Magical Girl Gunslinger

Magical Girl Everglaive looked down into the pool of water where Naiad sat, a young girl’s head propped up on her lap while the rest of her body was submerged. The faintly glowing water was stained with red, and the girl was… pale. So pale.

She turned away from the scene, her heart tight. The girl was in bad shape, and Ever knew saving the girl was going to be a close thing. If any other healer at Naiad’s level were here, Ever would have seriously doubted her survival. With only second tier magic and no Finale-class spells, bringing somebody back from such serious injuries while they were already over their healing limit was a slim prospect at best.

Thankfully, Naiad was more than just her stats. Everglaive had seen Naiad work literal miracles before, even saving a Guardian who had been cut into three different pieces. More than just her abilities, it was Naiad’s dedication. Whenever she wasn’t directly fighting Anathema, Naiad was out patrolling hospitals, healing as many people as she could until she was literally falling asleep on her feet. It was a fairly common occurrence that Ever had to force the younger girl to take breaks and recharge herself.

Naiad might have been younger and under the level 200 milestone, but Ever still trusted her more than any other healer she’d worked with. Even if Naiad didn’t have confidence in herself, Ever believed in her.

The only real question was if the rest of them would be enough to hold off the oncoming horde.

Ever turned, studying the surroundings. Gildscales and Thorina were alert, weapons at the ready as they watched the entrance. So far, the Anathema had failed to get past her Signature Magic. The glade would hold for a while, but as the Anathema began breaking down the other three doors into the room, Everglaive’s magic would quickly be strained.

She took a deep breath before making her decision.

“Plan B. Gild, head back up through the dome and take care of any flyers that try to get in. Thorina, roaming defense. Go out the entrance and work your way around the circular hallway surrounding this room. Take out as many as you can, and try to make sure they don’t get any more doors open. Both of you, fall back as you need to, and play it safe. I can defend while you recuperate. Save your Finale-class spells if you can and assume Naiad won’t be participating. No healing or buffs but what we can buy.”

Both of them nodded, Thorina giving a wide grin as she twirled her mallet. They’d planned for this contingency in the helicopter, the possibility that Naiad would be out of action while she healed the new Magical Girl. Granted, they’d hoped it would only be for a few moments. Naiad being taken out for the entire fight was… problematic.

This Usurpation zone covered multiple city blocks and had been going on for multiple hours un-culled, meaning there were hundreds or even thousands of Anathema. Their only saving grace was that based on the miasma quality, none should have been higher than level 150. The rest of her team was just over level 200, and Everglaive was considerably higher than that, giving them a significant power advantage. It would be a war of attrition, minimizing their mana and stamina expenditure while maximizing the damage they dealt.

And without Naiad, they were missing more than just a quarter of their firepower, they were missing their dedicated healer. While they could always use the Gate to buy healing items, they were never as effective as outright magic, especially not from a Blue.

Everglaive shook her head as her team went into motion. Golden light bloomed around Gild’s back, the glittering embers of light forming together before giving off a flash and manifesting into two draconic wings with yellow scales. The giant wings flexed as he crouched, and then he jumped, a wave of wind blasting out as the force of the motion made his entire form disappear instantly.

Meanwhile, Thorina was skipping her way to the already opened door, avoiding some of the still smoldering bodies of Anathema. Ever’s glaive trees parted for the Magical Girl, and she hopped onto the charred body of an Anathema lying halfway through the doors before disappearing into the hallway beyond. A second later, thunder boomed through the building.

Ever sighed. She was sure Gild would be able to properly pace himself, but Rina tended to lose herself in battle too easily. Though, with how much fighting they had ahead of them, maybe this was the exact situation Thorina would thrive in.

Everglaive opened her Status to check her mana before nodding. Her Finale-class spell had taken almost 1,700 mana, nearly a third of her total. With the mana regeneration penalties for using so much mana in such a short time, she’d have to be careful with what spells she cast for a bit. Ever would have to rely on her Glade of Glaives combined with her teammates to buy her enough time to recuperate.

In all, the situation was… not ideal. If it came down to it, her team could certainly escape, especially with Gild’s Signature Magic, but that would mean leaving the girl behind. In the condition she was in, Ever had no doubt it would take time to just stabilize her wounds. Naiad would let them know the second she was transportable, but until then, it was up to Ever and her team to protect their healer and hope for the best.

Ever sent some mana to her earpiece, reconnecting it to the main network. There was no point in staying out of touch if the Anathema already knew where they were, and getting information from Error and Guardian Command would be vital. Reaching out with her mind, she pushed her communicator to connect her to Error.

She got a waiting tone, and frowned but resumed looking around the room as thunder continued to rumble through the building. As her eyes roamed, she noticed a backpack sitting next to the shielding crystal. Walking over to it, she used her glaive to push it across the floor next to the pool of water before she resumed her vigil, making a mental note to look for any other items around the room that might belong to the girl.

Her communicator clicked a moment later, drawing back her attention..

“Ever, it’s Error,” an out-of-breath voice said. “Tell me you made it in time.”

“We did,” Ever replied calmly. “But barely. The girl’s critically wounded and at her healing cap, forcing Naiad to do deep healing. No ETA on when she might be done. We’re going to have to hold out until the girl’s stable enough to move.”

“Is she going to make it?” Error hissed.

