"I am Magical Girl Rosaria Celeste! And in the name of love and hope, you will be brought to justice!"
I stared, stunned as Stella's aura radiated off her in a pinkish glow.
She looked completely different than the proper, reserved Elysia or the bratty, mischievous Eris.
Her long, flowing pink hair fluttered as the air swirled around her and her ruffled dress and skirt fluttered and danced in the wind. A pink heart suddenly etched into her chest with a silver flash, and red ribbons trailed her wrists and legs. Her twin swords transformed further into long, thin pink blades that shone like mirrors against the streetlights, with pink jewels on each handle.
She was...
Magnificent.
The girl in front of me had an air of confidence and an undeniable commanding presence. Her face was stern, but kind and loving at the same time, and her pink eyes were filled with an inner fire. This was the sister I'd scarcely known in the flesh.
I wanted to say something, but my voice failed me.
She walked forward, her heels clicking against the asphalt as she approached Scrapper.
Stella's twin swords flashed as they began to glow brighter and brighter.
Scrapper's aura flared.
Then, Scrapper Scuttler guffawed. His armor shifted, the scrap metal clanking, and the monster flexed its massive, muscular arms. His eyes flared with a crimson light that made my heart stop, and he began to chuckle, the laughter reverberating throughout the street.
His voice sounded like the low grumble of thunder. "How... nostalgic."
Scrapper's voice was rough and gravelly.
Stella's pink eyes widened. She raised her sword as she pointed one at him.
"I know 'em eyes, missy," he said. His voice had an odd cadence and accent that made him sound old-fashioned. "Yer eyes remind me o' her. She had eyes just as fierce as yers." His gaze turned to me and I froze, paralyzed with fear.
I'd never felt this much raw power before. Scrapper's aura flared once again, sending a wave of energy crashing through the area like an invisible tsunami, making me stumble backwards.
"Ye too," he growled. "Yer aura, it's... familiar. Yeah, familiar indeed."
I gulped.
I couldn't move.
"And the boy," he turned to Kitsune, who was nursing a black eye. "I can tell. I've been doing this for far too long not to."
Kitsune flinched.
Scrapper stepped closer to the three of us, and we all instinctively stepped back. His eyes glowed brighter, and his helmet hissed. It raised with a loud clang as his helmet split and retracted into the back of the armor, revealing the face beneath.
He was bald with dark brown eyes and a chiseled jaw, with the scars of countless battles criss-crossing his skin. There were lines across his face, and his skin was pale, his lips drawn into a tight line.
He was old. His eyes, the color of a dark mahogany wood, seemed to pierce into our souls. I felt like I was being judged by some ancient god, his gaze unwavering.
His voice was deep, raspy, and had a strange, almost alien quality to it. "That pink cunt's power was so much stronger. But you three are just kids, ain'tcha?"
He walked closer to Kitsune, his steps heavy and metallic. Kitsune stood still, shaking like a leaf, and the mercenary looked down at him. The old man chuckled.
"I don't have anything to do with you kids," he growled. "You should run while you still can. This is gonna be the end for us old-timers soon."
"What?!" Kitsune shouted. "What do you mean by that!?"
He stopped. The mercenary looked at us again, and his gaze seemed to pierce into my soul.
"You three, and your little friends... You're too young to die. And I don't wanna kill any of you," he said. He then looked away and chuckled, his eyes closed. "I've been a doing this for a long, long time. Do it long enough, and proverbial debts pile up, and the money just gets in the way of what really matters."
I wanted to say something. But I couldn't.
He was a veteran mercenary, after all. He'd done things that would have sent lesser men to an early grave.
The armored mercenary shook his head, his voice soft and almost wistful.
"But there's a debt that needs to be paid, and this job... well, I'm getting old and tired, and this is just Tuesday. Literally, it is. It's a slow day."
I swallowed.
I didn't understand.
I didn't want to understand. I was scared of this man, and yet, there was a strange feeling of sadness, and... sympathy.
And then I realized. This wasn't a battle between magical girls and a ferocious, unbeatable supervillain from the comic books.
"The world nearly ended a month ago. Yet here I am chasing down a snot-nosed punk and pretendin' to kill ya and put the fear of god into you. It's like the whole fuckin' thing is on repeat," he growled, his eyes flashing with anger. "And then, after I finish this job, another, and then another. Them old Stars, we scrapped much back in the day and I owe 'em one last favor I couldn't pay back."
Scrapper Scuttler, the mercenary who had made a career of killing heroes, looked at me. His gaze was so intense I couldn't help but look away. He stared into my soul.
"I can feel the power coming off of you three," he said, looking at Kitsune, Stella, and I. "You're strong. But too young, too inexperienced. Ya can't win this. I'm giving you kids one last chance to run before I have to make good on this bounty, and the contract."
