SYSTEM WARNING

Anathema Emergence detected. Reality Usurpation imminent.

SYSTEM MESSAGE

Emergency shelters have been opened. Please make your way to the nearest shelter by following the arrows on the ground. Remain calm and proceed in an orderly fashion.

REMINDER: Once a shelter’s emergency shielding is enabled, it cannot be disabled without proper authorization. Do NOT manually activate unless under immediate threat of breach and the auto-engage systems fail!

Estimated time until Usurpation: 59:59

A system message appeared before our eyes, and a voice warning intermittently sounded for those who didn't have their PDAs active. I only stared at it in a daze while Alice and the others quickly sprang into action.

"Everyone! Evacuate! Go to the shelter!" Alice exclaimed urgently.

"Ugh, those annoying bugs chose the worst timing!" the journalist grumbled as he stood up and walked toward the shelter. There was no panic or fear among the crowd; their reactions were more of annoyance, as if a restaurant or game center was closing unexpectedly. No one here truly feared anathema; they had only seen such horrors in videos.

"59 minutes…" I muttered, still seated. Even though time seemed to drag endlessly, the timer barely moved. This stark contrast to my experience in New Mesa was unsettling. Every second during usurpations was like a death sentence. Here, though, The shelter was just a five-minute walk away with over an hour of time. Simply going down some stairs and walking for five minutes would get you there.

The studio set had quickly emptied. No one was left except for Alice, Red Flame, and Sapphire. I stood up, summoning my naginata. With everyone evacuated, we had the building to ourselves. Fel appeared beside me, delivering her report.

"Usurpation incoming, Lily! Communicating with the Reality Enforcement Device (RED)! Estimated time of arrival is 50 minutes. Target floors: fourth, fifth, third. Power level, unknown."

"Coming? In fifty minutes?" I questioned, perplexed by the contradiction in those words.

As I almost dozed off on my feet, Felicia updated her report forty minutes later, "Usurpation zone power level D. Arrival in ten minutes, location marked 30 meters north."

"Ugh. Are we going to handle it?" Red Flame asked, concerned. "D might be a bit much…"

"We're taking it. I'm not letting this one go. Alice, this is still our patrol zone, right?" I replied.

"Yes, it's our designated area. There's no issue with the level parity protocol if we engage in higher-level usurpations. But be cautious. It's dangerous," Alice warned.

I stood where the usurpations were to occur, observing black smoke smoldering from nothingness as sparks of lightning seemed to extinguish it. The black smog expanded gradually, unlike the abrupt occurrences I had witnessed in New Mesa.

"Enemy detected, counting. Thirty Fomorian knights, three Fomorian paladins. RED monitoring initiated. No new enemies detected," Felicia reported. "Don't stand too close to the gate. Usurpation will begin; RED containment initiated. Curse seed detected."

Suddenly, the smog expanded rapidly and ten undead knights emerged. I slammed my naginata downward with force, eliminating one immediately. Summoning four of my clones, the battle now stood at eight versus nine. Another side sweep allowed me to create distance, which our archer exploited by picking off an enemy with her bow skill. Sapphire then struck precisely with her staff, dispatching another. Alice aided as well.

"Fel, where are the others?" I asked five minutes later, after clearing all the soldiers in our vicinity. One of my clones was stabbed, and another slashed at the hand, but all remained operational. Their wounds emitted light, similar to those in a virtual room.

"They're mana construct. I can control the visuals of their wounds," Felicia replied after I looked at the wounds on my clones. They are not bleeding, unlike in New Mesa.

"They are in other rooms, on the third and fifth floors. We need to clear them out before they can spread," Felicia informed us.

"Okay! Let's go to the fifth floor!" We ran with determination.

"Civilians sighted," Felicia announced. We all paused and turned.

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"Huh? Where?" I scanned my surroundings and spotted a figure hidden underneath a long chair.

"Hehe, hi?" she emerged, giggling sheepishly.

"Miss Tanya? What are you doing here?" I was dumbfounded while looking at the host of our talk show. She is a reporter from Snowco. It had been nearly an hour since the alert; how had she not reached the shelter?

"I'm your fan! Miss Alice, please let me record your deeds!"

"This area is dangerous, Miss Tanya. Please go to the shelter!" Alice urged. Annoyance filled the air.

"But I want to record you guys! I promise I'll keep my distance and won't be a nuisance!" she pleaded, bowing deeply in a kowtow.

Alice frowned in hesitation. But What happened has already happened. I don't really want to cater to these civilians. While it was not amusing seeing them disobeying evacuation protocols, it is their prerogative to not obey directives. It is their lives, after all."Shining Arrow, let's head to the third floor."

"Alright! The shelter is on the way there anyway."

"Great!" Tanya then opened her phone cam and began to videotape us.

"Get lost!" Red Flame commanded, striking down a knight with his sword, then body-slamming another as if he were a true knight. I followed closely behind him, observing his valor. But was that armor just an illusion? Would he be okay?

"His shield will take the brunt of it, but he'll be fine," Felicia reassured, seeming to read my thoughts. "You can finish off the fallen knights now. Stab them in the head or heart!"

I followed her instructions and speared them. Fel directed me to leave some of the downed soldiers for Alice and Sapphire. As we cleared the stairs, we headed down to the cafeteria below the studio sets and encountered another ten soldiers. Within ten minutes, we had cleared them out. Alice and Sapphire worked well together, picking off one soldier after another, while Red Flame and I kept them at bay. These knights lacked ranged attackers, sealing their fate.

"Fel?"

"Miasma levels are minimal. Head to the fifth floor, destroy the curse seed, and then we must rescan this area."

