The streets outside the restaurant were a mess, torn concrete, live wires and flowing water as far as Akane could see. There were a few people out here too—not a lot who were injured, thankfully, save for some bumps and bruises, but most were just gawkers, those standing outside their cars or buildings with their phones out, recording the destruction and—possibly, the monster.

Akane tore her focus away from them. She didn’t think about what those videos meant, what the monster itself meant, nothing. Right now, she had to find that woman, and the thing she was trying to kill.

That was all that mattered.

Akane strained her eyes and ears as she looked over the wreckage, looking for a trace, any trace of where they might have gone.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much.

There were clues—craters in the ground that looked remarkably like footprints, knives left in car windshields and awnings, but nothing definitive, nothing that, to Akane’s untrained eye, suggested a direction.

I need to find it.

I need…

Without thinking about what she was doing, Akane closed her eyes and stepped forward, tilting her head up as her nose flared.

An entire ocean of scents crashed into Akane, leaving her gasping. It wasn’t just smell as she knew it—not the mildewy, musty stench of her own sweat, not the sickly-sweet tang of that one guy’s vape, it was—

It was—

Everything.

There were thirteen people on the street, five to her right, on the sidewalks, and another eight across from her. Three were injured—two were bleeding, another bruised. Behind her, in the restaurant, was a confusing morass of scents, the food, people, sweat, and a disturbing amount of rot, but two shining, familiar beacons—Akemi, confused, uncertain, and Rui, a sharp thrum of panic wafting off her body like she was drowned in it.

It was—it was incredible. Almost more than Akane could comprehend. She had been getting flashes of this all day, she realised—Haru’s perfume—but she hadn’t understood, hadn’t been able to put it all together until now, right when she needed it.

And then there was Her. Akane didn’t know how she didn’t notice it before. If everyone else around her was like a dot of light, a bright but small blip of position, identity, mood, then she was an entire library. Even now, her scent drifting away in the wind, Akane knew she was scared, but determined. Exhausted, muscles aching, and sick, something off burrowing into her flesh.

Something that smelled like it.

The monster.

If the woman was familiar, human but more, then the monster was anything but. It was a sharp, angry lance that made Akane go rigid, her teeth grinding against each other as she was suddenly filled with the overwhelming urge to find this thing and tear it limb from limb, to protect her family, her friends, her city.

And she knew how.

On a barely recognised instinct, Akane turned her head, following the creature’s trail, absently correcting for the wind until she knew she had a direction. She started to follow, brushing past shock-still bodies as she moved, darting down an alley, a street, the city blurring before her eyes as she focused on what mattered.

She swapped between the two scents frequently, each growing and fading in strength and clarity as she moved along the streets. A few blocks away, where the low buildings of Nerima started to give way to downtown, she lost the monster’s scent completely, but not the woman’s. She followed it down an alley, only finally pausing when her foot landed on something wet.

Akane looked down, mind spinning as her sight and smell finally caught up to each other.

She was standing in a puddle of blood.

The woman’s blood.

A lot of it.

Akane swallowed, looking back up. The woman wasn’t in the alley, but Akane could finally see her tracks. A few bloodstained footprints on the ground, her handprint on a dumpster, and then—

Cracks on the ground. Her scent, wafting down from above. And the soft, nearly muffled sound of her ragged breaths.

Four stories up.

Akane stared at the distance, craning her neck. She jumped that? While injured?

Her mind flashed back to the morning, and the feel of twisted metal in her hand. She had torn off the metal handle of the toilet with a casual ease, hadn’t even noticed the exertion, but that was just cheap metal. Jumping four stories, like something out of a comic book…

It was ridiculous.

And yet…

And yet, the woman was a magical girl.

Like she was.

Like she could be, if she just… let herself try.

Akane stepped back, dropping into something resembling a runner’s crouch. She took in a deep breath, tensing her muscles.

I can do this.

I can do this.

I’m a magical girl.

Even if it’s impossible…

I can do it.

Her earrings burned against her ear.

Akane took a step forward, then another, and then.

Leapt.

The wind rushed past her ears, her stomach fluttering as she shot up like a rocket. Akane had aimed for the ledge at the top of the building, and that’s exactly where she wound up, grabbing onto the stone and brick with a hand and hoisting herself onto the roof without a sweat.

For a moment, all she could do was turn around and look back, staring at her jump with a wide grin.

Holy shit.

A cough tore her attention away. Akane turned, and found herself looking at the woman from the restaurant.

She didn’t notice her at first, staring out over the city as she leaned against an air conditioner, holding her side with her free arm. Then she stilled, and, stiffly, slowly turned, looking at Akane with wide eyes.

Akane held up her hands, doing her best to look non-threatening. It was strange. The woman had seemed so powerful, so—well, magical in the restaurant, throwing aside a car and saving their lives, but in the daylight, alone, she could see the dark rings under the older woman’s eyes, the wrinkles and scars pocketing her face.

More than that, Akane could smell her—and the injury she sensed before had evolved, erupted into something—something wrong, something full of rot and decay.

Akane blinked. “You’re hurt.”

