As Estella walked down the street that evening alongside Aurelius, she realised that perhaps she should’ve worn pants or a larger jacket. She was in the mood for some pockets to put her hands in right now.

“Jay should be just fine with Lady Leigh accompanying him. He’s a novice with magic, but he’s smart,” Aurelius said. It had been a few days since he had started teaching them magic, and at this point had dropped calling them by their last names.

“Speaking of experience with magic, you’re not much older than me or Jay and yet you’re a ‘magister’ capable of creating crazy magical constructs,” said Estella.

“That’s true. Some would call me a ‘genius’, but I consider that to be perhaps an exaggeration. I simply dedicated myself to studying all that there is to know about thaumaturgy,” said Aurelius as he checked the device in his hand - it looked like a pocket watch, but the ‘clock’ actually resembled a radar’s user interface, displaying two glowing dots side-by-side in the middle. It was one of his magical gadgets, specifically for detecting Energeia. “Hmm. Nothing yet.”

“For someone who claims to be modest, you sure like dressing fancy,” said Estella, looking over his suit. His ‘Thaumian’ outfit was also somewhat extravagant in some ways.

“I grew up in a poor family,” Aurelius said, “so while I try not to overdo it, I do like showing off a little. Being overly extravagant doesn’t suit me, I think. I owe many things to the Order, who were looking for children with high magical potential, and I worked tirelessly to achieve mine. I don’t know if I could call myself ‘talented’, but I can say for certain that my position and my powers are earned.”

“Neat, I can respect that. I guess, based on your experience… What do you make of this whole mess?”

Aurelius paused for a moment, putting the ‘watch’ away. “The Salvron are a problem but not an immediate one, so they can be put aside for the moment in terms of consideration. Let’s see… Firstly, the ‘Tenebris Imperatoris’, overly dramatic personae aside, doesn’t seem to match any native Australian supernatural entity. I’ve researched magical entities from all over the globe, and he doesn’t precisely match anything from my readings, which is a little alarming, I think.”

“Okay, that sounds like a bit of a problem for figuring him out.”

“At the same time, he does utilise an element of native sorcery that you’re familiar with by now - hair. I noticed during the battle in the shopping district that the cocoons are partly constructed from human hair. Unfortunately, my attempts at securing a sample of the cocoons were unsuccessful. Hair is a notable element of some Aboriginal Australian sorceries.”

Estella winced. “Good thing my hair is contained in my helmet when I fight, then…”

“If someone did get a hold of some of your hair, the easiest but most extreme thing would be to shave your head and burn your hair,” Aurelius nodded. “But generally cutting a large portion of your hair above where the stolen portion was originally cut and burning that should suffice for severing the connection. At any rate, the ‘Emperor’ is a perplexing figure. We need more evidence.”

“As for the other supernatural elements…”

“The Namorrodor and the witches were most certainly drawn in by the Emperor’s activities, without a doubt, mostly because of his nature disrupting the natural order on the continent. Most supernatural beings in Australia keep to their own respective regions, mostly due to the different languages. Language is a very important part of magic in Australia. And the bake-gitsune known as ‘Hanzo’ is especially unusual - I’ve already sent out a message to my contacts in Thaumian Japan to find out if there’s any information on him there.”

Estella caught on to a very specific wording early on in that explanation that stood out to her. “You said ‘witches’, not ‘witch’, and I doubt you were including Arika.”

“Correct. I don’t believe the evil witch you fought came alone. In fact-”

Aurelius paused, glancing back back his shoulder. “-that can wait. Have you noticed we’ve been followed for quite a while?”

Estella had that feeling of being watched from behind, and glanced back over her shoulder briefly. It was that reporter woman and her cameraman, who looked like they were making small talk. The reporter was wearing a hoodie this time and tight pants. “Yeah. It’s that nosy reporter from the Angel Bay Times. Why are they following us?”

“Best not initiate a confrontation in the open. That alleyway should work,” Aurelius said, leading Estella into the next alleyway. They continued walking for a bit, before Aurelius cast a spell to conceal them in the darkness.

Estella found the reporter’s expression and dropped jaw as she looked into the alleyway to be priceless. She and the cameraman went into the alley, the former shining her phone’s camera flashlight, “where did they go?!”

“We didn’t go anywhere,” Aurelius remarked, as the light exposed the pair - it was an illusion that made it seem like they simply weren’t visible in the dark. “And you two have some explaining to do. Why are you following us?”

The reporter sighed, her gaze focused on Estella, making direct eye contact with her, “okay, fine. Karla Thurman, Angel Bay Times. This is Donavan Amner, my photographer. We’re following some leads on the recent mysterious incidents and the kidnappings. You’re Estella Kendrick, right?”

“Yeah, I am. What’s it to you?” Estella asked, hands on her hips.

“I have good reason to believe you’re the ‘magical knight heroine’ from the campus and shopping district incidents,” said Karla.

Aw, shit. Estella tried to keep her composure, though - don’t admit anything unless Karla had irrefutable evidence. “What makes you say that?”

