"They can't be serious," Kyoko said, outraged. "It's an affront to everything decent." Inwardly, she winced, hoping her voice wouldn't carry beyond the alley's depths. Such words would mean instant execution if the wrong ears heard them.
"You're overreacting." Wakumi said, rolling her eyes. "Stop getting all moral. We've all killed plenty already."
"But!" Kyoko's voice trailed off, not having a decent argument. Her hands were stained with blood, enough to give her nightmares. After some consideration, she gave a reluctant nod.
"Do you hear yourselves?" Haia said, hugging her fairy partner tight. "The cosmos will become a barren husk."
"They won't go that far." Wakumi said with a snort. "Besides, it's too late to quibble about morality. We do our job as magical girls. We've all gone too far to course correct now."
"You're wrong." An unfamiliar voice said. Everyone turned to find a pink-haired girl entering the alley. "The future is never determined. You can always walk a different path."
"Hey, I know you! You're that magical girl who's been causing trouble." Everyone had been gossiping about her, Himari Uyou, a bold one who'd spoken out against the Devil Princesses. Kyoko had heard her name whispered alongside another infamous rebel magical girl named Seina. Supposedly, they'd slayed Yuuka Tsujikawa the Mad. While Kyoko wasn't sure if this was true, both had caused their overlords to stir.
Himari inclined her head in acknowledgment. "Yes, I'm here to spread the truth."
"Here to die, more like," Wakumi said, unimpressed. Kyoko couldn't blame her. The short, timid girl seemed weak enough that a strong wind would snap her in half. "The three of us could kill you in nanoseconds. I bet the Devil Princess would offer a handsome reward for your hide."
But Himari continued on like the other girl hadn't spoken. "Even if you don't care about saving lives, what happens once Operation: Extinction is completed? Do you really think the Devil Princesses will have much use for you afterward?"
"What do you mean?" Wakumi said, hesitating.
"While I don't know what they're planning, it can't be good. For goodness' sake, they're ordering mass extinction. Do you really think their end game has anything good planned for you?"
Kyoko's mind whirled. She'd never considered this possibility. The Devil Princesses had always kept their plans to themselves. No one was certain why they wanted to spread suffering across the cosmos. A sudden dread struck Kyoko's heart, making her absentmindedly stroke her partner's fur.
"I don't know about you, but I'm not joining this madness!" Haia said, fire blazing in the quiet girl's eyes. "Enough is enough."
"Traitors, all of you!" But Kyoko noticed the lack of conviction in Wakumi's voice.
"Damn them all, that's my opinion," Kyoko said, speaking up. This caught everyone's attention. "I still have family living on my world. If this operation happens, they'll all die!" She'd never even wanted to become a magical girl. They had thrust it upon her after a chance encounter with Lieutenant Haruko Ayaji. The bully had forced her to bond with Lala, damning her into this nightmarish life. Worse, she'd threatened to kill Kyoko's family if she refused to obey.
"Me too!" Haia said, nodding. "Enough is enough."
"I…" Wakumi said, hesitating. Within her eyes, fear warred with itself. She wasn't sure which possibility feared her more, the upcoming cataclysm or angering the Devil Princesses.
"I swear I'll protect you," Himari said, her smile warm.
"Tsk." Wakumi scowled, looking away. Despite her initial hesitation, she'd go along with them for now.
"We need to spread the word, get other girls fighting against this insanity. Powerful as they are, the Devil Princesses can't contain us all."
"We need to warn Seina about Operation: Extinction!" Himari's partner said.
"Sure, if you live long enough." A newcomer said. Fear struck Kyoko dumbstruck as she recognized the figure standing at the alley's entrance.
"Haruko Ayaji," Kyoko said, trembling. Dreadful memories flooded her head, the brutal, cruel training returning unbidden. Befuddlement replaced her fear as she caught sight of the magical girl recruiter. What the heck had happened to her?
"I knew if I sniffed around, I'd find some rats." A whirring sound buzzed as the cyborg magical girl turned to address them. Metal poked out of her magical girl dress, mechanical parts replacing the bottom half of her body.
"Yeah, get ready to be sorry!" Kion, the cyborg's partner, said.
"Huh. That's different." While the other magical girls trembled in fright, knowing Haruko's frightful temper, Himari only stared in confusion. "What happened to you?"
"Seina, that's what." Haruko's face extended into a hate-filled snarl. "They did this to me! They got lucky and pulled some stupid tricks to win."
