Magia: A New Hope

by Pentalithia

A Madoka / Magia Record fan suddenly wakes up in the world of magical girls, as a side character. Features Ashley Taylor. Note: In case it's not obvious, you should expect massive spoilers here for nearly everything in the franchise.

86. Walpurgis the Seventh

Have you heard? Has anyone told you?
The Rumour of the Wind Evangelist.
Arising from scattered fragments of time, she gazes at the distant stars.
Where she blows, she soothes the long-lasting pain.
Where she blows, she thaws frozen wishes in broken hearts.
Where she blows, she carries hope and understanding to everyone.

Oh, have you heard? Has anyone told you?
Magic and miracles are real, you know.
Like the snow that melts and glitters in the moonlight,
from a place far beyond the world's distant edge,
an alien creature promises to unlock the impossible

Oh, have you heard? Has anyone told you?
Deep in shadows lurk monsters unseen called witches.
With their dark magic, they spread their curses far and wide.
Humans under their thrall cannot resist their dark intentions
In the end, they become food for the witch.

Oh, have you heard? Has anyone told you?
From the light of a miracle is born a brand new hero.
A magical girl, destined to fight witches for eternity.
Unacknowledged, she fights for the safety of all humans
She carries all that sadness and pain in silence.

You shall hear, for the wind evangelist shall tell you.
The wish of the blessed wind is to set things right
The road of the gentle wind winds wherever things are wrong
She journeys near and far to share the truth of the world.
Look, and listen, to the news spread far and wide.
Magical girls need not live in solitude.

---

"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.

"But before that, I want to know why you thought that one girl was so important, Ashley," Inui says.

"Huh? Why now?" I say.

"Well, because… I sort of thought that Iro-iro might find the info useful as well?" Inui said.

"Oh, well… I suppose we can start there, then," I say. "Let's see… how should I lead into it… I guess I'll just start from where we split up from you guys."

---

Although Inui and I left the scene of the battle with Eve alongside the Amane twins and Mitakihara girls, after a few minutes I came to a stop and opened up a vision onto the girl that Iroha once saved from a Mirror Witch familiar. After all, she was probably the second most important person for the goal of liberation, after Ui, and I was pretty sure she should now be here, in Kamihama.

I found her in a random street somewhere, running through the rain while clutching her mandrake plushy. By zooming out the vision, I was able to locate her. She was in Kamihama, pretty close to one of the designated evacuation shelters, but she was running away from it rather than towards it. If I wanted to intercept her… yes, it should be possible.

"Is something wrong, Miss Taylor?" Tsukuyo asked.

"No, but… mind if I go off by myself for a bit?" I said. "There's one little thing I'd like to do first. You're heading for Minaminagi Seaside Park, right?"

"Yes, that is the general location," Tsukuyo said. "Even if we are not there, you should be able to find us easily from that location."

"Then I'll see you later," I said.

"I'm coming with you," Inui said.

"I don't mind, but are you sure that's a good idea?" I asked. "We need everyone we can get, so it's probably better if I do this by myself."

"Even so, I'm coming," Inui insisted.

"Alright. Madoka, everyone… I'll see you soon."

They continued on their way, and I headed off in a different direction, towards the evacuation centre. The girl I was chasing wasn't running only in a straight line, so I had to keep adjusting my course to keep track of her. It seemed like she was intentionally heading towards Chuo Ward, where the destruction was. Had she noticed it somehow? Had she seen Eve looming over the buildings? Or just felt that the tremors seemed to come from that general direction?

Finally, after about five or ten minutes of searching, I managed to reach the street she was on. She was now barely visible in my regular vision, and I was just about to call out to her when a loud rumbling sound interrupted my train of thought. Turning towards the source, I saw Eve leap into the air and float there, flapping its wings. It was a lot smaller than before, indicating that Ui had been extracted and Alina had taken control, and as I watched, flames erupted from her, spreading through the street she was in.

The girl I was chasing also stopped and turned to stare at the spectacle. She was probably able to see Eve too, but even if she couldn't, the flames would be very noticeable.

"Hey, Ashley," Inui said. "Isn't there a regular girl over there? What is she doing out in the middle of a typhoon like this?"

"That's what I want to know," I said.

I approached her slowly, not wanting to startle her. I had mostly closed the distance and was about to address her when Eve suddenly turned in our general direction and approached. It fortunately stopped short of our location, landing a couple of streets away.

The girl made for the nearest building and yanked the door open. It was just a generic office building which had apparently been left unlocked during the evacuation. Following her with my vision, I could see her mounting the stairs, so in anticipation of her destination, I summoned Teddy Mk II and hopped on. Once Inui was also securely perched on the teddy, we rose up to the roof. My prediction was proven soon after, as the girl burst out onto the roof and ran over to the edge to watch the fight.

At this point, Alina was just spreading fire indiscriminately in all directions. If there was a method to her madness, I couldn't see it. It wasn't like we had a front row seat since there were a couple of buildings in the way, but it was close enough to distinguish Alina's form from Eve's bulk. The three of us watched in silence as Nemu mounted Kazumi's stairs and faced Alina. Then something from the ground blasted Alina away, and she came flying straight towards us. Some kind of ghostly form peeled off as she passed directly above us, and the girl gasped as it was absorbed into her plushy. Alina herself continued onward, but I didn't bother to try and determine her eventual landing point.

"W-what!?" the girl gasped. "D-did… did something just…?"

"Um, excuse me," Inui spoke up.

The girl spun to face us, startled.

"Ah, um… w-what are you doing here?" she asked.

"That's what I was going to ask," I said. "Shouldn't you be at the evacuation centre?"

"Ah, well… I just… hate waiting around like that," the girl said. "Um… the storm came so suddenly, it was obvious there was something strange… plus, there were those tremors… s-so I just wanted to see… um, so, are you two magical girls? W-what's going on here in Kamihama…?"

"Oh?" Inui said. "You know about magical girls? You're not one yourself, though?"

"O-oh, uhh, I turned Kyuubey down," the girl explained. "Or rather, I couldn't think of anything… especially since… um, well…"

"Huh, I've never heard of someone who actually turns them down," Inui said. "What's your name? I'm Itsumi Inui, and this is Ashley Taylor."

"Ah? Oh, um, my name is… Satori Kagome…"

"Well, Miss Satori, this typhoon is caused by a witch," I said. "So it really would be best if you returned to the evacuation centre."

"Ah, but, well—"

Suddenly the girl interrupted herself with a gasp. She held out the mandrake plushy she'd been clutching all this time, gripping it with both hands and scrutinizing it.

"A-al-chan…!?"

"Huh? Is something wrong?" Inui said.

"No, um… did you… not hear that?" Kagome asked, looking at her. "Ah… so you didn't…?"

"I didn't hear anything," Inui said.

Kagome looked at her mandrake plushy again.

"Al-chan…"

"So, I guess Al-chan can talk now?" I said.

"Eh, um… can it…?" Kagome said. "You're saying… it wasn't just my imagination…"

"I don't see why it would be," I said. "I did see something slip into Al-chan a little while ago, after all…"

"Ah, now that you mention it, I caught a glimpse of something too," Inui said. "Was it one of Nemu-chi's rumours? She was attacking with all of them just before that… could one of them have escaped somehow?"

"The Rumour of the Wind Evangelist," I mused. "Most likely."

"Um, so… I see," Kagome said. "So that's what happened…"

"Well, thanks to that, you can probably get some idea of how things are going without putting yourself in danger," I said. "So, why don't you let us escort you back to the evacuation centre?"

"Um… well… okay," Kagome said. "I'll come…"

Since there seemed to be nothing much left to watch, Kagome headed back inside to take the stairs down, and this time we accompanied her.

---

"Rumour of the Wind Evangelist?" Iroha says. "That's not one I've ever heard of…"

"I don't expect you would have," I say.

"So, as I was saying, what's so important about that girl?" Inui says. "With how far out of the way it took us, and the fact that she was never in any real danger, I don't think you would've done that if you didn't have a good reason."

"Yes, it's because… Miss Satori is one of the key players to make the automatic purification system successful," I say. "I'm not going to get into the details of why or how, but without her, you won't be able to keep it running indefinitely."

"Um, so you're saying… it could stop working in the future if we don't have the help of Miss Satori?" Iroha says.

"That's right," I say.

"But… she's not even a magical girl, so how can—" Iroha says. "No, wait, is it because she's not a magical girl…?"

"I think I understand," Kanagi says. "Because she's not yet a magical girl, when the time comes, Satori-kun could make a wish for whatever is needed. In other words, by keeping her in reserve, we gain a means to achieve anything we desire."

"Something along those lines," I say. "Not that I'm saying you should force her to make a wish or anything… that'd make you as bad as the Mikoshiba. But assuming she's willing…"

"But isn't there a chance that she makes a wish before that?" Yachiyo says. "You said she couldn't think of something, but maybe she'll still come up with something…"

"Even if she does think of something, wouldn't it have to be pretty hefty to overcome the cost?" I point out.

"Hold on a second," Mitama says. "Are you suggesting that she already knows the truth about magical girls?"

"I'm not sure if she already knows now, but if not, I expect her to learn it pretty soon," I say. "I think she's supposed to find out from Professor Satomi, but I'm not sure if that's in the past or in the future…"

"Satomi…?" Iroha says. "That's the same surname as Touka-chan…"

"Her uncle," I say. "I think she mentioned him when we were down in the chapel, right?"

"Oh right, he was the one writing a book about magical girls," Iroha says. "You met him, right, Miss Yachiyo?"

"I think I might have, yes," Yachiyo says.

"So anyway, shall we move on the the final stage of this story?" I say. "Miss Tokiwa, Miss Miyako, it's finally your turn."

---

After Mami left the helipad, the magical girls there spent several more minutes getting all the feathers calmed down. That lasted up until Mifuyu's announcement was broadcasted to all the feathers. Her words were enough to silence even the most vocal of the feathers. There were a few who left the helipad and disappeared into the night, such as the white feather known as Hime. Still, at least they weren't causing trouble anymore.

Once that was settled, all the other magical girls gathered around to discuss what they should do.

"The weather has been worsening," Nanaka said. "Could it be indicative of the approach of Walpurgisnacht?"

"I think that's likely," Hinano said. "We should probably go straight to the waterfront to intercept it before it makes landfall."

"We've got people waiting there already, at Minaminagi Seaside Park," Koito piped up. "But they could probably use the extra help."

"Then let's hurry to Minaminagi Seaside Park," Hinano said. "I'm probably the most familiar with that area of town, so I'll lead the way."

They descended the stairs to the ground floor, and then Hinano began to lead the way south towards the waterfront. As they drew near, the sound of creepy laughter started to carry in on the wind, and it even began to rain.

"That laughter… there's definitely a witch up ahead," Hazuki said.

When they finally arrived at their destination, a small park almost right next to the waterfront, the rain had progressed into a downpour, and the wind was blowing strong. There were quite a few magical girls waiting at the park, most of then not yet powered up, gazing out towards the sea, but neither Nanaka nor Hinano recognized most of them. However, three girls spotted them and stepped forward – Natsuki, Kanoko, and Meguru. They were already powered up.

"You finally made it!" Meguru said.

"Finally, some magical girls I recognize," Natsuki said. "I don't know a single person here… it seems Miss Taylor asked them all to come."

"What's the status here so far?" Hinano asked. "How are things going over here?"

"Well, it seems we're just waiting," Natsuki said. "We haven't seen any suspicious movement yet… although, we only got here a few minutes ago. Before that, we were at the Coordinator's. A bunch of other girls came here with us at the same time… they called themselves the Pleiades Saints."

Natsuki indicated one of the several groups of magical girls in the park.

"There was also a girl called Mikuni Oriko, who seems to be in charge right now. There are several girls who don't speak Japanese, but they do speak English, so keep that in mind."

Natsuki gestured towards the girls in question. It was easy to see from their build and complexion that they weren't Japanese, and they stood out further by not wearing a school uniform.

"That blonde girl with the Pleiades Saints speaks English, in case you need a translator," Natsuki said. "I haven't gotten a chance to speak to everyone, but it seems there are girls here from Asunaro, Mitakihara, and Kazamino…"

"I see," Hinano said. "Miss Taylor must have done a lot of work to convince so many people to travel to another city just to fight a witch of this calibre. We'll have to thank her later. Alright, so—"

At that moment, she spotted a train of strange creatures approaching from the waterfront. They were led by huge elephants in green and red with a blanket of the opposite colour thrown over their back, and pink or green blinders across their eyes. Streamers attached to the elephants' heads were decorated with countless small triangular flags in all different colours, each one bearing a dot of a different colour, and the streamers stretched out for as far as the eye could see, gaining height and eventually disappearing into the gloom. There were also pink creatures that sort of resembled a llama, ridden by tiny creatures with an orange orb for a head, stick-like arms and legs, a red collar, and a white shirt with two massive purple buttons. Mixed into the parade were a wide variety of other strange creatures, but the vast majority were either elephants or the pink llamas with a rider.

"Familiars!?" Hinano gasped. "Outside of a labyrinth!? Something this bizarre can only mean… these must be Walpurgisnacht's familiars."

"We heard a cackling voice not too long ago," Nanaka said. "I am certain that the witch herself isn't far behind."

"All we can do now is see whether we can take it out or not," Hinano said.

"We have the advantage in numbers," Nanaka said. "Especially with all those girls from out of town that Miss Taylor called in. Provided we coordinate effectively, we have a fair chance of winning."

"That's not going to be easy though," Hinano said. "Most of us here have only just met."

"Even so, we can't afford to hesitate," Nanaka said.

"You can say that again," Hinano said. "If we waver even the tiniest bit, it's all over for us." Then she raised her voice to a shout. "Alright, everyone! Get ready!"

Everyone who hadn't yet powered up did so now, and strangely, the outfits of everyone who had already powered up also changed. There was a round of gasps as everyone noticed the new outfits.

"What on earth just happened…?" Hinano asked.

"I surmise that this is a side-effect of the power of one of the magical girls present," Nanaka said. "It feels like some form of boosting magic…"

"Heeere we gooo!" Natsuki shouted. "I'll be cheering everyone on! Ready, go! Go, fight, win!"

Most of the magical girls present made for the oncoming carnival parade and started attacking the familiars. A small number of them stayed behind at the park to watch and give directions, including the blonde girl Natsuki had mentioned as speaking English and the girl in white she had referred to as Miss Mikuni.

All things considered, though stronger than an average familiar, they weren't all that tough – they were still weaker than a typical witch. The stronger magical girls among them could destroy one of the elephants in five or six hits, and they didn't even try to fight back unless you stepped in front of them, and even then they only attempted to sweep you out of the way. The llama riders were a little more aggressive – they would ignore you until you attacked or got in their way, but once you did, they would persistently target you until they died. They were easier to kill than the elephants, as long as you could hit them, but they were a lot more nimble and could often dodge your attacks. The other miscellaneous familiars in the parade were just small fry in comparison. The net result was that, with so many magical girls, it was a cinch to prevent the parade from advancing past the park.

Emiri clobbered one of the elephant familiars with a yell, finally finishing it off.

"Yuck," she said. "These familiars are, like, in a whole different dimension compared to regular ones!"

"Hey, but you're keeping up with them just fine," Hinano said. "You're doing great."

"That means a bunch coming from you, Myako-sempai!" Emiri said. "I don't really get it, but these familiars keep moving forward in a straight line. It's super easy to just shoot them down, you know?"

"They may be advancing without regard for their safety, like a bullet from a gun," Hinano said. Raising her voice, she called out. "How're things going with you guys?"

"We outlasted the first wave of attacks," Nanaka said.

"As you and Emily said, our enemies appear quite reckless," Meiyui said. "If we keep our calm and don't let them get the best of us, we stand a good chance."

"In other words," Asuka said. "If we protect this bay area, it'll be like an iron gate for Fort Kamihama! We might actually be able to fight Walpurgisnacht on an even footing that way!"

"Optimistic as ever, I see," Meiyui said. "The only reason we're able to fight them off here is because we're in a group."

"Indeed," Nanaka said. "The bay area is rather vast… we will have no choice but to divide our forces if enemies appear elsewhere."

"That's… a good point," Asuka admitted.

Suddenly Emiri gasped. "Oh my god, guys, look at that!"

Nearly everyone turned inland to look at where she was pointing. Emerging from the darkness between the buildings was a swarm of small, black familiars, sort of like penguins. They probably outnumbered the carnival at least three to one.

"Familiars!" Hinano said. "Looks like they're coming from where Eve is. I've been seeing these familiars all over the place for awhile now… so they're Eve's familiars, then? They're scattering throughout Kamihama…"

"On your guard, everyone!" Nanaka said. "Another wave is incoming!" Then she gasped. "What? They're appearing in other places, not just here?"

