''For as public as the life of Magical Girls may seem to be. There are some things that they and the government keep a tight lid on from the general public. One of those things is the existence of Soulless and the labyrinth they create.''

''The fact that we can all turn into Unfeelings is an uncomfortable truth we all face. But It's one thing to aknowledge that normal humans may turn into an Unfeeling and another to aknowledge that it may also happen to our Magical Girls saviors...''

Exctract From a classified Mystic Hunter training video. - 2028

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Today was Thursday, meaning that it wasn't a mandatory day for the Magical Girl club. However Rin, Melody and Eve all decided to still go on patrol after school. They all agreed that finding Mia was more important than sticking to a schedule.

Rin and Eve hadn't talked much since they had defeated the Prideless yesterday. But the fact that the other girl most likely knew she was trans hanged above Rin's head like an axe waiting to be dropped.

After all Rin had learned that Eve was lesbian and that it was a source of deep shame for her. She didn't know for what reason it shamed her so much and she didn't dare ask. But needless to say both girls knew more things about each other than they might be comfortable sharing.

But now was not the time to focus on that. There was a lost girl to find and they needed to focus on that. Since the search in the park had bore no fruit outside of dealing with that freakishly quick Unfeeling. They decided to expand their search into the city proper.

Unfortunately, unlike the park they couldn't hide into the foliage in their search. And so the trio drew more than a few stares into their full Magical Girls attire. Thankfully Eve's cold stare scared away any onlooker foolish enough to try to approach them.

That didn't stop a few of the onlookers from taking picture of them however. Indicated by their eyes flashing as their augs took a photo. A few even had their iris turn red indicating they were being recorded.

That made Rin somewhat uncomfortable, but she knew that was just something she would need to get used to as a Magical Girls. They were partly protectors and partly public idols. Rin was more interested in saving people. But she couldn't completely ignore the other side of the coin, as much as she might want to.

''So where should we start looking?'' Melody asked looking around the many intersecting streets. ''New Québec has fifteen millions people living in it. Finding one lost girl will be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.''

''Try to detect anyone that might feel distress. If she's been kidnapped or if she's trapped somewhere it should result in a strong emotional response to follow.'' Eve replied she said before closing her eyes in concentration.

The two other girls follow her lead and tried to detect anyone that might be in trouble.

Eventually they detect someone that was scared and ran toward the emotion. But they stopped in their track when they saw a ten years old boy crying in front of a tree. The boy looked at them and pointed up at the tree. ''My cat is stuck! She can't come back down!''

They looked up and sure enough there was a little white cat stuck in one of the branches. Eve sighed in disappointment for the false lead. But nevertheless wings appeared behind her back and she rose up in the air as she flapped her wings.

The cat hissed in alarm when he saw the flying girl approach it. But all Eve had to do was extended her arms for the cat to jumped in. When she landed back down the cat was arleady snuggling and purring in Eve's arm.

''Wow that cat really love her.'' Rin said with a raised eyebrow.

''Maybe it's because they have so much in common? They both pretend to not care about anything but become like putty at the slightest hint of affection.'' Melody replied in a conspiratorial tone.

Rin tried to not chuckle at the more than likely accurate description. Melody meanwhile had no such restrain as she giggled loudly making Eve stared back at them in confusion.

The boy took back the cat in his arms and thanked Eve tearfully.

''Well that was a bust.'' Eve grumbled as they walked away from the boy and his cat.

''We'll just try again! Surely if we respond to every people in distress eventually we'll find our missing girl!'' Melody exclaimed optimistically.

Well, as it turned out in such a massive city there was a lot of problems to resolve. They found a man with a deflated tire. Eve helped him by raising the car up effortessly with her freakishly high strenght. While he made the replacement.

There was a woman who got locked out of her house because she lost her keys. Melody showed her impressive magical control by unlocking the door from the inside with a tendril of magic.

A little girl kicked her ball in the street and ran after it. Her mother screamed in horror when she saw that a car was about to hit her daughter. Rin stopped time and took the girl by the hand before escorting her back toward her mother. The woman jumped in fright when time resumed and she saw Rin suddenly appear in front of her. But she quickly got over it and thanked her tearfully for saving her daughter from getting run over.

All three incident counted as completed quests. Rin got a nice one hundred bonus points from the efforts of her and her team and she managed to reach level 7 from the experience gained.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Rin decided to buy a tome of tier 1 offensive magic for fifty points and learned a basic magic bolt spell with three skill points. The two remaining skill points were spent in strenght which she had neglected thus far. But Eve had shown her how awesome being strong could be.

Rin sighed after she closed down the skill menu window. ''Helping all those people was nice, but we're not getting any closer to finding Mia. And the sun is coming down. We're going to need to go back home, again.''

''Yeah...I feel bad for Mia and her parents but-'' Suddenly Melody froze. ''Wait I feel magic, strong magic.''

Rin and Eve looked at each other before they concentrated and they both felt it. A strong buzzing sensation. And it seemed to come from the back alley they were passing.

''Should we check it out?'' Rin asked unsure if going toward a strong magical force was a great idea.

Eve shrugged. ''It might just be another Magical Girl. Maybe she could help us find Mia. We're still beginners when it come to tracking. A veterant might find Mia without any trouble.''

The two other girls nodded before they all went into the dim back alley. Rin could feel that something was wrong after only a few seconds. The magic felt powerful but it also felt...dangerous. There was no emotion connected to the power it was like whoever was attached to the magic was cold and empty. Apathy, wasn't that what Emily had told her Unfeelings represented?

