Takako gasped in horror at the seemingly impossible sight facing her. The once invincible Seina gripped a stump that oozed crimson tightly, face contorting in pain.

That idiot. Why for Ume? She isn’t worth it in the least!

“Serves you right!” Emiyo’s eyes brightened in amusement, taking delight in the other girl’s agony.

“Just you wait until it grows back!” Seina paused, sparing a glance towards Takako. “Um, it can grow back, right?”

“Uh, maybe.” While magical girls possessed extraordinary healing power, Takako wasn’t confident that feat was possible.

“I’ll restore it later,” Takako said, making a promise she wasn’t sure she could keep. She’d figure out something.

“You talk as if you’ll live past this fight,” Emiyo said, only to scream in pain and surprise as Seina whipped blood into her eyes.

Moments before the blood touched their enemy, Takako got a wonderful, terrible idea, swirling her ribbon around the blood. She smirked in delight as it hardened across Emiyo’s eyes. The evil magical girl tried pulling it away, but the blood substance refused to budge.

“Damn you!” Emiyo hurled other curses, still failing to remove the substance blocking her vision.

“That one talks too much,” Takako said, joining Seina beside the fallen Ume.

“Can you save her?” Seina asked, a pensive expression on her face. As usual, the girl cared more about someone else than missing an entire limb! A former enemy that had only ruined everything after getting involved. Still, for Seina’s sake, Takako complied and whirled her ribbon around Ume’s barely breathing body.

“Healing touch!”

“What just happened?” Ume coughed and blinked, regaining her senses. She touched her chest, finding it clean and undamaged. The sight of the flailing Emiyo jumpstarted her memory, hurrying to her feet.

But before Ume could attack the distracted Emiyo, Seina got into her face, expression grim.

“Let me make one thing clear. Don’t hurt any of my friends again.” Seina said. “I only saved you because we need help to fight against Emiyo. It wasn’t out of the goodness of my heart!” Though that last statement rang hollow in Takako’s ears, considering Seina’s personality.

“I understand. I know my duty.” Ume’s expression was peevish but determined.

“Duty, sure. Never mind. We can talk about this once we’ve dealt with Emiyo.” Takako said.

“Without killing her,” Seina added. “We might help her?”

“After everything? Are you crazy? Such naïve foibles with only get you killed on the battlefield!” Ume said, getting further into the other magical girl’s face.

While Takako understood Seina’s hesitance to kill, she understood Ume’s point. Emiyo had given her soul to the Devil Princess cause. How does one return from that? She refused to agree with Ume’s kill all evil sentiment, however. That level of extremism was insane.

Frustrated by the lack of progress on the substance blocking her vision, Emiyo turned her sickle against herself. Blood trickled down her face as she slashed away the obstacle. It oozed down her nose, creating a demonic appearance, directing her ire towards her hated enemies. Much to Takako’s dread, the wound inflicted by Emiyo’s blade didn’t appear to be healing.

Takako’s apprehension increased when she caught Emiyo’s expression. The fight had ceased being fun. The lieutenant’s eyes now ringed with weeping flesh blazed with fury, promising vengeance for the humiliation inflicted against her.

Buildings exploded as Emiyo took steady steps towards them. The ground refused to stay still. It rumbled so hard, Takako almost lost her balance. Nearby birds aged to death as they contacted the girl’s powers. Streets warped and cracked before shattering to pieces. Day shifted into starry night before returning to daytime. The backwash staggered Takako as Emiyo’s powers went haywire.

If we don’t stop her quickly, she might tear apart the entire planet! Her allies understood the graveness of their situation, and they charged together as one. Takako lagged behind, figuring she’d prove more useful in the back row.

Portals flickered and coalesced around Ume, countless in number. Her hands blurring as she sent a barrage of magical beams into them. Tears in the fabric of reality appeared centimeters away from Emiyo’s skin, attacking her from every direction. This proved pathetically slow compared to the evil magical girl, who slipped around the beams with trivial ease. She, however, hadn’t prepared for Takako’s next trick.

