The serpentine tail coiled and shot at me like a bullet.

I ducked, throwing my hands up to protect my head from the blow.

Thankfully, the tail missed, stabbing through the railing behind me.

It quickly whipped around, striking me in the ribs and knocking me to the ground face-first. A searing pain shot through my body as the force of the impact sent a shockwave through my ribs. Right where I'd been soccer kicked earlier by Willis.

My vision exploded into stars for a moment, and the next thing I knew, I rolled around to lie on my back, staring up at the sky. I could feel a warm wetness on my face, and I realized that I must've busted open the skin on my forehead—blood was running down my face and dripping from my nose. My lungs burned like I hadn't been breathing. Adrenaline kicked in, and I quickly tried to get my bearings again.

When I opened my eyes, I found the monstrous creature looming over me in the shadows, hissing menacingly as it raised its six razor-sharp tentacled claws. I could hear the sounds of battle below me, the thunderous, inhuman roars of the monsters, and the screams of the girls below as they clashed. Lights across the city street flickered, and they all went out. It was almost harrowing how dark the roof was now, and my heart felt like it was about to pop out of my chest. Yet, it was almost peaceful in a strange way.

It'd be fitting to die somewhere like this, huh? Everything just circling right back to my earliest childhood memories. Cowering in the face of an overwhelming blight on nature.

Before I could move out of the way, the creature's claws all lashed out at once. Time seemed to slow down as I watched them approach in slow motion. With my heart pounding, I tried to leap to my feet. But my body wouldn't respond. I couldn't get my footing fast enough, and the claws kept drawing closer and closer.

Wait.

Time didn't just seem to slow down. It actually slowed down!

The world around me suddenly filled with a purple haze, like someone had put a filter over the darkness.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't react. No matter how much I struggled, I couldn't get out of the way. I felt like I was moving through molasses.

A dark blur suddenly appeared in front of me with an agile jump. A black shadow. A figure that moved gracefully, almost like a phantom.

The figure sprang into action immediately, jumping forward to block the attack. Sparks flashed briefly off a sword in the darkness.

The creature slammed all of its claws into the shadow in slow motion, but the black figure blocked the attacks with a series of quick parries faster than my eye could follow.

I could make out the silhouette of a tall girl in the shadows. She jumped again, using her momentum to stab the monster in the wings. The creature screeched in pain and staggered backward.

There was a strange whirring noise, like a laser powering up starting, and time around me began to move normally again.

The outline of the girl's figure gave off a faint, green glow as she flipped forward, landing on top of the monster. She slid forward, slashing at its antennae with her blade. The beast swung its claws, but she quickly flipped and dodged out of the way. Her movements were smooth and graceful as if she were a dancing gymnast.

I didn't know what was happening, but I couldn't just sit there watching. My eyes darted around until they landed on the flashlight I'd dropped. Another surge of adrenaline coursed through me, and I took off scrambling at the flashlight, hissing in pain while the monster distracted. Picking it off the ground, I slid and nearly stumbled over a lounge chair as I rushed toward Caroline.

"Caroline!" I yelled, grabbing the small girl by the shoulder and helping her. I squinted in the darkness —she looked dazed, and I tried to shake her awake. "Hey. Are you okay?"

She blinked several times and slowly looked over at me. She was in shock, her eyes wide and glazed over. Caroline whimpered, closing her eyes with panicked, hyperventilating breaths.

Behind me, the monster began to roar as the girl expertly deflected lightning-fast strikes from its claws. Then, she spun around, kicking at one of the monster's tentacles. There was a loud crack, followed by a flash of bright white light from her sword. When everything settled, the tentacle lay limp on the ground. The beast flailed wildly, knocking the girl off her feet. She slid through the glass on the floor with a pained cry, and the monster loomed over her.

I thought quickly and did the only thing I could here. The thing had briefly flinched when I flicked on the flashlight. 

I dashed directly at it, aimed the flashlight at its eyes, and flicked the lights, strobing it at its eyes. It squawked again, recoiling back as it was blinded by the sudden light.

