Chu Hua trembled briefly. When the angelic monster's fleshy tethers attached to her, all four of her limbs went rigid. She raised a terrified gaze to Kari. A gaze that was begging for help because she could neither speak nor move her hands to use sign language. But what could Kari do other than to kill Chu Hua? It was going to happen again just like with Candy when she turned into a monster.

The JSDF soldiers around them who had recovered and shook off the initial shock, regrouped and formed two groups. One hid behind parts of the elementary school jungle gym, opening fire on the monster. The other entered the building through the hole and shot at Chu Hua from within.

Controlled by the monster, Chu Hua swung her razor-sharp ribbons, but they stopped short of slicing any of the soldiers. Her sleeves, which could cut through cement, were centimeters away from decapitating Colonel Naba, who had taken cover behind a plastic slide. He dared not even swallow for fear of being cut and foolishly went prone, thinking that it would do any good.

Both Kari and Rocky realized that the other magical girl hadn't been fully taken over yet if she hadn't outright killed them.

"The control isn't complete!" Rocky told her. "I can sense monsters, and Chu Hua isn't one in the same way I sensed Candy!"

Which meant there was still hope.

"Then I'll cut her free!" Kari dove in with the intention of severing the threads, but she was stopped by ribbons snatching her limbs.

They didn't hold her back for long. Destruction Incarnate made her unstoppable, but that split second distraction was enough for the real one to escape.

As the monster went into the air, so did Chu Hua as if being pulled up by a harness until she landed on the roof. It made her perform an inelegant bow as though to mock both magical girls.

Flare had called her a puppet. Just a girl who moved to the whims of someone else's hands. Her eyes were always so lifeless, and she only ever had that single expression of blankness. However, her body now showed struggle to regain that lost freedom. Her face contorted with pain in an attempt to fight against that which controlled her. She was no longer willing, and the angelic monster was having a harder time bending her to its will.

In spite of this, Kari had to be careful. She had Chu Hua beat last time, but it might not go down the same way. When Candy was being controlled, she had become significantly stronger and skills much more potent. On the other hand, caution only wasted time.

Undeterred by the clones' restraints, Kari raises her hand at Chu Hua. "Come—"

Someone fired a shot that struck Kari on the cheek. The bullet ricocheted off, hitting the side of the building instead. She turned to the one who had fired the shot. A woman, possibly a decade older than her, was staring down the barrel of her service pistol.

"You—"

The seraph controlling Chu Hua let ring a harmonious tune that rippled through the air. It sounded like someone had shaken a tiny bell once and the ringing wouldn't stop. Monsters began to spawn before their very eyes. Head hounds hungry for a snack, broken ladies with their massive fists clenched, and screeching flyers swarmed the skies.

"You might want to point your guns at something you can actually kill!" Kari shouted at them.

"Hold fire on Kari," Colonel Naba ordered. "Form up and start feeding them lead— I want someone in that goddamn Type 10 in the next five seconds!"

All hell broke loose. A head hound lunged at the back of an unsuspecting soldier, causing his gun to spray wildly. Several shots hit a friendly's leg which made him fall in front of a broken lady's curtain of arms. Two cadets struggled to get a clear shot on three flying monsters that were lifting their companion further into the air. Those that regrouped with Colonel Naba, including Juuzo, pressed their backs to the building and formed a firing line were faring a lot better.

Kari thrusted her arms forward, yanking both Chu Hua clones to her with their own sleeves. She caught them by their throats only for them to disappear as squeezed for the kill.

"Above, above!" Rocky cried.

Chu Hua dove off the roof and wrapped Kari's throat, head, and shoulders in the steel-like sleeves, then threw her across the field.

Kari landed on her feet, then looked up just in time to see the tank through the hole in the school building turning its main gun at Chu Hua. When it fired, she caught the shell with her sleeves and flung the shot at Kari. It exploded on impact and although she came out uninjured, the shot left her dazed.

"Stampede!" Kari rammed into Chu Hua with [Destruction and Ruin], sending them through the school building and tumbling across the front courtyard.

