Have you heard? Has anyone told you?
The Rumour of the Fur God.
When you're feeling sad,
and your heart is frozen solid,
the Fur God will come to you.
No matter how depressed you are,
no matter how hopeless things seem,
she will warm your frozen heart.
Oh, but be careful!
There is a small fee.
When your heart is thawed,
and the Fur God goes on her way,
she will claim some of your life.
Ahh, but it's so worth it!

Iroha and Sana sat on the sodden ground, with Ashley standing next to them, gazing up at the gargantuan form of Eve looming above. Inui was there too, standing a few steps away and occasionally smacking one of the penguin familiars with her wand.

"I almost can't believe it," Iroha said. "Everything Miss Taylor said about you… it really is… true? I searched so hard, and you're…"

"Miss Iroha!" Sana said.

"Sana-chan!" Iroha said. "Eve… Eve is Ui! What should I do!? She has to be… the Eternal Sakura bloomed."

Iroha had always thought that if she reunited with Ui, her sister would be just like she remembered. But instead, she was…

"Why did it have to be like this?" Iroha said.

Ashley sighed and turned to head back to the fighting. While Iroha lamented at this revelation, the others were doing their best to hold the Magius away so they wouldn't be able to free Eve from her restraints. Alina giggled as Tsuruno and Felicia gasped for breath.

"Oh, to see you like this, breathless and exhausted, as the calamity draws near," Alina said, giggling again. "Blondie! Your life, right now… is the most brilliant it's ever been!"

"Huh!?" Felicia said. "Can you speak in the right language for once? I never know what the hell you're saying."

"And I can't stand you giggling away while my friends are suffering!" Tsuruno said.

"Hmph," Alina said. "I, Alina, am also irritated with what you're doing. I wish to visit Eve, yet you two are standing in my path."

"Of course we are!" Tsuruno said. "It's bad news for everyone if someone breaks Eve out!"

"Yeah!" Felicia said. "And there's no way we're letting you anywhere near Walpurgisnacht!"

Nearby, Nemu opened her book, and the ghost of a rumour leapt out, the strange creature from the Séance Shrine. It charged at Kaede and Rena, striking a glancing blow, then faded away.

"Ohhh gosh, R-r-rena-chaaan…" Kaede moaned. "That was… a rumour, wasn't it? It faded away in seconds, but… it just jumped out of her book!"

"Of course that's what it was!" Rena said. "Come on, you're not blind or anything!"

"W-well, yeah, but still!" Kaede said.

"I knew she could make rumours, but I didn't know she could summon them, too," Rena said.

"I need only craft a rumour once for it to be recorded in the pages of my tome," Nemu said. "With the foundations of it written down, I barely need to use any magic to reform it. I do not especially need the rumours to be permanent when using them to attack. This allows me to avoid carving off more of my life, and fight while conserving magic."

"That's so unfair!" Rena protested. "We can't get anywhere near her with those horrible little pets of hers."

"But we've got to stop her somehow!" Kaede said.

"I welcome your best efforts, provided we can end this quickly," Nemu said. "I have no time to waste, much less play trivial games with you."

Nearby, Momoko, Yachiyo, and Kanagi were breathing heavily while facing down Touka.

"Wait, you guys are already tired?" Touka said. "You need to get those endorphins pumping to keep fighting!"

"She's got so much magic we can't even get close to her," Momoko said.

"Yes, I hate to admit it, but this will take more than just the three of us," Kanagi said.

"You're not going to save magical girls with a mass of impurities like that," Yachiyo said. "When Eve comes down from the mountain it will trample Kamihama into dust. And when it clashes with Walpurgisnacht, we'll be that much closer to annihilation."

"That annihilation will serve a purpose," Touka said. "It will stimulate people's emotions, and from those emotions, energy will be born, energy that will help Eve hatch. What does that leave, when it's all over? Not destruction! Hope!"

"Frail hope, that can crumble to dust in seconds!" Yachiyo said. "Even if you do indeed change our fates, and all of our burdens disappear… sooner or later people will realize the price that was paid to achieve that. Then the hope those girls clung to will become a hideous guilt-ridden power, one that will eat away at their souls. Do you think the magical girls who are working as feathers can withstand that?"

"We'll be living in a world where no-one can turn into a witch, so why worry about it?" Touka said.

"So you're going to have them suffer with those consequences for all time!?" Yachiyo asked.

"Only the feathers will have to suffer," Touka said. "It's got nothing to do with all the magical girls who know nothing about it. And it doesn't change the fact that future magical girls will be saved."

"You…!" Yachiyo said.

"There, are we good now?" Touka asked. "Whine whine whine all you want, it's not gonna change anything! This plan is going to succeed. We've already made sure of that!"

As Touka began charging up energy, a floating teddy bear descended from above, coming from the direction of Eve. Ashley and Inui were perched upon it.

"Nanami!" Kanagi said. "She's going to attack again! Stop trying to change her mind!"

"Anyway, I'm off to go break the chains holding back Eve," Touka said.

"Wait!" Yachiyo said.

"Big baaaaang!" Touka shouted.

The blast of energy knocked Momoko, Yachiyo, and Kanagi to the ground, allowing Touka to easily leap over them and head towards the girls from Mitakihara, who were still fighting Eve's familiars. However, that was when Ashley and Inui leapt off the floating teddy bear, attacking Touka and pushing her back again.

"Ugh, you again!?" Touka exclaimed. "I've had enough of this!"

"Miss Nanami!" Mami called.

A bit further away, the girls fighting the familiars began to notice how things were going behind them.

"Mami-nee, it's not looking good over there!" Nagisa said.

"Should Yuma go back and fix them up?" Yuma asked.

"We haven't even had a minute to rest, but the Magius have hardly used any magic," Mami said.

Another of Eve's familiars hopped towards them.

"Great, here comes another one!" Sayaka said. "Can you quit bombarding us for one second!? I swear!"

She took it down with a single slash of her sword.

"Can we find a way to open a path to everyone else so we can help them?" Madoka wondered.

"That ain't a bad idea," Kyouko said. "Iroha and Sana are already off on their way to Eve. We don't have time to be clowning around with these damn familiars!"

"Alright, let's wipe them out and go help the others!" Sayaka said.

"Indeed, let's!" Mami said. "I'll blow a hole in the wall of familiars!"

Closer to Eve, Iroha finally started to come to terms with what she had just learned.

"I have to… beat Eve," Iroha said. "But… can I really do this?"

"Miss Iroha…" Sana said. "Listen, it's okay."

"Sana-chan?"

"The Magius said she was an 'incomplete specimen', so she isn't a witch," Sana said. "Plus, there's Miss Ashley's theory? If that's really Ui-chan, there could be a way to bring her back!"

"You're right," Iroha said. "Just because Eve is Ui, it doesn't mean that all hope is lost…"

Suddenly the earth shook as Eve began to move, struggling against her restraints, and Iroha gasped.

"Eve is starting to struggle!" she said.

"Miss Iroha!" Sana said. "I sense a witch to the south… but I still can't see it!"

"Walpurgisnacht is getting closer and closer," Iroha said. "Eve must be reacting to it…"

If they didn't stop the Magius, there was a chance that Ui would become a witch, gathering impurities forever and spreading curses around the world.

"And Kamihama will be her first target," Iroha muttered.

"We can't let them free Eve!" Sana said. "We need to stop them somehow!"

"But… is it safe to attack it directly?" Iroha wondered. "Will we hurt Ui by doing that?"

Sana squealed as Eve began to flap her wings.

"Wait… Eve's taking flight!?" Iroha gasped.

The two of them screamed as the intense wind from Eve's wings knocked them off their feet. It seemed the restraints were no longer able to hold the creature in check – they heard the sound of chains rattling and snapping as Eve broke free of her restraints on her own. The wind just from flapping her wings sent everyone flying, magical girls and familiars alike.

Felicia picked herself up as the intense wind died off, coughing and spluttering.

"Crap, that really hurt!" she said. "What the hell was that big blast of wind!?"

"I don't think it was the weather…?" Tsuruno said.

"In any case, there is a silver lining," Momoko said. "We put some distance between us and the Magius."

"So it seems," Yachiyo said. "Let's make use of this opportunity and meet up with Iroha, then defeat Eve."

"Unfortunately, I don't think we have enough magical girls here to even scratch Eve," Ashley said. "Even though we do have Madoka, whose light magic should be able to counter Shitori Egumo's dark magic… we can't rely on her too much. We probably won't be able to defeat Walpurgisnacht without her, after all."

"Shitori Egumo…?" Yachiyo said.

"Sorry… I mean Eve," Ashley said. "Just another name for her."

Yuma ran up to them, followed by Homura and Madoka. A little further behind, approaching more slowly, were the rest of the Mitakihara girls.

"Um, is everyone okay!?" Yuma asked.

Without waiting for an answer, she went around slamming her hammer down to heal anyone who needed it.

"Miss Akemi… Miss Kaname… Yuma-chan," Yachiyo said. "Did you take care of the familiars over there already?"

"No, I wouldn't say we took care of them," Homura stated. "The wind blasted them all away."

"So basically, they got away," Madoka said. "Maybe I should've used Pluvia Magica…"

"You can't," Homura said. "That needs to be saved for a last resort."

"Well, thanks all the same," Yachiyo said. "Having you with us has been a great help. We were just about to head for Eve and destroy it."

"Miss Homura, I don't suppose you'd have a nuke on you…?" Ashley asked.

"No… how on earth would I get one of those?" Homura retorted.

"Yeah, of course you wouldn't," Ashley said. "There probably aren't any in the whole of Japan to begin with… then what about surface-to-air missiles? No, wait, that's probably better saved for the witch that actually flies…"

"I don't have any of those, anyway," Homura said. "I thought I'd have another day or two to obtain it, so I don't have any kind of artillery at all right now. The strongest thing I have… probably a rocket launcher?"

"I'm not sure if Shitori Egumo has physical resistance like Walpurgisnacht," Ashley mused. "But even if she does, enchanting the weapons before firing should be sufficient to get around it… still, I'm not sure a rocket launcher would be enough. We probably need more people…"

"Which means we could really use your assistance," Yachiyo said.

Suddenly Rena gasped. "H-hey, wait a second! This isn't the time to be discussing that!"

"W-what!?" Kaede gasped. "Why are you yelling at her like that, Rena-chan?"

But then Kaede followed Rena's gaze and also gasped. Not only had Eve broken free of its restraints, it also appeared to have lost its balance and was starting to topple.

"L-l-look everyone!" Kaede said. "Eve is…!"

"See!?" Rena said. "What'd I tell you!?"

"S-s-she's falling over!" Kaede said.

"Did it break free!?" Yachiyo gasped.

"Yes, I think that's what that wind was," Ashley said.

"Everyone, defensive positions!" Kanagi shouted. "The impact is going to blast us like it did before!"

It felt like it took forever for her to topple, but after a seeming eternity she finally completed her fall. The ground shook, throwing up mud, stones, and broken trees. The sound of rumbling also continued moving away, suggesting the fall had triggered a landslide.

"Ugh!" Kanagi said. "Feels like a building collapsing…"

"Eve certainly is as big as a building," Ashley said. "Maybe even bigger…"

"Iroha… Miss Futaba," Yachiyo said.

"Does this mean the two of them couldn't stop her?" Madoka asked.

"They actually didn't even try," Ashley said. "Though, even if they had, I doubt they would've done much damage…"

The downed witch started to twitch a little, apparently trying to move again. It even seemed to have some limited success, sliding forward a little. Bit by bit its twitching was starting to become more intense, more like thrashing, and with each attempt to move, it threw up more mud and debris.

"Wagh!" Kyouko said. "Ugh, dammit! That thing's rampaging out of control!"

"Is it heading for Walpurgisnacht?" Mami wondered. "And therefore… Kamihama?"

"If it gets all the way down the mountain, Kamihama will get drowned in curses!" Kaede said.

"Miss Yachiyo!" Momoko said. "We better get going and beat it!"

"Naturally," Yachiyo said. "I have no intention of allowing it to do that. Let's get closer to it!"

They hurried towards Eve, approaching the head, and before long found themselves standing almost right in front of it.

"I knew it was big," Yachiyo said, gazing up at the eyes. "But it's another thing entirely to see it up close…"

"Ugh… what do we do now, Yachiyo!?" Tsuruno asked. "We need to time our attacks really well when it's rampaging like this or we're toast!"

"I agree," Yachiyo said. "Our enemy is a witch that could bring about a stream of landslides, just by falling…"

At that moment, Nemu stepped out of the driving rain, followed by Touka and Alina.

"And the witch that brought this storm here is Walpurgisnacht," Nemu said. "In other words, we have the ultimate witches of earth and sky right here in Kamihama."

She chuckled.

"You…" Yachiyo said.

Eve stopped struggling to move, presumably taking some time to rest.

"Do you guys get it now?" Touka said. "It doesn't matter how badly you want to stop Eve from feasting. Toooooo baaaaaaad!"

"You struggled against us," Alina said. "What makes you think you could delete Eve? You may as well just walk right into Eve's mouth!"

"Still, if you want to beat it so badly, you're free to fight it as much as you like," Touka said. "We'll just watch from the sidelines. We won't get in your way, promise!"

She giggled.

"If you're gonna go that far, we'll just beat it!" Tsuruno said. "Eve's lying quiet for now, so this is the perfect time to strike!"

"Besides, it looks like it can't move right now even if it started flailing about," Momoko said.

"Let's bash its brains out right now!" Felicia said. "We won't get another chance like this!"

"Yes, I'm looking forward to making these little brats cry," Kanagi said.

"You'll regret sitting on your laurels because you underestimated us," Yachiyo said.

"Do it if you can," Touka taunted.

"Let's do this!" Yachiyo said.

But then Iroha finally caught up to them.

"Please, stop!" she called.

"What…?" Yachiyo said.

"Miss Yachiyo… everyone… please, don't kill Eve!" she said. "Not yet, at least…"

"Hear us out!" Sana said.

"Iroha? Miss Futaba?" Yachiyo said. "I'm glad you're okay, but…"

"Yes, what's the meaning of this?" Kanagi asked. "You don't want us to harm Eve?"

"We definitely didn't mishear them, that's for sure," Rena said. "Do you guys know what you're suggesting!? A monkey could figure it out at this point! We have to beat Eve, or we're all screwed!"

"You have a reason for not wanting us to fight it… right?" Tsuruno said.

"Yes," Iroha said.

Alina suddenly burst out laughing.

"This is interesting," she said. "Are you seriously protecting Eve, now? Must be because of those weird memories of yours."

"Enough talk about Tamaki Iroha," Touka said. "I get very angry when my frontal lobe and amygdala are in dispute, you know."

"Indeed," Nemu said. "I can feel rage boiling up within me, so I'd prefer to avoid the topic."

"But that's exactly what it is," Iroha said. "It's all got to do with my memories. It looks like Miss Ashley's theory might be correct after all…"

"Oh?" Touka said.

"Because now I know for sure that Eve… used to be Ui," Iroha said.

"What?" Felicia said. "That's a witch."

"No, not quite," Sana said. "She may look like a witch, but she's really Miss Iroha's little sister!"

"Although I wouldn't quite put it that way," Ashley said.

"Can we stop talking about her little sister!?" Touka said. "We have no idea who she is. She's a complete stranger in our books!"

"I concur," Nemu said. "Please discuss such frivolous matters somewhere else."

"But look!" Iroha said.

She held out the blossoming branch from the Rumour of the Eternal Sakura.

"This branch from the Rumour of the Eternal Sakura bloomed after Eve touched it," she said. "Because all four of us reunited at last! Me and Touka-chan and Nemu-chan and Ui… it blossomed because we all met again!"

"No way," Touka said. "So not only did it protect Tamaki Iroha, now it's in full bloom?"

"The Eternal Sakura will lie dormant until the time is right for it to bloom," Nemu said. "That is the description I thought up for it when I created its rumour. I don't remember writing a single detail about it requiring four people to meet."

"But the fact remains that it bloomed when all four of us came together," Touka said.

"Because it was predetermined," Iroha said. "If you didn't know us, you couldn't have decided when the time would be."

"I wonder," Nemu said. "Does the evidence suffice? Eve is made up of intense impurities. Perhaps they exerted their influence, causing the Rumour of the Eternal Sakura to act oddly."

"Nemu-chan!" Iroha said.

"That would be a very strange occurrence, and certainly difficult to define," Nemu said. "And yet, to me, it is the explanation that makes the most sense."

"Yeah… yeah, you're right!" Touka said.

"I cannot think of any other reason for it," Nemu said.