Emiyo howled in pain as every beam suddenly blasted into her back. Takako’s ribbon had captured the portals and magical beams and redirected them into a more suitable position. Much to Takako’s disappointment, Ume’s beams had only annoyed their opponent, inflicting minor damage.

Metal clashed as Emiyo blocked Seina’s staff as the girl used Ume as a useful distraction. The ground thundered as a casual punch from the lieutenant pulverized Seina’s ribs. The girl writhed on the crumbling pavement, clutching the injury with her remaining arm. Her eyes widened as Ume extended a hand, ready to blow Seina’s head clear off. Terror gripped Takako’s heart. Without Seina, they didn’t stand a chance. Emiyo smirked, relishing Seina’s terror.

“Quick, summon a portal,” Takako said urgently towards a dismayed Ume. With a dull nod, the girl did as instructed. Takako snatched it with her ribbon, hoping she wouldn’t be too late.

Before Seina had any chance to dart away, Emiyo’s time power engulfed her and she froze like a fly trapped on flypaper. After taking another moment to delight in Seina’s helplessness, Emiyo fired. Only to scream in pain as her own beam was redirected into her own face. Ume’s portal had caught it a split moment before Emiyo fired. The time trap disappeared around Seina, who used her freedom to clobber Emiyo in her ribs. A sickening crunch echoed through the deserted streets.

Yet, Emiyo still only seemed annoyed rather than seriously injured. Takako realized how badly she’d misjudged the strength of a lieutenant of the Devil Princesses. They were in trouble.

Still, her thoughts returned to Emiyo’s expression when Seina had proven unexpectedly powerful. Was victory not impossible? Seina seemed to believe so, keeping on the offensive.

The girl continued to push her attack, preventing the more powerful magical girl from returning to the offensive. While swinging with her non-dominant hand was awkward, Seina held her own. Emiyo’s magic spiked as she used her time magic to increase her speed again and again. Takako, however, used her magic to dissolve it like fog on a sunny day. While still at a terrible disadvantage, it kept Seina alive.

Only Ume seemed the odd person out. She stood on the sidelines, shooting beams into their opponent that only annoyed Emiyo. The power gap was too vast. Ume’s will to fight faltered, making her attacks scattershot and ineffectual.

“Don’t tell me you’re giving up?” Takako said, her voice containing a hint of mockery. She hoped the insult would strike the girl’s temper and bolster her fighting spirit. Even if Umi’s attacks inflict little damage, she wasn’t completely useless. Ume only needed to devise cleverer applications of her power. From Ume’s sheathing glare, Takako figured she’d more than succeeded.

Seina’s fight had turned for the worse, still awkwardly fighting with a single arm. Each movement slipped further in power and speed, as she slowly succumbed to her injuries.

Emiyo barely seemed winded by the exchange, grinning as a blow to the skull sent her opponent reeling, almost unable to stand. Seina recovered and delivered a counter punch to Emiyo’s chest after a clever faint, but the blow inflicted minor damage. Seina couldn’t fight much longer.

And I can’t join the fight. Takako feared the consequences of joining the fray.

Doubt plagued Takako, fearing her current skill wasn’t enough to fight and maintain her concentration on her spellcraft. Worse, the evil magical girl knew it. She expelled a powerful burst of time distortion to keep Takako distracted while battling Seina. With such a discrepancy in power, she could afford to fight Seina at her leisure.

Ume did her best to keep their opponent off balance, teleporting around and attacking where Emiyo least expected it. This proved a minor distraction, however. Ume was an ant fighting amongst a battle between giants.

“I suppose that leaves only us left.” A newcomer said. Takako turned to discover the vampire queen, Lilha, treading towards her, katana in hand. On second inspection, the weapon was translucent, a ghostly weapon that radiated power.

