The armored Magical Girl in blue was in trouble.

Thick vines were wrapped around her body, restraining movement while thorns kept prodding her, snapping when pushed against the metallic part of her armor while her exposed skin suffered cuts. She could summon her halberd to her side, but she couldn’t even move her arm far enough to cut the vines without injuring herself.

In front of her the demon Lethe paced up and down, her red eyes fixed on her prey with an amused expression. She had cast off her fur coat and sunglasses for the previous fight

“Oh, my. Still so ferocious, even when you are utterly beaten. I kind of like that about you, my dear.” Her sickly-sweet voice danced around the woman’s ears as she stepped closer and caressed her cheek, with her long nails leaving behind scratches.

“Save me your words, shrub!” Was the only thing she got in return as the blue-haired Magical Girl stared daggers at her. If only looks could kill.

“Such crude language from someone so beautiful… with such beautiful desires, such beautiful memories… are you still angry at me for putting a little bit of spice into the nigh-unbearable sweetness of your experiences?” The corners of her mouth were rising into her sickening trademark smile.

“You STOLE someone important to me!” The woman spat back, straining against her bondage despite the injuries it inflicted on herself. She swung her halberd with just a rotation of her wrist, surprisingly fast but at a much too awkward angle to hit Lethe, who simply took a cautious step back.

“And that is the point, my dear. Don’t you think it odd that I haven’t finished you off? That I never went further than to take a single random memory that you seemed to remember a day later anyway?”

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She didn’t get an answer aside from another glare, so she shrugged and continued.

“I love the drama, dear. The drama and the added deliciousness of loss, hope and despair mixed together. You’re of no use to me dead. That would take out all the fun and would deprive me of your delectable memories!”

She leaned in, her pupils dilated to the maximum possible size as she kept rambling at the enraged Magical Girl.

“I could just steal people’s blood and use it later to eat all memories of them, but that wouldn’t bring me any sort of satisfaction. No, it’s the moment when my victim and their friend or beloved are facing each other… the friend thrashing in my vines as I devour all memories of them. Some have even killed themselves on the thorns, that’s how worked up they got!”

She let out a loud cackle.

“Just like you did. Oh, the only other person I’ve ever seen thrash about and scream at me like that while living to tell the tale was…”

In that moment she blinked and looked to the side. There was a commotion surrounding a nearby building.

“Oh my. Speak of the devil.”

Lethe giggled and grabbed the Magical Girl’s head, forcing it to the side. The subject of the demon’s interest entered her field of vision – there was a giant grey humanoid perched atop one of the taller buildings with way too many teeth for its eyeless head – it held a spherical object surrounded by magic circles with its three-digit hands. It appeared to be straining a little, like it was preventing something from escaping the orb. Next to it was a red glow – and as the woman’s eyes focused on it, she could make out the Magical Girl Minerva Crimson. She looked wounded – her outfit was torn in multiple places; she was bruised and was bleeding from a gash on her head.

“Your dear ‘sister’. Or should I say your partner’s sister? Your crystal’s sister? You haven’t treated that rock like much of a partner ever since you became utterly obsessed with me.”

The Magical Girl strained against the vines once more, grunting and huffing, trying to overwhelm Lethe with sheer rage as she felt the demon’s fingers caress her temple. It was no use, save for inflicting even more grievous wounds on her durable body.

“I’ve got the perfect idea for the kind of memory I’ll take from you today. It will prove truly entertaining.”