Before she could voice her concern the world twisted around the trio. It was like an assault of colors and random jumbled images. Just as soon as it began it receded. But the group wasn't in the back alley anymore.

''W-what?! Where are we, what is this?!'' Melody asked as she looked around with wide eyes.

They were standing in what looked like a carnival caught in the middle of a rainpour in the middle of the night. Despite the fight they were caught in a rainstorm at nightfall the park seemed to be open for service. There was a huge ferris wheel lit up by hundred of lights, they could see a rollercoaster speeding around in the track. But there were no people riding on it.

But the most eyes catching thing in the whole place was the massive red and white circus tent in the middle of the park. Lit up by dozens of spotlights pointing up at the sky.

Before they could do anything else something lurched at them. Rin yelped as she was sent tumbling at the ground. She looked up and grew panicked when she saw a wooden doll smiling down at her while holding a raised knife in it's hand.

The doll tried stabbing Rin, but before it could bring it's knife down Eve appeared and punched the doll full force. The doll exploded from the hit and it's splintered remains scattered to the ground.

Eve gave a hand to Rin who thankfully took it to get herself up. But before they could even recover from the first attack five more dolls suddenly appeared.

Rin scowled at the blankly smilling toys and summoned her uzi before blasting bullets at them. The dolls were resistant but not as much as Unfeelings. By the time Rin emptied her magazine she had destroyed three dolls arleady.

''I'll take the one on the left, you take the one on the right Heartsong!'' Eve said with a scowl before charging at her assigned doll her fist glowing with raw power.

Melody nodded and summoned her staff before she cried out a single word. ''Augue!'' A fireball emerged from her staff and set the doll on the right aflame. While one doll turned to ash Eve ran up to the doll on the left.

It tried backing away from her but Eve wouldn't let it. Her white wings appeared on her back and with a powerful flap she was sent rocketing toward the doll. It shrieked as her first connected with it's face and splintered it's head into tiny pieces.

''W-what were those things and where are we?'' Rin asked while looking around nervously to see if any other dolls was coming.

Eve's lips turned down into a frown. ''We've been trapped inside a Zone Usurpation. I don't know much about them either. But I know that a powerful Unfeeling is responsible for creating it and we need to destroy it if we want to get out. I'm not sure what those dolls were either, but I don't think they were Unfeelings. They must be constructs created by whatever control this pocket dimension.''

''Oh no, Nurse Perenelle is going to kill us she told me to never venture inside one of those things without calling for backup. Are we going to be alright we just us three?'' Rin asked feeling unsure, she hadn't felt this scared since the end of the Alagia's Emergence.

Instead of responding immediately Eve turned toward Melody with narrowed eyes. ''Heartsong, I need to know if we'll be able to count on you this time. If you freeze like you did yesterday we might get killed in here. This is probably the most dangerous situation any of us have ever been put in. If you think you'll snap under the pressure you would be better off waiting here so that you don't become a liability.''

''Isn't that a bit harsh?'' Rin asked while looking between both girls worriedly. Eve didn't stop glaring at Melody.

''It's okay Millie, she's right. I was just a burden against that Unfeeling. But this won't happen this time I promise.'' Melody eyes brightened with determination.

''And how can you guarantee that?'' Eve questioned, clearly not impressed by the girl's reassurance.

Melody sighed and looked down. ''I...I only have a problem with Prideless. I'm fine with other Unfeelings. Back when I was just a normal girl one of those things found me while I was returning from the cinema with my then boyfriend. The Prideless...killed him. I tried running away and call for help but that thing was so quick. It sliced my stomach open. It was the most pain I ever felt, my intestines were ripped out of my body.''

Rin felt her face go pale, she could sympathize with Melody. Despite how weak they were, a part of her still wanted to crawl in a hole whenever she saw a Ravenous and remembered the one that had ripped her throat.

''It was then that a small red phoenix appeared in front of me. My Familiar, it saved my life and I'm grateful to have come to know her because of that...But because of what happened, I'm stuck as a Magical Girl for the rest of my life.'' Melody whimpered as she let tears fall down her cheeks.

''S-stuck?'' Rin whispered, confused. To Rin becoming a Magical Girl had been the best thing that had ever happened to her. So hearing that someone saw it as a burden was quite jarring.

Melody smiled without humor. ''I never wanted to be a Magical Girl. I saw how much it destroyed my aunt when they lost the third member of their team. She told me horror stories of some of the Emergences she survived. How sometime she only got out alive due to sheer dumb luck. I never wanted a life like that for myself. I just wanted to be a normal girl and find a boyfriend or a girlfriend I could one day marry. But I was dying and my only choices were to either embrace it or join this neverending magical war and so I decided to make the best of it.''

Rin looked at her guiltily. ''I-I'm so sorry, I never even tought you might actually dislike being a Magical Girl.''

Melody's smile became smaller but it looked more honest this time. ''You don't have to be sorry Millie, I know how amazing the prospect of getting magic would seem to most girls. I guess I was just unlucky enough to have someone pull back the curtain for me from the beginning.''

The trio stayed in silence for a full minute after that. Eve was the first to break it. ''So...should we make our way inside?''

The two other girls nodded. ''Let's go.'' Melody said before she took the lead going toward the circus tent.

The entrance of the tent was devoid of any light. It almost looked like an abyss. Rin braced herself as she entered inside with the others and felt a cold presence weight down on her. She felt agitation and an insatiable hunger that wasn't her own as she crossed the treshold. Whatever entity controlled this pocket dimension had noticed their presense...