents. The web wrapped around the rumour's trunk, the blades stabbing in deeply, and Chiyoko landed back on the ground, panting. The webs seemed to be flammable as well, so they did nothing to hinder the tree's movement, but if they were intended more as a delivery method for those blades, then the attack would have to be deemed a success.

"That… should help… counter its regeneration," Chiyoko said. "I wish you'd asked me earlier, Miss Mifuyu… I only just realized that was an issue."

"I'm sorry, I wasn't aware you could do that, Chiyoko-chan," Mifuyu said. "Otherwise, I would have brought it up from the beginning."

"But, I definitely told you my abilities were like a spider," Chiyoko said. "That should include venom, right?"

"Ah, perhaps I just didn't make the connection," Mifuyu said. "My apologies."

"Ouch," Kaede moaned.

"Kaede, go rest over there with the feathers!" Rena said.

"But Rena-chan!" Kaede protested.

"Now's not the time to act tough!" Rena shouted. "We still have Walpurgisnacht to fight! You need to stand down before you get seriously hurt!"

"Ergh… sorry!" Kaede said.

She hurried over to where Maria and Sue were already treating some of the injured feathers, and as she left, Rena winced a little.

"Don'tcha think you should rest too, Rena?" Momoko asked.

"I could say the same to you, Momoko," Rena retorted.

"I guess we're all in a similar state," Momoko said. "Miss Mifuyu… how about you?"

"Yes… I'm a little tired too," Mifuyu said.

"Please don't overdo it, Miss Mami!" Madoka said as Mami unleashed a storm of bullets. "Haven't you been hurting ever since you came back?"

"I would never forgive myself if I backed down now," Mami said. "Please, let me fight to the end!"

"Make sure you don't overdo it either, Madoka," Homura said.

"Same to you, Homura-chan," Madoka said. "If anything happens, I'll protect you."

"That should be my line," Homura muttered.

By this time, the only ones still attacking were Sayaka, Kyouko, Yuma, Mami, and Nagisa, and Kyouko's clones had already been eliminated. Momoko and Rena headed over to join the feathers, and Madoka and Homura also seemed to be taking a break. Inui, Chiyoko, and Tomomi were standing off to one side, observing for the time being. The fact that the rumour hadn't spawned any familiars for awhile now was probably a good sign, but it still stubbornly refused to die. Now that they knew it could slam them with their branches, it wasn't too hard to just dodge them.

"Oof," Sayaka said, barely avoiding a branch slamming down right next to her.

"Sayaka, I'm telling ya, you're getting way too in its face," Kyouko complained.

"I don't wanna hear it," Sayaka retorted. "If you don't like it, why don't you protect me with some of those moves of yours?"

"Hey! You can't tell me what to do, dumbass!" Kyouko protested.

"Well, unlike you, I only have a sword!" Sayaka said. "It's not like your spear that has reach, so I gotta get in closer to hit it! Unless I wanna throw the things…"

"We… won't last at this rate," Mifuyu muttered.

Walpurgisnacht was almost here… everyone would still need to fight after this. Even though they had dealt a great deal of damage, Mifuyu could see… the rumour was still healing itself, if very slowly. She wasn't sure if Chiyoko-chan's poison had already worn off, or if it just wasn't as effective as she'd hoped, but… everything they were doing still wasn't enough. That settled it. She had no choice but to use her last resort.

Having received some healing, Momoko and Rena ran back over to attack the rumour's trunk, giving Sayaka and Kyouko a moment to back off for a brief rest. After slashing at it for a bit, Momoko let out a sigh.

"Man, this thing just won't go down unless we have something special up our sleeves!" she said.

Mifuyu stepped forward to join her, gripping a chakram in each hand.

"I may have one of those," she said grimly.

"What!? Whaddaya mean, Miss Mifuyu!?" Momoko asked. "Why didn'tcha say anything earlier?"

