Kari flew along the coast for Shimane. More specifically, she was heading to Izumo city where the epicenter of the region's incursion was taking place, and where the chimeric seraph with the body of a lion and head of a crocodile had spawned at.

The apocalypse was far from over, but the progress they— she had made since it began was in strides. All the deaths and sacrifices so far would mean nothing if she didn't see this through.

"Kari?" Rocky prompted her, the first thing he had spoken since they left Fukuoka. "Was Candy your friend?"

"What does it matter now? Rie's gone," Kari replied, gazing forward to avoid looking him in the eyes.

"Of course, it matters!" he exclaimed. "I… I have to know what this is all for… What it means in the end. Because I feel like I'm losing sight of it the longer I'm with you."

Kari left the question unanswered, because doing so put into words an answer she was afraid to hear herself.

"Well, don't you look different? New hair?"

The question startled Kari. She looked in every direction for the voice but found no one. It wasn't until Rocky pointed downwards did she see who it was.

Flare soared beneath their shadow, both hands behind her head like she was lounging under an umbrella's shade at a beach. Blaze was there, too, flying by her side.

Just the sight of her made Kari gag. She stopped flying, much to the other's disappointment.

"You have some real creeper aura. Do you get off to watching people?" Kari growled.

"Some people." Flare grinned, eliciting from Kari a greater urge to vomit. "There's a nice bar down at Hagi. Let's catch up."

Suspicious of what Flare could want, Kari figured going along with the psycho wouldn't give her anymore of an aneurysm. It wasn't as if she was in any position to defy her.

Not yet anyway.

They descended into the coastal city of Hagi, home to over 40,000 people, known for pottery, traditional architecture of low walls and tiled rooftops, and the famous Hagi Castle. Their destination was a quaint bar with walls suffering from water damage and weeds overgrown in the sidewalk. It's only saving grace was that it faced the sea.

Flare was the first to drop transformation, then gestured for Kari to do the same. She did so begrudgingly.

They entered an empty izakaya. There were no patrons save to fill the worn down seats, only a layer of dust on the tables and a bartender, whose eyes were fixed on the television until their intrusion, minding the counter.

"Oh, Flare! It's great to have you back again," the man said, rising from his seat.

"You know how much I love your fried chicken, Mr. Ueda!" Kanae smiled.

"The usual, is it? Two orders of fried chicken and whiskey?" Ueda asked.

"That would be wonderful!" she exclaimed, somehow fooling him with a personality faker than a Gucci bag sold in China.

Mr. Ueda disappeared into the back to prepare what Kari assumed was Kanae's beloved snack of this establishment.

"Are you acquainted with everyone in the country or something?" Kari asked.

"Last year, the mayor of Hagi begged me to promote this dying city. People have been leaving in droves for decades now. Who knows. Maybe Hagi might come out of this apocalypse without losing a single life." Kanae pulled a seat out for Kari and urged her to sit.

Instead of taking that seat, Kari walked past Kanae to sit down on the other one. Amused by her small act of defiance, she took the seat with a smile, as if the triumph belonged to her.

"I hate the rain. Moisture in the air makes my hair all fussy. I guess it's too much to hope you'd have taken care of Hurricane already so the sun would shine again," she said, dragging her fingers through her hair and seemingly evaporating the moisture away.

"My bad. Let me look through my skill list to see if I have a skill that allows me to see the world— oh, wait. I don't." Kari narrowed her eyes, making her displeasure increasingly obvious.

Ueda returned with a fancy bottle, two whiskey glasses, and a bucket of ice without checking their IDs, then returned to the kitchen. Kanae helped herself, plucking several large ice cubes into her cup and filling it halfway with the golden nectar.

"You?" Kanae asked, turning the lip of the bottle her way.

"I'm not old enough," Kari said.

"Neither are choir boys in a Catholic church." She filled the second cup nonetheless and pushed it toward her on a coaster.

Kari recalled a bottle of whiskey her dad had kept in one of the kitchen cabinets. He would wake up in the middle of the night, startling her awake as he lumbered downstairs for a glass or two. Maybe just enough to knock him out. She had only found out because he forgot to put it away one night, so she snuck downstairs, brushed a finger over the top of the bottle, and tasted it.

Suffice to say, it wasn't a great experience.

To this day, she always thought people who liked the taste of alcohol were nuts. Those who didn't, well, they at least had a reason to drink.