“Shut up,” the woman said, pulling out a knife. “Who are you, how did you follow me? Why are you following me?”

“That’s—I…” Akane swallowed. Her mother’s advice, countless comic books, and pure common-sense echoes through her mind. She didn’t know this woman, couldn’t claim to trust her, and yet she had no idea how to respond other than the blunt truth.

“I’m Akane,” she said, taking a small step forward. “I don’t—I don’t know how I followed you, but I just—I have questions, and—”

“And so you’re looking for answers,” the woman replied, before giving a small, broken laugh. “From me. What makes you think I know anything?”

“Because you’re the one fighting that thing! Because you seem to know what it is, how to stop it. Because…” Akane closed her eyes and let out a breath, before brushing back her hair. “Because you’re the only person I know who has these and isn’t dead.”

It took the woman a moment to notice, for her eyes to dart away from Akane’s face, but when she did, her shoulder’s slackened, and she dropped the knife, letting it fall to the ground before it disappeared in a cloud of blue and white smoke.

“Oh god,” the woman said, shaking her head. “So, you’re the one she picked, huh.”

Akane blinked. “The one she—you mean my mother?”

“I suppose,” the woman replied, looking away. “Fucker.”

Akane grit her teeth, biting back a flash of anger. “Look—”

“No, you look. You need to turn around, get off this building, take those fucking earrings off, and pretend you never saw any of this,” the woman snapped, stepping away from the air conditioner, her knees almost buckling under her own weight.

Akane blinked. “What? Why?”

“Because!” she snapped, coughing. “Because you don’t know a damn thing about whatever the hell it is you agreed to, and you need to leave before you can’t.”

Akane took another step forward. “What do you mean, before I can’t? What are you—”

“Just go, kid!” The woman turned around, hobbling over to the side of the building before pausing. “Go, because you’ve got no idea what you’re getting yourself into.”

With that, she jumped, landing on a rooftop across the street and stumbling forward.

Akane stared at her for a moment, then slowly raised her hands to her hair. “Why do you think I’m asking,” she muttered, shaking her head and stomping off towards the edge of the roof.

For a moment, Akane just watched the woman move, jumping from building to building, a cold stone growing in her stomach with every jump. The woman was, obviously, visibly injured, and if she was really going to try and fight that thing alone…

She was going to die.

A dead body lying on the ground. The flash of a gun—

Akane clenched her hands. She wasn’t going to let that happen.

The woman looked like she was moving east, generally. Glancing out across the cityscape, Akane thought of a route. Following her was an option, but even with her uneasy pace, Akane wasn’t sure she could match the more experienced woman’s speed. Instead, she decided to cut her off.

She looked out to her east. Her route wasn’t going to be as simple as the woman’s. The buildings were farther apart, and less evenly spaced. A few, Akane didn’t think she’d be able to reach with a single jump, even with her enhanced strength. It was going to require… creativity.

Akane sucked in a breath, deep and slow.

I can do this.

Then, she ran.

She hopped the first gap easily, skidding to a stop on the other roof. The next jump was too far, so instead, Akane went left, jumping up onto a nearby billboard and quickly hopping across the narrow top ledge, using the extra height to give her just enough clearance to make the jump, scrambling over the edge and kicking chipped brick down to the street.

Holy shit.

Keep going, keep going.

Akane kept going, sometimes leaping off billboards and flag poles, sometimes falling to the ground and having to jump back up to where she started. Each jump was unlike nothing she had ever done before, had ever even considered doing before. Every time she landed, the ground cracked beneath her feet, dust and debris kicking up into the air like clouds of smoke.

It was—

It was—

Incredible.

Despite it all, despite the lingering fear in her heart, Akane couldn’t help but grin.

It should have been terrifying, nightmarish, flying above the city, all so terribly aware of how it could go if she fell, but instead, it felt right. She felt in control.

She felt like herself, the wind ripping through her air, dangling in the sky with the entire city laid before her.

After fifteen minutes of running and jumping, Akane caught up with the woman, the two magical girls both jumping onto the top floor of a half-built apartment building. Akane landed on an exposed steel beam, watching as the other woman stumbled to a stop on the floor, breathing hard as she leaned against an abandoned table.

After a moment, she looked up, glaring straight at Akane. “I know you’re there, kid.”

“I know,” Akane replied, her voice echoing in the concrete and steel. “Because you’re like me, right? You can—you can hear me, see me, even—smell me. Right?”

The woman didn’t reply for a moment, before looking down and shaking her head. “Get down here. I’m not talking to a fucking bird.”

Akane did as she asked, slipping off the steel beam and falling to the ground in a small puff. She stood, dusting herself off, before looking to the other woman with a steely glare.

She met it with one of her own. “That thing that you saw, at the restaurant?”

“The monster?” Akane asked.

The woman nodded. “I’ve fought that kind of thing before. A lot. The person you got those earrings from, they did the same. For years, and years—decades, centuries, I don’t know.”

“My mom told me about that, about how to–how to kill them, but what are they? Why are they here, why do they want to–what is going on?”