Everglaive hesitated for only a moment before responding.

“I believe so, yes. The main issue will be us surviving the incoming siege. If you have any resources to support us with-”

“That won’t be a problem,” Error growled. “Just keep her safe. We’re coming to you.”

Ever blinked, frowning as she tried to parse the words.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that after my announcement, almost 80% of the Guardians in Arcadia broke off from their tasks to redeploy around your zone. The second the shielding station began restarting, it drew the Anathema out of their hiding spots and into the open on the streets. They started rushing inward in clumped, massive waves and-”

“-And then the Guardians struck,” Ever finished breathlessly, eyes widening in realization.

“It’s a slaughter,” Error growled with savage satisfaction. “Hundreds of Guardians falling on Anathema with their backs turned? I haven’t ever seen anything like it before. That poor girl didn’t just save that shelter with her Death Wish, she set us up to retake the biggest, most problematic Usurpation Zone in the city. So you just keep her safe, okay? The Guardians of Arcadia are on their way.”

-------

Wearing a hooded leather coat and designer skinny jeans, Magical Guardian Breakdance bobbed and weaved his way down the road, the towering buildings of Arcadia clumped on either side of him. Dramatic, orchestral battle music played from his spell, and he bounced and bobbed to the tune, moving around the dozens of Anathema corpses littering the road towards his opponent.

An Anathema faced him, a straggler who had survived the initial, fast moving assault of the first Guardians. It was a thick, humanoid creature with rippling muscles and four arms. Its face was dominated by a large, quivering eye, a jawless mouth underneath with dozens of tentacles that wiggled hungrily. It lunged at him, but Breakdance was ready.

Four arms swiped at him, each ending in a clawed hand whose bladed fingers would easily rip through flesh and stone alike. None found their mark as Breakdance slapped and twisted the blows aside, each counter parrying the flurry of blows to the beat of his music. Every motion built up the energy inside him as his Signature charged up, and once it reached its peak, Breakdance struck out, doing a partial, backwards flip onto his hands and kicking upwards straight into the Anathema’s tentacled chin.

Scarlet energy flashed through the monster’s head, exploding it into a pulpy mist of gore as his Signature unleashed his stored power into the strike. The Anathema dropped, but Breakdance didn’t miss a beat, continuing the back handspring and landing on his feet in one smooth, continuous motion. Never stopping, he resumed his dancing even as he moved further down the street.

Absently, he wiped his sweat soaked brow, pushing away a few stray, scarlet hairs. He knew he wasn’t the most powerful Guardian around, thus relegating him to cleaning up any Anathema the higher level Guardians had missed on their mad-dash towards the center of the zone, but Breakdance didn’t mind the job.

As long as he was helping to save that new Guardian, or at least avenge them, he didn’t much care what he was doing. Sure, it would have been cool to be part of the vanguard, sweeping through the streets and killing dozens of Anathema with every spell, but he wasn’t anywhere near that level yet. More than that, he was still a solo Guardian, unbound to any team or Guild. Being only a D-rank Guardian with nobody to support him, it only made sense for him to be on the cleanup detail.

So Breakdance continued moving, taking his time as he built back up his Signature for the next Anathema he encountered. Judging by his Rival Sense skill, there was at least one more monster in the area, though he couldn’t pinpoint its exact location. However, with his Center Stage skill actively challenging any Anathema in the area, he wasn’t bothered. Combined with the enchanted battle music playing from his spell, his opponent would be taunted out into the open in short order.

[Alley on the right, watch out for its might,] Breakdance’s Familiar rhymed in his head, and he twisted as a new figure slunk from the shadows between two towering apartment buildings.

It was big, easily ten feet tall with a worm-like body. Eyes and tentacles covered its slick black body, a human face topping the worm with a gaping, circular maw. It hissed, revealing dozens of teeth as it reared at him, increasing its height even further. Jagged bits of bone wrapped the entirety of its body like barbed wire, each undulating movement rasping the bone blades through the ground like it was butter.

Breakdance felt his heart skip a beat as his skill Size Up told him he was way, way out of his league. The thing had to have at least twenty levels on him, and judging by the hissing sound and noxious fumes from where its spit landed, it had some kind of acid ability.

It only took Breakdance a second to decide to retreat, but as he began gathering his mana to cast his go-to combination of escape spells, a figure jumped from the roof of the apartment building behind the Anathema. Breakdance saw little more than a shadowy form as the figure descended with unnatural speed, a long katana blade flashing in the night before sweeping down to cut the monster clean in half. A whispering scream wailed out as reality itself seemed to tear along the blade’s cut, a black and violet portal opening up in the center of the Anathema’s body.

The monster hissed out a scream before its body was violently jerked into the rift in one pull, and just like that, the monster was gone. The gaping portal remained a moment before seeming to let out a sigh, gently shrinking and then popping out of existence. The figure who had landed in a crouch rose, and Breakdance felt his heart start to race as the hairs on his body prickled in fear as the figure wearing all black rose before him.

The Dark Magical Girl wore a samurai-esque outfit with a ragged black cloak draped around her body. She wore a large, conical bamboo hat dyed the color of shadows, its brim hanging low enough to cover the upper half of her face. In her hand was an oversized katana, the guardless hilt wrapped in black, bandage-like cloth while the jagged blade was almost longer than Breakdance was tall. Dark Anathema blood flowed through small indents on the sword, filling up sharp-edged symbols that seemed to whisper with malice.

