Although Jade had tensed up at the entity interrupting their fight, her eyes saw something else entirely. Even Gauntlet reacted in the same manner, yet for some reason, Kari and Rocky were the only ones whose vision adjusted to its monstrous form.

"No matter how I look at it, that's you. If you jump in there to fight it, I won't be able to tell who's who," Jade said.

"You mentioned that it has my skills, right? Then it should be immune to physical damage, if not—" Kari shot forth with [Destruction and Ruin], and instead of taking the hit, the monster sidestepped her.

It swung its own massive weapon in retaliation, striking her in the stomach with the blunt end. Like a baseball to a bat, Kari went flying straight into the sky, herself surprised by how powerful of a hit that was.

"Ghh… I don't remember it… being that strong…" Kari gasped for breath after having it all knocked out of her lungs. She glanced down in time to see the monster, from a single beat of its wings, fly up to her in an instant. Their weapons clashed with the deafening chime of church bells, so hard that the vibrations traveling down the metal shaft numbed Kari's hands.

One thing was for sure, Jaws certainly didn't have her skills. It no doubt had the raw strength and speed to make it seem that way.

Bothered that Kari wasn't getting injured in any way, Jaws let out a piercing shriek. It opened its mouth like a venus fly trap, channeling a beam of magic that she narrowly avoided. Off in the distance, the impact leveled a section of the city.

A dozen javelins manifested, buzzing around the creature like pesky flies. One by one, they punctured his limbs. Kari seized the opening and sliced through its neck with [Ruin], ripping a chunk of ghastly souls from the body.

Doing so, however, brought forth grotesque screams from hundreds of souls now without a vessel.

There is power in souls. Carve, cut, and rend.

The same voice from before was speaking to her again.

"Damn it. Get out of my head," Kari growled.

It is why you become stronger from slaying those around you. It is why that has grown stronger. If you cannot kill it, then simply take from it until you can. Take the souls, consume them.

Consume?

Kari grabbed ahold of what should have been intangible souls. Like mists that could be held, they writhed in agony, screaming and crying, begging to be released from torment. A deep, gnawing hunger within the pit of her stomach was intensified by being so close to them.

However, as she was about to bring them up to her mouth, Jaws knocked her away and snatched the souls back. It swallowed them, the same way it did humans and magical girls it killed.

That attack from the monster just then wasn't as impactful as before. Tearing souls out of Jaws temporarily weakened it, if just a bit. But why now and not before? Maybe it didn't eat magical girls until recently.

"Judge, Jury, and Executioner!"

A golden javelin tore an arm off the monster, and she rose into the sky to join Kari's side.

"I thought you couldn't tell who was who?" Kari asked.

"Figured you were the one losing," Jade remarked snidely, then crushed a magic sigil and faced Jaws, whose arm was beginning to regenerate. "I have a bone to pick with this one. It ain't getting away this time— Judgment, all magic!"

Javelins blanketed the sky more completely than earlier. Jade wasn't messing around this time. Something about Jaws had ticked her off, and she had a vendetta out against it.

"I'll create an opening. Cleave its head off for me," she said.

Thousands by thousands, the javelins caved into Jaws like an ocean wave. They created a tunnel in which it couldn't break out of.

"Rocky!" Kari shouted, extending a hand to her anthem

He knew right away to put a magic sigil in her palm. "Order up!"

Kari restored her magic by crushing the sigil, then combined Stampede and Apocalypse Power Up! together.

With nowhere to run, Jaws braced itself with its own weapon. [Destruction] shattered the meat-made hammer, connected with its face, and pounded it into the earth with numerous javelins following suit to kill it.

"I'll be taking those points," Kari said.

Flying monstrosities, presumably in an attempt to aid their fallen, were making a beeline to them.

"Fine," Jade reluctantly replied, turning the remainder of her javelins at their new guests. "It better be dead by the time I'm done with these."

Kari descended to find Jaws clawing hopelessly at the javelins that pinned it to the earth. One side of its face was missing, and the rest of the body was mangled. Some parts were regenerating, like bones cracking back into place.

"Not so tough now, are you?" She crushed both of its legs with [Destruction], then did the same for the arms.

The monster gurgled up blood and was seemingly unable to scream or cast that magic beam again. Watching it suffer thrilled Kari more than she would like to openly admit. But, ensuring it couldn't move was part of the plan. She wanted to confirm what the voice had told her.

Drawing [Ruin] across Jaws' chest cut away a chunk of souls. Looking at them closely revealed distorted, ghastly faces of people. Two of them were more defined than the others, possessing features of the American magical girls who were eaten by Jaws earlier.

When Kari pulled them away from the monster's body enough to snap the wispy tethers, the wings it had grown moments ago began to wilt.

"Iit is true," Kari muttered. "We still have our souls, just not in the sense that we believed. Then…"

Multiple voices echoed in her head.