The queen’s grin widened, eyes triumphant. “I figure I only need to distract you for the most minute millisecond, and Ume’s deadly time magic will rip Seina to shreds. She’s only surviving by the tiniest threads.”

Takako’s ribbon stretched, dissipating from another sudden exertion of time distortion. Emiyo was pressing her luck, waiting for Takako to commit the slightest error.

“You may be stronger now, Takako.” Lilha said, as the magical girl remained silent. “But you can’t afford to fight me, not now. You’re easy pickings. I’m going to enjoy this!”

With no more preamble, the vampire queen charged. Takako remained still, wondering what Lilha’s game was. Even if Takako couldn’t afford to get distracted, Lilha wasn’t powerful enough to even scratch a magical girl. This had to be some ploy that Takako couldn’t decipher.

Their weapons clashed as Takako used the back end of her wand to block the incoming blade. She gave the vampire queen a cold, baleful glare as their weapons collided. This only earned a triumphant smile, and Takako watched in mild shock as Lilha’s blade passed through her wand and entered her chest. The weapon solidified, and a bothersome pain stabbed into Takako’s heart.

The blade shifted form, transforming into a whip. It gripped hard around Takako’s heart, and tiny specks of blood oozed from Takako’s mouth. But she remained firm, deflecting another wave of time energy with ease.

“No.” Fear entered Lilha’s eyes. She’d counted on her little trick to break Takako’s concentration, but it only solidified it instead. Takako used the pain to strengthen her resolve.

“Interesting.” Her hand reached down, grabbed Lilha’s arm, and casually tossed her aside. The whip shredded her heart from within, causing a slight annoyance of pain. Yet, it didn’t stop her from deflecting another time blast with ease.

“Impossible.” Lilha stepped back, terror filling her eyes.

Takako reached down and touched the wound Lilha’s weapon had created, examining the blood that drenched her hand. She smiled. “I’m stronger than I realized. Thank you, Lilha, the vampire queen. It was silly of me to worry about losing my concentration.”

Takako returned her attention towards her allies’ fight against Emiyo. Seina was on her last legs, beaten and battered. While she continued to inflict some damage, each punch was less powerful than the previous one. Ume continued to be an annoyance, little more than that.

After giving Lilha a salute, Takako darted into battle. A renewed confidence filled her. If she died in this battle, it’d be on her two feet. While momentarily surprised, Emiyo didn’t miss a beat, shooting a beam of energy with her free hand while deflecting a punch from Seina with the other.

Takako’s ribbon swirled before her, redirecting the beam before it connected. Emiyo used this distraction to charge her body with time energy, disappearing with insane speed. Not missing a beat, Takako gave a silent gesture towards Ume, pointing towards the beam flying wildly in the other direction. Nodding, Ume summoned a portal to capture the beam.

From Takako’s position, it was impossible to tell where Emiyo was. The girl was too quick to track. But Takako didn’t fret, extending her ribbon and waving it around her.

There. With an extension of will, Takako stripped Ume of her time-enhanced speed. She dodged away as the lieutenant’s sickle slashed towards her throat. Her second surprise was the sudden punch into the lieutenant’s ribs. Ume used the opening to redirect Emiyo’s own beam into her face.

Snarling, Emiyo directed her fury towards Takako, the only real remaining threat on the field. Blood trickled down her shoulder as Takako barely avoided getting her head severed, the blade implanting itself deeply into her shoulder.

The lieutenant’s eyes sparkled in malevolent glee as she tore her weapon free, splattering blood everywhere. The wound continued to bleed, refusing to heal. Takako grimaced as she received a slash across the chest and narrowly avoided the follow-up strike.

Too strong. I can barely keep her at bay. Time to play with my favorite old tricks.

Takako feared that her revised weapon would make them impossible, but magic came with barely a thought. While they only slowed her opponent a fraction of a fraction of a second, her black holes impeded Emiyo’s movements. While its range wasn’t as far, Takako could summon countless gravity wells within her ribbon’s range.

