Appalled by the sight before them and the very human-like voice uttered from its lack of a mouth, Kari, Jade, and Chu Hua had briefly forgotten how to breathe. When Kari drew in a sharp breath, the magical girl monster attacked first.

Jaws thrusted both mandible swords into Kari, but her imperviousness to physical damage rendered the attack ineffective. Instead, both of them barreled through the city from the impact, crashing through building after building as the sharpened tips dug vainly into her chest.

The monster's eyes were wide and bloodshot, but it wasn't a look of insanity. No. It was lucid, in complete control of itself and not at all mindless. But it was desperate. This wasn't a head hound or broken lady, but much closer to a seraph yet… not and somehow more human. Like the X mark on Kari's eyes, Jaws had a diamond-shaped mark in theirs.

"Feed me! Feed me!" Jaws cried, tears flicking off the corners of its eyes as they were in flight.

"As if I— ngh?!" Kari felt a prick on her chest and abdomen. She saw the tips of both blades plunging through her savage robes. They bit into her flesh like cold steel, reminiscent of when Yuria had stabbed her.

[Health: 320/320 ⇒ 300/320]

[Health: 300/320 ⇒ 280/320]

Not good. Somehow it was able to pierce through.

Kari brought [Ruin] down on its shoulder, expecting the blade to cut right into the souls. It did. However, the same discordant cries left her reeling and ears ringing more painfully than before. The souls that were supposed to have been ripped from its flesh were sucked back in like a vacuum.

Before she could get another hit off, Jaws leapt back to put distance between them. They skidded to a stop at a train depot. The monster struck the ground around it as if throwing a tantrum.

"Why aren't your souls being pulled out like they should?" Kari wondered aloud. "More importantly…"

She pressed a hand to her chest wound. Fresh blood soaked into her robes. It had been a while since she was physically injured like this. Could Jaws' weapons carve souls? No, then it wouldn't have done damage and gone straight through instead. It had to be dealing magic damage similar to Candy's hand cannon. If she had known, she wouldn't have prematurely activated [Apocalypse Power-Up!], now that magic damage cut through her like free damage. Even with 0 defenses, Jaws' attacks didn't hurt too much.

A trail of her blood on the mandible swords dripped down along the length of the shaft, coating each tooth a deeper crimson until they began to glow with energy. Was it charging up an attack like [Destruction and Ruin]?

Both of them began walking circles along the six abandoned railroads tracks long rusted and left unused. This monster was waiting for her to make the first move, but Kari played the patient game. She moved until its back was facing where they had just come from, then half a dozen Chu Huas manifested to bind its upper body.

"Judge, Jury, and Executioner!" Jade threw her javelin with such force that it ripped up metal tracks along the way.

However, the monster proved stronger than Chu Hua's ribbons could restrain. Sharp teeth from the jaws on the torso chewed through the fabric. Now freed, it swung both swords to deflect the golden javelin, sending it clattering into the depot building.

It has high physical resistance, Chu Hua signed from atop the train station's roof.

High resistance or not didn't matter to Kari. It had a lot of health, possibly a hell of a lot beefier than Jade in Gallant Knight.

"Sounds like you can talk," Jade said of Jaws from above. "Maybe you wanna talk?"

Jaws responded by opening wide the toothy maw of its chest. Each tooth on the mandible sword dimmed one after the other, and a wispy black mist traveled from both weapons, up the arms, and into the gaping mouth.

"I don't think it wants to talk!" Kari shouted and dove to the ground as a bright beam fired out, carving through the city again, knocking Jade out of the sky, and forcing Chu Hua into a cocoon to protect herself. The laser just barely missed Kari, slicing off only a strand of her hair. It continued to travel outwards to sea until the beam diminished like a candle out of oxygen.

Kari gazed into a trench it had created, ten-foot deep and three wide going from the train depot all the way out to sea. The sound of water rushed in to fill the hole that was made in the earth.

A magic skill that powerful would have ended Kari outright without any magic resistance. Jade, who had taken the beam and was knocked out of magical girl form, sat on her knees on the ground. She was missing her entire left arm and gasping for air. Gauntlet hurriedly placed a sigil into her other hand which she managed to crush and transform in time before bleeding.

Unfortunately, Jaws' beam left a permanent injury on Jade. Although she returned to being a magical girl, her left arm was missing.

"That fucking thing… burned through my Castle and Gallant Knight… It took my fucking arm off!" Jade huffed, clutching the stump which was all that remained.

Chu Hua, on the other hand, unraveled herself from the cocoon and came out unscathed.

"The swords! It charges up by hitting us like mine!" Kari warned.