The Magical Girl looked around slowly before taking slow, steady steps towards him, and Breakdance felt himself tense. He’d heard the rumors of the rare Dark Magical Girls, and although he wasn’t one to normally let things like that sway him… there was something about every Dark he’d met so far that made him intensely uneasy. It was never the same, some simply giving off a creepy vibe while others appeared completely normal except for the occasional social tick. If it was just a little weirdness, he was sure it wouldn’t be an issue.

No. The problem was that to go with those traits, they always had some sort of power, some ability that absolutely set his teeth on edge. Out of curiosity, he’d once used his Size Up skill on a Dark Magical Girl he knew was at least ten to fifteen levels below him. Instantly, he’d broken out in a sweat as his skill sent a wave of nauseating cold through him. There was no sense of power or danger, just… cold.

Not even an Anathema had given him that feeling before.

After that, he’d asked around, but hadn’t gotten much information. The general advice was to be extra courteous and stay the hell away from them. If you were ever in trouble, there was nobody you would rather show up as reinforcements, but any other time, it was best to stay away.

But for every relatively neutral opinion, there was one that was much darker. He’d heard stories of teammates being betrayed or even other Guardians being attacked out of the blue. “Unstable” was maybe the most courteous word he’d heard describing them. Worse, they had a reputation for being unbeatable fighters in solo combat, meaning this exact situation was the last thing he ever wanted to happen. Every nearby Guardian was busy, leaving him completely alone with a girl who had just killed a powerful Anathema in one strike.

Breakdance swallowed, his throat suddenly dry as the Dark approaching him stopped ten feet away, her katana resting across the back of her shoulders nonchalantly. He put on his best smile, still continuing to dance as he used his will to change the music playing from his spell to a more passive, background tune.

“Yo, girl, thanks for the assist,” he grinned, hoping his nervousness didn’t show. “That was one scary mofo you just took down. I probably would have bailed if you hadn’t come along. Wasn’t expecting a mysterious savior, you won’t hear me complaining. Oh, I’m Breakdance by the way."

The girl looked up, the brim of her hat lifting enough to give him a look at her face. She was Asian, perhaps in her mid to late teens with thin, severe features. Her eyes were the color of silver, the pupils ragged, vertical slits like the edge of her katana. Her skin was a pale gray, almost corpse colored, but a soft smile raised the corners of her black lips as she watched Breakdance continue to dance in place even while he talked to her.

“Mourning Edge,” she replied, her voice surprisingly soft. “Are you on cleanup duty too?”

“You know it,” Breakdance said, ignoring the shiver down his spine. “The joys of being solo, ya’ know? Whole counter attack was sorta’ last second, so I got stuck with the lame job. No goin’ off rescuin’ the damsel for me, nope. Just me, a buncha’ mostly dead Anathema, and the occasional passing Guardian. Kinda’ lonely, actually.”

Breakdance didn’t know what he was saying. He knew he should just shut up and let the scary, reality-cutting girl move on, but his nerves just kept him talking. Even worse, the girl was kind of cute in the “scary goth samurai who could totally murder you and nobody would ever know” kind of way. If he kept talking, and there was no way he could stop himself now, he was sure he would say something to offend her. Hell, it happened with just about every other person he talked to, and that was when he wasn’t sweating up a storm remembering every scary story he’d ever been told about them.

The Dark Magical Girl smiled as he did a nervous spin, and Breakdance desperately hoped that it was amusement twinkling in her eyes and not hunger as she watched him continue dancing in place. There was no way he was going to stop now, though, not when his Signature powered him up the longer he danced. Worst case scenario, he could always channel the magic he was building up into a burst of speed and run from the girl.

I’m being ridiculous, Breakdance thought to himself. She’s a Guardian just like me, right? She wouldn’t just attack me. Pull yourself together, Breakdance. Since when have you cared about gossip?

“Well, I happen to be solo too,” Mourning Edge said almost hesitantly, pulling the brim of her hat down over her eyes. “So maybe… we could team up for a bit?”

No! Absolutely not! Breakdance screamed internally.

“Hell yeah, girl!” he replied, dismay washing through him as his mouth moved independent of his common sense. “Let’s kick some ass! Think you might be a little stronger than me, though. You sure you want to party up with me?”

The girl stiffened in surprise, lifting her face to look at him with wide eyes, and Breakdance felt himself start to panic. Did he say something to offend her? Oh god, was it because he called her girl? Everyone knew Guardians tended to keep their youthful looks, making it hard to tell their actual age. Maybe she was actually older than him? Should he have gone with miss? Ma’am? Wait, was he just assuming her gender and-

“I think…” Mourning Edge interrupted his fumbling thoughts. “It should be fine. I’m over level sixty, but I’m fine only taking on the stronger ones and watching your back. Safety in numbers and all that… If that’s okay…?”

“Cool, cool, cool,” Breakdance replied, licking his lips nervously. “Yeah, that sounds cool. I’d definitely appreciate the backup. I come in, give ‘em the good ol’ one-two, and if I pick on something stronger than me you can just come in and show ‘em what’s up, yeah? It’ll be like havin’ a big, scary sister followin’ me around. Uh, I mean, not necessarily big ‘cuz you ain’t that tall or nothin’. I mean, you are tall, just not like HUGE, ya’ know?”