“All three ‘heroines’ are noted to have rather impressive bustlines and figures, which match up roughly with those of you and your two sisters,” said Karla.

Estella shrugged. “Okay, so I’m unrealistically sexy, but so is basically every female superheroine in fiction. That doesn’t prove anything. It could be just a coincidence. Besides, weren’t both of those mass hallucinations?”

“Your ex-girlfriend June doesn’t think so. When I interviewed her, she told me that the magical girl who saved her from a witch during the period between those two incidents, and I quote, ‘had an unmistakable ass’.”

Oh goddamn it, June, Estella thought to herself. “That still doesn’t prove anythi-”

“-enough, Estella. Keeping up this charade gets us absolutely nowhere,” Aurelius interjected, forming a ball of light that floated upwards, illuminating the alleyway. “If their knowledge proves to be an issue, that is something I can deal with.”

“If it was, the government would’ve done it already. We already know someone from the Paranormal Activities Commission,” Donavan said. “We’re not here to expose you guys to anyone. We want help.”

Estella blinked. This was somewhat unexpected, but the cat was already out of the bag. “Okay, I’ll bite. Help with what?”

“You know the evil witch that bewitched your ex? She… Or possibly another witch, did the same to me last week,” Karla said, taking a deep breath. “She used some kind of mind control magic, and then… Basically raped me.”

“JESUS!” Estella winced. Was that what the witch was planning to do to June, too? “I’m so sorry to hear that.”

Aurelius’ face hardened. “So you want help tracking her down and bringing her to justice, then. Why us and not the Commission?”

“Can’t trust ‘em as far as we can throw ‘em, even if our contact is a nice guy. Karla thinks she’ll just be put in witness protection, when she thinks she can do more out in the open. I personally think it’s a bad idea, but it’s her choice,” Donavan said.

“Well, then, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to put our heads together. As I was saying to Estella, I believe there is more than o-” Aurelius suddenly grabbed the watch, pulling out from his pocket. “Damnation. Multiple thaumic energy signatures converging on our position.”

Estella immediately transformed with a flourish, her armour flashing over her body as Galowye appeared in her hand, now back to back with Aurelius.

Multiple people descended around them, using their hair. These ‘witches’ had barely any clothing aside from their cloaks, and while at least half of them were Aboriginal, the rest were a mixture of ethnicities, and were a mixture of both sexes. Estella figured the witches had drawn non-natives into their ranks over the years.

“I trust you’re better prepared for them this time?” Aurelius said, hands glowing.

“Yeah. Definitely more prepared this time,” Estella said, readying herself for battle.

❖

Karla tried not to panic when the witches descended, hoping to back off out of the alleyway with Donavan and let the two mages handle the situation.

Unfortunately, Donavan was suddenly pinned to a wall by a big surge of hair, and another pinned Karla to the opposite wall, keeping her from going anywhere.

“We meet again, my pet. Time to finish what I started.”

The witch who had raped her touched down in front of her, and stroked Karla’s cheek with her hand. “You’re just as lovely as you were then.”

Karla spat in her face. “Fuck you, you raped me. Don’t think some compliments are going to make me forgive that!”

The witch sighed, wiping away the spit. “Oh dear oh dear. That pest really did make a mess of things, didn’t she? Oh well, you’re already mine, Karla, dear. After all, we have a more direct connection now.”

She pushed her finger against Karla’s belly button, as if to emphasise. Karla connected the dots fairly quickly. “You said you implanted a ‘seed’…”

“And now that you’re no longer effective as a potential spy, I’ll just have to settle for activating it now,” said the witch, her hand glowing. Karla shuddered as she felt something shift inside her. “And it’s bonded to you - your new ‘friends’ can’t do anything about it without killing you. Come the full moon, and you will be very much be my thrall. Permanently.”

Karla knew it was already having a subtle effect on her. A part of her wanted to surrender and become this witch’s slave. But she pushed that part of her down. “This is just sick… I don’t even know your name.”

“Gulara. Just save yourself the trouble and give in, Karla. You’ll be much happier that way.”

Gulara suddenly moved in for a kiss. Karla noticed the hair was loosening, so she played along, reciprocating, as much as it disgusted her. It was risky, as it only emboldened that part of her that wanted to submit, but the hair loosened up just enough to allow her to reach into her hoodie’s front pocket.

She saw Gulara’s eyes widen as Karla drove the knife right into her gut and twisted it. The satisfaction was palpable.

❖

Estella had enemies in front of her. Two witches immediately struck at her by extending their hair. But this time she had a strategy. She blocked with Galowye, expecting them to wrap their hair around him, which they did, and she grinned, using ‘Bind Creature’.

The two groups of hair suddenly began to tie dozens of knots to each other. She then followed up with ‘Bond Creature’, which was essentially magical superglue. This was normally much harder to do with two unwilling creatures, but even a weaker version of the spell was enough to cause huge problems for these two.

As expected, the two witches panicked, trying to withdraw their hair, but the knots and the bonding made it difficult to get it off of Galowye.

Now for the finishing touch - the same trick she used yesterday. And of course, hair was also conductive.