I was caught off guard, but I can reflect the beam if it charges up again, Chu Hua signed.

Was that really a risk they should take?

"Can you still fight?" Kari asked Jade.

"I ain't dead yet, am I?" she answered with a growl, then empowered herself with Gallant Knight.

Jaws wasn't through with them yet. It unfurled its wings, beating a gale that picked up dirt and stones, ripping utility poles from the ground, and dragging debris into the air. With each beat of the monster's ivory wings, it created tornados with similar intensity as Chu Hua's magic skill.

The trio flew high into the sky to avoid the razor-sharp winds, but the monster shot up to greet them in an instant. Even as Kari and Jade laid into it, outnumbering Jaws two to one and with Chu Hua providing support by incapacitating its movements, none of it seemed to matter. Their strikes were blocked and parried with relative ease, and every hit, the monster learned to better defend against them.

In a moment of reprieve, Kari pulled Jade back to inform her of Chu Hua's plans.

"That bitch better make it count," Jade said. "I ain't down to lose my other—"

One swipe from Jaws sent Kari and Jade plummeting. They hit the ground hard, then found themselves unable to get back up.

[Health: 260/320 ⇒ 255/320]

[Health: 250/320 ⇒ 245/320]

[Health: 240/320 ⇒ 235/320]

A fleshy substance, similar to the growth in the infested cities and on Candy, began to propagate on their chest and weighed them down. It was draining their blood, and if nothing was done, they were going to be sucked dry.

"What the hell?" Jade couldn't so much close her fist.

Even Kari, with her unstoppable strength in [Destruction Incarnate], couldn't move.

"Now…" Jaws began as it landed in front of them with the swords raised, "I feed!"

Ten Chu Huas enveloped the weapons in ribbons and pulled them both taut. They managed to lift Jaws off its feet, flinging the monster across the tracks. Using the ribbons like whips, the clones struck hard and fast. Every crack forced Jaws back, gouging into its flesh as though the fabric were bladed at the tips.

Jaws, however, frustrated by the Chu Hua's antics, tossed away its weapons and dove headfirst into the clones. Up close and personal, they were unable to fend off the flurry of attacks. She wasn't going to last very long at this rate.

"What are you doing just laying around?" Rocky shouted into Kari's ears.

"You think I want to?" Kari retorted.

[Health: 200/320 ⇒ 195/320]

"C-Can't you fight it? It's a monster, isn't it?" he asked, panic in his voice becoming more apparent by the second.

"Worth a shot— Wanton Smash!"

The skill didn't go off.

Kari was sure she still had magic capacity and had only used one skill so far. Check on her stats showed [Magic capacity: 118/130].

"No dice over here either," Jade said, who was stuck on the ground next to her and in the same situation. "My skills are duds. Can't do a damn thing!"

"If this thing is a monster like Rocky said, then maybe…" Kari trailed off as she fell into thought.

Way back during her first fight in a malevolent domain, she managed to lose track of the monster by dropping magical girl form. If what Rocky mentioned about this growth also being a monster, could it be similar to the one at the hospital and the other that was many-limbed? Multiple monsters that formed a single entity?

"Rocky, I can't lose my transformation. Do it for me," Kari ordered.

"What?" Jade gasped.

"Y-You want to drop your magical girl form at a time like this?" Rocky asked.

"Do it! We're all dead anyway!" she yelled.

Her magical girl outfit faded away, replaced with a tattered t-shirt and jeans. The fleshy growths on her chest bulged like tumors underneath her clothing. They were stuck like leeches, and she still couldn't move. She thought the plan had been for naught until they began to detach themselves and slide off. Several began to crawl towards Jade and others into battle to Chu Hua.

"Gauntlet, do the same for me," Jade said after seeing that it had worked. Once she lost her transformation, the leech-like tumors also left her body.

Those things were attracted to magical girls because they wore their souls like an insect's carapace. With their forms gone, it went after the next one with the strongest scent of souls. That being Chu Hua who was still transformed.

"How the hell did it happen anyway?" Tsubasa asked.

"I'm willing to bet it's the swords. But we need to get hit again so it charges up for another beam. I'm going to go piss it off. You wait for an opening," Kari said, stomping on the leeches and crushing a health sigil as she changed back into a magical girl.

Chu Hua was forced on the defensive, using her ribbons as shields to block Jaws' oppressive attacks. Its mandible swords were able to easily tear through the fabric.

"Tag out, Chu Hua!" Kari shouted, clashing her soul-weapon against Jaws' blades. As they traded blows, she purposely let the teeth scrape against her chest.