Which was Kanae? Someone who drank for the taste or something else?

Kanae raised the glass to her nose and breathed deeply, savoring the smell as if drinking through her nose. She sipped leisurely with a smile on her face.

"I'm sure you've figured it out by now. My Eye of Ra is being obscured by Hurricane's storm. I have, however, been keeping up with the news, and I must say— big fan of your work. Magnificent. You're on front page news, topping headlines, and search engines. I'm tickled pink!" Kanae put her glass down and started golf clapping.

"What are you talking about?" Kari leaned forward.

"Blaze, would you be so kind as to fetch the newspaper?" she asked.

The fiery anthem did as ordered, fetching up a newspaper from a stack by the front counter and depositing it onto their table. On the very front page was a picture of her in magical girl form, holding [Destruction and Ruin], possibly some time around Tokyo before the apocalypse started.

The picture wasn't anything out of the ordinary. But the headline written at the very top in large, bold texts enraged her.

Magical Girl Kari, Friend or Foe?

Published only a few days ago by the Tokyo Sun, an organization normally supportive of magical girls, the article claimed she had killed the unidentified magical girl in cold blood. It also casted doubt on Flare's statement that Yuria was insane. People were beginning to grow suspicious of them. Or more specifically, of Kari.

When Ueda returned with a tray of fried chicken, Kari quickly turned the newspaper over so that he wouldn't recognize her. It might have been in vain. Why wouldn't he have read the paper already?

A more pressing question flitted through Kari's head.

Has Makina read it yet?

"Here you go." Ueda set down a tray to each of them before heading into the back again.

Kari had only caught a glance, but the bill attached to Kanae's tray showed the cost totalling 50,000 yen. Most likely the whiskey made up the bulk of the price.

"Mmmm! It's like an orgasm in my mouth." Kanae squealed, delightfully crunching on the deep-fried morsels. "You and Rocky eat up, too. Both of you need to keep your strength up. It'd be bad for me if you ended up starving."

Rocky couldn't take it anymore and stuffed his mouth full of chicken until he was about to burst.

"It tastes so good, I'm going to cry!" he said, already tearing up.

All they had lately were whatever hadn't been scavenged in destroyed cities. The last real meal she recalled was at Toga and Kanata's home.

Home…

One of the many things she couldn't return to once this was over.

Kari tossed one into her mouth and was pleasantly surprised by the glass-like crunch of the breading. Although the pieces were large and many, between herself and Rocky, they finished the tray quickly.

"If this is your idea of trying to make amends," Kari said.

"Oh, I know. Once I've gotten what I want and Hurricane and Chu Hua are out of the picture, you can go back to eating your girlfriend's pussy, and I can stop wondering if I should have picked someone else." Kanae chuckled.

Ignoring the slight, Kari went back to the newspaper article about her. It read like a hit piece, solely to paint her and Kanae in a bad light. In fact, as she continued reading, nothing about it seemed professionally written in any way. Even the journalist's name was anonymous.

"Isn't this just an opinion piece? Why is it on the front like some breaking news story?" Kari asked.

"Someone is on top of her reading comprehension!" Kanae nodded to confirm her suspicions. "The Messiah is more than just Hurricane, Chu Hua, and their little playmates. It's a network of millions of people all over the world."

Hurricane and Chu Hua being just as well-known as Flare, their sabotaging lit like a wildfire to ruin the perceptions of magical girls as heroes. Even if they were to fail in bringing about the end of humanity, the world that remained would shun their former heroes and see them for what they really were— ticking time bombs of weapons of mass destruction. Gone would be the era of blindly regarding magical girls as saviors.

Kari didn't need any of that. She wanted neither fame nor riches. She had only one selfish wish, and that was to be with her other half.

They tensed up when Kanae's phone started ringing. The two stared at each other dumbfounded. It was the first time Kari saw her unnerved.

"You going to answer that?" Kari asked.

"I wasn't expecting a call," Kanae replied, then placed her phone on the table. She turned it on and switched it to speaker mode.

"Hello, Flare." The voice came through clearly from the other end, sending a chill through them both.

It was Hurricane.

The sound of water crashed in the background. It could have been anywhere.

"Why hello, beautiful." Kanae flashed a wide, almost Cheshire cat-like smile. "How did you find my number?"

"Very easily when your home country's only redeeming quality is warfare and spying," Hurricane said.