Breakdance wanted to melt as words continued spilling from him. Maybe he had enough points to buy an invisibility spell and he could just disappear…?

The girl let out a quiet sound Breakdance didn’t quite catch, her hand moving to her mouth as she turned away, her shoulders shaking lightly. She turned back to him a few seconds later, the brim of her hat covering her face as she nodded to him.

“Alright then,” she said. “I look forward to working with you, Breakdance.”

“Likewise,” Breakdance lied, knowing that he’d doomed himself.

-------

Magical Girl Cutie Pie gasped as the blow from the Anathema sent her skipping across the road and into a parked sedan with enough force to dent in the door. Pain exploded through her body, her Aura soaking up most of the damage, but even still the blunt force whipped through her muscles as she bounced off the car and onto the ground. She scrambled to her feet, jumping clear from the spot just as a beam of black fire ripped through the spot she was just standing. The car was shorn clean in half, the fire even blasting through the concrete of the buildings beyond.

She staggered, raising her chef knife and frying pan at the Anathema facing her. It was big, a chimera-type with an armored, centipede lower body that stretched the length of a school bus. The torso was more humanoid, but with two muscular arms that ended in serrated crab claws. Large bat wings stretched from its back, adding to the demonic look of its rugged, horned face. The Anathema clamped its jaw shut, cutting off the beam of fire as it gurgled out something akin to a laugh, two yellow on black eyes with slit pupils glittering dangerously.

Cutie Pie ground her teeth together, not taking the bait as she retook her position. Behind her, she heard the pained whimpering from her teammate as their healer tried to triage her wounds. Kitten Claws had lost her arm in the first seconds of the fight, the Anathema appearing from seemingly nowhere as its magical camouflage bled away. Now, their Blue, Sugar Rush, was desperately trying to cast the right combination of spells to stem both the bleeding and pain.

She quickly glanced down at her magically reinforced outfit, taking in its condition to gauge her remaining Aura. Her maid dress was dirtied with small rips in the frilly pink accents and apron, but otherwise remained whole. The edges of the short skirt were frayed, but her pink thigh-highs were still whole. Judging by those details, she still had over half her Aura left. She didn’t dare open her status menu to check for details, though, not with the monstrosity standing before her.

Cutie returned her attention to the monster, gathering her mana while remaining in her defensive stance. The Anathema growled in response, rushing forward on its hundreds of tiny legs as it lunged at her, a giant crab claw aiming to snip off her head.

There was a whoosh of air as her teammate intercepted the blow mid air with a flying kick that sent the claw flying off course. The girl wore a short-sleeved maid outfit with a green apron and accents, her arms and legs covered in tight-fitting, silver power armor. Although the armor stretched up her neck, she wore no helmet, her long dark hair only held back by the frilly headband that matched the rest of her outfit. Tiny jets of fire blasted from her feet as she spun in the air, raising a hand and shooting out an emerald beam of energy from her palm into the Anathema.

The beam washed against the Anathema like water against a stone, and it slapped at her with its other hand, forcing her to abort the attack as she spun out of the way. Cutie Pie capitalized on the moment of distraction, aiming her knife and shouting as she let loose her own spell. Pink light streamed forth in a tight, sparkling beam that tore into the monster’s armored bicep. It roared in pain as the beam pierced through the chitin, a savage smile spreading across Cutie’s face as the edges around the wound began to transform into dough speckled with chocolate chips as her magic began changing the flesh around his injury into a cookie.

The Anathema twisted, one of its large wings acting as a shield to block the beam. To Cutie’s surprise, the thin webbing held against her spell, dispersing the ray with ease. She let the spell go, hopping backwards as Metal Maid launched her own attack. Green light glittered around her outreached arm as she launched a roaring barrage of viridian energy bolts. She flew around the Anathema as she attacked, aiming her attacks to strike at the unguarded centipede portion of its body.

Cutie risked a look back at her other two teammates as the Anathema roared in agony, twisting away as it tried to swat Metal Maid out of the air. Sugar Rush and Kitten Claws both wore maid outfits like Cutie and Metal, their aprons and frills blue and red respectively. Kitten held the stump of her right arm, her face contorted in rage as her red cat tail twitched behind her. Sugar held her hands out, a pristine cupcake with blue frosting sitting in her palms. Kitten took it with a growl, scarfing it down even as Sugar turned her attention back to Kitten’s stump.

It wasn’t bleeding anymore, and as Kitten took another bite of the cupcake, blue light began glowing around the wound, skin knitting itself over the exposed flesh and bone until it was completely closed. Sugar gave a nod, turning to Cutie.

“Healed and sealed, but I used almost 30% of her healing cap,” the blond haired girl with pigtails told her, her face smudged with flecks of blood. “And I’m at 30% mana regen penalty now.”

Cutie nodded with a confident smile, only letting herself swear on the inside. They’d gone straight from clearing Usurpations for hours on end into rushing into the Death Wish Usurpation with the rest of the Arcadian Guardians, and the lack of rest was starting to show. Normally, Kitten would have never been caught by a surprise attack like the one the Anathema had pulled, but they had just pushed themselves too far, too quick.

Not that they had much of a choice, not if they wanted to help save the Death Wish girl and the strike team who went after her.

