It had been a long time since Ikue Airu had entered a Lesser Mirror, or even done anything remotely Magical Girl like. She entered the void-like space with her usual timidity, feeling especially alone without Monmoku.

“You can do this Airu, you've got this...” she chanted to herself as she moved through the black space in search of Iroha Senka's thread. As she walked, she grew more accustomed to the space, and a bit of confidence returned. She was never a paragon of self-esteem, but in her prime Magical Girl days she had been something of a cool beauty, even if the truth behind her silent efficiency was simply introversion. Learning the secrets behind the war with the Mazoku and the disappearances of her predecessors had been a huge shock to her, so much so that she had volunteered to move to Earth at Mao's suggestion. Life on Earth was in some ways simpler than in Priripon, but the corporation behind Dawson was quick to take advantage of her efficient but timid ways. She was never good at turning someone down, and was always polite to her seniors and a good mentor to her juniors. Combined with her dutiful nature, naturally her work effort stood out. She climbed the ranks up to manager not by her own ambition but pressure from her seniors who insisted she would be good at it.

Thus the current shell of a person with odd mannerisms and deep dark bags under her eyes that never quite faded was made. But even she had nights when she lay in bed and remembered her roots, and dreamed of once again donning her Magical Girl garb and picking up her staff to face off against some great evil. Though she could never say so aloud, her common sense had long since aligned to that of any human from Earth, it would be embarrassing.

Finally, she came upon the thread.

“There you are,” she said in the manner a teacher might to a child playing hide and seek.

She paused, “M-maybe just this time!” and engaged her Magical Girl garb before connecting the thread to the disk.

Her regalia was yellow, with green accents to match the emblem Monmoku usually resided in. Her staff was longer than Riho's , but the orb at the end was smaller. She struck a pose, it was a nostalgic feeling that she hadn't quite realized how much she had missed. She wiped away the beginnings of tears.

“Focus Airu! Today we're on a mission!”

She set her face in a forced smile and took to the air, gathering the thread of Iroha Senka.

Once she had collected a cetain amount of thread, the scenery began to change. She felt the air became more stale, and the feeling of space became limited unlike the seemingly endless void.

“A cave?”

She heard rattling behind her. She startled, and turned.

“Graaah!” a skeleton lunged at her, bones rattling, and with a raspy sound that something of pure bone shouldn't be able to make.

Airu leaped back, and found the cave wall.

“Skeletons?! Senka-chan we're gonna need to have a talk after I've saved you...” she pointed her staff forward and a flurry of lights exploded forth from it, pulverizing the skeleton, and a couple of others behind it.

She dashed between the gap this created, so quickly none of the skeletons seemed to be able to comprehend it. They moved towards where she had been, then shuffled off in random directions, as though giving up.

She continued dashing until she reached the cave wall on the other side, where she she continued dashing up and along the wall, going all out for the first time in far too long. She laughed quietly, enjoying the feeling of the air parting before her and the adrenaline pumping through her veins.

She kept following the thread, noticing lots of different kinds of skeletons milling about. Soon she reached a point where she couldn't keep running on the wall, the cave narrowed into a passage and three skeletons stood as sentries. She narrowed her eyes and allowed herself a small smile, before leaping from the wall, landing in front of the skeletons with her staff held laterally. Like drawing a sword from a sheath, she pulled her hand along the staff, slashing forward only a beat after landing. The skeletons turned to dust as a wave of magical energy blasted into them in the shape of a crescent moon.

Airu stood up and feigned sheathing the 'sword,' holding her staff at her waist, making a serious dramatic face she said, “It seems I've cut another worthless thing.”

Laughing silently at her own silly play-drama she walked unseen through the previously blocked passage.

On the other side was a much smaller cavern, a few stronger looking skeletons surrounded some kind of obelisk, but what really caught Airu's attention was a patch of void with a glint of silver. She crept towards it and found a pitch black silver framed mirror. She stared at it for a moment, and found that it stared back. She flinched hard, and before she could recover, a furious torrent of chaotic magic shot out of the mirror, striking the obelisk.