“I don’t know!” The woman snapped. “I don’t have a fucking clue, it’s just here, and it’s dangerous. It doesn’t talk, you can’t negotiate with it, it just wants us all fucking dead. And I’m the sorry excuse who has to kill them first.”

There are monsters out there that threaten everything.

It’s my—our—responsibility, to fight them.

To protect those who can’t protect themselves.

Akane clenched her hands. “Okay. How do I stop them?”

The woman stared at her for a moment, then laughed, sharp and cruel. “You don’t. You leave, little girl, like I’ve been telling you to.”

“Like hell!” Akane snarled. “This is my responsibility, and I’m not walking away—!”

“Responsibility? Is that what you think this is?” The woman smacked a hand into the table, putting a crack in the plastic surface. “This isn’t some noble quest, you idiot. Whatever anime you think this is, whatever bedtime story you’re comforting yourself with, drop it. You don’t belong here.”

“You don’t know that,” Akane growled.

To her surprise, the woman smiled. “Yeah, I don’t,” she said, looking away. “But for your sake, I hope I’m right.”

Whatever else she was going to say—or whatever Akane was going to say in return—was cut off when another scream tore through the air. A sharp, sudden lance of pain struck Akane in the head, sending her to her knees.

“Fuck,” the woman spat, pulling out a knife. “Kid, run.”

There wasn’t exactly a lot of time for anything before the floor erupted into shards of concrete and dust. Akane tore her head back up, staring as the monster clambered upwards, screeching out a challenge as it bore down on the two of them.

Akane threw herself to the side, ducking behind a half-built wall as the woman let out a ragged scream, and threw herself at the thing, knife in hand. She got clipped by one of its claws, grunting in pain as she stumbled left, before recovering and slashing at its chest, earning a deep, rumbling cry and a small moment of respite, letting the two pause and breathe for a moment, staring at each other.

Akane couldn’t help but watch the woman’s movements, furrowing her brow.

Her blow connected, yes, and snapped the monster’s head to the side, a brackish, orange green liquid splattering against the ground with a gentle hiss, but at the same time, it was…

Sloppy.

The woman didn’t use her hips at all, nor her legs, her chest—anything. She threw her arms around, hoping she’d hit, and relying entirely on her strength to do damage.

She had no idea what she was doing.

Okay, she knew more about what she was fighting than Akane did. The monster noticed the woman sliding under it and tried to take her with one of its legs, but she deftly dodged around it, hitting an ankle with a knife and forcing the thing to its knees.

However, then she stumbled back, clutching her side as she breathed hard, the stench of death clinging to her like a swarm of fleas. She looked exhausted, pale and sweating, clutching onto her knife like it was the only thing keeping her up.

She was going to die.

Something inside Akane snapped. Before she knew what she was doing, before she even thought, she was moving. She grabbed a bag of concrete and hurled it towards the creature’s face. Even as she threw, the bag tore open, and when it hit, a cloud of dust erupted from the impact, obscuring everything from sight. The creature roared, stumbling around half-blind and disoriented.

Before it could recover, Akane ran in, grabbing the woman and tossing her over her shoulders. The creature heard her, or smelled her or something, taking a swipe at her as she ran.

Akane kicked it’s foot way, letting the impact spin her towards the hole in the ground, and jumped to the floor below. She looked around quickly, then darted down the skeleton of a hallway just before the monster roared and followed her down.

On her back, the woman gave a startled gasp. “What are you doing?!”

“Saving your life!”

“You’re going to get yourself killed!”

Akane felt a sudden rush of air behind her. On a mix of instinct and panic, she ducked, the monster’s gleaming claws narrowly passing above her head.

“You don’t say,” Akane muttered.

To her right, Akane spotted an orange tube leading out of an unfinished wall. She swerved towards it, kicking a loose stone back at the monster before throwing the woman down the tube, pausing only for a moment before following her, tucking her arms and legs in as she slid down the orange plastic.

She wasn’t sure how long she fell. It felt like hours, but she knew it could have only been seconds at most before she’s tumbling out onto a pile of broken concrete and shattered glass.

Her body ached at the impact, dozens of cuts opening up across her body and almost as many bruises, but the monster’s roars echoed from far above, and for the moment, she could breathe.

Less than a meter away, the woman knelt on the ground, breathing hard. She looked up at Akane with an angry glare. “What—what the hell… I told you—”

“You told me to go, I know,” Akane snapped, looking back at her. “I don’t listen well.”

“Don’t be stupid,” the woman snapped back, trying to push herself to her feet. “I’m the one who’s gotta—who’s gotta deal with this shit. You need to—to—”

Before she could finish, she collapsed, falling to her hands and knees and breaking out into a horrific series of wet coughs. Akane scrambled up, rushing over and holding her upright as she hacked up mucus and blood.

“Oh my god,” Akane whispered. “You’re dying.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re dying,” Akane repeated, shuffling around so she looked the woman in her eyes. “You’re dying, and you’re trying to fight that thing with knives you don’t know how to use, and you’re calling me stupid?”

“Because it doesn’t matter,” the woman said, shaking her head. “It doesn’t matter what happens to me. I’m—I’m used up, kid. If that thing doesn’t kill me, something else will.”

