More imps than I could possibly count surrounded us on all sides. Seven of us stood against thousands, with no route of escape.

“Kyouma, any way you could teleport us out of here?” Asked Saki.

“Nay, I am only able to teleport to places I can see or already know of. This foreign land is a mystery to me.”

Looking around at our environs, it was clear why Kyouma wasn’t on board with teleporting us out of here. Everywhere in sight was swarming with imps, and behind them stood a number of ogres. Were we to teleport anywhere, we’d be out of the frying pan and into the fire.

There was no escape. We had to fight our way out.

Slowly, the imps started to encroach towards us. They were armed only with clubs, but their numbers would soon overwhelm us. Saki was the only one amongst us with a shield and spear, the rest of us carrying only the weapons we had trained with. I drew my twin axes, Mai at my side holding her rapier. No matter how I looked at it, there was no way we were getting through this with just our weapons.

I have a plan. When I give the signal, drop to the ground.

What’s the plan?

You’re not gonna like it.

Saki’s plan was a risky one, but I saw no other way out. Our enemies continued to approach, slowly at first but continuing to pick up speed. Every step they took made me more and more anxious, waiting for Saki’s signal as the sweat dripped from my body. They got close. Too close for comfort.

“Now!”

“「SIBLING RIVALRY」”

Five us hit the deck at once, leaving only the twins standing. Extreme heat and extreme cold spread discomfort through my entire body, as rings of flame and ice expanded outwards from the bodies of Suzume and Hikari. Screams of pain echoed out from the imps, their legs frozen to the ground and their bodies burning to a crisp.

“Follow me!”

Saki raised her shield in front of her and darted in one direction towards a mass of burning imps, the rest of us sticking close behind. Getting through the imps was easy, but we found ourselves facing down an ogre before long. Not slowing down, Saki launched her spear at the ogre, impaling it directly in the throat. Over our heads flew Nao, who swooped up and fired down at the ogre’s face with her bow, causing the already injured ogre to desperately cover it’s eyes.

“Mai, with me!”

“Right!”

My fiance and I overtook our leader a leaped towards the ogre, slicing at it’s upper legs and cutting clean through its flesh. With a pained roar, the beast fell to the ground, bleeding profusely out of its throat and legs.

Saki retrieved her spear from its throat and the rest of our group caught up with us. With the initial confusion of the twins’ attack beginning to wear off, our enemies were now attempting to close in on us once again.

“Keep running, don’t look back!” Saki overtook us once again, and the other five of us on the ground stuck close behind her. Nao continued to fly overhead, seemingly directing Saki on which way to run.

We must have run for almost an hour. Over hills of red rock and round lakes of blood red, filled with pollution and the bodies of sinners unable to escape. After an exhausting sprint, we found ourselves at a run down and and in bed building made of rotted wood and graffitied with letters none of us recognised.

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Our long run came to an end, but that didn’t mean we were safe.

“What… the fuck… happened.” I painted for air as I voiced my frustration.

“The portal closed behind us. Was it a trap?” The physically fit Saki seemed fine, though her tone was one of a barely concealed fear.

“I don’t… think… that’s entirely… right…” Mai breathed heavily for a few seconds before continuing to speak. “The portal opened the moment the sun dipped below the horizon. The moment it closed, I saw the sun start to peek out again. I think it’s obvious what happened there.”

She didn’t need to finish the thought. It was clear: the portal opened at night and closed at day. In other words, our escape route wouldn’t open until the sun fell once again.

“So what? We just got stupid bad luck and happened to tumble into the portal at the exact moment it closed?” Saki spoke as if the notion was absurd, and even I had to admit that the coincidence was baffling.

“No… I don’t that’s the case either.” Mai put her hand to her chin, as if she often did when thinking aloud. “Their attacks steadily increased in intensity, reaching their climax right before sun up, then suddenly slowing down. When we got in, we were surrounded on all sides, not just the side of the portal. I don’t think the portal closing was a trap, I think their troop movements were.”

“They wanted to draw us in…” I muttered aloud to myself. It was obvious what their real plan was. They wanted us to think that we had weakened their forced enough to stage a land invasion, after which the sun would rise and the portal would close. With no way to escape and enemies attacking from all side, even Hana’s Spartans would have been in danger. We escaped due to a trump card, but if all 300 were there I doubted they’d have a chance at escaping without any casualties at all.

In other words, we weren’t the targets of the trap. The entire sisterhood was.

“That bastard… this whole standoff in Matsue was never about giving us a fighting chance at all.” Saki slammed the side of her fist into the wall of the decrepit building. “He knew that magical girls would be the only ones who could oppose his rule over Earth, so he tried to wipe us all out in one fell swoop. He played us like a damn fiddle.”

I was horrified. It was harrowing how close we had been to falling for their trap. Our plan had been to have the seven of us scout ahead and confirm whether or not it would be safe for the Spartans to invade through the portal. Had our specialist scout team not existed, it’s possible Hana would have been forced to brazenly walk her army to their deaths.

Looking around at my comrades, it’s clear that we only made it out by the skin of our teeth. With the exception of Saki, we were all exhausted. Mai and Nao had both taken to sitting on the hard rocky floor and Kyouma was leaning against the wall trying to re-catch her breath. None were more exhausted than the twins, however.

“How are you guys holding up?” I asked them.

“Not… great…” Hikari’s breath was ragged as she spoke. “That was… the biggest… finisher… we’ve ever done. Having to sprint this far right after… my lungs are on fire.”

Though she said nothing, Suzume seemed to echo that sentiment. It was a bad sign. The two amongst us with offensive magic were both already exhausted. We would have to avoid any and all conflict while dead in the heart of enemy territory.

We were able to take a brief breather, but the rumble of a thousand footsteps told us we couldn’t stay much longer. I casted concealment over all of us and we left the run down building, having no direction to go but the one that led us away from the horde.

Now that we were no longer sprinting with all of our might, I had a chance to properly examine the scenery. Hell was dark. Incredibly dark, in fact. Had it not been for our magically enhanced senses, we’d likely have been walking around blind. What little light there was bathed the putrid place in a dull red, only exacerbated by the blood-red water and maroon rock that covered every inch of the place.

It was hilly and mountainous, but they were not the lush green hills of the countryside. The landscape was like that of Mars or the moon: barren, rocky and devoid of life.

We walked and walked with little in sight but ruined buildings and wasteland. It was like the site of a nuclear strike. Signs of civilisation, but no one around to inhabit it.

“Kyouma, do you think you can teleport us back to the portal when it reopens at sun down?” Asked Saki

“Verily, I cannot say. On our home world it would be no issue at all, but space may not be the same here as it is on Terra. It would be a coin flip as to whether mine arcane power works as it should.”

“That’s assuming the portal even reopens,” Mai pointed out. “If their plan really was to draw us in before the portal closes, there may be no reason for it to reopen. Besides, they said the portal would open in the solstice. It’s now the 22nd. It might not open ever again.”

“So we could be stuck in hell for good? Fucking wonderful.” Saki practically spat as she talked.

“Well we do have one possibility left. Find Baal Zebul and kill him ourselves.” Hikari casually suggested lunacy.

“Where would we even find him? We don’t even know where we are?” I pointed out.

“Maybe they know?”

We came to a stop as Mai pointed out the top of a hill just ahead of us. Atop the hill stood an encampment, swarming with demons.