"Ahehehe… ahehehehe!"

Kari grinded her teeth when the humanoid monster started giggling. If it could smile, the horizontal jaws curving into a wicked grin to taunt her was just that. Like the scarecrow monster did when it thought it had killed Flare.

She wondered where Jade might be. Where Candy had gone off to. Maybe if she hadn't done those horrible things, the three of them would be together to take this thing on.

"You guys… sure like laughing a lot for being so ugly…" Instead of trying to pry the monster's hands away from her throat, she found [Destruction and Ruin] partially buried under rubble and extended her own hand to the weapon. "Come Here!"

The soul-carving weapon returned to Kari's grasp. She buried the bladed edge into the side of its stomach. A horrifying, guttural screech erupted from its maw.

Before Kari could get a second hit in, she was thrown into another building and crashed inside a thrift shop, shattering antique vases, knocking paintings from the walls, and sending clothes scattering to the floor. Her head pounded in agony, but that attack just now wasn't as bad as the last.

[121/200] ⇒ [102/200]

As she picked up her weapon, wispy tendrils clung to [Ruin] like billowing smoke. It had successfully carved a piece of the monster's soul.

However, that creature wasn't down for the count just yet. Stepping over the debris from the hole in the wall, fists clenched and ready to finish her off, it began to giggle once more. The right side of its abdomen was seemingly uninjured, but a ghostly smoke leaked out from it.

With nowhere to run and backed into a corner, Kari squeezed the weapon until her knuckles turned white. A few more good hits should incapacitate it, but whether or not she could last was another matter.

"Quit laughing and come get me, you ugly piece of shit!" Kari yelled.

The monster obliged and charged right for her.

"Judgement!"

A hundred javelins punctured through the roof and impaled the ground around them. Kari braced herself to be hit by one, but none of them struck anywhere near her. Instead, a wall of javelins had separated her from the monster, forcing it to retreat outside in order to outrun the continuing volley. 

Kari squinted past the hole in the rooftop to see Jade smirking..

"This doesn't make us even!" she growled past the blown-open roof.

"Gratitude ain't in your vocabulary, huh? Whatever. Get out of here and help me put this fucker down!" Jade fired back.

The two of them launched a flurry of unrelenting attacks. Kari turned her weapon to the meat tenderizer side and smashed down on its head for a killing blow. She struck hard, but it proved more durable than she first gave credit. It had sacrificed both arms to block the attack. 

Her second swing came too slow, and it seized the opportunity to leap back in retreat.

As it dashed away, broken arms dangling to the side, Jade gave chase and rained javelins from above. Kari hesitated to follow after them. For how accurately Jade had killed head hounds in mass, she seemed to be having a hard time nailing this larger target. 

Although… It was incredibly light on its feet. She suddenly hatched an idea.

"Fire one in front of me!" Kari shouted.

Jade threw her a look like she was a nutjob.

"You asked for it…" The emerald magical girl's weapon returned to her hand, and she reared back to launch it with all her might. "Judge, Jury, and Executioner!"

Kari extended her hand to the escaping monster. "Come Here!"

It came rocketing back. She grabbed it by the throat and flashed a taunting smirk just as the javelin impaled the monster through the chest. The tip of Jade's weapon embedded into the ground between her feet.

"Geez… What if you were off?" Kari asked.

"I never miss on purpose," Jade retorted and flew down behind it.

"I'll take this. Thank you for the meal—" She was about to slice him with [Ruin] when an ear-shattering shriek erupted from its jaws and brought them to their knees.

[102/200] ⇒ [88/200]

The monster violently twisted its body and wrenched itself free from the javelin, then threw a powerful kick at Jade to send her flying. She crash landed into a fire hydrant, causing water to gush like a geyser out onto the streets. Satisfied with its handiwork, it turned its gnashing jaws of a head back to Kari.

"What the hell is this thing… Why is it so strong?" Kari struggled to get up, hands still pressed to her ringing ears.

It hit hard, moved fast, and didn't care about how injured it was. On the other hand, they were getting chunked down from every strike.

Was it on the brink of death? They couldn't know. This monster wasn't showing any signs of slowing down.

Kari saw Sachi at the threshold of the love hotel's broken wall. If she were to emerge from that building, Flare would know she's alive.

That bitch was probably laughing while watching the two of them struggle.

"What are you waiting for?" Kari adjusted her grip to [Ruin] again.

In a burst of speed, the monster disappeared from sight. But Kari had seen faster.

"Nice try!" She swung left before it could reach her and carved a lateral cut across its chest.