The fifth floor was an office space, eerily empty like a gladiatorial arena. The paladins and remaining knights awaited us in the office lobby. Paladins, resembling knights in their skeletal form and full plate armor, were two to three heads taller and bulkier, equipped with tower shields on their backs instead of the knights' bucklers. We had to look up to them. Furthermore, their helmets had visors, whereas the knights' helmets exposed their ghastly skeletal faces. Ugh... this was Snowco's interior design branch. We were about to destroy those expensive lamps and artistic wooden sculptures.

"Ready? This might be our final opponent. Use your signature if you get the chance, especially on the paladin! That guy is high-level!" Alice commanded firmly, her usual goofiness replaced by the demeanor of a leader.

"No need to tell me twice! Let's go! Black Lily, take the right. I'll flank from the left!"

"Understood." My body moved instinctively. Shining Arrow attempted to snare the knights as before, but the paladin intercepted. The paladin swiftly cut the mana rope that connected Alice's bow to the knight, abruptly ending their tug-of-war.

I took down one knight with a swing and then opened my dimensional storage to retrieve my Icerail. Charging it with mana, I formed an icicle and shot it at the paladin's face. The paladin staggered but seemed barely affected. I fired another icicle at an approaching soldier, hitting him in the face. Its head soon turned into a block of ice, and then I shattered it, killing him.

Realizing the Icerail wouldn't be enough to defeat the paladin, I aimed at its feet next, freezing it solid and immobilizing it.

"Nice! Time for my signature! Shining Breaker!" Alice yelled, her bow glowing with a pink light. Time seemed to slow as the arrow soared toward the paladin and exploded on impact. When the dust settled, the paladin was headless.

"How powerful is a signature?" I stood in awe. It seemed like a one-hit kill.

"Signatures are a Magical Girl's strongest arsenal. Most are offense-oriented, but there are unique ones, like the Crimson Assassin's."

"The invisible ones?"

"Yes. In a battle against a formidable anathema, a signature can often turn the tide. However, if an offense-oriented signature, like those used by Shining Arrow and Red Flame Darkness, misses, it's usually a sign to retreat."

"Let's use it then."

"I recommend practicing your signature in the virtual room first. If your signature is offense-oriented, you might accidentally harm team members here."

"Ugh… I forgot about that."

"I'll remind you later, nyaa."

I charged in to follow up. Together with Red Flame, we managed to keep the remaining paladin at bay while Alice and Sapphire cleaned up the knights. The paladin was strong and durable. Despite my efforts with the naginatas, I couldn't knock him down, and his strikes were heavier than I anticipated. However, they were slow, allowing us to predict his movements.

"Black Lily, buy me four seconds. Can you use your illusion? I am going to use my signature!"

"No, I'm out of mana," I answered

"Then use your remaining clones. Watch out for my strike. Shining, back me up when you're done!"

"Roger." Alice understood immediately. As I drew the monsters away, she launched a mana-infused arrow from her bow that stuck into its helmet. She then yanked the bow in opposite directions, turning the monster just as I took my harpoon gun and shot it, similar to Alice's tactic. Although my harpoon didn't have adhesive like Alice's bow, it luckily snagged on its armor.

"Fatal Strike!" Red Flame called out as he swung down, decapitating the monster. The fight was over.

"So, who wants the honor of breaking the curse seed?" Wan-chan materialized and asked as we all looked at the curse seed.

"Me! I've never broken one before!" Alice exclaimed. We all nodded, and she shot at the obsidian crystal. The gleaming stone was beautiful to look at, and as it shattered, the atmosphere returned to normal.

SYSTEM NOTICE

Reality Usurpation, over. Shelter doors will be open. Please avoid floor three, four, and five until Magical Soldiers has scanned the area.

[Quest Completed! - Usurpation Zone Cleared]

[Description: Clear an usurpation zone at Shirayuki's headquarters. Ensure there are no casualties.]

[Difficulty: Medium]

[Reward: 200 Points]

[Defeated: Fomorian Knight x 30, Fomorian Paladin x 2]

[Total Reward Split Among Parties]

[Remaining Points: 800 (444 + 156 + 200)]

[You have leveled up multiple times, reaching level 19.]

"Awesome! Such coordination! We are so lucky to be partnered with you. Please consider our exclusive contract offer in the future, okay?" Tanya jumped and skipped as she held her phone. I needed to temper her excitement. She had to think twice before using that footage.

"By the way, you'll need permission before you can air that footage, okay? Mr. Kageyama would be upset if you didn't."

"Don't worry! I'm sure boss Jerry will agree. It's not every day we get direct footage of anathema battles! With this, my promotion is secured. Ahahaha! Magical Girl is the best! I'm going to buy a Shining Arrow figurine with my bonus! No, I already have five of those. Maybe one of Serene Night, or another Pink Heart? They're all so cute!!"

"...Lily?..." Alice smiled wryly. However, I poured cold water on her excitement.

"It's impossible for Shirayuki to give her a bonus. If they did, it would promote dangerous behavior among our employees," I replied flatly.

"Huh? Wait, how can you be sure? You were just recently contracted, right?"

"I wo... I mean, my parents worked for Shirayuki their entire lives. I'm from New Mesa, remember. I know how Shirayuki operates."

"No way... that's... NOOOO!!" Her jump for joy quickly turned to despair. Her cries were ignored by every one; even returning employees only gave her disgusted looks. The talk show was halted, and we all went home peacefully.

Her footage was never aired on the news. Our company uses CCTV, after all. The footage from our CCTV was superior to her shaky footage. She really did something unnecessary.