Days after revealing herself to the public, Kari was spending her first summer away from home. Not because she was on vacation, but to avoid facing her parents and the onslaught of media.

Mom had been sending her texts non-stop, updating about what's been happening at home. Ever since Kari revealed herself to be the fourth magical girl, everyone in her family up to their cousins were being contacted by journalists. News vans continued to be parked outside of the house.

Her dad had been taking it the worst. Kari had learned recently that he was forced to make a public apology to his company as a result of being hounded by news outlets. It caused a lot of trouble for his workplace that he had a magical girl as a daughter.

What a weird fucking time to be in, she thought.

Fortunately, very few people recognized her unless she had her hair in a ponytail. Too average of a face to go viral.

While laying down, Kari tossed a dart at the board across her manga cafe booth. The metal pin sunk deep into the bullseye alongside four other darts.

Somehow, her life had become a lot less lavish since going public.

"I miss your mom's cooking," Rocky said, tipping the bag of potato chips for scraps at the bottom.

"Yeah. Me, too. But I'm not going home begging. My dad can issue a hundred apologies to his company, but he won't say a good thing to me even if it kills him." Kari sighed and reached for the box of darts only to find it empty.

A text notification popped up on her phone just as someone rapped their knuckles on the door.

Knock. Knock.

She reached over to open the door without getting up. Minato and Makina stood in the corridor with exasperated expressions that could shame a donkey into a horse.

"Sorry, miss. Wrong room. We're looking for a magical girl, not some sloppily-dressed hobo," Minato jested.

"You've definitely seen better days." Makina giggled at her expense.

"Give me a break. This is what I left school in! I haven't gone home since Friday," Kari said, sitting up and snatching the plastic bag in Minato's hands.

An onigiri, egg sandwich, and green tea was all that was inside. Rocky looked into it expectantly. She settled on the sandwich and handed him the onigiri.

Kari scooted further in to give her friends space to squeeze in. The booth wasn't the most extravagant, and it only had enough room for her to stretch her legs. Now they sat up against the wall with knees tucked to their chests.

"How's solo life treating you?" Minato asked, flicking a piece of rice from his shoulder from Rocky eating like a pig.

"This gig isn't working out like I thought. I'm not sure how the trio got to be so famous. What do I gotta do? Walk outside in my outfit and have money thrown at me?" Kari washed her frustration down with a big gulp of green tea and savoured the bitter, unsweetened taste.

"You'd be surprised. There are people who do literally just that for their idols," he said.

"Do I look like an idol?" she asked.

Somehow, that put Makina into a laughing fit.

"She's more like the kind of girl to get typecast as a delinquent or unassuming side character who fades into obscurity by the end," Makina remarked.

"Is it getting hot in here? Because I feel like I'm getting burned. Hard." Kari rolled her eyes.

The truth of the matter was she didn't think this through. At least Rie continued going to school. Tsubasa and Kanae had their own private lives, and were only public figures as magical girls doubling as celebrities. Their fame only really surged about half a year into becoming what they were. Kari, on the other hand, was only into her first month.

It wasn't as if she could walk to the nearest advertising agency in her magical outfit and offer her image in exchange for money. Could she? What about all the legal affairs that she might become entangled in?

At times like this, Kari couldn't believe her first thought was to turn to her parents for help.

"You're really set on staying away from home?" Makina suddenly asked. "I can talk to my parents and see if they'd be okay with letting you lie low there."

"If people caught wind I'm hanging around your place, it's going to cause you and your folks trouble. I still have some money left. Don't worry about me," she replied.

It was a lie. She didn't have much, only enough to live and eat in the manga cafe for another week.

"Have you tried leveraging who you are to the manga cafe to get a free stay?" Minato suggested.

"Come on, Minataku. You really think they'll keep a secret? They'd probably want to leak that I'm here to get that free publicity." Kari wracked her head. "Damn it! How the hell did Candy, Flare, and Jade get their start?"

"That's it! You can ask them to introduce you to people," Makina said.

"Flare does have a big public presence. If anyone, she might be your best bet to hook you up." Minato nodded in agreement.

"I'll be taking this as thanks." She grabbed the green tea from Kari's hand and took a sip from it.

Kari stared at the mouth of the bottle and pursed her lips. Makina was about to hand the drink back when everything took on a light purple hue.

"Oh… Oh, no…" Rocky uttered.

Makina and Minato were seemingly frozen in place. Kari waved a hand in front of their eyes and received no reaction from them. The bottle was also stuck firmly in Makina's hand.

"Rocky, what the hell is going on?" she asked.