"But." The recruiter's face broke into a sly smile that contained frigid ice beneath. "If you're a friend of that scum. You'll be useful. I wonder how Seina will react when I send her your head? I'll teach her to make a fool of me."
Despite the threats, Himari still seemed unbothered. She stared back, her expression impassive. "People like you are why I turned against Starlight Dream. You don't deserve to be a magical girl."
"And you don't deserve to live! The Devil Princess will forgive my past transgressions if I hand them yours and Seina's corpses." Haruko said, entering a fighting stance.
"Get Seina," Himari said, whispering in Kyoko's ear. "Laim will show you the way."
"Got it!" Liam said, grabbing Kyoko by her dress's sleeve.
"But you'll be trapped on Starlight Dream!" While she hadn't known Himari long, Kyoko didn't want to leave her to die. She'd seen Haruko's horrible power. With her ultimate control of vectors, nothing could threaten her.
"I can follow later by myself. Now go. Warn Seina." Himari said. With a gasp, Kyoko fell as Himari pushed her into a summoned portal.
"Flee, I'll handle this!" The brave magical girl said, instructing the frightened others. These words faded away as Kyoko slipped into the inky embrace of the portal's depth.
---
"Yeah, another bites the dust!" Momoe said, the fire of the burning surface flickering in her pupils. While putrid, the smell of ash and death excited her. This was why she became a magical girl, the thrill of having the power to be beyond anyone's control.
"I still think you cooked them too quick." Her partner, Lala, said, voice full of disapproval. "The Devils will get on your butt if you can't get enough suffering."
"Whatever, the planets out there are infinite. They'll get all the fuel they'll need." Why wasn't important. All that mattered was showing their superiority.
For good measure, her magic captured the planet's moon. Her eyes glowed in delight as the satellite smashed into the charred planet, cracking it in half. And what the heck? As she flew towards the nearest inhabited planet, she crushed nearby planetoids with a flick of her magic, shattering them to dust. Why stop at one planet, right? She jumped to the next solar system.
"I wonder how they'd like it if I snuffed their sun out?" Momoe asked, already bored with the Devil Princess's scorched earth plan. With a gesture, a shield formed around the glowing red giant. It flashed, licking against her shield helplessly, not even light could escape from the roaring giant. From the third planet's surface, the only inhabited world, it'd appear like the sun had suddenly burned out.
"Oops, I messed up!" She watched as each planet from the sun suddenly drifted out of orbit, heading further into the solar system. Her shield blocked heat, radiation, light, and gravity. "Oh well!"
"I bet the inhabitants are feeling the deep freeze!" Lala said, laughing at her own joke. "How long before they freeze to death? Days at most?"
"Eh, it's good enough." As long as the Devil Princesses got their suffering, did the method matter? With a flick of her hand, the red giant exploded to pieces. Little remained beyond a flicker of light.
"Dang, the next enhab is in the next galaxy." How bothersome. "Have we ruined this galaxy already?" Thanks to their fun, little life remained in this universe.
"Seems so." Lala said, shrugging, "I can't feel any life remaining beyond that dying, freezing rock we just created."
"Sweet! Let's get to the other one."
"No!"
"Huh?" Who had said that? Before Momoe could register what was happening, she howled in pain as crimson squirted from a stomp that'd been her right arm.
"Momoe!" Lala said, alarmed.
"No more destruction, magical girl." A stranger said, a magical girl, unlike anything Momoe had ever witnessed before. "This senseless death stops."
"Who the hell are you?!" Momoe snarled, exposing pearly white teeth.
"Call me, Bathiko." The stranger replied. "I'm putting a stop to this madness."
"Momoe Nakamura, the Tansy Terror! Lieutenant of Starlight Dream!" she boasted, "I'm not letting you ruin my fun. But you can entertain me." And she knew just the trick, her opponent gasped as a vice constricted her windpipe. Her throat bulged, and the clog increased in size.
Tears of pain streaked down Bathiko's cheeks, the agony unbearable. Soon, the other magical girl's head would pop off like a doll. Momoe watched in amusement as Bathiko vainly clutched at her throat, anything to free her windpipe. But it won't stop. Momoe was enjoying herself too much.
A weapon appeared in her opponent's hand, its metal surface sleek and sharp. But Momoe wasn't worried, more amused by Bathiko's pathetic attempts to protect herself. A knife whizzed through space, but it only earned a laugh from Bathiko as it bounced off Momoe's invisible shield millimeters from her nose.
"Too bad. Picked the wrong fight, girl." Momoe's guffawing turned into uproarious laughter as terror entered her opponent's expression.