The monster shrieked, and the swordsman sprang to her feet with a kip-up, blade at the ready to take advantage of the opening. She let out a battle cry before jumping at an impossible angle, severing through the monster's antennae stalks in one clean stroke. It thrashed violently...

And impaled the girl mid-air with its tail barb.

The monster roared loudly as it slammed her on the ground, only a stone's throw away from me. There was another flash of steel in the darkness, and the monster reared back with a chitter and shriek as the girl severed its tail. The beast stumbled around for a few moments before it fell over with a resounding crash.

My savior groaned weakly, clutching the wound in her side as she stumbled to her feet.

I rushed over to help her stand up, flashlight in hand but then froze mid-step when I shone my light over her and saw the gaping wounds all over her body. Blood pooled beneath her shirt, and she coughed a sticky, red glob onto the ground. There were visible teeth marks all over her body, all of which were crackling with an eerie blue energy.

Familiar turquoise eyes met mine, and I could see a mix of determination and desperation.

"M-Midori!?"

She nodded weakly at me with a smile, "Hey Ikki. Glad you're still alive and kicking. Good thinking there with the flashlight."

Then Midori fell back to her knees, dropping her sword — a wakizashi with a clatter. Where did she even get a sword like that?! Could she be?

"Oh, no no no. S-shit, oh shit!" I stammered.

This wasn't good. I ran to Midori's side, putting a hand under her arm to try and lift her up. I clenched my teeth, fighting through the pain, trying to ignore how heavy she felt.

I winced, examining her wounds more closely with the flashlight. Chaos energy was pouring out of every single cut. And judging by how badly she was bleeding, I suspected she might not have had too long to live.

But I had to do something. I had to save her somehow. Midori was probably seconds away from zombifying on me, but I had to try something. Anything.

"I'm gonna be fine, Ikki," she said, smiling softly at me despite her injuries. "You, on the other hand..."

She raised a finger, poking my injured ribs, eliciting a sharp gasp from me as white-hot pain shot through my stomach.

"Gah," I cried, feeling like someone drove a nail into it.

"Sorry 'bout that," she chuckled weakly, looking at me worriedly.

I looked down, and my blood ran cold when I saw the gash in my torso. It was deep, and red liquid pooled through my torn uniform.

That wasn't the worst part, though.

A blue glow crackled along the wound, and a wave of nausea washed over me as I saw the telltale blue lines expanding from the injury. The butterfly monster — the Mikado had cut me with its venomous barb.

It hurt so bad now that I knew it was there. The adrenaline didn't help anymore. I wanted to curl up and cry.

Just then, the monster in the city streets below bellowed again. This time, it sounded different. Not angry or frustrated. More... hungry? Like it was starving for some reason.

"Ikki. I want you to understand for a second. With that wound from a Marquis-class Aberration, you shouldn't have even been able to stand back up. In fact, you should be lunging at my neck right now."

I turned to look at Midori, sitting up now with a pained expression on her face. Her comment definitely got my attention.

"What are you talking about? Lunging for your neck?"

"I mean, you should already be dead," she explained, giving me a sympathetic look. "Your life force is literally being consumed by the Mikado's venom. It's a miracle that you're still fully lucid right now — most normal people succumb to a Mikado's chaos load seconds after being hit. I have to say, you probably have a considerably above average level of Chaos resistance."

"F-fuck that!" I shouted, clenching my fists in panic, only to wince as I rubbed on my open, scraped skin. Then I looked her over once more. "Wait, so what about you? You're in even worse shape than me, Midori."

She didn't seem the least bit concerned about her wounds. Could it be? If so, why didn't she?

Midori flashed me a sad smile and shook her head, "Like I said, I'll be fine. You're a smart guy, Ikki. You've probably already made the connection as to why."

I blinked. "So... I had the thought. Are you... are you a?"

I glanced briefly at Caroline. The girl had lost consciousness — probably due to shock. I didn't want to say it out loud for the sake of Midori's privacy.

She winked at me as she flashed me a somber smile, "I used to be. I kind of gave up the title after I came here to the States."

