In an unassuming area of the city, a normal looking building stood. A gust of wind blew past, and Asita appeared without a sound at the foot of the building. She stood there with no expression on her face with Tanya and Alex nowhere in sight.

Common people passed this building all the time without giving it a second thought, but underneath that building was a hive of debauchery where countless people came to fulfill their carnal desires. It was a den of a magical girl gang, the Black Card Crew.

Asita went to the door and knocked six times, seven times, and finally, after a small pause, four more times. An iron slit in the door opened up to reveal an eye as a cold and feminine voice drifted out, “Tattoo or identification.”

With a snort, Asita fluttered her charming eyes, “Asking your big sister for her tattoo? Oh, how the younger generation has grown bold.”

“Humph. You should remember what happened the last time we didn’t check. A bug got in and ruined the party. You know the drill, Asita. Show the tattoo or get lost!”

With a huff of displeasure, Asita turned around and pulled up her long black hair to reveal her nape and the intricate tattoo of a black and purple card of the five of spades upon it.

A blue light cast from the gap in the door landed on Asita’s nape, scanning the mark on her neck for a match. The light quickly turned from blue to green, showing that a match had been found. A click from the direction of the door could be heard as it opened up. A voice resounded from behind, “Welcome to the party, elder sister. Might I ask where sister Tanya is?”

Asita coolly replied, “She will be coming soon after finishing up a task. Is Mistress Black Card here today? I wish to pay my respects.”

The door girl stepped out from behind the door, and as expected she had bandages covering over ninety percent of her face, only revealing her eyes, purple lips, and short black hair.

She showed a mysterious smile as she replied, “You know the rules. I cannot say who is or who isn’t here, big sister.”

Asita frowned and flicked the girl on the forehead with a bit of force, “Don’t play coy with me Zombia, or I’ll put in a word to have you assigned to a dangerous mission!”

Zombia’s dark brown eyes opened wide and if one could see her face they would have seen that it had turned pale. The deep fear she felt almost made her tell Asita that the Mistress was indeed inside.

But the little girl somehow managed to keep her emotions in check and replied calmly, “Go inside and see if the Mistress is in. I cannot say.”

A chill entered Asita’s green eyes as she grabbed the girl's face and whispered in her ear, “Very good… very good!”

Zombia’s eyes widened and froze like a frightened deer at the words of praise that felt more like cold daggers stabbing into her ears. But she had to be firm in her convictions. She couldn’t be a snitch. Those that snitch get sent the ‘Black Card’ and only one thing could happen to them after that.

Death.

But just as Zombia was praying for the Mistresses' favor, Asita moved away from her ear and playfully poked her bandaged nose, “Good Job! You’ve earned this big sister’s praise for sticking to the code. Here, have a magic crystal for passing. If you’d told me she was here I would have had to skin you alive, brat. Always remember that snitches get gutted and eaten. Such a shame though... It’s been a while since I sent out a black card. Well, enjoy your door duty. I’m heading inside~.”

With those parting words, Asita left Zombia at the door and made her way to the elevator at the back of the dull building. She pressed a button on the side to bring the elevator up, and the sound of turning wheels resounded through the corridor. Soon the doors slid open and revealed a seemingly standard elevator.

But Asita knew that this was no ordinary elevator, for it had been made by the finest magical girl crafters in the gang when they weren’t high for once in their lives. This elevator had gimmicks within gimmicks built into it, turning it into a terrifying death trap filled with magical saws, guns, and poison gas in case an intruder tried to go underground.

A normal person would be riddled with countless holes and cut to ribbons if they didn’t put in the secret code correctly in the first two tries. Everyone makes mistakes, even magical girls, but if they made the same mistake twice then eight times out of ten they would die a painful death.

Asita fearlessly entered inside and started to hum a tune as she casually punched in buttons.

1 2 9 8 7 1 0 2 8 2 9 -3 -7 G 10 -5…

It was a long code totaling one hundred and twenty-eight entries. It might seem like a lot, and even Asita thought so at one time. Yet after living as a magical girl for so long, you would think this protection was lacking. This code was more of a formal greeting than actual defense.

Asita finished putting the numbers in after a minute or so and pressed the button for -5. The doors snapped closed and the elevator smoothly descended. Once it reached the fifth underground floor the doors slid open and deafening ear-splitting music exploded into the elevator, ricocheting from wall to wall and making the metal box tremble and shake with each and every beat with Asita stuck right in the middle.

The flashing strobe lights, the fog laced with a mild hallucinogenic, and the heated air all bashed into her senses in a torrent that left even Asita stunned for a moment. She stepped forth out of the elevator and came to the top of a double staircase’s balcony. Asita looked down at the floor below to see over four hundred bodies dancing up a storm beneath cages hanging from the ceiling that contained both male and female dancers dressed in risqué outfits.

In the past Asita had been moved by this wild, fervent scene, but after joining a few bouts of this common party, it grew boring for her. Taking the stairs to the left, she made her way down to the dance floor and passed through the mass of gyrating bodies to make her way to the other end of the room.