“Then let me help.” Akane shuffled closer, pulling her upright. “I can help. Not just against this thing, but—but whatever else is out there, I can—”

“You don’t get it! It doesn’t matter if you can. You don’t know what this costs, what—what these fucking things do!” The woman reached for her ears, brushing her fingers against the earrings. “You’re stepping into something you think you know, but you don’t. There’s no bottom to this pool, kid. It’s an ocean.”

“Then tell me,” Akane asked, shaking her slightly. “Just tell me what it is that you’re so afraid of. I’ll listen, I promise, but—”

The monster roared. Both women looked up, turning around and watching as the creature jumped off the building, landing in a cloud of dirt and grass a few meters away.

The woman tried to push Akane away. “Kid, go. This isn’t your responsibility. Make the right choice and run.”

The monster snarled, snapping its misshapen jaw as it slowly crawled towards them. Akane almost got the sense it was smirking, gleeful joy radiating at the helplessness of its victim.

Akane clenched her jaw. Without turning away, without glancing back, she stood, glaring at the monster and stepping forward.

“Kid--!”

“You’re right,” Akane admitted. “I don’t know what I’m getting into, I don’t know what’s going on, I—I’ve been sick and hungry and lost, and all I’ve got is a bunch of crappy Word docs, but—"

She huffed. “The only thing I know, the only thing I was told, is that these powers—these earrings, everything they represent, the responsibility they come with—is mine to carry.” She looked back. “That’s why I’m here. Because for everything that’s been fucked up, for everything I don’t know, I know that if I don’t do this, you’re going to die. I am not going to sit here, and let that happen. Not to you, not to anyone else.” Akane gave the woman a warm smile. “I promise.”

The woman stared at her for a moment, eyes blown wide, before looking away, behind Akane. “Kid!”

Akane spun on her feet, turning just in time to see the monster leaping at her, jaws wide open, a deafening roar shaking the ground. With no time to move, no desire, she held up her arms, bracing her feet against the dusty, shifting ground.

She didn’t know what she was going to do, how she was going to stop this thing, but damn it all, she was going to try.

Time seemed to slow. The monster’s roars faded away as it came to a stop, hanging in midair like a puppet with its strings cut.

Because that’s who you are, isn’t it?

A hero.

The monster came crashing down, fangs and claws outstretched.

And Akane raised her sword to match it.

She blinked.

The world went white.

The monster flew back, slamming into the building with an angry scream. Akane barely noticed, her world consumed by the sudden rush of fire and light surrounding her. Her skin felt alight, not with the flames but with life, her hair fluttering behind her, buoyed by wind and the sheer relentless joy Akane felt rising through her.

Power surged through her, not just the reckless strength of before but power. Her fingers glowed white hot, steam and smoke rising from her skin as the dirt and debris burned away. The flames around her surged, peaked, shifting from orange to blue to white as they climbed, then fell onto her, not burning but surging, flowing into her like water into a sponge.

It didn’t hurt.

The idea suddenly became laughable, the thought that fire could hurt her.

She was fire. She was fire and flame and the embers left behind a lightning strike. She was heat and purification, she was—

“Incredible,” Akane whispered, the smoke and ash burning on her tongue like a hot drink on a cold day.

The fires vanished inside her, her skin glowing from the heat before fading back to its normal, gentle pink hue, but Akane could still feel it, could feel the firestorm under her skin, ready to be set loose at her command.

Watching the flames disappear, Akane took in the rest of her body. Her old clothes were gone (burned away?), the now worn school uniform replaced by a charcoal black bodysuit, stretching down from just below her collarbone to her knees, a flickering, incandescent yellow-orange skirt flaring out from her hips, shimmering like a distant fire. It stretched down her legs, ending just centimetres from the ground, with a long, wide slit in the front, and her feet encased in a liquid, flexible shell of glowing blue flames.

As Akane rolled her shoulders, she noticed two steel pauldrons on her shoulders, the bright silver metal gleaming in the setting sun. They were clasped on to a long, flowing cape, coming down from Akane’s shoulders and splitting slightly at the small of Akane’s back. The cape was a brilliant, shining white, but it didn’t look like fabric—the only word that came to Akane’s mind was liquid fire.

What was most surprising, however, was the weapon held tightly in Akane’s hand.

It was a sword, that much was clear, but it was also a sword in the same way an ocean was a body of water. The shape of it was vaguely European, a double-edged blade leading to a short, hand-and-a-half handle, but the handle seemed to be made of some sort of ashen wood, and the blade…

The blade felt alive, molten steel held into shape by nothing more than Akane’s will. With little more than a thought, the blade shifted, shrinking down into something not much longer than the daggers the woman had been using.

With another short burst of will, Akane shifted the blade into something more familiar, shaped like the bokken she used for kenjutsu practice so many years ago, and squared her shoulders, watching the monster as it clambered back to its feet, shaking its head and glaring at her.

Without turning, Akane addressed the woman behind her. “Can you stand?”

“What?”

“Are you good to walk?” Akane repeated, voice clipped.