Overhearing the conversation, the Amane twins moved over as well. While they chatted, the tree attempted to attack Rena with one of its branches, but Kyouko shielded her with a chain mesh barrier. Sayaka leapt in to slash the trunk in retaliation.

"A secret plan?" Tsukasa said. "No, Miss Mifuyu, surely you don't mean that!?"

"You must not!" Tsukuyo said urgently. "That is forbidden!"

"What are they talking about?" Momoko asked.

"You are planning to put an illusion on yourself, is that not so!?" Tsukuyo asked.

"Yes, I am," Mifuyu said.

"Care to explain?" Momoko asked.

"It doesn't matter if we have tons of magic and the strongest spells," Mifuyu said. "Magical girls can only release so much magic in one attack."

"Yeah, that's true," Momoko agreed.

"If I put an illusion on myself, then I can release every gramme of my magic at once," Mifuyu said. "I'll convince myself that I can use much more magic than I normally can."

"No!" Momoko gasped.

"It is far too dangerous!" Tsukuyo protested.

"If you do that, Miss Mifuyu, your soul gem won't survive!" Tsukasa said.

"I have to try," Mifuyu said.

"Yeah, no way am I cool with this!" Momoko said angrily.

Suddenly the rumour swung one of its branches at them, forcing them to scatter. Momoko almost missed her dodge and took a glancing blow from the branch.

"This isn't up for debate!" Mifuyu shouted. "I can't let all of you die. Please let me take responsibility."

"Don't!" Momoko said.

"Please!" Mifuyu said.

"Don't ask me for permission, Miss Mifuyu!" Momoko said, her voice wavering.

"Then I'll make my own decision," Mifuyu said. "Miss Tsukuyo, Miss Tsukasa!"

"Y-yes!?" the twins gasped in unison.

"When this is over, please retrieve my body and take it to the Coordinator's," Mifuyu said. "Miss Momoko… please keep this a secret from Ya-chan. At least until this is all over…"

With that, she turned and took a few steps back towards the tree, gripping her chakrams tightly.

"Hey, wait!" Momoko shouted. "Don't even think about actually doing this! What the hell am I supposed to tell her!? Dammit, Miss Mifuyu, you idiot!"

Mifuyu closed her eyes for a moment, raising the twin chakrams over her head, and focused on drawing out her power. Essentially, what she was planning amounted to self-hypnosis. Once she was sure she had the feeling correct, she opened her mouth and shouted.

"Assault Paranoia!"

But instead of targeting the rumour, she cast the magic on herself, releasing all her built-in limiters. Charging her weapons with magic power, she leapt forward, startled at how easily she was able to move her body. The rumour swung a branch down at her, but she dodged with ease, then sliced the branch to shreds with just a few quick slashes.

"It's time!" Mifuyu shouted. "We'll go down together, into the sands of darkness!"

Next, she assaulted the trunk, dragging her weapons deep into the bark as she circled the rumour, gouging deeper with every circuit. And then, suddenly, the chakrams buried almost to the handguard, she broke through the rumour's thick defences, and the tree began to shake. Mifuyu came to a stop for a moment, looking up at the rumour, and then, suddenly, it slowly began to tip over. As the rumour of the Mother Bear succumbed to gravity, so too did Mifuyu herself, her body burning up from the overuse of her muscles and magic in such a short time, and then there was a sharp, intense pain somewhere close to her heart, and she lost consciousness.

Silence falls as Mifuyu finishes narrating how the Mother Bear was defeated.

"Sounds like you had quite the tough battle, Mifuyu," Yachiyo says finally.

"Well, I can't deny that," Mifuyu says. "I think it's a miracle that I survived."

"Taking such risks… I can't approve that kind of behaviour," Yachiyo says sternly. "I hope you seal that power away forever."

"I have no intention of using it ever again," Mifuyu says. "But if I need it again someday… then I won't hold back, either."

"Well, I suppose that'll have to do," Yachiyo says.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I actually have some errands to run," Mifuyu says. "Do you mind if I take my leave now?"

