This place was familiar. Kari once again drifted in the sea of infinite darkness. This time, however, she wasn't without form. There was no stab wound on her abdomen. The robe didn't even have a tear through it.

More disturbingly, she wasn't alone.

Instead of the beating, crystalline heart, something else other than her lurked within this black world. Barely audible whispers like rhythmic breaths tickled the back of her mind.

"Who's there!" Kari shouted into the void.

Could it be another magical girl? It wouldn't be so far-fetched. If she was here, who was to say another couldn't?

A thousand guttural voices assailed her ears, yet a single voice somehow spoke from every direction.

Our visage will drive you mad. Mortal minds should not ponder the Incalculable, the Boundless, and the Absolute.

An impossibly enormous silhouette took shape, seen only by the distortion in space around the edges. Its gangly, reaching appendages stretched across the infinity, and—

"Uu…"

All at once, Kari's body went limp and mind became blank. She collapsed, like a marionette's strings had been cut, and began babbling like an idiot. Her bones twisted at the joints and cracked with little to be done to stop it.

"No… more…" she managed to croak out.

Suddenly, Kari was perfectly fine and standing upright again. All the pain feedbacked to her mind, forcing her onto her knees and dry heave.

Whatever it was had disappeared, and was replaced by a large vertical eye that peered down at her.

"What the… fuck are you?" Kari asked, wiping her mouth. "One of the gods that Flare wants to hunt?"

We are your salvation from Their holocaust. It is by Our benevolence that you stand a chance. You yet live by your debt.

Debt?

If this thing wasn't one of those monsters that keep spawning in the world, then what was it really? All these cryptic answers told her nothing. This place gave her the creeps. It felt both dead and alive at the same time.

Kari clutched her head as she was struck by a momentary lapse in consciousness. The longer she stayed, the harder it was to stay focused. She had a feeling that losing consciousness in a place like this might be permanent.

"It sounds like you know something about those monsters. What are they? I want answers!" she shouted.

Carve their souls and you will see. All the same, but moulded in different shapes. Sacks of flesh, housing the briefest spark of—

Its words came out slow and patiently, as if it had all the time in existence. The same couldn't be said for Kari. An error message had appeared right before passing out. That could only mean one thing. She had to get back as soon as possible.

Yuria wasn't going to get away with this, even if her target was Flare all along. Although, this might be an opportunity to rid herself of a nuisance.

"I don't have time to listen to you ramble. What the hell are the monsters we've been fighting all this time, and why are some of us out for each other's blood?"

There was a pause.

A brazen amoeba makes demands of Us. A lifetime of torment will teach you manners.

The appendages hardened into sharpened spines but came no closer than inches from her face. Its patience had run out and finally began speaking with more emotion. Her own patience was also running low.

"Then what are you waiting for? You would if you could get another magical girl to help whatever it is you want done, isn't that right?" She sneered.

The single eye narrowed at her. She felt its fury through the glare alone.

Your kind wages war in Our stead, but an errant few have deviated from the path. What you call 'monsters' are agents of Our ancient enemy. Eliminate them to save your world. Kill your gods for Us.

As the bleak world began to crack and splinter, Kari realized that this thing had said all it wanted to reveal. She still had more questions.

"I'm not done yet! A magical girl's soul— My soul, what happened to my—"

Kari snapped awake choking on her own spit.

"Thank goodness, you're alive!" Rocky hugged her arm and wept.

She rubbed her stomach and realized her shirt had been taken off, replaced by poorly wrapped bandages and Sachi's hand pressing down on the wound.

"I tried to do my best. I didn't know if you were going to make it," Sachi said.

With Sachi's help, Kari got to her feet. She was still lightheaded from the blood loss, but after transforming and crushing a healing sigil, her health was restored to full. The human form was still weak, but at least she could fight when transformed.

"What happened while I was out?" Kari asked.

"It's an incursion, an abnormal one!" Rocky exclaimed, eyes fixed on whatever was beyond the front door.

A chill ran up her spine. "Is it the Apocalypse?"

"No," he said, shaking his head. "The Apocalypse would be much bigger. This one is just in the city. It started right after Yuria stabbed you, and for some reason, it isn't awarding any points!"

Another abnormality?

This was the worst kind, forcing them to spend points but not award any.

Kari tried to summon her weapon, but it didn't manifest in her hand like it should. Something Yuria did must be keeping it in her possession.

"Level me up in Siegemaster and buy two healing sigils," she ordered Rocky.

Eager to assist, the anthem spun in place to drain 200,000 of the 400,000 points earned from killing Aiko into her subclass.

[Congratulations! You are now a Lvl. 2 Siegemaster subclass.

Physical strength. 32 ⇒ 34]

100,000 points were left in her total after levelling up and buying two sigils. The cost to reach level 3 Siegemaster was 400,000, and she was one more subclass level away from unlocking a skill. It might be best to go for that instead.

Maybe Yuria would like to help the rest of the way.

Kari threw open the door and saw monsters rampaging through the streets. Head hounds and broken ladies ran amok on the ground, and bat-like creatures swarming the skies picked up unsuspecting people from the ground and dropped them at great heights.