The moment Error’s message to Arcadia had ended, her guild contacted her and started organizing the counter attack with the other big guilds, capitalizing on the fact that the Anathema would be drawn out by the shielding station’s start sequence. Guardian Command had joined when it became clear over half the Guardians would be abandoning their previous tasks for the new plan, but even with their help, it had been a frantic, hasty plan. Still, no Guardian in their right mind wanted to be left out if they could help it, not if it meant helping the poor girl who’d taken the Death Wish.

It was the best they could do, attacking the horde from “behind” and destroying the worst of the forces charging towards her. Cutie had no illusions that whether the girl lived or died wouldn’t be decided by their actions, but she’d be damned if she was going to let her sacrifice go by in vain. If nothing else, Cutie and her comrades were determined to wipe out the vast Anathema forces and clear the zone in her honor.

But their mad, vengeful rush was precarious, and all it had taken was a strong Anathema with semi-decent stealth abilities to ambush them successfully.

Cutie turned her attention back to the Anathema as Metal was sent flying back to them, slamming into the ground in a crouch that cracked the road beneath her. She grunted, standing as sparks arced from thin metal armor over one of her arms, a tear in her outfit’s shoulder revealing more of her power armor beneath. Kitten stepped up to Cutie’s other side, scarlet light wrapping around her remaining hand before condensing into a giant, kitten-paw shaped glove with claws extended. Sweetie took position behind the three, picking up a large spoon that served as her staff.

The giant Anathema faced them, letting out a cautious growl as it took in the four magical girls arrayed against him.

“Definitely around 150,” Kitten hissed, her cat ears twitching in her short, scarlet hair. “Not as fast as me, though.”

“Anti-magic wings,” Metal noted. “My spells are barely leaving a scratch.”

“Watch its crab claws for fire beams, not just its mouth,” Cutie nodded, activating her Inspire skill. “It may be big, it may be bad, but we’ve faced worse. We don’t have time for small fry like him, not when a girl on her first day is fighting for her life. Hit fast, hit hard, and take him down, Magical Cakes.”

A faint aura of pink energy seemed to surround her teammates, their stances changing minutely as confidence combined with a minor stat boost infused them. The Anathema seemed to sense the shift in their demeanor, and it roared, a black magic circle with an eldritch pattern appearing in front of its mouth as it prepared to unleash another beam of fire.

“Go!” Cutie screamed, and her team charged forward.

-------

Error Machina ran through the winding halls of Guardian command, and people parted to either side of the pale, futuristic hallways without hesitation. He pushed himself, sprinting as fast as he could, but he was no agility-based Guardian. Even with over 200 levels propping him up, he’d invested less than what was considered average into the stat.

Still, he was moving faster than any normal human should be able to, and he was able to make it to his “office” from the command room in less than a minute. He pressed his hand against the scanner, growling under his breath as he urged the verification process to hurry up. He’d already been delayed too long in the command room helping the guilds and Command put together a new plan to attack the Usurpation Zone. Worse, some of the higher ups had tried to delay him by screaming pointless words like “insubordination” and “reckless endangerment” after he’d sent out his message across the city.

They had, of course, shut up when they realized he literally wasn’t listening to them. Only after he’d gotten the confirmation from Everglaive did he leave the command room, letting his team of Operators take over.

He had other places to be.

The scanner beeped, the doors in front of him sliding open with a swish as Error stepped into his seat of power.

The room was a big, spherical thing, an unsupported pathway leading from the entrance to the room’s center. The walls of the sphere were made from dozens of monitors, and as Error stepped forward, they flicked on, showing camera footage from all across Arcadia. The doors closed behind him as he made his way to the center of the room where a metal harness-like contraption dangled from the top of the sphere. Large wires and tubes ran from the harness to the ceiling, and Error stepped up to it, turning his back as he sent a wave of mana into the machine.

The machine hummed, unfolding claw-like fingers that wrapped around his back and attached to his armor. Magnetic clamps activated, securing him and gently lifting his body from the platform as the entire pathway began receding, leaving him suspended in the center of the sphere with only the light of the monitors around him.

Error Machina took a deep breath in, pulling up the energy inside him as he let his emotions spill out. The anger, anxiety, and fear swirled in him, and he fed the maelstrom, pushing the energy to grow. A heat began to warm his chest even as an emerald magical circle appeared beneath his suspended feet, but it wasn’t enough. Error pushed himself, feeding the power even further as he pulled power from his memories.

A small, too-thin girl with an eyepatch, telling him how she would go turn on a mana generator even without her Astral Shift.

The girl appearing again, now with only one arm as Error told her what had gone wrong.

The realization washing across her face when she realized people were responsible for everything that had happened.

The quick acceptance followed by the decision to sacrifice her own life.

The single, simple wish that she gave, one so basic and innocent Error would have done it even without it being her Death Wish.

And finally, a weeping girl wearing a black hospital gown in a dark, dingy warehouse. She stood in a pool of blood deep enough to cover her toes, four mangled bodies arrayed around her as she cried. Her bandage-covered hands were pressed over her face as she wailed, her wide eyes shaking as she peered between her fingers at Error’s horrified expression.

Zero.

Error cried out, letting the flood of emotions pour into his spell as tears fell from his eyes.

Not again. Never again.

“Digital Domain,” Error screamed, and his Signature Magic flashed outward in a wave of emerald energy, the magitech devices behind the monitors surrounding him beginning to hum in a fever pitch as they resonated with his magic.

