"Just die already, you shit!"

Kari took to the skies to battle the flying monstrosity head on. She climbed onto its back and wailed into it with her fists. No matter how much punishment she dealt, the damn thing wouldn't go down. Fighting it without [Destruction and Ruin] already put her at a great disadvantage.

"KAAARRRRIIIIIII! YOOOOUUUUU KIIILLLLLLED MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

It let loose a deafening screech and aileron rolled to shake her off. As Kari went into free fall, she considered the skills in her arsenal and quickly determined that expending too much magic would bite her in the ass later.

The image of Jade chewing her out from the lizard monster fight flashed through her mind.

Kari had to somehow defeat this creature without using too much, otherwise she wouldn't be able to put up a fight to take her weapon back from Yuria later.

But before that… Why did this thing have Principal Nishida's face?

It was calling her name, too. Up until now, monsters of all kinds could only giggle and make unintelligible gargle of words.

"This thing isn't too fast or strong, but has a lot of resilience! You might be able to outlast it with your speed," Rocky shouted in panic, clinging to her back.

"That's good and peachy, but I don't want to fight this thing all day. I gotta find Minato and shove my fist up Yuria's ass," she said.

In the corner of her eyes, two attack helicopters equipped with heavy ordinance were fast approaching to join the fight. If the monster went after them instead, both would go down from it just flying by them. They were probably going to be a nuisance more than anything.

Unless…

"Rocky," Kari grabbed her anthem. "I need your help."

"I don't like where this is go—"

Before Rocky finished his sentence, she chucked him as hard as she could past the flying monstrosity, causing it to fly up and chase after him instead. While it was distracted, she flew towards one of the two choppers and knocked on the window. The JSDF pilot and his partner saluted her.

"I need you guys to lay into that thing with everything you got!" she shouted over the spinning blades and engine.

The two glanced at each other, then the one in the back pointed upwards. It was obvious neither of them heard what she said, especially not with all the noise and the gear on their heads. He then spoke into a radio which amplified his voice through some speaker system.

"Magical girl Kari, we've been dispatched to give you back up," the soldier said.

They could talk to her, but she wouldn't be able to talk to them. So she pointed at every weapon in turn and slammed a fist into her hand.

He shook his head. "We're not authorized to use missiles over civilian zones. Risk of destruction is too high. Command has only authorized use of the chin-mounted turret."

"This monster is going to ruin the fucking city. There's your damn risk!" Kari clicked her tongue.

If they won't use it, then…

The monster was coming back. It swooped in, and they barely escaped from its dive domb. A vacuum of air caused enough turbulence to unbalance the helicopters. Both began unloading their turrets, but they were nowhere enough to slow it down.

"Your turrets won't work! Just use the missiles!" she screamed.

This was hopeless.

A plan hatched in her mind. She flew onto the side of the monster's face and clung to the lip of its open mouth. Rocky was there, too, hanging on for dear life as the powerful winds pulled his skin and fur taut. Amongst the hail of bullets, one nicked her on the cheek.

Kari extended a hand towards one of the helicopters. They were going to die anyway, so she might as well make good use of them.

"Come here!"

The craft rocketed forward and into the creature's mouth, an impact which left it reeling and the soldiers inside in a daze. As they regained their bearings, Kari saluted them, then flew away from the monster with Rocky in hand. A massive explosion followed soon after, destroying half its face.

Metallic debris and cinders of what remained of the helicopter fell from the sky. She grabbed one of the broken blades and punctured through the wing's webbing, carving a large gash through it. Once she did the same to the other, the creature lost its ability to stay afloat and crashed into the roof of a convenience store.

The lower jaw and right side of its face had been blown off. Whatever was left was covered in metal shrapnel from the blown-up chopper. Black blood poured from every orifice and wound.

"K… K… ari… you… k… k...killed… me… I won't… F-F-Forgive… you… " he said between spurts of blood.

"Don't need it. You brought this on yourself. Maybe you can tell me who brought you back, so I can thank them for letting me kill you a second time," Kari sneered.

With one eye blown off, the remaining one hanging out of its socket by shredded ligaments struggled to meet her gaze.

"Y… You did… this to me…"

Kari's own eyes twitched with a mixture of anger and impatience.