"Well then!" Touka said. "Too bad for you, Tamaki Iroha. We aren't going to listen to what a crackpot like you has to say!"

"Touka-chan! Nemu-chan!" Iroha protested.

"Nope!" Touka said. "Talking's all over. You guys work hard to beat Eve now!"

"Farewell," Nemu said.

The two of them turned and walked off, disappearing into the rain.

"I, Alina, certainly enjoyed this little charade," Alina said, giggling. "The thought of it… me, raising your little sister all along! How emotional… I'm getting goosebumps… and now, it's time for the show to really get going."

"Show…?" Iroha said. "What do you mean?"

"Take a look at Eve," Alina said. "You'll see what I mean. Bye-bye!"

She turned to follow the other two Magius, just as Eve started to spawn more familiars, all of which ran off towards the city centre.

"More familiars," Yachiyo said.

"They're all flocking towards the city," Madoka said.

"Towards the city…?" Homura wondered. "Or… towards Walpurgisnacht?"

"There are Kamihama magical girls stationed there, so they should take care of things," Mami said.

"Are there even enough girls to take care of that many, though?" Kyouko wondered.

"It's hard to be certain, but it's not just the magical girls of Kamihama," Ashley said. "There are magical girls from all over the island… not to mention the feathers, many of who are from even further away. I even asked my friends from America to come join the fight."

"So Kamihama is filling up with familiars," Iroha said. "If we defeat Eve, they'll vanish too, right?"

"I don't think so," Ashley said. "Or rather… I think most of them will vanish if Eve is defeated, but I'm not confident that all of them will."

"But I can't just defeat Eve right now," Iroha said. "Not until I can get Ui back…"

"Which is gonna be especially hard when she's laying on the ground like this," Ashley said.

"So what do we do now?" Rena asked. "Just sit and watch as the city spills over with familiars?"

"No, I want to stop that too," Iroha said.

"Listen, even I don't want to push you on this!" Rena said. "But Eve isn't moving right now. Now's our best chance to…"

"I understand what you're trying to say," Kanagi said. "But Minami, could you kill Tamaki-kun's younger sister?"

"Well… I…" Rena said.

"I feel the same way," Kanagi said. "I couldn't do it, not when it came right down to it. She hasn't fully become a witch yet, so it's still possible we could save her."

"Yeah," Tsuruno said. "And that changes everything…"

"If my theory is correct and Eve is Ui's doppel, defeating her wouldn't hurt Ui at all," Ashley said. "However… I'm not all that confident that I'm right… it's more of a guess…"

"Yeah," Tsuruno said. "We don't have much time, but we really need to come up with some other way."

"I think so too," Sana said. "Maybe there's some way we can save her, instead of just destroying her."

"Plus, we all decided to share our problems, right?" Felicia said. "So we'll all take it on together!"

"Felicia-chan…" Iroha said.

"Yes, don't be so hard on yourself, Iroha," Yachiyo said. "When our team reunited back at Chelation Land… we all made a pact to share our burdens, just like Felicia said. Besides, if there's one thing we all know… it's how much you care for your sister."

"Miss Yachiyo…" Iroha said.

"That said," Yachiyo said. "I don't intend to press you on the issue at all, but you must prepare yourself. There could be some way to save Ui, but we can't just sit, watching the world burn, while we figure out how. Rena's right about that much."

The earth shook a little, and Iroha gasped.

"Was that Eve just now?" Kaede asked.

The shaking grew more intense as Eve started to rise up.

"Is she trying to do something?" Kaede asked.

"Just because she isn't rampaging doesn't mean she'll just lie still," Yachiyo said. "She's still determined to go towards Walpurgisnacht."

"Eve's still trying to move!?" Rena gasped.

"Yes," Yachiyo said. "So let's attack her before she manages it."

"Miss Yachiyo!?" Iroha gasped.

"You heard what I said," Yachiyo said. "You need to be prepared. Eve is trying to go towards the centre of town. We can't ignore that. We'll have to think of a way to save your sister while we weaken her."

"No way…" Iroha said.

"I'm not planning on ending her life," Yachiyo said. "This is just to stop her from doing anything bad. I don't want Ui to regret what she did once she comes back to us."

"I'm with Miss Yachiyo," Momoko said. "Don't worry, Iroha-chan. Even if we stand against her, Eve's not going down easily."

"I know that, but…" Iroha said. "I just can't stand the thought of hurting Ui, even when she looks so different… I know logically we need to do this, but…"

"Oh, Iroha-chan," Madoka said.

"I'm sorry," Iroha said. "I'm just the worst…"

"No, don't say that!" Madoka said.

Suddenly she squealed as the earth shook again.

"Did that thing just squish its stomach flat?" Kyouko asked. "Hey, we'd better hurry up here, or there's no telling what that bug's gonna do!"

"Miss Tamaki!" Mami said.

"Are you with us on this, Iroha?" Yachiyo asked.

"Ui… do I really have to fight you?" Iroha said.

"Don't worry about it, Iroha-chan!" Tsuruno said. "I'm also the mightiest at reeling my strength in! Once we stop Eve from going anywhere, our next priority will be saving Ui-chan!"

"You got that right!" Felicia said. "And we're not just saving her! We're gonna protect all of Kamihama, too! Our Kamihama!"

"I know this must be really difficult, Miss Iroha," Sana said. "But let's fight, together. Please trust us."

"I do," Iroha said. "I've trusted all of you, right from the very beginning… and you're right… we need to protect our city!"

Felicia attempted to attack Eve with her hammer, but was swatted aside by one of the antennae.

"This damn moth!" Felicia said. "You can't take two steps towards her without her whopping ya one!"

"It was strange how quietly she was lying there until now," Kanagi said. "I'm a little surprised she waited for us to get closer before counterattacking. Perhaps to Eve we're no more than pesky flies."

"The hell does that mean!?" Felicia exclaimed.

"It means we barely even register as threats to her," Kanagi said.

Everyone leapt in to attack her at the same time. Kyouko and Sayaka pulled off a combination attack where Kyouko stabbed Eve, then Sayaka slipped in and slashed the same location with her dual swords. Mami summoned her muskets and fired them one after another. Madoka switched to her rose bow and fired three shots, keeping an eye on her soul gem. Nagisa emitted a stream of exploding bubbles. Yuma and Felicia leapt in at the same time, slamming down their hammers in tandem. Yachiyo leapt in and stabbed Eve with her halberd. Tsuruno charged flames into her fans and slashed at Eve with the sharp edge. Iroha barraged the creature with arrows. Sana opened her shield and let out a stream of pliers and callipers that propelled themselves at Eve like missiles. Momoko and Rena did a combination attack, similar to Kyouko and Sayaka. Kanagi tried attacking with her riding crop, charging magic into it and swinging with all her might. Inui unleashed a stream of pink flames like a flamethrower. And Ashley summoned three small teddy heads and had them all fire their beams at the same time. Only Homura, Kaede, and Maimai watched without doing anything.

After a few seconds, it became clear that they were doing no damage, and they stopped attacking and backed off.

"It's just like Miss Kanagi said," Sana said. "Our attacks don't faze her at all. She doesn't even flinch."

"Yeah," Felicia said. "I was going full power without even realizing it and she doesn't seem to care."

"I can't believe she doesn't even have a scratch, even after all that," Yachiyo said.

"Believing we had to hold back sure was wishful thinking," Tsuruno said.

"I'm not surprised she soaked up my beam, but I thought at least Miss Tamaki or Madoka would've been able to scratch her," Ashley said. "Or Miss Izumi… those three should hold the elemental advantage in this fight. Is Eve just so strong that even such an advantage doesn't make any difference…?"

Eve started to thrash around again, causing the ground to shake.

"Eve's on the move again!" Iroha shouted.

The thrashing became even more intense than before, and the shaking was so intense that several people lost their footing.

"Oof!" Felicia said. "Can't stay standing!"

"Sana-chan, hold on!" Iroha said, clinging to her.

"I-I will!" Sana said. "Is Eve causing this quake!?"

"Yes!" Yachiyo said. "This might cause another landslide, just like it did earlier! Careful, everyone!"

Then, suddenly, all that thrashing finally paid off. The gargantuan creature propelled itself up into the air, wings still thrashing in an attempt to become fully airborn, the wind of passage sending chunks of debris flying everywhere.

"Eve… she leapt into the sky," Iroha marvelled.

"She's too heavy!" Sana said. "Her wings aren't doing anything!"

"I-it doesn't matter!" Kaede said. "If she can jump that far she'll get to Kamihama in no time!"

"Oh, this is real bad!" Momoko said. "She's aiming for Sankyo Ward…"

"She'll come down like a cannonball," Rena said. "This is horrible!"

As they watched, Eve soared through the air on a parabolic arc, finally landing somewhere near the river, the impact causing another quake which could even be felt, faintly, where they stood. Fortunately, it wasn't yet in the city proper, but another leap would definitely take it into built-up areas.

"Unbelievable," Kyouko said. "She wreaked that much havoc just by jumping once…"

"Imagine if she did that inside the city," Madoka said.

"It would be at least as bad as the devastation wrought by Walpurgisnacht," Homura said.

"Though at least she won't be tossing entire buildings around," Ashley said. "Probably. Plus, unlike Mitakihara, there's a guardian angel in Kamihama… I think…"

"What on earth are you talking about, Miss Taylor?" Iroha asked.

"Ah, never mind… now's not the time," Ashley said.

When she felt the earth shaking, Mitama figured it was probably about time to leave her post. The rumour stepping over to speak to her was thus not strictly necessary.

"Fendt Hope has fallen," the Eternal Sakura said expressionlessly. "I don't believe there remains a reason for you to linger here."

"You're right," Mitama said. "Alright everyone, let's go!"

She turned to the three or four feathers who had attempted to get past her, who were still moaning and groaning on the ground. Heading over to them, she carefully poked and prodded at each of their soul gems a little, and one by one, they sat up and looked around, startled.

"Ah… it doesn't hurt anymore," one of the black feathers gasped.

"Argh… Mitama really is scary!" the sole white feather groaned.

"Now, now," Mitama said. "Enough of that. Why don't you head over to my place for now? I'm sure once you get there you'll find someone who can tell you what to do. I'll even ask Shizuku-chan to get you there right away, so how does that sound?"

"Well… fine," the white feather said. "Show us the way."

They descended the hill and exited the rumour, stepping out into the pouring rain.

"My oh my," Mitama said. "It seems the weather has taken quite a turn for the worse since I got here…"

Shizuku suddenly emerged from some nearby underbrush. She'd apparently found a way to keep dry by opening a portal right above her head.

"Are you ready to return?" Shizuku asked.

"Not quite," Mitama said. "But I'd be grateful if you can get these feathers to my place."

"Sure," Shizuku said.

She opened a portal, and the feathers piled through.

"I'm just going to go look around for a bit and see how everyone else is doing," Mitama said. "I'll be back soon."

"Okay," Shizuku said. "I'll wait."

Mitama hurried out of the woods, heading in the direction of Fendt Hope's real physical location. As the Coordinator, she had of course performed tune-ups on the Magius themselves, so unlike any of the feathers, she knew exactly where the rumour had been planted. Even Mifuyu hadn't been privy to that detail. However, when she stepped out into the small clearing that had originally hosted the rumour, there was nothing there. The clearing itself was missing – a large swathe of trees had been practically washed away, leaving only a field of mud with some broken tree stumps poking out. Looming above everything was the gargantuan form of Eve, which had already fallen over and was lying on the ground. Even laid out flat, she was still towered above the treetops.

"What in the world happened here…? I'm certain Fendt Hope used to be just over there. Does that mean this massive thing lying down in the distance is Eve…?"

At that moment, Mitama heard the voices of the twins.

"Miss Mitama! Can you hear me?" Tsukasa's voice asked.

"Tsukasa-chan?" Mitama said. "Are you close by? Are Momoko and the others with you?"

"No, we split up," Tsukasa said. "We're using our special power to force our telepathic message through to you."

"I see," Mitama said. "Do you know what's happening right now? It looks like Eve's restraints were cut."

"What!?" Tsukasa gasped. "She's already been freed? There was a huge earthquake, though… maybe Eve broke free then."

"I see," Mitama said.

"Also, we have more important matters to attend to," Tsukuyo's voice cut in.

"The situation is bad enough as it is," Mitama said.

"Yes, but this is another issue altogether," Tsukuyo said. "Miss Mifuyu cast an illusion on herself… so that she could destroy Fendt Hope."

Mitama gasped. "She did what? She used her forbidden magic!?"

"Yes," Tsukuyo said. "But she is still breathing."

"Where are you now?" Mitama asked.

"We just arrived at your shop," Tsukuyo said.

"Very well," Mitama said. "I'll be right with you. There's just one thing I need to take care of first. Wait inside the shop for me."

Mitama sighed as she felt the connection cut.

"Miss Mifuyu," she muttered. "First, I need to let Iroha-chan and her friends know what happened."

She hurried towards Eve as best she could. Before she could get near, though, the creature began to thrash around, flapping its wings in a desperate attempt to become airborne. However, the first attempt was a failure, and it calmed down for almost a minute before trying once more. This time, it was more effective. Somehow, in defiance of gravity, it actually managed to propel itself high up into the air, soaring through the air in a parabolic arc. It wasn't flight, exactly, but it was quite the impressive jump. Finally Mitama spotted people up ahead – the Crescent Moon Villa team, Momoko's trio, the girls from Mitakihara, and three others.

"That was a huge quake just now!" Mitama shouted. "Is everyone alright?"

"I know that voice," Momoko said.

"Thank heavens, you're all unharmed!" Mitama said.

"I knew it!" Momoko said. "It's you, Coordinator!"

"Everything started shaking so suddenly!" Mitama said. "I was worried something awful had happened. I can hardly believe that was Eve's doing…"

"Yep," Momoko said. "She leapt right up into the air over there just a minute ago."

"I saw it," Mitama said. "I was hoping I could help in some way, but…"

"Yeah, we figured out that Eve was actually Ui-chan, so… we might have gone a bit too easy on her," Momoko said.

"Wait what!?" Mitama gasped. "You can't have just said what I think you just said. Ui is Iroha-chan's little sister, right?"

"Yes," Iroha said. "The Eternal Sakura bloomed when it touched her, so I know now that it's her."

"I… see," Mitama said. "Then it's a good thing I came! There may be something I can do to help."

"Help?" Momoko said. "What do you know that we don't?"

"As the Coordinator, I've seen the memories of a lot of girls," Mitama said. "One comes to learn a lot of things in my line of work. I'm everyone's Coordinator, after all. I know all about you, Momoko, and I know all about Iroha-chan too. Naturally, I'm also very well-informed about the Magius. And I know that their memories are correct as well."

"Their memories?" Iroha said. "Please, tell me whatever you know!"

"Of course," Mitama said. "You've already heard about the Magius's goals and their 'half witch', right?"

"Yes," Iroha said.

"That's good," Mitama said. "I can keep this brief. There's not much time, so I'll explain as concisely as I can. Suffice to say there's a simple way to save Ui. You'll have to defeat Eve, and then extract her from where she's buried inside."

"T-that sounds violent," Iroha said. "What would happen to Ui if I hit her?"

"Don't worry, Iroha-chan," Mitama said. "I wouldn't have said that if I didn't have a reason. First off, the Magius's goal, this 'hatching', is actually Witch transformation, which means Eve has a soul gem. The three of them sensed a magic not unlike a magical girl's in Eve's belly before she began growing. That is unequivocal proof. What's more, the further back I went in their memories, the more obvious it was that something had enveloped that magic. It became more difficult to sense as Eve grew larger, and the Magius seemed to have taken that as a sign that it was close to hatching. But now I think that what they were sensing was the magic from a magical girl's soul gem, powering its owner's human body."

"Its owner," Iroha said. "The Eternal Sakura bloomed, so that girl must be…"

"That's right, Iroha-chan," Mitama said. "When you take into account what you told me, the girl inside Eve must be Ui-chan."

"But is it still okay to attack her…?" Momoko asked. "It's good we know she's inside, but we've no idea what a strong blow might do…"

"You've watched a magical girl turn into a witch, Momoko," Mitama said. "You should understand this. Soul gems and magical girls are linked. So are grief seeds and witches. The two combinations are ineffable. It's completely unheard of for the two sets to coexist in one form. So my suggestion is to not think of it as Eve being connected to Ui-chan's soul gem, but rather Ui-chan clad in a body formed by her power to collect energy."

"Similar to a doppel," Ashley put in.