“I…” Akane heard the woman move, but whatever energy had kept her going so far deserted her, a thump following as she hit the ground. “I—no.”

Akane nodded. “Okay,” she said, shifting her grip on her blade. “That’s just fine.”

She took a step forward, baring her teeth in a cruel smile as she stared the beast down.

“Had your fun chasing down an injured woman, huh?” she called. “Hurting someone who didn’t know how to fight?”

The monster growled in reply.

“I bet you did,” Akane said. “I bet it was a big laugh for you, wasn’t it? I bet it made you feel big and strong. Well, guess what. You’re not.”

The monster roared, shaking the ground, the building, the world as Akane’s head throbbed.

She grit her teeth and pushed through. “You’re not going to scare me!” she shouted. “I know what you are! You’re a bully, nothing else!”

She tucked in her blade and shifted her footing. “Let me show you what I do to bullies.”

The monster roared one last time, then sped forward, kicking up plumes of dust with each step.

Akane roared right back, years worth of anger, of hate spilling out like a wildfire.

Then, she leapt.

---

Akane Takemasa was a martial artist.

It was something she struggled to explain, despite the apparent simplicity of the statement. Because she didn’t mean that in the way most people meant it when they said, “I’m a martial artist.”

It didn’t mean she had a belt or two in Karate. It didn’t mean that she spent an hour a weekend at some fancy, air-conditioned dojo. It didn’t even mean that she spent her afternoons at the Kendo club, practicing alongside her fellow students.

It meant that, for years and years and years, from before she could even remember, her mornings had started with her mom pulling her out of bed to train. It meant that she was taken out of school to go out and work with genuine masters to hone her art. It meant Akane lived and breathed the art—not a set of techniques, not a rank, but the art itself, the drive to master her body and soul in the pursuit of stretching beyond it.

It was who she was. Not something she did.

Akane Takemasa was a martial artist down to her blood, a martial artist from days long gone, from a world where a woman like her was built to protect people, to stand against those with power for those without.

Never, in her life, had she felt more in line, more true to herself then when she cracked her leg against the monster’s face, feeling its skin crack and blister under her blow.

The monster stumbled to the side, the sheer force of Akane’s blow sending it careening off balance, snarling and growling as it struggled to find its footing.

Akane landed on the ground gently, softly, bending her knees with the impact before rising, bringing up her blade. It was incredible, really—the most perfectly balanced weapon she ever held, each movement effortless, flawless.

She couldn’t help but crack a grin as the monster rose back up, shaking its head. It gave a low, rumbling growl, and she gave it a laugh in return.

She knew, of course, that this was serious. That there was a woman behind her who almost died from this thing, that there were a dozen more injured or worse left behind in its wake, but she couldn’t help the sheer glee from bubbling over. For the first time all day, her strength felt right, she felt in control. The stumbling, paltry control from earlier, her Dad’s fear and worry, it didn’t matter anymore.

This was her.

The monster roared, stepping forward and swung a paw, the air screaming in its wake. Like she’d done it a thousand times before, Akane ducked under its blow, her feet dancing along the ground until she was in position.

Then, she brought her sword up, and with a twist of her hips, stabbed straight through the monster’s front knee.

The creature crumpled, screaming and roaring as it fell. Blood—or something like blood, a black-orange liquid that looked an awful lot like tar—spilled from the wound, coating the ground in a sticky, thick layer.

Akane’s nose twitched, her mind reeling as she spun away. The scent hit her like a train, an unfamiliar mix of orange and pungent spice overwhelming her senses. The sheer strength of the sense was still something she was getting used to, but even still, she could tell it was like nothing she had ever seen before.

Regardless, Akane watched the monster for a moment, gauging how it responded to the injury. To her dismay, she saw its knee heal, bone and sinew cracking back together.

Wonderful.

The woman from before, having dragged herself to a pile of metal pipes, called out. “You have to—”

“Kill it in one blow, yeah, I know,” Akane snapped back.

“Use your magic!”

The monster lashed out with its tail, nearly catching Akane’s legs. She hopped over it, slashing back and earning an enraged growl and another dash of blood for her efforts. “How do I do that?”

“You just push it out!”

“Very descriptive!”

Still, even as Akane said that, she began to get a sense of what the woman meant. Beneath her skin, she could still feel the roiling, cracking wave of energy that had burst through when she first transformed. On a barely recognised instinct, she held out a free hand, and pushed.

Flames—white hot—pulsed from her fingers, leaping out towards the monster like a hungry beast. Akane felt how they splashed against the creature’s hide, spilling across cracks and crevices, some sticking, others falling to the ground. Her sense of each spark dulled soon after, but she could still feel them. Distantly, she was still aware of where they were.

The flames, hot as they were, dug into through the monster’s hide, sparks of crystal and alien blood flying off. The creature roared, anger and pain filling the air as it stumbled back.

Holy shit that’s awesome.

It didn’t feel like she was throwing fire, at least, not like a video game. The flames felt like her, and as she tried it again, she realised she could control the flames, direct them, at least when they were still a part of herself.