"We can't run away!" I shouted.
The mercenary chuckled. "Of course not."
He stepped forward, his foot clanking against the concrete. "If you're not going to run... then let's finish this."
His eyes flared with energy and his aura swirled around him. I took a step back.
He's too strong.
I knew it, and it terrified me.
I knew we didn't stand a chance.
It wasn't a fight between knights and a supervillain. It was a fight between a young, naive, and inexperienced group of kids and an old, broken veteran who was far too experienced and powerful to be defeated by three children and their injured friends and companions. Celeste raised her swords as Kitsune stepped forward, his hands raised in a martial arts stance. I raised my hand a barrier, and I could see Currant and Black Star ready to fight, their faces set in determination.
"ARRRRRRRGGHHHHHH!"
But then, a frustrated scream ripped through the air.
"Okay. Hold. The fuck on."
Strawberry stomped forward, practically bristling at the mercenary.
"I have. No idea what's going on here, and I'm too cranky and too tired to give a shit," Strawberries yelled, her ears twitching. "What. The fuck are you talking about!? Is this like, some sorta old-timer code? What the fuck is this about a pink cunt!?"
Strawberry! I wanted to yell out.
She stomped forward, her eyes narrowed, her tail pointed in a hook shape. "Listen, I've had a bad fucking day, alright? And you, the guy with the dumbass name of Scrapper Scuttler or whatever, don't get to talk like this is some sort of meaningful moment or a movie climax scene. I just. Wanted. To go shopping with friends. And eat some fucking sushi. That. Is. All!"
"Kid..." the mercenary started, but Strawberry cut him off, stomping her feet.
"Don't 'Kid' me, you fuckin' grandpa! Do you know how hard it is to find some good sushi?! Especially after a bunch of demons came roaring out of the goddamned sky a month ago, and then there's a bunch of weird, crazy shit going on. Like, what's up with that!? Who gives a shit about your problems or whatever you have to say! Contracts? Money?! Who gives a flying fuck about those? What I want to know is how the hell I can find a place to get a goddamned salmon roll now, because the city is completely out of order, and the other places I've been to have been total shit. I've been running around all goddamn night, and you know what we've got for it?! NOTHING!" she screamed.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
She stopped for a moment, breathing hard. Her eyes were wide and bloodshot. "All I wanted to do was eat some goddamned sushi. And now... Now I've gotta fight a giant robot man or something."
Scrapper Scuttler stared at Strawberry. "You're a funny one."
Strawberry's eye twitched. Her mouth opened in an inaudible scream. Her body began to shake with rage. She stomped towards him.
"The one good bowl of uni in this city and you're standing in front of it! You even torched the goddamned place!"
Her body was shaking with pure, unrestrained fury.
"Ah, yes," the old mercenary said. He scratched the back of his head. "Sorry about that, but it was in my way."
"In your way!?" she growled, her eyes wild. She clenched her fists, gritting her teeth. "That's not even the worst part. The worst part is that you're just gonna walk away after this! Like, you're gonna walk away, and you won't even be bothered by it. Like it was just another job! Look around you! You just went on a fucking tirade about being tired and old, but the second it comes down to it, it's all about the fucking money!"
Scrapper's mouth twitched. Strawberry didn't stop.
"Look, I don't give a flying fuck about your vague debts or your contract. You're an old man who should just fucking retire, not some tragic fucking figure! Stop pretending this has meaning! It doesn't!"
She stomped towards Scrapper Scuttler, her face red, and her fists shaking with rage. "You know, you remind me of a lot of my old boss and manager when I was teaching the junior boxing class. Always making excuses about how the work is too much, and the money is too little, and how there's a debt to be paid. Well guess what, you old fuck? I don't care about your money or your contracts, or whatever. All I care about is that bowl of uni, and you took it away from me! We're a bunch of kids! What kind of old man attacks a bunch of kids like us!?"
He growled and his helmet slid back onto his face. "Enough!"
Scrapper Scuttler raised a massive arm, readying his arm-mounted blaster cannon, but I stepped forward. I couldn't let Strawberry take on the brunt of the attack.
She just stared at him, putting her head down. "You wanna know the worst part, old man? You wanna know why I'm really, really, really, REALLY angry? It's because I was actually starting to respect your sorry ass before you went on your little old-man, woe-is-life monologue, and then destroyed the best restaurant I've been to since my home here was razed by fucking extradimensional aliens!"
Her ears shot up, her eyes flared, her hands were clenched.
Her tail snapped straight up, then bent into an upside-down 'U.'
She pointed at him.