She sent a surge of electricity through both sets of hair, electrocuting both their owners, albeit at a voltage she hoped would be enough to be non-lethal.

Both of them went down, and it looked like they weren’t dead, but it was difficult to tell.

Estella grinned as she spied Karla shanking the witch, and forcing her to stumble back when she ripped out out. That woman was more hardcore than she thought.

She removed the hair from Galowye as she charged the witch, slashing at her vertically. The problem with fighting in alleyways was the limited space for horizontal strikes.

The witch snarled, as she was suddenly backed up by another witch who had been constraining Donavan, who blocked Estella’s strike with a clump of concentrated hair, using the rest of their hair to grab their compatriot and zip back up towards the rooftops, freeing Donavan in the process.

This time, Estella immediately cast a ‘fly’ spell using Galowye’s usable slot, following them upwards. She noticed the unconscious witches were grabbed by two allies from above, retreating with the other two who Aurelius had fended off.

However, a wall of hair barred her way, and even as she hacked through it, the world around them was coated in darkness. Aurelius dispelled the dark, however, but at this point the witches were out of sight.

Estella hoped Jay and Clarette were having an easier time than this.

❖

“How brazen of them, attacking us out in the open like this,” Clarette said, forming her armour and sword as she and Jay were surrounded by four witches.

“Easy for you to say, this is my first time in a magic fight,” Jay said, gripping a fairly basic but enchanted sword, “I think I can take just one of them…”

“That’s fine. I can handle the other three,” Clarette said, rushing the three witches on her side.

Jay was understandably nervous, but he had volunteered for this, so he had really nobody to blame for this other than himself. The witch he was facing down gave him a look as if he was a piece of fresh meat. Yikes.

But the first thing he did was to form a barrier around his head to repel any kind of living organic matter. Best not let his enemy get a shot at his hair, and she didn’t look like she had a weapon. The second thing he did was reinforce his limbs. He had been dedicating some practice to this ever since Aurelius taught him how to do so, and being able to move quicker and exert more strength was fairly important. He started switching out runes, planning his next move.

The witch lashed out with her hair, coiling around his sword. He sent a surge of electricity through the blade, causing her to let go in panic. He wasn’t going to let her grab him that easily.

She pulled out some kind of wooden torch from her cloak, setting it alight and blew on it, letting loose a surge of flame. Jay used ‘Change Earth’ to manipulate the earthern materials around him on the ground, forming a simple earthern barrier that the flames crashed into, and with ‘Move Earth’, he broke off that barrier and launched it straight at her with ‘Earth Projectile’.

The witch used her hair in a way similar to stilts, pushing herself up and over the projectile while the hair moved out of the way, causing the block to pass under her harmlessly.

Jay used this chance to move closer, casting ‘Change Earth’ again, causing her hair to sink into the ground before he caused the ground to solidify around it. His panicking opponent tried to retract her hair, only causing herself to be pulled down to the ground, allowing him to get in close and deliver a strong blow to the head with the pommel of his sword, grabbing and wrangling the torch from her hands. A couple more blows later, and she was down for the count.

Jay turned around, to see Clarette had seemingly effortlessly dispatched the remaining witches non-lethally as well. Killing the witches was unlikely to be of any benefit to them, they needed information. “Looks like you didn’t need any help with the other three…”

“Fools who weren’t prepared to fight a proper Arcane Knight,” Clarette said as she turned to him, “not bad. Your Energeia usage is inefficient, but your quick thinking allowed you to overcome the challenge laid before you. Still, if even a portion of the coven is coming after us…”

Jay took a deep breath. “Thanks. I bet Estella and Aurelius are having their own trouble right about now…”

❖

As much as Estella wanted to give chase, Aurelius had cautioned her against that. “We’ll be leaving the two civilians to another attack, We need to regroup with the others and figure out a plan to track these witches.”

“Alright, fine,” Estella said as she dropped down. “Karla, Donavan, you okay?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Donavan said. “I don’t think they took any hairs from my head…”

“I was keeping the knife with me just in case I needed to cut more of my hair or I needed to defend myself,” Karla panted, the still-blooded knife in her hand, “turns out? Good idea. Bad news is, though, ‘Gulara’ has now activated an egg inside of my womb, so I guess I’m pregnant now, and she says nobody can remove it or I’ll die, so that’s lovely!”

“That’s something that might expire if the witch dies, but I’m not counting on it. That is indeed troublesome,” Aurelius said as he floated down.

“Estella, Aurelius, come in,” Gartho said. “I apologise for not communicating sooner, but we’ve got other problems tonight that also warrant my attention. Both Anja and Natalia are dealing with different problems.”

Oh, great. Estella put two fingers up behind her ear. “Roger that, we’ve got two civilians here that need to be moved to a safer location. What’s going on?”

“Clarette and Jay are just about done handling some other witches attacking them, but there’s trouble elsewhere in town. Anja is engaging an entire pack of Namorrodor, and Natalia is engaging Hanzo as we speak.”

Oh, bloody hell. This night was going to get worse before it got better.