Hanzo chuckled as he stepped out of the bathroom while cloaked, leaving his exhausted ‘slave’ behind. Natalia made such a wonderful plaything. He had big plans for her. For the meantime, though, he wanted to keep an eye on her while they were at the university.

“Nice trick, but you’re not the only one who can do that, fleabag.”

He found himself with a black blade at his throat, dragged off to the side where pedestrians wouldn’t unwittingly bump into him and his assailant. It didn’t take two brain cells to figure out he had used the same sort of invisibility, but the fact that he managed to get the jump on him undetected… “What the hell?! How did you-”

“Let me make this perfectly clear, mate. Natalia isn’t yours to enslave,” his assailant said with a snarl from behind, pressing the blade against Hanzo’s flesh lightly. The youthful male voice seemed oddly familiar somehow, but he couldn’t place it. “I don’t know what spell you have her under, but don’t expect to do as you please for much longer, especially not when I take control of everything.”

That gave Hanzo pause. Now he knew who his attacker was. “Ah, the nascent emperor has come to me personally. If you honestly believe I’m afraid of you, boy…”

“Oh, that’s cute! Fox boy here thinks he’s hot shit!” Another voice cackled, swirling around them - the representation of a dark, formless spirit. “If you were really something special you’d be running your own fiefdom in Thaumian Japan. And yet you aren’t. You barely have three tails, to boot.”

The spirit’s presence set off alarm bells in Hanzo’s mind. It was old - at least as old as he was. “What are you? You’re not native to this continent.”

“Takes one to know one, friend. But I consider myself no less native than anyone else here, since I’ve been around for at least two hundred years. What about you? What brings you here? If you’re by yourself around these parts, I’m guessing you’re on the run from more powerful beings from Japan who want your head.”

Hanzo’s eyes widened, causing the spirit to cackle victoriously. “HAH! Yes, I was right!”

Hanzo swore mentally for giving it away. This spirit was dangerous, but also got on his nerves rather quickly. His eyes narrowed. “At least I’m not some incorporeal soul who needs a host. You didn’t answer my question.”

“I’ve had many, many names. I prefer ‘Dharruŋgu Mokuy’, or ‘Mokuy’ for short. So, ‘Hanzo’, which other kitsune or dragon did you piss off?”

“I tire of this banter, spirit. I say we slit his throat and be done with it, it’s not like he’ll actually die, as much I wish he would,” the Emperor said with some measure of spite.

The spirit pouted as it stopped in front of them. “You’re no fun sometimes. We’ve still got time before we start our attack, kiddo, why not indulge in a little entertainment?”

“I’m not here for entertainment, I’m here to conquer.”

“Oh, so you plan on taking Natalia for yourself? Fat chance!” Hanzo laughed. “You’re delusional if you think you’re all that different from me-”

The blade pressed harder against his throat, drawing blood and cutting him off. The Emperor snarled, “don’t put me in the same category as you. I’m not interested in power for its own sake. I want to rule the world to unite it under one banner and make it a truly better place.”

Hanzo processed those words several times over. He was flabbergasted. The kid wasn’t lying. “You can’t be serious.”

“Are you that much of a misanthrope? Or do you just have that low an opinion of people in general? Or is it just hard for you to comprehend that perhaps, I might actually have motives that aren’t inherently selfish?” The Emperor said. “Such a narrow-minded view of the world.”

Normally Hanzo would find the Emperor’s self-righteousness amusing at the very least. But the fact that the Emperor had to gall to lecture him meant he was not laughing. A mere human with such self-delusions, having the gall to act so high and mighty? “You self-righteous upstart-”

Suddenly, the Emperor slashed his throat. “Natalia will be an asset, not a mere sex toy. And you will bow to me, become just another pawn, or die. The choice is yours. Think it over.”

The spirit cackled as the boy tossed Hanzo to the ground like mere refuse. “SAVAGE! Now this is what I like to see from you, partner. I knew I chose well.”

“Forget about him. We’ve got more important things that concern us,” the Emperor snorted, as he began walking away. He looked over his shoulder at Hanzo as the fox choked on his own blood. Those eyes were filled with pure contempt. “A great fox spirit, even if it is a clone body, dying like that. Pathetic.”

Rage surged through Hanzo as he struggled to reach out, wanting to strangle the young man to death then and there, but the clone body expired swiftly after.

❖

The last couple of days had been interesting for Estella, if mainly because of the Angel Bay Times’ unexpected expose into the recent paranormal happenings in town coinciding with a sudden explosion in news media in general. Apparently the government had decided to say the bare minimum - the existence of the paranormal was now exposed, but governments around the world were assuring people they had things under control.