She had spotted a new line of carnival familiars quite some distance to the east, marching along unchallenged. Looking to the west, another fresh line could be seen as well.

"This is rapidly turning into a nightmare," Meiyui said.

"Miss Nanaka!" Kako called. "Walpurgisnacht's familiars are showing up all along the bay!"

"Yes, I'm aware," Nanaka said.

"It's almost like they're responding to the familiars Eve scattered everywhere," Asuka said. "I really was being way too optimistic… it's only a matter of time before the city is completely overrun with familiars!"

"Whaddawe do, Myako-sempai!?" Emiri asked.

"You are the most experienced magical girl among us, Miss Miyako," Nanaka said. "We have no time for debate. Tell us what to do, and we will do it."

"I have no objections to that," Meiyui said.

"One option is to stay here and wait for Walpurgisnacht to come to us," Hinano said. "But honestly, if the familiars keep coming, they'll be just as much of a threat. And worst-case scenario, they might even turn into witches themselves…"

"So then…?" Nanaka said.

"Desperate times, desperate measures," Hinano said. She raised her voice again. "Everyone, split into teams and spread out! We're tackling the familiars! If the magical girls by Eve can take it out, that'll get rid about half of the familiars. Do your best to hold out till then!"

Oriko also raised her voice.

"As she said, spread out! Stay in teams of people you know! Each team should find a place to fight, and just kill as many familiars as possible! Don't worry too much if one or two of the carnival familiars gets past you – just kill as many as you can!"

The blonde girl beside her spoke up too, but in English. No doubt that was for the benefit of the girls who didn't speak Japanese. Hinano's English was a little rusty, but she was pretty sure they were just repeating what she and Oriko had said. While she was speaking, all the magical girls in the area began to form teams and head off to the east or west. Oriko waited a minute for Komaki and Koito to come up to her, as well as the girl named Kirika who had been with them when they arrived at the Coordinator's. Then she headed off towards the west.

Before long, the only ones left fighting at the park were Hinano, Emiri, and Meguru.

---

After getting Mifuyu settled down in the back room, Mitama headed out into the lounge at her place and took stock of the situation. Just over half of the girls here now were former feathers, most of whom were still hiding behind their feather robes, although there were several feathers who had either pushed their hoods back or doffed the robes entirely.

"So these are all the people who had trouble handling the truth," she mused. "As well as the feathers who were beaten at Fendt Hope…"

"There are quite a few people here still," Tsukuyo said. "But, that merely goes to show the stupendous number of magical girls that we were able to recruit in such a short time…"

"For sure!" Tsukasa said. "It's hard to believe we gathered over a hundred members in less than a month…"

At that point, two of the magical girls approached the three of them. They were part of the group from Hohzuki, most of whom had taken the revelation badly.

"Excuse me," the black-haired girl said. "But, we've been in here for quite a long time, whereas you've been out and about, so… we were wondering how things were going…"

"Well, I was just thinking it was about time to go check things out," Mitama said. "Since I arrived back by portal, I only know how things are on the other side of the city… but I can certainly tell you there's quite a storm outside, if nothing else."

"Do you mind if we come with you, then?" the girl asked. "Ah, by the way… I'm Hinata Matsuri, and she's Amano Suzune."

"Yakumo Mitama, a pleasure," Mitama said.

"I'm also sharing this body with my older twin sister, Kagari, but she seems to be sulking right now…"

Mitama blinked. "You're… sharing a body?" she said. "Interesting… I never would have thought that was possible… anyway, you're welcome to join me. The twins were going to come along too, weren't you?"

"Yes, I was just about to make the same request," Tsukuyo said.

Mitama left her office along with Matsuri, Suzune, and the twins, and gasped in shock. The downpour and stormy winds were expected. That wasn't the issue. The shock was that there were penguin-like familiars flying around everywhere, not even bothering to cloak themselves in a labyrinth. They appeared to be gathering piles of garbage and debris in random locations.

"What in the world!?" Mitama gasped.

"Those are… familiars?" Matsuri said. "Outside of a labyrinth? I've never seen anything like that before…"

"They are whipping up a tornado," Tsukuyo said. "They seem to be gathering something!"

"It almost looks like they're building a nest!" Tsukasa said.

And that wasn't the only thing that had caught her attention. There were several carnival-like processions of familiars approaching from the south, dragging colourful streamers that reached up into the sky, disappearing into the gloom. The penguin familiars were attacking them, dive-bombing them over and over until they succumbed and broke apart. The elephant ones didn't even fight back, making them easy targets, but the llama riders did, their counterattacks frequently destroying two or three penguins at a time. But both sides were so numerous that destroying a few on either side barely made any difference.

"They're even gathering up Walpurgisnacht's familiars!" Mitama said. "Wait… is the reason why Eve's familiars are building a nest… so that they can stockpile the impurities that Walpurgisnacht is carrying!?"

At that moment, most of the other girls remaining inside chose to come out. In addition to Matsuri's friends from Hohzuki, Mitama recognized Mayu and Sayuki, Aimi and Kokoro, Rika and Ren, and about half of the former feathers who'd been holed up inside. Ikumi, Ryo, and Yumi had thrust their hoods back, while Tamura, Hikari, Chihana, Tomomi, Chiyoko, Maria, and Sue were no longer wearing their robes at all. The girls from St Lilliana's had also made an appearance.

"Oh no," Mayu gasped. "What's happening!?"

"I can't believe things went this haywire while we were at the Coordinator's!" Aimi gasped.

"Thank goodness you all came out," Mitama said. "Although it looks like a few of the feathers are still inside…"

"I know I cried a lot, and I still feel awful," Rika said. "But what's done is done. I want to treasure the memories I made by becoming a magical girl."

"I never thought I would agree with Rika-chan on something," Hikari said. "But I do agree on this."

"So that's what I decided," Rika said, shooting a glare at her cousin for the interruption.

"Yeah," Aimi said. "It felt like everything that happened to me was completely awful… but when I really think it through, it isn't like that at all. I wouldn't have half of my experiences and memories if I hadn't become a magical girl!"

"You got that right!" Chihana cheered.

"And Kamihama is full of those memories!" Aimi said.

"Yes, that's why it was inevitable that I'd become a magical girl at some point," Kokoro said. "I've decided to think of it as the best choice I could have made back then."

"Yes," Ren said. "This way it won't sour all the time we spent, living our lives… yes…"

"It was especially hard for me, as I didn't get anything useful out of my wish," the blonde girl from Hohzuki said. "But thanks to my friends – well, mostly Matsuri-chan – I've come to realize that I just have to live with the consequences and take responsibility."

"S-so we have to help out!" Mayu said. "Um, Miss Mitama? What should we do?"

Mitama giggled. "It's reassuring to have so many of you here to help," she said. "Okay then, you can start by hunting down all these familiars. There's far too many for just my team to wipe out. Focus on the flying familiars!"

So everyone spread out and began to attack the penguin-like familiars. Perhaps drawn by the sound of fighting, the remaining feathers slowly trickled out from inside and joined in the battle. The familiars weren't all that strong, but their numbers were overwhelming, so it felt like trying to hold back a flood. Fortunately, they seemed more interested in the carnival familiars than the magical girls attacking them, so the girls took almost no damage.

Mitama wasn't sure how long the battled lasted, only that their stamina slowly but surely decayed. At some point, the sight of someone moving amidst the carnival familiars caught her by surprise, and coupled with the exhaustion from constant fighting, she took a blow from one of Eve's familiars.

"Owww!" she said.

"Miss Mitama!" Tsukasa called.

"I'm fine!" Mitama said. "That attack wasn't meant for me. Eve and Walpurgisnacht… even their familiars seem like they're trying to devour each other."

The person who had caught her attention appeared to be a magical girl, but she strode through the lines of familiars without even attempting to attack, and they ignored her completely. Mitama idly watched as the girl drew closer. She had blonde hair and looked vaguely familiar.

"Though Eve's familiars have the advantage in numbers," Tsukuyo said.

"When an enemy falls, they absorb its impurity and tuck it away for later," Tsukasa mused. "It looks like Miss Mitama's right."

"If they were just trying to destroy each other we could leave them to it," Mitama said. "But we can't ignore how they're stockpiling impurities. Alright. Tsukuyo-chan, Tsukasa-chan? Did you get through to the other magical girls?"

"Yes," Tsukasa said. "I checked in with them, and it looks like they've split up on their own missions."

"Apparently their initial plan was to wait on the shore for Walpurgisnacht," Tsukuyo said. "But they split up once the familiars began raining down across the city."

"Yes, they're taking on the familiars just like we are," Tsukasa said.

"I see," Mitama said. "Then, now that the girls who were taking shelter at my place are out and about… shall we start making the rounds as well?"

"The… rounds?" Tsukuyo said.

"Yes," Mitama said. "We'll take the grief seeds I have in the store to where others are fighting. Let's use all our power to support everyone fighting throughout the city. And while we're at it, we need to take care of the nests Eve's familiars are building. Since we have no idea what they're planning, we need to destroy as much of it as we can."

"Understood!" Tsukuyo said.

Suddenly the earth shook again, and Tsukuyo let out a tiny shriek.

"Oh nooo… another earthquake!" Tsukuyo said.

"That must mean… it's taken another leap towards the city," Mitama said.

At that moment, the approaching magical girl caught up to them and addressed her.

"As long as you're distributing grief seeds, we may as well pool our supplies," she said.

Mitama looked at her. "And you are… Hijiri Kanna, right?"

"No… but you can think of me as something like her twin sister," she said. "I'm Kanna Nico."

She took out a bag and pressed it into Mitama's hands.

"Kanna-chi has already been distributing seeds in the far west region," Nico said. "I was about to distribute them around this region. If the three of you take these and whatever you have and cover the central and eastern regions… we should be able to supply grief seeds to everyone who needs them."

"I'm glad to see that someone else had the same idea as me," Mitama said. "But where did you even get so many grief seeds?"

"Kanna-chi knows someone who has a crazy stockpile," Nico said. "She's not fighting with us today, but apparently she was willing to donate a large number of grief seeds to the cause."

"Thank you very much, Miss Kanna," Mitama said. "We'll begin distributing them right away. Tsukasa-chan, you cover the region south of Kosho Ward, and I'll cover the region south of Daito Ward. That leaves Tsukuyo-chan to cover the central region, near Sakae Ward."

"Understood!" Tsukuyo said.

Mitama peeked in the bag she received from Nico, then passed it to the twins.

"Split these between you… I'll distribute the ones from my shop," she said.

With that, Mitama stepped back into her shop, ignoring the shocked gasps as the twins realized how many grief seeds were in that bag. It was even more than she had at the shop, she was pretty sure. She gathered up all the ones she could find, then turned to Shizuku, who was resting on one of the couches. The only girls left in the room were her, Ayaka, and a couple of black feathers.

"I'm sorry to ask this of you again, Shizuku-chan," Mitama said. "But could you possibly link me to somewhere in southern Daito?"

Shizuku nodded. "Yes… I'm happy to help where I can," she said.

She opened a portal, and Mitama stepped through. She headed south, seeking magical signatures, and found several teams working to destroy the familiars. They were mostly people she didn't know – a team of five from Kazamino, the team of foreigners that Ashley Taylor had invited, the team of six from Mitakihara, a team of several feathers who she'd only met at most once each. She handed over grief seeds to each team. Since there were quite a few seeds, she handed out one grief seed per girl, to make sure that everyone would have enough.

When she located the final team in the area, not far from the Mirror Mansion, they were finally some familiar faces – Asuka and Sasara. They looked like they were being overwhelmed by familiars when she showed up, plus they were guarding a procession of late evacuees at the same time, so she joined in the fight to give them some breathing room. Before she realized it, she was on at least her tenth familiar.

"And with this, begone!" Mitama shouted, taking out another llama rider.

She paused to catch her breath for a little.

"No matter how many I kill, more just keep coming," she muttered. "I suppose this death parade will keep marching until everything's gone to ruin…"

"Miss Mitama!" Asuka shouted. "We're all clear over here! The townspeople appear to have evacuated!"

"That might actually be a blessing," Sasara said. "Now we can stop focusing on rescuing people… and devote ourselves to fighting familiars."

"We can't tell yet when the next wave of familiars will show up," Mitama said. "I'll give you two these, so you can prepare for when they do."

She held out a pair of grief seeds.

"Grief seeds?" Asuka said. "Can we really take these?"

"Of course," Mitama said. "The situation is serious. Consider this a special one-time treat from your Coordinator. I'll be handing them out to the other girls too, so don't worry about them."

"In that case I'll be glad to take one!" Asuka said.

"We'll move on now and try to find more familiars," Sasara said.

"Yes," Asuka said. "Let's methodically crush them. Oh! Speak of the devil… I just sensed more familiars."

"Yes, and they're close," Mitama said.

"Oh no, Miss Sasara!" Asuka gasped. "The magic I'm sensing is back at the school we were just at!"

"They're targeting the evacuees!?" Sasara gasped. "Saving human lives is the priority here… Asuka, come on! Hurry!"

The two of them rand off, and Mitama gave chase.

"I'll help you!" she said.

They discovered another of Eve's nests near the school in question. While they were destroying it, Walpurgisnacht's eerie laughter was heard in the distance. Mitama reached into her pocket for a communicator, only to realize she'd left it in the shop when she was gathering the grief seeds. Fortunately, a minute or so later, she heard Tsukasa's voice.

"Miss Mitama! Can you hear me? Miss Mitama!?"

"Tsukasa-chan!?" Mitama said.

"Thank goodness!" Tsukasa said.

"I was just wondering what to do," Mitama said. "I forgot to grab a communicator and was out of telepathy range, so I couldn't reach you."

"You were trying to reach me?" Tsukasa said.

"Yes, Walpurgisnacht is here," Mitama said. "I just heard her."

"I knew you'd notice, Miss Mitama," Tsukasa said.

"Yes," Mitama said. "The situation has gotten even more grave… but there may be a way for us to turn this situation to our advantage."

"Our… advantage?" Tsukasa said.

"Yes," Mitama said. "We can fight the familiars, but we'll never beat them all while the witch is alive. Eventually we'll be driven into a corner."

"I see," Tsukasa said. "So we'll target the witch?"

"Yes," Mitama said. "Eve and Walpurgisnacht… we'll destroy both of them. It doesn't change the fact that the situation has gotten much worse… but I believe consolidating our forces is more advantageous than being spread out."

"Yeah… we don't have any other choice, do we?" Tsukasa said

"What do you think about it?" Mitama said.

"Miss Hinano is already calling back everyone who has a communicator," Tsukasa said. "So, she came to the same conclusion as you."

"I see, that's reassuring," Mitama said. "Since she's on board, please contact everyone else. Some people may have lost their communicator or simply never had one. They should cooperate if you bring up our names."

"Alright," Tsukasa said. "Miss Hinano made the same request, so I'll get started straight away."

"Could you also ask Shizuku-chan to link to just outside the Mirror Mansion for me?" Mitama said. "That way I can return to the shop more quickly."

"I'll tell her," Tsukasa said.

---

Hinano finished off the last of Eve's familiars in the latest wave and paused to catch her breath. There were a few of the carnival familiars still remaining, mostly of the huge elephantine type, but Meguru and the Amane twins were already taking care of them. The twins had shown up just a few minutes earlier to hand out grief seeds to everyone.

"That's it for the time being," she said.

"Myako-sempaaaiii…" Emiri said. "I'm, like, totally beat!"

"I want to say, 'this is no time for whining!' But honestly, this is getting rough for me, too," Hinano said.

"Oh my god, right!?" Emiri exclaimed, nodding.

"What're you getting all happy about?" Hinano retorted. "Idiot! Sorry about this, you two. You went out of your way to bring us grief seeds and here we are being weaklings."

"No, we're not in any better shape," Tsukasa said.

"For sure," Tsukuyo said.

Suddenly, Walpurgisnacht's eerie laughter was heard from somewhere out to sea. Peering up into the gloom, Hinano could vaguely make out the outline of something huge flying above the water.

"It's finally here, huh?" Hinano said.

"Miss Mitama probably noticed too," Tsukasa said.

"I believe so, yes," Tsukuyo said. "Tsukasa-chan… you should try to get in contact with her."

"Sure!" Tsukasa said.

"I'll recall everyone I can with the communicators," Hinano said. "But some people may have split up and not have one, so I'd be grateful if you two can also ask everyone to gather here."

She took out her communicator, which had already been retuned to the same channel that Ashley was using, and pressed the speak button.