Kanae put a hand over the phone.

"Americans," she remarked derisively, rolling her eyes and making a face. "I hope you don't mind a second listener; Kari's with me right now. I hear you yanks really like McDonald's. How about we set up a date near where you're at?"

"Kari?" There was a pause before Hurricane continued. "Then both of you may be able to do something about it. I'm sure we'll see each other eventually. But before that, I bet you haven't heard anything about what the rest of the world's doing. Because the world certainly won't be waiting around, twiddling their thumbs, hoping the magical girls end the apocalypse."

"What are you trying to say?" Kari asked.

The last anyone had heard of mobilizing military forces were China and the U.S. Folks chalked it up to political theater.

"You may be surprised to learn that off the coast of eastern Japan, a massive American naval fleet is approaching from the Pacific. From the west, Russia, China, and South Korea are also gathering their ships," Hurricane revealed, stunning both magical girls and their anthems.

There was no scenario the Japanese government would agree to turning their country into a wasteland. The other nations must have come to this decision beyond their knowledge.

"Why?" Kanae calmly asked.

"Because they plan to nuke Japan to kingdom come."

Kanae slammed her fist into the table. The impact demolished it to splinters. Their food and drinks crashed to the floor.

"What did you say?" she asked, each word expelling wrath from her scalding breath.

Ueda rushed to the front and gaped at the destruction to his property.

Kanae placed a hand over the phone's speaker again, then regarded the spooked man apologetically.

"I'm terribly sorry. Kari here let her emotions get the better of her. I'll scold her and compensate you once we leave. Will you at least let me finish this phone call? In the meantime, I would kill for another batch of your fried chicken," she said.

Without saying a word, Ueda nodded slowly and went to prepare more food for them, unbeknownst to him that he narrowly avoided being incinerated himself.

Hurricane continued, "The world intends to wipe out the apocalypse from the face of the Earth, even if it costs them an entire country. We'll probably survive, but everyone else… Well, neither of us benefits from the apocalypse ending prematurely. I'm beholden to a higher calling, and while I still love my countrymen, I cannot bring myself to stop them. Do you get where I'm going with this?"

"How are we supposed to believe you?" Kari asked. "We've heard nothing about this anywhere. For all we know, you're throwing us off from Izumo. Maybe that's where you're hiding?"

"A country will go to great lengths to keep secrets. Well, you don't need me to tell you. Someone has eyes to confirm it herself. I've lifted the storm over the Pacific. Why don't you take a look, Flare?" she suggested.

Kanae crossed one leg over the other, then transformed into her magical girl form. Her infuriated eyes widened. The genuine look of surprise was enough for Kari to believe Hurricane. It took a lot to unsettle Flare, who already considered herself untouchable. However, attack that which she held dear, the luxuries she built on her back and would kill to keep, then one would have her full attention.

"Why would they go to such lengths?" Flare asked.

"You were lucky to live in a country that adores you," Hurricane said. "South Africa's fall was a wake-up call to world powers that maybe teenage girls with super powers aren't the most reliable weapons. In the U.S., our governing body ratified the National Magical Girl Registrar to forcibly conscript us into the military. That's when I learned about Operation United, We Stand. Three things needed to happen in order for them to launch this offensive: Firstly, every member of the coalition's political leaders must give the green light. Secondly, an apocalypse must be underway. And lastly, the United States Special Magical Marine Task Force goes rogue, becomes radio silent, or perishes."

The world must be shitting their pants about now precisely because the strongest magical girls haven't stopped the apocalypse yet, and many among them were seen letting incursions go unchecked.

At the moment, a more pressing matter had arisen than taking care of seraphs.

Kari stood up to leave and was stopped by Flare, who snatched her hand. "Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm going to sink that fleet to the bottom of the ocean before they nuke us," Kari said.

"You have time. They plan to retrieve the corpses of their respective country's magical girls first. Have to preserve military secrets. The American way, right? A word of advice: don't underestimate how much humanity will fight back to survive." Hurricane ended the call.

"To destroy a whole country… No one would consider such a thing before South Africa happened." Rocky frowned.

"It's because they failed in South Africa that this is happening," Kari said, then wrenched away from Flare's grasp. "Unless you're coming with me, stay out of my way."

"I am. You wouldn't know how to navigate the vast ocean to find them, would you? I also need to go to make sure you're thorough." Flare sneered.