A second later, Error’s vision became that of the hundreds of cameras that connected his mind directly to the Arcadian defense network. Information streamed into his mind, and it took all his focus to keep up with the flow as he was informed of the various orders and communications being sent through Guardian Command. Dozens of conversations whispered in his mind as he was connected to the current Operator calls across Arcadia, hundreds of status displays and readouts flickering across his vision and disappearing just as quickly.

Error focused through the noise, narrowing his attention to Usurpation Zone 15-01 as he prepared to use his magic directly on the Guardians within.

It was something that was impossible only minutes ago. Affecting things in an Usurpation Zone from beyond with magic was already difficult, and the sheer amount of miasma in UZ 15-01 had been enough that any spell he cast would have been quickly nullified. Now that the shielding station had been reactivated, though, things were different. The shield reinforced the boundaries of reality, helping to reduce the miasma in the zone by a considerable amount. Unfortunately, while the remaining miasma wasn’t enough to block his spells, there was still enough left to weaken his magic considerably, and the distance involved was doing him no favors either.

Thankfully, he’d spent nearly 100,000 points building the room around him to negate those exact difficulties.

Magitech devices, ritual implements, enchantments, and runes designed to enhance his magic surrounded him, all working in unison to boost his power. More than that, his Signature allowed him to synchronize with and fully control any electronic device like it was an extension of his own body. By using his Signature on the magitech around him, he was strengthening the very devices meant to empower his spells while also linking himself to the vast information of the Arcadian defense network.

Even still, he knew it wasn’t enough for his spells to reach the center of the Usurpation Zone and help Fantasy Fatale. The miasma at the center was still more than enough to block any of his spells.

But the perimeter where Guardians were already reducing the miasma by taking out Anathema?

That was a different story.

Error’s mind flicked over the various defensive options he now had access too, watching through cameras as the situation unfolded. Squads of Guardians in groups of four to eight rolled through UZ 15-01, slaughtering Anathema by the dozens. Groups of Guardians with flying magic soared between Arcadia’s towering buildings, raining down lightning and fire in strafing runs that blasted apart the Anathema-crowded roads. Spines and acid shot forth at them in counterfire from the windows of buildings only to be blasted apart by arrows and spells from ranged Guardians leaping from rooftop to rooftop.

Dozens of scenes of combat played out across Error’s vision as an unprecedented number of Guardians worked together to bring death to the Anathema. Error forced himself to look through the chaos, searching through the scenes for any Guardian that might need his assistance.

Error spotted a group of Guardians being surrounded at an intersection by dozens of two-headed, human-faced hounds, and he reached out. Seize Domain, Digital Armor, Digital Blades, Summon Virtual Legionnaires. He cast the spells, releasing his magic into the network as he watched the effects from a security camera.

Instantly, a grid of green light spread beneath the Guardians, the energy reaching up to form ethereal plate armor over their outfits, their weapons igniting with pixelated, viridian fire. On every side of the Guardians, four figures rose from the ground. They were translucent beings of light made of a flickering, emerald wireframe that outlined their bodies and Roman soldier armaments. Each held large square tower shields and spears, and they moved in unison to create shield walls between the Guardians and the Anathema.

The Guardians let out a cheer, instantly going on the offensive as the summoned legionnaires kept the tide of Anathema at bay, spells and enhanced attacks flying from the Guardians to rip through the monsters. Error only watched for a moment before turning his attention to another problem area, repeating the process again.

And then again.

And again.

He tailored his spells to each instance, sometimes only summoning a group of legionnaires to act as meat shields and other times calling forth one of his powerful Angels to swoop in and rescue an injured Guardian. He kept his eye out for any truly critical situations, but no matter where he looked, none of the Guardians were truly desperate. There were simply too many Guardians fighting in the zone, and every time he spotted a situation he thought might turn really bad, another Guardian swooped in to flip the battle around.

Even Error’s interventions proved to be mostly redundant, other reinforcing Guardians often arriving just as his spells took effect. He even recognized some of the long-range spells taking effect as coming from other Guardians working as Operators, lashing out from their own ritual rooms. Quickly, the biggest problem Error faced was making sure he didn’t waste his mana overlapping his support magics with another Guardian’s.

Error took a deep breath, forcing himself to slow his pace as his mana dropped to less than half. He knew he was pushing himself too far, too fast, but he couldn’t stop himself. Even with his emotions artificially boosting his mana regeneration, he couldn’t keep up with the dozens of situations he was throwing himself into, often casting more spells than he knew was necessary just to ensure the Anathema would be slaughtered as quickly as possible.

His attention turned as a distress call to an Operator caught his attention, and he flicked his attention to the spot in question, sucking in a deep breath as he saw the Guardians in distress. The Anathema they faced was strong, and Error barely had to check the miasma readouts to know the monster was the Seed Bearer, the source of the Usurpation Zone itself. Error built up his mana, his muscles beginning to ache as arcane power rippled through him, and then he unleashed his fury.

Hang on, kōhai. I promise, this will all be over soon.

-------

Magical Girl Cutie Pie panted as she jumped back from another of the Anathema’s attacks, beams of dark energy shooting out in a rain of death from the dozens of black magic circles glowing on the monster’s wings. One of the beams clipped her side, blowing completely through her Aura and ripping a gash beneath her ribs. She bit back against the cold, gnawing pain as her flesh disintegrated, forcing herself to continue skipping back and forth as she twirled through the rest of the beams.