But the biggest thing for Estella and her sisters was that the interview had been published, albeit with notable alterations, complete with photos. And that had set the rumour mill into overdrive. Speculation of who the heroines were was absolutely rampant, and much to Estella’s mixed feelings, she was constantly getting looks from people whispering about how she was quite possibly - or even likely to be - Arcane, or at least one of the other two heroines. Quite a few people weren’t stupid, it didn’t take long to put some dots together, especially considering June was sure it was her.

On one hand, she was thrilled to be the centre of attention. It had always given her a massive rush, which was funny, considering her interests weren’t so focused on putting herself out there like Anja and Natalia’s were, though becoming a singer or a model had been on her mind previously. On the other hand, she couldn’t help but wonder about how her sisters would be taking it - Anja with her mental issues and Natalia being more shy and introverted.

There was little doubt that, ultimately, it was likely that her secret identity wasn’t going to stay very secret for much longer.

It wasn’t long into the post-lunch lecture when she felt a distant rumbling, and then she heard the screams, along with the familiar roar of shadow monsters. The Tenebris Imperatoris was at it again, and taking a second crack at attacking the university. Everyone else was immediately panicking on the spot, the volume in the room shooting up instantly.

Her mind immediately raced to think of how to get away and change without endangering her peers, but it only took a few seconds before everyone’s eyes were on her, and she realised that was basically impossible. She did a long, exasperated sigh. “Really, guys?”

“Estella, no offence, but you’re obviously Arcane,” one of her close-by male classmates. It was Steven. “It wasn’t hard to connect the dots. Her figure and yours are virtually identical, and that outfit is so you. I know, having your secret identity exposed sucks, but… Are you really gonna put that over everyone else’s safety?”

Shit. He was right. Estella stood up, shoving her stuff into her bag. “Well, I had a feeling it was gonna happen sooner or later. Galowye, let’s do this.”

“As you wish, my Knight.” In a flash of light, Galowye appeared in her hand, as her entire outfit changed.

A chorus of cheers echoed through the lecture hall, though the Professor immediately started calming everyone down, “calm down, and let her get to work. We still should secure the hall.”

Estella nodded, as she headed for the exit. “Everyone stay in here and lock the doors behind me, I’ll secure the exterior. Just stay safe, everyone. Also, please watch my bag and don’t touch it, thanks.”

“You know that outfit is totally impractical, right?” Said one of her female classmates.

“It isn’t. It’s a hologram over a full suit of armour,” Estella smirked.

“Oooooh. That’s really cool.”

Steven caught up to her, likely so he could close the door behind her immediately. “Just be careful out there, okay? You never know what the bad guys might have up their sleeve.”

“No worries, I’ve got this.” Estella threw open the door, charging out and immediately springing into the fray of combat, hacking, slashing and zapping at the shadow soldiers as any people still out and about either dropped to avoid getting in the line of fire or had been already been cocooned. A quick glance over her shoulder allowed her to confirm that the lecture hall had been shut tight. Good. As long as she cleared out all the soldiers and cocoons in the area, her classmates would be safe for now.

While the enemies were putting up more of a fight and were slightly more armoured, her training had paid dividends. She was much more used to handling Galowye, and the techniques for using a sword that Clarette had taught her were absolutely helpful in fighting adversaries who were also armed and dangerous. She was effortlessly parrying and countering the soldiers coming at her. There were still tougher foes like the larger ‘werewolf’ hybrids and the occasional cop, but she was more prepared for those, now, avoiding attacks and cutting them down decisively.

Once the area outside was suitably clear, she focused on getting into contact with her allies. “Everyone, the uni’s under attack again. Prometheus, Blueshift, what’s your status?”

“I’m fine,” Anja confirmed. “Clearing out the building I’m in as we speak.”

“Same here. Looks like it’s the same as before but with tougher enemies,” Natalia responded.

“Don’t worry, I’m alright too. Managed to slip away, picking my battles as I go. Will rendezvous with you pretty soon,” said Jay, which was a relief - Sonia and Florrie were being watched by her sisters, but he was in a different class entirely.

“I’m already nearby, will be there shortly with Arika,” Clarette said. “I was hoping we could begin some kind of evacuation, but… There’s a problem. I suggest you take the high ground and see what I mean.”

Estella blinked as she activated her ‘Fly’ spell, taking to the sky. As she rose high enough to see what the problem was, she sighed, “oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me.”