He swallowed hard and answered, "We've been put into a Malevolent Domain."

Both of them trembled as a shiver ran up their spines.

[Apocalypse System activated.

WARNING. WARNING.

Malevolent Domain has been erected in your area. Please dispose of the monster in a timely manner.]

"Don't screw with me! Now?" she screamed at the ring in her finger, which simply gleamed in response.

A loud explosion rocked the building. It came from outside. Kari wanted to investigate, but hesitated to leave Makina and Minato in here.

"It's no use," Rocky said, pulling her to the door by hand. "As long as the monster is alive, everything except us will remain frozen."

"I just gotta defeat it then?" she asked.

"This… might be out of your depth…"

Kari cursed under her breath and exited the booth, making a beeline to the front entrance of the manga cafe. She gasped as she reached the door, the egg sandwich was creeping up her throat.

The semi-truck of a monster was slowly making its way down the street. Her first thought was that it looked like a lizard. The thing was anything but. While it walked on four stubbly legs, it had an enormous human head reminiscent of a head hound.

A long tongue shot out like a frog catching prey at a nearby salarywoman. However, it didn't pull her in. Instead, the tongue caught a spectral apparition of the woman who was kicking and screaming until she disappeared into its mouth.

That wasn't all. The creature also had a tail, the tip of which looked like a flail whipping back and forth. Although it clearly stomped on and crushed the vehicles in its way, nothing appeared to be physically damaged. But there was another ghostly outline much like the woman left in a demolished state.

"Didn't the thing just eat the woman? What happened?" she pressed Rocky.

"When the Apocalypse System raises a Malevolent Domain, it also creates a copy of everything's existence to minimize damage. That woman's copy was definitely eaten. Her lifespan has been reduced significantly," he explained.

"Tch. How is that minimizing damage?"

"Because she isn't dead. Anything destroyed while in the Malevolent Domain will turn out fine, like nothing happened if you kill the monster. If you don't…" The anthem hesitated, almost as though hesitating to reveal more. He thought better of hiding the information and took a deep breath before continuing. "It will grow stronger once it breaks out after eating all those people. Inside here, however, its growth is temporarily stunted."

Kari gulped.

A monster that grew stronger from killing people? That sounded similar to how magical girls leveled up.

She turned to head back for her booth.

"Where are you going?!" Rocky cried in panic.

"I'm getting Makina and Minato out of here so they don't get eaten."

He flew to block her way. "Magical girls and anthems are the only ones that can come and go. If you move your friends, you'll be separating them from their copies and—"

Rocky shut his mouth. This time, Kari grabbed him by the throat.

"Don't ruin this partnership we got going on. Tell me," she demanded.

"It's… a copy of their soul… If you separate them too far, they will fall into a comatose state when the Malevolent Domain drops. Doing so doesn't prevent their copy from being eaten anyway," he warned.

Kari cursed her luck. With every breath, the lizard-like creature drew nearer. Every second that passed left a wake of ethereal destruction and snuffed the life of dozens of unsuspecting people.

"Does it know we're here?" she asked.

"By instinct, yes. It senses us in a similar way that I vaguely sense monsters nearby," he answered to confirm her worst fears. "You're not really thinking about leaving, are you?"

Her friends were in danger as long as she was in the manga cafe with them. At the same time, they were in just as much danger if she were to leave the domain entirely.

"I— huh?"

Kari jumped to the sound of her phone buzzing. It was a text from Kanae on LINE.

On our way. ETA 10.

Buy time it was then.

"You said it only gets stronger once it gets outside right?" Kari opened the map app on her phone to check their location.

In the direction the monster was coming from, there was a large plaza full of people. A whole buffet. If she hid there, it should go back to casually feasting until Flare and Jade arrived.

"Yeah. What's your plan?" her anthem asked, the desperation in his voice growing.

"The plaza in front of Tokyo Midtown Mall. I'm going to let it fatten itself up on as many people as it wants there to buy time," she explained.

"But all those people…"

Wrong place, wrong time. They wouldn't be on her conscience, but her friends' lives would.

Kari transformed and stepped out of the manga cafe. As she did, a long tongue destroyed the entrance to the building behind her. The two of them dove behind a car just as the organ retracted.

The real test began now. She had to get past it and escape the reach of its tongue.

A terrible thought struck her like lightning. Her skills worked on things that weren't monsters, as evidence when she struck out at Jade.

"How durable are you?" Kari asked.

"Oh, do you need me to fight with you? Because I can! My body might look weak, but I can take quite a few punches and duke out a couple myself," he said.