Takako watched in amusement as the intense gravity of the black holes warped space time enough to affect Emiyo’s time powers, making her body jerk around as they went out of control. Takako smirked as a mischievous idea popped into her head.

“Get ready.” Takako said towards Ume.

“Huh?” Ume blinked, beseeching her for further explanation, only to receive none.

“Tricks! Pointless tricks!” Emiyo said, breaking through Takako’s gravity wells after a moment’s struggle.

“Perhaps. But you must admit they are entertaining.” Takako stepped forward towards her opponent.

The act caught Emiyo off guard, but she only smirked at the seeming suicidal action. Takako focused her magic into a thin beam before directing it towards Emiyo. The lieutenant sidestepped it with ease, slashing towards Takako’s throat with her sickle.

Her smile quickly turned into a hiss of pain as something stuck her hand from behind and she dropped her sickle. Takako’s beam had left it scarred, burned almost beyond recognition. It healed, but Emiyo had difficulty holding her weapon.

Takako shot another beam, but Emiyo sidestepped it. The lieutenant’s head jerked around in fearful confusion as the beam bent towards her. Paralyzed by indecision, Emiyo screamed, collapsing to one knee as the beam struck her in the chest.

“Damn you!” A punch flew towards Takako’s exposed chest, only for it to slip aside, hitting empty air. Bone crunched as Takako thrust her head into Emiyo’s face.

Ouch, that hurt more than it looked.

Still, Emiyo staggered, baffled, as her body slipped backward into Seina’s waiting fist. Bone collapsed as the girl struck the lieutenant with every remaining ounce of her strength. Then she sagged, succumbing to her injuries.

Takako sent healing energy into the girl, but the wounds inflicted by Emiyo’s blade refused to heal, counteracting Takako’s power. Despite this setback, Seina regained some pep in her step.

Despite their best attempts, Emiyo refused to surrender. Her opponent’s attempts to harm her had only bloodied her. “I see. Using gravity to redirect my punch. Clever.”

“Why don’t you fall already?” Takako said, hiding her anxiety as Emiyo’s wounds healed before her eyes.

“You’re all amateurs,” Emiyo replied. “You’re like gnats attacking a whale.”

“Ha! Shows what you know!” Seina lifted her head high and proud. “Even a gnat could beat a whale if it tried hard enough.”

“Uh, I don’t think that’s quite right, Seina,” Takako said, fighting back her embarrassment.

Red highlighted Seina’s cheeks. “You know what I mean!”

“You’re all idiots, you know that?” Emiyo said, unimpressed. “And I’ll show you how suicidal it is to attack me.”

Takako blinked as the lieutenant juggled her sickle between her two hands. The skill and artistry momentarily dazzled Takako, only for her to scream in pain as it sunk into her chest. Fire buried throughout her body, feeling like the blade was ripping apart her very soul.

“What?” The pain intensified as Takako ripped it from her chest. With a flick of Emiyo’s wrist, it reappeared in her hand, who restarted her juggling act.

“I thought so.” Emiyo spun around, catching her weapon from behind her back. “So much for your wand.”

Takako’s previously injured shoulder roared in pain as Emiyo’s scythe shredded it to pieces. Her wand almost slipped as she supported it with both hands.

While Takako could strip Emiyo’s time magic, she still operated at the speed of thought. Quick bursts of sudden time magic were tougher to stop. Her eyes widened in terror as she suddenly found the lieutenant holding a blade to her throat, too wounded to prevent it.

“It was a good game, but you’ve hit your limit.” With a flick of her wrist, she drove the curved blade into Takako’s throat. Emiyo blinked and froze, expecting more horrible pain from her victim.

“I don’t think so.” Blood oozed from where Seina had caught the blade with her bare hand, millimeters from Takako’s skin. While in intense pain, her determination kept her grip firm.