But Bathiko refused to surrender, knives flinging at her killer at incredible speed. Only for Momoe's shields make quick work of them, rendering them useless.
"Don't bother. Nothing can hurt me." Even if her opponent could bypass one shield, Momoe would only create another one beyond it. With her thousands of shields, she'd never even get a scratch.
"In fact." Momoe beamed, watching in amusement as Bathiko writhed in unimaginable pain. Unsurprising considering thousands of shields were assaulting her atoms, tearing her to pieces from within.
"What's with that look?" Instead of fear, Bathiko only stared at Momoe with abject hatred. She loathed Momoe's very being, a filth that needed to be scrubbed away.
"Only one of us is filth," Momoe said, implanting her toe into her victim's chest cavity. She didn't relent either, eager to pound this annoyance to dust.
"What?" Blood trickled from Momoe's mouth, and she staggered back. Much to her surprised befuddlement, a knife stabbed into her chest, implanted to the hilt.
What? How had she bypassed my shield? Her shields were invisible. She shouldn't have known where Momoe was unguarded. The smug smile on her prey's mouth inflamed Momoe's hackles.
"Explode to pieces!" But Bathiko was already moving, heading in a direction that messed up her attempt to control her shields. Anything moving made maintaining her shields more difficult. They were most destructive against stationary targets. And her prey kept being a nuisance, just knowing where to avoid keeping the invisible shields from trapping her.
Is that her ability? She cursed as knives slashed toward her, forcing her to redirect her shields to defend herself. While potent, her shields couldn't cover everything.
"Oh well." While irritating, this was getting fun. It'd been a while since she'd had a real opponent. With a flick of her wrist, she summoned her weapon. While awkward with one hand, her shotgun's weight was reassuring.
"Woah!" Bathiko said, jumping back as hot lead shot past her.
"Not bad. Try this." Momoe cocked her shotgun with her teeth and fired again.
"Oof!" Bathiko grunted as her head stuck into a shield she hadn't expected. While weak, it'd keep the annoyance right where Momoe wanted her. Blood floated in the vacuum as hundreds of pellets blasted into her target. And Momoe kept her pinned, her shields keeping her opponent caged as she fired.
"How's that?" Momoe said, pleased with herself. She didn't know why this other magical girl had attacked her, but she'd been foolish to think Momoe would be easy prey.
"Not enough!" Bathiko said through gritted teeth. "I can't die until I bury the Devil Princesses. Until my people are free!"
"Huh?" What nonsense was the other magical girl babbling? She gasped as a dark aura gathered around Bathiko, her eyes blazing a malevolent purple. Momoe pulled her shotgun to a protective position, ready to defend against anything her opponent might try.
"I have to go beyond!" Instead of stabbing into Momoe's opponent as expected, Bathiko slashed upward into nothing.
"What the?" Momoe's eyes widened. She watched as a colorful gash appeared in space leaking black smoke. Then the universe tumbled, her mind spinning as everything spiraled into chaos. Space, the stars, and even the ruined remains of a nearby planet bled together like a streaking oil painting. Blackness consumed her and the rest of reality. Nothing existed here, not even time.
What the hell? Had Bathiko just destroyed the universe they'd been in? How? It shouldn't be that easy to pop a universe! Before Momoe could even dwell on this impossibility, pain erupted from her chest.
Stupid! I let myself get distracted! Furious, she summoned a shield around herself. Blood pooled around her chest as the barrier formed around her knife wound, and Momoe's breathing hardened. Silly considering there wasn't any air in the void, but it'd be an automatic bodily reaction.
"That won't save you."
Momoe gasped as a blade pierced her barrier, stabbing below her left rib. Impossible! Nothing should be capable of piercing through her shields. Without light, Momoe flailed in the dark, unable to protect herself. No matter where she guarded herself, her opponent knew her weakest point.
"I see everything," Bathiko said, her tone colder than the void. "I see your death!"
Before Momoe could even cry out to plead for mercy, a stabbing pain ripped through her heart. Her limbs slacked as her strength failed her, her breath a hacking wheeze.
"Yes, I like this power," Bathiko said, her tone flat and emotionless. "I understand now. I must go beyond Seina. Nothing can impede my mission." She bellowed a laugh that chilled the shredded remains of Momoe's heart.
I have to warn people! Stop her somehow! Escape. Need to escape. She grasped out in the void, seeking her best friend. "La…" But before Momoe could utter her partner's name, a stabbing pain drove into her neck, and Tansy Terror was no more.