“Nao, run to the arcade and get the girls. I can’t fight at full strength unless Sora’s here with me, but I can buy some time.”

“R-right!”

We both knew that the smart thing to do was to run away. After all, when cult members show up in public, magical girls are soon to follow. But we also both knew that there was no way Saki would let them harm innocent people.

And, more importantly, this was our chance to capture a ‘cult member’ and test if our hypothesis was really correct: if they were being mind controlled by the magical girls.

As soon as she confirmed that no one was looking her way, Saki magically donned her magical girl outfit. Unlike Sora’s full black outfit, Saki’s primarily had a metallic silver look with red highlights. At first glance, they looked as if they were actually armour. And from her back sprouted two metal wings that arched over her head, lined with white feathers.

It was a look that carried the nobility of a commander, perfect for someone who commanded the 「Fearless Leader」ability.

As she bravely dashed forward to engage her enemy, I turned to run the other direction, hoping desperately to find Sora in time.

As I was leaving the central street, however, a blood-curdling scream sounded out from Saki's direction. I turned around to see her on her knees, clutching her profusely bleeding leg.

I didn’t need to see it happen to realise what had transpired. The robed figures had concealed throwing knives in their sleeves, and when all three threw them at once, there was no way for her to dodge all of them. One had sliced a cut along her left leg, crippling her ability to run instantly.

The three figures, having disabled their adversary, approached her slowly. Ever so slowly. But every second they inched closer and closer.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. After everything I had said about not wanting to lose my precious friends, I was about to watch the most important person in my whole world die. And I was helpless to stop it.

No. No, that wasn’t the case at all. I could save Saki. Right here. Right now.

I retrieved the syringe from my bag and held it to my arm.

I had to do it. There was no other choice. I had to become Saki’s strength, as she had done for me for so many years. And all I had to do was inject that liquid into myself.

So why? Why couldn’t I do it? Why was I standing there staring at it instead of getting on with it?

I knew the answer, of course. I was scared. Scared for my very life. Scared that I was about to make a decision that put me in danger for the rest of my days.

No matter how much Saki and the others had helped me over the years, I was still the scared little girl crying on her own. I hadn’t changed at all since elementary school. I was still ruled by my fear and anxiety.

“Nao! Run! Leave me behind!”

But, as I heard my friend screaming, telling me to let her sacrifice herself so that I can escape, I realised something.

Fear wasn’t just something that could hold me back. Fear was also something that could push me forward.

All I had to do was not let it paralyse me. Instead, I had to harness it. Let it drive me.

Because I knew that the one thing that scared more than dying was living alone. And that fear gave me the last push I needed.

I stuck the needle into my arm and injected myself with that terrifying yellow liquid.

“It’s the strength to protect the one you love the most that desire? I can give you that.”

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A voice sounded out in my head. A voice that I couldn’t describe or explain. But it was a voice that soothed my nerves.

Without a second thought, I ran to Saki’s side and prepared to engage the enemy.

“Wh- Nao?! You took the serum?!”

“I won’t let my friends get hurt any more. I’ll protect you all. By fighting by your side.”

I’m sure my conviction rang out in my voice, overpowering my usually anxious manner of speech. But I was just as scared as usual. No, I was orders of magnitude more scared. But that fear was nothing compared to my desire to protect the people, the person that I loved.

“Ther- argh!” Saki began to speak, but yelped in pain as her wound continued to haemorrhage blood. “There’s too many for you to take alone. You need to get out of here."

“Who said anything about fighting alone?” I put my hand on Saki’s shoulder, and focused my entire being on her. “Heal.”

In seconds, the deep wound that had prevented Saki from even standing completely disappeared. Somehow, I immediately understand my power. The power of 「The Guardian Angel」

“Whoa…” Saki looked at her previously wounded leg with wonder. It looked as if it had never been injured at all. Immediately, she got to her feet to face down our enemy.

“I have a plan.”

“Somehow, I think I already know it.” This was the power of Saki’s 「Fearless Leader」, which allowed her to communicate her thoughts without speaking them aloud.

Without another word spoken, Saki and I moved to take on our enemies head on. With two targets to choose from, they were no longer able to overwhelm Saki with throwing knives, instead failing to hit either of us as we picked our targets.

The plan was simple. Saki and I would individually pick off the left and right enemies respectively, before focusing our combined power on taking down the middle one. With both of us overwhelming them, it should be easy to knock them out for long enough to bring them back to Saki’s home and trap them there. That’ll buy us time to make the antidote to neutralise the mind control drug. Assuming Mai’s theory is correct, of course.

As I drew close to the enemy on the right, they ceased throwing knives and withdrew a mace that had been hidden inside their robe.

They swung a mighty attack at me, but they telegraphed it enough for me to predict it easily. With the new strength I had gained from the serum, it was no effort at all to jump over it’s trajectory and deliver a drop kick to my opponent's face.

I had no martial arts training at all, so all I could do was throw desperate attacks and try as hard as I could to avoid harm. That proved far easier than I expected, however, as the cult member continued to attack the same way every time, as if entirely unable to learn.

It truly was like they were mindless. No, acting subconsciously would be a more accurate way to describe it.

After dodging several attacks in a row and responding in kind by throwing kick after kick with my own body weight, my opponent eventually staggered backwards, opening an opportunity for me to slam my fist down hard on the back of their head.

The second I began to mentally celebrate my victory, however, I once again became aware of Saki’s thoughts.

“I can’t handle both of these alone!” Was the thought that suddenly appeared in my mind.

Sure enough, the cultist that we had neglected to deal with had joined in with their brethren attacking Saki, and she was quickly getting overwhelmed.

I could see no opening that would allow me to attack either one of them, and I doubted I had the strength to make the difference either. What I was able to do, however, was to utilise 「Guardian Angel」and its second ability.

“Barrier!” I thrust my left hand in Saki’s direction, and watched as a translucent blue barrier covered her entire body, protecting her from harm.

She seemed to become aware of this the moment I thought about it and sent a heavy kick flying into the face of one of her adversaries, with no regard for defence whatsoever. Sure enough, as they struck her body with their mace, it instantaneously deflected away from her, doing no damage to her whatsoever.

The enemy, who was caught completely by surprise at her sudden aggression, fell to the ground dazed and scrambled to get out of her way. I realised that only I could see the barrier I had cast, so the cult member had no clue why their attack did absolutely nothing.

Saki then engaged the second assailant, launching an equally aggressive attack by aiming a fist straight for his jaw. Once again, the swung mace deflected right off of her body, doing nothing at all. Only this time, the barrier shattered as well.

Saki delivered the punch with power, but her opponent had been ready for it and managed to soften the blow, so she failed to incapacitate them.

However, there was now an opening for me to intervene. I dashed towards the disoriented opponent and slammed my fist into their left abdomen. Saki immediately joined me and did the same to their right. We continued throwing blow after blow, alternating between me and Saki to overwhelm our opponent with speed. Before a single attack came our way, Saki and I together managed to beat our opponent down, finishing them with an uppercut in unison that left them completely out cold.

I breathed a sigh of relief. We had managed to win the fight while outnumbered, and we even managed to come out without a scratch on either of us. It was a resounding victory, one for which we should thank our lucky stars.

“Naochan?!”

That relief was immediately broken by a familiar voice. As I turned around, I saw Sora dressed in her magical girl outfit, and by her side was Amai, a hurt expression on her face.

This… probably looks bad.