"Similar, yes," Mitama said. "Perhaps not quite the same. Essentially, Eve is like a costume that she is inside of."

"If Eve is a costume," Iroha said. "Then even if you tear it apart, it won't affect Ui."

"That's right," Mitama said. "So you should definitely be able to pull her free from it."

"The problem is whether or not we can take this huge half witch out," Momoko said.

"Much like how humans have vital areas and magical girls have soul gems… a witch should have sensitive points and weak spots, too. That goes doubly for an unstable creature like Eve."

"So we'll have to scout out where that weak spot is," Iroha said.

"Precisely," Mitama said.

"The gemstones," Ashley said. "We should try aiming for the gemstones."

"It's as good a starting point as any," Iroha agreed.

"I'm sorry all I can offer you are guesses," Mitama said. "But maybe now there's a little hope to light your way, Iroha-chan?"

"There is," Iroha said. "Thank you."

"Then I'm glad I could help, even if I wasn't able to help you fight," Mitama said.

"Now that we know that, we can go all out on Eve and save Kamihama and Ui-chan!" Tsuruno said. "Yep, yep!"

"You're right!" Iroha said. "To defeat Eve is to save everyone. But we need to act fast… Eve's familiars are creating chaos as we speak."

"I wish you luck," Mitama said. "I will now be returning to the Coordinator's. By now, the girls there have probably already started fighting Walpurgisnacht's familiars."

"Then I'll wish you luck too," Iroha said.

With that, Mitama turned and headed for the still-undamaged treeline, where her ride was waiting.

"Shizuku-chan!" she called "Can you take me back now?"

Shizuku emerged from the cover of a fallen log, still using a portal as an umbrella.

"O-okay," she said.

She opened a portal leading straight inside the Coordinator's office and stepped through, panting a little. Mitama stepped through behind her. There were only a few other girls still there, including the Amane twins watching over an unconscious Mifuyu. Shizuku closed both the portals, then made for one of the couches.

"Thanks so much, Shizuku-chan," Mitama said. "Your space fusion really came in handy. I hope it wasn't too big of a strain on you."

"Well, you did purify my soul gem for me before," Shizuku said. "But I don't think I can manage to leave the shop and fight yet. So I'm glad I can help in this way."

"Yes, your assistance has been invaluable," Mitama said.

The twins approached her.

"Um, now that you're done," Tsukasa said. "Could you look at Miss Mifuyu for us…?"

"She's asleep on the cot over there," Tsukuyo said.

Mitama went over to take a look, and the twins followed.

"What do you think…?" Tsukuyo asked.

"Yeah, can you help her?" Tsukasa asked. "How does she look?"

"I don't think she's dead," Mitama said.

"Then…!" Tsukasa said.

"However, I can't say for sure that she's alive, either," Mitama said. "I don't know exactly how to put this, but she seems to be in a kind of coma."

"Is there any way for us to help her?" Tsukuyo asked.

"I'm not sure," Mitama said. "Her soul gem looks like it could shatter if someone were to touch it too roughly. I don't think there's anything my powers can do for her."

"No…" Tsukuyo said. "Miss Mifuyu…"

The twins broke down crying, and Mitama fell silent for a minute or so. Finally, she spoke up.

"There is one thing that we can do, however," she said.

"Y-yes… I know what that is," Tsukuyo said.

"You mean we shouldn't let her sacrifice be in vain, don't you?" Tsukasa said.

"For sure," Tsukuyo said.

"Yes," Mitama said. "We need to be sure that Miss Mifuyu can hold her head high when she wakes up from her slumber."

The twins nodded.

As Mitama headed for the woods for some reason, everyone else made for the river where Eve now lay. It was slow going though, as the land had been all torn up by the wind of Eve's passage.

"I bet she's going to leap again before we can reach her," Ashley said.

"Don't say that, Miss Taylor!" Iroha protested. "We can't let her reach the city!"

"I understand your sentiment," Ashley said. "And certainly I can agree that it's better if she doesn't destroy parts of the city. However… I don't actually care if she destroys a few buildings, and furthermore, if she does get into the city, we'll be at an advantage. The ideal place to fight her would probably be Chuo Ward."

"What do you mean?" Iroha asks. "Why Chuo Ward?"

"Right now, we're at a heavy disadvantage simply because Eve is so huge," Ashley said. "Madoka and I can fly, and Miss Homura and Miss Nanami have some limited midair mobility as well, but the rest of you are landbound. You can't attack her very effectively. However, if Eve was in the city surrounded by buildings, you could attack from the rooftops. In Chuo Ward in particular, there are a lot of skyrise buildings that are comparable in size to Eve."

"I get what you mean, but I still don't want her to reach the city," Iroha said. "I don't want to destroy people's dreams like that…"

"But buildings can be rebuilt," Ashley said.

"That's true," Iroha said. "It doesn't change how I feel, however. And besides, some things can't be rebuilt so easily."

"I don't want her to get into the city either," Madoka said. "Still, if I had to choose between someone's life and bringing down a building… I would definitely choose the building."

"I would too," Iroha said. "I just don't want to have to make that kind of choice in the first place."

They were only halfway to Eve's new position when the earth suddenly began to shake again.

"I-is she planning to leap again!?" Iroha gasped. "We'd better hurry!"

But it was already too late. Barely ten seconds later, Eve was airborne once more.

"At this rate, we're not going to catch up to her just by running," Ashley said. "Maimai, do you know where Natsume Books is?"

"Eh?" Maimai said. "Um… actually, I do know. I spent a lot of time exploring the city, so…"

"Can you get us there? Just on the street outside."

"Sure!"

She thrust forward with her drill, opening a tunnel.

"Why Natsume Books?" Felicia asked. "That's Kako's place… is it going to be destroyed…? I don't want that…"

"I'm not sure," Ashley said. "It's just a lot closer to where it looks like Eve will land, and it's something I can name. That's the extent of my reasoning."

Everyone hurried through Maimai's tunnel, emerging onto the street just across from Natsume Books. Mere seconds later, the earth shook from the impact of Eve's landing, throwing everyone to the ground. Some tiles slipped off the roof of the bookstore, but it looked like it the damage was superficial.

"I think she's about a kilometre to the east," Yachiyo said. "But the footing here is much better… we should be able to get there in a minute or so."

They all broke out into a run, aiming for the hulking mass of Eve to the east, and finally they were gazing up at her imposing mass. Iroha came to a stop, panting from the sprint, and looked around at the buildings damaged by Eve's landing.

"Oh no, the city," she said.

"Something as huge as Eve will leave the city in ruins," Kanagi said. "We all know how that will end."

"She's just like a kaiju," Felicia said.

"Not just like," Ashley said. "I'd go further and say she is a kaiju."

"Ugh, Kanagi," Tsuruno said. "You're not wrong, but how can you say it like that with no feeling at all!? I'm about as mad as the mightiest magical girl can get! And now that I know I can hit Eve with all my might and it doesn't even budge her… I'm gonna unleash all my power on her! No holding back!"

"All your power?" Ashley quipped. "Didn't you say you could never show anyone else your doppel?"

"All my power except that!" Tsuruno amended.

"Well, to be fair, I'm not recommending you use your doppel," Ashley said. "I don't think it's as safe as the Magius believe."

"Hmph," Kanagi said. "I'm surprised to hear you say you think I'm not feeling anything. I may not look it, but I am well past my boiling point."

"Some people just don't show their emotions on their faces," Ashley noted. "I believe Miss Izumi is one such person."

"Okay then!" Tsuruno said. "Let's do this together, Kanagi!"

"Indeed!" Kanagi said. "I'll strike with everything I have!"

"Oh right, Miss Izumi's magic is also light-element," Ashley said. "If you lend Miss Yui some of that power via connect, it might be even more effective. Ui's magic is dark-element, after all… although Eve is made of impurities from all over…"

As Kanagi and Tsuruno proceeded to attack in tandem, Iroha questioned Ashley.

"Assuming this element stuff is real… how do you know what element anyone is?" she asked.

"That's a secret," Ashley said. "But maybe I'll share it once this is all over."

"Flame Waltz!" Tsuruno screamed.

"Begone!" Kanagi shouted.

"Although when it's someone like Miss Yui, it's pretty obvious," Ashley added.

But the attack had almost no effect.

"Come on!" Tsuruno protested. "I wasn't holding back that time!"

"I was trying to hold back for Tamaki-kun's sake before," Kanagi said. "But this time I really gave it my all…"

"It's not over yet!" Iroha said. "I'm not hesitating anymore! I'll follow up on your attacks!"

"Madoka, connect with her and attack at the same time!" Ashley said.

"Yes, we'll all attack it at once!" Yachiyo said.

"Crescent Moon Villa's gonna go baboom!" Felicia shouted.

"Let's try having everyone who can connect do so with someone of the same element!" Ashley said. "Then everyone unleash their strongest attack all at once! Madoka, Miss Izumi, and Miss Tamaki are light element… so perhaps if Miss Izumi were to connect with Miss Tamaki? Madoka is already strong enough so she can probably just attack normally. For dark element, we have Nagisa-chan, me, Miss Homura, and Felicia… but Miss Homura doesn't use attack magic, so I guess I can connect with Felicia? If it's not too much trouble, Felicia could also connect with Nagisa-chan…"

"What element am I?" Maimai piped up.

"Huh? Ah, that's actually a good question," Ashley said. "Um… was it… darkness? Or… maybe water? Come to think of it, Maimai… do you know how to connect?"

"Yes!" Maimai said. "The cat sempai taught me!"

"Ohh, then… let's assume you're water element. That means you should connect with… hmm… let's go with Miss Nanami. The other water element people we have are Miss Minami and Miss Miki… so, Miss Minami, please connect with Miss Miki. As for fire, we have Miss Sakura, Miss Yui, Miss Togame, and Inui… so let's have Inui connect with Miss Yui, and Miss Togame can connect with Miss Sakura. Lastly, Miss Tomoe, Yuma-chan, Kaede-chan, and Miss Futaba all have the forest element, so… if Miss Futaba could connect with Yuma-chan, then Kaede-chan could connect with Miss Tomoe… does everyone remember who they'll connect with?"

There was a round of nods from everyone, and though they seemed a little uncertain about her instructions, they still followed them, slapping hands together and initiating connect skills. Then everyone unleashed their attacks at the same time.

A host of teddy heads firing beams at the enemy. "Great Teddy's Ionic Bombardment!"

A swarm of exploding bubbles.

A spread of five rockets, each one glowing with infused magic.

A massive hammer descending from the sky. "Raaaaaaaaagh!"

A fan of laser beams striking from multiple angles. "Light of Conviction!"

A hail of arrows descending from the floating magical diagram. "Pluvia Magica!"

A swarm of bolts combining into a single massive arrow and slamming down upon the enemy. "Strada Futuro!"

A rain of halberds falling from above. "Absolute Rain!"

A flurry of sword strikes faster than the eye can see, culminating in a single stab. "Prestissimo Agitato!"

A series of icy mirrors that reflect and multiply the trident attack. "Infinite Poseidon!"

A series of tunnels through space opening up and attempting to suck the enemy in. "Enter the Screw Zone!"

An array of muskets firing all at the same time. "Tiro Finale!"

A cat-shaped hammer slamming down upon the enemy with the force of a thousand bricks. "Lyyyyyyynx Impaaact!"

A stream of pliers and callipers all throwing themselves at the witch. "Yaaaaaaaaah!"

Vines emerging from the ground to coil around the enemy and crush it, followed by a blast of sharpened air. "Judgement Earth!"

A flurry of flames in an elaborate and incomprehensible yet strangely beautiful pattern. "Flame Waltz!"

A massive spear wreathed in flames, speeding at the enemy. "Kugatachi!"

A column of pink flames rising up from beneath the enemy. "Heart-throbbing Passionate Inferno!"

A flurry of slashes culminating in a meteoric descending slash. "Universe Edge!"

They waited several seconds for the dust, smoke, and light to clear. It looked like there was some superficial damage only. Of all of them, Yachiyo's attack seemed to have done the most damage, but that wasn't saying much. Perhaps stunned by this result, Kaede fell to the ground and began to cry.

"It barely affected it at all," Yachiyo said.

"You're right," Iroha said.

"I can't believe they managed to raise a half witch to be this powerful," Yachiyo said.

"Ui's collection power is probably a big part of it," Ashley said.

"Even with everyone here, we aren't a match for it," Iroha said.

"Walpurgisnacht is just as strong as this, too," Homura said.

"Yeah, she is," Madoka agreed. "In fact, I think Eve might even be a little stronger…"

"Huh? Have you two fought her before, Miss Akemi?" Yachiyo said.

"That's… none of your business," Homura said.

"That said, I have a nasty feeling that this Walpurgisnacht will be even stronger," Ashley said. "With Eve's familiars swarming the city and stockpiling impurities… if Walpurgisnacht simply sucks those up after Eve's defeat, she could gain a lot of power. Hopefully Miss Yakumo and Kanna-chi and the others can mitigate that though…"

"Don't let your fear get the better of you!" Madoka said. "We're magical girls, after all. We made a wish, and a miracle happened."

"The rose sister is right," Nagisa spoke up. "It doesn't matter how strong it is. We gotta do what we gotta do."

Kyouko chuckled. "I think the brat's onto something," she said. "We just gotta fight as hard as we can."

"I'm not a brat, stupid spear sister!" Nagisa protested. "I'm Nagisa!"

"Don't cry, Kaede," Momoko said. "Madoka-chan and Nagisa-chan are right. We gotta put our everything into this, so we can be that light for people. Give them hope! It really sucks to see the city all trashed like this, but there's lots left to save."

"S-sorry," Kaede sobbed. "You're right…"

"We need to up our game, too," Rena said. "We aren't going to win if we treat this like a normal fight. At least we know that much now."

"Yeah, we need to be patient," Iroha said. "We have to focus on the weak points, like Miss Mitama said… whether they're the gemstones or something else."

"I'm going to call Kazumi-chan over," Ashley said. "We can barely even scratch it, but with her boost aura, perhaps we can deal some real damage."

She took out her communicator and pressed the speak button.

"Ashley here… is Kazumi-chan there?"

There was a delay before a voice issued from the communicator.

"Yes, Kazumi-chan here! What's going on?"

"How's the battle going on your end?" Ashley said.

"The familiars aren't very strong," Kazumi said.

"Do you think they could manage without you for awhile?"

"Yeah… I think so," Kazumi said. "Saki-chan and I are doing most of the work anyway. If I leave, it just means everyone else will get a chance to shine."

"Could you come join us at Eve, then?" Ashley said. "For now, head towards Chuo Ward. It should be impossible to miss once you get close enough… especially if it jumps again."

"Alright, got it!" Kazumi said. "Kazumi-chan out!"

"I wonder what could be helping to sustain the witch's body," Yachiyo said. "Eve has a soul gem, but it can't sustain the body of a witch. We know some power of gathering impurities is involved in some way… but there has to be a secret to it. Merely gathering impurities is not enough to sustain a body."

"How do we go looking for something like that?" Iroha asked.

"Ideally I'd like to stop Eve from moving," Yachiyo said. "That'd make it easier, and also help minimize damage to our surroundings."

"Every time it moves, the wreckage gets worse," Tsuruno said. "If only we could limit that somehow…"

"I think…" Iroha said. "There might be a way to do that, with this many people…"

"Miss Iroha! Miss Yachiyo!" Sana said. "Let me handle this!"

"Let you handle this?" Iroha said. "Sana-chan, what are you…?"

"I can lock it in place with my chains!" Sana said. "You can do whatever you need to do while I keep it still!"

"You gonna do that all on your own?" Kyouko said. "I tell ya, it's always the ones who look like weaklings who've got the biggest guts. Here, I'll help ya out."

"Miss Futaba and Miss Sakura probably won't be enough to tie Eve down on their own, though," Ashley said. "Miss Tomoe and Kaede-chan should help out as well."

Mami nodded. "I was about to say the same thing!" she said. "I'll help too! We're trying to restrain a truly monstrous witch. The more help you have the better, correct?"

"Ohhh!" Sana said. "Thank you so much!"

"Everyone, please!" Mami said. "Help us secure the ribbons and chains to the ground!"

"Got it!" Madoka said.

"Yes!" Iroha said. "Let's pin Eve down with our arrows, Madoka-chan!"

"Okay!" Madoka said.

"What should I do?" Felicia asked. "I have a hammer. All I do is bash stuff."

"I'll generate some halberds," Yachiyo said. "You can use those. Bash them in well with your hammer."

"Ooooh!" Felicia said. "Nice! I get to chuck spears around!"