With a clench of her fist, Akane split the flames in two, wrapping each end around one of the monster’s legs with little more than a thought. Her attention snapped upwards when it swiped at her again with its paws, gleaming green claws flying towards her.

She jumped over, twisting her rope of flame around its wrist as she flew. When she landed, Akane let her sword fade away into sparks, and then pulled.

The monster fell to the ground with a crash, roaring and thrashing as it tried to get loose. It would, eventually, Akane knew, but she didn’t give it the chance.

She swung the monster around, dragging it through the dirt, then pulled in her stance and threw it over her shoulder, sending it flying. She dispelled her flames and watched, laughing again as the beast crashed into a chain-link fence at the far side of the lot.

“Oh my god,” she gasped. “Oh my god. Did you see that?” she said, jumping around to face the woman with a wide grin.

The woman, scowling, staggered to her feet. “Did I see you throw that damn thing onto the road? Yeah, I did.”

“Onto the…” Akane paled, spinning around.

The streets weren’t busy, exactly, not by this point and not with the ongoing chaos, but there were still a few dozen people on the roads, staring at the monster with wide eyes as it slowly climbed back to its feet, letting out a guttural roar. A car swerved around it, drawing its attention as it smashed a paw into the truck and began to bite at the roof.

“Shit!”

Akane began to run, kicking up clouds of dirt behind her as she sped across the lot. Seconds before reaching the monster, she jumped, ramming her shoulder into the monster’s chest and pushing it back, earning herself another roar.

She landed on the car’s roof, the already battered metal buckling further under her weight. Her fingers itched with the flames pooling beneath her skin, but a twitch of her nose held her fire back.

Gasoline.

A puddle on the ground, pooling out from the car’s engine, leading towards the monster, all the way up to its jaw.

Okay. I can work with this.

Akane flipped off the car, landing on the car and spinning, lashing out with her foot and sending the car skidding across the ground, towards the now vacant lot. Midswing, she brought her foot back down and dashed it across the pavement, cutting off the spilled gasoline from the car.

Then, with a small push of will, she tossed a small cloud of sparks onto the gasoline.

Almost immediately, the ground burst into a flurry of flames, traveling across the puddle and up the road before reaching the monster itself. It couldn’t escape this time—with the gas clinging to its jaw, the flames stuck, even as it whipped its head from side to side.

All the while, Akane stood and watched, the flames licking at her heels, warm but never hot, never burning. She didn’t feel so much as a twinge of pain.

Around her, the few bystanders who remained gawked and pointed.

Akane didn’t pay much attention to them, save for the painful reminder of how many lives were now at stake. She had to end this fight, now.

She just wasn’t sure how to do that.

Even as she watched, the monster’s burns quickly began to regenerate, misshapen lumps of scab tissue forming and falling off before her eyes.

This thing had been hurt, badly, but it just was not going down. Its tough hide meant it took a lot to get through, and even then, the damage was minimal, not the one-hit kill this thing demanded.

Well, she’d just have to keep trying.

Akane glanced at her sword, then, with a thought, shifted it into a bow, pulling the string back as she rose from her crouch, a fiery arrow shimmering into the world.

“Everyone,” Akane called, filling her voice with as much authority as she could muster. “You need to run.”

As if to punctuate her point, the monster growled and darted forward. The crowd around her screamed and ran, the noise echoing in Akane’s ears as she let the arrow loose, nailing the monster in the knee once again.

Before it had a chance to recover, Akane leapt towards it, her weapon shifting back into a sword as she danced around its claws and struck back, forcing it back into the building.

Pushing through dirt and rubble, the two found themselves in a laundromat, washers and other machines lining the wall. Compared to before, it was a tight squeeze, and Akane found herself struggling to maneuver around the monster as easily as she had before.

She was still faster than it, and infinitely more maneuverable. There was something incredible in how easily she could move now, each push of her foot or hand letting her bounce off the walls, the ceiling, easily putting herself into any position she needed.

If only there were more places to be, more places the monster didn’t fill with its bulk and whip-like tail.

She grimaced. The tight quarters favored this thing more than they favoured her.

Okay. Time to readjust.

She ducked under one of the creature’s swipes, tumbling across the floor until she reached a wall. Pulling herself upright, she hoisted her sword and jammed it into the wall, between two washers, and then pulled.

One of the machines was torn out in a cloud of sparks. Akane didn’t slow down, letting her sword fade before grabbing the machine with both hands and throwing it towards the monster.

It barely managed half a roar before the machine crashed into its chest, sending both it and the creature flying through a wall and back onto the streets.

Akane quickly jumped out after it, landing in a half-abandoned street. There were half-a-dozen cars scattered around the road, and worse, twice as many people, either starting in stupefied awe or running for their lives.

Akane swept their eyes across them all, cataloging their scents before turning back to the monster. She stood slowly, watching as the creature struggled to throw the washing machine off its chest.

Despite herself, Akane couldn’t help but smirk, crossing her arms as she stared down at the creature. This was—it was terrifying and nightmarish, but her blood was singing.

“Aw, what’s the matter? Big, scary monster got stuck?”