[Health: 320/320 ⇒ 300/320]

[Health: 300/320 ⇒ 280/320]

Jaws cut down her health like it was nothing until she was getting close to [Enrage] threshold. But doing so allowed the leeches to grow on her chest and render her unable to move again. The mandible swords were also glowing more intensely than before.

"Judgment, all magic!" Jade created countless javelins that shrouded the entire city, but didn't use them all at once. She compelled many of them to move like a snake and put Jaws on the retreat to avoid getting hit.

Frustrated in being bogged down by the unending barrage, Jaws opened the maw mouth on its torso to do exactly as Kari hoped. The monster fired the destructive beam, annihilating Judgment like an electric fly swatter to a swarm of gnats and carving through the earth towards Kari. At that moment, she saw her death in it and wondered if she put too much trust in the others.

This time, however, Chu Hua appeared in front of her to take the attack. Three clones manifested in a triangular formation, weaving a spider web of ribbons that transformed into a reflective mirror and absorbed the magic blast— and fired it right back.

Taken by surprise, Jaws was too slow to avoid it and took the full brunt of its own beam.

"Nice!" Kari whooped, but her glee vanished seeing Chu Hua fall to the ground.

Chu Hua was a smoking mess. Her outfit was in tatters, burns covered every inch of exposed skin, and she was panting shallow breaths.

"You still took damage? But I thought—" It was then that Kari realized Chu Hua had lied.

The beam wasn't entirely reflected. Whatever the specifics of Chu Hua's skill was, she was still in magical girl form and badly hurt.

Kari escaped from the leech's hold with the same method and raced over to help her.

"What's going on over there? Jaws ain't down for the count! Get the fuck up and help me!" Jade yelled, fighting a much more injured monster.

A hole had been blown through Jaws' chest, but it was still up and moving. In fact, the monster continued to hold its own against Jade— and she was losing even with Gauntlet fighting alongside her in Grand Cavalry.

"Chu Hua! Don't die on me yet. We still need you!" Kari frantically cried, surprising herself that she still had it in her to care for someone else.

The Chinese magical girl looked Kari in the eyes and struggled to raise her arms to perform sign language. Without her anthem, she couldn't restore her health. She might as well be down for the count.

Jade and Gauntlet suddenly crashed past them. Kari glanced over her shoulder to see the emerald magical girl knocked out of form again. She lifted her head from the dirt, one eye shut from a bad bruise, glaring defiantly at Jaws who had defeated her from 100 to 0 a second time.

Across the tracks, Jaws watched on with amusement. Its body trembled like it was laughing at them or shaking from hunger. Black mists on both swords as thick as fog drained into its chest, preparing for another beam to finish them off.

What now? Kari wondered

Leave Chu Hua and Jade here to fight another day? She wouldn't be able to outrun Jaws if she was carrying them. Even if she wanted to run, her feet were somehow glued to the ground. There weren't any leeches on her, but for once she didn't want to leave them to die.

Jaws finished absorbing the energy from the swords and let them drop from its hands. It grabbed the lips of the torso maw, stretching it as wide as possible. As the beam fired from its chest, Kari tossed aside the urge to escape and rose to face it head on.

But she was instead shoved back by Chu Hua, who summoned her clones to perform the same skill again. The laser fired into her reflective barrier and returned it back to the one who had shot it, atomizing the monster's lower body as it tried to escape.

Chu Hua took an unsteady step to turn around, no longer in magical girl form, and smiled. It was a beautiful smile. The only smile that had ever adorned the lifeless demeanor of the marionette. She fell forward, and when Kari reached out to catch her, like a brittle mound of dust her body was blown away by the winds before making contact.

"No!" Kari cried, clutching only dust and ashes.

Chu Hua was nowhere to be seen.

It wasn't a trick. She was here one moment and gone the next.

Kari fell to her knees and sucked in a quivering breath, still holding onto what was left of Chu Hua.

With Gauntlet's help, Jade limped over and glanced around.

"Where's… the Messiah girl?" Jade panted.

"Gone," Kari simply answered.

They took one look at Jaws and didn't need a second glance to know the monster was dead.

"You know… Chu Hua agreed to help me fight Flare… She knew it would be suicide to use that skill and didn't say a thing about it. I don't get it. Why?" Kari cradled the ashes in disbelef.

"What's not to get? Not everyone's out for themselves," Jade said.

"And what's so wrong about being selfish?" she cried, hot tears streaking down her cheeks. "I've had to fight for myself.

All this time Kari had wanted someone to save her. The moment it happened and someone died as a result, the feeling that washed over her was an unpleasant one.