Now that she mentioned it, I noticed that she hadn't worn jewelry or trinkets in the entire month I'd known her. At least nothing that would indicate anything magical. Maybe she had gotten rid of it all to run from her status as a Magical Girl?

Either way, it seemed like she was telling the truth. I was sure of it. But if that really was true, then that raised all kinds of other questions. Questions we didn't have time to worry about right now.

We needed to focus on surviving. We were surrounded by monsters and a freaky fire. If things had kept going the way they had been, it wouldn't be long before our lives ended in tragedy.

"Okay," I spoke to her quietly, "What's the plan?"

She furrowed her eyebrows, concentrating on my crackling wound. I stared in awe as her brilliant, turquoise eyes turned green with mana. A soft, warm green aura enveloped the injury — and the blue lines around my cut disappeared as a small, coalesced wave of energy ran up her arm. The chaos energy coursing through her body pulsated, then all of it merged together into a calm green. After a second, the light show dissipated, and Midori's wounds began to close, but not completely.

"That's enough energy to get us off the roof now, at least," Midori said with a wince. "This situation would be a lot less fucked if I still carried my memento around with me, that's for sure."

I frowned at her comment.

It was common knowledge that mementos were items carried by magical girls that symbolized their origins and core principles. Magical girls used them to transform into idealized versions of themselves that usually looked far from their civilian forms. These idealized forms would allow them to serve as mankind's vanguard and heroes, and retain a modicum of privacy at the same time.

A magical girl's fully transformed state granted a plethora of magic powers, as well as enhanced strength, speed, and durability. As such, nearly all magical girls kept these catalysts close to them at all times. They were considered sacred personal items — and therefore, not allowed to be destroyed or stolen. Catalysts could be artificially created, but a magical girl's original memento was usually one of their most cherished possessions.

If Midori had such a memento, what would drive her to the point where she didn't even carry it around? Was she hiding something? Either way, I couldn't afford to waste any time worrying about it.

There was no doubt that the monsters were closing in on us, so I took a moment to assess our current position.

Caroline and I were standing atop a tall building with an excellent vantage point overlooking the area. On top of that, we were protected by the wall surrounding the skyscraper's base. Unfortunately, the building was on fucking fire.

The flames had spread throughout the building and were slowly creeping toward us. Thankfully, the wind was pushing the smoke away from us. But, we had to find a way off this building asap.

I heard the same whirring noise back in the stairwell earlier. I turned around to see Midori fastening a rope harness around Caroline. Where did that come from?

Well, now that I thought about it. That fire axe also seemed like it came out of nowhere, but I was so addled I didn't question it. I guess this was just something Midori could do.

While she worked, I pulled myself over to the rooftop's edge, taking care not to slip again. The blue and purple magical girl had regained consciousness and rejoined the battle against the manticore-like creature below.

The three girls fought together with vigor — firing projectiles while the girl in blue hacked and slashed at the beast with a massive nine-pronged trident. Their teamwork was impressive. Slowly but surely, they drove the manticore creature away from our side of the block.

After watching the scene play out for several moments, Midori suddenly tapped me on the shoulder and pointed downwards.

"What is it?" I asked her, glancing down at the fight below.

"Hang on tight." She replied, pulling us tight together. I flushed in embarrassment at the contact just long enough to panic and feel my heart lurch in my chest. She vaulted over the roof's edge, and the space in front of me blurred.

I felt a sudden jolt in my chest as I landed safely on solid ground, stumbling a few steps. My legs buckled under me slightly as I stood up, and Midori helped steady me. She had the unconscious Caroline strapped on her back, using the ropes from the harness to keep her secure.

Then, Midori quickly looked around and pulled out her smartphone, quickly sending out a message.

Her phone buzzed immediately afterward, and she nodded, turning to face me. She turned to look at me with a frown.

"Hey... assuming we both make it through the night. Please don't tell anyone what I did back there."

I nodded, "Umn. Your secret's safe with me. Pinky promise."

Midori flashed me a quick smile. Then, she pointed at a side street and ran off at a jogging pace.

I watched her go for a second before following suit, running after her into the night to the best of my ability.