"That's fine," I say. "Go do whatever you have to do."

"Thank you very much," Mifuyu says. "The tea was lovely, by the way. Thank you, Miss Tatsuki."

"Oh, uhh, it was nothing, Mifuyu-sempai," Asuka says. "It was just normal tea…"

Mifuyu gets to her feet and makes for the door. As she's about to exit, she pauses and turns back.

"Oh, I forgot to mention," she says. "Miss Iroha, it seems Miss Futaba is anxiously awaiting your return, so if you could wrap this up quickly, I think she would be very happy to see you."

"R-right!" Iroha says. "Okay! Um, but there's still quite a bit more to go over… but I'll get through it as quickly as possible!"

"Then, see you later," Mifuyu says.

"Later!" Tsuruno pipes up.

And then, she's gone. After a moment of silence, I speak up again.

"Well, Miss Togame, would you mind picking up from there?" I ask. "Up until just before you reunited with Miss Nanami and the others, ideally. I want to hear about the aftermath of defeating the Mother Bear."

"Got it," Momoko says.

"Then after that, I suppose it's my turn again?" Yachiyo says.

"Or Miss Tamaki," I say. "And anyone who was with them at the time can feel free to chime in too."

"Alright," Iroha says. "Let's hurry up and finish this!"

While Mifuyu launched into her final attack, Momoko drew back as a spectator, joining the crowd. Maria stepped forward to offer healing, but all Momoko could do was nod dumbly.

"It's just about over now," Inui said. "Maimai, can you open a tunnel to the Coordinator's?"

"Yes, I can!" Maimai said. "Even though I never got a tune-up from her, I was at least shown where it is!"

"Perfect," Inui said. "Maria-chan, Chiyo-tan, Sue-chan, Tomo-chan! Please go to the Coordinator's now! When Walpurgisnacht arrives, you can help out!"

"You got it!" Sue said.

Maimai opened a tunnel, and the four of them hopped through it.

"And anyone else who wants to head back, please do so!" Inui shouted.

"Yeah, I think that would be best!" Ryo said. "Come on, let's head go to the Coordinator's!"

She, Ikumi, and Yumi also stepped into Maimai's tunnel, and most of the other feathers followed suit. The white feathers Fuu and Konoha stepped through, as well as all the robed black feathers except Yukika, who the Amane twins had snagged and dragged off to the side for a different discussion.

"So, what is it you require of me?" Yukika asked.

"Well, I was thinking, we need someone to take command of the feathers at the heliport," Tsukuyo said.

"Right, even though Miss Mifuyu spread her message, I'm sure they're still not quite sure where they need to go," Tsukasa said.

"Um, well… you do have a point," Yukika said. "But what does that have to do with me?"

"Of all the feathers, you are the one we can trust the most," Tsukuyo said.

"We've got to carry Miss Mifuyu to the Coordinator's," Tsukasa explained. "And once there, there will probably be other things we need to take care of. So we can't do it ourselves, which is why we thought you were the next best choice."

"But… are you sure I can do this?" Yukika asked.

"Were you not commanding them earlier?" Tsukuyo pointed out.

"Well, not really," Yukika said. "I mean, I was shouting instructions, and some of them listened, but the white feathers were still doing most of the work there… and anyway, I'm a black feather. Even if I show up and say I'm in command, why would they listen to me?"

"I have just the solution for that," Tsukuyo said. "I will allow you to borrow my robe."

Yukika blinked. "Are… are you sure!?"

"These robes no longer carry any meaning for us," Tsukuyo said. "So, it does not matter even if I give it to you. Please, accept the robe and go take command of the other feathers."

"A-alright, I will," Yukika said.

Tsukuyo summoned her robe and removed it and, handing it over to Yukika, who banished the black feather robe, then donned the white feather robe.