"Don't hog all of them for yourself, Felicia!" Tsuruno said.

Kyouko and Sana generated chains to strap Eve down, while Mami generated ribbons, and everyone else except Ashley ran around pinning Sana's chains and Mami's ribbons down with sharp objects. Kyouko pinned her own chains down using spears she conjured herself.

"I'mma stick it right in the ground!" Felicia said.

"Yeah!" Tsuruno said. "That'll stop Eve from flying away!"

"I just hope you're right," Ashley said.

With a yell, Felicia smashed the halberd, driving it halfway into the ground in a single hit. However, just as they'd finished getting all the chains and ribbons pinned down, Eve began to thrash again, shaking the ground, and the bindings looked like they were starting to shake loose.

"Are you kidding me!?" Tsuruno gasped.

"Urrrgh! This stupid bug keeps moving like it's nothing!" Felicia complained.

"Momoko-chan, could you use your boosting magic on me?" Kaede said. "I think I might be able to help the others out with my magic!"

"…duh, I forgot Miss Togame had boosting magic," Ashley said.

"Ohhh, good idea!" Momoko said. "Nice thinking, Kaede!"

"Huh? What're you talking about?" Rena said.

"She's thinking of doing a bit of gardening around Eve, that's all," Momoko said. "Right?"

"Yeah!" Kaede said. "I think I can fix Eve in place if I use the plants with my magic!"

"Oh yeah… that could work," Rena said. "Good idea for once, Kaede!"

"W-well, it was actually Miss Taylor's idea," Kaede said. "It just took me a few minutes to realize what she meant… but you didn't need to add 'for once'!"

"Anyway, I gotcha covered!" Momoko said. "Get ready, Kaede!"

"Okay!" Kaede said. "I can start whenever! I'll stop Eve in its tracks with your power!"

But before they could get started, all the bindings either snapped or came loose as Eve abruptly spread its wings, probably preparing for another jump.

"Eve…!" Momoko gasped.

"I can't believe it," Sana said. "It broke my chains!"

"And it tore through my ribbons, too!" Mami said.

"Eve… all it did was spread its wings!" Tsuruno said.

"This ain't good!" Kyouko shouted. "Get outta the way!"

The earth shook as Eve flapped her wings, the resulting wind blasting everyone and everything back, magical girls and debris alike.

"Guys!" Kaede shouted.

"We're okay!" Momoko said. "It sent us flying, but nothing hit us head on."

"Kaede! Momoko! We need to get out, too!" Rena said. "It doesn't matter how many plants you grow, if Eve cuts through them all we're toast!"

"Y-you're right!" Kaede gasped.

"This is bad!" Momoko suddenly gasped.

Momoko leapt into the air towards Eve.

"W-what the— Momoko!?" Rena gasped.

"Momoko-chan, come back!" Kaede said.

"It's gonna attack before we can get away!" Momoko called back. "I'm gonna try to negate the attack! You two get outta here! Okay, I've got this!"

As she raised her sword, Ashley zoomed in beside her, riding atop her teddy bear. Momoko ignored her, focusing all her attention on Eve.

"That's some elegant magic work Eve has got going on there!" Momoko said.

"Momoko-chan!" Kaede called.

"Momoko!" Rena called.

"Why are you two still here!?" Momoko shouted.

"Everyone, defend!" Ashley shouted.

Between Rena's mirrors, Kaede's plant wall, Ashley's teddy bear, and Momoko's sword literally slicing the attack in half, they managed to avoid the bulk of the massive energy beam that emanated from Eve. However, that still meant they took the brunt of what made it through. Once the beam was fired, Eve settled down and stopped thrashing.

"Ugh," Momoko said.

"Oww." Rena said.

"That was more powerful than I expected," Ashley said, sounding strangely unhurt.

Kaede just groaned wordlessly.

"Momoko-chan! Rena-chan! Kaede-chan! Miss Taylor!" Iroha called, running over to them.

"Ashley! Are you okay!?" Inui called.

"Sorry," Momoko said. "I may be tough, but man, that hurt quite a bit."

"Hold on!" Iroha said. "I'll heal you!"

She channelled magic into the four of them, healing their wounds.

"Oh, that's right, Iroha-chan, your unique magic," Momoko said. "You can heal wounds, can't ya…"

"Ashley, what the hell were you thinking!?" Inui shouted, glomping her. "Putting yourself in danger like that! You could've been killed!"

"Sorry, I just didn't think Miss Togame would be enough," Ashley said, absently patting her head.

"Thanks, Iroha," Rena said.

"It's the least I could do!" Iroha said. "I'm really sorry I can't do more to help…"

"You don't… need to apologize for that," Kaede said. "We can save everyone if we beat Eve."

"Yeah," Momoko said. "The city, the people in it, and your little sis, Iroha-chan. We all want to save them all."

"But you should at least leave half of the healing to Yuma-chan," Ashley said. "Still, thanks for the assist. Even if I can block out the pain, that doesn't mean injuries have no effect on me."

While Iroha was healing the three of them, everyone else was attacking Eve again.

"Don't mess with us!" Sayaka shouted.

"Yuma won't let you hurt anyone else!" Yuma shouted.

"Eat my exploding bubbles!" Nagisa shouted.

The three of them attacked simultaneously, but it had no effect on the thrashing giant.

"Huh!? Why didn't that do anything!?" Sayaka asked.

"Calm down, Miss Miki," Homura said.

"How can you say that when other magical girls are getting owned!?" Sayaka shouted. "This isn't the time to go cowering in a corner!"

"I said, calm down," Homura said firmly. "You can fight more effectively if you remain calm."

As she spoke, she pulled out a rocket launcher and rested it on her shoulder. After spending a few seconds charging magic into the missile, she fired, aiming at the base of the crown on Eve's head, exploding on impact. The rocket didn't appear to leave a mark, however.

"Just smashing it like that, you're gonna use up all your magic and get yourself killed, Sayaka," Kyouko retorted.

"Urgh…" Sayaka grumbled.

"She's right," Mami said. "We need to target its weak point, whatever that is."

Suddenly Eve started thrashing its wings again.

"Eve's moving again!" Madoka shouted.

"This time it's facing… over towards the Suitoku Shopping Centre," Iroha said.

"That's where Banbanzai is!" Tsuruno said. "I have to save it! My grandpa built that restaurant!"

She leapt at the thrashing giant, spreading her fans and lighting them ablaze, but Yachiyo also leapt forward to grab her arm and pull it back.

"Tsuruno, where are you going!?" Yachiyo shouted. "You can't save anything if you go alone!"

"Well, what should I do then!?" Tsuruno shouted. "Everyone might've evacuated already, yeah… but Banbanzai itself can't evacuate!"

"Calm down," Yachiyo said. "Aren't you supposed to be the mightiest magical girl!? You can't brute force your way past this! Remember what we can do at our best!"

Tsuruno gasped. "Sorry, shishou," she said. "Just, we're taking so much time…"

"Fine!" Felicia said. "I'll make a new weak point for ya!"

She brandished her hammer and leapt at Eve before Yachiyo could stop her.

"Felicia!" Sana said.

"I'll smash it so hard with my magic it'll forget everything!" Felicia shouted.

She grew her hammer to over twice its usual size and slammed it down on Eve's head with all of her might. Eve stopped thrashing and settled down.

"It worked!" Felicia shouted.

However, the gemstone on her chest, containing Ui's body, suddenly started to glow.

"Huh?" Felicia said. "Well, whatever. I stopped it moving, so I'm counting that as a win!"

"What… just happened?" Iroha asked.

"Felicia's magic can cause memory lapses!" Tsuruno exclaimed. "She must've sent Eve's memories flying! Thanks, Felicia! Nice shot!"

"Wasn't it, though!?" Felicia shouted.

"It bought us some time," Ashley said. "But now Ui's glowing… that's a bit worrying…"

As she spoke, the glow became even brighter. Yachiyo leapt in and shoved Felicia aside, while Iroha raised her crossbow to aim at the gemstone.

"Don't get cocky just because you had one good shot!" Yachiyo shouted.

"Shishou! Felicia!" Tsuruno shouted.

"Don't miss!" Iroha shouted.

Tsuruno connected with Iroha, who then fired a volley of flaming bolts at the gemstone. The impact didn't seem to do much to damage it, but it did push the gargantuan creature slightly to the side. Between that and Yachiyo's quick save, the beam it fired mere seconds later missed the pair. However, it struck close enough to them that the splash effect still sent them flying into the air.

"Please, catch them!" Sana said.

Sana enlarged her shield enough to halt the pair's flight. They both struck it with a loud thunk and flipped around to land on their feet next to Sana.

"Thank goodness, we made it," Sana said.

"You expanded your shield…?" Yachiyo said. "I see. So you can use it like that, too…"

"Yachiyo!" Felicia gasped. "Sorry, your arm!"

"It's not too bad," Yachiyo said. "It's just a little numb. If Iroha and Tsuruno hadn't diverted that attack… it would've been a lot worse."

"Yuma will fix it!" Yuma shouted.

She jumped in to slam her hammer down onto the ground next to the two of them, releasing a flash of green light that washed over them and reinvigorated them. Yachiyo blinked.

"I can feel it again… it's as good as new," she said. "Thank you very much, Yuma-chan."

"Shishou!" Tsuruno called.

"Miss Yachiyo!" Iroha called.

"It's alright, Yuma-chan already healed us," Yachiyo said.

"Thanks, Yuma-chan!" Iroha said.

"Yuma just did what needed doing," Yuma said.

"We protected Banbanzai and Kako's bookstore, right!?" Felicia said.

"That's right!" Tsuruno said. "Thanks for that, Felicia!"

"Oh, and one more thing," Felicia said.

"What is it?" Yachiyo said.

"When I hit that huge bug thing, it started glowing," Felicia said.

"Yeah, I saw that too," Ashley said.

"Glowing?" Yachiyo said. "I must have missed it…"

"Yeah, around its chest?" Felicia said. "Or its belly, I guess?"

"More specifically, I think it was the extra-large gemstone that Ui's body is trapped inside," Ashley said.

"What could it be?" Tsuruno wondered.

"P-probably magic, I think," Momoko said.

"You shouldn't move so much, Momoko-chan," Iroha said.

"I can't just sit around at a time like this," Momoko said. "When that thing blasted me, I could tell for sure that Eve was storing its magic in the centre of its body. Then all of a sudden it moved the magic to its arms and sent me flying from the side."

"Hmm," Tsuruno said. "Ui's body is in the centre… maybe her soul gem is there, too… so when its body glows, its magic moves… that might be a clue to beating it…"

Suddenly Tsukuyo's voice echoed in everyone's ears.

"Please listen closely!" she said urgently.

"Huh!?" Kaede gasped.

"Hey, we're really beaten up over here," Rena complained. "Don't scare the living daylights out of us with your telepathy, got it!? Dumbass!"

"I felt like I was gonna have a heart attack," Kaede said.

"Ah, then I very much apologize for my— wait, no! Now is not the time!" Tsukuyo said. "Please listen closely!"

"What's wrong, Tsukuyo-chan?" Iroha asked.

"This concerns Eve!" Tsukuyo said.

"This is about the gemstones, right?" Ashley said.

"Yes… huh? You already know about it!?" Tsukuyo gasped.

"Not everything, but we were just discussing it too," Ashley said.

"The flute sisters spent time at Eve's chapel," Yachiyo said. "We can probably trust what she says…"

"They were also the earliest members of the Wings of the Magius," Ashley added. "So they probably know more than most other members."

"Yes!" Tsukuyo said. "Without a shadow of a doubt!"

"Then will you tell us what you know?" Yachiyo said.

"Certainly," Tsukuyo said. "The story starts when we were trying to hatch Eve with only the energy we collected from rumours and witches. We worked with the Magius to study Eve in the hope that we could learn some way to make it hatch more quickly. Although we found no such method, we did learn that as it amassed more and more impurities, so too did it amass more and more gems. Those countless gems are the chains that prevent its tremendous body from collapsing. At the same time, they serve a similar role to blood vessels, in that they regulate huge amounts of energy, and negate the relationship between soul gem and witch body. The core of that system is the largest red jewel on Eve's chest, where her original human body is entombed."

"So Ui's body is the core…!?" Iroha gasped.

"Yes, that gem is the lock binding all its chains," Tsukuyo said. "It is the core transmitting all its energy."

"That lines up with what Felicia and Momoko said," Tsuruno said. "Once it gathers energy in its core, it transmits it to where it's most needed… if Eve needs to do that before it can do anything else… it'd make sense for the red gemstone in Eve's chest to be the core!"

"You're right," Yachiyo said. "It's trying to rectify the strange, warped state it's in. Could that gemstone then be its weak point? Miss Taylor also thought it was a possibility…"

"It is highly likely," Tsukuyo said.

"For sure," Tsukasa piped up. "We wanted to make sure you had that information."

"Thank you," Yachiyo said. "That was good to know. I think you just turned this crisis on its head."

"Glad to hear it," Tsukasa said. "Anyway, we'll be meeting back up with all of you before you know it. Keep fighting the good fight until then…"

"Our deepest apologies," Tsukuyo said. "We are the ones who raised Eve, after all."

"The Magius were using you," Iroha said. "I can't blame you for that…"

"Honestly, at that early stage it wouldn't surprise me if the Magius were actually sincere about what they were doing," Ashley said. "They were just missing a few crucial pieces of the puzzle and drew some incorrect conclusions as a result."

"Either way, for now, let's just do everything we can to help each other," Iroha said.

"I would like that," Tsukuyo said.

"While you're on the line… has Walpurgisnacht appeared yet?" Ashley asked.

"Yes, she was just sighted a few minutes ago," Tsukuyo said.

"Just double-checking, but… did Kanna-chi already go over everything you need to know about her? Her familiars, weak points, and so on…"

"She said the weak point is the gear, and we'd have to watch out for shadow copies of dead magical girls," Tsukasa said. "Is that what you mean?"

"Yes, that's it," Ashley said. "Good luck."

"Thank you very much," Tsukuyo said. "We will see you later!"

"Yes, later!" Iroha said.

Just as the connection cut off, Eve began to thrash again, flapping her wings and attempting to get off the ground. Yachiyo gasped.

"Everyone get ready!" she shouted.

"It's going for the shopping centre again!?" Tsuruno gasped.

"No, it looks like thanks to Miss Felicia it's changed direction," Sana said. "Now it's headed for…"

"That's Chuo Ward," Iroha said.

"The skyscrapers there… Eve's gem, the weak point in its chest… we may have to use the buildings there to string Eve up," Yachiyo said.

"That was also part of my thought when I mentioned you'd have an advantage over Eve in the city," Ashley said.

"True, the way things are now, we can't get anywhere near the gem on her chest," Iroha said. "But I'm not sure we can string it up…"

"She has a point," Kanagi said. "We couldn't even pin it down just now. I'm not sure I'd call that a good strategy."

"Pinning it down and stringing it up are two completely different things," Yachiyo said. "We'll aim for its wing joints. No matter how it thrashes around, it can't reach there with its legs. And even if it does find a way to wriggle free, it'll take much more time than before. We should take care of it quickly, before it starts raging and destroys the buildings."

Even as she spoke, the gargantuan creature finally managed to leap into the air.

"Alright, it's your turn again, Maimai!" Ashley said. "Could you get us to the heliport roof?"

"Sure thing!" Maimai said.

She thrust with her drill, opening up a tunnel, and everyone hurried through it, emerging out onto the heliport roof. There were quite a large number of feathers still there, mostly black feathers with a scattering of white feathers, and they turned in surprise as the tunnel opened up. A quick count estimated around twenty to thirty feathers on the rooftop.

"W-what's going one!?" one of the nearest black feathers gasped.

"It's Nanami Yachiyo and Tamaki Iroha!" another said.

"Um, uhh… please keep calm!" one of the white feathers called. "Remember, we're not enemies anymore!"

"R-right," the initial black feather said.

Ashley stepped forward, summoning her white feather robes but then thrusting the hood back, and Inui followed her example with her black feather robes. Just then, the impact of Eve's landing was felt, sending tremors through the entire building. Ashley waited for it to subside before speaking.

"Everyone, I'd like to ask for your assistance!" she called. "You must've seen that gargantuan moth that just landed over there! We need everyone's help to defeat it!"

"B-but, we're not even very strong!" one of the black feathers protested.

"Gure-chan, that doesn't matter!" Inui said. "Look at how many of us there are!"

"R-right…" the protester said.

The white feather who'd asked everyone to calm down hurried over, also thrusting her hood back. It was Nanase Yukika.