"Miyako Hinano here," she said. "Walpurgisnacht has been sighted near Minaminagi Seaside Park. Please hurry back here as soon as you possibly can. The rest of the familiars will have to wait. Hinano out."

"Miss Hinano," Tsukasa said.

"It's simple," Hinano said. "At the moment, all we can do is fend off the familiars. But if Walpurgisnacht is here, that's a whole other story. We need to regroup before it gets here."

"Tsukasa-chan!" Tsukuyo said.

"Yes, Tsukuyo-chan!" Tsukasa said. "Let's go spread the word and make sure everyone knows!"

"We must!" Tsukuyo said. "After all, Walpurgisnacht and Eve work like any other witch. Cut off the source of their powers, and all their familiars shall crumble as one!"

"Wait," Tsukasa said. "Eve… cut off the power source? And it'll crumble?"

"Yes!" Tsukuyo said. "Cut if off at the source! Wait…"

"Huh?" Tsukasa said.

"What's gotten you two twins looking so stunned?" Hinano asked.

Suddenly Tsukuyo let out a wordless yell, and Hinano, startled, responded with a similar yell.

"I have just recalled something!" Tsukuyo gasped. "It might be a clue to Eve's weak point!"

"We need to get back in contact with Miss Mitama, stat!" Tsukasa said.

"Yes, and Miss Tamaki too!" Tsukuyo said.

"Hey, you two!" Hinano protested. "Calm down!"

But she was unable to prevent them from turning and running off. They appeared to be heading towards the Coordinator's shop though, so Hinano figured they'd be fine. Therefore, she turned to gaze up at the incoming witch. The streamers connected to the elephant familiars reached all the way up to the witch, who was still floating high above the water, assuming perspective wasn't getting messed up somehow. Emiri and Meguru joined her, also gazing up at the witch.

"It's huuuge!" Emiri said.

"Yes, it really is big," Meguru said.

Then more familiars showed up, so they had to stop gazing to take them out. It was still primarily the carnival familiars, but this time, a few shadowy figures were mixed in who attacked on sight and used a variety of different magic. Their silhouettes strongly resembled magical girls in a variety of costumes, but since they were composed of shadow, no other details could be made out. The quantity of Eve's familiars remained mostly the same, but as they fought, more and more of the shadow magical girls began to come out. It got to the point where they had to just give the carnival familiars a pass and focus on the shadows. By that time, the witch had started to draw quite close to land, and it loomed in the sky overhead.

Finally, some reinforcements arrived.

"Tiro Finale!"

Having arrived along with her friends and the Amane twins, Mami fired off her ultimate attack right off the bat. However, even though she aimed at the gear, it barely dealt any damage at all.

"I can't believe Tiro Finale did so little damage to her," she gasped. "It looks like Miss Taylor is correct about the gear being her weak point, but that only broke off a few small chips…"

Madoka followed up the attack with a series of light arrows from her leaf bow, which seemed to be a little more effective than Mami's attack.

"All that damn witch has done since she got here is laugh like a lunatic," Kyouko said. "No wonder they call her the worst witch."

"But… even though she's like this now, she used to be one of us, a magical girl," Sayaka said. "Thinking she used to be like us is actually really upsetting."

"But at… least my… arrows do… some damage," Madoka gasped, panting.

"You okay, Madoka…?" Sayaka asked.

"Thanks Sayaka-chan, but I'm fine," Madoka said. "Now that all of us are together, I feel way better than I did at the start, actually."

Homura pulled out a rocket launcher, charging magic into the missile and then firing. It struck the gear and broke off a few more chips.

"Miss Taylor may have been correct," she mused. "It's not much, but that's more damage than I've ever managed to do to her…"

"Hmm?" Madoka said. "Sorry, what are you talking about, Homura-chan? What did Ashley-chan say?"

"That Walpurgisnacht has physical damage resistance," Homura said. "She suggested I should try enchanting my weapons."

"Ah, so that's what you meant," Madoka said. "Then, that means you've gotten stronger, right? I'm happy for you, Homura-chan!"

"Have you actually fought Walpurgisnacht before?" Hinano asked.

"Homura-chan has, yes," Madoka said. "But there's no time to explain right now…"

"She seems significantly stronger than last time," Homura said. "But despite that, we seem to be faring better than before… we're actually holding her back, if only barely. She hasn't thrown any buildings yet, either… probably because there aren't many large buildings around here."

"Sorry I'm late!"

Oriko joined up with them, accompanied by Kirika and the Asako sisters.

"I would have gotten here sooner," she said. "I knew exactly when and where Walpurgisnacht would appear, but I underestimated how long it would take to return here… the familiars held us up. How is it going?"

"We're holding her back so far," Hinano said.

"We're the first to arrive besides Miss Tomoe," Oriko said. "But it looks like it shouldn't be much longer before everyone else arrives. Until then, we need to put everything we have into attacking her!"

"Let's set up a rotating attack pattern for now," Hinano said. "First, I'll attack with Emiri and Meguru. Then, Miss Tomoe and her team will attack. They're a large team, so they could even split into two teams if they want. Finally, your team will attack, Miss Mikuni. Then we'll repeat the cycle until more reinforcements arrive. If familiars appear, we'll deal with them as necessary."

"What about us?" Tsukasa asked.

"Oh, right," Hinano said. "Then you can attack with me, if you want. That keeps the team sizes roughly even."

They had gone through the cycle about two or three times by the time Ashley Taylor arrived, accompanied by her friend, Inui. Hopping off the floating teddy bear, she paused for a moment to gaze up at the witch, currently being bombarded by Hinano's chemical attack, then stepped forward once Mami's team stepped up for the next attack.

"Miss Miyako, Miss Mikuni, how are things here?" Ashley asked.

"Oh, you finally made it," Hinano said. "We're managing to slow her forward progress to a crawl, which I think is impressive enough."

"It's not enough to defeat her though," Oriko said. "The fight is going to drag on for quite awhile longer, probably almost until dawn."

"Well, that's about what I expected in any case," Ashley said. "We came by air, so I spotted a bunch more groups headed in this direction. I think everyone else should be arriving soon, so should we start joining in on the attack, or focus on taking out the familiars?"

"We seem to have enough firepower focused on the witch , so how about you focus on the familiars for the time being?" Hinano said. "Once everyone's here we can all take turns attacking the witch and try to get a new pattern going."

"Alright," Ashley said.

While Ashley and Inui targeted the familiars, and the rest took turns attacking the witch directly, magical girls started to trickle in from all directions. Many of them copied Ashley's example by taking on the familiars, though a few stood around waiting and watching.

"Okay!" Hinano said suddenly. "There are enough people here now, so I'm going to go take a look around and make sure no-one has gotten lost!"

She and Emiri left the rotation that was attacking the witch and headed away from the park, into the city. After a minute, they disappeared from sight, but about a minute later, a large group of magical girls showed up all at once. They must have just met up a short while before. The group was about half magical girls from Kamihama and half magical girls from out of town. Nanaka's team and the Azalea trio were there. Sasara and Asuka were there, as well as Masara, Kokoro, and Aimi. Manaka and Ria were there, as well as Tsumugi, Mayu, and even Sayuki. Himika, Riko, and Rui were there, and the Pleiades Saints, and the other team from Asunaro. Rika and Ren were there, as well as the three girls from St Lilliana's and a bunch of feathers, both with and without robes. The six-person teams from Hohzuki and Mitakihara were there too.

The newcomers jumped into the fray with the familiars almost immediately. By this time, nearly all the familiars they were facing were shadows. Even Eve's familiars were starting to thin out now. Still, there were enough magical girls that they were able to rotate the front line while facing the familiars, similar to what the girls from Mitakihara were doing against the witch itself.

"It's almost time for the final battle!" Asuka announced. "I'll do my part, as a Ryuushinryuu instructor!"

"I'm right behind you, Asuka!" Sasara said. "The Kamihama Rescue Squad won't fail, I swear it on my honour as a magical knight!"

"I gotta at least be able to face Isesaki-kun with pride when this is all over!" Aimi said.

"That's the spirit, Aimi!" Kokoro said.

"You'd think she could get her spirits up even more to confess her love to the guy," Masara muttered.

"Not even you have the breathing room to try to steal the spotlight, do you, Miss Ami?" Manaka said.

"W-what!?" Ria protested "Who said I was scared!?"

"No-one's saying that," Manaka said.

"Who would?" Mayu said. "Ria-chan is very capable of holding her own!"

"Unsurprising," Nanaka said. "This team we cobbled together from essential strangers is having difficulty staying united. How is everyone's status, as a whole?"

"Getting ready to meet the next wave of attacks," Meiyui said. "I wish you wouldn't talk to me during our downtime."

"Honestly, I think everyone's having a tough time," Akira said. "Those twins may have given out grief seeds, but they don't do anything for simple fatigue."

"With it this bad over here, I hope that Felicia-chan will be okay," Kako said.

"Puh-leeze, she'd never go down that easy!" Ayame retorted. "Besides, our fight's not even over yet! She's not going anywhere until we settle things!"

Hazuki sighed. "Ayame's in high spirits, at least," she said. "Meanwhile, I'm dead on my feet…"

"The way I see it, she's just putting on a brave face," Konoha said. "We can't take her cheeriness for granted…"

"I know that all too well," Hazuki said.

"Rii-chan, Rui-chan, you made it!" Inui exclaimed.

"Inui-nee, Ashley-nee!" Riko replied. "I'm here to help out!"

"This dastardly witch won't stand a chance against the might of Fortress the Wizard!" Rui declared.

"Um, you're letting your other self out again, Rui-chan," Riko said.

Rui gasped. "Ah, um, I mean… with so many of us here, this should be a cinch!"

Himika giggled a bit. "You're funny, Miss Rui! I think that's a good thing, given the situation…"

"What an enormous witch… do you really think we can defeat it, onee-chan?" Moe asked.

"We have no choice but to do it," Remi said grimly.

"Yeah, it'll be fine!" Airi piped up. "I'll protect everyone so you can attack without worry!"

"Well, I expected that much from you, Airi-chan," Hijiri said.

"Well, it certainly lives up to Miss Taylor's description," Chika said.

"It's like the climax of a fantasy novel," Irina said. "All the magical girls scattered across the city are gathering in this one place to take down the big bad."

"Ren-chan, let's take the next shift to attack!" Rika said.

"Yes," Ren said. "We have to hold them back, for as long as we can…"

As Rika and Ren joined hands to charge a combined attack, aiming not at the familiars but at the witch itself, Hinano finally returned, along with Emiri and several other girls. Ayaka, Natsuki, Kanoko, and Konomi were with her, as well as three teams from out of town – the foreigners, the trio from Mitakihara, and the team from Kazamino.

"I never imagined such a powerful witch could exist… just looking at is is giving me the shivers," Mari said. "Are you really okay with this, onee-san? If we ran away now we'd still be fine…"

"Are you seriously saying that, Mari-chan?" Mari replied to herself, but with subtly different inflections in her voice. "Think of how many people might die if this witch were allowed to go on a rampage."

"I concur," Koharu said. "I might not be able to do much, but I must do what I can. This is a witch that could threaten the entire world."

"So, she's finally here!" Lina said. "Are you all ready to take on the worst witch in the world?"

"I'm ready and raring to go!" Mio said.

"As am I," Mai said.

"Wow," Konomi said. "This witch really is an a whole other level… if I was facing it alone, I'd be really worried, but surely with so many allies there should be no problem, right?"

"Yeah, I'm positive we'll do just fine!" Natsuki said.

"Sorry, I'm late!" Hinano announced. "I'll be hopping on the bandwagon here, too!"

"Miko-sempai!" Rika exclaimed.

"Miyako-sempai!" Ren said.

"Hey, don't forget meee!" Emiri said.

"We can save the greetings and apologies for later," Hinano said. "Let's get going!"

"You got it!" Rika said. "We're gonna whip up a supersized serving of whoop-ass on these guys!"

"Ooh, if Rikki's serving the food I'll handle the garnishes!" Emiri said.

"What kind of attack are you planning!?" Hinano protested.

At that moment, the Amane twins unleashed a combined attack upon the witch, which turned its head to face them and cackled. Standing just behind them, Meguru provided her signature commentary which buffed their attacks.

"We're up next, Miss Mami!" Sayaka said. "Let's put an end to Walpurgisnacht!"

"Certainly!" Mami said. "We'll stop her before she advances any further!"

"I know we're taking turns defending against each wave," Kyouko said. "But isn't there a way to do this that doesn't burn so many calories?"

"What other option do we have?" Homura retorted.

"Yes!" Madoka said. "We have to fight alongside everyone to stop Walpurgisnacht!"

The Amane twins squealed as they narrowly dodged one of Walpurgisnacht's beams of baleful fire. Meguru narrated the event in a way that almost made it sound like she was scolding the witch.

"Careful, Tsukuyo-chan!" Tsukasa said.

"I-I'm okay!" Tsukasa said.

"Rose sister, let's go now!" Nagisa shouted.

"Yeah!" Madoka said. "Fall back, you guys!"

Kyouko and Mami teamed up for a Tiro Duet, while Madoka fired several arrows and Homura another rocket from her rocket launcher. Sayaka flung swords at the witch, and even Nagisa and Yuma teamed up for a combined attack, a swarm of cat hammers trapped inside bubbles. Each time one of the bubbles contacted the witch, it exploded, and the hammer within flung itself at the witch for an additional impact.

"It's not going any better than before," Homura said. "Nothing's changed, even with all these magical girls here to help. And I only have a few rockets left."

"Homura-chan!" Madoka said. "You can't lose hope, okay? It might not be much, but we're chipping away at her, bit by bit! Look, there's almost an entire gear tooth missing now! Don't worry. We'll beat it this time."

"Madoka," Homura said. "You… might be right. But she seems so much stronger than when I faced her alone…"

"I wasn't able to help you before, so I can't really judge her strength," Madoka said. "She does seem a little bigger than I remember, though. But even so… we're making progress! I think we're going to win!"

"I agree," Tsukuyo said. "We just need to regroup…"

"As long as we don't lose hope, we can keep fighting as much as we need to!" Tsukasa said.

"For sure!" Tsukuyo said.

By this time, it appeared that all the teams who had been spread across the city were now on the battlefield, which meant the only people still missing were those still fighting against Eve. Just as the Amane twins made their hopeful statement, however, there was suddenly a surge of magic from somewhere to the north, which seemed to spread out across the entire city.

"What…?" Tsukasa gasped. "What was that?"

"Hey, what the hell's going on!?" Sayaka asked.

"That magic I sensed just now…" Mami said.

"A barrier…?" Umika mused.

"I do not understand this at all!" Tsukuyo said.

"Eve's magic just… changed?" Tsukasa said.

"Something must have happened," Tsukuyo said.

"Looks like Alina's finally lost her marbles," Ashley said. "I was sort of hoping they might be able to head her off… oh well."

There was no time to be speculating, however, and they continued to take turns attacking the witch while several teams focused on keeping the familiars at bay. Despite how much they were fighting to hold the witch back, she kept on slowly advancing. Several rotations later, Homura launched one more rocket and lowered her launcher with a sigh. The witch was now directly over Minaminagi Seaside Park, and two teeth of the large gear had been completely broken off.

"I'm almost out of weapons," she said. "This is my last rocket. After that, a few handguns is all I have left."

Mami took a deep breath. "Follow up on her attacks!"

"Don't need to tell me that!" Kyouko retorted. "We're gonna send this thing packing."

"Madoka, let's sync our attacks!" Sayaka said.

"Okay!" Madoka said. "Please let this be the end!"

"We must be almost there!" Hinano shouted. "Let's get everyone to attack all at the same time! Surely if we do that we should be able to do some real damage!"

It took a little while to get everyone ready to attack, but once they were, Hinano handled the countdown. Every one of the roughly one hundred magical girls facing the witch unleashed their strongest attack all at the same time, a barrage of magic of all different types bombarding the witch, much of it aimed at the gear, though with such a great number of attackers it wasn't realistic to focus solely on the edges of the witch. The barrage lasted nearly a minute, and managed to break off three more of the gear teeth, for a total of five missing teeth. But Walpurgisnacht also fired back, a series of beams of baleful fire targeting various magical girls on the ground. Fortunately, they all managed to avoid any major damage from the attacks.

"It's just not enough," Homura said. "At this rate…"

Nearby, the feathers who had joined the fight conversed amongst themselves. There weren't a lot of feathers here right now, only about ten or twenty or so.

"Can you still fight?" Fuu asked, still in her white feather robes.

"I think I can muster… a bit more," Nami said, still in her black feather robes.

"Who among the feathers can keep going!?" Fuu asked.