Kitten dashed past her a second later, twisting through the dozens of attacks with ease as she rolled, twirled, and launched herself over the endless barrage of death until she reached the body of the Anathema. She let out a shout, scarlet energy gathering around her clawed glove as she slashed upward from three feet away. Five crimson lines of energy hissed outward, flashing across the distance and into the Anathema’s torso, tearing through its flesh with ease.

Blood sprayed out in a crimson mist as the Anathema roared, aborting the beam attack as it folded its wings protectively over itself. Cutie took a step forward to press her own attack but stumbled, the pain causing her to stumble on the rubble of the destroyed road beneath her. Sugar was next to her in an instant, reaching out a hand to Cutie’s injured side and whispering a word. Blue light began glowing from her hand, glittering motes of sapphire gliding into Cutie’s wound and slowly easing the throbbing pain in her side.

The Anathema began to unfurl its wings only for Metal Maid to come flying in, unleashing twin beams of green plasma from her palms. The Anathema crouched back behind its wings, the beams dispersing against them harmlessly, but a sonic boom exploded the windows of a nearby building as a glowing pink arrow shot out, stabbing into the Anathema’s wings before exploding in a kaleidoscope of color.

Another Guardian joined in, a classic fireball shooting from a rooftop down on top of the monster, but still the wings seemed to hold against the inferno. More Guardians struck out, launching their own strikes in an endless rain of spell strikes to keep the Anathema pinned down. Lightning bolts, spinning discs of water, and even iridescent musical notes flew into the Anathema, exploding against the creature in a relentless onslaught of magic.

By Cutie's guess, there were another six or seven Guardians aiding them now, but they were all staying on the backlines. None of them must have been high enough level to stand front and center with Cutie’s team, but the constant flow of support magic and long-ranged attacks was more than just appreciated. In fact, It was only due to their constant interruptions of the Anathema’s attacks that Cutie’s team was still standing at all.

Still, even with all of them working together, it wasn’t enough. The Anathema probably had at least ten to fifteen levels on Cutie, which was hardly insurmountable with her entire team backing her up. The problem was that this was no ordinary Anathema, it was a Seed Bearer, an Anathema that fused with the Curse Seed responsible for keeping the Usurpation Zone anchored in reality. Anytime an Anathema fused with a Seed, it made the creature significantly stronger.

And judging by how tough this particular Anathema was, it had already been an Elite or Rare even before eating the Curse Seed. It was big, tough, and capable of using basic magical attacks. Worst of all, this Anathema had a ridiculous amount of regeneration. Every attack they landed healed up in only a few dozen seconds. It wouldn’t be able to keep up forever, but it was a war of attrition, a question of if they could wear out the Anathema’s abilities before it took one of them down.

So far, Cutie wasn’t liking her odds.

“There,” Sugar gasped from her side, staggering away from Cutie in exhaustion. “Best I can do for now. Those beams are definitely curse magic.”

Cutie let out a hiss of air through her teeth. Plenty of Anathema could use magic, but dealing with curse magic was an entirely different story. Combined with the monster’s already absurd physical abilities, Cutie knew it was just too much for them to handle.

Cutie raised her hand to her earpiece even as more spells fell upon the Anathema from a new Guardian that joined in. With an effort of will and flick of mana, she sent out an emergency call to Command that was accepted immediately.

“Mayday, mayday, mayday. This is Cutie Pie of Maid Cafe, rank B. My team and other Guardians have engaged the suspected Seed Bearer of UZ 15-01 and are being overwhelmed. Target appears to be capable of using curse magic. Requesting immediate assistance, 150 plus only! I say again-”

Before she could finish, the Anathema let out a roar, a wave of black energy exploding outward. The spells caught in the blast of energy disintegrated, and Cutie was forced to jump back as the wave ate away at the ground beneath the Anathema, dissolving it into flecks of darkened ash in a twenty foot circle around it. Street lights and cars caught in the wave simply broke apart into blackened ash, creating a perfectly empty circle around the monster.

It growled, raising a crab claw hand at Cutie, and three tendrils of shadow began to curl between its pincers like a whirlpool, forming into a ball of darkness that sucked in the color from the world around it. Violet lightning sparked across the orb as it began to grow in size, and Cutie let out a warning shout as she felt the gathering miasma and mana spike to massive levels. She grabbed Sugar Rush and physically threw the girl away from herself, calling up her own mana and beginning to cast a shield spell even though she knew the gesture was futile.

Before she could cast, a grid of emerald light spread across the ground beneath her while a giant magic circle with a pattern of repeating ones and zeroes bloomed into existence next to the Anathema. From the circle, an eight-foot tall figure rose. They were made entirely of emerald light, their form a mere wireframe outline that showed a vaguely angelic figure wearing a dress with plate armor covering their chest, shoulders, and arms. Wings spread out from the figure as it hefted a giant sword of buzzing emerald energy, and with a flickering slash, the angel cut off the arm of the Anathema in a single, elegant motion.

The orb of shadows held between the pincers flickered before exploding in a vortex that vaporized the dismembered limb, and the Anathema let out a roar of agony. Cutie stared in dull shock as she heard calm, assured footsteps echo out behind her, and she turned to look at the approaching figure.