She recalled what that thing had said of these monsters. There was no confirming without her weapon anyway. For now, she needed to check to see if Makina was safe.

A thought crossed her mind about her parents' safety, but that was quickly brushed aside. Makina and Minato were her top priority right now.

"Wait, are you going to just leave me here?" Sachi asked.

"You're safer here than going with me. Hide in the bathroom. If you hear screams outside, close your ears and stay put," Kari said, but saw that Sachi wasn't convinced of her own safety. She patted her abdomen where the bandages concealed the stab wound. "That's twice you saved me. Throw me a message if you need help, and I'll come right away."

Kari shut the door behind her and vaulted off the railings to take off. As quickly as she started flying, a swarm of ten airborne monsters with grotesque human faces were hot on her trail.

"And I thought I was fast," she remarked.

"These things are weaker than head hounds, but they make up for in speed and numbers!" Rocky warned. "We don't want to get swarmed by more than one flock, or it'll be bad!"

"Actually, I think I want to be swarmed!"

"What—"

Pushing herself to the maximum speed drew more attention from the flying monsters. There had to be at least fifty chasing after her.

"Is this fun for you? It's not fun for me! I don't want to be bird food!" Rocky cried, clinging onto her ponytail.

Kari did an about face and buried her fist through the swarm, killing only a few of them. Their deaths, however, caused a chain reaction of overkill that decimated the rest. Blood and guts rained down on the suburbs below.

"Whew… I like this Siegemaster perk. Don't have to use Wanton Smash or Stampede to kill multiple things at once." She smashed her fists together and grinned.

"It's Kari!"

"We need help!"

"Help us!" A group of people being chased by head hounds below screamed and waved to get her attention.

Enough time had already been lost while she was passed out. If she stopped to help every little group, then she would never make it to Makina and Minato before it was too late. Leaving the folks below wasn't a hard decision at all. Kari took off without a second glance.

"No, wait! Don't leave—!"

Their cries for help were cut short as the pack of head hounds pounced on them.

Just then, a string of messages flew across Kari's vision.

[Jade: I can't find Flare or Kari!]

[Candy: Neither of them are picking up my messages!]

[Jade: Multiple Malevolent Domain-level threats near Akasaka. One of them is a fucking flyer! Where the hell is my backup?]

[Candy: I'm coming as fast as I can, but so many people need help. I'm not leaving them to die!]

You're better than most, Kari thought of Candy.

Maybe if Makina had become a magical girl instead, she would have done better.

As Kari arrived at her friend's neighborhood, a broken lady was hunting down anyone unlucky enough to cross its path. Like a child holding dolls, it held crushed bodies in its many hands. Luckily none of them were Makina.

Head hounds broke into houses in search of prey. Makina's house was fine for now, but three head hounds were sniffing around and getting too close for comfort.

"Get away from there!" Kari slammed down onto one, flattening its body and causing the other two to explode. She stepped past their bodies and broke open the door. Makina and Mrs. Oikawa were cowering in the corner of the living room. Both breathed a sigh of relief when they saw her.

"Kari, thank god!" Makina fell into her arms. "What's happening? Is this the Apocalypse you were talking about?"

"We'd be in a shittier situation if it was. I can get you two out of here, but you have to hang on tight!" Kari said, picking them up and taking off into the air as head hounds overwhelmed the house.

Minato City was in disarray. The police force wasn't enough. Even firefighters joined the fray to push monsters back with high pressure hoses. If anything bigger than a head hound came their way, that would be the end of it. The city needed the JSDF, so what was taking them so long to get here?

Only one person came to mind.

Flare.

It couldn't be anyone else. If she told the Prime Minister she would take care of a meteor bound for Japan, they wouldn't so much as look through a telescope to confirm it for themselves.

"Kari, look!" Makina pointed to the ground where a car had struck a utility pole. A family of four escaped from their broken vehicle in a foolish attempt to outrun the head hounds on their tail.

"I'm sorry, Makina… I can't be the hero you want me to be," she replied silently.

They landed on the other side of the Tokyo Bay in Sodegaura Seaside Park. The peaceful scene was night and day compared to what was happening across the bay right now.

"I'm going to call a taxi, and we're going straight for the closest station. Thank you for saving us, Kari." Mrs. Oikawa bowed and headed for the street to hail a ride.

Makina grabbed Kari by her shoulders with shaking hands.

"You're always coming to save me. Of course, you're a hero," she said, holding back tears.

"I still have to get Minato out." Kari was about to back away and leave, but Makina cupped her face with both hands. The two stared each other in the eyes. She was afraid if they stayed like this any longer, she might not want to leave her. "Makina… I—"

The rest of her sentence was cut off, not because she was at a loss for words. But because Makina had sealed her lips with a kiss. They remained like that for who knows how long. Kari only knew she wanted to stay locked in this embrace forever.

When Makina finally pulled away, she swallowed hard and was red up to her ears. The bashful demeanor tugged on Kari's heartstrings.