"Because you know what, old man!? I've had it! You think this is your story or your life!? No, old man, this is OUR life! This is OUR life, and this is OUR story! All of us! Me, Lux, Celeste, Black Star, Currant, Kitsune, everyone in Kaleidoscope, and our classmates, and our teachers! The poor man you ran through with your sword back there was somebody's son or brother! We all have stories! We're not your supporting characters, old man! This is OUR story!"
Scrapper's eyes flared and he raised his cannon, focusing intently on Claw Strawberry.
"Enough talk. I'm finishing this..." he growled, covering his face with his skull helmet in a snap.
But a blast didn't come.
"Hopeful Heart Alchemy..." I whispered.
The world slowed down.
And several things happened at once.
Celeste appeared in front of Strawberry with a pink flash, holding up her swords with a multilayered barrier to shield the both of them.
The air around them began to shimmer, the air becoming heavy and thick, the street lights flickering, the wind blowing with an unnatural strength. A green flash of lightning and a gust of air blew past me. Kitsune's Lightning Overdrive had been activated.
I felt a burning in my heart.
I knew what to do. The words flowed from my lips.
"Shadow Dance!" I shouted.
My perception accelerated further. Everything slowed to a crawl, the world taking on a gray tint. I felt a burning heat as black and blue flames covered my body. Wings of shadow erupted from my back, and I shot forward.
I felt a presence within my soul, and the voice of a mother I never knew. As she had once been.
My aura... pulsed, resonated, with Stella's, and the two auras merged. She felt warm, comforting.
A pink and silver light radiated from her as I approached, and I could feel the presence of a powerful force behind me. The two auras, now one, swelled and pulsated.
I could hear the whispers of a woman.
It was my mother, speaking to me, guiding me, helping me. She was telling me what I needed to know.
A brilliant, smiling woman appeared beside her in my mind's eye. She was a radiant pink, and her eyes sparkled with a love that I knew could only have been hers. Her presence was like the sun on my back. I felt her putting a hand on Celeste's shoulder.
As if in a trance, Celeste raised her twin blades, and a massive barrier expanded, blocking Scrapper Scuttler's blow from above.
My heart beat faster. The sound echoed in my head, the thump, thump, thump of my heartbeats. It felt like the beat of drums, like the music of the universe itself, and it was guiding me.
My hand glowed with a purple light, the energy pulsing and throbbing,
"Let the power of my love become your blade, and let the strength of your heart become my armor," my mother's voice echoed in my mind. "Let the light of my hope become a shield, and the darkness of my soul become your wings. In the darkness I will be your guide."
The sound of drums in my ears, I flew forward.
A swirling miasma of black and blue flames, and the sound of a heartbeat echoed around me. I felt the power of my heart, the power of my love, the power of my mother's love.
The silhouette of a green woman with a fox's tail and ears flashed in front of me, and a burst of electricity shot through the air, the smell of ozone and electricity permeating the area around us.
The silhouette twirled an ornate green spear and pointed it forward.
A figure emerged, joining with the image of my mother. A green woman with a long white fox tail and ears. She was dressed in a silver kimono with green lining, and she was smiling, her eyes twinkling with joy and mischief.
The fox boy reappeared in a flash of lightning, and he held a spear in hand. The ground exploded beneath us, a pillar of lightning and a pillar of shadow shot up, the pillars intertwined in a helix of black and blue fire and lightning.
"Raijin's Odori!" Kitsune shouted. A shock wave of air exploded around him.
His eyes were wide and filled with determination as his aura flared. He was determined to make sure I got my opening. The mercenary, however, was prepared, and he brought up his cannon.
"Fuck outta here!" Strawberry cried. "I don't wanna have to look at your ugly old mug anymore, grandpa!"
She threw an explosive uppercut that would've done nothing to his body, but it threw off his aim, just for a fraction of a second, just enough to give Kitsune the chance to unleash his own strike.
His spear glowed a bright, crackling, bluish green, the energy of lightning surrounding it.
The helix of shadows and lightning closed in around us, the heat of the black and blue flames seeping into my bones.
And I threw my hand towards Kitsune.
And suddenly, the fox boy's body was wreathed in shadow and lightning, his speed doubled.
Kitsune's body was enveloped by a swirling black and green fire that crackled with lightning. Scrapper Scuttler reoriented his aim, but the fox boy was faster.
Kitsune's form blurred, his movements were almost imperceptible, and I heard a thump, then the air around me exploded.
The fox boy had launched a flurry of spear thrusts so fast, it looked like he had six spears at the same time.
The spear was glowing and sparking, and each time it touched the armor of Scrapper's, a burst of lightning would shoot out and spread across the surface. The old mercenary's eyes were wide, his gaze darting back and forth.