Maybe this was what the big eye meant by 'moulded in different shapes'. Then did every human have the potential to turn into monsters?

She ripped the eyeball from its face and delighted in the gurgling shriek. The corners of her lip curved into a grin.

It was a shame she wouldn't be able to do this a third time.

"Lucky for you, I'm learning to be merciful. Let's send you back to whatever hell spat you out from." Kari clamped her hands on what's left of his head and caved the skull in, silencing Principal Nishida for good.

Just like Jade said, no points were awarded. This really was just a waste of resources. She was beginning to understand Flare's sentiments on the matter. If this were an Apocalyptic Incursion, then the moment they ran out of points, it would be game over without being able to buy sigils to continue the fight.

[Kari: I took care of Big Bird. What's your location, Jade? Candy?]

It was the longest minute of her life.

No answers from either of them wasn't a good sign.

"Hahh… That was so scary…" Rocky fell off her back and hit the ground with a thud. "I've lost count how many times you've thrown me. You might have a future as a baseball pitcher after you put the magical girl mantle down."

Strong winds suddenly battered them both. The other helicopter hovered above with a turret pointed at her. She walked over to the edge of the roof and saw a number of JSDF soldiers on the ground surrounding the building, guns also drawn.

"Kari Tachibana, change out of form and surrender," a voice from the helicopter speakers ordered.

"Is this how you treat a magical girl who just took down the pterodactyl for you?" She levitated several meters into the air and the soldiers tensed up, fingers on the trigger showing they were ready to open fire.

"You also needlessly killed two servicemembers. Stand down. Now!" a decorated soldier from below shouted.

Kari clenched her fists. She didn't have time to deal with them. Candy was in trouble. The longer this Incursion stayed active, the more Minato was at risk of dying.

She flew right up to the helicopter and smeared a bloody hand across the window, then ripped the hatch right out. The pilot and his partner quickly drew their service pistols.

"How big is this bullet compared to the one in your gun?" Kari flicked it into the pilot's lap. She had picked it up from the ground next to Principal Nishida's monstrous form. It was larger than a flashlight or popsicle, and they knew it belonged to their mounted turret. "If that couldn't stop the monster behind me, what makes you think that tiny thing in your hand is going to stop me?"

"That was my colleague you killed," the pilot said.

"Maybe if you fired your missiles from the start, this wouldn't have happened. So what part of peashooters do you not understand?"

Neither of them saw any room for negotiations. As far they were concerned, she had become an enemy the moment she used the other helicopter as a makeshift bomb.

"We're on the same side! Please, don't!" Rocky tugged incessantly on her sleeve.

Kari sighed, then narrowed her eyes on the pilot. "I'm going to turn my back to you and deal with everything else now. If you so much as think about sneezing in my direction, I hope you have the authorization to unload everything you got."

Their staredown lasted only a few seconds until the pilot nodded to his partner behind him, who then grabbed a radio from his seat. Over the beating blades, the speakers crackled to life. "All units, stand down. Incursion is still red. We're proceeding with civilian evacuation."

Satisfied that they didn't have the gall to take it another step further, Kari took off in the direction of Akasaka.

"They don't look very happy with you…" Rocky remarked unsteadily.

"Doesn't matter to me what they're unhappy about. Cold hard fact is, I saved their lives. While they're stuck waiting for orders, I actually did something to stop these monsters," she said, scowling as she recalled Principal Nishida's warped face as a monster.

As she was about to push herself to top speed, an unusual congregation of people on the streets below caught her eyes. While many fled from a broken lady, some walked straight into and knelt before it in some sort of profane worship. One by one, the monster plucked up people with its meaty hand and retracted them underneath the skirt curtain of arms.

"What the fuck are they doing?"

"That's not good," her anthem said. "If they keep feeding it—"

Kari torpedoed down with every intention of smashing the monster, but the same group of people put themselves between it and her. There had to be dozens of them, the same delusional marchers before that thought of the monsters as their saviors.

"You idiots need to get the hell out of here!" she shouted.

"Don't you know what this is? Rapture! The gods have sent their angels to save us!"

"Get out of here!"

"We don't want your kind stopping the gods' plans!"

As they protested against her trying to save them, another person was picked up by the monster. He was the same old man from whom she had pulled from the crowds earlier.