"Weren't you a black feather, Miss Nanase?" Inui said, startled.

"Um, yes, but Akatsuki-sempai lent me this robe," Yukika said. "She thought it'd help me to gather up the feathers… and I can't say she was wrong…"

"We're kinda in a hurry," Ashley said. "But, could you ask them to follow us to where Eve is? Mostly we just need a whole lot of manpower. We don't need people who are strong."

Yukika nodded. "I'd be delighted!" she said. "That was why Miss Amane asked me to gather up the feathers, after all."

"Let's hurry and get to where Eve is!" Iroha said.

"There's no time to take the stairs," Yachiyo said. "We'll hop from roof to roof until we find it."

"Right!" Iroha said.

While the core team followed Yachiyo towards Eve's location, Yukika began to explain the situation to the other feathers. It was less than a minute before Iroha landed on a new building and raced across it to spot Eve on the ground below.

"Eve will need to flatten its stomach the next time it leaps up," Iroha said. "We still have lots of time before it'll make another move… it's all thanks to Miss Maimai! Thank you very much!"

"Um, it's… no problem," Maimai said.

"Even so, we should string it up as soon as possible!" Iroha said.

"Yes, now's our best chance," Yachiyo said. "Everyone, tough it out just a bit longer!"

Suddenly she gasped as her outfit spontaneously transformed, the beaded headdress merging together into a single sheet of cloth cut into strips only halfway down, with a blue edging. The number of stars on her skirt also appeared to have increased, and the larger ones were joined by a myriad of tiny stars as well.

And she wasn't the only one with a new outfit.

Iroha's costume was replaced with a pure white, fur-lined dress that left her shoulders bare, cutting off at mid-thigh length in the front but reaching down to ankle length in the back. She had equally white elbow-length gloves and thigh-high stockings, and her feet were clad in silver sandals. Her soul gem was now attached to a standalone shirt collar on her neck, with two pink ribbon streamers dangling from it, and a silver tiara formed on her head.

Tsuruno's costume turned mostly white, with the patterns on the front of her shirt disappearing entirely, though there were still vertical yellow stripes on the sides of her shirt, which had previously been solid orange. The sleeves were dispensed with entirely, though there was a yellow bow tied on her right shoulder. Her soul gem moved to her chest, and her skirt was now striped white and yellow, matching her shirt. The ribbons on her waist were gone, replaced with a coat of sorts that covered her entire back, extending from the base of her shirt down to ankle level, white on the outside and yellow on the inside. A red tassel was attached on each hip, and she wore white gloves with a red hem, white boots with a red heel and toe, white stockings with a yellow diamond pattern, and a yellow fascinator shaped like a top hat with a red feather.

Felicia's costume merged the bunched-up bundles of cloth hanging behind her into a single sheet, forming a cape. Her skirt was replaced with shorts, and she lost the sleeves and socks. Her headgear turned silver and became more rigid, essentially becoming a helmet.

Sana's costume didn't change much in structure, but all the green components from the waist up turned white, with the exception of green edging in the same style as her skirt – two lines and a row of crosses at her waist and wrists. Her skirt also grew a few centimeters longer, and the tiara upon her head doubled up – she now wore two tiaras that were identical except for their size, with the new, smaller one taking the original position and pushing the larger one back. Lastly, the sheer components of her costume split into strips of cloth rather than a single sheet, gaining a tiny golden bell at the end of each strip.

Momoko's costume primarily gained a new colour scheme, with the various shades of green switching over to equivalent shades of orange, excluding the fleurs-de-lis which retained their original colour. She also gained a white cape with orange edging, matching the rest of her outfit, and yellow epaulettes.

Rena's costume lost the stripes, with the uppermost layer of her skirts vanishing entirely to expose the pink layer underneath, and a new shirt that had a gradient fading from blue down to green, showing a little cleavage. The bow tied behind her back lightened in colour, and the framing strings of cloth that extended from behind the bow took on the same colour, darker than their original colour, but then faded into green towards the tips. The bow tie at her neck was gone, replaced with a string of pearls, and strings of pearls also adorned her left wrist and both thighs, right at the hem of her stockings. A fifth string of pearls, spaced further apart, was attached to her soul gem on her left hip and hooked around her right hip to reattach to her soul gem from the other side, hanging low on her right hip.

Kaede's costume mainly changed colour, with the primary colour becoming the new accent colour while the new primary colour was white. Her gloves and socks also shrank, stopping at the wrist and mid-calf respectively. Lastly, the front of her outfit was closed off, hiding her shorts and midriff.

Kanagi's outfit turned into a pantsuit with a tail coat, fur cape, and silver metal boots, gauntlets, and shoulder guards. As with her regular outfit, the whole thing was white with black accents, including the fur. She still had her monocle, but her hat was replaced by a tiara set towards the back of her head.

Mami's costume turned into a variation of her holy form, but retained her normal hat instead of a crown and dropped the cape. Her soul gem this remained in her hair ornament. The hat did change colour, to white. Those two strips of cloth that crossed on her stomach in the holy form, with a heart and crown brooch at the crossing point, were also not present.

Madoka's costume gained some colour, the pale pink parts turning yellow while the uppermost layer her skirt turned red. That meant that the underlayer of her sleeves and dress, as well as her stockings, were now yellow. Her hair ribbons also turned yellow.

Sayaka lost the cape, as well as the frills edging her shirt, and her skirt turned long and flowing, making it look almost like water. It was still asymmetric however, leaving her right leg exposed. Her stockings shrank to just below the knee, and the blue colour of her boots, skirt, shirt, and gloves brightened considerably, not as far as a sky blue but close.

Homura's costume didn't change that much, but the grey parts of her uniform, including the skirt, collar, and diamond pattern on her stockings, gained a pale lavender hue, and her skirt gained several centimetres of length.

Nagisa's costume turned into a white double-breasted shirt and a black skirt with red, yellow, and blue polka dots and a frilly white petticoat. The shirt had plus-shaped buttons, and the sleeves ended just past the elbow in a frilly hem. She wore a tie about her neck that matched the skirt, as well as black stockings and sturdy red boots. She still had cat ears, but they were now white and attached to a headband, rather than being a hood.

Kyouko gained a cape that was red on the outside and orange on the inside, and the white parts of her costume also turned orange. It wasn't a pure, solid orange, though; it had a pattern of fire composed of multiple shades of orange.

Yuma's costume became a separate white shirt and green skirt, somewhat longer than her regular one as she lost the things on her legs. The shirt was frilly, with yellow accents along the hems, and had short sleeves cut off about halfway to the elbow. The green sleeves normally present on her arms were gone, though she still wore the white mittens.

Ashley's costume lost most of the frills and turned into something close to a traditional yukata, with the length remaining the same. The bow in her hair turned red, and her pink cape was replaced with a scarf of the same material. As for the colour scheme, the black parts stayed the same, but the red parts turned a deep purple to match the obi around her waist.

Inui's costume lost the bonnet and cape, instead substituting a pink beret with teal polka dots and a teal scarf. The rest of her outfit swapped the primary and accent colour, so it was now teal with pink accents, and her stockings were teal and white stripes.

"W-what on earth is going on!?" Iroha gasped.

"Kazumi-chan must be nearby," Ashley said. «Kazumi-chan, where are you? We just entered your aura!»

«I'm almost there!» Kazumi responded. «I can see you guys on top of a building, but I'm not sure how to get up!»

«Shall I send down Teddy Mk II to bring you up?»

«Yes, please!»

Ashley summoned her teddy and sent it down to the ground far below. A magical girl in white emerged from a nearby alleyway and spotted the teddy, hopping onto its head. A few seconds later, Kazumi's voice came through again.

«Okay! I'm ready!» she said.

Ashley directed the teddy back up to the roof, and the girl hopped off, beaming.

"It's nice to meet everyone!" she said. "Oh! I've met Tsuruno-chan and Miss Yachiyo already, though!"

"You're the big eater!" Tsuruno gasped. "From, uhhh… what town was it?"

"Asunaro, right?" Yachiyo said.

"But didn't you have a different outfit?" Tsuruno asked.

"Yes, that's me!" Kazumi said. "But back then I wasn't a magical girl yet… it's a long story, but that outfit belonged to someone else. Since then, I made a wish of my own, so this is the real magical girl Kazumi."

"And her ability is to boost others," Ashley said. "I don't know about you, but I can already feel the effects."

"Yes, I see what you mean," Iroha said.

"It's a bit like my power, but this is on a whole other level," Momoko said.

"Alright, enough chatting," Yachiyo said. "We don't have time for proper introductions right now. Let's get to work stringing her up!"

"Ready, Futaba-kun?" Kanagi asked.

"Yes!" Sana said. "I'll use my chains again… and this time I'll aim for the joints of its wings! Everyone else, please help me hang the chains on the building!"

"I'll hook them to the roof!" Tsuruno declared.

"I'll pull them real tight!" Felicia said.

"I can take care of the wing joint on the other side with my ribbons!" Mami said. "I'm counting on all of you to draw those ribbons tight and secure them!

"I'll be taking care of roof stuff alongside the chick with the huge paper fans," Kyouko said.

"We'll help haul it up!" Madoka said. "We have to save Ui and end this once and for all!"

"I just heard some creepy laughter from over there," Sayaka said. "This may be risky, but it's our one big shot. We gotta make the most of it!"

"Yeah, it would be really bad if Eve jumped again, I think," Ashley said. "Kaede-chan, Miss Minami, could I ask you to secure Eve's feet with plants once she's hauled up?"

"Uhh… sure!" Kaede said.

"Oh yeah, I could turn into Kaede and help out!" Rena said.

"You only just remembered that now!?" Momoko gasped.

The Mitakihara girls hopped across to the building on the other side of the street, and then Mami and Sana whipped down their ribbons and chains respectively, attempting to hook the beast's wing joints. However, Eve wasn't quite as docile as they'd hoped, and it swatted the ribbon away. It did the same on Sana's side, and the chain coiled up and wrapped around Sana and also Iroha, who was next to her..

"Miss Mami, are you okay!?" Madoka asked.

"Unfortunately, it looks like it's going to be quite the feat to trap it," Mami said. "If we slip up, it'll just send all the ribbons flying like it did just now."

"Sana-chan!" Iroha said.

"S-sorry, I didn't mean to get you tangled up in the chains," Sana said, banishing them.

"No, it's fine," Iroha said. "Just… we'll never be able to hold Eve still with this few people… so there's still no way to get at its gem… we need those feathers stat…"

Just then, Walpurgisnacht's eerie laughter echoed through the rain.

"It's gotten even closer," Yachiyo said.

"Sorry to keep you waiting!"

Yukika joined them on the rooftop, having apparently wall-jumped up from the adjacent alleyway. With her was none other than Mitama, who was the one who had spoken. The twins were present as well. Mitama was in a black dress with puffy skirts that opened to knee length in the front, and the twins' costumes were mostly the same but in a different colour – Tsukuyo in blue and Tsukasa in green.

"That voice just now… was that Yakumo?" Kanagi asked. "Did she come back!?"

"I heard from the twins that Eve's weak points are the jewels on its body," Mitama said.

"And we managed to gather many more feathers from where they were scattered across town!" Tsukuyo said. "Thanks largely to Miss Nanase's efforts. We brought around forty of them here with us!"

"Although I guess you already know about that," Tsukasa said. "Miss Nanase said she already spoke with you… but we did add a few more to the number she gathered. We wanted to make it easier for you guys to aim at Eve's gem."

"For sure!" Tsukuyo said.

"With this many feathers to help you, you can keep Eve as trussed up as you like!" Mitama said.

"You're right," Yachiyo said. "I was wondering why they were so slow, but I suppose it's because you met up with them and swelled their ranks. Now we don't have to settle for just hanging it up. We might be able to keep it locked in place. Thank you so much, Miss Mitama. You really came through for us this time. And belated thanks to Miss Nanase as well."

"Yes, we're in your debt," Kanagi said.

Mitama giggled. "Oh, now really," she said. "I wouldn't mind if you were this grateful all the time!"

"Um, it was no problem," Yukika said.

"In exchange, could you spare some people to come with us?" Tsukasa asked.

"Why, what's going on?" Iroha asked.

"Walpurgisnacht is about to descend on the city," Tsukasa said. "We'd like some help to hold it back before it can reach Eve."

"We are still asking other magical girls to gather for the fight," Tsukuyo said. "But they're spread so far apart, it will take too long for them to get there!"

"Alright, I think this is our cue, Inui," Ashley said. "Let's see… the key players to string Eve up are Miss Tomoe, Miss Sakura, Miss Futaba, and Kaede-chan, so probably… we should take the rest of the girls from Mitakihara? That's Miss Miki, Miss Homura, and the two kids. Oh, and Madoka… they can probably spare her, since Kazumi-chan's here now and the key goal is destroying the gemstone, not the body. We need Maimai to stay here however, so they can catch up to us as fast as possible once Eve is defeated."

"Um, I'll need to know where to send them, at least," Maimai said.

"Minaminagi Seaside Park," Ashley said. "Just a moment, Miss Tsukuyo… allow me to ask the Mitakihara girls if they'll join us…"

She switched to telepathy, contacting the girls on the other roof who couldn't hear the conversation well.

«Madoka, Miss Homura… Walpurgisnacht is about to make landfall. Could I ask you to join me to go fight her? We should leave Miss Tomoe and Miss Sakura here to help bind Eve, but Yuma-chan, Nagisa-chan, and Miss Miki could join us if they wish.»

«I don't think—» Homura began.

«Then we'll go help!» Madoka said.

«I agree,» Mami said. «There are plenty of magical girls capable of taking over for you. You should head somewhere where you can make the best use of your abilities. In fact, once Eve is well and truly trussed up, Miss Sakura and I should probably join you as well.»

«If we don't stop it once it lands, it'll probably continue on to Kazamino and Mitakihara,» Kyouko said. «In that case, I don't think I'm really needed here. I'd lose out more if I ignored this mess.»

«Man, you're really not honest with yourself at all,» Sayaka grumbled. «Anyway, I'll give it all I've got!»

«Yuma will do her best!» Yuma said.

«I guess I can go too,» Nagisa said. «This fight's starting to get kinda boring for me, anyway.»

«C'mon, Homura-chan!» Madoka said. «Let's go!»

«Ugh, fine,» Homura grumbled. «It's clear I can't talk you out of it, Madoka, so I'll go with you. Let's go.»

"Well, there you have it," Ashley said. "The nine of us will help you hold off Walpurgisnacht until everyone else can gather. Oh, but Miss Tamaki – please be careful. The Magius will likely be here soon as well. Watch out for Alina in particular – she's bound to try something absolutely insane. Unlike Touka and Nemu, she's not limited by rationality. And don't make the mistake of assuming Eve will disintegrate just because you've pulled Ui out."

Iroha nodded. "Thanks for the warning," she said.

"And, one more thing," Ashley said. "Once you've broken the gem open to expose Ui's body, you need to send Mokyu up to her."

"Alright," Iroha said.

Ashley, Inui, and all the Mitakihara girls except for Mami joined the twins as they headed south towards the sea, hopping from roof to roof across the city. Since that left Mami alone on the far roof, Kazumi and Momoko hopped over to join her, while Iroha, Yukika, Rena, and Kaede descended to the ground to meet with the feathers. After briefly explaining the plan, they executed it without a hitch – Mami's ribbons strung it up on one side, Sana's chains on the other, with all the feathers grabbing onto the ends to pull them tight and haul Eve up into the air. Before long, Eve was hauled up high enough that her legs dangled down, unable to reach the ground. She began to flail a little, but the girls kept the bindings tight and secure.

"Just a little more," Iroha said. "Now that Eve's trapped, we can shatter her gem and free Ui from inside her… and we can finish this before Kamihama is damaged more than it already has been."

"Hey, leader," Yachiyo said. "Shall we get going?"

"Yes, now's the perfect time to strike," Kanagi said.

"Okay," Iroha said.

She turned to face the assembled magical girls, especially the feathers.

"Feathers…?" she said. "I'm sure you're suffering the most out of any of us here. Thank you so much for coming to help!"

"I-I'm ready!" Kaede said.

"Let's fortify this area with weeds!" Rena declared.

"We're not gonna sit on the sidelines and watch," Momoko said. "Let's do this, guys!"

"Yeah!" Kaede said.

"Thank you, Momoko-chan, Rena-chan, Kaede-chan…" Iroha said. "Let's work together so we can put a stop to Eve's curses!"