"I wasn't asleep at that time," Makina said, casting her gaze to the ground.

"Oh…" was all that Kari could muster, her mind racing too fast to think of anything else.

"So… I hope that answers your question that night. You will always be my hero."

Kari could finally relax. She didn't need to fly for her body to be soaring at this moment and wanted to savour it. If only this had happened right from the start, from the very beginning. Being enveloped in Makina's love was all she ever wanted or needed.

"Rocky, turn around," she ordered.

"I'm not watching! I'm not watching!" he repeated, covering his eyes with his ears.

Kari planted a deep kiss on Makina which was quickly reciprocated. Whoever else was watching, she didn't care. If rumors spread, it didn't matter. What did matter was this blissful moment of happiness, Makina's supple lips and smooth skin, their intertwined fingers, and a taste that set her senses on fire.

They were out of breath once their lips parted at last.

"I… I didn't know you were that serious about me," Makina stammered, burying her face into Kari's shoulder.

"I'm going to save Minato and stop the incursion, then come back for you. Stay safe for me," Kari said.

"You're not really the knight in shining armor I dreamed of. My magical girl in sparkly uniform?" Makina ran a hand through her hair and smiled. "I'll be okay with my mom. You and Rocky be safe out there, too."

"Leave it to us!" the anthem cheered.

Kari returned to the skies, this time in the direction of Minato's house. She wanted to tell him everything. About what happened between her and Makina. How they had grown much closer and were probably going to start dating after this. She wanted to share this happiness with her childhood friend who was always the first to support them.

But when she finally arrived at Minato's neighborhood, the area had been overrun with monsters. The streets were ridden with partially-eaten corpses and limbs strewn about. He still hadn't answered her texts. Either he didn't have his phone with him, or worse…

"No…" Kari uttered in disbelief. She landed in front of Minato's house. The door had been broken into by something so large that the frame had cracked, and the windows were shattered like something had barreled through it.

In spite of the mess, neither human nor monster was present inside amongst the upturned furniture.

"Minato!" she shouted in the ruins of the living room.

They must be safe. No blood or gore meant no one died here. But if they took their chances outside, that couldn't be good either.

As she was about to leave, her foot kicked a phone across the floorboards and struck the TV stand. An acrylic chibi strap of magical girl Jade made it obvious the phone belonged to Minato, but the device was broken.

"This is getting worse by the minute," Rocky said, pointing to the TV.

It was all that survived the destruction in the house and was broadcasting live in the middle of the city.

Two magical girls were duking it out. Yuria, who was holding both the dagger and axe hammer, was easily putting Flare in the defensive. Either Flare wasn't as strong as she let on, or she was being careful not to get nicked by either weapons.

"What do we do?" Rocky asked. "Keep looking for Minato or go help Flare?"

"Help Flare? Yuria can eat shit, but if Flare bites it, then good riddance. Either way, I get my weapon back when their fight's over. Minato though…" She pondered where he or his family could have gone.

[Candy: I found Flare, but why is she and another magical girl fighting? I'm going to stop them.]

[Jade: Rie, stay away from them. Yuria's not here to talk.]

[Candy: If we don't do anything, one of them will die!]

[Jade: Stay out of their fight and come help me instead!]

Jade: Rie!]

Candy stopped answering.

[Jade: Kari, I know you're fucking reading all this. Where the hell are you? If we don't do anything, Rie's going to die. Are you okay with that?]

Kari gritted her teeth and accidentally crushed Minato's phone.

The ground started rumbling violently. She rushed outside to find JSDF tanks and armored vehicles rolling into the streets. Helicopters speeding across the sky fired their miniguns from the side of the craft at swarms of flying monsters.

"Rocky, can you pinpoint Yuria and Flare's positions? I'm going to get Candy out of there," she said.

"I know their general direction! With your speed, we should be able to get there in—" The anthem froze up and turned his gaze towards the helicopters.

Multiple crafts made a 180 and unloaded lead into something far in the distance. What swooped in was a flying monstrosity whose wingspan painted a shadow across this side of the city. It took the form of one of the flyers but was much larger and rained down feathered spines each time it beat its wings. It couldn't be anything other than one of the Malevolent Domain monsters Jade was fighting just earlier.

Even though she was supposed to be a speck all the way down in the streets, her eyes locked with the giant monster. Its own eyes widened as though it recognized her. Iinstead of giving chase to the helicopters, it furled both wings into its body to dive bomb right for Kari.

The others were preoccupied. This monster would be too fast to outrun. She had no other choice but to fight it.

"Rocky, looks like we're going to have to fight this thing ourselves!" Kari clenched her fists.

However, as she steeled herself to fight it, the monster's face became eerily familiar the closer it got. Although bloated and ugly, it shared many similarities to a human face she recognized. The middle-aged wrinkles, fat double chin… and the frozen, horrified expression he last showed right before she carved his soul.

"Principal… Nishida?" Kari choked out.

Its mouth opened to let loose a screeching cry. "KAAAARRRIIIIII! KAAARRRIIIIIII!"