Everytime the monster tried to get a hit off, she caught it at the very last second. A smoky haze eventually coated the bladed edge of [Ruin]. The heart sigil glowed brightly, empowering [Destruction] with the 100 unmitigated damage buff.

That was only if she could get a hit off, but it had become more cautious now. The damn thing still wasn't incapacitated. Could it be much stronger than a Malevolent Domain threat?

Stampede was the only way to nail it.

Somehow, even though it looked to be at death's door, the monster didn't back down. Kari was surprised to see it fall into a defensive stance. Both arms were beginning to regenerate.

"I've had just about enough of you!" Jade exclaimed as multiple javelins fired out from underneath the rubble and trapped the monster in place. "Now, Kari!"

[Magic Capacity: [50/80]]

"Apocalypse Power-Up!" An incredible surge of power coursed through Kari's veins, and at the same time weakening her.

[Physical Strength: 34 ⇒ 102]

[Physical Resilience: 35 ⇒ 0]

[Magical Resilience: 35 ⇒ 0]

"Stampede!"

[Physical Strength: 102 ⇒ 510]

As the world around her blurred, Kari flipped her grip on the weapon to [Destruction] for the final strike. But at the very last second, it wasn't the monster she impacted— It was Jade.

The emerald magical girl's eyes widened right before she was sent hurtling across the city.

"How…?" Kari asked herself, staring at the spot where the humanoid monster should have been, but where Jade actually was.

Thankfully, Jade was alive. The fact that she didn't receive any points from her death was proof of that. There was no reason to panic.

But why? What the hell happened?

The monster in question landed several feet away from Kari. It pointed and cackled at her.

It must have a set of skills of its own. She couldn't come up with any other reason.

With Jade out of the picture and likely down for the count, Kari was the only one left to fight it. This wasn't looking good, especially not with 0 defenses against something so strong and fast.

Regardless, Kari stood her ground and stared the monster down.

It lowered itself, preparing to pounce when a glint in the sky blinded Kari.

"Get away from her! Starfall Grenade Cannon!"

Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!

Beams of light exploded all around the monster and levelled the surroundings, sending debris flying everywhere. Nearby buildings caught in the blast crumbled to a cloud of dust, parts of the streets collapsed into the sewage, and utility poles toppled around them.

High in the sky was Candy who had come to her rescue. The barrel of her hand cannon was smoking something fierce, and she looked ready to fire a greater payload.

"Rie!" Kari shouted, ever relieved to see her back.

"I'm still upset with you!" She pouted, then glanced around in search of someone. "Where's Jade?"

The words lodged in Kari's throat until Jade warily flew up to join Candy in the sky, visibly battered but not dead. Pieces of armor from her Gallant Knight form were falling off her body. 

"I ain't dead… yet," Jade said, ripping off a tattered shoulder plate. The sight of blood dripping from her mouth, both eyes barely open, and hoarse breathing suggested otherwise. 

Kari expelled a breath of relief. She never expected to be glad that Jade was alive, but an attack like that should have annihilated her.

"Looks like neither is the monster," Jade added snidely.

Their quarry rose from the rubble and pushed aside a broken concrete wall. Its arms were completely healed. The last blast from Candy didn't so much as faze it. Then would Stampede have killed it anyway?

Instead of jumping right back into the fight, it remained there and stared patiently at them. It seemed… much more composed than before. Was it waiting for them?

"This thing is strong. Really strong. It's taken a whole lot of punishment, but I don't know if any of us other than Flare can take it." Kari hated to admit as much, but it was true.

Candy furrowed her brows and resolved something that Kari couldn't read from her expression alone. "Let me blow it up."

"You can't!" Yuyu exclaimed.

"Absolutely not," Jade agreed. "Flare might've asked you to bomb the last one, but she ain't here to tell you that again. You're not doing it."

"If that monster runs rampant in the city and Flare isn't here to stop it, a lot more people will die!" she argued.

The tension between them grew thicker than it had ever been. Rie and Tsubasa were always so friendly with each other, and for her own anthem to speak out against her couldn't possibly be a good thing.

"What is it? You have a skill that'll kill it?" Kari asked.

"Like your Destroyer class, my Gunslinger class is very unique," Candy began, swallowing her hesitation. "There isn't another magical girl out there like me. At level 3, I unlocked a spell that transforms me into an unavoidable bullet of pure magic damage. In exchange for my life, I deal 10,000% of my magical strength to everything in a small radius."

