Alex laid in Sugar’s arms, breathing slowly and steadily. Sugar, seeing that her friend was merely sleeping after transforming and obviously out of danger, had tears falling down her cheeks. She didn’t know how to feel about the fact that she needed Alex, who was a normal, boring girl just a few days ago, to save her life. Should she be happy? Worried? Disappointed with herself?

Utterly confused by how she should react, Sugar stared in a daze at the girls falling to the ground around her. They were barely breathing even as the oppressive energy around them started to lessen, but Sugar barely registered their plights.

Blackcard’s voice boomed out from above snapping Sugar out of her thoughts, “The peak is over now, little seedlings. Your chances of surviving are fading away with each passing second. If you do not become a magical girl before the ritual ends only one end remains for you— Death!”

Shocked expressions appeared throughout the remaining girls as they digested her words with wide eyes. They’d just survived the toughest part of the ordeal but now knew that even if they survived they would be murdered if they didn't become magical girls.

Just how cruel were these magical girls staring down at them with laughing expressions? Some of the girls on the platform cried, others felt remorseful, but Sugar didn’t have time to care about them. She sat cross-legged and tried to increase the amount of energy within her veins, doing her best to push her limits.

Still, no matter what she tried, it seemed that the energy flowing into her was slowly decreasing. Sugar didn’t know if there would be enough. The other girls were also worried about this aspect, wondering what they could do to increase their chances of awakening and living another day.

Blackcard gave a small laugh as she watched the struggling seedlings down below. She snapped her fingers and the chains holding the seedlings back instantly dropped to the floor.

Though shocked by this new freedom, the girls were confused. They didn’t understand why Blackcard released them, especially those who didn’t even see her do so.

Blackcard moved a hand and lifted Alex away from Sugar’s hands and out of the platform. This confused some girls, but their perplexity was soon wiped away.

“Now that we’ve passed the peak of the eclipse, it’s time for all of you little seedlings to weed out the unfit!”

Only a few of the girls below truly understood what she meant. Sugar was one of them, for she would always remember what Alex did for her, how she drained the excess magical power from her body. Blackcard wanted them to do the same thing to the other seedlings!

Sugar quickly got up and rushed towards the nearest unconscious girl. On the way over she struggled for an extremely brief moment, but once there she began to rapidly drain away from the girl’s energy. It almost looked like she was administering CPR, but the girls around her all started to wise up to what Sugar was really doing.

Doing as Alex did, Sugar put her lips on the girl’s and started to drain away. She could immediately feel the girl’s energy flowing into her, and Sugar’s eyes widened as she noticed that, unlike the energy she’d gained from the solar rays, this energy didn’t seem to hurt. In fact, this energy seemed to bring a cool and refreshing sensation as it flowed around her body.

Sugar guessed that absorbing refined mana was much safer than taking in raw energy.

Sugar estimated that she just needed a few minutes to drink this girl dry and have enough energy to break through and become a magical girl. Only, she didn’t have the luxury of time. Of the seventy five or so girls on the platform, only fifteen had passed out. Such ‘golden eggs’ could be only won in a fight, and soon chaos started to fill the ring as the seedlings started punching, kicking, biting, scratching, and even hair pulling each other in their effort to survive.

Even with the head start, Sugar was soon forced to let go of the unconscious girl when another girl came out of nowhere and sent a kick towards her face. Sugar rolled away from the attack and faced her challenger despite the pain running through her body. She put up her hands, ready to fight.

Sugar wasn’t going to give up this chance at life, not after Alex had risked it all to save her. She would claw her way to becoming a magical girl if she needed to!

Sugar lunged at the girl who’d attacked her, catching her by surprise and causing the girl to trip over her own feet and fall to the ground. Sugar quickly mounted the girl with brown hair and started beating her face in with her fist.

Sugar screamed as she beat the girl's face into a bloody mess, punching her teeth out and making the girl's eyes swell shut. The girl tried to fight back but was quickly subdued thanks to Sugar’s better position.

To make sure that the girl had no way to harm her Sugar broke her arms and legs, causing the girl to scream in agony. Sugar wiped her hands off on her pants and rushed back to her ‘golden egg’ to suck more energy out. The other seedlings had seen Sugar’s brutality and no one was brave enough to try to rob her again.

Time passed and brutal fighting still raged on all around her as Sugar drained the mana from the unconscious girl. When there was only about half of the energy remaining within her, a change suddenly occurred inside of Sugar’s body.

Cracking sounds abruptly rang out as all her senses sharpened to a fine point. Her eyesight, hearing, touch, taste, and her sense of smell all grew stronger. Yet the strangest part of it all was that Sugar started seeing the mana floating in the air around her. It was in all kinds of different lights and colors, with orange being the strongest.

But that wasn’t the only change, for a chain of words suddenly appeared within her brain, burning themselves into her memory, forever unable to be forgotten. Sugar’s lips slowly began to part as the words started to spill out, one after the other.

I grow from a little ember into a mighty flame.

I shall burn everything to ciders all the same.

Only the ashes of life were left in my wake.

I’m Magical Girl Sun, and your life is mine to take!

Rays of orange light expanded out around Sugar as her clothes started to change in shape and color. Her outfit was filled with frills and ribbons, but somehow wasn’t heavy or stifling. In fact, the outfit felt like a second skin. They were silky smooth to the touch and the orange color was quite pleasing to her eyes. Sugar couldn’t help but notice that her hair had also changed, becoming orange and yellow.