"I… can't… sorry," Aoi said.

"Ugh…" Fuu said. "Well, if you must, then there's nothing to be done about it. Fall back and take a break."

"Masara!" Kokoro said. "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have jumped in front like that…"

"It… it's alri—" Masara began, but then she collapsed to the ground in mid-word.

"You can't even stand anymore!" Kokoro protested.

"How are you doing, Natsuki?" Aimi asked.

Natsuki chuckled weakly. "Ugh, I'm the cheerleader here… but now I'm the one being cheered up…"

"Don't say that," Aimi said. "You did plenty of cheering today!"

"I can… still… fight!" Rika said.

"Hey, don't overdo it!" Hinano said.

"But if I don't do something she's going to end so many precious lives!" Rika protested.

"Hey!" Hinano called. "Anyone else around who can fight!?"

"Myako…sempai," Emiri said, struggling to stand.

"Not you!" Hinano said. "You stay right there, dumbass!"

"M-meaniiiiie…" Emiri complained.

"I can… keep going… y-yes," Ren said.

"Yeah," Kanoko said. "I've been tempered like steel in my family's factory, so this is nothing."

"I should be okay," Nanaka said.

Next to her, Meiyui nodded wordlessly in agreement.

"Hey, at this rate, the Azalea house is gonna…" Ayame began.

"We won't let that happen," Konoha interrupted fiercely. "No matter what."

Hazuki nodded agreement, though with less enthusiasm. She was clearly tired out.

"I could do this all day!" Kirika exclaimed.

"I think us Pleiades Saints can eke out a bit more power," Saki mused.

"I'm fine," Airi said. "I can keep going for awhile."

"Me too," Yuuri said.

"Looks like Mai and I are the only ones left over here," Lina said, looking around at her team.

"I can still keep going!" Matsuri exclaimed.

"Me too, I can still continue," Suzune said.

"I should be fine for… a bit longer," Tsumugi said.

"Don't push yourself!" Manaka said.

"It seems we're not yet at the climax after all," Irina mused. "So… of course I would be able to continue."

And that was when a tunnel opened up in the air in the park, several hundred metres from the magical girl army, and the Crescent Moon Villa team emerged from it, along with everyone else who had been fighting Eve. While they looked around, taking in the scene of mostly exhausted magical girls, the witch above began to speed up a little, starting to head further inland. And since Kazumi was with them, everyone nearby came under the effect of her aura, causing their costumes to spontaneously transform.

"There was an explosion around here just now," Iroha said.

"Yeah, judging by the way Walpurgisnacht is facing, there's no doubt about it," Tsuruno said.

"But it doesn't make any sense," Sana said. "They looked like they had the upper hand a moment ago, but now there's almost no-one around…"

Suddenly a black feather sat up right next to them, startling Sana. She wasn't alone – there were a few other feathers scattered through the park as well.

"Feathers," Felicia said. "Hey, look over there! It's that chick who fought Yachiyo!"

"It is!" Yachiyo said. "Miss Tomoe!"

"Miss Nanami," Mami said.

"Iroha-chan!" Madoka said.

"Madoka-chan!" Iroha said. "And Homura-chan too! Weren't things going well?"

"That explosion was just us combining all our power for a final attack," Madoka said.

"And now it would seem we have almost no one left who can fight," Homura said.

"But hey, if you pile up enough dust, you can make a mountain, right?" Tsuruno said. "Even if you're all worn out individually, you can just pull together a bit longer…"

"We've already done that," Sayaka said. "This is the result."

"There are a few magical girls from Kamihama who never showed up though," Ashley said. "I'm still hoping they might appear… Karin-chan, the Daito trio, Miss Yura, possibly even Miss Kirino… though I don't think I can expect much of her, unfortunately…"

"Kazumi-chan!" Umika exclaimed. "You're finally back!"

"Yeah, we really coulda used you a moment ago!" Kaoru said.

"We used up all our grief seeds too, didn't we?" Mitama said. "Our options were already limited."

"I'm sure this is a foolish question, but you guys don't have any left either, right?" Kanagi asked, addressing the twins.

"Yeah, we're all out of grief seeds," Tsukasa said.

"We used up our entire stock in the battles leading up to this point," Tsukuyo said.

"I have a few left," Hijiri said. "But there's not enough for everyone. I'd ask our benefactor for more, but I have no idea where she is right now."

"I can't scry on her because she's blocking me," Ashley said. "So I can't help locate her either…"

"So you used all the grief seeds that were in Mitama's shop, and nearly all the ones from this mysterious benefactor," Kanagi said. "Seeing as we don't have the time or energy to go hunt other witches…"

"We may have the numbers, but we ain't forming no mountain, that's for damn sure," Kyouko said.

"If we had Miss Aino here, we might be able to pull off one or two more attacks," Ashley said. "Other than that… yeah, it looks like there's not much more we can do."

"Aino-kun…?" Kanagi said. "Ahh, her ability to link hearts… indeed, she would be a great help to this battle. I didn't know you knew each other though."

"I don't really know her well," Ashley said. "But we did run into each other at the offshoot Mirror Witch."

Suddenly an eerie peel of laughter wafted down from the witch hovering high above. Everyone took a moment to look up at her. She was starting to attack buildings now, setting them on fire with those baleful beams of hers.

"So we're all out of options?" Iroha said.

"Unless we can find Miss Aino, I believe so," Ashley said.

Iroha took a look around at all the assembled magical girls. The vast majority of them were either unconscious or on their knees, no longer able to stand. Even those still on their feet looked exhausted.

Over there, Rika, Ren, Emiri, Meguru, and a few feathers were prone on the ground, and Hinano was on her knees. Over here, Kako was prone on the ground, Akira was hunched over resting her hands on her knees, and even though Nanaka and Meiyui were still standing, they looked exhausted.

Over there, Masara and Aimi were on their knees, and Kokoro was still standing but leaning on her strange weapon for support. Over here, Ayame was laid out with her head resting in Konoha's lap, and Hazuki, though still standing, looked exhausted.

Over there, Komaki and Koito had collapsed in each other's arms, while Oriko was on her knees, leaving only Kirika standing. Over here, Airi was laid out full-length with her head on Yuuri's lap, while Remi and Moe were sprawled out on the ground, leaving only Hijiri still standing.

Over there, Himika was on her knees, Riko was sprawled out on the ground, and Rui was barely still standing, leaning on her scythe for support. Over here, Natsuki and Konomi were on their knees, leaning on each other for support, while Ayaka sprawled out on the ground in front of them, leaving Kanoko still standing.

Over there, Manaka and Ria were laid out on the ground, Mayu and Sayuki were on their knees, and Tsumugi was leaning on her trident for support. Over here, the girls from Hohzuki were sprawled out on the ground, with only Suzune still standing, and Matsuri, on her knees, leaning on her for support.

Over there, the Pleiades Saints were mostly sprawled across the ground, with the Subaru twins on their knees in each others' arms, and Nico somehow still standing. Over here, Futaba and Miyako were sprawled out on the ground, Mai and Lina were somehow still standing, the latter leaning on a piece of rubble, and Mio was on her knees.

Over there, the Pierrot twins were on their knees in each others' arms, Komachi and Hiyori were sprawled out on the ground while holding hands, and Sachie and Claire were also on their knees. Over here, Karen and Chika had fallen to their knees, leaving only Irina still standing, somehow not looking exhausted at all.

Over there, Yuma and Nagisa were sprawled out on the ground, holding hands, and the Amane twins stood near them, somehow still on their feet but leaning on each other for support. Over here, Asuka and Sasara were also still on their feet, but leaning on each other for support.

Over there, Ashley's friends had mostly collapsed, with Alice the only one still standing, the French sisters on their knees in each others' arms, while the others were laid out on the ground. Over here, Mari and Noriko had collapsed on the ground in each others' arms, while Koharu was only on her knees.

Over there, several former feathers who had either doffed their robes or pushed their hoods back were sprawled out on the ground, including Tamura, Chiyoko, Ryo, and more. Over here, several feathers still in their robes were sprawled out, along with Sue who had doffed her robe.

"It's something of a miracle that we made it this far," Iroha said. "We froze Eve in its tracks, even managed to get Touka-chan and Nemu-chan's memories back. We saved Ui… we defeated Alina… we even took out Eve… but all that was more than enough to deplete our stamina, magic, and willpower. And there are dear friends who have already collapsed, too. The only thing we have left to lose at this point are our lives…"

"At this rate… Walpurgisnacht will pass through the centre of the city," Homura said coldly. "I hate to say it, but it looks like we failed to defeat it."

"However, if we don't defeat her now, it's likely no-one will ever be able to," Ashley said. "After all, she's been feasting on the impurities left behind by Eve… she's grown far, far stronger than the last time I faced her."

"At least Madoka is still alive and by my side, though," Homura mused. "As long as that's the case… perhaps something can be done…"

"We've also got Kazumi-chan to back us up now," Ashley said. "Though with the state we're in now, I'm not sure how much good that'll be…"

"We have to kill her," Madoka said. "We have to destroy Walpurgisnacht!"

"But even if you tried…" Homura said. "Even with your strongest attack, even if you used your doppel…"

"I know, Homura-chan," Madoka said grimly. "I know the risks. This isn't the kind of foe I can defeat just by pushing myself past the limit. But I'm a magical girl. I got here by wishing for hope. I can't lose to something that spreads curses. We can't just accept that in the end we just cause suffering. So I'm going to fight. So no-one will get hurt because of what we wished for. We have to prove that the hope we wished for and the miracles we brought about are real."

"Why are you always like this?" Homura grumbled.

"I need to stand and fight too," Iroha said. "If I give up now, we really will lose everything. And not just Kamihama. Mitakihara, where Madoka-chan lives, could very well be lost too. I can't let the sacrifices we've already made be in vain! I can't just wait around for a miracle! I need to fight one last time today!"

But Iroha was also on her last legs. She had already been leaning on Sana as she traversed Maimai's portal. At this point, just putting one foot in front of the other felt like a gargantuan effort. Silence fell for several seconds.

"If we were going to get a miracle, it would be around now," Ashley mused. "But I don't sense anything different… did I make a mistake somewhere?"

But then… some new magical signatures approached.

"Ohhh!" Ashley gasped. "That magic… it's familiar… it's not the miracle I was hoping for, but reinforcements are welcome too!"

She looked up at the sky, away from Walpurgisnacht, and Iroha and a number of other magical girls followed her gaze. There was a figure up there, like a witch on a broomstick, speeding towards them. Two other girls clung on for dear life, trailing behind her, and she was surrounded by what looked like a swarm of debris from damaged areas of the city. As they came closer, the broomstick was revealed to actually be a scythe, held with the blade pointing downwards.

"It's Karin-chan!" Ashley said.

"Sorry I'm laaaaate!" Karin shouted. "Super-mega Candy Death Squaaaaaaall!"

Like a meteor shower, all the debris floating around her sped at Walpurgisnacht like a speeding bullet. She seemed unaware of the witch's weakness, unfortunately, but even so, several of the larger chunks of rubble struck the gear. One even broke off three gear more teeth in a single hit, an impressive feat given that everyone's combined attacks earlier had only managed the same number. With the attack completed, Karin circled around to land on the ground. The other two girls with her, Hotaru and Akari, collapsed on the ground immediately, shaking a little as they hugged each other.

"I'm really sorry!" Karin said. "There was this really strong witch, and I couldn't just let it go, but it kept on running away, so it took us forever to finish it off!"

"So that's why you never showed up," Ashley said. "Well… at least you're finally here, if a bit late."

"Yes!" Karin said. "But it looks like everyone's totally exhausted… what can we do now? Maybe Yura-chan could trap it in one of her dream worlds?"

"Nope, I don't think so," Hotaru said. "That monster's too big to fit inside my pillow… I think."

"How long do you think you could keep it busy, Karin-chan?" Ashley asked.

"Uhh, it's pretty big," Karin said. "Maybe a few minutes at best? But it could be a lot less. I'm already pretty tired from fighting the other witch. I can probably only manage one more Candy Death Squall…"

"I… might actually be able to do something," Madoka said. "It'll only last a few minutes, but if we can come together for one last attack in that time…"

"We can't take the risk of you unleashing your doppel," Ashley said. "The automatic purification system is… under new management. Until we're certain it's still fully-functional – until someone else unleashes their doppel – you mustn't even think of relying on it, Madoka. If it's someone else, and they end up turning into a witch instead, it's sad but not catastrophic… but if it's you, we absolutely can't risk it."

"That's not what I was thinking of," Madoka said. "Um… it's sort of a side-effect of my aura ability. If I sort of… push the aura into overdrive, so to speak…"

She closed her eyes and pressed her hands together, but Ashley grabbed her hand to stop her.

"Don't just go ahead and do it, Madoka," Ashley said. "I'm sure whatever you're talking about will only last for so long, right?"

"Well… yeah, of course," Madoka said. "It'll probably last for a couple of minutes, I think."

"Then we need to wait for the right moment," Ashley said. "Karin-chan… did you see any other magical girls around recently?"

"There were three others fighting the same witch with us," Karin said. "They said they wanted to check something out and they'll be here really soon. Apparently they can get here really quick."

"Do you know their names?" Ashley asked.

"No, we didn't really have time to chat… but they were red, blue, and green…"

"The green one used a bow, the red one used a sword and shield, and the blue one used a whip?" Ashley said.

"Yeah, that sounds like them!" Karin said.

"So they're also on their way here, right?"

"That's right!"

Ashley nodded. "Then… ideally we would wait for them before you use that last resort of yours, Madoka. Miss Aino's power should give us an overwhelming advantage. That said… I'm not sure how long we can wait."

Madoka nodded. "Yeah, I don't think we can wait much longer," she said. "But… if we can just stop her from moving, we can buy a bit more time, right?"

"Yeah," Ashley said. "The only saving grace is that Walpurgisnacht sees us as little more than flies, so if we don't attack, she'll probably ignore us… though that doesn't mean we're safe. It just means we won't be directly targeted."

At that point, a large number of additional feathers arrived on the scene, around fifty or sixty of them. They appeared to be led by Nanase Yukika, who wore a white feather robe but had the hood pushed back.

"Ohh, we have even more reinforcements!" Ashley said. "That's great… but aren't there even more than there were on the helipad?"

"Yes, you are correct," Yukika replied. "On my way to aid the fight against Eve, and again on the way over here, I came across quite a few more feathers who were unsure what was going on, so our ranks have swelled a fair amount."

"Awesome, that should be really helpful, Miss Nanase," Ashley said. "We needed reinforcements desperately, but I never thought we could ever get this many."

As they were speaking, Walpurgisnacht's eerie laughter was heard once more as the witch tore a building from its foundation and tossed it around like a cat playing with a mouse.

"Oh, dammit!" Sayaka said. "It's about to move to the part of the city that hasn't been wrecked yet!"

"Do we have anyone who can stop her movements, even for just a few seconds?" Ashley asked. "Someone who's not quite as exhausted as the rest?"

One of the black feathers who had just arrived stepped forward. She had short blond hair peaking out from under the hood.

"Um… I might… be able to," she said.

"You're…?" Ashley said.

"Um… Yuzuki… Hotori," she said. "I can… stun…"

"Ohh, that's perfect!" Ashley said. "And… hmm… Miss Nanase?"

Yukika tilted her head. "Um, yes…?"

"Are you in good enough shape to connect with Miss Yuzuki?" Ashley asked. "If I'm not mistaken, you should have magic that penetrates defences, right?"

"Um… yes, I believe I can manage that," Yukika said. "I am not sure how you knew, but you're correct about my magic."

"Then, please hurry and do it," Ashley said. "Before she starts throwing more buildings around!"

"R-right!" Hotori said.

Yukika sidled up and gingerly pressed her hand against the one Hotori raised. The telltale flash of a connect skill activated, and then Hotori turned to gaze up at the witch for a moment. She took a deep breath, then another breath, and then belted out at the top of her voice.

"I'm not afraid of you!" she shouted. "I-I'm going to take you down, you big bully! Citron Beam!"

The flaps of her robe were blown open as the star-shaped soul gem on her belt emitted a massive yellowish beam, carving through the sky and striking the witch square in her head, then splitting in half and carving all the way up to the gear at her feet, leaving two smoking holes in the witch's dress and small craters where they struck the gear itself. And most importantly, the witch stopped moving, just hanging there in the air, idling. The building it had previously torn up fell back to the ground, and the tremors from that impact could be felt even from where they stood, but at least it had only been a two-storey building – it would become much worse if the witch were permitted head deeper into the city.