❖

It turned out that Anja was less fussed about exposing her secret identity than Estella believed, because during the period before class started, since the professor was a bit late, she was showing off Prometheus to her classmates.

Her body was half-covered in the symbiote armour (quite literally half her body, in fact, with a vertical delineation to boot) and she was demonstrating how the symbiote could take all kinds of different forms as her awed classmates looked on. “So yeah. He was an illegal lab experiment, he got freed, and now he’s bonded to me. That’s pretty much all there is to say on the matter.”

“And you’re just… Showing him off to us? You’re not concerned about your secret identity at all?” Said one of her female classmates.

“Hey, it was her choice, I don’t mind either way,” said Prometheus.

“Nope. You guys were already suspecting me anyway. Figured I’d be exposed sooner or later. Might as well do it on my own terms, because fuck it,” Anja shrugged. “Just don’t make a big deal out of it.”

“You are an actual superhero, Anja,” Sonia chuckled. “Of course it’s a big deal.”

“And you’ve known from the start, Sonia? Geez, lucky,” one of her other classmates chimed in.

Anja knew this would likely result in her life becoming somewhat less private, considering celebrity culture and all that, but she had decided that, frankly, keeping up the effort of denying the rumours was ultimately futile and just not worth the effort. “The long and short of it is that I’m just doing my part to keep this town safe. I ain’t anything special.”

She suddenly felt a rumbling that seemed to come from far away, and was immediately alert, especially when she heard the noise outside, and the monsters starting to break in. She got up from her seat, the armour fully forming over her body. “Case in point. Barricade the door and windows as best you can, don’t come out until I say it’s clear.”

Her classmates watched in awe as she stepped out, saying things to the effect of “that is so cool” and “bad-ass”. Forming blades on her arms, she started sprinting towards the closest entrance where the soldiers were breaking in, hacking, slashing and punching her way through the rather stoic and not remotely surprised horde of monsters.

It also helped that a portal opened nearby, allowing Logos and Kat to come straight through, with Logos completely blowing soldiers out of the building with wind and Kat barrelling through soldiers who were completely unprepared for dealing with her powers. “SURPRISE!”

“How many portal points did Europa set up across the entire town?” Anja asked as she used this opportunity to divide and conquer.

“A lot. I like to be prepared,” Europa said, peeking her head out from the portal, “we came running the instant Gartho detected the concentration of the Emperor’s forces.”

“Good, we can start evacuating people sooner.”

“Yeah, about that… While I was scouting things out, I saw something that kind of puts the brakes on that idea.”

“Lemme guess, the enemy’s surrounded the whole campus with soldiers.”

“Worse,” Logos sighed, as he used his wind power to pile up multiple soldiers with a mini-tornado, “the Emperor’s set up an enormous wall of thorns around the entire campus area. And it’s growing.”

That actually caused Anja to pause, right after she knocked a soldier’s block off. “I’m sorry, what?!”

❖

Natalia still wasn’t sure whether she was regretting entering into the deal with Hanzo or not. Things seemed to be going fine, and it was thrilling, but she knew it was still a bit dangerous and Hanzo was more concerned about his own self-gratification than her comfort. But one hour a day was fine! It wasn’t like she was experiencing any permanent mental alterations or anything, so she could endure it.

Florrie was waiting for her just outside on the way to class, and as they started walking inside and up the stairs, Florrie whispered to her the question that she had been dreading since yesterday. “You think we should go public with all of this, or not?”

Natalia winced, whispering back, “Florrie, the press are gonna be all over us if our identities become public. Besides, the government would be able to arrest us for vigilantism.”

“Everyone already suspects you, the paparazzi would be snooping anyway… Assuming they can even get in,” Florrie retorted. “If the bad guys attack here? It’s gonna be difficult to change without hiding your identity.”

Considering the armed forces had set up checkpoints along every road in and out of the city, Florrie had a point on both counts. “And the government?”

“If they don’t already suspect you as well, they’re way more stupid than I thought. We’ll have to work something out with them one way or another, Nat.”

Natalia sighed. “Look, I’ll… I’ll think about it. I’ve still got my reservations, though.”

Those thoughts were soon left by the wayside when they entered the engineering lab and class started. But not long after, it was brought back to the forefront by the rumbling and the noises of the sudden invasion. And all eyes were on her, sending her into a panic.

Florrie leaned over to her, whispering, “Nat, there’s no way we’re going to do this without going public.”

“Unfortunately, she’s correct. This is hardly ideal, but the alternative is risking your peers and teachers being cocooned along with yourself,” NIA advised.