She grabbed him like one would a baseball. "Keep your chin tucked in. Arms and legs straight as an arrow. Might want to grit your teeth, too."

"Eh?"

Kari ran out of cover and dodged another attack from the monster. This was her chance. She wound up her arm and threw him as hard as she could.

"Let this work…" She took a running start towards the monster. As it launched its tongue for a third time, she jumped into the air to avoid the attack, then aimed her skill at Rocky. "Stampede!"

To their surprise, she launched into the sky and struck Rocky square in the ass.

"YOU'RE THE WORST!" he screamed in agony, his voice becoming more distant as he's sent flying.

Fortunately, he didn't die. The momentum of her skill had both of them soaring far above and past the monster.

Although Kari was much farther away from it now, she began to plummet. "Oh, shit. Shit. Shit!"

Rocky came flying back to her at full speed and held her by the shoulders of her outfit. He wasn't strong enough to keep her up. Both of them crash landed in the street and destroyed a copy of the crepes stand, the sound of wood snapped beneath her feet as she got up.

[150/150] ⇒ [149/150]

The crepes owner and people in line had copies of their souls knocked to the ground. No sense in worrying about them now.

After shrugging off the impact, she picked Rocky up from a pile of ghostly debris and ran towards the mall plaza that was within sight. The monster was hot on her tail and was for some reason crawling faster than before, like it moved with purpose

Kari ran past the plaza and into the mall, then dropped her magical girl form. As though on cue, the monster slowed down and moved more sluggishly again. It began to wander about the terrace, content with devouring copies of hundreds of human souls.

It seemed something about being in magical girl form allowed the monster to track her more easily.

She turned to head deeper into the mall to hide and didn't see someone's extended arm. The impact knocked a soda can out of his hand which clattered to the floor, echoing across the quiet hall.

"Watch out!" Rocky gasped.

Kari glanced over her shoulder in time to see the tongue flick towards her. "Fuck—"

While not as a magical girl, she was too slow to dodge. The tongue wrapped around her waist and pulled her out of the mall towards its gaping mouth. She transformed just in time before being swallowed to hold the monster's jaws.

"Not… yet— wha?!"

The tongue sprung out and slammed Kari into the ground twice.

[149/150] ⇒ [113/150]

[101/150] ⇒ [80/150]

On the third, she caught her breath quick enough to shout, "Stand Firm!"

[80/150] ⇒ [62/150]

"Wanton Smash!"

Her fists wailed into the sensitive tongue, causing it to release her and retract its injured organ. The two of them sized each other down. Much like with the broken lady, the lizard was taking joy in this and giggled like a lunatic.

What was the right play? How much time had passed?

Kari saw in slow motion the monster's tongue fire her way.

It was beginning to feel like trusting them was a mistake. This could very well have been their plan to finish the job Jade failed to do. She shouldn't have trusted them. The only person she could depend on was herself—

"Iron Fortress!"

A row of knights materialized before Kari's eyes, successfully blocking the tongue from reaching her.

"March forward!"

As ordered, armored soldiers drew their swords and marched to do battle with the lizard. Though they were quickly getting slaughtered.

"Sorry to keep you waiting! Minato City's a long way from Sapporo!" Flare flew in like a comet with a cloak of flames at her back.

Jade was floating just above Kari's head, the same frown from the other day still adorning her scowl.

"Woohoo! The cavalry's here!" Rocky shouted gleefully.

"Get up, freeloader. At least put some effort so we don't do all the work for you," the emerald magical girl remarked coldly. She took a moment to get her bearings and scanned the surrounding plaza. Her eyes went wide with terror after taking in all the destruction. "Flare! This fucker's probably eaten over a thousand people!"

"We won't give it a chance to escape. Solar Ecliptic Prison!" Flare formed a ring with her fingers and positioned it over her eye as she stared at the lizard monster.

It shot a tongue out at her, but hit some sort of invisible wall and retracted. A ring of fire formed around it, and the ground within the ring turned pitch black.

The imprisonment was short-lived and shattered in seconds to a high-pitched shriek. The three of them, including their anthems, squeezed their ears shut.

[62/150] ⇒ [61/150]

[61/150] ⇒ [60/150]

[60/150] ⇒ [59/150]

Their health was being chipped away under this ear-spitting cry.

By the time it ended, a large number of stray spawn head hounds appeared in the area.

"I can't take the lizard, but I can at least hold the head hounds back!" Kari shouted, running into the middle of a pack. "Wanton—"

"Judgement!"