"Thank you very much, you two," Ashley said. "That's bought us some time… but I really hope Miss Aino and the others hurry up and get over here… if not, we'll probably have to get started without them…"

While she spoke, Hijiri sidled up to one of the black feathers who had just arrived. The girl in question had dark purple hair barely visible beneath her robe, as well as lavender stockings.

"If I'm not mistaken… aren't you…?" she mused. "Miss Sumire, right?"

"K-kanna-chi…" the feather in question responded, startled.

"Now I understand why you turned me down before," Hijiri said. "I didn't realize you had joined the Wings of the Magius…"

"I… I'm sorry…?" the girl said. "I… I just…"

"There's no need to justify it to me," Hijiri said. "Besides, in the end, you still came to help, so thank you very much. Could I ask you to use your unique magic for us when the time is right?"

"Right… yes, I'll do my best," the girl said.

"So, this is the rumoured Akane Sumire?" Ashley said, looking at the girl in question. "I'm surprised any magical girls from Asunaro ended up joining…"

"I don't think we can wait any longer," Madoka spoke up. "The witch is temporarily stunned, but it won't last very long, right?"

"Uh, yes!" Hotori piped up. "No more than… twenty seconds at best!"

"Right!" Ashley said. "Then Madoka… whatever you were about to do before, I guess… now's the time?"

Madoka nodded. "Alright! I'll do it right now!"

Once again, she closed her eyes and pressed her hands together for a moment. Her wings flared out to their maximum extent and flapped once, expelling a cloud of feathers that spread all across the battlefield, filling the air, and slowly drifting downwards.

Ashley gasped. "W-whoa!? It's the pink feathers!? Though they seem a little bit underwhelming…"

"Oh… my body feels a bit lighter," Iroha said.

"I feel it too, nee-chan," Ui said.

"It's almost like I've sprouted a pair of wings," Touka said.

"That's incredible, Miss Kaname," Yachiyo said. "It's almost like a sudden surge of power. Truly incredible…"

"The only thing is, I can't use it more than once in a day," Madoka said. "So I'd been saving it for when the situation was really dire…"

"Just a moment ago I felt so cornered," Sana said. "But this just gives me enough of a boost to think there's still hope! It's like magic!"

"Duh!" Felicia retorted. "We're magical girls, right?"

"Huh? Oh y-yeah, of course!" Sana said.

"Yep, yep!" Tsuruno said. "Anyway, we don't have much time! Miss Kaname said this'll only last a few minutes, right? We gotta finish off Walpurgisnacht before then!"

"Yes!" Iroha said. "Thank you very much, Madoka-chan!"

"Well, I feel like I could take on any witch now," Madoka said. "Apparently this ability even affects me, somehow…"

"We've never done this before, so we can't be sure how effective it will be," Mami mused. "But I can't deny that I suddenly feel like I've had a good night's rest."

"But to think you could actually summon those feathers at will…" Ashley said.

"Not quite at will," Madoka corrected her. "There are conditions… but how did you know about this ability, anyway? I never mentioned it before…"

"It's not exactly accurate to say I knew about it, but that's a story for another time," Ashley said. "Hmm… could it be… something like a stockpile? Over time, your aura somehow gathers… something… and now you've released it all? So, a bit like Miss Nanami's unique power…? But the something it gathers is probably different…"

"I'm really not sure," Madoka said. "I roughly know what it does, but not why or how it does it…"

"Well, let's take advantage of it, stat!" Kyouko shouted.

"Yeah, I'm with Kyouko!" Sayaka said. "Let's go beat that witch! We can sweat the details later!"

"Yuma is back in action!" Yuma exclaimed. "Yuma and Nagisa will help!"

"Madoka… are you sure you're alright after using that power?" Homura asked.

"I feel fine," Madoka said. "Let's try taking on Walpurgisnacht one last time, Homura-chan!"

"Fine…" Homura said.

"Well then," Mami said. "Let's take another shot at this! We'll bring down Walpurgisnacht with all the might our wishes have imbued us with!"

All around them, the assembled magical girls were getting to their feet, including the many white and black feathers, and all the girls from out of town. Clearly Madoka's boost magic had positively affected them, too.

"The might of our wishes," Yachiyo said. "Indeed. It's time we demonstrate what our unique magic can do. We'll make use of our wishes, the symbols of our hope, to erase impurities and curses. I like that… I think that's the most fitting way to end this. I'll carry forward the hope that Kanae and Mel entrusted to me. Are the other magical girls well enough to fight?"

"Yes, it looks like there's no reason for concern there," Kanagi said. "Everyone is more than ready to eliminate Walpurgisnacht."

"I suppose this is the second wind," Irina mused. "After being beaten down, the protagonist somehow finds the will to continue… although… we weren't beaten down that badly, so could that still be yet to come…?"

"Please do not say something so horrifying, Miss Kusch!" Karen protested.

"Huh? But I didn't mean it to be horrifying…" Irina said, startled.

"Well… we have every possible advantage we can muster now, other than Miss Aino's link," Ashley said. "If it's still not enough to finish her off… then I don't want to even imagine it. We must win this before Madoka's magic wears off. Hopefully Miss Aino arrives before that happens."

Then she repeated Yachiyo's question in English. "Are all of you good to go for one last attack?"

"For sure!" Sarra replied in the same language. "I gotta say, Ashley, you managed to recruit some truly awesome girls for this battle. I can't imagine failing here, not after feeling the effects of this crazy awesome boost magic."

"I felt the same way," Ashley said. "But then I saw how much stronger Walpurgisnacht was than I expected…"

"Don't let despair take over," Janice said. "We have to have hope that it will work!"

"You're right… thanks," Ashley said.

Adèle spoke up in halting English. "Everyone will… speak of… this day," she said. "I believe… it will become… a legend… surpassing even… Walpurgisnacht. Us here… can brag about it."

Yachiyo apparently understood that and nodded, translating the gist of it for those whose English wasn't as good. "Yes, you're right," she said. "The day that roughly two hundred magical girls gathered together to defeat Walpurgisnacht… it could become a legend overshadowing that of the witch herself. It would be no surprise if magical girls were to speak of this for years and years to come."

"Think you can join us, Yakumo?" Kanagi asked.

"I think so!" Mitama said. "It almost feels like I have wings now. I could take flight at a moment's notice!"

"Great," Kanagi said. "Don't go racing up the highway to heaven on us though, alright?"

"Don't be silly!" Mitama said, giggling.

"Kaede? Rena? You guys good to go?" Momoko asked.

"Yeah," Rena said. "I feel really refreshed! I can go anytime, just give the signal!"

"Yeah!" Kaede said. "I'll make up for all the time I couldn't help because I was out cold!"

"Ui? Touka-chan?" Iroha said. "Let's destroy Walpurgisnacht… so we can take Nemu-chan back home."

"Yes!" Touka and Ui responded in unison.

"Each of us were granted wings," Iroha said. "We all have a special power, a power to keep hope alive by fighting witches. We'll make a miracle happen with our wishes, one last time!

"It's now or never," Momoko said. "If we let this chance slip by, we're not getting another one. So, guys, we gotta make sure we use every last bit of our power. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna use my power to give you all a morale boost!"

"Let me cheer them on with you!" Natsuki exclaimed, hopping forward to join her. "I may not be able to stand at the mound… but I'm the girl who stays with you, at your back, and keeps pushing you forward!"

"Me too!" Meguru shouted. "I'll bolster your spirits with my commentary!"

"M-me too!" Sayuki exclaimed. "I'll boost everyone's stamina with my song!"

"Alright then," Momoko said. "Shall the four of us give them another boost?"

"Yeah!" Natsuki said.

"Absolutely!" Meguru said.

"Certainly!" Sayuki said.

"Alright, everyone!" Momoko shouted. "Listen up! This is our final, most important battle! Right now, all of us are sprouting wings, wings of hope! Wings from Kamihama, Mitakihara, Asunaro, Hohzuki… all over! Let's focus all that power into one assault and send this avatar of impurity flying!"

"Yeah!" Natsuki said. "Gotta grab this chance while we can! Let's turn this game around in the final inning, with one big home run!"

"We are now facing our darkest hour!" Meguru proclaimed. "The most terrible witch in the entire world is staring down at us, urging us to give up, but we will not give in to our despair! We will stand strong and defeat this monster!"

"Gooooo!" Momoko shouted.

"Go, fight, wiiiiiiiiin!" Natsuki shouted.

Sayuki broke out into song, using a summoned microphone to amplify it and spread it across the battlefield. It was her usual signature song, Blade-Bearing Beauty, and as always she sang out of tune. However. the magic carried upon her voice did seem to have a noticeable effect on the assembled magical girls.

"Well, I suppose we should join in as well," one of the white feathers said, probably the one known as Myu. "We're no longer feathers working for the sake of the Magius. Now we're feathers for all magical girls!"

"Yeah!" a nearby black feather agreed.

At that point, Walpurgisnacht's eerie laughter was heard once more as she finally began to move inland again. Whatever Hotori had done to her had worn off.

"Oh, dammit!" Sayaka said. "It's trying to move to the part of the city that hasn't been wrecked yet!"

"We got this!" Tsuruno said. "C'mon, Felicia! It's our turn to shine!"

"Heck yeah!" Felicia said. "I'mma bash her skull in so hard she won't remember what she's doing! Hmph, hmph!"

"Now you're talking!" Tsuruno said. "Yep, yep!"

"Our current situation calls for me to step up, I see," Meiyui said.

Ria chuckled. "It's my turn to take the stage too!"

"And me!" Rika said. "My date plans are on hold thanks to all these new bruises… so I'm gonna have to vent all that anger right here!"

"That's your motivation!?" Ria gasped.

Rika giggled. "I'm just kidding," she said. "I've had some tough times, but I've met so many precious friends here in Kamihama. I won't allow her to destroy it any more!"

"For once, I agree with Rika-chan!" Hikari spoke up. "I might not be from Kamihama myself, but I've made friends here! I won't let it be destroyed! Rika-chan, let me connect with you!"

"Working with Hika-chan is something I never thought I'd do, but… I'll take anything I can get!" Rika said.

"Then our motives are the same," Meiyui said.

"Once you make the witch lose her memories, we shift the direction she's moving, right?" Ria said. "She'll tremble in fear before the might of the wondrous Ami Ria!"

"Onee-san, this is your chance!" Matsuri said. "Make the witch forget we're here!"

"Don't be stupid!" Kagari retorted, startling some people who didn't realize there were two girls in one body. "It's not that easy!"

"But you can at least give it a shot!" Matsuri said.

"Ugh… I suppose…"

Tsuruno grabbed Felicia and flung her into the air, and Ashley sent Teddy Mk II to act as a foothold. Felicia leapt off the teddy to soar even higher, brandishing her hammer.

"Big, stupid witch!" she shouted. "You might be the same one that killed my mom and dad! Here goes… I'm gonna crush you!"

"I'll do it too!" Chihana shouted. "I'll make you forget!"

She swung her hammer, striking Walpurgisnacht in what passed for a head – the lowest part of the witch. At the same time, Chihana leapt forward and opened fire on the witch with her gun. Then Ria, Meiyui, Rika, and Hikari stepped forward.

"Her movements have slowed down," Ria said. "I think she just lost her memories?" She let out one of her signature laughs and shouted. "Time to use my concealment magic! I will remove your destination from view!"

"I'm up next!" Meiyui said. "The power I obtained to save my organization… to convince a target that lies are truth. I will use that power now, to save the city! I will make the witch believe that the rest of the city does not even exist!"

"I'm last up, huh?" Rika said. "My power's so ironic that I honestly kinda hate using it… but now's not the time to complain! Cause I'm gonna use it to make this witch change her mind and head towards the sea!"

Hikari and Rika slapped their hands together, producing the telltale flash of a connect, but there was something different about it. Rika gasped, startled by the unusually bright light which rose up from their hands, expanding into the maze-like emblem of Puella Care in the air above them before sinking down into Rika's head.

"Amazing!" Rika said. "Normally it would take a few tries to succeed, but with this, I think I can do it in one shot!"

"T-that was… sensei's symbol…?" Mitama mused. "I wonder… what could that mean…"

Rika pointed at the witch, who rotated in place for a few seconds, then began to retreat back towards the waterfront.

"I can't believe it's going so smoothly," Mayu said. "Just a minute or two ago we were too exhausted to lift a finger. What a strange feeling."

"We have to make the most of this amazing strength we were blessed with," Sasara said. "With this, our future looks a lot brighter."

"Ah!" Emiri gasped. "Looks like Rikki and her gang pulled everything off perfectly!"

"They made her change course!" Mayu said.

"Ooooh!" Emiri said. "I'm sooo pumped up now!"

"Riko-chan, let's get ready too!" Mayu said.

"O-okay!" Riko said.

"Tsuruno! Iroha!" Yachiyo said.

"I'm on it!" Tsuruno said.

"Yeah!" Iroha said.

"Those four are taking care of guiding Walpurgisnacht back to the Seaside Park," Yachiyo said. "Our job will be to keep her busy while they do that!"

"Karin-chan, let's help them!" Ashley said. Then in English, she added. "Sarra, Janice, let's keep the witch busy!"

"You betcha!" Karin said.

"So our job is to hold its attention, is that it?" Janice said in English. "I think I can manage that much."

"Alright, you can count on me," Sarra said in English.

Just then, the witch tore up a nearby building and tossed it at them. Fortunately, it wasn't a huge building, but it was still a building, making it difficult to dodge it entirely.

"Urgh," Yachiyo said. "She's already throwing buildings at us!"

"C'mon guys!" Tsuruno said. "Don't underestimate my luck when I'm in top form!"

With that, she ran off with a yell.

"Oh," Iroha said. "So if she runs right to the fore of where everyone is…"

The group of magical girls within range of the building managed to get out of the direct line of fire, and as the building struck the ground, it crumpled in such a way that no-one was at risk for any major injuries. As for the smaller chunks of rubble that were thrown off from the impact, Sarra deflected them with her magic.

Yachiyo giggled. "That collapsing building just fell in such a perfect way that no-one got hit."

"Thanks so much!" Sasara called. "We'll get started leading her away now, while we have the chance! I am a magical knight… I will save countless lives. I'm not even going to lose to my father on that count. And he's been saving people for a long time! So I'll use my abilities to lure evil to myself, and bring you nice and close!"

"I'm not a scaredy cat," Riko said. "I gave myself a great pep talk just now, and I crossed my fingers. I'm not gonna lose! I used my power to bring happiness to onee-san and get us more customers! S-so now I'm going to use that power to call you over here too! Welcooooooome!"

"Me too!" Inui shouted. "I won't let you attack anyone else! Look only at me! I'm right here, you big dummy of a witch!"

"Right!" Haruka shouted. "Now it's my turn to grab your attention!"

"Oops, I better do it too!" Emiri said. "Using the charm I got trying to get closer to the onee-chan who I looked up to so much, I'm gonna lure her right over here! We may have failed once, but, like, if we keep this up it's totally gonna work out!"

At that moment, Walpurgisnacht fired one of its beams directly at Emiri.

"Whoooooooa!" Emiri exclaimed. "Oh my god, attacking people right when they finish talking is so against the rules!"

"P-pleeeeease stooooop!" Mayu shouted. "My power to stop attacks is just what we need at a time like this!"

The fiery beam froze in mid-shot, still hanging visibly in the air but ceasing any forward progress.

Emiri let out a sigh of relief. "That was a nasty shock…"

"But if we have that ability, we should be able to lead her over with some ease," Sasara said.

"Um, I can't keep her stalled forever, so please hurry and get to a safe distance!" Mayu said.

"What!?" Sasara gasped. "Let us know that sooner, okay!?"

With that she ran off, putting some distance between herself and the witch, and Mayu sighed.

"Boss… the wish I made for you came in handy after all!" Mayu said.

Walpurgisnacht's eerie laughter drifted down again.

"Miss Walpurgisnacht!" Mayu said. "I don't think I can keep you at bay much longer…"

At that moment, the beam resumed its motion as if nothing had happened, and at the same time, Tsumugi leapt in to push Mayu out of the way and… swallowed the beam whole. A moment later, she gagged.

"Blech! That's one disgusting magic!" she exclaimed.

"She's on the move again," Mami said. "We need to help them!"

"Got it!" Madoka said.

Now Walpurgisnacht was hovering directly above Minaminagi Seaside Park, where Maimai's portal had dropped off everyone who had been fighting Eve, including the feathers that were involved in that battle.

"Hmm, is Miss Naomi around…?" Ashley murmured. "Ah! Miss Masuyo, Miss Naomi! Over here!"

Noriko and Mari headed over towards her.

"Did you want something?" Mari asked.

"Miss Naomi, can you trap the witch in your labyrinth?"