Girls and boys brushed up against her, touching Asita’s body as she passed them by, but she wasn’t moved in the slightest by any of them. Other than her there wasn’t a single magical girl present on the dance floor. Asita trudged through the crowd, annoyed by the fact that there was no other way to get to the lower floors than through this test of willpower.

These people partied every day to their fullest, succumbing to their every desire, addicted to the air around them, forever losing their minds in the heat of the moment. Asita knew just what would happen if she lost herself in desire and the thought of it terrified her.

After walking through the party Asita came to another staircase leading down below with a magical girl guarding the door. She showed the back of her neck once more and she passed on by, not giving the girl any hassle since she wasn’t a newbie.

As Asita traveled down the spiraling staircase the heated music behind her started to fade away. She personally knew what went on up to floor -10, but past that she didn’t know how far down this rabbit hole went, as that was something only those of a higher rank in the Black Card Gang and the Mistress herself could know.

Walking down to the end of the staircase Asita opened yet another door. Those that saw this room for the first time were usually shocked as bare-chested men lay naked on tables as magical girls crushed crystals, mushrooms, and other items into bowls and spread the mixture on the mens’ chests.

The magical girls then made lines out of the mixture, using plastic cards to move the crushed drugs onto the mens’ abs before taking out some rolled up money and snorting the material. The magical girls were grouped up in two to four people and each passed along the temporary straw after taking a hit.

Besides the girls doing drugs, there was also a bar in the middle of the room where a woman wearing fashionable barmaid clothing served drinks of all shapes and kinds. From normal booze to exotic and magical ones, the bar had it all. A few girls sat around the bar, drinking from their containers of choice. All in all, it would have been a pretty average sight if it wasn't for the pillar of human faces standing in the middle of the bar.

It was one of the Black Mistresses' habits to cut off the faces of those who defied her and lock their souls inside to be forever tormented by the sight of magical girls enjoying themselves. Every time Asita caught a glimpse of the pillar she was filled with awe and respect. She could only hope to be just as ruthless.

A few girls called out to Asita once she entered the room, asking her to join them. If it was any other time she would join in, but right now she had to tell the Mistress about the potential magical girl she’d found.

Asita didn’t stay in the room for long, merely time enough to greet her fellow sisters before she moved onto the next floor, where she figured the mistress would be. After all, that floor was one of her favorite pleasure rooms in the den.

Walking down another flight of stairs, Asite entered the next floor and scanned the area. Gambling tables and machines filled her sight everywhere she looked, and Asita couldn’t spot any one person in the sea of people. This floor was larger than the one above and even had an upper subfloor in order to split up the high and low rollers, but not many could afford the upper subfloor.

Souls, money, drugs, magical items, charms, weapons, anything, and everything could be gambled for and won here. That much alone caused people to linger here and try their luck, but it wasn’t just the Black Card Crew who used this area. Members of their allied gangs could join in and bet on this floor with ease since Madam Blackcard made sure that every machine here had a fair chance of winning for everyone.

Astia made her way up the stairs to the higher subfloor where a game of magic poker caught her eye. A few magical girls sitting at the table were betting with a staggering amount of resources.

These figures weren't the regular run-of-the-mill magical girls either. Blackcard of The Black Card Crew, Jester of the Face Crew, Leona of the Zodiac Gang, and Rogue of the Knife Knife Gang. All of them were either high ranking members or leaders of their gangs, here to enjoy some gambling to pass the time.

The items they bet with made Asita’s eyes widen in awe. There were magical girl souls, high-grade meditation materials, various deeds ranging from buildings and cars to human and magical girl slaves, and even magical beast slave contracts!

Asita watched on with bright eyes as the game unfolded, standing off to the side to make sure she didn’t see anyone's hands. Otherwise, Mistress Blackcard would peel her face off, rip her soul out of her body, and add her to the pillars up in the bar.

From where she stood Asita could take a good look at everyone's faces and try to guess who would come out on top.

Jester wore a clown mask tilted to rest on the side of her head, revealing her baby face painted in the style of a smiling clown, silver eyes, and yellow hair. Sitting next to her was Leona, who had her long wild hair hanging around her shoulders as her eyes glowed like a predator’s as she waited to see what card would come after the flop cards.

The flop cards were the jack and queen of spades, and an eight of hearts. It was a strong hand for spades and a possible instant straight for someone who had a ten and a nine.

Rouge was expressionless, with a mask covering the lower part of her face. Her eyes were as black as night and her short hair was neatly combed to the sides, making her look just like a doll. Finally, there was Blackcard who sat calmly after merely checking her hand once.

She had the appearance of a teenager, but her actual age was in her late forties. Still, she was as beautiful as ever even when she awakened so long ago. Her purple gem like eyes gleamed with life, and her long black hair resembled a flowing mess of waves.

Her skin color was close to Asita’s, and even their faces shared some similarities. She wore a businessman's suit and kept quite the poker face, not giving off a single tell. Blackcard threw out some soul capsules to up the ante and turned to Leona with a warm smile, “Dare to call my raise, Leo?”

Leona let out a snort as she threw another slave contract into the pot, “Humph, you old sack of bones. You dare call me out?”