By putting on the ring, your soul, which was hidden within the depths of your flesh, has been brought to the surface and remade, molded into a weapon. You wear your soul like an ant wears its skeleton as skin.

These angels, upon killing magical girls, undo what We have made you. It is how they grow so much stronger from consuming you. We deny you your maker's heaven in exchange for so much more.

Your weapon was never meant to kill other magical girls. It was to rend them from the flesh of those who had eaten the fallen.

"Then what happens to the magical girls I kill that aren't eaten? What happens if I eat them?" Kari asked.

What do their deaths matter to you? Feast. Become stronger. Strong enough to defeat them. Feast.

"Kari, you're not seriously going to…?" Rocky covered his mouth with both hands in horror, unable to finish the sentence.

"It's your creator that's telling me to do it," she reminded him. "I already lost Minato because I was weak… If this makes me strong enough to protect Makina, then you're goddamn right I'll do it."

Kari silenced the screaming when she put them in her mouth, consuming the souls whole the same way Jaws did of magical girls. They went down like cold water. Her throat seized. The souls were trying to choke her from within and crawl their way out. She slapped both hands over her mouth, forcing it down like fighting the urge to vomit.

[Offensive stats updating…

Physical Strength: 40 ⇒ 44

Magical Strength: 6 ⇒ 10

Defensive stats updating…

Physical Resilience: 35 ⇒ 39

Magical Resilience: 35 ⇒ 39

Health: 200/200 ⇒ 220/220

Magic Capacity: 80/80 ⇒ 90/90]

Finally, Kari became strengthened when the souls' struggles came to an end and settled at the bottom of her stomach. Although the hunger subsided for now, the feeling was more pronounced than before.

But getting stronger by eating magical girls, who would have thought?

Of course. It should have been so obvious. Monsters were attracted to eating humans and magical girls. They ate their souls to grow stronger. The same, as the voice implied and from what she had just experienced, could also be applied to magical girls.

Could it be that this was how Flare became so strong? The magical girls that existed before the ring that was now embedded into Kari's finger, were they victims of Flare's ravenous appetite for power?

"Hey, monsters from the unknown. Does Flare also know about this? She's after a god's soul, maybe to eat it," Kari said.

That errant mutt knows and must be stopped. One cannot be allowed to descend. It will be the end of your world as you know it.

The voices stopped at once. Like someone had switched off the television, ending the constant low drone of static.

Kari sliced away at Jaws again, tearing away the soul of another magical girl. It screamed like all the rest. She had already crossed the line. In order to face Hurricane or Flare, she needed more power.

"What's that in your hands?" Jade descended before Kari could consume the next soul. "And why haven't you killed Jaws yet?"

"I can increase my stats by doing this. Watch—"

A javelin sent Kari skidding on her feet across the ground. She lost hold of the soul as it dropped to the ground, crumpling like a fallen towel.

"Hey! What was that for?" Kari growled.

Jade picked up the soul. The ghostly thing coiled around her arm and quieted down, almost as though finding comfort with her.

"Strong? Were you about to put this in your mouth? Are you insane?" Jade asked.

"Not insane. Practical. You know we can't take on Hurricane or Flare. I just learned that cutting out a magical girl's soul from monsters to eat is just as good as leveling up if not better. Try it. Eat it and see for yourself," Kari insisted, but the words served to only tick the emerald magical girl off further.

"You hearing yourself?" She gaped at her, eyes narrowed into slits, as if judging whether or not Kari was a monster herself. "What kind of sick shit is dripping out of your mouth? Because you're starting to sound like Flare."

"You compare me to Flare one more time…"

They were startled by grasping hands emerging from the ground and latching onto the soul on Jade's arm. It started screaming again. No matter how much Jade tried to pull at them, she couldn't save the soul and watched in horror as it sank into the earth.

"What did you just do?" Jade's furious gaze snapped to Kari.

"I swear that wasn't me, but I've seen it happen before and what happens next isn't pretty," Kari explained.

"Ahehehehaha!"

While they were arguing, Jaws had fully regenerated and gotten to its feet. Jade realized it too late and received a hard kick. As she and Kari thought to end it for good, a strange sensation like walking into cold mist washed over them.

Jaws seized the opening to escape as the two clutched their heads from a mental prick. The pain escalated into a screeching headache, like there were nails scraping the inside of their heads.

"Get back… here…" Jade forced herself to her feet and sent what few javelins were left.

Only now did both of them see the hundun floating overhead, casting its large shadow across the city.

"I can't think… like this…" Rocky cried.

"We have to stop… the seraph before it messes with our minds!" Gauntlet shouted.

To Kari, this was like nails on chalkboards compared to the agony brought onto her by the voices in her head. She, too, got to her feet and lifted [Destruction and Ruin] with every intention to fight the seraph— until she saw another monster similar to Jaws in front of her.