The monster whipped its head around, a growl echoing from its throat. It was… absurd, but Akane almost got the sense it was glaring at her.

It brought up a paw and pushed, finally tossing the dented washing machine off and rose.

She watched its movements carefully, dropping her arms as she prepared to move, duck, jump, anything and everything that would be required to avoid its next attack.

The monster opened its mouth to roar—except, wait, no, there was something in its mouth, something—!

Akane’s eyes widened. She jumped to the side just as the creature spat, managing to dodge most of the viscous green fluid that came barreling out of its mouth.

Most.

A water-melon sized lump landed on her foot, boiling away her skin like acid. The impact threw her back, her head smashing against the wall and leaving her dazed, vision spotty and dark.

She shook her head, clearing her sight and pushing the pain and everything else away. It didn’t take her long to realise the next problem, however.

The creature’s spit had hardened, trapping her and her foot against the wall.

Akane pulled at her foot, trying to break free of the wall and the creature’s spit, but there was nothing she could do. Even with all her strength, the gel held, holding her against the wall like a fly caught in a trap.

The monster roared in triumph, its gleaming teeth slicing through the air as it all but laughed. Then, with a horrid screech, it charged, whipping its tail forwards.

Akane closed her eyes and turned away.

She heard the creature’s blade cut through flesh, but the expected pain never followed. Akane opened her eyes and looked up.

Right into the tear-filled red eyes of the older magical girl.

And the bloodstained shard of crystal lodged in her chest.

“No!” Akane screamed.

The woman cracked a smile.

The monster roared, and whipped its tail, sending the woman flying across the street and into another building, smashing through a large glass window, before thumping to the ground, her limbs bent and mangled.

The monster snarled, and slowly turned back to Akane.

Her pulse pounding in her ears, Akane redoubled her efforts. Raw strength wasn’t enough, nor was hacking at the mound of crystal and concrete with her sword. Nothing seemed to be enough, but—but she had more than strength.

Akane pulled at her core, and pushed fire into the crystals.

The mess of green and grey glowed for a moment, then all at once shattered, the shockwave strong enough to send Akane flying back, rolling across the ground before smashing into a car’s windshield, a sharp crack splitting the air.

The monster was clearly hit by the blast as well, staggering back, but it wasn’t affected as badly. It shook its head, then roared, before taking off down the street with a fast, lopping run.

Akane slowly shook her head, a wave of dizziness clearing away as she pulled herself out of the car’s frame and back onto the road, landing on her hands and knees. She got to her feet, wincing as she put weight on her right foot.

Looking down, Akane almost gagged.

Her shoe and a decent chunk of her skin had been burned away by the monster’s spit, small rivers of blood trickling down exposed muscle, the wound extending at least twenty centimeters above her ankle. Some parts of her ankle and food had been reduced to a blackened, hardened mess,

It was the kind of injury Akane usually saw in a horror film. The kind that you didn’t really recover from, the kind that would usually mark you for dead as infection and decay set in.

The kind that, even if she was teleported to the hospital, would never really, ever heal.

And yet, as she stood there, that was exactly what she saw.

Fires broke out across the wound, small little white-hot flares that started in the most damaged areas, the missing muscle or where the flesh had been turned black. They burned away what was broken, and in their place left healthy, clean tissue. Fat and skin followed moments later, spreading out across the wound like a wildfire.

In less than a second, Akane’s leg healed, her destroyed shoe returning in a spark of fire almost as quickly.

She stared down and blinked.

It hadn’t even hurt.

Holy shit, she thought, holding back a frantic laugh. Holy shit, I’m Wolverine.

She looked up, back towards the collapsed building where she knew the prone body of the other magical girl lied.

If I can heal, then… why didn’t you?

The thought turned an already deadly injury into something more terrifying. The woman had never shown any signs of healing throughout the night—each injury stacking on top of each other like a blood-soaked Jenga tower—and now Akane’s mind ran wild with explanations. Poison from the monster (but I’m still healing), exhaustion, something else.

As Akane stared, her stomach tied itself in knots. She knew, more than ever, if she didn’t do something, that woman was going to die.

Akane got to her feet, pulled out her blade—

And turned away.

She might—she would die, unquestionably. But the monster was still alive, running down the street, away from Akane—and towards innocent people who didn’t stand a chance in hell of stopping it.

She had to stop it.

That was her responsibility.

Akane looked at the car she’d crashed into, a small smile coming to her lips.

She’d already held one car…

Akane squatted down, grabbing the ruined car by the front bumper and lifted, raising the car off the ground and over her head. Turning on her feet, she twisted her body around and threw the car as hard as she could.

It flew through the air, alarm blaring, before crashing into the monster, flipping it over and pinning it to the ground.

Not wasting a second, Akane pushed again, throwing fire across the street and splashing it against the car.

Just as she hoped, the sparks ignited the gasoline still trapped in the car’s engine. Fire rolled out from between the steel of the car’s suspension—

And then it lit up the sky, a wave of heat and sound crashing against Akane’s body as a fireball rose into the sky.

