The girls with mutations had all died and now one hundred and twelve seedlings remained.

No one exploded for the next half hour, but some girls were tearing at their skin in pain. The sun's energy coursing through their veins and occasionally an odd cracking sound came from within some of the girls’ bodies.

As they entered the second stage of the ritual, ten of the one hundred and twelve girls were showing signs of mana overflow.

Their bones cracked, their pupils dilated, and bloody sweat poured out of their skin yet the girls moaned in pleasure as their souls decayed. One of the ten pulled a pill out from her collar and ingested the substance.

Blackcard frowned, catching a glimpse of the action. That was a mana condenser. Something magical girls used to store excess mana, kind of like a spare battery.

judging by the color it was a tank-sized one too. It had enough storage to allow the girl to survive the ritual, but her chances of breaking through and becoming a magical girl had gone from 10% down to 1%.

If this girl doesn’t become a magical girl, she’d just become experimentation material or be killed outright. It’s really just a waste of a perfectly fine mana condenser...

Tragic as they were, those were the rules.

Blackcard turned her sight onto her daughter's pick. The girl might have seemed plain and look nothing like magical girl material, but Blackcard could see the energy circling in her body.

The girl was a natural at handling wild, uncontrolled mana. If she didn't know better she'd think that the girl was a naturally awakened magical girl.

Naturally awakened magical girls were rare, as around 97% of magical girls were artificially made. Even I, myself, had been awakened artificially. There wasn't much difference between the two anyway. The only real distinction between the two is that naturals are better at controlling their urges.

...

As Blackcard observed the seedlings below, Alex grit her teeth at the feeling of mana continuously flowing into her veins. It felt like needles were pricking at her brain as worms dug underneath her skin and crawled around wherever they pleased.

Her muscles and bones were constantly being broken down and reconstructed to better suit the mana flowing into her body. The girls around her screamed and cried in agony, but Alex didn't make a sound.

But oh how she wanted to scream, to shout, to wish the pain away, to just end it all. But in the back of her head, Alex couldn't accept dying this way thinking of the past.

Every day I studied my brains out, stayed out of trouble, and ate nothing but meat. I never moved according to my wishes and just lived the way people told me to. It was a boring life that held no meaning. I was merely chained up by other people’s expectations and ignored by those around me.

To die a puppet isn’t my calling. I’ll fight tooth and nail to cut my own path forward from now on, breaking out of the cage and chains that held me back from seeing the world’s beautiful color. I’ll become a magical girl, or even a demon if I need to. It doesn't matter. I will fight for my freedom.

With her thoughts sorted out Alex redoubled her efforts to control the energy ravaging her body. However, as she tried to focus, the unending laughter all around her made it impossible to do so. Alex opened her eyes and what she saw horrified her. The deformed girls were bleeding all over and yet they laughed their lungs out as they stared at the sun, reaching outwards and asking for more energy, for more of this sweet addictive power.

Although she wanted to look away, morbid curiosity kept her eyes locked on their figures. In the end, Alex etched their endings into her memory. One by one the mutated girls exploded, their bodies unable to deal with the building pressure. They simply popped like a cherry tomato, sending body parts flying in every direction.

To her, the girls looked like black and red fireworks. Alex touched her face and could feel the sticky red and black blood on her hands. Anger and fury raged inside of her instead of fear and disgust, prompting Alex to send a glare filled with hatred at Blackcard. The expressionless leader just smirked under her headdress when she saw Alex’s infuriated look.

Ah, a feisty one. I wonder if you can keep that face when the eclipse comes along. Which should be right about… Now.

There was a slight change in the air. One that was hard to notice from the stands unless you were paying attention. The remaining girls on the platform below only felt their bodies grow hotter as the air around them grew colder.

Alex quickly focused on her own body as the previously steady stream of mana flowing into her increased at a rapid pace, knocking the wind out of her.

Sugar had also been affected by the escalating mana. She bit her lip and dug her fingernails into the palms of her hands, struggling to control the unceasing flow of mana.

Both of the girls held onto their fragile little lives as the moon began to cover the sun. It was at this time that some of the others on the platform started to show signs of mana overflow.

Some girls cried and others laughed hysterically, but all of them had blood flowing out from their bodies. They knew they were doomed to die and yet they still tried their best to keep their bodies from exploding. The rest of the seedlings tried to hold themselves together under the vast amounts of mana entering their bodies.

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Despite the increase in mana Alex managed to keep her eyes open and watched the girls around her in their last moments to pay her respects. With each girl that exploded the crowd’s shouts grew louder and louder as the magical girls enjoyed the twisted show as it reached its climax.

Soon the eclipse would reach its zenith.

Ninety blood soaked girls were left on the field, but ten of them showed signs of mana overflow.

Sweat soaked Alex’s clothes as she struggled to absorb the intense amount of mana flowing through her veins. She could feel that her body was about to reach the limit. Alex looked up at the sky and could see the sun's light fading away from sight.

Every inch of her brain was warning her to get ready for the final hurdle. Still, Alex had enough energy to glance over at Suger to see if she was still alive. As if on the same wavelength as her, Sugar also looked over at Alex and weakly gave a thumbs up.

The final beam of light gradually vanished and the mana entering their systems increased by half in an instant. Those that were already affected by mana overflow rapidly bubbled up like a shaken soda before bursting with a pop, covering the platform in a sheet of blood and bits of flesh.