“Ugh, fine!” Natalia stood up, as her suit appeared on her body in a flash, “everyone stay in here, we’ll deal with this! Florrie, you brought the suit capsule, right?”

“Yeah, hopefully it should fit in the corridors,” Natalia nodded as she pulled out the compression capsule.

“Holy shit you’re actually Blueshift,” said one of her classmates. “And you’re in on this, Florrie?!”

“Shut up and let us handle this!” Florrie said, opening the door and opening the capsule. Her power suit, now painted a tasteful blueish-purple, appeared in a flash, and she zapped right into it, causing it to start moving. “Okay, it’s working just fine.”

“Please try to keep collateral damage to a minimum,” their Professor said with a wince.

“We’ll do our best, but anything that gets damaged hopefully should be easily fixed with the tech we have,” Natalia said, equipping her blade rifle as she stepped out into the corridor.

Fortunately, Florrie had gotten that memo and was being reasonably restrained as they headed downstairs, intercepting the incoming horde, mainly using lower-powered energy weapons and her beam sword to attack as they fought back to back. Tharen wasn’t here right now to help, but Natalia felt more confident in her abilities - she had killed a shark-dragon-thing from New Zealand and taken on a three-tailed kitsune pretty well, with Florrie by her side this was easy.

As communications buzzed, she was also relived to know her sisters were doing just as well. Once their allies were all on the scene, they’d be able to mop up all of this, no problem.

And then Leigh mentioned something in the way of a potential evacuation and Estella cursing, Natalia was immediately worried, even if the soldiers around the building had mostly been cleared out. “What’s going on?”

“See for yourself. Sending drone footage now,” Gartho said.

In her HUD, she could see drone footage surveying the edge of the campus. And the entire area was surrounded by thick, black thorns, looking incredibly sharp and dangerous. And it was slowly growing. “Oh. That’s… That’s not good.”

“Yeah, I’ve never seen anything that big! Where’s he even getting all the Energeia for it?!” Arika said.

“My best bet is he’s using his captives as Energeia batteries for this,” said Leigh.

“Good thing it won’t stop anyone from getting in from above… For now,” Phi’Scia said. “But the thorns are growing, and slowly converging towards a central point above the campus area. I suspect the Emperor is preparing a massive cocoon in which to trap everyone inside.”

“Yeah, that’s not good at all,” said Estella. “What’s the plan?”

“Phi’Scia I will work on countermeasures to neutralise the thorns, or at least halt their growth. I suggest you all focus on the Emperor’s forces, and prevent him from carrying off any cocoons. The ship will be there shortly,” Aurelius advised.

Natalia nodded. “Sounds like a plan. Florrie, how’s the suit, any issues?”

“Currently operating at a relatively low capacity, but it’s working pretty smoothly so far,” Florrie said, flexing.

“Alright, that’s good. We’re detecting another big concentration near the centre of campus,” Tharen said, “my guess is that’s where the head honcho is.”

Natalia sighed, “roger that, moving to intercept. I’m going to punch his lights out.”

❖

The young emperor watched as the dark masses began amalgamating, his soldiers merging together en-mass. This was the biggest attempt at amalgamation yet, and if his previous experiments were of any indication, this would prove most promising.

“You certainly enjoy doing this, don’t you? You’re not as much of a stick-in-the-mud as I thought,” Mokuy remarked as they watched the huge, hulking bestial soldiers begin to form. “Still, are you sure this will work?”

“I’m not certain they’ll win, but I do know they’ll certainly buy us time,” the Emperor remarked, as his focus moved towards the biggest mass being formed, twice as large as the rest. “Our aim is to try and extract as many cocoons as possible, or at least cocoon as many people as possible. Even the latter is progress enough, even if it is slow.”

“Right, right, the little failsafe you added to the process. I’ll admit, it’s pretty clever, nobody will notice until it’s far, far too late,” Mokuy cackled. “Though it seems our enemies have already responded, which is a pain.”

“That’s entirely expected. If the heroines are who I think they are, they’ll waste little time. Hopefully they’ll see things my way, soon enough.”

Truth be told, he felt slightly guilty about having to do all of this. These were his teachers and peers, after all. He was no saint. But the knowledge that what he was doing would ensure a better world for all assuaged his guilt fairly quickly.

The biggest mass formed into a huge, hulking wolf-like creature, howling viciously as it finally took form. He stepped up to it, and it knelt down in reverence, allowing him to pet its snout. “Humankind will just doom itself without a strong leader to unite it. With myself in command, I will ensure that humans will not cause each other suffering ever again. I will be mankind’s dark messiah.”

Of course, first, he needed to swallow the light.