“Annoying little.” Emiyo pushed her blade further, hoping to both sever Seina’s fingers and Takako’s head, but her sickle refused to budge. She screamed as Seina drove her head into her face.

The lieutenant staggered, howling in pain as Seina repeated her headbutt. The evil magical girl tried to flee, but Seina switched her grip from the sickle to her arm. Seina latched on with a vice-like grip, impossible to break.

“Damn you!” Emiyo re-summoned her sickle to her other hand, but Takako’s ribbon wrapped around it, restraining it. Ume joined the struggle, adding her strength to keep Emiyo’s arm bound.

“Go! Down!” Seina drove her head into Emiyo’s face, using it as a bludgeoning weapon. The lieutenant staggered, too stunned to fight back.

“No, you can’t.” Emiyo blubbered, eyes filled with terror. Unlike Seina, she couldn’t push through her pain to fight back. Takako thwarted any attempt to use time magic to save herself.

“Go! Down!” With one final bone-crushing smash, Emiyo finally collapsed as Seina delivered one last head strike.

While somewhat dazed, Seina smiled upon seeing that she’d rendered their opponent unconscious. She wobbled, and Ume helped steady her.

“We won. I can’t believe it.” Ume said, shaking her head, mesmerized.

“Impossible!” Emiyo’s partner flittered around in agitation, appearing from behind a nearby street sign. “Emiyo is invincible! No one should have the power to defeat her!”

“Shows what you know.” Colten flittering beside her, chest puffed out in pride. Also emerging from this hiding spot. “Told you we’d beat her eventually.”

“Emiyo, no! This can’t be!” Tears welled in the tiny fairy’s eyes. “Never fear, Emiyo. We will avenge your murder!” Before anyone could stop her, Emiyo’s partner disappeared into a portal, vanishing from this universe.

“She isn’t dead!” Seina cried out in vain, grunting in annoyance when her audience disappeared.

“There she goes,” Takako said, eyes rolling towards the heavens. “I swear, Seina, since I’ve joined you, I’ve dealt with nothing but grief. I imagine Starlight Dream’s response will be utterly ruthless. They might destroy this entire universe in retaliation!”

Colten nodded his agreement. “Sounds like them.”

“Not if we kill Emiyo first.” A devilish glint appeared in Ume’s eye. “Her partner can’t survive long if her magical girl is dead. Probably not long enough to report back to the Dream.”

Without warning, the ruthless magical girl sent a fist into Emiyo’s head, eager to crush it like a watermelon on a summer beach. It, predictably, bounced off harmlessly. Confused and somewhat scared, Ume repeated the blow with greater force. The girl panicked when that attempt failed.

“I’m not powerful enough to kill her!” Ume grabbed Seina’s skirt, eyes pleading. “Kill her before it’s too late.”

“You claim to hate them, but you aren’t much different from Starlight Dream’s magical girls,” Seina said, pulling her skirt away. “All you do is kill. You never try to find another way.”

“We can’t let her live!” Ume turned her sights to Takako, hoping for a more sympathetic ear. She was disappointed.

“Seina says to spare her, so we will,” Takako said with an offhanded shrug.

“Fine. You’ve dug your own graves.” Ume’s tone was frosty. “Come, Hope, we’re leaving!”

“Sorry, guys, but you’ve spelled your doom,” Hope said, summoning a portal to another world. Without another word, the two disappeared.

A long silence stretched between the remaining magical girl before Seina finally spoke. “Am I being foolish? Sometimes, I don’t know.”

Takako put a comforting hand on Seina’s shoulder. “It’s what I like about you. You act from your heart, not from what people say.”

“Yeah, that’s why you rock, Seina!” Colten said, buzzing with appreciation and delight.

“Thanks.” A slight smile appeared on Seina’s lips. “So, uh, what should be done with Emiyo?”

“We’ll figure out something,” Takako replied. “You still owe me those bento boxes. We can plan our next action while we eat.”