The sleeves had draped Chu Hua like body armor, coiling up her arms, legs, and chest like a second outfit. It was how she stayed up even after the powerful hit that should have gone through her defenses.

The dancer made a ballerina-like pose, standing on her toes and bringing both hands to the front of her chest. She began to spin in place faster and faster, and as it was happening, clones emerged that were also spinning. Together, they created a whirlwind that lifted cars and uprooted trees, reducing them to scrap metal and bark. The gale force was so strong, when the tank fired another shell, it blew up instantly and the shrapnel became a part of its shredding destruction.

"That's not physical damage…" Kari took a step back, sensing an imminent doom.

Chu Hua didn't use this skill when they were fighting in the hospital. It might have been because she couldn't, especially since the entire building was the monster, and she didn't want to risk killing it at the time.

"Kari, I'm slipping!" Rocky clung desperately to her collar.

At this rate, the anthem was going to get sucked in, so she grabbed him and chucked him in the opposite direction as hard as she could. His exasperated screams of disbelief that she did such a thing were all she heard as he flew away.

Now, Kari's own feet were slipping and inching closer to the blender of a tornado. If she were to take flight, it might swallow her up. Chu Hua proved a more formidable opponent than Kari expected. She was a member of Messiah after all and wasn't someone to be taken lightly of. There remained only one spell left in her arsenal that might turn this battle around. Hopefully, there wouldn't be a need for it later.

"Final Siege!"

The asphalt constructed a rough physical visage of Chu Hua.

After summoning [Destruction and Ruin], and using [Wanton Smash] and [Stampede] earlier, Kari only had [88/130] of her magic capacity left which meant eight seconds.

Eight seconds was all she had, and counting…

Seven…

Six…

Kari raised [Destruction and Ruin] high for a crushing strike, but numerous clones manifested to stop her. All of them shot their ribbons at her to hold taut the soul-weapon. However, no matter how many there were, they couldn't stop her from dropping the hammer. The meat tenderizing end cracked hard into the construct, causing the tornado to distort from the hit. Chu Hua suffered that blow, but she was still going.

"It's not enough?!" Kari growled.

Four…

Three…

It was now or bust.

"Stampede!" Kari smashed into the construct, shattering it completely. The momentum carried her forward into the tornado where the magic tore into her body.

[Health 320/320 ⇒ 250/320]

[Health 250/320 ⇒180/320]

[Health 180/320 ⇒ 110/320]

Before any more damage chipped away her health, the tornado suddenly vanished. Chu Hua laid still on the ground, having been taken out of magical girl form. When Kari severed the tethers, the monster above her groaned.

"You… lost," Kari said. "You're also… next— Come Here!"

It didn't so much as budge. Kari stared incredulously at the angelic monster which returned something like a taunting glare.

And you are mistaken.

The rings rotated faster and faster until they became a blur, firing a massive beam of energy too fast to be avoided at Kari. Searing pain brought her to her knees. It was like gravity had increased a hundred folds. Her skin began to peel back, and the edges of the magical girl outfit burned.

[Health: 110/320 ⇒ 0/320]

When the tank swiveled barrel towards the monster, it beat its wings once and carved the tank into pieces.

This might be it. The first time Kari selflessly tried to help someone else it amounted to nothing. The monster levitated above Kari and began to rotate its rings again. As the central eye lit up to shoot—

"Castle!"

An illusory tower formed around Kari and absorbed the blast instead.

There could only be one person who had a skill like that in Japan.

"Jade…?" Kari rolled over onto her back to look up.

"Whoo, whoo! It's time to kick some ass!" Rocky shouted by Jade and Gauntlet's side.

"I don't care how many times I gotta save your sorry ass, Kari. I made a promise that I'd be the one to put you down at the end of this, and I ain't one to go back on my word— Judgment, all magic!" Jade's bellowing cry was followed by a thunderous roar, but instead of rain, the sky filled with thousands upon thousands of javelins.

