"Is it done?" Was the first thing that Elizabeth heard as she teleported back to the base of operations they had set up.

"Are you okay, Eli-Eli? No wounds? Do you need mana? Prana? A kiss? A smoochie? My body?" Followed by the worried voice of Rossie as she tackled her to the ground.

Elizabeth felt the girl's hand explore every part of her body (And squish some others) as the [Holy Mana] flooded her body, letting the tension bleed away.

"I'm fine Rossie," Elizabeth smiled as her girlfriend fondled here and there.

She really was fine, most of the damage done to her had been mana related and even that had been purged thanks to her Thunder Queen form. Truly...Chloe was the girl that kept giving on even after leaving her.

"And yes, we are done here. You two can leave if you want, there are members of the [Nine Stars] over there talking with Jenna." Elizabeth said turning to the blue-haired meek girl and her black-haired companion.

Luna Harmonia and Lexia Bloodthorn.

[The LawBringer Sentinel] and [Lunar Shade], two Magical Girls that a year ago Elizabeth wouldn't even dream of being able to defeat, and now? They were huddled at the very back, near a window prepared to run away at the first show of weakness.

How the times change.

Elizabeth wasn't sure what to feel about that, but for now she stood (With care as to not disturb Rossie who was busy sniffing her). "Thank you for helping. I could fight with full confidence, thanks to you ensuring this place was safe." Even if Elizabeth could have left some minions to defend it, if something happened to her and Rossie or Rena had retreated, then the minions would probably be useless.

So having two Magical Girls (No matter their rank) helped settle her nerves and allowed her to fight to her heart desire.

"...Will...will Miss Jenna not mind us leaving?" Luna asked, trembling; it was weird seeing the lanky girl act like that, especially when one took into consideration that this was the civilian form of [The Law Bringer Sentinel], the proud and well-endowed law-abiding Magical Girl.

"She shouldn't have any problem with that, and if she does, I will scold her for you," Elizabeth said giving a thumbs up to the pair of girls.

"Glad to see you again, send our regards to [Elemental Weaver] and [Shadow Empress]." Lexia said nodding to Elizabeth, then grabbing Luna's hand she pulled at her.

"We will see you later then!" Luna said hurriedly as she was being pulled out of the tent.

A few seconds later, Elizabeth felt a wave of mana and heard the sound of both girls flying away, "That was cute." Elizabeth said smirking.

"Hmm...I will not accept them into our bed," Rossie said from the side, "They don't love you enough."

...

"Rossie, I can appreciate cute without wanting to bed it," Elizabeth said with a sigh, that was one phrase she never thought she would need to clarify.

"Sure you can." Rossie, however, seemed to not think like Elizabeth, but then again, that was one of her cute points so Elizabeth was willing to ignore that part.

"I love you when you are angry at other girls for being cute." Elizabeth couldn't help but give her a little smooch to Rossie; the other girl seemed angry but accepted the kiss nonetheless.

As a sage person once said, that was that, and this was this.

"Have you seen...Beatrice?" Elizabeth said extending her senses over the place.

She could feel her shadow dragons dismantling the encampment around them, but no signal of Beatrice...Or Rena now that she noticed it.

"No, neither have come around. Want me to call Beatrice?" Rossie asked from the side, she didn't seem to have any problem with calling Beatrice.

Was it an Elizabeth thing? Being worried about confronting the minion.

Surely not.

"...Let me try to find Rena first." Elizabeth said instead closing her eyes, she could feel the connection to Rena going strong, and from it she got enough feedback to learn about her rough position.

She was near the border where the Shadow Tide had been, she seemed to be surrounded by some shadow dragons....and a void. She could get some faint readings of a shadow dragon there, but couldn't pinpoint who it was. Either way, she had found Rena so that was good enough for her.

"Rena? Can you hear me?" Elizabeth said, tuning into Rena's shadow as a medium to transmit her voice.

"[Elizabeth?]" Rena answered through the shadows.

Elizabeth decided to pluck the shadow that she was using and turn it into an orb so Rossie could also hear it. Some simple magical circles translated the intent into sound. Easy.

"Yes, it's me, your lovely girlfriend, Elizabeth." Elizabeth winked at the shadow sphere, mostly for Rossie since Rena couldn't see her.