Rena transformed into Kaede, and then Momoko applied her boosting magic. Then Rena and Kaede called up a mass of vines that coiled around the creature's legs all the way up to the lowest of the crystals, preventing it from flailing about down below. Then, with all the binding work completed, everyone gathered on the ground except for Mami, who headed south to join up with the rest of her team.

"This… might actually work!" one of the black feathers said, straining to hold a line tight.

"It's working!" Iroha said. "It's working, Sana-chan! We've got Eve locked down!"

"Y-yeah!" Sana said. "Yeah!"

"But there's no way we can keep this up much longer!" Kaede whined.

Rena, clinging to Kaede's back, returned to her normal form.

"I'm not used to this kind of magic," she said.

"Thanks for the help, you two!" Momoko said.

"Hmph," Kanagi said. "Now that we have it locked down, Eve shouldn't be able to move around."

"Now's the time to aim for its weak point!" Tsuruno declared.

"Iroha!" Yachiyo said. "You're the only one who can shoot at a target like that from this far away!"

"Blow it up, Iroha!"

"Yes, of course!" Iroha said. "Miss Kanagi… if Miss Taylor is correct, your magic should be especially compatible with mine. Could I ask you to connect with me?"

"Certainly," Kanagi said.

Kanagi stepped up to her, and they pressed their hands together. Iroha felt Kanagi's magic flowing into her along with the flash that indicated the connect to be successful, and she thought Ashley must have been right – it was different from when she'd connected with anyone else, other than Madoka who was a special case. She charged that power into her crossbow along with as much of her own as she could muster.

"Please… let this bring… Ui… baaaaack!"

Without shouting the attack name, she unleashed her ultimate attack, a flurry of blindingly-bright arrows that shot up into the air, only to rain down upon their target. As the light show cleared up, they could see that some chunks had been chipped out of the gemstone, and there was a small crack running from the top left corner towards the centre.

"It worked!" Iroha cheered.

"Magic's spreading out from the weak point!" Yachiyo said.

"Bullseye, Iroha-chan!" Tsuruno said.

"It's not broken yet, though!" Felicia said.

"Even its weak point is tough to crack," Sana said.

"It's okay," Iroha said. "My next shot'll do it for sure!"

But before she could charge up another shot, Eve fired back. It wasn't a massive beam like before, but a smaller, focused beam. Although Iroha did her best to dodge, it still clipped her side.

"You're telling me it still has tricks up its sleeve, even now!?" Yachiyo gasped.

It followed it up with another beam, and another, and another. They didn't seem to do much damage, but they kept Iroha on the defensive, preventing her from charging up another attack. She did keep firing individual arrows at it whenever the opportunity arose, but they had little effect.

While it was laying down the equivalent of covering fire, streamers of dark stuff began to appear from all around the city, flowing down into Eve's body.

"Of course," Mitama gasped. "Eve's familiars have been working tirelessly to help their witch… all those impurities they gathered were to aid Eve… we destroyed all the nests we found, but there must've still been a lot left!"

Moments after she finished her speculation, that gathered power suddenly burst forth from Eve in a storm of fire, spreading outward like a wave, knocking down all the magical girls facing off against Eve and setting a huge chunk of the inner city on fire. If there was any saving grace, it was that it didn't do much if anything to free it from the bindings – neither Mami's ribbons nor Sana's chains were flammable, and although Kaede's wooden vines were flammable, they seemed to have some resistance and thus were only scorched, not outright destroyed. However, without the feathers hanging onto the ends, the bindings came loose, allowing Eve some wriggle room.

Iroha wasn't sure how long she was out. It might have been mere seconds, or it might have been minutes. All she knew was that as she got to her feet and looked around, it was like she'd been cast into hell. Fires burned all around her, and bodies littered the ground. She couldn't tell whether they were dead or merely unconscious. She gazed up at Eve, taking in its current state. Sana's chains and Mami's ribbons were still draped over its wing joints, restraining its movements, but it had managed to break free of the restraints on its legs, and it no longer hung in mid-air, instead resting half on the ground. The jewel containing Ui's body was still exposed, however.

"Eve…" she murmured.

She took a few seconds to take in the state of her allies. Momoko, Rena, and Kaede lay on the ground to her left, next to a couple of black feathers. To her right, Tsuruno and Felicia were just as battered and beaten. She spotted Kanagi and Mitama collapsed a bit further off, and Sana and Yachiyo just ahead of her. They must have tried to shield her from the blast. She couldn't see where Kazumi or Maimai were, but she did note that her outfit had returned to its usual form, which probably meant Kazumi was either unconscious or dead. As for Mokyu… she lay on the ground right by her feet, making pained noises.

"Ah… no… everyone…" she gasped. "B-but… I'm still standing, so… I can still do it… even if I'm all that's left… I'll aim, and…"

As she raised her crossbow to aim, she suddenly gasped as the gem began to glow. It was now close enough that the light from within the gem backlit Ui's body buried just beneath the surface.

"Ui!" Iroha gasped. "Why did you end up like this!?"

She set her jaw and began charging up power.

"I'm your big sister, and I haven't the faintest idea… but now that you've let me see you like this, there's one thing that's crystal clear to me. When I should've become a witch, you saved me. And I wasn't the only one. You took on the impurities of so many other magical girls, and you saved them all. But the price you paid was becoming a half witch that spreads powerful curses. And I… I decided I would save you."

She slowly drew back the string on her crossbow, setting it into the loaded position.

"But… I can't save you if you become one with Eve."

She lowered the crossbow, but didn't stop charging.

"Ui… you're saving so many magical girls," Iroha said. "But you're causing so much pain, too. Look at the state the city is in. And that's why… if the worst comes to pass, I'll kill you before you make your sins even worse. That is what we've sworn do to to those of us who become witches. Now, maybe it's time for me to uphold that oath myself… but even so… I need to stand against you one last time!"

She raised her weapon again, aiming at the enormous crystal that contained Ui's body. Before she had a chance to fire, however, a voice reached her.

"Iroha…"

It was Yachiyo, who had just stirred and regained consciousness. She sat up and turned to face Iroha.

"Miss Yachiyo…"

"What are you going to do?" Yachiyo asked.

"I'm going to take that gem," Iroha said resolutely. "Ui's inside it."

"Then I'll go," Yachiyo said.

"Huh?" Iroha said.

"Both your stamina and magic are near their limits right now," Yachiyo said.

"So are yours!" Iroha protested.

"Well… I haven't been healing everyone," Yachiyo said. "And I'm older and more experienced at conserving my magic. So on the whole, I think I'm better off than you are. Plus… I can harness a power much stronger than my own, but only once."

"Just once?" Iroha said.

But then a new voice joined the conversation.

"Sorry, but you won't get a chance."

"That voice…" Iroha said.

Touka floated down from above, her parasol open, and landed right in front of Iroha. So far, she appeared to be alone.

"You really surprised me!" Touka said. "I never thought you'd be able to corner Eve like that."

"Touka-chan… get out of the way," Iroha said. "Don't you feel anything at all? Even after seeing Ui like this?"

"Hmmm?" Touka said. "I raised this half witch. Of course I've seen her waaay, way more than you have."

"If Eve does devour Walpurgisnacht and turn into a full witch… there's no way to bring Ui back!" Iroha said.

"Yes, you're right," Touka said. "Annoying as this all is, the pieces of the puzzle are finally falling into place. I'm starting to think that what you say could really be true, Tamaki Iroha. I mean that, truly."

"Then why…?" Iroha exclaimed.

"Well, we still don't know a single thing about Tamaki Ui," Touka said.

"Quite," Nemu chimed in, hopping down from a nearby roof. "Even if her story stirs our emotions, it still feels like one from another world. To us, it seems like someone else's problem. Mere fragments of emotion won't cut it."

While Nemu spoke, Alina also hopped down after her.

"Nemu-chan," Iroha said.

"At any rate, there is no way to stop Eve from feasting on its breakfast now," Alina said. "If you're so determined to stop it, you'll have to defeat us first. But you all look pretty beat up to me. You may as well watch Eve enjoy its delicious meal here, with us."

She giggled.

"I'm still going," Iroha said. "No matter what you say. I'm bringing Ui back with me. She's the whole reason I came to Kamihama."

"I… can still fight… too," Sana spoke up.

"Sana-chan…" Iroha said.

"This is our… very last chance," Tsuruno groaned. "T-the… mightiest magical girl w-won't let you… stop us!

"Urgh," Felicia groaned. "D-don't count me out, either!"

"Guys…" Iroha said.

"Eh, you look like we could poke you and you'd fall over," Alina said.

Yachiyo tried to get to her feet, but Nemu beat her down with a flurry of pages.

"You're not going anywhere," Nemu said. "Eve shall proceed to its feast."

"Tamaki Iroha!" Touka said.

She raised her hand and pointed at Iroha, but somehow Sana managed to place herself between them, blocking Touka's attack with her shield. She went even further, swinging her shield at Touka and knocking her off balance.

"Urgh! The invisible girl!?" Touka grumbled.

"Get going right now!" Sana said.

"Iroha!" Yachiyo shouted.

"Sorry, Miss Yachiyo!" Iroha said. "I'll go save her myself!"

With the Magius here, she knew she wouldn't to be able to shoot the gem from afar. She would have to get close to it. So, instead of firing a magic infused arrow… she would become an arrow herself and save her!

"I'm coming for you, Ui!" Iroha said.

She pointed her crossbow at the ground and fired off all the magic she'd charged into it. As the recoil propelled her high in the air, startling the Magius before they could react, she noticed her outfit transform again, indicating that Kazumi was now conscious once again and her aura was taking effect. This also served to distract the Magius still further, as they looked around in confusion at everyone's altered outfits. It seemed the Magius were not given upgraded outfits, however – the aura probably only applied to those Kazumi viewed as an ally.

Iroha landed on the gargantuan golden pendant that supported the massive gemstone.

"Ui!" she shouted. "I've come to take you home!"

But that was when Touka recovered from the shock of Iroha's ascent and the upgraded outfits, propelling herself into the air in a similar manner and reaching the opposite side of the gemstone.

"Tamaki Iroha!" she shouted.

"Touka-chan!"

"Why are you going this far for her!?"

"You should know by now!" Iroha retorted. "She's my only little sister in the entire world! And that's not all, she's a precious friend to you, Touka-chan, and to Nemu-chan as well!"

"That… might be true…!" Touka admitted. "But I don't… understand… I don't understand it at all! I can't make one bit of sense out of anything you say, Tamaki Iroha! Why!? Why is what you say true!?"

"Because it is!" Iroha retorted. "There's nothing else to it!"

She fired a volley of arrows at the crystal at point-blank range, chiselling out most of the crystal's top half and fully exposing Ui's upper body. Attacking the already damaged parts seemed to be especially effective.

"Ui!" Iroha said."Mokyu! Now's your chance!"

Just as Mokyu leapt off her shoulder, Eve suddenly began to thrash again. Iroha lost her footing and slipped from her perch with a scream. However, she managed to grab onto the golden pendant, hanging on for dear life until the creature stopped thrashing. Touka drifted back to the ground to avoid it, while Mokyu landed next to Ui and made one of its cute noises.

And that was when it happened. Ui and Mokyu glowed together, and streamers of light suddenly burst out of them, speeding all across the night sky.

"W-what!?" Iroha gasped.

She caught glimpses of scenes playing within the light as it screamed by, scenes she remembered well, from the times she spent with Touka, Nemu, and Ui in the hospital. But there were also scenes where she was absent. These were not her memories, but Touka's and Nemu's, returning to them at last… and no doubt, the memories of everyone else who had forgotten Ui. Her parents, the staff at the hospital, everyone who had been so kind to her sister and their friends while they were there. Maybe even Kyuubey himself.

"W-when the little Kyuubey touched that girl…" Touka gasped.

"…her fate was reconstructed," Nemu said.

"No… what's this I'm seeing?" Touka asked. "I'm falling… it's like I'm falling, deeper and deeper, inside of my own brain…"

"I saw all of it, Ui," Iroha murmured. "I'm so sorry. I healed you from your sickness. Then I came to Kamihama to find you. This whole time, I thought that I was the one protecting you, but I had it all wrong. I'm not even talking about the doppels… ever since I first became a magical girl, you've been watching over me and trying to keep me safe, haven't you?"

With a burst of strength, she managed to pull herself back up in one fluid movement to stand on the golden pendant next to Ui.

"If they hadn't thought to do that at that very moment, Ui would have turned into a witch," Iroha said. "And now that Mokyu touched you, it all came flooding back. All the memories… and your spirit, too. Ui, you don't need to struggle and suffer inside all those impurities anymore. Your onee-chan is here to save you."

She fired another arrow at the gemstone, but it didn't have enough power to do any more damage. At that moment, Touka leapt into the air once again and joined her.

"Onee-sama, leave this to me!" she said.

"Touka-chan!"

"I'll cut around all the gems holding Ui in place!" Touka said. "Then you can set her free, onee-sama!"

"Thank goodness!" Iroha said. "You remembered!"

"I did," Touka said.

"Still, it isn't going to be easy to do any real damage to Eve," Iroha said. "And we have to watch out for what Alina will do…"

"I have all the energy we gathered in Kamihama," Touka said.

"Right… you do," Iroha said. "Okay, Touka-chan, let's save Ui together!"

"I know I'm the one who caused this mess, but trust me. I'll take care of it! I'll use every last drop of energy I stocked away in Kamihama… and smash the area around the gems! I'll gather up all the energy I have… and drag you from the big crunch… into the big baaang!"

But what she aimed at the gemstone then was less of an attack and more of a cutting laser, slicing clean through the gemstone and cutting away the portion still covering Ui's legs.

"The gem's loose now!" Iroha exclaimed.

"Onee-sama, hurry!" Touka said. "Eve will regenerate if you don't!"

"I will restrain it!" Nemu called.

"Nemu-chan!"

"Ui, Touka, me… and onee-san," Nemu said. "All the stories we wrote together are here in my book. It will take a toll on my body… but I'll use our stories to hold Eve back!"

She did just that, expelling ghostly forms of various rumours that pinned Eve down.

"Onee-san! Now!" Nemu said.

"Onee-sama! Get Ui out!" Touka said.

"Got it!" Iroha said.

Mokyu made one of its cute noises, indicating triumph and suggesting that they could now go home together, and Iroha nodded.

"Thank you for getting Ui back for me!" Iroha said, and it responded with another cute noise, indicating it had been no problem. "Time to go, Ui! We're going home together!"

Iroha pulled at the loosened gemstone. As the remnants fell away, she caught Ui's body, carefully holding her, then leapt down to the ground and laid her down. Touka followed her down, and Nemu also ran over to join them.

"Onee-sama! How is she?" Touka asked.

"She's okay!" Iroha said.

"That's a huge relief," Nemu said.

"Ui… everything's okay now," Iroha said. "You're free from that awful place. We broke you out of it. Go ahead… you can wake up now."

Of course, simply telling her to didn't mean she would wake up, but Iroha just kept calling her name over and over again. The fires around them were burning lower, already starting to be doused by the ongoing rain.

"Were we too late?" Nemu wondered. "Did the impurities overwhelm her the instant she regained her memories?"

"But her soul gem isn't tainted!" Touka said. "And her harvesting ability isn't going out of control like it did before."

"Then how could this be…?" Nemu said. "Ui, open your eyes!"

"Ui! Please, please wake up!" Touka begged.

So the two of them joined Iroha in repeatedly calling her name. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity but was probably only a minute or less, Ui's eyes fluttered open.

"Nee…chan…" she said.

Iroha gasped, then leaned down and gathered Ui up in a great big hug, tears of happiness running down her face.

"Welcome back, Ui!" she said.

"We were just in time!" Touka said. "What a relief!"

"You scared us half to death," Nemu said.

"Ui, I'm so sorry," Touka said. "And sorry to you too, onee-sama…"

"Me too," Nemu said. "I never imagined that the story I created would have such an effect on our karmic fate…"

"I never realized just how big of a chain reaction it would set off either," Touka said.

"We've been getting completely ahead of ourselves since we lost out memories," Nemu said.

"Right, even though our goal starting out was to help onee-sama…" Touka said.

"Our innermost desires were brought to the forefront once our memories were wiped," Nemu said. "Satisfying those secondary motives became our focus, and our plans became distorted."

"We weren't brainwashed," Touka said. "We acted by our own will. So we can't offer a single excuse."

"Indeed," Nemu said. "We were so determined to use magical girl liberation to reach our selfish goals."

"Just like Miss Taylor said, it really is ironic," Touka said. "Although, come to think of it, I wonder how she knew…?"