Someone dragged Kari into the cover of the school building as a shower of steel pelted the monster to the ground. It was Chu Hua and Rocky.

"Jade is out there!" Rocky exclaimed.

Justice? Chu Hua asked in sign.

Too exhausted and in pain to answer, Kari passed out before saying a thing.

Kari awakened later to Jade lifting her up by the throat and a golden javelin pointed between the eyes. They were surrounded by the JSDF, all none too happy it seemed. Littering the floor were countless monsters and maybe a fourth of soldiers who met an unfortunate end.

"What happened… to the seraph…?" Kari asked, glancing around to get her bearings.

"It went further into the city. But before we get to that, I'm waiting for a good reason not to kill you and Chu Hua," Jade said, casting her eyes to Chu Hua, who had her hands bound and was currently guarded by two soldiers.

"I— We need her to help fight Flare… She's turned Makina into… a magical girl…" she gasped between each word.

Jade finally flicked her gaze back to Kari, then to Rocky for confirmation. After what happened with Candy, it came as no surprise that there was no shred of trust between them anymore. The Magical Girl of Justice that Jade was once known as had become vengeance, and she wielded fury in both hands rather than justice in one. In the brief second that their eyes met, she had judged Kari guilty.

No, that verdict had long been decided. Kari understood that execution awaited her at the end of the apocalypse like Jade had vowed.

"It's true!" Rocky said. "We saw Flare and Makina together, but they left to go somewhere after beating Kari out of magical girl form. As for Chu Hua, she doesn't want to work with Messiah anymore! A-At least I think…"

"So why ain't she talking?" Jade asked.

"Mute," Kari answered promptly.

Jade nodded to Colonel Naba, who then ordered one of his soldiers to cut the zip tie from Chu Hua's wrists.

I want to help to make up for my mistakes, Chu Hua signed.

"What did she say?" Jade asked.

"She said… 'Fuck you, and let Kari down'. If it wasn't obvious… I'm paraphrasing—" Kari panicked when Jade let her fall onto her ass. "So how come me and Chu Hua are getting the cold shoulders?"

"While you were gone, I spent the entire time helping the JSDF in every city from Fukuoka to here with the monsters. Hell, I might be the only magical girl left in Japan that they still trust after the stunt our Prime Minister pulled." She frowned.

"The two of them are powered down," Naba said, bringing a gun up to Kari's forehead and finger itching to pull the trigger. "We should shoot them now."

The other soldiers were just as ready to shoot, and she couldn't blame them. She was the reason many of their fellows were in the ground.

"If you were confident about shooting any of us, you would have done it already." Kari was daring the colonel at this point.

"I get how you feel, Colonel. I really do. Right now ain't the time to put Kari on trial, as much as I want to dish out some payback of my own on her. It's gonna take more than just three magical girls to stop the apocalypse," Jade urged reason, a statement that Kari didn't expect for sure after Fukuoka.

Too bad none of them were shaping up like they were going to be convinced. It showed in the bags under their eyes, the heavy smell of sweat from being unable to shower for weeks on end, and the many wounds suffered on their person, inside and out. The worn and weary troops, after years of training for the impossible, after months of slogging through an apocalypse and seeing their colleagues die, were desperate for a win.

That win was going to be Kari's very own death.

"You don't get how it feels." The colonel's voice grew more hoarse with each word. "The things I've heard on the radio… an entire platoon getting wiped out from being eaten by monsters… My superiors who used to assure me that magical girls would save the day have all gone silent… Or hearing from the last few units of a battalion that a magical girl used them as bait and left them to die. And to hear from the prime minister himself that he was wrong to trust in magical girls all along?"

Everyone knew how this was going to go down. Kari shut her eyes and clenched her fists. She knew that when they raised their guns, she was going to have to kill them, too. This endless cycle would continue again, and again, and again, digging further her own deep grave of sin. One in which, once she was buried within, no one, not even Makina would come to pay respects at.