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Airu watched in horror as the tough looking skeletons were pulled into the maelstrom, and after a few moments the chaotic storm settled into the form of monstrous creature, with the body of a woman sticking out of the top portion. It had six thick legs, a long thick tail, and large spines protruding from its back. The woman had an orange diamond shaped jewel in her forehead, and two small wood-like horns protruding from her forehead. Her hair was ashy gray and tangled, a set of branches emerged from the sides of her head. For a moment it stayed still, then her eyes flashed open and locked onto Airu, who was staring in awe at the disk, which showed that the thread was certainly connected to this thing.

The most unsettling thing when its eyes flashed open was that eight more large eyes on the monstrous legs and torso also opened.

Airu dashed across the room and onto the ceiling as the monster charged towards her.

“Senka-chan are you okay?!” Airu asked rhetorically, and in the sense of confirming her sanity not her well being.

The monster turned at her call and from the eye on its belly(?) a sickly green beam rocketed towards her. Deflecting it with her staff as she spun, Airu dropped from the ceiling, aiming a blow at the creatures back. As she made contact, she was blown back.

Her Magical Girl garb barely softened the blow as the wind was knocked out of her. She rolled to the side as a second different colored beam came her way.

She had been afraid of this, without Monmoku she was down to a much smaller manacapcity to begin with, but up against something created by Stagnation Conversion her Magical Girl powers weren't enough.

She caught her breath and focused on dodging its attacks as she gave thought to a decision that Riho had also been given: would she turn her back on Priripon and become a Mazoku? She bit her lip, then smiled in acceptance. She had been on Earth long enough to forget what it was like to be a Magical Girl, she had long since abandoned Priripon.

The instant she came to that realization a headache seized her. She went down to one knee. She shut both eyes tightly.

The monster gathered energy in the big eye on its belly(?) again, and fired at the downed Airu.

Blinding light filled the cavern!

There stood someone. Airu? Yes! But she had transformed. Her yellow Magical Girl garb was replaced by a dark as night dress with golden trim. Her eyes too glowed golden, highlighting her features which were streaked with faint glowing lines. Her ears, now long and pointed, twitched. The staff she once held now a long black sword with a golden edge. She exhaled, and her breath clouded. Ice gathered on the floor at her feet.

She gazed at a hand in awe.

“Well this is new...” the same oddball was still inside.

The monster drew back, seemingly on guard now.

“Oh no you don't!” Airu launched forward, faster now thanks to the ice trail at her feet.

She crouched, and swung her sword as she passed underneath the monster, coming out the other side, she struck a pose. The monster tried to turn, but the left half of its hideous body sloughed off. With a wail it disintegrated into light and mana!

“Aah, no I need that!” Airu cried, and dashed about collecting the scattered mana into the Fixed Recovery Disk.

Once she had done so, it let out a chattering sound!

After but a moment, Iroha Senka appeared in a burst of light, absorbing the disk.

“Senka-chan, Senka-chan, why do you dream of skeletons?” Airu asked.

“Huh? Wha- who are you? What's going on?!” the girl looked taken aback by the sudden question and familiarity.

“Oh! I'm so sorry...I'm Ikue Airu, I came to save you from the Dark Mirror...I'm a Magica- Er, actually I guess I'm a Mazoku now?”

She could practically see the question marks floating above Senka's head.

“That's not important right now, let's just head to the Greater Mirror. Otomi Mao, Maou-sama?” she said experimentally, “Mm, Maou-sama can probably explain things better than I can.”

As they walked Senka looked at Airu with wonder, though she was still confused she was more fascinated by the fact that Airu had started to name herself as a Magical Girl. If that was true, which it seemed to be by the mana quality she sensed in her, the line between Magical Girl and Mazoku was far thinner than any of the seven had believed.