Things had gotten...not as bad as she thought they would. Things had gotten somewhat tricky when Elizabeth ended up helping her destroy the evidence of that purple-haired girl she had killed a year ago.

Oh god, a year ago...that should be something that happened a few months ago, and yet it felt that as if it had occurred ages ago. Either way, Elizabeth seemed to have erased all evidence of her ever existing, from the mana signature to the evidence of altered space to even the fragments of [Soul] hovering around the place.

Her shadows had enveloped everything and then it just snuffed it all away, as if it never was there to begin with, the mere act of it was impossible, there was no way of destroying or erasing a [Soul], you could flay them, burn them, disfigure them, and in more extreme cases you could crush them and use it as nourishment for others.

Most [Dark] or [Evil] mages used that method, they crushed soul bits and used them to invigorate themselves with the [Soul] of their enemies, it was the reason why [Soul Magic] was so policed and why they didn't allow [Magical Girls] or [Wizards] to study this area. And why she was so searched around and why the [Council of Magical Girls] pestered her on a daily basis.

A [Mage] like her learning so much without guidance? Or without guidance that could be found?

She was a treasury to the biggest bidder, of course they wanted her to join them.

The [Council of Magical Girls] wanted her.

The [Nine Stars] wanted her.

The [MPI] wanted her.

The [Government] wanted her.

And of course [The World] wanted her too.

And yet, none fulfilled her [Wish], none stood forward to save Elizabeth when she needed it the most. The council said that she would need to pledge herself first and gave no guarantees of success, should they fail they would still provide for Elizabeth, but she would be tied to them.

The [Nine Stars] was the same, only changing the facilities, but the contract was the same letter for letter, that wasn't weird since at least three of the members in that council were also members of the [Nine Stars].

The MPI only asked for her to finish her studies with them, and offered her a spot as a teacher, they restricted her the least, so she allowed the allegiance with them while Elizabeth was recovering. They tried to do her a dirty with the contract they made her sign, but Elizabeth put them in place, so she didn't mind them that much.

The Government...Well they tried, but their offers paled in comparison so she just let them be.

And finally...[The World], the biggest competitor in this race, and the one she had actually felt like following. Granted she was no longer following their directions, as she had regretted doing so in the first place, even if they had fulfilled their end of the deal.

Even if she had managed to pull ahead of the problem when Elizabeth finally awoke. She still regretted it quite dearly, it was after that point that she had realized how...toxic their relationship was.

Elizabeth hadn't noticed, or if she did, she wasn't saying anything, and really, seeing that in retrospect was an eye-opener. Especially when Elizabeth seemed to be so...pure.

She found out about the less [Heroic] proclivities of Akira, really, he did such a good job the first year hiding them, but as soon as he started getting more powerful he stopped caring, he no longer hid what he did with those girls, he was careful, careful enough to not kill anyone.

Careful enough to not [Break] them beyond certain points, they all recovered well enough, none remembered most of what they had done, and they all developed some degree of androphobia, she...didn't have a problem with that.

She had no care nor love for those girls, weak as they were. It was pitiful yes, but...she really hadn't in her to care for them. Was she a bad person for being like that?

Probably. No, she surely was. She had decided to become a [Healer] to try and fix that, and even after getting her emotions and seeing all the colors in the world...

She still couldn't get it in her to care for others, she cared greatly for Elizabeth. But that was it.

Elizabeth on the other hand wasn't like her, she had a hard time believing that the girl wasn't an orphaned girl. But she didn't mind trusting her, she had no reason to deceive her, even if her stories about having parents didn't seem believable ones, she found it more believable that [Odyssey] and [Framework] had been role models for the girl than to think that they were her parents.

So when [Odyssey] and [Framework] quite literally descended to the realm of mortals to confirm just that...well that was interesting, she almost felt bad for cursing [Odyssey] for not helping Elizabeth.

Almost.

And if the wink [Odyssey] gave her while Elizabeth was distracted with [Framework] was something to go by, [Odyssey] didn't mind her that much.

