«A special honor among our kind must be bestowed upon Exorcists, whose deeds are far beyond ordinary heroism… Their ability to resist the Cursed witchcraft is an immense contribution to our well-being, forby a spectacular—albeit horrific—sight...

—From a manuscript stored somewhere in the Omnius archives

Moloch was rattling with its chains and the sound of it attracted the Viol’s attention. Niji gazed in horror at the ugly monster, distressed and devastated at the thought that it was a real thing. She’d known before that Cursed mages mutated as their arcane cells inflicted irreversible damage to their psyche and physiology, but she could never imagine the extent.

But there was no time to lament. Niji gulped her mana potion and sent a stream of fire ahead. Sunny jumped behind the Violet in a dashing somersault and kept on smashing it with the disks while the Cursed and Hitomi’s familiar were busy brawling with each other. However, this didn’t last long: the monster turned and grabbed Sunny in a clear intention to tear the girl to pieces.

Niji pulled out her gun and shot the monster’s paw, forcing it to release Yui, so she fell to the ground. Dammit hurried to cast a healing spell on her, yet this made the monster switch its attention to the Celestial. It stomped in his direction, ignoring the wounds from Niji’s shots and Sunny’s chakram cuts.

Moloch tried to re-distract the Cursed, but failed, and Dammit had no option but to sprint down the street. He wasn’t fast enough, and his enchantments didn’t have any effect on the Viol. The monster reached the guy and hit him with his paw, knocking him down to the ground.

“Yada-a-a-a!” cried Sunny and jumped onto the creature’s shoulders with all her remaining strength. It whisked the girl off himself as if she were a feather. Dammit managed to get up and continued to flee, healing himself incessantly. He didn’t get very far away though, as the monster overtook the Celestial once more—its final blow would have surely finished Dammit if not for the aura which appeared around Dammit out of the blue.

At first he thought that it was Niji who was finally able to summon the Celestial Shield, but since Dammit could not move, it turned out to be the effect of the Absolute Defense spell. His savior was Sacred, who was scuttling over to help them.

The Violet was slugging the arcane shield thoughtlessly, but its paws were bouncing off it. While the monster was busy, Jun reached the fighters without any obstacles and exclaimed a series of supporting mantras. The hair and robe of the Celestial soared into the air every time he shouted sacramental words, and his eyes were shining with a turquoise flame whereas the mages were engulfed with the energy of all the colors in a variety of combinations.

The Absolute Defense which was protecting Dammit from the Violet was about to end. At the very last moment, Moloch managed to distract the enemy, and the two giants clashed with each other again. Exhausted, the healer fell to the ground, his wounds bleeding profusely.

“Weaken the Cursed a little bit,” said Sacred, helping his teammate. “And then I could probably…”

“Got you,” Hitomi nodded.

For a couple of seconds, she lost a hold of herself at the sight of the healer’s struggles, but then decisively switched to her familiar, giving orders to him with a wave of her hand. Thanks to Sacred, she felt much more powerful, yet there was very little energy left. Sunny and Niji were also almost empty too.

“Damn!” the Summoner shouted. “I can’t hold it much longer.”

“No mana, Cutie Pie…” he replied while getting up. “Wasted it all on myself. Niji, any potions?”

“Already used the only one I had!” she cried back and shot the last of the only caliber bullets which seemed to deal any damage to the Viol at all.

“Holy moly,” the guy sighed and set his hat straight. “Sacred, how about you go all-out?”

“Okay, I’ll give it a try…”

The mage came closer to the Violet and formed an arcane circle in the air in front of him, similar to those made by Hitomi. Numerous symbols were blazing inside it with crystal white light. Niji had seen such a spell at the Academy and realized what would happen. Sacred threw his right hand into the sky and began whispering a prayer. His hair and clothes rushed up with a magical stream, his voice was going louder with every word so the last phrase sounded like a cry.

“Lost child, we acknowledge the pain you endure. Cursed by the Mother of Light, you are doomed to bear the burden of Her wrath for all eternity, and your punishment is the retribution for the vanity of your ancestors. Hence liberate yourself, once innocently defiled, from the clutches of the abyss—and witness your true fate! May the Light guide your way through the darkness!”

The circles inside the arcane symbol spinned so fast that they merged into solid lines. The mage lowered his hand and directed a stream of shining energy through it, crushing the monster with the flow, so it wailed and fell backward. For a moment the Cursed was fluttering, but then it weakened and crumpled, its body burnt by rays of divine light. The Viol let out a moan and dried out, shrinking drastically, then crumbled into dust. Moloch joined him into the Unknown as the spirit was also vulnerable to expulsive magic.

Thunderous applause came from above—some people had been watching the battle from the windows of the nearby houses, and most of them were recording the whole process on their smarts.

“Jeez, so much hype each time,” Dammit shook his head, holding on to his right side: there were bloody trails from the huge claws that had raked it.

“Chi… are you alright?” Hitomi asked him with a worried look on her face.

“Another T-shirt to say goodbye to.”

“Your hat is alright, though.”

They both smiled warmly at each other which made Yui instantly sad.

“So… that’s how true Exorcists work…” Niji was staring at Sacred, whose clothes were still sparkling and fluttering from the flow of light. Jun looked lost somewhere between worlds.

The sirens howled, and a drifting car pulled up near the mages: Aoi and Shadow jumped out of it the second it stopped.

“Hmph. What’s so special about their Special Squad anyway?” grumbled Sunny.

“Oh my Goddess!” Shadow exclaimed with concern rather than irony. “I am so glad to see you managed it all by yourselves. It was so grand, Miyano-san!”

“It’s done, Commander. How should we split up the reward?” asked Hitomi. “A wanted Viol of terminal stage.”

“Twenty percent for M.A.G.E.,” Aoi said as she pursed her lips.

“Twooooooony?” the loli whined. “That’s not fair, there are three of us!”

“Hitomi is worth you all. I am sure that without her Moloch you would be as good as dead. Besides… something tells me you were interfering in her task, weren’t you?”

Dammit and Sunny let out a long moan, yet Hitomi spoke to her boss: “Aoi-san… I don’t mind sharing with them. Yes, we had some conflict, but they did a great job. The girls fought bravely till their mana ended. Moloch couldn’t hold back the Violet, so it almost killed Mister Omnious. And Miyano-san appeared just in time to exorcise the creature. Their reward is well deserved.”

The Unit commander sighed heavily and adjusted her black and white beret. “Fine. Quite a clear execution and no casualties. A half for you then. I’ll contact Fiber later. You can rest now. We’ll deal with… public awareness. And also… thanks for the help.”

“That’s more like it!” Dammit beamed a little. “Let’s get going, guys. BrewCat is all I need right now.”

He headed in the pub’s direction alongside other enforcers. All of a sudden, Aoi called out to them, “By the way…”

The mages turned around and saw a smirk on her lips.

“Beer’s on you.”