"Ah, um… b-but I already tried that earlier," Noriko said. "Y-you might not have noticed… b-b-because it failed… she was too strong to contain…"

"I see… but there weren't as many of us here then," Ashley said. "Plus we didn't have any boosting magic active then, but now we have Kazumi-chan, Madoka-chan, and whatever boosts Miss Togame and the others cast. So, I just thought it might be worth trying again."

Noriko nodded. "Um, okay… I'll try it," she said.

She raised her hands, and her portal appeared up in the air, sucking Walpurgisnacht in. For a moment, the rain let up, and it looked like the clouds overhead were becoming thinner.

"It worked!" Ashley said.

"B-but it won't h-hold f—"

She hadn't even finished her sentence before Walpurgisnacht reappeared with a nasty cracking sound, almost like a bolt of lightning. The rain resumed with almost double the force.

"No good, huh…" Ashley said. "Dammit… well, thanks for trying, though. Alina was able to do it before, but I guess this Walpurgisnacht is even stronger…"

Walpurgisnacht let out another peel of eerie laughter, idly rotating in midair as if looking around.

"Now the real battle begins," Tsukuyo said.

"Yeah," Tsukasa said. "We have to lock Walpurgisnacht in place so that everyone can concentrate their attacks on her!"

"For sure!" Tsukuyo said. "We're the only ones who understand each other, and we share a bond of unconditional love."

"Our song bears that same love," Tsukasa said.

"And now, we shall use it to stop you from taking even one more step!" Tsukuyo said.

"Flute Blossom Resonance!" they chanted in unison.

Rui suddenly let out a mad cackle.

"How brazen of you, to think you could escape!" she shouted. "Because there's no way that I could allow that to happen! I, Fortress the Wizard, shall now seal your fate!"

Riko giggled. "Fortress the Wizard is so cool!"

"Um… just so you know, there's not much time left," Madoka said. "Probably about one more minute at most…"

"That's quite enough!" Asuka said. "I command you, as an upstanding Ryuushinryuu assistant instructor! You may not move from this spot! This is my power – strict adherence to the rules!"

Then Walpurgisnacht spun to face her, charging up a beam of baleful fire.

"Oh, that was a mistake!" Asuka gasped. "I should've stopped her attack first! I can only apply my magic to one rule at a time…"

"Allow me!" Himika said. "I can divert the attack with this coin right here!"

With a yell, she flung a ten yen coin off to the side, which apparently triggered the witch to change her target, blasting it out of the air and, as a result, not striking any magical girls, though it left a crater on the ground.

"You distracted her… with a coin!?" Asuka gasped.

"Sure!" Himika said. "Money can change how you live! It can change your life! It's scary how much it can change your perspective and values! That's how important and attention-grabbing money is!"

"Great thinking, Himika!" Kanagi said. "But luring Walpurgisnacht to something on the ground will get the park blown away."

"Oh no… you're right!" Himika gasped.

"Hm… as one might expect, I can't understand what's going through a witch's head," Kanagi said.

Mitama giggled. "In that case, let's stop her with force!"

"Yakumo?" Kanagi said.

"I am the Coordinator, after all," Mitama said. "I'll give your magic a temporary boost. Then you should be able to stop Walpurgisnacht in her tracks."

"I see," Kanagi said. "Good strategy. I'd be glad to take up that job!"

Mitama reached up to Kanagi's face and stroked her soul gem for a moment, then summoned one of her transparent squares of cloth and dropped it on the ground in front of her. As Kanagi stepped forward, the cloth seemed to repel her, enhancing her jump enough that she was able to reach the height of Walpurgisnacht. Once there, she flung her riding crop with all her might, lodging it amidst the slowly turning gears. As they struck the new obstacle, there was a crunching sound, and the gears ceased turning. As she reached the peak of her jump and began to fall, she fired her ultimate attack, a barrage of laser beams. Falling back to the ground, she landed nimbly on her feet before looking up to check on her handiwork. Apparently, the continuous turning of the gears must have somehow powered the witch's flight, for she now began to slowly drift downwards. The laser beams had also left numerous scorch marks on the face of the gear.

"Yes! I stopped her!" Kanagi said.

"Okay!" Iroha said. "Now we have the perfect opening!"

"Just a little while ago, this witch seemed like something we'd never be able to beat," Sana said. "Miss Iroha…"

"Yes, Sana-chan!" Iroha said. "Now, I think we really can beat her!"

"It's still too early to say that!" Mami said sternly.

"Miss Tomoe!"

"Miss Mami, please tie her up so she can't move!" Madoka said.

"Don't worry," Mami said. "I'll keep both Walpurgisnacht and our futures nice and secure! Everyone, if you wouldn't mind!"

"Roger!" Kanoko said. "I'll do my part to keep everyone's futures firmly bound in place! Just like how my own wish kept me stuck on the path towards my dream… I'll keep you stitched nice and tight, right here! That's my special technique, as future designer Yayoi Kanoko! Now enjoy being sewn into submission!"

"And finally, I'll make Walpurgisnacht take root right here!" Kaede said.

"Alright, guess I'll help you out again," Rena said. "If I don't transform when an obvious chance like this shows up… I might miss the chance to help at all."

"If that's really why you're helping, then I don't need your help!" Kaede said.

"Ugh, isn't it obvious I was joking!?" Rena gasped. "I'm saying I worry about you doing it all alone, Kaede!"

With that, Rena transformed into a duplicate of Kaede.

"C'mon, let's do this!" she said.

"Being told that by my own face is pretty weird, not gonna lie," Kaede said.

"Stop complaining and do it!" Rena said.

"Rena-chan! Why are you the one getting mad at me!?" Kaede protested. "Urgh, fine! Alright! I get it, okay!? Let's secure Walpurgisnacht so she can't move!"

"That's the plan," Rena said. "With two of us, we can keep it in place twice as effectively!"

Mari stepped forward to join them. "Allow me to help out as well. I can produce vines, too."

"M-me too!" Futaba exclaimed, also jumping forward to join them.

"Oh, um… thank you!" Kaede said.

Mami built up a scaffolding with her ribbons, wrapping them around every part of Walpurgisnacht she could reach – the arms, the point things on her head, the waist, the neck, the flaring skirt, the main gear shaft, and even some of the smaller gears. Similarly, Kanoko fired a whole host of grapples that hooked into many of the same places, and the two of them pulled all their lines taut, securing them to anything they could find within reach – wrapped around bollards, lamp posts, trees, even an observation tower at the edge of the park, and some of them even just lodged between the tiles on the sidewalk.

Once everything was secured, Kaede, Rena, Mari, and Futaba stepped in, calling up a host of vines which grew up and wrapped around the witch's head. Then Chiyoko strengthened the scaffolding they'd built by adding silken cross connections between all the ribbons, threads, and vines. Hiyori also leapt in at the same time, doing the same thing as Chiyoko using her harp strings to strengthen the scaffolding even further.

"A-and now, I'll slow her down!" Tomomi shouted.

Although it was clear she used some magic after saying that, there was no visible effect. However, Momoko recalled the fight against the soldier bear, where her magic had prevented Rena's trident from pulling free of the floor.

"I guess that'll make it harder for her to break free, right?" Momoko said.

"Y-yeah, that's right," Tomomi said.

"Yesss!" Kaede exclaimed. "This time it worked great, Rena-chan!"

Rena reverted to her normal form, nodding.

"Y-yeah, it did!" she said. "We did it, Kaede!"

"Now we should be able to hit Walpurgisnacht with any kind of attack!" Kaede said.

"And since she's no longer freely flying, our attacks will likely do more damage," Ashley said.

"That means the stage is set!" Hazuki said. "We can finally make a move!"

"Yeah!" Akira said. "Miss Hazuki and me already figured out where her weaknesses are!"

"Already!?" Rena gasped.

"That ain't a bad skill to have," Kyouko said.

"Didn't Kanna-chi explain her weaknesses earlier, though?" Ashley said. "Although I suppose some of the girls here might have missed it… and it can't hurt to confirm it."

"My power permits me to discover who my enemies are," Nanaka mused. "But we have long established that Walpurgisnacht is our enemy. Other than strategizing a way to fight it, I am afraid I cannot be of much help. So Miss Hazuki and I discussed strategy while we fought."

"My skill's all about scanning people," Hazuki said.

"Mine's the power to seek out the weak points to hit to take out a witch!" Akira said.

"Yes, and we concluded that combining those skills should move things along nicely," Nanaka concluded.

"You don't miss a beat, do ya?" Kyouko said.

"So, Miss Akira, Miss Hazuki," Nanaka said. "What did you discover?"

"Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but her weak point isn't on her body," Hazuki said.

"Yeah," Akira said. "No mistaking it, it's that gear that's connected to her. Especially, the largest of the gears."

"I see," Nanaka said. "Thank you very much. Well then, let us commence our attack."

Hijiri repeated what she said in English, translating for those who didn't speak Japanese.

"We'll back ya up!" Kyouko said. "Hit her hard, all at once!"

"Of course!" Sayaka said. "We gotta knock her senseless, here and now!"

"Ui, Touka-chan!" Iroha said. "We need to go, too!"

"Yeah!" Touka said.

The majority of the pink feathers had already reached the ground, simply vanishing on impact. Though there were still quite a few left, the air was no longer filled with them.

"We're almost out of time!" Madoka said. "Everyone, please hurry!"

"Ui, you still aren't used to fighting, so stay close to me!" Iroha said.

"O-okay, I understand!" Ui said.

"Everyone else who can attack, join in!" Hinano shouted. "We're gonna go all out on her together!"

"Barely time to catch my breath!" Akira said. "Honestly, though, I think it's for the best."

"Same here," Hazuki said. "I feel really amped up, it's not like me at all…!"

"Homura-chan, let's go!" Madoka said. "Here goes nothing!"

"I almost died in a chemistry accident, and only survived thanks to my wish," Hinano said. "And that wish gave me the power to make chemical explosions… ironic, isn't it? Right now, though, I think it's a pretty great power to have. Cause I'm gonna use it to save people instead of hurting them!"

Homura laid her hand on Madoka's shoulder, sharing her magic as Madoka drew her bow and fired several arrows in a row. Iroha did the same, aiming so that her arrows struck at roughly the same time as Madoka's.

Meanwhile, Hinano grabbed all the flasks from the pouch at her belt and flung them high up into the air. As they struck the gear, each of them exploded violently in a cloud of coloured smoke.

Several other magical girls also took the opportunity to fire off attacks. Saki and Lina both emitted a bolt of lightning at the witch, and Moe and Liliane both conjured thunderclouds that floated up around the witch and repeatedly zapped it. Some magical girls with ranged weapons, most notably Koharu and Ria, took the chance to fire off a few shots. And Maria raised her hands and did something that made the witch's body shudder violently.

"Is it working at all?" Madoka wondered.

"She's still not down," Homura said.

"Still, that must have at least done some kind of damage!" Sayaka said.

"It's working!" Ashley said. "I'm taking a look from above, and we've shorn off almost a third of the gear base!"

"Guys, this is bad!" Aimi exclaimed. "Walpurgisnacht is about to counterattack!"

"A-are you sure, Aimi!?" Kokoro gasped. "She shouldn't even be able to move!"

"Did you catch a glimpse of the future?" Masara asked.

"Wait, was that a prediction!?" Kokoro gasped.

"Yeah!" Aimi said. "We don't have time to stop it! An attack's coming… sooner than we'd like!"

"Additionally, it will cover a wide area!" Oriko spoke up. "We'll need anyone who can defend others to do so! If you can't, rally around someone who can!"

"Yeah, it's gonna be really bad!" Aimi agreed.

"Masara, Aimi, fall back!" Kokoro said. "I can weather us through this!"

"Oh come on, Kokoro!" Aimi gasped. "I don't care how strong your special power is, you've gotta—"

"I promise I'll be fine," Kokoro said. "I'm more durable than I look."

"I suppose your magical girl qualities come from your regular human background," Masara mused. "Perhaps the same could be said for me. Come on, Aimi, we need to leave."

As Masara dragged Aimi away, she called out.

"Kokorooooo!"

Then Ayame leapt forward to join Kokoro.

"I'll defend this place too!" she declared. "I wished to keep the Azalea house standing, so I'm real good at making things survive! You aren't the only one who can keep things safe and sound, Kokoro!"

"I won't let anyone get hurt, either!" Yukika declared, leaping forward to join them.

"Are you trying to compete with me!?" Kokoro gasped.

"What? No!" Yukika protested.

"Yep!" Ayame said. "Let's see who can actually protect everyone!"

"What!?" Kokoro gasped.

"Ayame! You don't have to compete with her, you know!" Konoha said.

"We need to retreat too, Konoha!" Hazuki said. "And fast!"

"No, wait, I can't leave Ayame to deal with this on her own!" Konoha protested.

"I know how you feel, but we'll just get in her way if we stay!" Hazuki said.

Another girl also reacted to the predicted attack. Yumi, standing near Ryo and Ikumi and mainly surrounded by feathers, reached out and closed her eyes, causing everyone in range to sort of fade out and become indistinct.

It turned out there were also quite a large number of magical girls present with the capability of creating a barrier of some kind. Some distance away, Airi stepped forward and cast a multi-layered shield of fire, sheltering a large number of other magical girls, and she wasn't the only one. Moe mixed in a force barrier with Airi's flame barrier, placing a layer of force just behind each layer of fire. Koito extended a multi-level force shield above the heads of her team, while Komaki surrounded them with a physical steel barrier. Kazumi protected the Pleiades Saints and nearby magical girls with her spherical barrier, and Umika supplemented it with a similar barrier of her own just inside it. Mami and Kyouko built up barriers from ribbons and chains respectively, defending their team as well as the Crescent Moon Villa girls. And one of the black feathers raised her hands to project several layers of walls built up from jigsaw pieces, defending herself and several nearby feathers.

Then the witch finally unleashed the predicted attack. It was like a rain of burning coals, black flaming lumps spread across the park.

"Oh, dammit!" Hazuki gasped.

Sana stepped forward. "Over here!" she said. "I can make you invisible if you get here quickly!"

Hazuki let out a sigh of relief. "You saved us!"

"Thank you!" Konoha said.

The flaming coals broke apart and scattered on impact, spreading their flames mercilessly across the battlefield. Some of them bounced off Sana's shield, others were deflected or incinerated by Airi's shield, and quite a few of them struck Kokoro, Ayame, and Yukika directly, as they went out of their way to intercept as many as possible. All the other barriers also did their job of deflecting the attack, though they all eventually shattered from the force of the attack – even Kazumi's barrier broke down.

Kokoro groaned as she endured the onslaught, while Ayame glared up at the witch in defiance. The coals passed right through Yumi and those she was protecting like they weren't even there.

"I'm not… gonna… give…up!" Ayame screamed.

"Everyone's doomed if I fall!" Kokoro said.

"I'm definitely… gonna dooo thiiiiiiis!" Ayame shouted.

The rain of fire finally came to an end, leaving Kokoro and Ayame gasping for breath. Ayame let out a sigh of relief. Thanks to the ongoing rain, most of the smaller fires across the park from the onslaught were already sputtering. Walpurgisnacht let out one of its eerie cackles and shuddered, the vibrations travelling all the way through the vines and bindings.

"We held it back!?" Ayame said.

"Walpurgisnacht is trying to break free," Kokoro said.

As Ayame toppled over, Konoha stepped forward just in time to catch her.

"I refuse to let my family get hurt," she said. "That's the very least I can do."

"Konoha!" Ayame gasped.

"There's no way I'd leave you here with what's going on," Konoha said. "Hurry, fall back while you still can!"

"Kokoro, you should too," Masara said.

"Masara… okay," Kokoro said.

"W-we'll try to create an opening while you all retreat!" Mito called down from above.

Somehow, she and her three friends had managed to find a perch high up on the scaffolding that was restraining Walpurgisnacht. The vines created by Kaede and Rena had a few branches here and there, giving a convenient place to stand.

"M-magical girls… in the sky!?" Kokoro gasped.

"Good thing it's raining, huh Seika?" Leila said.

"Yes," Seika said. "All three of us managed to get really close to Walpurgisnacht."

"Next up is you, Leila!" Mito said. "Use your sacred fire to heal everyone up!"

"You bet!" Leila said. "I'm counting on you too, Mii-tan! Make sure everyone's hearts are linked up!"

"Will do!" Mito said. "Just say the word!"

"Alright!" Leila said.

"Ready, and…!" Mito said.

"Gooooooo!" the three of them shouted in unison.