"I've been chosen!" the old man screamed fanatically. "Please, take me! Deliver me to—"

His words were cut short as he disappeared underneath its many arms.

Fighting the broken lady was one thing, but if it became stronger from eating all these people, she would have an even harder time. There was no telling what it might transform into. Another malevolent domain-level threat would only further exhaust and delay her from reaching the others.

"Get out of the way!" Kari shoved a group of people aside and charged straight for the monster. She tried to lift the broken lady by its shoulders somewhere without people around, but it was too heavy, especially when it grabbed a utility pole and cars to weigh itself down.

Its powerful arm swung out. She dodged out of the way, leaving it to return to feasting on the buffet laid before it.

Kari gritted her teeth and squeezed a fist shut in front of them.

"Wait… Kari, you can't be serious!" Rocky exclaimed.

"I'm giving you guys to the count of ten to get the fuck out of here," she warned.

"We're not moving from this spot!" a woman carrying an infant in her arms stood in the way and yelled.

"One, two…"

"You're going to have to make us move!" A salaryman with disheveled hair spat at her feet.

"Three, four…"

"We don't want you here!"

"Five, six…"

Some of them began to falter and thought to leave, but other, more fervent members convinced them not to.

"Seven, eight…"

"S-She can't be serious… She won't actually do it, right?"

"Nine, ten—"

"What makes you any different from the monsters you're trying to kill?" someone said, striking a chord in her chest.

Kari hesitated. Her fist had momentarily unclenched…

Until she laid eyes on the monster she was compared to, and was reminded that she never claimed to be their hero to begin with.

She shut her eyes and yelled, "Stampede!"

The attack tore through the crowds in a fountain of blood. Her fist impacted the monster's head and knocked it to the ground, but it remained alive and kicking. Arm after arm, she ripped every single limb, deftly dodging its attempts to catch her, until it was nothing but an amputated spider writhing on the ground.

Covered in blood from head to toe, Kari dropped to her knees to catch her breath at the end of it. She tossed aside the last arm, then wiped her face and glanced behind herself. The road had been painted red, and a trail of blood poured into the drains. A human leg, with its sock barely hanging onto the toes, was all that remained of the cult.

A handful who had any sense of self-preservation and managed to leave in time passed out where they stood. Others vomited into the blood. Few people stumbled out of the buildings and stared in horror at the aftermath.

"You… You killed them," a young man said.

Kari gazed at her own hands and merely shook away the excess blood like she had just washed her hands.

"It's not what you think. They were going to let themselves get killed by that monster. I had to do something before it—" She caught a rock inches from striking her face, then turned in the direction it was thrown. The group of people flinched. Without saying another word, she crushed it into tiny pieces and let the debris slip through her fingers like sand.

A sharp pain originating from the ring coursed up her arm and throughout the rest of her body. It burned so hot she instinctively tried to pull it off, only to find that it had further embedded itself into the skin until the jewel was all that protruded.

"Oh, no…" Rocky gasped.

"You know what's going on, don't you?" Kari asked, wincing from the pain. "Spit it out, Rocky!"

"I remember this happening to Inyanga when she… when she killed the other magical girls," he said.

"The magical girl you were with last? Why? How did it start?" she demanded to know.

"Inyanga had no choice! She had to fight them and protect herself, otherwise… They were starting to turn against each other even when they had the apocalypse to stop. Nothing I or their anthems said went through any of them… It's like some of them were becoming too paranoid to think properly… Or something was messing with their heads."

Am I paranoid? Kari asked herself. I have the potential to be stronger than even Flare, and with the exception of Yuria, possess the only other soul-carving weapon capable of killing magical girls.

Generating [Destruction and Ruin] from her soul was too much of a coincidence.

"Wait a minute…"

It was because such a weapon was given to her precisely for that purpose. Then for Yuria to have a similar weapon meant she was in the same bind. Whatever had spoken to Kari when she was half-dead explained that 'an errant few have deviated from the path'. That couldn't possibly have meant any other person.

Yuria had answers, but if she were to die by Flare's hands, then there would be none to be had.

Without wasting another second, Kari headed straight for Akasaka. The upscale side of the city was in a state of panic and mostly in ruins. News crews flooded into the area for a chance to capture Flare in action, braving the Incursion and burning debris with nothing more than police protection, though they, too, were trying to convince them to leave. Bystanders barricaded themselves inside buildings and blocked the entrances with furniture.