As they left, Flare uttered a sigh, then snapped a finger to send a cinder into the izakaya. The entire place combusted in flames. Both of them made flight towards the fleet. They spent the better part of the day flying past Japan and over the ocean.

Never in a million years did Kari expect to fly alongside Flare like this again, especially when she proved herself to be so different than her public image portrayed.

Eventually they crossed the threshold where there were no more dark clouds. Sunlight Kari hadn't seen in ages reflected off the ocean's surface.

Flare stopped flying and pointed ahead. "There, up ahead."

"What? I thought you're coming?" Kari asked.

"I can't be seen attacking a U.S. naval fleet. Do you know how fast the world will hate me? I'm leaving it to you. Anything that gets past you, then maybe the ships will have a little engine failure and spontaneously combust. Now, go get 'em, tiger." Flare smacked her on the back.

"Tch." As Kari approached the fleet, she marveled at the incredible show of force. Countless ships, large and small, dotted the blue seas. The United States flag wasn't the only banner flying on the ships. Among them were Australia, Canada, Mexico, and other countries mixed in that she couldn't recognize at a glance. This was more than just a nuke job. They were planning a full-scale invasion.

Something fired into the air from a distance and was heading right for them.

"Uhh… I think now's the time for some evasive maneuvers!" Rocky warned.

Kari dodged the missile, but in the split second it passed her, the metal fringes flared out from the head. She shielded Rocky as it exploded and came out unharmed. More missiles filled the skies, spat out from the ships in an attempt to hit her.

They weren't even hiding that she was an enemy now.

"Hang on, Rocky!" Kari zeroed her eyes on a crewman onboard an aircraft carrier. "Stampede!"

The two rocketed forward. Kari landed on the ship, splattering the unsuspecting man into red paint on the runway. Other crewmen paused what they were doing, staring at her in shock.

"She just iced Barry!"

All hell broke loose. Everyone pulled out their service pistol and started firing like crazy. Bullets bounced off Kari's skin and outfit, doing little but tickling her. She summoned [Destruction and Ruin] and smashed straight down, punching holes into each floor until she went through the bottom hull.

Kari rammed down ship after ship until soldiers filled the seas.

"Now… Which one has the nuke? Maybe you guys want a taste of your own medicine instead?" Her eyes singled out an aircraft carrier much larger than the one she had destroyed earlier.

If a ship was going to contain large explosives, it had to be that one. Kari landed on the runway, but unlike the others, she faced no resistance because no one was on the deck.

A single shot rang out, and Kari didn't care to move to dodge or deflect it. Hot liquid quickly soaked her legs. It was her own blood. The shot earlier had punctured through her lower abdomen.

"H-How?" Kari coughed up blood and collapsed on her knees. "Rocky…"

"Health sigil got it!" Rocky said.

A crystal appeared in her hand, but nothing happened when she crushed it. She did not heal. Her wound was still there and bleeding.

Kari checked her health.

[Health: 320/320 ⇒ 320/320]

Why? What happened?

Did a magical girl with a soul-carving weapon hit her?

As Kari began to lose consciousness and Rocky's panicked cries grew more distant, her blurred vision caught sight of someone approaching. A hard hit to the back of her head knocked her out.

Everything was blurry.

Kari fought an overwhelming urge to fall back to sleep. She was suspended in a vat of liquid. A respirator had been sealed over her mouth and nose, and a tube going down her throat made it hard to utter a word.

Where am I…?

Muffled conversations in English were echoing all around her. Eventually vision adjusted to people in white lab coats. It was hard to hear, but their proximity made it easy to listen in.

"I can't believe those bullets work. It almost killed her."

"Specimen 09's vitals are stable now."

"Good, we want her alive."

Someone interrupted their discussion.

"Sir, we've captured Flare. She's being brought on board as we speak. She… sunk 30 ships before we were able to bring her down…"

Flare is… what?

"God rest their souls. Have our fleet to Osaka Bay to bring back Bernard-Tennison and McIntyre's bodies for—"

"Specimen 09 is returning to consciousness!"

"Increasing the dosage to put her back to sleep."

Kari couldn't fight it any longer. Her eyelids grew heavy and vision foggy. The face of an older caucasian man came up to the glass vat and looked Kari in the eyes.

"Children like you were never meant to have these powers," he said as her consciousness slipped away.