A golden javelin appeared above Kari's head and glowed to a blinding light. It began to split.

Two. Four. Sixteen. Thirty-two. Sixty-four.

Numerous javelins of light rained down from above like a god, smiting all the enemies nearby. A stray projectile struck the space between her feet.

"The hell was that for? I had that!" Kari snarled at the one who yelled the skill name.

"Save your magic capacity to deal that thing the killing blow." She pointed to the surviving monster, shaking off javelins like dust.

A whipping tongue sent Jade crashing into the mall and charged straight at Kari. The monster seemed fixated on her. Why? Shouldn't any of the others be as much of a target?

"Kari! Get out of the way!" Flare screamed.

She jumped high into the air, but the tongue followed after her. Without second guessing herself any further, she dropped her magical girl form. The tongue retracted, and the monster turned its attention to Flare.

Kari shouted to Flare as she was falling. "Can you trap it again?"

"You got it! Solar Ecliptic Prison!"

A ring of fire appeared at its feet again. Kari transformed back and clenched her fist.

"Apocalypse Power-up!" She was filled with indomitable strength, but her defenses had fallen to zero. "Stamp—"

Kari realized her mistake too late. She didn't have enough magic capacity to use anymore skills.

As she fell, the monster opened its mouth wide and sent the tongue rocketing up toward her.

When Kari came to consciousness, she was no longer in her magical girl form and lying face-up on the ground instead. Someone was dragging her by the wrist. It was Jade.

The entire block had been destroyed. An ethereal fire not of Flare's making, but of a copy of the inferno from the destruction, raged around.

Both were bloodied and looking worse for wear.

"What… happened?" It hurt Kari's chest to breathe.

"Some magical girl you are, to forget how much magic capacity you have in the middle of a battle." Jade growled, letting her drop to the ground.

"It's her first Malevolent Domain. Cut her some slack." Flare was sitting atop the humanoid lizard, clutching her ribs.

Jade didn't care. She tossed Kari to the floor next to the monster. It looked soundly defeated, sprawled flat on the ground and blood oozing from its wounds.

Never had Kari felt more humiliated in her life. Not even under her parents' shaming rants.

Health: [1/150]

Kari couldn't help but laugh. If there was a luck stat, it might be her highest. She was sure the last attack was the end.

"I hope you're not expecting any thanks."

"I wasn't," Jade replied calmly.

Kari was filled with rage as soon as she transformed. She crushed the monster's head between her hands, splashing her dress a deeper crimson.

[+500,000 Apocalypse points.]

She groaned in both mental and physical pain, then spun around to face Jade with bloodthirst begging to be satiated. The emerald magical girl clicked her tongue and threw a punch before Kari even lifted a hand.

[1/150] ⇒ [0/150]

She dropped to her knees out of her magical girl form and threw up the egg sandwich.

"You ever look at me like that again, there won't be a third time," Jade said, walking past her.

"Was a bit messy, but everyone came out alive." Flare hopped off and landed next to Kari. "Time to level up. I'd like to see what kind of weapon you're getting."

"Rocky…" Kari called weakly, wiping the vomit from her lips.

"I'm… I'm alive…!" The anthem crawled out from underneath some rubble along the side of a building and floated wearily over to her.

"Get me up to level 3," she requested of him.

As though he wasn't injured at all, Rocky became ten times more energized.

"You got it!" Just like last time, he spun in space as 300,000 points were sunk as experience to level her up.

[Congratulations! You have levelled up!

Class: {{Lvl. 2 Destroyer}} ⇒ {{Lvl. 3 Destroyer}}

Health. 0/150 ⇒ 200/200

Magic Capacity. 60/60 ⇒ 80/80

New items available for purchase in the shop.

Flight has been unlocked.

Soul-weapon generating… soul-weapon generating…

Please, hold your hand out.]

Kari did as the Apocalypse System told her and held her hand out with the palm facing up.

A brutal weapon materialized before her, like it was being forged in real time. She gripped the shaft of cold metal, the head of which looked like a meat tenderizer on one side and axe on the other. It only appeared unwieldy in her hands but was as light as a hammer.

[Subclasses unlocked. Choose one of the randomly generated to unlock additional stats and a unique ability. Additional subclasses may be accessed through the respec sigil available in the shop.

{{Lvl. 1 Knight}}

{{Lvl. 1 Summoner}}

{{Lvl. 1 Siegemaster}}]

This should have been cause for celebration, yet she felt only frustration and anguish.

One day, if it ever bit them in the ass that she became too strong for them to handle, so be it. No one would ever look down on her again.