"[Did something happen? I can't feel more mana clashes at the distance.]" So Rena could feel her from afar? Hot.

"Nothing much, delivered the message to [Shadow Pact], the [Nine Stars] arrived late to the party and Jenna is dealing with that. I was mostly calling to make sure you are okay." Elizabeth answered with a shrug.

"[I don't care about that, are you fine Eli?]" Rena seemed...worried?

"Yeah, he was somewhat hard to defeat, but nothing your girlfriend can't manage!" Elizabeth answered while puffing out her chest and hitting it with her right arm.

Again, mostly doing it for Rossie who was giggling at the side at her antics.

"[You...Didn't had any problems after eating that b̵̙̅̑͊͋͐̋̐̽́̊̀͆͠͝͝å̶̟͕̻͔̱̟̑̽̆̑͋̎̓̅̽̕͝s̶̡̰̦̬̘̯̥͔͙͉͖͋͝ͅt̷̨̡̧̛͓̗͎̬̦͕̞̬̝̣̭̖́͐͆͌̇̈́͐͆͛̇̈̚͠͠å̷̛̜͎͓̞̮̹̊͑̓͐͑͆̊̓̑̈́͋͜͠͠ṟ̶͕̘̻̇̓̍̂̈́̔d̸͓̻̘̬̅͒͛̇͊̑̃͜'̶̨̧̥̺̻̼͎͇̮̪̜̘͈̦̳̽͑̕͝s̵̖̖̪͓̘̝̩̟̰͇̬͍͔̐̈́̍̉̇̔̇̈̓̊̍̔͆̋̚ ̶̣̮͂͋́́̏̔͠ Soul Gem?]" Rena asked slowly.

That single question was enough for Rossie's smile to turn cold and her cute eyes to morph into a glare as her vicious hand grabbed Elizabeth by her wrist and pulled her in while her other hand ripped out her clothes.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

"W-wait Rossie!" Elizabeth screamed as she did her best to cover her chest with her hand to keep some of her dignity. "I am fine I swear!"

"[Rossie? Rossaline is there? Please tell her to give you a check-up.]" Rena said from the shadow orb.

"Elizabeth Starbright, what have we said about eating shit you find at the side of the street?" Rossie? It's leaking! Your psychopath (hot) side is leaking!

"I am fine! I promise! I have been sterilizing that thing since I got it!" Elizabeth screamed as she tried to cover herself in shadows, only for Rossie's prana to cast them away.

She was using Divine Mana to disperse her shadows! That shouldn't be possible!

"[Mistress? Do you wish for us to remove Lady Rossaline's privileges over your shadows?]" Reginald asked at the back of her mind.

"Not now, Reginald, we are doing a thing!" Elizabeth answered.

She was getting excit- I mean, she was worried Rossie was misunderstanding something! Yes, that!

"I am okay! I purged the influence that was left of Akira of his gem and kept only the good things! I even burned away part of the skill to make sure!" Elizabeth said, materializing the Gem of Envy on her forehead, "See! This thing is harmless!"

Rossie, however, just glared at the thing.

"...I don't feel any Shit Mana from it, so it really is free of that bastard's influence?" Rossie's glare didn't diminish at all, but she let Elizabeth's hand go.

She didn't even peek at her chest (And Elizabeth's chest was among the top three of best chests Elizabeth had ever seen!), so Elizabeth summoned a new shadow bra and pulled a new blouse from her [Armory].

Since the thing had eaten part of her [Garage], some of her clothes had been moved there.

"See! I'm fine. Besides, most of the things that Akira used aren't there; I think the skill got purged when it entered in contact with my mana, and some of the weapons changed when I started using it." Elizabeth summoned the bident that she had used against [Shadow Pact]. "See? When Akira used this thing, it looked more like a normal spear, but when I summoned it, it turned into a crimson bident!"

Of course Rena couldn't see it, only Rossie.

"Hmm....I will forgive you this one time Elizabeth, next time you want to eat shit, please don't okay?" Rossie asked in what should be a cute form, she was smiling cutely, her eyes were even in a cute pose.

But she was hot.

I mean, she looked like a hot person.