Kari drew a blank. She couldn't even fathom such a high number on the spot. This should have been information they traded ages ago, but Flare's idiotic rule kept them from talking about it

Although, that was beginning to look like their only—

"Candy told us about it before when we had trouble in a Malevolent Domain. That bitch Flare didn't bat an eye ordering her to use it," Jade explained.

That was why Rie was hospitalized for so long? Then what Flare had said about how she ended up in that condition was a lie.

A wave of dizziness struck Kari. She pinched the side of her arm so hard it stung.

Just earlier, she actually thought about telling Candy to do it. Flare's words about their likeness to each other echoed in the back of her mind like a taunting lecture.

I'm not like you. I'm not like you. I'm not like you… she repeated to herself to drown Flare out.

Kari drew in a deep breath, then saw that the monster had vanished. The others didn't.

"Watch out!" She shoved Candy away from a kick to the head. The monster wheeled around and rammed a leg into Jade, who barely blocked the blow with her javelin.

"Prison of the—" Before Rie could utter her entombment skill, a punch to her gut knocked the wind out of her lungs. The girl fell to her knees, gasping for air.

In a matter of seconds, they were reduced to just Kari. Outnumbering it didn't make a lick of difference. She leapt back to put some distance. A mere sneeze in the wind would knock her health down to 0 without any defenses.

However, in her retreat, the monster proved to be faster.

Kari raised her axe to swing, but it grabbed her hand and throat. She repeatedly punched the side of its head to no avail. Nothing she did would make it budge.

At this rate, they were going to—

"No more hiding around! Assassin's Shiv!" From seemingly out of nowhere, Yuria's dagger plunged into the monster's back and Sachi appeared at the handle. She sliced upwards, ripping out a ghostly appearance of it from the body and causing it to drop Kari to the ground.

Kari gasped. "Sachi!"

Instead of being incapacitated, it let loose another piercing shriek and kicked Sachi away, then took off running away in visible distress. With the three of them down, they were unable to give chase. 

Their battle had seemingly ended with no one coming out the victor and a monster now running loose in the city. Kari began to lose consciousness as Sachi came to her rescue.

They awakened later on the couch of a huge hotel lobby. The place was devoid of any hotel guests or employees, but the lights were turned on as if still in operation. Tsubasa sat on the other end of the couch, holding an ice pack to her left shoulder. Neither Candy nor Sachi were anywhere to be seen.

"You finally got that hit off on me like you wanted when we first met," Tsubasa remarked with a chuckle that turned into a pained groan.

Kari put a hand to her pounding head and pursed her lips. "I didn't mean to… That thing—"

"Had skills or something like us, I know. But damn. You did a fucking number on me in a single hit. How'd it feel?" she asked.

"I mean… What can I say? It felt really good to finally slug you."

They looked each other dead in the eyes without a word until Tsubasa cracked a smile. Kari followed soon after. Uncontrollable laughter then filled the space between them. It took the pain from their injuries to at last quiet them down, but even then there were bouts of giggling.

Two pairs of footfalls echoed from behind a reception area.

"I could've sworn I heard them laughing!" A beaming Rie came racing into the lobby. "They really are awake!"

Their four anthems entered, pushing a cart with a bunch of food in small plastic bags stacked onto it. Sachi followed them from behind and as soon as she saw Kari awake, immeasurable relief filled her eyes.

Rocky sat down on Kari's lap and offered her two onigiris. "I know you don't like sweet stuff, so I found this for you. Not sure what's so good about plain rice and seaweed."

"Things are better straightforward and simple." She took both onigiri and scratched the back of his ears, then got off the couch in time to Rie confronting her in a moment of deja vu.

The younger magical girl got on her toes and pressed an ice pack to Kari's head, then said, "I think Sachi wants to talk to you, too."

"Thanks, Rie." She took the ice pack and joined Sachi by the elevator room.

"Sorry about earlier…" Sachi apologized, her back pressed against the wall and gaze cast to her feet. "When I saw you— saw you guys getting hurt, it was hard to sit stilll. If Flare comes and kills me, fine. Maybe I deserved it."

The resentment in Sachi's voice was clearer than a polished glass window. It was obvious she was still guilty about the bullying she inflicted on her and Makina. In spite of that, Sachi was the one who had saved her twice now.

Kari glanced down at the onigiris in her hand. Each had a different filling.

"Pickled plum or tuna mayo?" she asked.

"Huh? Tuna mayo, I guess?" Sachi raised her head in puzzlement. 

"Here." She tossed Sachi the onigiri with pickled plum.

"You're messing with me, aren't you?"

"That's me bullying you. We're even now." Kari grinned.