She did approve of their relationship after all, she had given her [Permission] to date her in one of Elizabeth's notifications, but that wasn't even the most surprising thing to happen.

She had thought that Elizabeth would go on and on about who her parents were, that she would scream to the heavens about the injustice the world had done to her. That she would exact her revenge upon this cursed world.

And yet...she did not do such a thing, she went on as normal, she worried for the mental state of Rena of all things, she worried for her mental state... She even worried for the fictional character that was her shadow.

Oh yeah, that was a whole thing too, she had given an identity to one of her shadows, 'Beato' she said.

And of course, [Chloe] was there too, the girl that she claimed to have killed and replaced, the main reason she didn't seem to have a problem with her killing another person.

At this point, she was almost sure that Elizabeth had suffered some degree of brain damage that would need careful healing... At least till she summoned into the [Shadow Haven] in front of an egg.

And the egg that she found... Familiar.

An egg she claimed was their [Daughter], she...hadn't done the deed yet. Not for not wanting, but because Elizabeth hadn't wanted to do it. She was stubborn about doing it right, when they came of age.

For some reason.

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She didn't mind it that much, since it gave her time to research ways to make sure she would get pregnant even if they both were biologically female.

And while she was anxious about Rena coming into their relationship and messing everything up, she was sure that she could make it so the red-haired slut ended sterile...that is if Akira hadn't done that yet.

No, the problem with this was...Elizabeth had manifested yet another [Soul] in one of her minions, and she was seeing it gestate...And the thing had her mana, and parts of her soul.

Broken parts interwind in a beautiful work of art, both her and Elizabeth's souls had meshed so well, so perfectly...that it wasn't a mistake to call this one their daughter.

Not even biological sons and daughters were such a perfect example of perfection, and Elizabeth had done this?

How had she gotten parts of her soul? Actually was this really part of her soul? It was...frayed, like something that was missing, like...

How she was when she had accepted the first deal with [The World], the deal that had helped Elizabeth stabilize herself, when she was still haunted by the [Taint].

The night she had teleported into her arms as a...as a...as a what?

She had the memory at the tip of her mind, but it escaped her, and yet, Elizabeth offered the answer, she only needed to make the connection with the girl.

The girl that was standing looking at them at one second, and then was on the floor crying while Elizabeth was once more sporting the [Dragon Eyes].

Had she missed something?

"Do you want this to happen?" She was sure that something had happened, but she took the mana thread and offered it to the girl.

The girl in question seemed to hold her emotions quite well, and yet... she could read it more easily than she could read anyone else, she wanted to grab that thread. To hug it, to kiss it, her eyes screamed at her, that she wanted a hug, that she wanted to be loved.

And yet...what words came from her mouth were apologies, apologies because Elizabeth had done something. She was surprised, surprised that her anger flared at Elizabeth.

Not because she had hurt herself, no, she was already mad at that, even though her spells returned nothing she couldn't help but [Feel] that Elizabeth's soul was strained.

She wasn't sure how she knew even though most of her spells said that she was fine, but the [Connection Link] between them told her enough, she knew she was hurting.

But no, she wasn't angry because of that, but because she had made this little girl cry, [She had made her daughter cry] and that made her angry.

Even so, she asked again " We will not force you." This surprised her too. Not the words, but the meaning, she meant it.

If this was someone else she wouldn't mind killing them just to recover the memories that Elizabeth said had been [Stolen] from her. But she meant it this time, she wouldn't force this little girl to do anything she didn't want.

And so, the connection was made after the little girl extracted a promise from Elizabeth, a promise that she was sure the blonde girl wouldn't fulfill.

She was half expecting her to break it soon enough to try and save Rena, and she would probably need to either kill her or make sure the girl didn't need saving.

But she wasn't worried about that, nor about the blue screen hovering at the side promising to release a memory pack at her with a timer for 17 minutes and counting down, no... She was worried for Elizabeth.