Leila raised her arms and poured a torrent of blue and purple flames down onto the battlefield. Though everyone was startled at first, it quickly became clear that the flames didn't hurt and were only pleasantly warm. Furthermore, as they died off, everyone realized that their injuries had been healed.

Then Mito closed her eyes and pressed her hands together, and a magic glow spread out from her hands, first increasing in brightness, then expanding rapidly outwards. Soon the glow had expanded to cover the entire battlefield, and then, suddenly, it vanished. At that moment, the three of them leapt down from their perch.

All of a sudden the battlefield felt a whole lot smaller. Simply by looking at each other, everyone was able to ascertain each other's strengths and weaknesses. A dead silence fell across the battlefield for a second or two. There was no more need for verbal communication, nor even standard telepathy. Everyone simply knew what they had to do, and how long they had to complete it. Time was ticking, and there wasn't a moment to waste. But this also meant that the urgency of the situation was instantly made known to everyone. There were barely fifteen seconds to go before Madoka's boost effect wore off.

Then the silence was broken once more as the three of them landed softly upon the ground.

"There, my flames healed everyone!" Leila said. "It may not be much, but everyone got some!"

"Yeah, seems like it," Seika said. "Plus, now we each have a better idea of what we can all do."

"Yeah!" Mito said. "I connected everyone's hearts! We may not know everything about each other, but now we all have a decent idea of what all of us can do and what we're thinking about!"

"I see what you mean," Iroha said. "I don't hear their voices in my head, and I can't really see anything I didn't before… but now, I really feel like I'm on the same page as everyone else here."

"Alrighty, then!" Ayaka suddenly exclaimed. "I get the general plan, so first I've gotta do the prep work! I'm sorry, Shizuku-chan. I wanted to use my unique magic to turn your injuries into a joke… but I can't fix up stuff like physical injuries. But how's this! Once we get home, I'll make you laugh your ass off! But first, I gotta deal with Walpurgisnacht! Heeeeeeey! The idea of you breaking free is just a joke, amirite!?"

The witch suddenly stopped its struggles to break free, and Ayaka let out a cheer. However, as if to compensate for being unable to move, it released a large quantity of shadow magical girls.

"It stopped moving!" she exclaimed. "Then, you're next on the stage, little miss florist!"

"Another beam's coming!" Aimi shouted. "An especially big one this time!"

"O-okay!" Konomi said. "Here I go! The magic we're about to use to form this next attack… let it grow and bloom into something even more spectacular! I'll bring flowers to our battle with my power!"

"I don't have the same nerve as Ria-sempai when it comes to stealing the spotlight," Manaka said. "But hey, now I get to do my thing! Leave all the familiars to me! I'm gonna make use of my magic… just like how I spread publicity for our restaurant, only this time, I'm spreading pain out to all the familiars around here!"

"I'll use my replication magic to help you hunt down all those familiars!" Kako exclaimed. "Although I can't replicate anything stronger than what my own magic can produce… but I'll snuff out as many as I can of the familiars scattered around the area!"

"That's a big help!" Manaka said. "Thanks a bunch!"

"S-sure!" Kako said.

The beam Aimi predicted suddenly blasted down from above, but Manaka leapt in and caught it on her frying pan, splitting it and diverting it with Kako's help amongst all the familiars the witch had just released. It was enough to take out every single familiar all at once.

"And… when the time comes… I'll finish this," Ren said quietly. "So that when the dawn breaks, and this is all over… that witch will never take another breath again. I'll heal her tainted soul, so she can rest in peace… yes!"

"Now we can really combine our strength," Yachiyo said.

"Yes," Iroha said. "We bound her and attacked her, but we still haven't taken down Walpurgisnacht. But this time… we can strike her with all of our might at once…"

"And we might be able to wipe her out before she starts moving again!" Tsuruno exclaimed.

"Then all of the familiars flooding the streets would disappear," Sana said.

"Hey, even I get it!" Felicia said. "I know we can do it this time! Hell, we can do pretty much anything with the power we've got left!"

"Well, maybe not anything," Iroha said. "But I think we can beat this witch. We'll strike quick and get rid of Walpurgisnacht and her familiars!"

"And the key to doing that is…" Yachiyo said.

"That powerful attack you mentioned," Iroha said.

"Yes," Yachiyo said. "It seems Miss Taylor had already realized it, but my unique magic is the power to inherit hope from other magical girls. Once that hope's been entrusted to me, I keep it held within… and I can control it. That power's been supporting me all along, and it took me until now to realize it. But this time… I'll use it for everyone's sake."

"But, Miss Yachiyo," Iroha said.

"I've made it this far because I had Kanae's and Mel's hope supporting me," Yachiyo said. "So if I use that up, my magic will weaken, much like Mifuyu's did as she got older."

"Are you okay with that?" Iroha asked.

"That kind of risk won't stop me," Yachiyo said. "I've lived a really long time for a magical girl, and there's so many other magical girls following behind me, into a new era. No matter what happens, I want you to be the one I entrust my own hope too, Iroha."

"Don't say that!" Iroha protested. "You'll jinx us! It'll be fine! We can do this!"

"We can," Yachiyo said. "That's the plan."

"Okay!" Iroha said.

"Onee-chan, I can use my power now, can't I?" Ui said.

"Yes!" Touka said. "This is the time for us to help!"

"Okay, let's help everyone together!" Iroha said.

"No," Homura said. "We're too late… the feathers are all gone now. This is… not looking good at all…"

She seemed to be correct about that – the pink feathers that had been floating in the air from Madoka's magic were finally gone. There was not a single one left to be seen.

"Miss Akemi, that's enough pessimism!" Mami said. "Let's do all we can to make sure nothing gets in their way!"

"Yeah, we can't mess up this final blow!" Sayaka said.

"I can already feel the exhaustion kicking in again," Ashley said. "But it's not yet back to the level of when Madoka used that power, so we can probably still barely pull it off. We're still connected with Miss Aino's powers, after all."

"Homura-chan," Madoka said. "Although there's not much left, now that the feathers have disappeared… we should send Iroha-chan our power too!"

"It can't possibly hurt, I guess," Homura admitted. "I can see there's at least a chance, however slim. Let's do it."

"Everyone's resolves are set," Iroha said. "I can feel it in my heart… I'm really tired, but I think I have just barely enough energy to pull this one off."

She took a deep breath.

"Everyone! We'll pierce through Walpurgisnacht with an arrow we all forged together!"

"Given how everyone's so exhausted, it's probably the only thing left we can try," Ashley said. "Let's hurry, before she breaks free! Even Miss Mariko's magic won't hold her forever!"

"Now it's your big moment," Yachiyo said. "Go ahead, Ui-chan!"

"Okay!" Ui said.

"Come to think of it, I suppose this'll be a lot like a Starlight Breaker," Ashley mused. "Let's hope we have enough power to pull it off though…"

"Guys!" Ui shouted. "All of you, lend me your hope!"

She raised her hands over her head and began to slowly gather magical power between them. Strands of power floated over from nearly all the magical girls who were currently fighting, varying in thickness and brightness and coming in all different colours. The people who had fought hardest invariably emitted a thinner or dimmer strand, which meant that most of the thicker and brighter strands came from weaker magical girls such as the feathers who weren't able to contribute as much, or from people like Mitama and Maimai who had few if any forms of attack magic that could contribute to the battle.

"Here ya go, Ui-chan!" Momoko shouted.

"To think the time would come when I would offer up my power to save this place," Mitama said.

"Please!" Tsuruno said. "Use all of our power to keep Kamihama, and all of our memories, safe!"

"And get rid of this horrible calamity!" Nagisa shouted.

The two thickest and brightest strands of magic, however, flowed in from beyond the battlefield. Turning towards them, Ashley gazed up at the source and gasped. On the roof of one of the buildings, well outside of Walpurgisnacht's influence, and barely visible to the naked eye, stood two magical girls – one with short black hair, and one with long silver hair in a dumpling style. It wasn't clear for how long the figures had been standing there unnoticed, but they only remained visible for a few seconds before disappearing again.

"Miss Kirino actually came after all!?" Ashley said. "And beside her… wasn't that… Mikage-chan!?"

"Huh?" Mitama said, startled. "What was that you just said…? Miss Taylor?"

Ashley ignored the query. The power swirling between Ui's hands slowly built up and built up until she found herself gasping with the effort of containing it.

"T-there's so much of it!" Ui whined. "But… with this… here, Touka-chan!"

She directed the massive amount of power towards Touka.

"Thanks, Ui!"

But then Touka gasped as she took charge of the swirling sphere of magical energy. Relieved of the pressure of holding that energy captive, Ui collapsed to her knees with a sigh of relief.

"Ugh!" Touka said. "It… nearly crushed me! But I gotta… bear with it! I gotta convert all this disparate magical energy into a nice uniform energy soup!"

She focused on the sphere of energy swirling before her, and bit by bit, all the different colours began to blend together until what was left was just a single colour, a vortex of bright yellow.

"And then… send it to you, miss veteran!" Touka said.

She passed the energy towards Yachiyo, who reached out to catch it.

"Thank you," she said. "I will bear everyone's hope!"

She blinked as she took hold of the energy. Upon relinquishing the energy, Touka leaned forward and rested her arms on her knees, gasping for breath a little.

"Really, to think I could handle all this magic with such ease," Yachiyo said. "I never thought that I possessed such a capability, just because I exist to bear others' hope. Mel… Kanae… I'll add your hope to the pile, too. We can all fight as one! We'll pierce through Walpurgisnacht, and carry on to a whole new future with this arrow!"

She formed the magic into a massive halberd and reached out her hand towards Iroha.

"Iroha, use this!" she shouted.

"Hurry!" Aimi called. "The witch is about to attack again!"

"You only have about ten more seconds before the attack!" Oriko shouted.

Iroha reached out to grasp Yachiyo's hand and gasped.

"M-miss Yachiyo… I can't… all this magic is too…!"

"Onee-sama!" Touka said, grabbing Iroha's other hand.

"Touka-chan?" Iroha said.

"I'll take a little bit of magic from this spear and convert it into your magic!" Touka said.

Whatever Touka did caused the halberd to change colour, from blue to pink.

"Thank you!" Iroha said. "That made a huge difference!"

Iroha proceeded to build up the form of a ballista before her, with the halberd in place to launch as soon as it was ready. The entire construct was about twice Iroha's height initially, but she needed to adjust the aim upwards to ensure a clean hit.

"It all ends here!" Iroha said.

"Iroha, pull the trigger!" Yachiyo said.

"Yes! Strada Futuro!"

Finally, Iroha clenched her fist, and the halberd went flying… but she had delayed a second too long. At the same moment, Walpurgisnacht fired off a series of baleful fire beams. The first beam intercepted the halberd as it flew, but by a stroke of luck, it was only knocked off course a little rather than being completely stopped. The halberd still struck the witch right in the gears, knocking off quite a large chunk, but it wasn't the level of damage they'd been aiming for.

And there wasn't any time to celebrate, either. The same beam that knocked the halberd off course was just about to hit Yachiyo and Iroha head on, but Sana leapt in front at the last second, interposing her shield.

"Miss Iroha! Miss Yachiyo!" Sana shouted. "Get—"

Her voice was cut off as the baleful beam bored right through her shield. Though she did her best to move her head out of the way, she had only a fraction of a second to react, so it took out a chunk of her neck, and grazed her soul gem as well. The gem cracked, and as she fell back and landed on the ground, a small shard was expelled, but by some miracle the gem didn't completely shatter, and her transformation didn't come undone. Iroha knelt beside her, calling her name, oblivious to the rest of the carnage spreading across the battlefield.

For yes, Sana was only the first. Before anyone else had a chance to react to the attack, Walpurgisnacht had already fired two more fiery beams, both of them precisely targeted. The second beam struck dead centre on Madoka's soul gem, and the third did the same with Kazumi. No doubt, the witch had identified them and either Iroha or Yachiyo as the biggest threats on the battlefield and moved to eliminate them first. With Kazumi out of the picture, everyone's outfits reverted to their standard form. The Pleiades Saints gasped and knelt to check on Kazumi, and Homura grabbed Madoka's body and let out a long, wordless wail. Seconds later, she was joined by Sayaka, who was in a similar state. And to make matters even worse, the witch began to spawn a fresh wave of shadow familiars.

"It… it's over," Shigure moaned. "We… we can't beat her after all!"

"W-we were sooooo close!" Ikumi screamed. "So close, and yet…!"

A beam of baleful fire severed part of the scaffolding holding Walpurgisnacht in place, loosening its hold on her. A moment later, Irina suddenly leapt up on top of the fountain dominating the centre of the park. It had already taken some damage from the witch's attacks, but it was still stable enough to stand on.

"Stupid!" she shouted. "You're all stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid! Are all of you idiots!? You're just going to give up because it looks hopeless!? We're magical girls, all of us! This is our fight! This is the battlefield where we have to win or die trying! It's the epic final battle that we can definitely win as long as we keep at it! Giving up is not an option!"

She looked around at everyone, glaring defiantly.

"Stop your stupid whining!" she shouted. "There's still time!"

With that, she pulled out a whopping seven grief seeds from somewhere, and both Chika and Karen, who were closest to her, gasped.

"Y-you were keeping so many in reserve!?" Chika asked.

"Why didn't you use them earlier!?" Karen asked.

"It would be bad if we used up all our grief seeds and all our magic, wouldn't it?" Irina said. "But there's no longer any room to hold back."

She tossed three seeds each to Chika and Karen, then used one to purify her own soul gem. Chika and Karen immediately used one each and began to pass them on to other nearby girls, including Matsuri, Suzune, Tomomi, Maimai, and a few of the black feathers. While they did that, Irina charged magic into her blades, flames in the sword and frost in the dagger, and leapt high into the air, climbing up through the scaffolding to attack Walpurgisnacht from up close. A cloud of bats formed out of her shadow surrounded her and trailed behind her as she moved, assaulting the witch like an angry flock of sparrows whenever she got within range.

"She's right!" Matsuri said. "This isn't something where we can just give up! We've got to keep going no matter what!"

"Yeah!" Maimai said. "I haven't done all that much, but even I realize that something really, really bad will happen if we don't finish her off here!"

Meanwhile, Chika and Karen made for the latest wave of familiars. With Chika continuously sharing her power, Karen stabbed familiar after familiar, turning them all into stone statues in very short order. Chika followed up each attack by kicking the resulting statue, causing it to break down into a pile of rubble which then crumbled into dust.

"That was incredible," Momoko said. "With just one angry speech, that girl has overturned the hopelessness of the situation… we may have already lost some friends and allies, but that doesn't mean it's over! We can still do this! Iroha-chan! There's no time for grief right now!"

"R-right!" Iroha gasped.

Carefully laying Sana down on the ground, she leapt to her feet and looked around for a moment.

"B-but even if you say that… does anyone have a spare grief seed?" she asked.

"I'll let you use one of mine," Ashley said. "I was keeping two in reserve, but like Irina said, we're beyond the point where we can afford to do something like that."

She took out not only two grief seeds but also three cube-shaped objects with a similar lustre. She handed a seed to Iroha and another to Mami, then gave a cube to Inui and used another one to purify her own soul gem before putting it and the remaining cube back away. Iroha accepted the seed and used it to purify her and Yachiyo's soul gems, and Mami did the same, offering it to Kyouko after she was done with it.

"Actually, I kept one in reserve too," Kyouko said. "So I don't need it."

Kyouko took a grief seed out and purified her soul gem with it, then handed it off to Yuma. Since Kyouko didn't need it anymore, and Sayaka and Homura were clearly too lost in grief to be of any help now, Mami offered it to Nagisa instead. Across the battlefield, several other people, mostly veterans, also revealed that they had kept one grief seed in reserve, and as a result of sharing all those grief seeds with someone nearby, they managed to build up a force of around fifty magical girls who were prepared to continue fighting.

During all this, Walpurgisnacht was fortunately focusing all her attack power on the flashy figure attacking her. Irina hopped back and forth, repeatedly using the scaffolding as a foothold, dodging quick blasts of fire with ease while attacking over and over with her elemental blades and her shadow bats. However, those blasts were also slowly breaking the witch free of her restraints, one strand at a time, and eventually, one of the branches Irina had intended to use as a foothold swayed as she tried to land on it, throwing off her movements. That was just enough of a distraction for the witch to blast her soul gem to smithereens, and as a result, her transformation was cancelled and her body fell from the sky, landing with an unpleasant squelching sound in the middle of the park.

However, her last-ditch attack had bought the remaining girls enough time to get back on their feet. In addition, she had dealt quite a significant amount of damage. Even before her attack, the gear bearing the witch had been reduced to nearly two-thirds its original size and had lost four or five teeth on the remaining section, but Irina's onslaught had managed to slice off four more teeth and widen the many cracks riddling the surface.