"That's true," Nemu said. "If Ui's fate was fully excised, even if Miss Taylor had met her before, there should be no way for her to remember… even if she just used her powers to spy on us at the hospital… it should be impossible for her to remember any of that… so how did she know…?"

"I can't answer that," Iroha said. "But I can say that what you were trying to do wasn't wrong at its core. I'm not sure if I have the right to say this after all the damage we did to Kamihama… but it wasn't wrong to try to free us."

"Our personalities caused this catastrophe," Nemu said.

"And that catastrophe has revealed itself in the form of the Kamihama before us," Touka said. Then she giggled. "But you know what? I can't bring myself to regret that this happened. The only thing I really regret… is that we made Ui into such a state."

"Me too," Nemu said. "There may be people who would be happy to see us descend into a deep sadness. But it wouldn't change this situation for the better."

Suddenly Ui spoke.

"Huh… I… what?" she said.

"Oh!" Iroha said. "Right… sorry. Ui, you just woke up. I bet you have no idea what's happening…"

"N-no, actually," Ui said. "I mean, it's vague… but it feels like I've been having a really horrible nightmare this entire time. But it wasn't a nightmare, I guess… it was real. It all led here, to this moment. Even the fact that you came here… you were part of it too, weren't you?"

Ui looked at Mokyu, who made one of its cute noises. It agreed with them, indicating that it was at the core of this situation.

"We all chose this path together, so I can't really complain about it," Ui said. "I have mixed emotions… still, thank you, for giving me my self back."

Mokyu made some more cute noises, indicating it was no problem.

"Ui," Touka said.

"Touka-chan, Nemu-chan," Ui said. "Don't blame yourselves, okay? I chose to become a magical girl, just like you. I'm grateful for what you did. I was erased from existence, with my fate itself severed… and everything was rearranged so that your memories would fit together properly… but the two of you still took care of me and helped me grow. I think that's because somewhere deep in your hearts you remembered who I was… And onee-chan… you tried so, so hard to find me. Thank you."

"Oh, you don't have to say that," Iroha said. "I'd do anything to make sure you came back safe and sound. That was all I ever wanted. I should thank you… for trying so hard to help me."

"Thank you so much for saving me!" Ui said. "I guess it's natural that we'd try to do the same for each other, since we're sisters."

Iroha giggled. "Yeah, you're right."

"I want to bask in this sweet moment too," Nemu said. "But only once we've taken care of everything."

"Yeah," Touka said. "Walpurgisnacht is still around, and we summoned it right to our doorstep. Miss Taylor may have her own plans to destroy it, but… we need to do our part too."

"What about Eve…?" Iroha asked.

"You don't need to worry about Eve anymore," Touka said. "Now that it lost its soul, all it can do is decay…"

"Wait a moment!" Iroha said. "Miss Taylor warned us not to assume that!"

At that moment, eerie laughter was heard in the distance.

"Her voice sounds closer than before," Iroha said. "We've got to hurry and destroy Eve…"

"I'm telling you, there's no way it can sustain itself anymore," Touka said.

"Even if you say that, Miss Taylor clearly predicted otherwise," Iroha says. "Nearly everything she said so far has been right, hasn't it?"

"Well… but even so!" Touka said. "It doesn't make sense!"

"Look out!" Kazumi shouted.

A shimmering hemispherical barrier popped out, covering everyone as a barrage of bright white beams rained down on them.

"W-why didn't you do that last time Eve attacked!?" Iroha gasped.

"S-sorry, I was caught off guard last time," Kazumi said.

"Even with such an obvious telegraph?" Mitama said.

"Yeah, well… I'm kinda a beginner at this," Kazumi said. "I could sense she was gathering magic, but I didn't realize it was an attack that could be blocked by a barrier until it was too late…"

"How long have you been a magical girl, Kazumi-chan?" Iroha asked.

"About a week… or was it two now?" Kazumi said.

"Oh, you really are new," Momoko said.

"But… what's attacking us now?" Iroha wondered. "Is that…?"

"It probably would've sent us flying without this barrier," Ui said. Suddenly she gasped. "Onee-chan, look!"

Eve had suddenly spread her wings and actually taken flight. It seemed like she'd shed some of her mass, as well.

"Well, this is an unforeseen predicament," Nemu said. "Touka, Eve's form has…"

"Completely transformed!?" Touka gasped. "This can't be! Miss Taylor was right again!? But I don't understand! Ui's soul is right here, inside Ui, where we're standing! They were linked before, but now it should be well outside of range… and instead of crumbling, it changed its form altogether!?"

The wind from Eve's wings fed the fires that had been starting to die off, causing them to not only flare up again but also spread. Within seconds, all the buildings around them were ablaze, and they could see smoke rising from buildings quite some distance away as well.

"I don't understand!" Touka shouted. "It didn't become a witch, and its soul is supposed to be gone… but the impurities remain…"

"I think there can only be one explanation," Tsuruno said.

"What…?" Touka said.

"You Magius wanted phase transition energy, which releases when you become a witch… you needed to keep Kyuubey out in order to secure that energy for yourselves, right? And to do that… you made a force field."

"I see," Touka said. "Eve is a big clump of that energy, so the force field's restraining it too…?"

"What do you think, Touka!?" Tsuruno said.

"Thank you, miss mighty!" Touka said. "Eve will eventually break down if we leave it, but it'll take forever. So we need to get rid of the force field. The miracle we have going will fade with Eve's destruction anyway. Alina! Please get rid of the force field for us!"

Alina appeared to consider the offer, swaying back and forth a little.

"Alina?" Touka said.

Suddenly Alina giggled. "I don't feel like it!"

Touka gasped, as did Iroha.

"Alina!" Iroha said. "What are you planning?"

"Is this some kind of sick joke?" Touka asked.

"If it stays up, it will allow Eve to sustain itself," Nemu said.

"Oh, I already shrank the force field earlier," Alina said. "Now it's wrapped tightly around Eve's perfect body, so it won't break down."

"I thought I felt Alina's magic a moment ago!" Iroha said.

"I see," Touka said. "Eve was destined to crumble apart, so what changed its form… was being wrapped in the force field, which in turn stabilized its energy."

"I don't particularly care how it works," Alina said.

"Why?" Nemu said. "Even attempting to understand your motives is painful."

"Well, you see… I, Alina, care nothing for the concept of liberation," Alina said. "My personal goal has always been to achieve my best artwork yet. And now, I intend to create that artwork."

"We raised those witches together," Nemu said. "We even managed to change their forms. That wasn't enough to satisfy your desire, Alina?"

"Creation and cultivation are entirely different things," Alina said. "With Eve in my hands to serve as my paintbrush, I, Alina, will finally be able to create art in the manner I desire!"

"Do you intend to burn the city even more?" Touka asked.

"That's right," Alina said.

"Alina," Touka said.

Alina burst out laughing. "Here, Eve. I shall turn you into my paintbrush for eternity! I shall embrace your frozen form, left without a soul to inhabit it!"

Suddenly she transformed, donning the Rumour of the Fur God, and leapt up into the air.

"Miss Alina… she's…?" Iroha said.

"It's the same as Miss Tomoe," Yachiyo said. "Does that mean…?"

"She's dressed in the Rumour of the Fur God," Nemu said. "I thought we got rid of it…"

"What'll happen now in that case?" Ui asked.

"That depends on whatever the rumour is, right?" Iroha said.

"That one warms frozen hearts, and takes away some of the recipient's life in return," Nemu said. "When Alina shrank her force field to wrap around Eve's body, she must have used the Rumour of the Fur God. Eve shouldn't have anything that constitutes as life, though…"

"Then what's gonna happen now?" Ui repeated.

"I can't say for sure," Nemu said. "The rumour must have taken something other than Eve's life…"

"I can tell you that much, at least!" Alina shouted. "Stealing away life is essentially stealing something's freedom. I already tested this on other witches."

"You're stealing Eve's… freedom?" Nemu said.

"Yes," Alina said. "As such, it has become my paintbrush."

"So next, you intend to shorten the lifespan of Kamihama itself, using Eve to do so?" Nemu asked.

"Of course!" Alina said. "I, Alina, shall use Eve to set the world alight. That is the kind of perfect art that humanity itself clamours to see!"

"I don't understand a word that comes out of this girl's mouth," Yachiyo said.

"Humanity desires destruction," Kanagi said.

"I should think that you, Izumi Kanagi, would understand me perfectly," Alina said.

Kanagi gasped.

"You desire the same thing, do you not?" Alina said. "To lay waste to everything around you…"

"I can't deny that," Kanagi said. "Yes, it's true. Though I was naïve back then, I did want to destroy everything. And now I have the once-in-a-lifetime chance to do exactly that…"

"Kanagi!?" Yachiyo gasped.

"Relax, Nanami," Kanagi said. "I haven't decided on a course of action. Yakumo."

"Yes?" Mitama said.

"Do you want this city to be destroyed?"

Mitama glared back at her.

"Can't you tell just from looking at my face?" Mitama said.

"Yes, sorry," Kanagi said. "It was a stupid question. Then that settles it. I want no part of this."

"Okay," Alina said. "That's too bad."

"Why are you so set on destruction?" Kanagi asked.

"It is what humanity desires," Alina said. "That's why they were drawn, en masse, to my works based on life and death."

"Though there may be people who, like us, would use destruction as a stepping-stone… I doubt there exists a single person who feels genuine glee to see such ruin," Yachiyo said. "You're projecting your desires on them."

"And yet I, Alina, am well aware of how they crave destruction, even if unconsciously. They seek out dark fiction to sate their need to feel. History is rife with bloody battles and yet we have not stopped developing weapons. Quite the opposite, actually! Some even rejoice each time a conflict is created. The environment is on the brink, yet they cannot stop gorging on its bounty. They wait in anticipation of destruction and refuse to lower their quality of life. No animal in existence revels in the carnage of its own kind like humanity. In fact, humans who eliminate vast numbers of other humans are made into heroes. The more I think on it, the stronger my belief that humans desire their own destruction becomes. This is why destruction in itself is a work of art that draws people in subconsciously. And that is the reason people value my artwork so highly."

She giggled.

"Not one word of that resonated with me," Kanagi said. "Even after all your lecturing. I'm sorry. I'm staying firm in my views. I can't endorse this destruction."

"Okay," Alina said. "If that's your decision, then you can just watch as I do it for you. Humanity's greatest wish, left unfulfilled since they came into being… I, Alina, shall grant it along with Eve! Now, let's party!"

At that point, before anyone had a chance to attack, Eve flapped her wings and soared into the air, heading for another part of the city. Even from their vantage point, they could hear the crash as she landed several blocks away, and they could see hints of the fires breaking out as a result, flicking orange lights playing across the distant walls.

"I always thought this chick was nuts," Felicia said. "But holy crap is she out of her mind!"

"I'm sure she thinks she has good intentions," Yachiyo said.

"But there's no way everyone here would want their homes and lives to be destroyed!" Iroha said. "You can't just decide that for them!"

"Alina's controlling Eve," Yachiyo said. "If we take her out…"

"Onee-chan," Ui said.

"You can't fight yet either, Ui," Iroha said.

"But…!" Ui protested.

"Nemu and I will fight lots and lots to make up for it!" Touka said.

"We have to take care of this," Nemu said. "We're the ones who let Alina do as she pleases…"

"Anyway, we have to follow her first!" Iroha said.

She looked around until she found Maimai sitting on the ground nearby. It looked like she was conscious, so Iroha addressed her.

"Maimai-chan, can you get us closer?"

"You bet I can!" Maimai said, jumping to her feet. "I'll carry Ui-chan for you, so just get through as fast as you can!"

She opened a new spatial tunnel with her drill, and everyone piled through it. Momoko carried Kaede and Rena, who were still out cold, and Maimai brought up the rear with Ui. The feathers who had been helping them stayed behind – other than Yukika and a couple of others, they were all still out cold.

Iroha and the others emerged from the tunnel just under where Eve was hovering, with Alina now perched upon her head.

"Miss Yachiyo!" Iroha said.

"Iroha!" Yachiyo said.

They slapped hands together, Yachiyo sending her magic into Iroha, who charged up her bolt and fired at Alina.

"Take this!" Iroha said.

"Ugh!" Alina said, but a moment later she giggled.

"It didn't work!?" Iroha gasped.

"It's because of the rumour she's wearing," Yachiyo said.

"You don't have enough power left to fight me, do you?" Alina taunted. "You should just sit there quietly and lose yourself in my art!"

Alina turned and waved towards a nearby building, and Eve fired upon it, spreading flames across the face of the building.

"My flames can't reach her either!" Tsuruno said. "Even though they should be able to get there!"

"Is there anyone who can reach Alina?" Sana asked.

"M-me," Felicia said. "Well… maybe not me…"

"Definitely don't think I can pull it off," Momoko said.

"I could probably get close, but I have no attack magic," Maimai said. "And it'd be too easy to dodge."

"Neither I nor Mitama are capable of anything as fancy as flight," Kanagi said. "We should have asked either Taylor-kun or Kaname-kun to stay with us…"

"And I don't think anyone has the stamina left to pull off any acrobatics," Mitama said.

"No-one's left," Sana said.

"Actually, I should be able to reach her," Kazumi said. "And I could probably get someone else close, if needed."

"I have to take responsibility as the one who robed her in that rumour," Nemu said.

"Nemu?" Touka said. "Oh, right! You should erase the page that talks about the Fur God!"

"I tried that the moment I thought of it," Nemu said.

"Oh…?" Touka said.

"But it's had its freedom stolen by Alina, so my commands have no effect on it," Nemu said.

"Then what are you going to do?" Touka asked. "You already went overboard crafting rumours… there's no way you have enough power left to stop Alina."

"Be that as it may, I have created quite the number of rumours," Nemu said. "This book is infused with my life force for each and every one of them."

Touka gasped. "Nemu, wait!" she exclaimed.

"Nemu-chan," Ui said.

"I would have only had a tiny scrap of life force left, had I not become a magical girl," Nemu said. "The time I had as a result of extending that life… it may have given me a whole mountain range of things to regret and apologize for… but I got to go outside with Touka and Alina, and work as one of the Magius. And after all of that, I was even able to have a dramatic reunion with Ui. It was a wonderful tale, one that my regular lifespan would never have granted me."

"Don't look so content," Ui said. "You're talking about walking to your own death aren't you!? How can you smile like that!?"

"Ui, forgive me for moving on now that I've had my fill of living," Nemu said. "As for everyone else… I'm aware this may not be sufficient reparation for what I did, but I hope you can forgive me."

"No!" Ui said. "Nemu-chan!"

"If you're set on this… I'll help you get closer to her," Kazumi said. "Scala!"

She raised her staff and conjured a shimmering set of stairs leading up into the air towards Alina. Nemu nodded and mounted the steps. Kazumi started charging magic into her staff, aiming towards Alina.

"Come along, my creations," Nemu said.

She flipped her book opened as she climbed the steps, flicking rapidly through the pages, and ghostly forms of all the rumours emerged from the book and hovered around her.

"Let's return each of your bits of life to the city we so longed for," Nemu said.

"Yes, excellent," Alina suddenly crowed, not paying attention to anyone else. "Our best art shall be done in no time if this keeps up!"

But then, unexpectedly, she gasped in pain. At the same moment, Nemu stepped up directly behind her on Kazumi's ethereal staircase.

"It seems controlling Eve's monstrous form is a little too much for your body to bear," Nemu said.

"Nemu," Alina said, turning to face her. "Hmph! So what if it is? What will happen?"

"I can't even imagine, myself," Nemu said. "Perhaps you'll die, or become a witch. Or perhaps you'll lose yourself completely and become a lunatic. Ah… but that already happened, didn't it?"

"Hah!" Alina said. "I, Alina, shall end everything long before that happens! I will constrict the force field binding Eve as tightly as I can. When all that power is released, it will erupt into a magnificent explosion!"

"You got that idea from Touka, didn't you?" Nemu said.

"I certainly did," Alina said. "It should be more than enough to delete Kamihama from the map. And so, the sight of that destruction will be seared into your retinas in mere seconds."

"Not if I defeat you first and set Eve free!" Nemu said.

"Then allow me to heat things up for you first," Alina said. "Just as the rumour proclaims I should!"

As Alina raised her hand to direct Eve's attention onto Nemu, the rumours flocking around Nemu began to gain more substance.

"I'll strike you now with every rumour I have recorded in this tome!" Nemu said. "Even if it means etching away the last of my life to manifest them repeatedly! Alina!"