Alex almost bit her tongue off from the brutal force ravaging around her body. Sugar directly coughed out a mouthful of blood, and both their eyes widened in shock as Sugar began bleeding all over her body.

Sugar smiled grimly and chuckled, “Haha… I guess this is as far as I go, Alex… Ha hah— What are you doing!?”

Alex weakly got to her legs and stood, and walking over to Sugar with unstable steps. It was only thanks to how closely they were placed she was able to reach Sugar.

The crowd watched her movements in confusion, wondering what the girl was doing. Even their leader Blackcard didn’t know what her daughter's seedling intended to do with that doomed girl.

Sugar's eyes widened in shock but even as the mana inside her was reaching its limits she uttered a few words, “Stay away from me Alex… I’m going to explode… Don’t die with m—”

Alex lunged at Sugar, grabbing her head and pressing her lips passionately against her friend’s, making Sugar freeze in shock. The taste of iron filled Alex’s mouth as she forced Sugar to the ground and started draining the mana from her friend's body.

As Alex’s tongue invaded her mouth Sugar felt her body become lighter and the horrid bloated feeling hinting at her possible explosion lessened greatly. Now that she had some breathing room, Sugar worked to control the energy rampaging inside of her.

As Sugar reigned in the energy inside of her she watched Alex’s expression out of the corner of her eye, noticing that her eyes were starting to bleed. Knowing that it wasn’t worth it to drag both of them down, Sugar struggled to escape Alex’s grasp.

Her attempts were futile, however, as the headstrong nerd kept a tight hold on her, not daring to let her go even as the excess mana from Sugar kept beating into Alex’s body.

One of the magical girls in the stands stood up and yelled in shock, “That girl is draining the doomed one’s excess mana! Is she seeking death?!”

The girls in the crowd that heard their sister's voice fell into shock. Despite all the rituals they’d held or heard about, no seedling had even done such a thing. Even their leader Blackcard couldn’t hold in her shock when she saw how crazy her daughter's pick was acting.

Blackcard had previously determined that Alex had a ninety percent chance to easily pass the ritual, but now that she was taking in the other girl's excess mana she would only have a five percent chance to make it through.

What a waste, Blackcard thought.

Despite the magical girls’ yelling, Alex was determined to keep her first friend alive. She used her body to shield Sugar from the sun’s rays but it did no good. The rays somehow managed to reach Sugars' body even with Alex blocking her. So all Alex could do was to keep draining the overflowing mana away.

Blood flowed out of Alex’s body, mixing with Sugar’s, as sheer willpower kept her from exploding into bits and pieces.

Her mind, on the edge of life and death, was split with two thoughts. Should she abandon her friend and live on for the both of them or keep on draining away in the hopes that both of them would make it out alive?

Her bones were making cracking sounds, her pain was turning into pleasure, and the urge to laugh weighed heavily on Alex’s unsteady mind.

Alex felt like she was breaking apart, so she held Sugar tighter, kissing her deeper, trying her hardest to save both of them.

Giving up isn’t an option! For the first time in my life... I'm going to be a little selfish.

Seeing Alex’s determined expression, Sugar finally stopped resisting and instead tried her best to absorb the mana going into her body. She tried her hardest to help Alex in any way she could and unconsciously wrapped her arms around Alex’s neck.

If they die, they would at least die together. Sugar wouldn’t throw away this girl's selflessness. Rather, she would accept her everything. Kissing Alex back deeply, Sugar accepted that they would fight against the fate of death together.

The seconds passed by in agony as mana ripped through Alex’s body. She could feel the urge to explode well up inside her, tearing at her from all different directions as she tried to control it.

Then there was one final snap that Alex felt deep in her very soul as if something important had broken. The pleasure she’d felt moments before was immediately replaced with immense pain as her body started to seize.

At that moment the sun's rays finally peeked out from the side of the moon, instantly lessening the mana beaming down upon the fragile seedlings below.

Alex fell away from Sugar’s embrace, holding her head in agony and screaming her lungs out. Sugar, with the wave of excess mana gone, recovered from the symptoms of mana overload and could now finish the ritual without a problem.

Yet Sugar sat up and rushed to hold Alex in her arms, making sure that she didn’t hit her head on something as her body trembled and shook. She glanced over at the remaining girls around her, all seventy of them or so but the ones that weren’t still and lifeless on the ground were staring into the sun. No one on the platform was paying attention to them.

Blackcard’s interest peaked when she saw how Alex convulsed in Sugar's arms.

Did her soul break? But then why is she screaming? Those that have had their soul broken simply become brain-dead puppets, unable to think or act. So why is she still screaming her head off? I must check her body after the ritual ends. I need to know...

Sugar tried to shake Alex awake with tears in her eyes, but the girl just kept screaming, almost as if she were deranged.

Has she gone mad? Sugar wondered.

Suddenly the gray light surrounding Alex flashed intensely, blinding Sugar and a few of the girls around her. But even without her eyesight, Sugar could feel that Alex had stopped shaking. Even her screaming had halted.

Sugar forced her eyes open only to see the light around Alex condense into a strange gray fabric that wrapped around her friend’s body.

Blackcard wanted to laugh. The insane girl actually pulled it off.