"Alright, then get ready to go as soon as the barrier falls," Tsukasa said. "You can use one of Maimai's tunnels to return straight to the helipad, Miss Nanase."

"Understood," Yukika said.

Having overheard the conversation, Maimai obligingly opened a new tunnel leading to the helipad, so Yukika hopped up and entered it. It closed up behind her. With that, the only ones left to watch Mifuyu fight were Momoko, Kaede, Rena, Inui, Maimai, the Amane twins, and the girls of Mitakihara. Before long, Mifuyu landed the finishing blow on the rumour.

As the massive Mother Bear tree began to fall over, so too did Mifuyu herself. Momoko and the Amane twins broke into a run, aiming to catch her before she hit the ground, and they got there just in time. Seconds later, the rumour itself struck the ground, the impact apparently causing it to disintegrate into a pile of dust. Then the barrier itself began to shake, tremors spreading out from the point of impact, making it very hard to concentrate.

The twins grabbed Mifuyu's body between them, then turned and charged through Maimai's first tunnel, which had been left open but now closed up behind them. And then, Fendt Hope's barrier collapsed, dumping everyone unceremoniously out into reality, in the middle of a torrential downpour. The collapse of the barrier shoved everyone together, so that suddenly Momoko found herself back in the midst of Maimai and the Mitakihara girls. For several long seconds, there was nothing to be heard but the sound of rain pattering down all around them. Then Kaede finally broke the noisy silence.

"Is everyone okay?" she called.

"It looks like Mifuyu destroyed it," Touka said.

"Mifuyu may have destroyed herself as well," Nemu said.

"She threw away that beautiful body of hers?" Alina said. "What a loss for humanity. But, thanks to her, we're now on our last spurt."

"Is the labyrinth breaking!?" Tsuruno gasped.

"Everyone hold onto each other!" Yachiyo said.

"Okay!" Iroha said.

The Crescent Moon Villa team grabbed onto each other, while Ashley summoned her floating teddy bear and hopped on, avoiding the tremors by taking to the air. As for Kanagi, she simply braced herself, spacing her feet further apart for a more stable stance. The tremors lasted for a few minutes, and as they finally began to die down, the garden around them faded away as Fendt Hope's barrier collapsed. They were dumped unceremoniously out into reality, in the middle of a torrential downpour.

Iroha gasped at the sudden change of scenery.

"Are we back in the forest?" she asked.

"It appears that the labyrinth was destroyed," Yachiyo said.

"What's with all this wind and rain?" Felicia asked.

"The most terrible of disasters, that thing the Magius summoned, is getting closer," Tsuruno said.

"When Walpurgisnacht leaves her labyrinth to manifest in the real world, she is always surrounded by stormy weather," Ashley said. "This must be the edge of her storm now. She's likely already made landfall herself, too, or is just about to."

"Is everyone okay?" Kaede's voice floated up through the rain.

A moment later, Kaede and the others became visible through the downpour.

"Miss Kaede, I'm glad you're alright!" Sana said.

"It's good to see you guys, too," Momoko said.

"Ashley, I'm really glad you're okay!" Inui said.

"Momoko, where's Mifuyu?" Yachiyo asked.

"Oh," Momoko said.

"Yeah, where's the lady in white?" Felicia asked.

"Um, she got hurt a bit destroying Fendt Hope," Momoko said.

"Will she be okay?" Yachiyo asked.

"The flute sisters took her to the Coordinator's," Momoko said. "I'm sure she'll be alright. I mean, she used to be your closest partner, Miss Yachiyo. She won't kick the the bucket that easily."

"That's true," Yachiyo said. "She did promise that we would see each other again."

"Uh, wait a second," Rena said suddenly. "What on earth is that thing back there?"

She pointed at Eve, now looming high above the landscape – far, far taller than the trees, a literal kaiju, big enough to hug a skyscraper. Touka giggled.

"Touka-chan… Nemu-chan…" Iroha said.