Jade pushed Gauntlet away to grab Kari by the collar so that she would face her. "Whoever the fuck put you through enough shit to make you think everyone's out for themselves, I oughta kick their ass. Tsk… Maybe I ain't one to talk. I left you and your friend back in Akiba, so that puts me on the list, huh? Chu Hua though, she made her choice and that was to save us."

Kari couldn't look Jade in the eyes anymore. She was too ashamed. It was easier when she didn't care. When she didn't have anyone to mourn. Chu Hua didn't need to save her, but she did so anyway and with a smile. They weren't even friends and had only recognized each other as enemies until yesterday.

Was Kari the only one who thought that way? What did Chu Hua think? That they were friends? It was a question that could no longer be answered.

Jade, maybe in seeing the remorse on her face, let her down and saw the dark clouds beginning to clear away. For whatever reason, it seemed Hurricane's unceasing storm was finally coming to an end.

"I wanted to use her to help me kill Flare. Now I just want her back to tell her… I… wish I could start over." Kari sighed.

"We ain't getting do-overs. Just like my arm, like Rie… like Chu Hua, they're gone for good. So let's get moving because this apocalypse's not gonna end itself," Jade urged, facing away to hide the pain on her own face.

"You can be a little more considerate! Chu Hua just gave her life to save both of you!" Rocky pouted.

"No, Jade's right." Blinded by the sunlight, Kari opened her palm to let a gust carry away the rest of Chu Hua's ashes and left behind a ring beset with a blue gem.

An eerie calm befell Fukuyama as if the ghost city was silently grieving for Chu Hua, the Chinese magical girl who, having been called a puppet her whole life, severed her own strings to find freedom at last. No more experiments, no more dancing, and certainly no longer taking orders from Messiah or her captors.

As Kari and Jade were about to leave, they became petrified by a distinct glimmer from a finger on Jaws' right hand. A magical girl ring. It appeared to be embedded into the flesh and was slowly emerging from the skin until it slipped off entirely.

"You see this shit?" Jade gasped, picking up the golden band with a swirling black gem.

"It's just like mine and Flare's rings… You can't see them anymore because they're so embedded into our fingers. Does that mean I'm going to eventually turn into this?" Kari asked.

"Guys, what if Jaws was never a monster like we thought? I… I think it's possible that it was a magical girl in the past," Gauntlet suggested as he was standing next to Jaws' head.

"W-We have a way to check that, don't we?" Rocky gulped.

Kari opened the Apocalypse System's communication's app, drawing up a list of all magical girls past and present. Jade looked, too. The downside of the app was that it was just a list. It didn't show whether or not they were alive. She did know, however, that the many young faces in Japan were dead as a result of Flare's experiment to test the ring that was currently sitting on Kari's finger.

There had to be some among them that weren't the result of having the ring forced on them though. Jade, Candy, and Flare had received theirs by chance and determined from what anthems called 'potential'.

"This one." Jade directed Kari's attention to a seventeen year old girl named Himawari Furutani.

It was hard to tell because Jaws had no hair and was mouthless. The most defining feature that shook Jade and Kari to their cores was Himawari's diamond marks in her irises. There had to be more. That, too, could just be a coincidence. Some magical girls shared robes and rings of the same color. It wasn't until they saw a mole at the base of Himawari's and Jaws' neck did the coincidences become too much to ignore.

"There's no mistaking it," Kari said.

Jaws and Himawari Furutani were the same person.

"If this is what you and Flare can turn into, then we have a bigger problem on our hands than the apocalypse. That means we all got it in us to become monsters. You're a ticking time bomb, and I dunno how to feel about that." Jade took several steps back from her.

"But I don't feel any different," Kari mumbled, then remembered the faint hunger for souls that gnawed at her.

Flare must be feeling the same way, could she—

"What's wrong?" Jade asked.

Kari's knee jerk reaction was to hide it from Jade, but she needed to change. She needed to start trusting again.

"You might be right," Kari admitted. "Ever since this ring started burying into my finger, I've been hearing more and more voices. When I started eating souls, I only got hungrier. If Flare is in the same boat from all that she did in the past, then she has to be feeling the same way. I don't think she's after a god's soul for shits and giggles. She's gotten hungry to the point where it might be the only thing that'll satisfy her."

"Because if she doesn't, then what happened to Himawari will happen to her, huh? It will happen to you, too." Jade cursed under her breath.

"Yeah…"

Kari clenched the ring in her hand. She had signed her own death sentence. Himawari's future— what she had become was Kari's future, too. The thought left her in despair, but now, the only thing keeping her going was making sure Makina still had a future.