It was brief, and thankfully not particularly large—most of the remaining passersby who hadn’t quite run far enough were watching in awe, not pain—and after a few moments the fire faded away, leaving the scared, burned out wreck of a car behind.

And the monster.

Its skin was crackled and burned, but it was still breathing, tossing the car off its chest as it slowly rose to its feet. Even as Akane watched, she could see the burns and wounds healing, green ichor spilling out from the wounds, dissolving what was broken and leaving behind clean, healthy flesh.

Akane clenched her jaw.

The monster, now healed, let out a loud roar. Its mouth filled with the same sickly green as before, but this time Akane was ready, jumping clear of the next gob of spit.

As she moved, dancing around the creature’s attacks, Akane’s mind whirled along, faster and faster.

Mom said you had to kill these things all at once, she thought, scowling. Can’t wear it down. Heals too fast.

But then, what the hell do I have that can actually stop this thing? It’s too tough for me to punch through, and I can’t think of any weak points. And that spit is downright lethal—

Akane’s eyes widened.

She hadn’t just burned away the monster’s spit—it had exploded, tearing apart concrete like it was nothing.

Every time the monster launched a gob of it out, it filled its mouth with it.

Maybe…

Akane ducked around another gob of spit, rolling across the ground. She ripped a car door off a truck and used it to block the next, rushing forward.

She had to time this just right.

The monster reared back, its mouth filling with a murky, green glow.

Akane juked left, watching as the monster shifted its aim—

Then tossed the door at the top of its head, forcing it back, and jumped.

She brought her sword out, the blade covered in flickering blue flames—

And rammed it straight down the monster’s throat.

For a moment, there was nothing. This thing had survived far worse than a cut tongue. But then the spit began to glow white hot, the monster’s eyes swiveling down to face Akane as every crack and split in its crystalline skin glowed—

And then burst.

Again, Akane was flung back, skidding against the ground as she fought for purchase with her left arm—her right dangling uselessly at her side. Her ears rang, blocking out everything except the thud of her own heartbeat, her vision dark and murky until popping back into full colour.

Something warm and sticky splashed against her front, chunks of soft, wet flesh bouncing off her clothes. Akane looked up, breathing hard, and stared.

The monster was gone—dead.

What was left was a pile of flesh, a dark, almost burned orange mess of muscle, fat, and bone. Its blood pooled on the ground, a blackish orange shifting further and further to orange as it sat exposed to the air.

It was hard to see the shape of the monster in what was left, the almost gummy-like tissue barely resembling the crystalline creature Akane had spent the last hour fighting, but she knew, deep in her soul, that the thing was dead and gone.

Akane bared her teeth. Good.

Around her, a few people poked their heads out from behind cars, inside buildings, staring at her and the creature.

“Holy shit.”

“She killed it.”

“She made it fucking explode, dude!”

“She saved our lives!”

“They both did! Where’d the other one go?”

Akane’s eyes widened.

The woman!

Akane shot to her feet and ran, brushing past the crowd of people as she tore down the street, back to the half-collapsed building. She ran in, hopping over a receptionist desk and followed the sight and smell of drying blood.

Behind the wreckage of a computer, collapsed against a dented and cracked wall, lied the other magical girl.

Somehow, despite clearly being the same outfit, it seemed as if the woman’s outfit had dulled, somewhat, the vibrant yellows turning pale, sickly. The bottom of her shirt was soaked through with blood, puddling beneath her hip.

Akane slid to a crouch beside her, pressing her fingers against the woman’s neck as she strained her ears, desperately hoping, praying to feel something, hear something.

“Come on, come on,” she muttered.

There. It was slight, but her heart was beating, and small, shallow gasps of air were passing her lips.

“You’re okay. You’re going to be okay,” Akane said, then with trembling hands, looked down at the woman’s stomach, and the gaping, horrible wound laid there.

It looked—well, by the standards of an impalement, it looked good. It was healing, Akane could tell that—the blood loss was far less than she felt was reasonable, and she could see, slowly, the muscle and tissue knitting itself back together.

Slowly.

Far, far too slowly.

The woman coughed. Her eyes fluttered open, slowly, turning to Akane and barely managing to focus on her face.

It wasn’t—it wasn’t good, exactly, the way she looked, still too pale, but Akane couldn’t help but let her shoulders fall, a gasping, almost mad laugh of relief falling from her lips.

“You’re alive,” she breathed.

The woman coughed again, louder this time. “By the skin of my teeth. The—the monster, did you--?”

“It’s dead.”

The woman sighed, relaxing slightly as her eyes closed again. “Thank fuck.”

Akane shook her shoulders. “No, no, don’t fall asleep! Don’t pass out, okay? Stay with me. I’ll—I’ll get you to the hospital, just—”

“No!” The woman clamped an arm on Akane’s wrist, remarkably strong despite her wounds. “No, no—no hospitals. I can’t—they won’t—”

“You’re dying.”

The woman shook her head. “They—they can’t help, kid. They can’t fix me. I need to—I need to get somewhere else, need to—”

Akane leaned in. “Where? Where do you need to go?”

The woman took a long, shuddering breath.

“Home.”