But the thing she felt the most was the rush of power that filled her entire being, making her feel like she was on a high.

“So this is what it felt like to be alive... this is the power that Magical Girls wield.“

Everything just felt... right to Sugar as she opened and closed her hands, getting used to her newfound energy.

While Sugar was checking out her new threads, another blast of light appeared across the platform, showing that another magical girl had awakened.

This one gave off a green luster, and soon a girl in a tight-fitting outfit with her hair tied up in a ponytail appeared from within the light. Her hair was black and green and her eyes shone with an emerald green luster that drew Sagar’s attention towards them.

A small desire suddenly flashed through Sugar’s mind. She wanted to battle this girl and test out her strength. When Sugar was about to step forward and put her thoughts into action a white orb suddenly appeared around her, trapping her within.

Another orb appeared around the green magical girl, locking her inside. Sugar quickly concluded that those who awakened would be taken away from the platform. Probably a safety measure to prevent them from endangering the seedlings.

But Sugar didn’t care about that right now. She just wanted to know what had happened to Alex. Was she ok? Was she hurt? Was there anything she could do for her? The questions ran around and around in her head.

When the two landed in a nearby tunnel, the bubbles holding them in place popped, allowing them to move freely. Facing them was a girl in a black uniform with a green cross stitched on her chest. Her hair was blonde and her features were quite easy on the eyes. She wore a faint smile as she motioned for the two girls to follow her.

“Dear new sisters, my name is Incus. I’m pleased to welcome you to our gang. I’d hate to make you, but please follow me for a body inspection. We must see if there is any latent issue that needs to be fixed after your awakening. But don’t worry, it’s mostly a formality at this point, nothing serious. You all are quite lucky to have had your ritual on the solar eclipse, you know? Although quite raw and hard to absorb, the energy from it has very little impurities.”

Sugar stepped forward in a fluster, “Wait! What happened to Alex? Is she ok? Where is she?”

The medical girl turned to Sugar, tilting her head and placing her hand on her cheek to think. She was trying her best to word what was going on without worrying about her new sister.

“She is currently being examined by our dear leader, Blackcard, and Head Medicus Hema. Of all the rituals we’ve held, she’s the first to attempt such an action— that is, trying to save someone else via a kiss. Currently, we are inspecting her to see if she's broken or not, as it’s strange for her to turn into a magical girl without using a chant the first time around. When I learn of her condition I shall inform you as the information comes. Will that sate your thirst for the subject, dear sister?”

It wasn't the type of answer she wanted, but from what her supporter had told her, Sugar knew that she couldn’t skip out on inspections or else she would be beaten severely. Magical girls were very easy to set off. This one was so forthcoming Sugar could only swallow her wish to see Alex and go get testing done.

“Thank you for answering me, Elder Sister Incus. Your words have put me at ease. Let’s go take this test and get it out of the way.”

“Then, you two follow me this way!” Incus said as she beckoned them to follow and started walking away.

As the three moved down the tunnel Sugar gave a short prayer, “I hope you are alright, Alex.”

…

In a nearby room, Alex lay silently on a hospital bed with Blackcard and a woman dressed in blood red robes looming over her unconscious form.

The woman in red, Hema, was currently stabbing a finger directly into Alex’s head. Her eyes were closed and her brows were furrowed as she focused on what she found inside.

Despite how deep her finger was lodged into Alex’s skull, there was no trace of a wound or even a single drop of blood.

Blackcard wasn’t idle either. She rifled through the information on the medical screens, and what she saw made a grin appear on her face.

If these readings are correct… Then we've struck gold.

Everything pointed to something that she didn’t think possible. This girl before her had somehow managed to split her soul cleanly in half, which by itself wasn’t too grand of a feat. But when Hema had called her down here with such urgency she’d wondered what this crazy Medicus had been raving about, yet the results before her clearly showed that the girl’s split soul was only tainted on one half, with the other immaculate and curse free. This discovery excited her the most, for although she had her tricks to keep her sanity in check, even Blackcard didn’t know when she would finally fall over the edge.

Unable to contain her voice, Blackcard turned to Hema, “Have you double checked your results? Is this really happening?”

Hema opened her crimson eyes at the question and removed her finger from Alex’s head. She took a breath and collected her thoughts, “A magical girl being spared from the curse by just having her soul split in half shouldn’t happen, but I’m reading strong brainwaves so she isn’t even braindead. As long as we heal her soul, at least to my knowledge, she will be the first magical girl since the founder to not be under the Shadow Emperor’s curse. Do you have any of that soul healing medicine on you, leader? She’ll need it fast, otherwise, her soul will start to deteriorate and we’ll lose her.”

Blackcard's face that had been full of excitement instantly turned into a frown, “You know what I need to make that, right? It isn’t easy to gather the souls of 100 virgins. How many do you even need?”

“Two. One each to recover both sides of the fragmented soul. I fear that if we don’t heal the cursed side soon the blight will jump over to the other and infect it, making this girl less than a regular magical girl.”

As she pulled two objects out of her ring, Blackcard clicked her tongue, “Tsk. Luckily I won a lot in my game of poker the other day otherwise I’d be in trouble. This girl better be worth it or I’m going to be mad, Hema. And you know that you don’t want me mad.”

Hema flashed a charming smile at her boss, “Rest assured. If I’m right, this girl might actually be the key to being rid of our curse once and for all.”