"Hearfelt Echo:" Celeste chanted. "Sword of the Heavenly Empress!"
The fox boy thrust the spear into the center of the old mercenary's chest. There was a flash of light and a shockwave of energy.
A pink blade made out of pure, shimmering light manifested, and Celeste swung her sword. The blade of pink light shot forward, a long, crescent blade that cut through the air with ease.
The blade sliced through the air and slammed into the center of the mercenary's waist.
But to no avail. Kitsune's lightning was stopped by the armor's shields, and the pink sword bounced off the mercenary's chest plate, sending a spray of sparks and a loud screech of metal on metal.
Scrapper Scuttler stood there for a second, stunned, looking around.
He let out a laugh, and a blast from his cannon, but Celeste held strong, her sword glowing as she deflected it with one hand. Her eyes glinted with determination and a fire of their own.
The old mercenary raised his cannon again, aiming it towards Kitsune. "You kids have some bite! But you're a hundred years too young to challenge me!"
Kitsune flipped in midair, flashing me a wink as he pointed his spear back at me. The helix of black fire and lightning spiraling around him bounced to wrap around my body.
I saw the opportunity.
"Sienna...!" I heard my mother's voice echo.
I threw my hand out again and a black and blue miasma swirled around it.
I didn't have the staggering, overwhelming mana my mother did. I didn't have her training or experience.
I couldn't even do Shadow Dance on my own.
But I could improvise.
"Harmonizing Art: Raijin's Shadow Dance!" I screamed.
Lightning shot through me as the fox boy and I moved together, our bodies merging and moving in perfect unison.
We shot through the air, a streak of lightning and a trail of shadow following our path as the miasma grew in intensity and size. A trail of lightning followed me, and my shadowy wings expanded and grew as my body became wreathed in black flames and green lightning.
His armor was too advanced, too powerful to break through.
He was too experienced. Too much.
My mother, however, had notoriously used her emotions to fuel her attacks. She had the power to manipulate a person's emotions and to use them as weapons, to a certain degree.
The old mercenary's eyes. His speech, and the pain and weariness he expressed, they spoke of someone who had seen and done terrible things. And he carried them with him. He was tired. Tired of the fighting, of the blood, of the killing. And he was tired of the weight of his sins.
I threw my hand forward, the lightning from Kitsune's attack crackling through me. He looked almost disdainfully at me, cracking his knuckles as he drew his sword and swung.
Celeste appeared between us, spinning her twin blades in an arc that sent the mercenary reeling, his blade deflecting the strike with ease. He was a skilled warrior and he knew his craft. But Celeste wasn't going to give him the time to think about his next strike.
A pink flash, and suddenly she was behind him.
She swung her swords again, the air crackling and splitting with a sound like thunder as she cut through the space. He was able to dodge, but the strike sent a wave of force through the ground and shattered the concrete.
I tucked into a dive as Kitsune's spear struck the mercenary in the chest. He didn't dodge this one.
The old man looked at me as the spear hit him. I could feel the electricity from Kitsune's attack course through me, the lightning crackling and snapping at my fingertips.
He backhanded Celeste away from him and blocked the fox boy's blow.
I threw my hands out as the miasma swirled, my body glowing with an intense purple light that illuminated the night and the alley.
I closed my eyes, focusing on all the ambient mana released during our brief skirmish, all of the emotions, and the miasma swirled, thickened, coalesced.
The mana gathered, and I felt a pull.
And suddenly, a storm of black fire and green lightning swirled in front of me, the flames roaring with a life of their own. It was the culmination of a lifetime of regrets, a lifetime of pain and suffering. It was a storm of emotions that swirled and crashed in front of me, the fire raging as if it had been set free after a lifetime of being trapped inside.
This Art was too expensive for me to use on my own ordinarily, and the strain of the power was taxing, even with Kitsune's support and the ambient mana. I grit my teeth as I forced the flames into a ball, the lightning dancing around it as I purified it into my own.
And then I drew upon it, exploding forward as black shadows and green lightning wreathed my body. I flew at the mercenary, my hands outstretched as I focused the energy into my palms.
And I could see it, in the corner of my eyes. I saw three glowing silhouettes appear around us. Three women, one with a long, white foxtail, another a tall woman with pink hair in a pink dress, a woman who looked almost like me but with blue eyes and lighter hair.
"Shadow Art: Nightingale's Lament!" I screamed,
He saw it. I saw it in his eyes in my mind's eye, the fear that filled him.
His eyes were wide with terror. With recognition.
The mercenary brought his hands together in a defensive stance as I flew towards him.
And then the world exploded into darkness.
The flames swirled and roared as a torrent of green and black flames and lightning consumed the mercenary.
And then it was over.