I mean, she looked like an extremely hot-

"Mistress? The word you are searching for is [Crazy psychopath who wants to murder you and then kill herself to be together in the afterlife]."Reginald said at the back of her mind.

...Yes, that.

Rossie looked extremely hot.

"Okay." So Elizabeth nodded and admitted her mistake; she shouldn't have eaten shit.

Like, maybe if she ate Rossie's Gem it would have worked somehow?

Rena gave her [Insticts] and a new mana type to use, wonder what Rossie would give her?

Perhaps...perhaps her heart?

Kyaaaaaaaa.

"[Everything all right there?]" Ah, right... she was on a call with her girlfriend while being almost raped by her other girlfriend. The problems one had to deal with. Nowadays.

"Yes!" Elizabeth quickly answered before Rossie could say anything. Rossie didn't seem troubled by this, "I am fine, as you heard the problems with Akira's Soul Gem were dealt with and I have a new group of Minions monitoring it. One that are attuned to my Lightning and can purge the external influences."

...Looking back on it, perhaps she should have summoned Fire instead of Lightning to deal with Akira's remnants. Maybe some cute minions based on Rena? That would have been more poetic.

"[Okay then, Beatrice had told me that you had ingested that thing. And was preparing for the worst...good to know it didn't happen.]" Rena said from the other side of the shadow orb.

Beatrice?

But Elizabeth didn't feel Beatrice near Rena?

"Was Beatrice with you? Can you tell me where she went? I don't sense her within the Shadow Haven." Elizabeth said, giving it another scan. She of course could summon her easily enough.

But...it didn't felt correct to do so.

"[She is with me right now.]" Rena said from the other side of the shadow orb.

That was...impossible.

"[I'm here... Mistress, do you require my presence?]" Sure enough, Beatrice's voice came from the shadow orb. And yet, Elizabeth couldn't sense Beatrice on the other side, just a blob of nothing.

She could feel the shadow dragons around in the distance, the ones working to purge any shadow that remained, those that were cleaning the area and making sure all the fragments of her weapons returned to the [Armory].

But nothing else besides that obviously suspicious void...

How...how could Beatrice be hidden from her?

"...I wanted to ask for your report of the situation, and to fulfill whatever wish you wanted," Elizabeth said to the shadow orb.

And on the side she sent "Reginald? How is Beatrice hidden from my senses?" to Reginald.

"Beatrice isn't quite hiding herself from you. No Minion can do that unless they are independent, and so far. She is not one of the independent Minions." Reginald answered, that was what she thought. "She is being hidden by independent beings, those that were born as Minions but got granted freedom by the choices of the liege of this Haven."

...She did?

So far only Aura should have that degree of freedom though?

"[We will be there soon then...Mistress.]" Beatrice answered, then in a more authoritative tone she added "[Prepare to present yourself to the Mistress of Shadows.]"

What?

"[At once! Skuld! We will go with formation S35.]" A new voice spoke there, followed by the telltale sound of weapons being sheathed.

What was happening there?

"[Prepare for inbound teleportation, please keep hands, feet and tails out of the designated area~]" A playful voice sounded from the other side, and sure enough Elizabeth felt some type of Authority try to contest against hers for the space.

Elizabeth just moved the space that this new Authority wanted to have to the outside of the tent.

"Let's go Rossie, we have to say hello to these new guests..." Elizabeth said as she dismissed the shadow orb, cutting the communications with these...people.

She could feel that Rena was okay and safe, so she didn't worry about that.

"Also...prepare for combat, I don't know who these people are, but they are hiding Beatrice from me. I don't know if they are hostile or not, but they seem to have some kind of deal with Beatrice since they listened to her orders." Elizabeth added at the end, Rossie nodded to her and straightened up her Magical Girl Regalia.

She had never released her [Shift].

That made Elizabeth think, should she summon hers back?

It could be interpreted as hostile behavior...But then again, she didn't really need it to fight, did she?

Everything that she did on a shift was something that she could do without one. She sometimes wondered why other Magical Girls got this hung up on those, they could use magic witouth the [Shift], but never did.

Either way, she would welcome them first and worry about that later.

The first thing that Elizabeth noticed as the teleportation was being set up, was that whoever that was on the other side of the spell didn't seem that worried about the coordinates changing, if anything when they noticed that Elizabeth had swapped the landing area, they took this opportunity to adjust the size of the teleportation spell, as if to better accommodate more area.