The humanoid creature had bone-like armor on the surface protecting its fleshy interior. Elongated monsters like flying swordfishes with their bodies turned inside out floated next to her. Several of them were primed to attack.

"Rocky, where did this monster come from?" Kari asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Monster? But there shouldn't be…" Rocky raised his head, appearing just as puzzled.

Kari knocked the monster to the ground before giving it a chance to attack or escape. She wailed into it repeatedly, every hit chipping away bits and pieces, but the skeletal plates of armor protected the monster. The swordfish-like monsters flying next to it started attacking her but achieved little in stopping her.

"Why won't you die? Die already!" Kari yelled.

For it to be so strong must mean it was an angel or similar. Earlier, the voices told her to cut souls away to weaken the monster. In that case…

Kari turned her grip over to [Ruin] and lowered the blade to the monster's throat. As she was about to cut into it, Rocky tugged on her arm.

"No, no, no! This is an illusion! Remember? You're about to kill Jade! The hundun tricks you guys into thinking you're monsters!" Rocky warned.

This thing was Jade?

Knowing that was one thing, but Kari had a tough time resisting the boiling pot of emotions that were about to tip over. Every fiber in her body wanted to decapitate Jade. She wanted to kill her so badly as though it was the only way to reach catharsis.

The monster that was Jade muttered something unintelligible, then drove a fist into Kari that threw into the air. She found herself lying on top of the giant hundun's body. This was what she needed to kill. But as she was about to attack the seraph, the image of Makina manifested.

Kari's grip faltered, the desire to kill waned, but a new rage welled within her.

"Don't you dare… Don't you use her against me! You leave her out of this!" Kari howled, slicing and dicing into the hundun until Makina's visage disappeared. Her sanity slipped with each strike as the increasing mental assault desperately tried to get her to stop.

More, she told herself. Until it stops moving.

Kari tore into seraph with such bestial ferocity that she might have seemed like a rabid animal. The only thoughts going through her mind was the desire to end the life of whatever this thing was.

Eventually, the hundun looked nothing like its original form. It was closer to a deer after a pack of hungry wolves had ripped it down to the bones.

Kari swung down with [Destruction] one final time to end its life.

[+3,000,000 Apocalypse Points]

Covered in blood and guts, sweat stinging her eyes, and the taste of iron on her tongue, Kari regained her senses with the hundun's overdue death. She saw that Jade, now no longer appearing like a monster, had turned into her empowered form using Gallant Knight. It explained how she survived all those hits.

However, their earlier quarrel was only delayed. With the seraph dead, the two set their eyes on each other again.

[Candy: Help me.]

Kari and Jade froze.

[Candy: Please, help me.]

Rie should have been captured. She hadn't sent them a message until now, did that mean she escaped?

[Jade: Where are you? Did you escape the Messiah?]

[Candy: Fukuoka. I'm so scared. Everything hurts, and I want it to stop. Help me.]

Fukuoka? That was where the abnormality was. Not to mention, Rie's responses felt too manufactured.

[Jade: I'm coming. Stay hidden until I get there.]

"Wait!" Kari implored, stopping Jade from taking off right there.

"First you go around eating souls like a monster, now you're telling me not to save Rie?" Jade brushed her off.

"Just listen to me!" she screamed and successfully gave Jade pause. "Not that I doubt Rie's strength, but she's no match to escape Hurricane on her own. You can also check the system to bring up the apocalypse's status. It'll show Fukuoka as having an abnormality. I'm not saying we don't help her, but isn't this too much of a coincidence?"

Jade did as Kari suggested and checked her system with Gauntlet's help, but the new information didn't appear to sway her conviction.

[Bringing up incursion statuses in Japan…

Kyoto — None

Shimane — Active

Osaka — None

Okinawa — Active

Hokkaido — Active

Fukuoka — Unable to draw information. Abnormality Detected.]

"Hurricane might have forced her into baiting us," Kari said.

"No." Jade shook her head. "Rie's too sincere, not even torture would do her in to stoop to that. But if Hurricane's there, I'm willing to take that bait."

[Kari: Candy, can you tell us if Hurricane or a seraph is in Fukuoka? What's going on over there?]

No answer.

Then they were left with no other choice but to find out themselves.

[Kari: If you can hear me, Sachi, I'm sorry for earlier. Jade and I will be going to Fukuoka to find Candy. We might need your help.]

Also no answer.

"Looks like we're on our own." Kari sighed. Even though they had a falling out, she still hoped that Sachi was okay. The deal with Flare wasn't only for Makina's sake, it was for her, too.

Jade walked a few steps away from Kari and glanced over her shoulder. "If there's a world left after the apocalypse, and after I deal with Flare, you and I still got something to settle. There ain't any room for monsters."

Kari simply nodded, understanding right then that their ideals were fundamentally too different to see eye to eye. At the very least, they agreed on two things that needed to be stopped: the apocalypse and Flare.

Both of them took flight to Fukuoka without saying another word to each other.