Even though most of her spells told her she was fine, her [Instinct] screamed at her, that the blonde girl, that her lover was in danger.

So when Elizabeth released that [Dragon Eye] state she was ready with all the healing spells she was capable of casting on short notice.

None found any issue, so she was preparing to move towards the [Divine] type, she wasn't able to cast them that often, but she found that [Odyssey] usually would supply the divine mana if the spell was pointed at Elizabeth.

So when she was preparing to cast them...[That Happened].

A hideous spike made of a tar-like substance with crimson veins on it sprouted from Elizabeth's torso, "ELIZABETH!" she wasn't even aware of how that had gotten past the defenses in this place.

But when she prepared her spell to heal Elizabeth...

"[Emergency Exit]"

She was ejected from the Soulscape, "NO!" And she found herself in their apartment once more, with the blonde girl placidly sleeping on the bed.

"A nightmare?" Was her first reaction, but the notification of the memory pack was hovering on the side, only the timer was frozen.

"Eli-Eli?" She moved the blonde girl that was sleeping on the bed.

She was cold at the touch, "Please don't joke Eli-Eli..." Her mana didn't want to move, her spells didn't want to form...

Her mind continued bombarding her with scenarios where a patient was in a coma, memories about the start of the year when she arrived at the apartment with the hope of Elizabeth waking up...

Memories of the days were the blonde girl's skin was as cold as today...

"Please...not again Eli-Eli...You promised it..." And then...she noticed it...

A wet sensation on her hand, and the smell of iron in the air..."Blood?" Elizabeth was bleeding from her skin even though there was no wound.

From her belly...

From the spot she had received the wound in the soulscape...

"[Diagnosis]" She intoned as her wristband burst into motes of light.

A one-time artifact that cast the most advanced version of the [Diagnosis] spell she managed to enchant into it, a safeguard for an event where she didn't have mana to spare.

"Internal bleeding in all major organs? Puncture wounds...Blood loss...And yet...no symptoms of cardiac arrest?" Elizabeth's body was full of impossible wounds, and yet she wasn't losing blood.

I mean, her body was obviously losing blood, the bed was wet with her blood, but...Her body wasn't losing blood, the blood that she was losing was closer to mana than to actual blood.

Her body was under incredible amounts of stress and her blood pressure was spiking, but her [Heart] was beating just fine, better than fine, even with all the stats she had, no metahuman could achieve this.

Not with these types of wounds, not with these types of bleeding...

She...she....she wasn't sure what to do, the wounds didn't seem to be of the [Flesh], the [Soul] wasn't hurt either, but the [Mana]...

The mana was running rampart, trashing and destroying, yet Elizabeth's [Heart] kept pumping, it kept going...

She...she needed help, and she loathed doing it, she hated not having thrown away this...She hated having to use it...

"[Message - The Council]" She willed it and her mana went into a pendant that usually stayed hidden under wards upon wards of protection.

It shone with golden light and then her consciousness was sucked back in, had she not known how it felt she would think this was summoning into a virtual space.

But after traveling in and out of Elizabeth's [Shadow Haven], she now knew what this feeling was, she was visiting another person's [Soulscape].

A cathedral made of marble with images of priests working for the populace adorned the windows, velvet red pews at both sides of the building, and where the priest stood was a mahogany table with 14 seats.

Of those all were occupied by someone already, most whore hooded cloaks that hide their identity, most since a woman and a man at the middle of the table didn't use them.

[The Prophet] and [The Warlock].

"Welcome Sylphie Starheart, does this mean you will take upon our offer?" Asked the [Prophet], the woman had that silky platinum hair and that [Holy] aura around her.

"Let her speak first [Prophet], maybe she is finally going to refuse us instead of having us chasing after her." The man on her side, however, was the perfect example of what a devil should look like.

Blue skin and horns on his face, he was the textbook example of what happens when you contract something you shouldn't...And yet he was in control of his body, so why did he look like that?