"We did it!" Touka crowed. "Thanks to your efforts, Eve has been freed from that stuffy old chapel!"

"At last, the hope we have been raising stands upon the land," Nemu said.

"Our beautiful, wonderful, best artwork is finally complete!" Alina said, panting a little. "Finally, at last!"

"That's… Eve?" Rena said. "You can't even compare it to an ordinary witch…"

"Frankly… at this point it's even larger than Walpurgisnacht," Ashley said. "About two to three times the size, I'd say… maybe even more…"

"And what did she mean by 'thanks to your efforts'?" Kaede asked.

"The Magius were planning to bring Eve outside from the start," Iroha explained. "They want Eve to devour Walpurgisnacht to become a complete witch."

"A complete witch?" Momoko said.

"Right now, according to Touka-chan, it's still a half witch," Iroha said. "It will become a full witch when it hatches. Although, Miss Taylor has a different theory…"

"So that's not a witch yet?" Momoko said. "They brought it outside to hatch? Dammit! That's it!"

She raised her sword, probably intending to leap at Eve, but suddenly the earth shook again. It looked like Eve was struggling and attempting to break free of her restraints.

"What!?" Momoko gasped.

"Eve's been made aware of Walpurgisnacht," Nemu said. "You can kick and scream, but there's no turning back now. You should accept this reality."

Nemu giggled.

"And um… what's Miss Taylor's alternate theory?" Rena asked.

"My theory is that it's a combination of Ui's doppel and one of Nemu's rumours that she doesn't even remember creating," Ashley said. "If I'm right, even if it left Kamihama, it would never hatch into a full witch. Still, in the end, a doppel is just as dangerous as a witch if allowed to go out of control…"

"Then that's really not much better!" Rena said.

"Huh? Ui… isn't that Iroha's little sister?" Momoko said.

"That's right," Ashley said. "Ui's body and the scaffolding of her soul gem are inside that thing. If you don't believe me, the branch that Sana received from the Eternal Sakura should be able to prove it."

"Right, I need to prove it," Iroha said. "I only have your word that the photo you sent came from Eve… so I need additional proof."

"Hey, Alina, can you free it now?" Touka asked. "Eve really wants to eat up Walpurgisnacht!"

Alina giggled. "Okay! I, Alina, have been waiting for this moment for so long! After all that, your new leader didn't have anything interesting to say… although, Miss Taylor does have some pretty amusing delusions of her own. But now, we just need to make our final dash to the end."

She raised her arms above her head.

"Come, Eve!" she shouted. "Make our dreams come true!"

But before she could actually do something, Felicia leapt at her from behind with her hammer. Alina seemed to sense her approach and dodged, twisting to see her attacker.

"Ugh… who dares to try and stop me?" Alina complained.

"I'm gonna stop you, dumbass!" Felicia shouted.

"I knew it… the infuriating blondie!" Alina said. "You're just begging to be burned to ash and made into black paint!"

"Like I care!" Felicia shouted. "Now's not the time to act all scared!"

"She's right," Iroha said. "We need to do something. Everyone, let's help Felicia-chan fight!"

"Yes, we must defeat Eve while it's still unable to move!" Yachiyo said.

"I really hope you can, but I'm not too confident," Ashley said.

But as they attempted to approach Eve, a wall of familiars popped up, the penguin-like ones Ashley had mentioned earlier as belonging to Eve.

"Familiars!?" Iroha gasped. "They're blocking the way!"

Nemu giggled. "Eve has a lot of energy, thanks to all the impurities we gathered."

"We'll have her release that energy once she gets to the city," Touka said.

"Shall we go ahead and free Eve ourselves?" Nemu suggested.

"Yeah!" Touka said.

They chanted in unison.

"One… two… "

"Crap!" Momoko said. "Don't let them free Eve!"

"I-if Eve gets to the city… everything is going to get destroyed," Kaede said.