The witch still hadn't fully freed herself, fortunately. Only about two-thirds of the scaffolding had been torn free thus far, so she wasn't yet able to move freely. Those who had managed to scrounge up some grief seeds stepped forward to press the attack. Matsuri and Suzune joined hands, building up a combined attack, and so did Ashley and Inui. Moka and Hotori also followed their example, though exactly why and how those two had ended up together was anyone's guess, and the Pleiades Saints decided to all join hands and combine their powers as well. While they built up power, the others who had received a grief seed, led by Oriko, began to fire their magic and weapons at the witch as fast as they could.

"Be careful!" Oriko shouted. "The ones building up for a stronger attack are probably the ones who will be targeted first! You must be ready to dodge the moment you start charging your magic!"

However, as if to contradict her, Walpurgisnacht opened fire again at that very moment, aiming not at the ones building up magic but at Oriko herself. Oriko gasped and stepped aside, but the attack wasn't just a simple baleful beam. It was instead a barrage of short and fast shots that adjusted its aim as she moved. As a result, though the first few shots missed her, she was still within range of the subsequent shots.

"I… I guess… this is it for me," she said. "My apologies…"

"Noooooo!" Kirika shouted. "I won't let you have Oriko!"

Though Kirika had been sprawled out on the ground, seemingly too exhausted to move, she somehow managed to leap to her feet and put herself directly in the path of Walpurgisnacht's beams.

"K-kirika!?" Oriko gasped. "N-nooo! You can't, Kirika!"

Kirika ignored her, standing there with her arms spread wide as the attack filled her with holes. One of the shots struck her right in the soul gem, cancelling her transformation, but even then she somehow remained standing, shielding Oriko with her corpse.

Only once the barrage came to an end did the mangled remains of Kirika's body finally toppel over, and Oriko knelt down to catch the still-intact head, cradling it in her lap.

"Kirika…" Oriko said, tears forming in her eyes. "You… you saved me…! And yet… you… Kirika…!"

Walpurgisnacht followed up its attack on Oriko with several beams aimed just as Oriko had predicted, at the girls charging their power. This time, three girls leapt in front, two in the robes of a black feather, the other one brandishing a drill. It was Kuroe, Maimai, and Akane Sumire.

"If I use my unique magic, I should be able to soften the blow!" Sumire shouted. "So please… make sure you get those attacks off!"

"Ah…" Hijiri noted. "If there ever was a right time for your power, this is definitely it…"

"W-we'll… buy you the time to charge!" Kuroe shouted. "Miss Iroha, Miss Tomoe, everyone! Please… please finish this! F-for me!"

Kuroe raised both hands, forming jigsaw pieces that arranged themselves into a wall, and then a second wall, and a third wall, and even a fourth and fifth wall. Sumire also raised her hands, projecting a sort of faint violet haze which, as her words would suggest, seemed to mildly weaken the strength of the beam. The baleful fire was extremely powerful, and Kuroe's walls basically stood no chance of stopping it, but together with Sumire's dampening, there was just enough resistance to slow the beams down by a matter of a second or two per wall.

"That's… Miss Kuroe!?" Iroha gasped. "Incredible…! Miss Yachiyo, let's see if we can produce one more arrow like that! It won't be as big or as strong as the first one, but…"

Yachiyo nodded. "Yes, we have to do everything we can."

She took out a grief seed and purified her soul gem and Iroha's. Then, clasping hands again, the two of them began to build up magic power. A short distance away, Mami was doing something similar with Kyouko, and Yuma and Nagisa were also building up for a big attack.

The beams bored through Kuroe's barriers, one of them striking her head-on before she could react. At the same moment, Maimai leapt in, managing to divert most of the beams that had penetrated Kuroe's barriers with her tunnelling magic, sending them careening high up into the air, but she too fell victim to one of them. Both her and Kuroe were completely obliterated by the beams that struck them. The only saving grace was that none of the actual targets were hit – the people charging up their magic were still safe.

"Figli del Toana!"

The Pleiades Saints were the first to unleash their combined attack, pooling the magic of all seven of them to unleash a massive beam that shot up towards the witch. It knocked off three gear teeth and a sizable chunk of the gear's core. There was just a bit more than half of the gear now remaining intact.

"Ultimate Teddy Glittering Firestorm!"

Next were Inui and Ashley, who fired a stream of pink flames filled with glittering stars. Although it did only minimal damage, it caused the witch to stop in her tracks for just a second or two, just enough for everyone else to unleash their attacks.

"Citron Dynamite!"

Moka and Hotori attacked next, the latter firing her beam as usual, but this time it was surrounded in a helix of bright yellow stars which exploded the moment they contacted the witch. It left a crater on the gear, with cracks spreading out from it. After the attack was fired, Moka collapsed on the ground with a gasp, and Hotori leaned over, resting her elbows on her knees.

"Memorable Camellia Impact!"

Matsuri and Suzune unleashed a roaring stream of fire that struck the witch's body, setting it aflame and spreading down to the root, where it seemed to seep into the existing cracks on the gear and pry them apart, if only just a little. Based on the strength of the attack, it seemed even Kagari had contributed some power.

"Tiro Duet!"

Mami and Kyouko had built up a ballista just like Iroha did, with Mami providing ribbons for propulsion while Kyouko provided a spear as a missile. The spear flew even faster than Kyouko's usual ultimate attack, Kugatachi, and tore through the witch's upper body to lodge itself in a crack on the gear.

"Due Anima!"

It was a repeat of the previous attack, with Iroha providing the propulsion for Yachiyo's halberd, but there was far less power put into it this time. Still, it was on par with Kyouko's spear, and met a similar fate, lodging itself in a crack on the gear.

With an eerie peel of laughter, Walpurgisnacht attacked back, firing six more of the dreaded beams of baleful fire in quick succession.

The first beam shattered Asami Saki's soul gem before anyone could even react, eliciting screams from several of the Pleiades Saints. Mirai was the first to respond, kneeling by Saki's body and bursting into tears.

"Saaakiii! Nooooo!" she wailed.

The second beam was aimed at Matsuri, but Suzune pushed her out of the way at the last second, her soul gem taking the brunt of the hit. Matsuri squealed as she lost the lower half of one leg to the beam, but other than that she was unhurt.

"S-suzune-chan!?" Matsuri gasped, taking a moment to comprehend the situation. "W-what the… huh!? Suzune-chan!? N-no way…"

The third beam seemed to be fired almost at random, but Megumi Moka was collapsed on the ground directly in its path. With a yell, Hotori leapt in and grabbed Moka by the arms, flinging her out of harm's way, but then took the full force of the blast from behind and was incinerated in an instant.

"W-what…?" Moka gasped. "S-she… she saved me, but… w-why am I not happy…!?"

The fourth and fifth beams aimed for the remaining pillars of the scaffolding that still restrained Walpurgisnacht. With a tearing sound, it finally managed to drag itself free from its restraints.

And last but not least… the sixth and final beam was aimed directly at Ashley. Having collapsed after firing her joint attack, she was in no position to dodge, but she managed to summon Teddy Mk II at the last second as a makeshift shield. However, the teddy was no match for Walpurgisnacht's baleful fire…

"Ashley!" Inui screamed. "Nooooooo!

And, at precisely that moment, as the battlefield seemed to be robbed of all sound save that of grief… something else was heard that did not quite fit in.

Splish, sploosh… sploosh, splish… splash splosh…

---

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.

Akane Sumire
茜すみれ

Age: 16
Eye Colour: Brown
Hair Colour: Purple
Origins: Asunaro, Shinriku Prefecture, Japan
Symbol: Lavender five-petalled florette
Soul Gem: Purple oval gemstone just above her navel
Element: Forest
Weapon: Glaive
Powers: Power suppression
Wish: "I just want to escape the rumours surrounding Mom!"
Affiliation: Wings of the Magius (rank: Black Feather)

Speed: 6
Magical Stamina: 5
Offensive Power: 4
Defensive Power: 9
Initial Power Usability: 6
Learned Powers: 2

Yakumo Mikage
八雲みかげ

Age: 12
Eye Colour: Blue
Hair Colour: Silver
Origins: Daito Ward, Kamihama, Shinriku Prefecture, Japan
Symbol: Blue four-leafed clover
Soul Gem: Blue arrowhead-shaped gemstone on her hair accessory
Element: Darkness
Weapon: Twin katars
Powers: Charm, boost, disintegration
Wish: "I want to protect Kamihama from nee-chan's grief!"

Speed: 9
Magical Stamina: 7
Offensive Power: 4
Defensive Power: 6
Initial Power Usability: 7
Learned Powers: 0 (unknown)

---

For once, the chapter titled "Walpurgis the nth" is not the final chapter of the timeline. We still have one more chapter to go in this timeline, showing the finale of the Walpurgis fight and all the prep work for heading back in time again. (I don't think it's really a spoiler by now to say that they will be going back in time again.) At this point we already see that there are quite a significant number of casualties by the end… but there are also some surprise showings from various magical girls who never appeared in the original game, including several specific feathers of the Wings of the Magius. So, things manage to play out very similarly to the game while simultaneously playing out quite differently?

Yachiyo mentions that there are roughly two hundred magical girls present at this battle, and that's not at all an exaggeration. If you count up the magical girls who aren't members of the Wings of the Magius, you'll find they alone number over a hundred, and Tsukasa notes at one point that the Wings of the Magius managed to gather over a hundred members, which doesn't quite live up to Touka's projection from chapter 67 but is still quite a sizable number for an organization that's only a month old. (Of course, in the game it was quite a bit older than just one month and probably had even more members…) So altogether there must be more than two hundred girls fighting here.

So, that's quite a dramatic difference from the past timelines, where Walpurgisnacht was defeated or nearly defeated by a very small team… it comes down to the unique environment that Kamihama provides, a region unusually high in impurities. If this were the Wraithverse, it would probably be pumping out dangerous high-level wraiths on the regular. At least "infinite" class wraiths, probably a few "enlightenment" class wraiths and maybe even an occasional "liberation" class wraith.

We see Satori Kagome for the second time in this chapter, but it's the first time she has been named. Still, my assumption was that the mandrake plushy in her last appearance would be sufficient to make it clear exactly who she was… some people still failed to make the connection though, apparently. Anyway, in a way she's actually the "feature" of this chapter, given the rumour that I composed up at the top. The name of course exists in the Magia Record game, but it had no text to it. The text I ended up writing is actually inspired at least in part by a certain anime song that has a tangential connection to the Magia Record game…

While working out this chapter, I spotted some inconsistencies between the early draft of the chapter and the chapters I've already released. In most cases I adjusted this chapter to match the released chapter, but in a few cases I chose to adjust the released chapter instead.

I edited Natsuki's comment about where Karin went in chapter 84 to also note that the Daito apartment trio left with her at the same time, thus supporting Karin's statement in this chapter that they were fighting the witch together.

I also edited Mitama's comment in the present-day segment of chapter 82, as the explanation I had planned to have her give to Karin, Natsuki, and those who arrived with her ended up being relegated to Riko and Oriko due to Mitama being absent.

There are also some more minor corrections to previous chapters.

I randomly noticed that I had Akane Sumire's name in Western name order in chapter 34, so I corrected that (note from the future around chapter 97: I later realized that it was every other chapter that was wrong, so it was corrected again later on). I also spotted Inui not using her previously-established nickname for Riko in chapter 78 and 80, so I corrected that too. And in chapter 82 I changed Chika to address Ashley by her first name; it seemed odd for her to request that while not doing it herself, especially when Ashley generally prefers it.

---

Just for interest's sake, and to make it a little easier on the off chance that someone feels like counting them, I thought I'd go and make a list of all the magical girls involved in this battle. After all, there are so many that it's almost impossible to keep track of everyone! It can also get a little confusing because there are a number of duplicate names used in varying positions. For example, "Usagi Satomi" from Asunaro and "Satomi Touka" from Kamihama. So I'll break them down into subgroups by city and team. Note that the teams here are relative to how they grouped up during this battle and don't necessarily represent a long-term, permanent team.

§ Marks completely original characters
† Marks characters that originate from something other than Magia Record (Kamihama and WoM sections only; this status is assumed for other sections)

Kamihama

• Miyako Hinano, Kisaki Emiri, Ayano Rika, Isuzu Ren, Hibiki Meguru
• Tatsuki Asuka, Minagi Sasara (Kamihama Rescue Squad)
• Eri Aimi, Awane Kokoro, Kagami Masara
• Kurumi Manaka, Ami Ria, Wakana Tsumugi, Kozue Mayu, Fumino Sayuki
• Tokiwa Nanaka, Chun Meiyui, Shinobu Akira, Natsume Kako
• Yusa Hazuki, Shizumi Konoha, Mikuri Ayame (Azalea Trio)
• Mao Himika, Mizuki Rui, Chiaki Riko
• Haruna Konomi, Utsuho Natsuki, Yayoi Kanoko, Mariko Ayaka
• Chihiro Karen† (duplicated), Aoba Chika, Irina Kusch
• Tamaki Iroha, Tamaki Ui, Nanami Yachiyo, Yui Tsuruno, Mitsuki Felicia, Futaba Sana, Satomi Touka
• Togame Momoko, Akino Kaede, Minami Rena
• Yakumo Mitama, Izumi Kanagi
• Misono Karin, Yura Hotaru, Mai Akari
• Aino Mito, Ibuki Leila, Kumi Seika
• Kirino Sae, Yakumo Mikage

Mitakihara

• Mikuni Oriko, Kure Kirika, Asako Komaki, Asako Koito
• Tomoe Mami, Kaname Madoka, Miki Sayaka, Akemi Homura, Sakura Kyouko, Chitose Yuma, Momoe Nagisa
• Masuyo Mari§ (both versions in one body), Kohaku Koharu,§ Naomi Noriko§
• Elise Pierrot, Liliane Pierrot, Hayashi Komachi, Hayashi Hiyori, Claire Branch, Kaori Sachie§

Kazamino

• Hitomi Lina, Akane Mai, Saki Miyako, Ayumi Mio, Youko Futaba

Hohzuki

• Kanade Haruka, Hinata Matsuri (sharing with Hinata Kagari), Narumi Arisa, Chisato Shion, Kanami Honoka, Amano Suzune

Asunaro

• Asami Saki, Maki Kaoru, Misaki Umika, Wakaba Mirai, Usagi Satomi, Kanna Nico, Subaru Kazumi, Subaru Michika§ (Pleiades Saints)
• Asuka Yuuri, Anri Airi, Shiina Remi, Shiina Moe§, Hijiri Kanna

Other

• Sarra Basset,§ Alice Chandler§, Chevonne O'Keefe§, Janice Hatheway§, Adèle François§, Gisèle François§
• Ashley Taylor, Itsumi Inui (note: it should be obvious, but both of these are characters originating in Magia Record)

Black Feathers

• Yuuki Yumi (hood down)
• Yoshida Tamura†, Masumi Chihana†, Ayano Hikari† (no robes)
• Hifumi Chiyoko§, Tomomi Thrussel§, Yuki Maria, Hachikuji Mayoi† "Maimai"
• Tsubame Fabíola§ "Amu", Yaeko Mana§, Lusineh Khorenatsi§ "Nami", Tsukiyo Harune§ "Aoi", Simona Lupei§ "Sal" (robed)
• Kuroe Asaka, Miyabi Shigure, Azumi Hagumu, Megumi Moka, Yuzuki Hotori "Tori" (robed)
• Akane Sumire†, Hino Maya§, Akiyama Ran§ "Hana" (robed)

White Feathers

• Amane Tsukasa, Amane/Akatsuki Tsukuyo (no robes)
• Makino Ikumi, Midori Ryo (hood down)
• Suou Mikan§ "Sue" (no robes)
• Asamine Fumine§ "Fuu", Sasaki Kazuha§ "Konoha" (robed)
• Nanase Yukika (hood down)
• Mangetsu Muzuku§ "Myu", Shingetsu Uzuki§ "Majime" (robed)

Out of Commission

There are also a small number of magical girls who were involved, but are out of the picture one way or another by the time of this battle.

• Hozumi Shizuku (too exhausted to fight)
• Hiiragi Nemu (unconscious)
• Azusa Mifuyu (unconscious)
• Probably a few nameless black feathers who rejected Iroha's ideals
• Yukari Miyuri (a black feather who rejected Iroha's ideals)
• Hattori Sorashi§ (a white feather who rejected Iroha's ideals)
• Kenshin Masako§ "Hime" (a white feather who rejected Iroha and Mami's ideals)
• Kagura San the Instructor (a white feather, who rejected Iroha's ideals)