His right arm even looked more demonic than the left, while one looked somewhat humanoid, the other was clearly demonic.

She should feel awed, the cathedral they stood upon was thrumming with power, with mana, and their presence was a symbol of power in itself, she was sure more of the [Nine] were among the other 12 figures remaining, perhaps [The Elementalist] and [The Monk] were among those figures?

She imagined they wouldn't advertise if they were, perhaps [The Traveler] would though, not that she knew much about them. Now that she had access to her memories perhaps she could study them?

Maybe she had more interaction with them before the [Advent]?

If Elizabeth was the daughter of [Odyssey] and [Framework] and those two had been members of this group...At the very least [Odyssey] should have been part of the council.

"I have a question," But she didn't have the time for this. "Before joining you I need a favor."

"[Speak]" one of the figures said in a commanding tone, it was...a female's voice? It was haughty and had an undertone of command.

She didn't like that voice, turning to search for it was...hard, she couldn't figure out from where it was speaking "[The candidate has demands but not the valor of asking for them?]" ...It was from the shadows cast by the fourteen figures...

The voice spoke from the shadows, small mouths hidden within the shadows, she would need to thank Elizabeth, if not for her creepy shadow eyes she wouldn't have thought of looking into the shadows for answers.

"Can any of you tell me who the F#ck is [The World] and any way to Kill it?" She said in an even tone.

She suspected that the current state of Elizabeth was a backlash from [The World] as the mana from the spear of shadow-like substance that sprouted from Elizabeth felt...like ambient mana.

She hadn't too much time to get a read on it, but it was what she suspected. Elizabeth seemed tired after whatever she had done, but her mana was stable enough, and her skills seemed stable enough too...

And Beatrice...Her.....daughter. Her Daughter had said that she no longer served [The World] but [The Inheritor], that was Elizabeth. So the logical conclusion was that [The World] had retaliated, the same entity that had spoken to her through Elizabeth's skill.

And possibly, someone important enough that it could attack Elizabeth through her own Mana, inside the [Soulscape] the most sacred of places, whoever that person was...Even their title reeked of arrogance.

"...Who told you about...[That]" Another voice spoke, this one also hid its figure, but she could gleam enough. It was a male, around 180 cm, and behind the cloak, she could make up the traditional clothing of Izanami.

[The Elementalist] huh.

"None of your business, just answer the question. Will [The Council] help me deal with that f#cker?" Rossie asked once more.

Most of them just looked at each other, only one of them seemed willing to entertain her.

"Can't you ask us to help with your friend?" Asked [The Prophet], "We are willing to even use an one of the [Favors] that [Odyssey] granted [The Nine] to ask her to descend and heal your friend."

At that Rossie couldn't help but laugh, laugh and laugh.

"Is something the matter?" Asked [The Warlock], "Did your friend die?"

"No, contrary to that, she awoke and even got accepted into the MPI. She was quite healthy even." Rossie answered, which only made [The Prophet] frown and [The Warlock] more confused, "You see, we were fine. We were more than fine, but a few minutes ago Elizabeth got wounded by an attack that originated from within...An attack that reeked of ambient mana."

She could feel the shadows tense around her and several presences materialized within them, so at least one of the 11 remaining was a user of [Shadows] huh.

Who would that one be?

She didn't know of any [Shadow aligned] magical girl or guardian with these kinds of powers, "And the clues I have pointed towards someone calling itself [The World]." But that would be for later, for now, she needed an answer to what was happening.

"[Shall we exchange question for question]." The haughty voice said, this time one of the figure's cloaks turned from solid into butterfly-like leeches made of shadows. "Tell me, girl, does the name [Chloe Ashcroft] mean anything to you?"

Standing there was [The Mother of Monsters], the woman who was hailed as S-Tier threat power, the owner of the only [Villain] group capable of fighting at the level of the most powerful [Heroes], and currently the woman that was the prime example of a [Tainted] turned [Hero].

[Echidna] was on the [Council of Magical Girls].

Now...how had that come to be?