"Not everything," Ashley mused. "But even so… the city won't escape unscathed…"

"That's why we've been saying we're going to stop it, Kaede," Rena said. "We're not just gonna stop Eve! We're gonna stop these little brats too."

Rena smacked Nemu on the head with the butt of her trident, and Kaede slammed her staff down on Touka's hands, interrupting whatever they had been about to do.

"Oh come on, this is our moment," Touka complained.

"We knew they were going to do everything they can to stop us," Nemu said.

"If we don't stop them here, we won't be able to defend the city!" Tsuruno declared. "We gotta do what we set out to do! Okay, Iroha-chan and Sana! I'm the mightiest so leave this to me. You two go and defeat Eve!"

"Thank you, Tsuruno-chan!" Iroha said.

"But… the familiars!" Sana protested.

"We'll fend them off!" Mami said.

"Yeah, you guys go kick that thing's ass!" Kyouko said.

"Miss Tomoe! Miss Sakura!" Yachiyo gasped.

"Go on, Iroha-chan!" Madoka said. "We can't let them release that witch on the city!"

"That's right!" Sayaka said. "Leave these ones to us! You can count on me!"

"Hmm," Ashley said. "Well, go for it, I guess. We probably can't defeat Eve here, but it can't hurt to try."

"You don't need to be so pessimistic, Ashley," Inui said.

"Thank you, Madoka-chan, Sayaka-chan!" Iroha said. "Let's go, Sana-chan!"

"Okay!" Sana said.

Though the familiars still attempted to stop Iroha's approach, the girls from Mitakihara leapt in and opened a path to let the two of them through. Ashley decided to jump in as well, which meant that Inui also joined in.

"We must hold them off here," Mami said. "I won't let the feelings of those who risked their lives go to waste!"

"Goddamit!" Kyouko said. "These kids are all way too soft!"

"Let's at least thin out the ranks of these familiars," Ashley said. "Hopefully it'll make things a little easier once Walpurgisnacht actually arrives."

Homura simply stood in shock, staring up at Eve.

"They're coming, Homura-chan!" Madoka shouted. "We can't let a single one through!"

That shook Homura out of her trance, and she nodded.

"Right!" she said. "I'll protect you, Madoka! We need to stop Eve from being freed!"

"And I'll protect you, Homura-chan!" Madoka replied.

"You can try to stop us, but it's just a matter of time," Touka said.

"They only have two girls to fight Eve," Nemu said. "They've broken the record for stupidity."

"They're making me super angry getting in our way like this," Alina said. "I will make them pay with their lives for bothering us."

"Miss Iroha!" Sana exclaimed.

The two of them had finally made it past the wall of familiars.

"Let's hurry, while Miss Yachiyo and the others are fighting!" Sana continued.

"Okay!" Iroha said. "Eve… give us back the energy you got by causing so many to suffer! And give me back my little sister, Ui! I swear, we'll protect this city that brought us all together! This city that we all love! Please… let this attack work!"

She charged up her ultimate attack, aiming it at the gemstone that Ashley had pointed out earlier, and let loose. However, she was a moment too late. Eve tore herself free of her bindings and leaned over, the attack bombarding the top of her head instead of the gemstone, and in a single swipe she snatched Iroha up in one paw and brought her up to head level.

"Ow," Iroha said.

But she could now see the gemstone up close. She could see, barely visible beneath it, the form of a human body. Although she wasn't quite close enough to verify it as Ui, she had the photo on her phone to confirm that much.

"Eve," Iroha said.

She expected the creature to toss her into its mouth, but it just held onto her, staring at her.

"It's… not doing anything," Iroha muttered. "It didn't grab me to kill me…? It's… looking at me? Is… is Ui actually… in control…?"

"Miss Irohaaaaa!" Sana shouted.

One of Sana's chains looped around the claw restraining Iroha, and she used it to yank herself up. As Sana smashed her shield into its paw, there was suddenly a pink flash, causing Eve to loosen its hold and release Iroha, and then Sana caught her as they both tumbled back to the ground.