And just like that, before Eve even had a chance to attack, all the rumours swarmed Alina. She fought back, of course, and for a moment it seemed like they were on even footing, with Alina breaking out into a gleeful cackle. But… that was when Kazumi struck.

"Meteora Finale!"

With a blast like a rocket, she shot up from the ground, propelled straight at Alina. There was no time for Alina to even react before Kazumi slammed into her at high speed, the staff impaling her through the stomach before flinging her right back off, flying through the night sky with a trail of blood splattering behind her.

Nemu was also thoroughly startled by the attack, She slipped and fell to the ground, Touka hurrying over to catch her.

"Nemuuu…!" Touka shouted.

"W-what was that!?" Nemu gasped.

"Kazumi-chan seems to have finished her off," Iroha said. "Looks like she was just using you as a distraction, Nemu-chan…"

"I… I can't believe it," Nemu grumbled. "After that speech of mine…"

"Nemuuu-chaaan!" Ui said, running over and glomping her and Touka. "Don't you ever talk about dying like that again, do you hear me!?"

"I… fine," Nemu said. "I will refrain from suicidal talk from now on. It wasn't what I planned, but… my attack was nevertheless crucial in Alina's defeat, was it not?"

Kazumi landed nimbly right next to them.

"Oh, absolutely!" she said. "If you hadn't distracted her, there's no way she could've missed all the magic I was building up right underneath her!"

"Thank you very much, Kazumi-chan!" Iroha said. "When Nemu-chan started talking like that, I really wasn't sure what to do…"

"That said… I'm completely beat," Nemu said, powering down. "I don't think I'll be able to move for awhile… a few days, probably."

With that pronouncement, she passed out.

"Nemu…" Touka said. "She made so many rumours, and fought so hard… she must be down to the last shreds of her life."

"After we finally reunited, too," Ui said. "Will she… will she make it…? We promised… we promised that we'd walk all over Kamihama when we got better. Nemu-chan…"

"If only I'd remembered Ui a little earlier," Iroha said. "And remembered about Touka-chan and Nemu-chan… if I'd learned about the Wings of the Magius and fought them a bit sooner… I could've saved Ui earlier… Kamihama would've stayed safe… Nemu-chan wouldn't need to try and sacrifice herself…"

"If you trace this all to its root, we were being toyed with," Yachiyo said. "By our own fates as magical girls…"

"Miss Yachiyo," Iroha said.

"Huh? What's going on with Eve?" Kaede asked.

"It looks completely different now!" Rena said.

While everyone else was distracted, it seemed the two of them had finally come to.

"Rena… Kaede," Momoko said.

"I was unconscious the whole time," Kaede said. "I'm so sorry, Momoko-chan…"

"Same," Rena said. "Everyone's been in danger, and we… urgh…"

Rena stumbled, and Momoko caught her.

"You're not going to be able to jump right back into the action," Momoko said.

"But that girl… Nemu-chan?" Kaede said.

"Did you beat the Magius…?" Rena said. "Wait, what happened?"

"She tried to protect us by using up the last of her life force," Momoko said. "It looks like she didn't get the chance to use it all, though… Kazumi-chan took advantage of her attack as a distraction and took Alina out in one blow. Still, who knows if she'll wake up… and she'd just reunited with Ui, too… she'd only just gotten her back. Have we sacrificed a life yet again…? Really now, how long have I been doing this magical girl thing…"

"Miss Tsuruno… how does Nemu-chan look?" Sana asked. "Is she…?"

"Did she really… die…?" Felicia asked,

"I don't know," Tsuruno said. "But she seems to still have a faint pulse… but still, whether or not we forgive you is not the point, Nemu! This is cheating! We needed to ask you so many things! We needed to hear everything that happened! Keeping your lips sealed instead… that's the worst thing you could do!"

"But I think she'll be okay," Kazumi said. "Um… I don't really have a reason, sorry… I just sort of feel like it'll work out…"

"Pardon my bluntness," Kanagi said. "But we don't have time to sit and stew in our grief. The Magius artist has fallen, but Eve is still very much active."

Although Eve's wings were clearly starting to crumble, it seemed that wasn't enough to stop her from blasting out fireballs. Kazumi's barrier was holding them off from harming the magical girls, but the city wasn't so lucky. The entire region around them was already ablaze.

"So it seems," Mitama said. "Alina dissolved the force field, but I haven't the slightest idea where she's gone, and it looks like Eve is going to rampage one final time before crumbling away."

"Nee-chan," Ui said. "Eve's looking right at me."

"Is it going to try to take you back?" Iroha asked.

"I won't let it," Touka said. "Not after Nemu sacrificed so much of her life to keep you here!"

"That's a given!" Iroha said. "There's no way we're giving up here!"

"Indeed," Yachiyo said. "Our lives may have been toyed and gambled with, but we won't let this go unanswered. Everyone… let's finish this!"

"Okay!" Iroha said.

The five Crescent Moon Villa girls linked hands for a combined attack.

"It has a ridiculous amount of impurities stored up, just like we suspected," Kanagi said. "It's going to take quite awhile for all of that to break down."

"I wish we could just take it out cleanly," Sana said. "But its weak point, the gem, is gone…"

"Shouldn't we just hit it really hard?" Felicia asked.

"We could try aiming for the gems that aren't its core!" Tsuruno said.

"That's true," Yachiyo said. "They're small, and we'd have to destroy them one by one, but they're still weak points!"

"Then let's crush it with all the magic we've got left!" Felicia shouted.

"Felicia-chan! Everyone!" Mitama said. "Here's the very last of my grief seed stock! There's nothing more I can do to help you after this."

She took out five grief seeds and distributed them around the present members, purifying everyone's soul gems.

"That'll do fine!" Momoko said. "I owe ya one, Coordinator!"

"Yes, this will allow me to fight much more freely!" Kanagi said.

"I won't let Nemu-chan's sacrifice be in vain!" Iroha said. "And I won't let Eve take Ui! So this is it, Eve! Time for you to break apart!"

With Kazumi holding off Eve's magic, everyone went all out to attack the creature. One by one, they managed to break apart the gems scattered across its body, but it didn't seem to make any difference to the strength of Eve's attacks, and the progression of decay on her wings wasn't increased either.

"Why!?" Kaede protested. "We're breaking the gems!"

"Once they're gone, Eve's body shouldn't be able to support itself, right!?" Rena said.

"This thing should have crumbled to bits the second it lost its soul," Kanagi said. "It probably didn't matter if it had its gems or not…"

"Then how do we get rid of it!?" Felicia asked.

"We're all out of options!" Tsuruno said. "There's nothing to do now but wait for it to collapse…"

"Kamihama'll be crushed before that happens!" Felicia said.

"Ui made it out safe," Touka said. "But now Kamihama will lose its miracle and just end up trampled under Eve."

"My goodness," a voice spoke up from behind them. "I cannot bear to watch this spectacle any longer."

They turned to face the speaker, a tall European woman with silver hair in what looked to be a lab coat, holding a winged staff with two snakes coiling around it. Kazumi gasped in recognition.

"Pernelle!" she said. "I thought you said you weren't going to help!"

"It is true, I had no intention of stepping in," Pernelle said. "And indeed, I shall not be fighting this day. However… all of you have failed to see the lynchpin that supports this pseudo-witch's form, so it falls to me to enlighten you. With my analysis, a swift victory should be within your reach."

"So… Miss Pernelle… what is the key to defeating Eve, in your opinion?" Iroha asked.

"Yes, what on earth is keeping it stable?" Touka asked.

"The answer to that question is… emotions," Pernelle said. "Emotions are the root of all magic, and at this very moment, they are swirling within Eve's body like a tumultuous storm… no, like a blazing star. The only way to destroy her is to expel the emotions. I believe the hypothesis that they will eventually burn out is correct, and yet, my rough estimate of how long that will take…" She trailed off for a few moments, then nodded. "Seventy-two hours… three days, from daybreak till daybreak."

"T-that's much too long!" Iroha gasped. "We need to finish her off within… less than an hour, ideally! How can we force the emotions to disperse?"

"Miss Iroha, ye have in your possession a device that abhors emotion," Pernelle said.

"Huh?" Iroha said. "A… device…? What are you talking about?"

Touka gasped. "Kyuubey!?"

"Indeed," Pernelle said. "Although the incubator terminal on your shoulder is heavily damaged and has undergone some modifications, it still retains most of its base characteristics. That shell of an incubator shall be your ticket to victory."

Iroha looked at Mokyu, resting on her shoulder as always.

"I don't think I can ask Mokyu to do something like that," Iroha said.

But then Mokyu made one of her cute noises, indicating acceptance of the task and adding that she had already been considering it herself. Iroha and Ui both gasped in unison.

"What?" Ui said.

"Take care of it?" Iroha said. "Do you really think you can? I know Miss Pernelle suggested it, but that's only a theory…"

"A hypothesis," Pernelle corrected. "Ye are correct in that I lack proof that it will work. What has transpired here goes far beyond anything I had ever imagined, after all – no matter how much I have learned of magic over my many years, the works of the Wings of the Magius are yet entirely new to me. But fear not… for I am seventy-eight percent confident in my hypothesis. It may not sound like much, but in truth, most hypotheses barely reach a confidence of sixty percent before being tested."

Touka nodded. "Seventy-eight percent is huge," she said. "You… you seem like a kindred spirit, Miss Pernelle… I wish we could have met before this."

Mokyu piped up with a series of new cue noises.

"Hmm," Iroha said. "So just like Touka-chan and the others tried to replace Kyuubey… you'll help us by becoming part of Eve?"

"Can you even do that?" Ui asked.

"Is not the creature already indelibly linked to Eve?" Pernelle pointed out. "After all, she carried a fragment of your soul for quite some time, Miss Ui."

"Y-you do have a point," Ui admitted. "Touka-chan…? What do you think?"

"I think it's possible," Touka said. "As Miss Pernelle implicated, Eve was born from Ui… someone who had stolen part of Kyuubey's functions away. This little Kyuubey was made sentient by having Ui's spirit placed inside of it. The two of them possess very similar attributes… Ui and the little Kyuubey, I mean. Plus, this little Kyuubey is a singular being that lacks emotion, as Miss Pernelle also pointed out. Incapable of becoming a magical girl, and incapable of becoming a witch."

Suddenly she gasped, as if realizing something. Ui seemed to catch on as well.

"Then, Touka-chan… that means it's possible, isn't it!?" Ui gasped. "The concept we envisioned at the very start of this!"

"Yes, it might be possible!" Touka said excitedly.

"The idea that I saw in your memories," Iroha said. "The automatic purification system? But I thought you already created that…"

"That's right, onee-sama," Touka said. "But this automatic purification system was incomplete… now that the force field is gone, this Kyuubey can now make contact with Eve."

Mokyu chimed in with some more of her cute noises, indicating she had to get going.

"Wait!" Iroha said.

Mokyu made another cute noise, wondering what she wanted.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Iroha asked. "What's going to happen to you, Mokyu?"

Mokyu made another cute noise and nodded. She would continue to watch over everyone, and perhaps they would even meet again. Then she hopped down from Iroha's shoulder.

"Mokyuuu!" Iroha said.

The diminutive creature scampered up the wall of a nearby building, dodging back and forth to avoid the flames, then leapt high into the air to land on Eve's gargantuan body. Her voice echoed down, a final cute noise of farewell… though not of the permanent variety.

And then, all the remnants of gemstones still stuck to Eve's body were expelled, flying off in all directions. With those gemstones gone, Eve finally began to break down completely, the impurities scattering in every direction, blowing about like ashes on the winds.

"All of Eve's impurities scattered to the wind," Ui said.

"So what happened to Mokyu?" Iroha asked.

"It's just like you said, onee-sama," Touka said. "It's replaced Eve to become the purification system, to prevent witch transformations. Though it's using Eve's energy, so it will only affect Kamihama like before…"

"Then what was that stuff that went flying off?" Ui asked.

"I think those were all the emotions that the little Kyuubey couldn't hold onto," Touka said.

"So it didn't die," Iroha said. "Just like it said, it's going to keep looking out for us by acting as this purification system."

"Well, if ye will excuse me," Pernelle said. "I shall take my leave… but if ye wish, I can transport the wounded amongst you to the Coordinator's. To be specific, I refer to the girl laying prone upon the ground."

"Oh, yes, please!" Iroha said. "Thank you so much, Miss Pernelle! I'm not sure if we would've figured it out without your help…"

"You are a friend to Tart, so I could not simply stand by and watch," Pernelle said. Seeing Iroha's confusion, she shrugged. "Ah, is that yet to come to pass? No matter… it does not change my feelings. May we meet again, someday."

And then, in a display of magic diagrams, she and Nemu simply vanished.

"We can't celebrate yet," Iroha said.

"Indeed," Yachiyo said. "We need to go back up Miss Tomoe and the others. I know we're exhausted, but it's better for us to be there than not."

"Pshaw! I'm still raring to go!" Tsuruno said. "Now that we trounced Eve, I feel a second wind coming on!"

"Heck yeah!" Felicia said. "I think we could smash anything we wanted to, right now!"

"I agree," Sana said. "We saved Ui-chan, didn't we…? Now all we need to do is save our city!"

"Yes, I too…" Mitama said.

"Don't push yourself, Yakumo," Kanagi said. "You aren't built for combat in the first place…"

"No need to worry about me," Mitama said. "I know that Momoko fully plans to go fight, even though she's so beaten up. I'm not wrong, am I?"

"No, you're not," Momoko said. "But Kaede and Rena are in no shape to fight. Even if they wanted to, I got no intention of letting them."

"I see," Mitama said.

"This is the last thing we have to take care of," Touka said. "I'll fight extra hard to make up for Nemu and Ui."

"Yeah," Iroha said. "Let's go defeat Walpurgisnacht and go home together. I'm sure Mom and Dad remember you now, Ui."

"Let's do this!" Ui said.

"A-alright," Maimai piped up. "I've only got enough for one more jump, I think, but… are you ready to join the battle against Walpurgisnacht?"

The giant witch was barely visible in the distance from where they stood, like a second moon hanging low in the night sky.

"Walpurgisnacht," Yachiyo said. "Indeed, she's the only thing left…"

"Does it look like they're doing alright against her?" Tsuruno asked.

"If every one of us pitches in… we might be able to take her out," Felicia said.

"We might not have much left in us," Yachiyo said. "But we have to keep going."

"You're right," Iroha said. "We've been protected and given so much support… we can't give up until everything is really, finally over. Thank you so much, Mokyu!"

With that, Maimai opened up a tunnel as always, and everyone piled through.

"Whoa, I never realized that Pernelle actually stepped in, even if just to share information," I say. "I'm sure you would've come to the same conclusion yourselves, but it seems she hastened it a little… by the way, the Tart referred to is also Jeanne d'Arc… a nickname for her, you might say. I guess she recognized the three of you and that's why she decided to help out a bit…"

Maybe she even recognized Nemu's magic…? Since she should have already encountered the Eternal Sakura as well.

"Three?" Iroha says. "The painting only showed me and Miss Yachiyo… but now that you mention it, she seemed to know Ui-chan's name…"

I shrug. There was no need to confirm that Ui would also get caught up in that… they'd find out on their own soon enough.

"Well… we're almost done here," I say. "The last part would be… the battle against Walpurgisnacht. I suppose we should start with Miss Miyako or Miss Tokiwa…?"

"I can certainly explain how things went after we left the Coordinator's," Hinano agrees.

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.

Tamaki Ui
環うい

Age: 11
Eye Colour: Pink
Hair Colour: Pink
Origins: Takarazaki, Shinriku Prefecture, Japan
Symbol: Red bird in flight
Soul Gem: Rectangular red gemstone at her throat
Element: Darkness
Weapon: Kite shaped like a bird
Powers: Collection of impurities
Wish: "I wish for the power to harvest!"
Affliation: Wings of the Magius (rank: Embryo Eve)

Speed: 4
Magical Stamina: 4
Offensive Power: 2
Defensive Power: 5
Initial Power Usability: 3
Learned Powers: 0 (unknown)

Well, this chapter was the onset of the nightmare. Specifically, the nightmare of Kazumi's unique power, which boosts a magical girl's abilities and even grants them a brand-new outfit. Most of the boosted outfits I've described in this chapter have some basis in canon sources, usually special units of the same character. Why? Because it's less work for me. That's the only reason. I'm not especially attached to most of these outfits, so if I ever think of something much better, I may come back and edit this chapter. There'll be more boosted outfits in the next chapter, too, so the same applies there.

At the current rate, chapter 87 will probably be posted on Sunday or at the latest Monday, so not quite by the end of the year as I'd hoped, but close.