The young man walking towards her wore a skintight suit of dark green with emerald pieces of glass-like armor covering his chest, shoulders, hands, and legs. A completely featureless, angular mask of black metal hid his face but left his moss-green, spiky hair uncovered. Glowing emerald lines lit up his outfit in a pattern like circuits, and his entire form was semi-transparent, as if he was some kind of ghost or… a hologram?

He stepped forward with utter confidence, walking up to the Anathema without a care in the world.

“Good work, Cutie,” a modulated voice said, and Cutie blinked in surprise as she recognized it as Error Machina’s. “Looks like you got it under half health. I’ll take it from here.”

Error continued walking forward, passing by the towering angel figure as he neared the Anathema. The monster snarled, swiping out a claw with lightning speed, and Cutie let out a gasp as the claw hit Error and-

Went completely through him, leaving him utterly unharmed.

“That’s right, dumbass,” Error snarled, and Cutie swallowed as she felt the mana in the air building up. “I’m not actually here. Unfortunately for you, you’re still in my domain.”

Error reached out a hand towards the towering Anathema, a magic circle appearing beneath his form and spinning at a sickening speed. The small hairs on Cutie’s skin prickled as she felt more mana building up in one place than she’d ever felt before, and then Error snarled words that made reality ripple.

“Force Close.”

The Anathema froze in place, utterly unmoving. A loud, staticky crackle like feedback from a speaker ripped through the air followed by a shrill, long beeping tone. Pieces of the Anathema turned blue and featureless while others jittered out of place like jigsaw pieces, entire sections of the Anathema flickering from one spot to another as if it was glitching out. The monster’s entire form blurred, suddenly becoming horribly pixelated, and then-

It disappeared. No flash of light, no gradual disintegration. One moment the Anathema was there, and the next it was gone, leaving the dark, ruined intersection of the city utterly empty.

[Defeated (Cursed Centipede Chimera - Level 153)]

[Bonus experience awarded for defeating an enemy more than fifteen levels above your own!]

[Bonus experience awarded for defeating a Rare Anathema!]

[Bonus experience awarded for defeating a Seed Bearer!]

[Experience split among all combat participants based on participation.]

[Congratulations! You’ve leveled up multiple times! You are now level 137!]

[Stat Points Available: 20]

[Congratulations! Your Class Pastry Princess has leveled up multiple times! You are now level 126!]

[Congratulations! Multiple Skills have leveled up! Check Status Log for more information!]

Cutie looked on in awe at Error Machina as he lowered his hand, a subtle snap echoing through reality as a tension in the air seemed to relax, the Usurpation Zone dropping around them. Error turned, giving Cutie a nod before his form vanished in a flash of light along with the emerald angel and the grid beneath them.

Cutie stared for all of a minute before taking a deep breath, forcing herself to move. The Usurpation Zone may have fallen, but there were still plenty of Anathema to clean up, even if they were now significantly weakened. Besides, after what she had just witnessed, Cutie knew she still had a long, long way to go if she ever wanted to be like Error.

So she moved, giving orders to her team to form up. The battle may have been won, but they still had a war to win.

-------

On the roof of the Grand Arcadian Mall, next to the broken dome of glass peering down into the shielding room, a spherical patch of reality appeared oddly smudged. It was a slight thing, as if the colors of the world had bled slightly into one another. Even then, it was an almost imperceptible change, and Gildscales failed to notice it as he fought on in the skies above, releasing arrow after arrow into the endless stream of flying Anathema.

His spells split apart into dozens of golden shards, streaking through the night like comets before exploding in brilliant golden flashes that lit up the darkness. Still, the tide came, but it was never at a pace Gildscales couldn’t seem to keep up with. Anytime more than a few creatures gathered together, a spell from the Guardian would lash out, vaporizing the group before they could overwhelm him.

Beneath him, the two invisible figures inside the patch of cloaked reality did nothing to interfere or reveal themselves, merely watching as he fought on.

“I can’t believe I didn’t make it in time…” a voice sulked from near the edge of the glass dome.

“We can’t be everywhere,” a second voice comforted the first. “Besides, it all worked out in the end. Just not how we might have expected it to.”

“Still… We’re usually on top of things like this.”

“You’re being too hard on yourself. Being in all seven Sanctuary Cities at once had us spread too thin, especially with Eden being our priority. We had no way of catching this in time, not with how things played out, and definitely not with this being caused by a completely new Guardian popping out of nowhere.”

There was another grumble, and the second voice sighed.

“If it makes you feel any better, I’m sure this girl will be part of your next assignment.”

“Really?” the first voice piped up, her voice quivering with excitement.

“After what happened here? Of course. There’s too many questions left unanswered, and she’s a Dark anyway. I’m guessing you’ll be spending more time on her than the others, too.”

“Yes!” the first voice giggled. “It’s been too long since I had a proper muse!”

The second didn’t respond, simply watching as the events in Arcadia unfolded. Even as they observed, there was a snap, and reality seemed to relax as an invisible tension disappeared from the air. Both figures let out a sigh as the Usurpation Zone lifted.

“That’s our cue,” the second voice sighed. “Onto the next city, then.”

A moment later, the blurred patch of reality flickered back to normal, but the two figures were already long gone.

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