"Oof! Ow," Iroha said.

"Ugh," Sana said. "Miss Iroha, are you alright!?"

"Y-yeah, thank you, Sana-chan," Iroha said.

"I'm glad you're okay," Sana said. "That was a really bright light… thanks to that, we got away."

"Huh?" Iroha said. "That wasn't you, Sana-chan?"

"I-I attacked it, but that light wasn't me," Sana said.

"Am I feeling the same magic as the Rumour of the Eternal Sakura?" Iroha asked. "Sana-chan! The branch!"

"Oh," Sana said. "Yes, that might be it!"

She took out the branch that the Eternal Sakura had given to her and gasped upon realizing that it was in full bloom.

"The Rumour of the Eternal Sakura told me to take it!" Sana said.

"That's the Eternal Sakura's…" Iroha said.

"Yes, it's a branch," Sana said. "But it wasn't blossoming when I got it."

"It isn't supposed to bloom until all four of us are together," Iroha said. "So that settles it… that's definitely Ui in there. And Eve is looking this way again… it's still a little hard to grasp, but… there's no other explanation… it blossomed when I touched Eve… so… Eve really is Ui…"

"But that's not entirely true," Ashley said, appearing next to them. "Part of Ui is missing… so I don't think you can say Ui is in control. She's missing her emotions. That's the only reason why she hasn't turned into a witch yet."

"B-but even so… Ui is right here in front of me," Iroha said. "What… w-what do I do now!?"

Magical Girl Corner

Whenever a new magical girl is introduced, I'll include a brief profile of her here. Some details may be redacted, or contain minor spoilers. You have been warned! The numeric ranking values are on a scale of 1 to 10.

Mangetsu Muzuki (Myu)
満月夢月（みゅ）

Age: 17
Eye Colour: Amber
Hair Colour: Silver
Origins: Matsue, Shimane Prefecture, Japan
Symbol: Purple M
Soul Gem: Purple triangular gemstone on her belt
Element: Darkness
Weapon: Quarterstaff
Powers: Blend into shadows, shadow movement
Wish: "I want to escape from the duty of being the heir in this suffocating family."
Affiliation: Wings of the Magius (rank: White Feather)

Speed: 4
Magical Stamina: 6
Offensive Power: 3
Defensive Power: 8
Initial Power Usability: 4
Learned Powers: 2

Shingetsu Uzuki (Majime)
新月卯月（真面目）

Age: 17
Eye Colour: Amber
Hair Colour: Green
Origins: Matsue, Shimane Prefecture, Japan
Symbol: Pink rabbit head
Soul Gem: Green crescent-shaped gemstone on her forehead
Element: Light
Weapon: Crescent sickle
Powers: Light manipulation, truth-telling
Wish: "I want the power to discern the truth."
Affiliation: Wings of the Magius (rank: White Feather)

Speed: 6
Magical Stamina: 6
Offensive Power: 4
Defensive Power: 3
Initial Power Usability: 3
Learned Powers: 2

Kenshin Masako (Hime)
謙信雅子（ひめ）

Age: 14
Eye Colour: Blue
Hair Colour: Blonde
Origins: Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan
Symbol: Red three-pointed crown
Soul Gem: Red diamond-shaped gemstone at her chest
Element: Fire
Weapon: Sceptre
Powers: Dazzle, charm, fire manipulation
Wish: "Please prevent Dad from going bankrupt!"
Affiliation: Wings of the Magius (rank: White Feather)

Speed: 6
Magical Stamina: 6
Offensive Power: 8
Defensive Power: 2
Initial Power Usability: 7
Learned Powers: 0 (unknown)

Hino Maya
日野舞夜

Age: 15
Eye Colour: Grey
Hair Colour: Green
Origins: Daito Ward, Kamihama, Shinriku Prefecture, Japan
Symbol: Blue peace sign
Soul Gem: Circular blue gemstone on her hat
Element: Water
Weapon: Sap
Powers: Suggestion, sleep
Wish: "I want to restore the peace in my family!"
Affiliation: Wings of the Magius (rank: Black Feather)