The enraged officer, beads of sweat caking every inch of his face, took a few steps back and ordered the soldiers to gather in a firing line. They shoved Kari up against the wall next to Chu Hua.

"Colonel, wait!" Jade shouted.

"Kari and Chu Hua," he began, "for your crimes against the people of Japan and every fallen JSDF soldier you killed, you both are branded enemies of the state. I cannot allow you to leave alive. All units take aim, and f—"

A single shot ran out. Kari and Chu Hua flinched at the sound, but neither of them felt an impact from any bullet. None of the soldiers had shot either, and each were just as confused as the next.

The only person whose gun was smoking at the end of the barrel was Private Juuzo's, his arm extended with the service pistol pointing at Colonel Naba. His commanding officer collapsed. He didn't even know what hit him until it was too late.

"Juuzo, what the fuck!"

Two soldiers disarmed Juuzo and pinned him to the ground on his chest. The others, who still had their guns up, hesitated to fire without Naba's final order.

"Juuzo?" Kari stammered, still in disbelief and searching his face for answers.

"What do we do?" a fidgety serviceman cried desperately for orders.

Several cast aside their weapons to render Naba aid, performing chest compressions, pressing a cloth to the hole in his head, and fetching medical supplies from within the school building. All of which were in vain, but they did so nonetheless because it was what their training had taught them.

"Colonel's gone… he's gone…" The one pumping his chest stopped and shut the dead officer's eyes. "Juuzo, man… you're going to prison for this."

"More like straight to the death penalty… if there's even a Japan left in a few months," Juuzo said.

"Then why did you do that?" another private who propped him back to his feet and zip tied his wrists asked.

"I saw it… You all saw it… Our bullets bounced off that monster like shooting at a tank. None of us can fight those monsters, but magical girls can. I… I want my little sister, my mom and dad, to have a Japan to come back to. If I have to be executed at the end of this… fine," he said, defeated and without any urge to fight against his fate.

Kari, astonished to see the firearms lower one after the other, had nothing to say. She couldn't believe it. Everyone since Ogata had shot or needed to be scared into not shooting. This was the first time someone had stuck up for her like that. A human at that. And after the atrocities she commited.

"Rocky, give Kari two sigils. We're going to take care of that monster one way or another, and I don't care how injured or tired you are," Jade said, making her way out the building.

The soldiers wordlessly parted ways for Jade, followed by Chu Hua and Gauntlet, to leave and stayed that way for Kari to go, too. They couldn't make it more obvious that they didn't want her anymore.

When Rocky turned to Kari for orders, she nodded and proceeded to crush the sigils that materialized into her hands. As she transformed, she stared into her calloused palms, then to Juuzo who placed his misguided trust in someone like her.

"Your sister's name is Mikan, right? You said I reminded you of her. Do we look alike?" Kari asked.

Juuzo lifted his head and chuckled. "Just the scowl. She's got short black hair, not enough to put into a ponytail."

Back then, it was Makina who had tied Kari's hair into a ponytail in an effort to make her appear more heroic and like Flare. Now, most of those once pristine, black locks which she had been growing for years were singed brittle from the monster's beam. She took the bladed edge of her soul-weapon and sliced off the long hair, then pulled off the scarlet ribbon to give to Juuzo.

"If I do end up stopping the apocalypse and you see Mikan again, don't tell her I was a hero… and thanks for the lesson in cooking MREs." Kari grinned and followed the others out.

Although Jade took notice of Kari's new hair, her only reaction was a scoff. They could see the monster flying above the city, unleashing the dome of a Malevolent Domain over itself.

"So, that's it? You're going to let me off the hook?" Kari asked.

"Tch, no. But I had a lot to think about in a month," Jade began. "I was pissed the fuck off. I wanted to see you buried in the ground, and I still do. You and Flare have me beat, and I ain't dumb enough not to see when the cards are stacked against me… Still, you were right in Fukuoka. At the time, I didn't have what it took to put Candy out of her misery. I just hope you got that same commitment if it happens to Makina."