Monsters ran rampant in the streets below, ignored by Flare and Yuria who were fighting each other instead. Their battle ripped through buildings like wet toilet paper. It became immediately obvious Yuria had Flare on the defensive while wielding both her dagger and [Destruction and Ruin].

A third party entered the fray like a shooting star, but an explosion sent her plummeting.

"Candy!"

Kari intercepted the descent and caught Candy mid-air. She was no longer in her magical girl form. A shallow wound had been cut across her stomach and left hand charred black.

"We're supposed to be fighting alongside each other… Please, stop them…" Rie pleaded, her eyes screwed shut and in tears.

"Who did this to her?" Jade asked menacingly as she descended. Bloodied and in no mood to make her usual patronizing comments, furious eyes turned to the battle unfolding between two magical girls. "It was them, wasn't it?"

"If I told you I need Yuria alive to get answers from, are you going to stop me?" Kari asked in return.

"Guess we're confronting Flare earlier than expected." A sigil materialized in Jade's hand which she crushed to heal herself to full. "Gallant Knight!"

Threads from her green robes unwove themselves and reformed into an armored dress, donning metal greaves, gauntlets, a chestplate, and closed helmet. Her javelin had grown larger into a massive lance brimming with power.

"Yuyu, Gauntlet, take care of Rie," she said.

To think Jade defeated two malevolent domain-level threats by herself and came out alive.

"Go with them, Rocky. Make sure they stay safe," Kari said and received a nod from her anthem.

They flew towards Yuria and Flare together, seizing their distractedness for an ambush.

"Come Here!" Kari shouted, wrenching [Destruction and Ruin] from Yuria's grasp. She used the momentum to slam the blunted end into Flare's molten shield, then pivoted to send Yuria flying with a kick.

"Kari, you're fighting the wrong one!" Flare snarled.

"Might be the only time I ever apologize to you, but sorry. I'm not the one taking you on," she said, pulling her weapon away just as Jade ran the lance into the shield next.

"This is a long time coming!" Jade shouted.

"Tsubasa, you stupid delinquent! If you don't stand down, I'm burning your home city to the fucking ground." Enraged by the intrusion, Flare unleashed hell on earth at Jade.

"Let's see you try and get past me, psycho."

Kari left them to their battle to confront Yuria. Her drowsy eyes couldn't be more out of place in such a chaotic scene.

"Just looking at you, I can tell you already met it, too. So why are you still doing its bidding?" Yuria wearily asked.

"Then I was right. We're in the same boat. But you're wrong if you think I'm on anyone's payroll other than my own. What are you and your Messiah after?" She raised her weapon, anticipating Yuria to fight instead of answering.

Yet Yuria lowered her own weapon in response. "We've both seen the same thing. That only happens at the edge of death. How you aren't terrified after seeing that makes me wonder what you have become. The Messiah promised me and Aiko our souls back if we kill the other magical girls, something that— whatever gave us this soul-carving weapon— couldn't promise."

"Flare tells me killing a god-level monster will grant us a soul back—"

Yuria burst into laughter.

"And you believed her lie? Can't you see all she wants is to become a god herself? Flare doesn't care about getting her soul back. She just wants more power, a new Cadillac in her collection, to be the main character in the next blockbuster movie. In her eyes, she's the protagonist, and we're just in the way."

"And if I join you and the Messiah, turn my back on the giant eyeball, you think we stand a chance at killing Flare and getting our souls back?" Kari relaxed her shoulders and lowered her own weapon.

"I'm glad you're seeing reason and coming around," she said, dropping her guard.

"You have me, but no secrets. I want to know who the Messiah is."

Yuria nodded.

A message came through the Apocalypse System.

[Yuria: The Messiah comprises three people: myself, Hurricane of the U.S., and Chu Hua of China.]

"Thanks for that," Kari said, then stretched a hand out to Yuria. "Come Here!"

In a fraction of a second, Kari swung [Ruin] and cleaved Yuria in half before she even realized what had happened.

She watched as both halves fell to the ground with a sense of satisfaction. "That was for stabbing me in the chest."

[+700,000 Apocalypse Points.]