Speed: 7
Magical Stamina: 9
Offensive Power: 1
Defensive Power: 4
Initial Power Usability: 2
Learned Powers: 3

Akiyama Ran (Hana)
秋山蘭（はな）

Age: 15
Eye Colour: Brown
Hair Colour: Brown
Origins: Kanitomi, Shinriku Prefecture, Japan
Symbol: Yellow five-petalled florette
Soul Gem: Orange square gemstone on her right hip
Element: Forest
Weapon: Twin daggers
Powers: Zone of silence
Wish: "I wish those people would just stop talking for good."
Affiliation: Wings of the Magius (rank: Black Feather)

Speed: 7
Magical Stamina: 6
Offensive Power: 3
Defensive Power: 4
Initial Power Usability: 3
Learned Powers: 1

Yuzuki Hotori (Tori)
柚希ほとり（とり）

Age: 13
Eye Colour: Blue
Hair Colour: Blonde
Origins: Hokuyo Ward, Kamihama, Shinriku Prefecture, Japan
Symbol: Yellow five-pointed star
Soul Gem: Yellow pentagram-shaped gemstone on her belt
Element: Light
Weapon: None
Powers: Intimidation, morale boost, analysis, energy beam
Wish: "I want to be a hero strong enough to protect Rion!"
Affiliation: Wings of the Magius (rank: Black Feather)

Speed: 4
Magical Stamina: 5
Offensive Power: 6
Defensive Power: 7
Initial Power Usability: 8
Learned Powers: 0 (unknown)

Doppel Corner

Whenever a new magical girl unleashes her doppel, I'll include a doppel description here. Note that most of these are direct quotes from the Magia Record game rather than being written by me; they are simply reproduced here for interest. I'll mark any original doppels with a dagger symbol (†).

Pennen Nolde (Satomi Touka)

The Doppel of daydreaming. Its form is a match seller. The master of this emotion desires more power even after becoming a Magical Girl, in order to achieve more wishes. This Doppel divides its master's lifespan up into matches, and grants a "What if" wish whenever a match is lit. When the Doppel runs out of matches, the master's life is over. It is very powerful, but similar to the Doppel of Dying Wishes, it mustn't be abused, for it sacrifices one's own lifespan.

Pennen Nenemu (Hiiragi Nemu)

The Doppel of dying wishes. Its form is a deathwatch beetle. The master of this emotion will sacrifice everything she has. This terrifying Doppel uses both of its bug-headed hands to devour the stories of the world. It can then use its ridiculous power to materialize these stories into the real world. It is said its power comes from its weakening master, and that as she gets weaker, the Doppel get stronger. However since it uses all of its power to materialize the stories it eats it doesn't pack a physical punch, some even believe it wouldn't stand a chance against a direct hit from a Witch.

There's still quite a few things going on all at once, so this chapter is once again leaping back and forth all over the place. We have the magical girls working things out at the Coordinator's, the discussion with the Magius, Mami speaking with the other feathers, and finally the climactic battle on the grounds of Fendt Hope. Things are still steadily approaching the end-game of this timeline, however.

We have another set batch of original named feathers in this chapter, too, but there are also some canon named feathers mixed in. There are five original feathers and five canon feathers in Mami's scene. In the Fendt Hope battle scene, the original named feathers from the previous chapter also reappear. I worked out profiles and some backstory bits about each of them, but as to what role they will play going forward, that's yet to be decided.

Someone noticed that I mistakenly inserted Momoko's trio into a scene where she's not present in the previous chapter, so I've corrected that. I also forgot to add the affiliation lines to the profiles in the last chapter, so I've corrected that too.

At this point I think I can reach chapter 86 by the end of the year, if not 87. Look forward to two, maybe even three more updates this week.