Elizabeth noticed that this spell seemed to be set up using a fourteen-node type, with two people in the middle, as if to make sure that no matter if it worked or not, the people on the central node would not be hurt.

She would worry more about that, if not for the fact that she could taste that one of the people on the central node was Rena.

So she wouldn't mind more protection for her girlfriend.

What followed was...to be honest, quite the disgrace for space magic, the spell seemed to forcibly twist space and solely depended on reality fixing the brute effort, if anything. Elizabeth couldn't help but feel more confident of herself, if they were this bad using space magic. Something that Elizabeth could do with both eyes closed and without using her hands.

Then dealing with these people would be easy enough.

One by one the fourteen nodes shone and a...little girl materialized, they were dressed in armor and each wielded some kind of weapon, and for some reason. Elizabeth could taste her own mana coming from them.

But it wasn't something that she had control over, no. It was more like how it felt Aura's Mana. If had been born from her, but also se emed to be independent.

She...hadn't made that many independent minions, Aura was one because she was quite independent in on itself, the girl wanted freedom and Elizabeth was happy to provide.

But these? Elizabeth had no memory of making them, and while they felt like Minions, they also felt like independent humans.

So something weird was happening here.

After a few seconds of neither Elizabeth or the fourteen girls moving the central node flared and Rena materialized with Beatrice in tow. "Welcome back Rena, care to introduce these interesting friends you made?" Elizabeth said from far away.

She of course could walk there, but got the impression that these girls didn't want her to do so, so for now she decided to be diplomatic.

"Hello Eli," Rena waved at her as she walked past the little girls, they seemed unsure about how to react, in one hand they seemed to want to prevent Rena from walking to Elizabeth.

But on the other they didn't seem that intend on stopping Rena, as if they wanted to respect her decision. Weird, she wouldn't hurt Rena. She wasn't into that.

"These are the Valkyrie Order... Mistress." Beatrice said from the back.

"Okay, what's the deal with that." Elizabeth couldn't help but snap out, making the fourteen little girls tense. "You don't need to call me Mistress; no one among the minions needs to do it if they don't want it; I have been straightforward about that if any minion wishes something. They can ask for it, I don't mind fulfilling those whims."

Elizabeth had noticed that Beatrice did seem as if she didn't want to call her Mistress. Elizabeth was quite happy that Beatrice was moving forward like that, even if that meant that she needed to resolve the...relationship they had going.

Beatrice liked Rossie as a Mother, but her relationship with Elizabeth was more...complicated.

"*Sigh*, It's not that...I...I don't deserve to call you like that anymore, not after what I did..." Beatrice said in a low voice, "I...I was resolved to kill you, all so that Mom would have a chance to survive."

...What?

"WHAT?!?!?!?!" Rossie flared her mana and if Elizabeth hadn't raised her hand and squashed the mana burst, Rossie may just kill Beatrice then and there.

But this served to show Elizabeth something interesting, the little girls reacted as one and formed a defense in front of Beatrice.

Interesting.

"I assume you are speaking about the time I spent... without control over my body or mind? The time I spent as a mindless dragon?" Elizabeth asked for confirmation.

Beatrice nodded, "Yes...I refer to that dragon bitch," oof...

Yeah, that was fair.

"It's fine, if killing that version of me would have granted Rossie a chance then I would have helped you if possible." Elizabeth answered, "So I don't mind it, of course I would rather you help me if possible..."

"I TRIED!" Beatrice lashed out, "FOR WEEKS I TRIED TO BRING YOU BACK! BUT YOU WEREN'T THERE! THERE WAS NOTHING TO BRING BACK!"

....Yikes.

"But that has nothing to do with this," Beatrice said steeling her resolve, "I did my best on this fight and all I ask is a boon from you Elizabeth."

...Elizabeth got the feeling that she would not like this.

"I...I want you to kill me Elizabeth, please let me atone for my sin before my core finish breaking." Beatrice said as she sank her little hand into her chest and pulled a purple gem that was broken into so many pieces that it was a miracle that it was still working, "Before I perish...I wish for you to end me for not believing, for betraying you...And for raising a group of dragon slayers."

....What the heck?