Noelle guided Alice and her friends down a road towards the town. Alice looked to the east at the setting sun, the cloudy sky being a reddish brown. The gentle, cool breeze rocked her hair as she breathed in the smell of freshly-cut grass.

“Welcome to Freelife Town, everyone!” Noelle said. “This is the most populous town in the State of Leaf Hook. This town has preserved its old-time atmosphere and architecture through the years, which others consider to be backwards living.”

“Oh, so it's like how the witches live these days?” Rachel asked.

Noelle smiled at her and nodded. “Kinda, hehe.”

As the group entered the town, they noticed that there was a blackout taking place. As the sun set further, the streets became covered in darkness. There was a heavy atmosphere of fear and dread in the air as they walked through the city. They heard screams and shouts of distress coming from the residents as the Depraved rampage.

“Damn, you guys hear that?” Rachel asked.

“It's the Depraved,” Noelle responded. “They are taking advantage of this darkness to attack the town.”

“Interesting,” Sharline chimed in. “So besides the Depraved, what's going on here?”

“Well, the town's generator has been damaged by the Depraved, and it's important to fix it quickly, or else the town will be left without power permanently.”

“Ooh, somebody's smart!” A voice called out from Noelle's right.

As Noelle turned to her side, she saw a mysterious figure approaching. The figure is cloaked in the darkness of the lightless town, but the figure's heterochromic eyes stood out.

As the figure approached, Noelle backed up until she bumped into Alice. The figure stopped in front of her, staring down at her with a menacing gaze. Noelle noticed that the figure's face is obscured by the darkness with only a slight pale glow from the moonlight, but there is something about their aura and presence that is unnerving to her…

"Ah, it seems you have found this precious little town…” the figure said, her sharp eyes piercing through Noelle's. “It's a shame to see it under attack by my beloved creatures of the Dark, is it not?”

The figure's piercing gaze caused Noelle's heartbeat to skip a beat as her eyes met theirs. It filled her with dread, but something about the figure also intrigued her.

"Yes, it is indeed a shame," she answered, her mind racing to understand who this mysterious figure could be. "I assume you control these Depraved, then?" she asked, her tone becoming defiant..

The figure stood there in silence for a moment, considering her words. Before responding, she took a deep breath, letting the darkness swirl around her like a cloak.

"Yes," she finally spoke, her voice echoing against the darkness, "I am the one who controls these Depraved. You may call me… Cassie."

Noelle's eyes widened. She felt her stomach tighten as she studied their imposing figure. "I see..." she said softly, letting the tension hang in the air for a moment before continuing. "You are the one responsible for this town's misfortune?"

Cassie remained silent, her piercing gaze never wavering from Noelle's frightened eyes. "Yes, I am. But don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you, little one. My beloved creatures are simply having their fun with these mortals, and I am here to supervise and ensure their enjoyment."

Noelle gulped when Cassie refers to her as a 'little one'. Even though her voice is gentle, there is an underlying menace to their words that filled Noelle with dread. The fear was replaced with defiance as she took a small step forward. "Well, that's just…great. Can you please tell your beloved creatures to stop their fun so the people can go back to their normal lives?"

The cloaked figure let out a sinister laugh, leaning towards Noelle as they towered over her.

"Oh, how cute of you to ask that. Unfortunately, I'll have to say no... The Depraved will continue their fun for as long as they please. In fact, I might even say that they have been quite tame today. Do you wanna see what happens when they're *not* on a leash?"

Noelle's heart skipped a beat at the threat, her throat tightening as she looked up at Cassie. "No," She replied, her voice quivering as she began to realize the gravity of the situation. "I don't want to see that... Please, keep your creatures under control. The people of this town don't deserve such horrors.”

“Oh really?” Cassie responded with a smug tone. “Well, just look at what these supposed innocent people are doing to each other!”

Cassie gestured to a scene going down in a bar.

“No way! Tiffany is miles better than Astraea!” a man shouted.

“Hell no,” shouted an older man. “At least our goddess doesn't encourage us to burn down orphanages!”

“At least OUR goddess isn't a colorist fuck like you.”

“Look, bastard! I don't agree with that part, I'm fair to everyone!”

“Sure you are. You can't just cherry-pick the parts that you like and pretend to be this perfect follower.”

“Speaking of Tiffany,” a woman chimed. “Who the hell is building all the statues of her across the country? It's bad enough she's basically wearing lingerie, but the provocative poses on top of that is ridiculous! What about the children, you horny fucks?!”

“Oh shut up! You're just mad you don't have a body like hers! Those statues aren't hurting anyone but YOUR ass!”

Cassie smirked and stepped closer to the scene, watching with glee as the argument continued.

Good ol' human nature… Intelligent species, my ass. Cassie thought with a smirk, shaking her head with a sigh. Her expression darkened and her piercing eyes narrowed in concentration. All of this bigotry, all these prejudices… Oh, such a waste of time...

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Sure, the children shouldn't be looking at such things," a third man chimed in, “But still, they'll learn about it eventually, so..."

"They shouldn't be learning about it from a statue though, they're too young to know the truth," another woman said.

"Shut up," the first man responded. "The Goddess is supposed to represent perfection and beauty, so of course her statues look like that. If the children are old enough to look at the statue, they're old enough to understand it.”

“And besides,” a black man joined. “The guys sculpting statues of Astraea are no better. I've seen one where you can see her bare ass under her dress. If anyone's horny, it's you guys.”

“Who fucking cares who's hornier? Both statues in question are inappropriate, so we’re all just as bad.”

“No, we're still better than you goddamn Astraea panty-sniffers! Tiff doesn't preach that ‘pale beauty' bullshit like y'all do! I'm proud of my skin tone no matter what y'all say!”

“If you're so proud of it, then why aren't you worshiping Gaia or Nephthys? You know, goddesses who actually share your color? You're such a hypocrite!”

“Enough!” screamed one of the bartenders, “Can we please have a moment of peace without you people turning it into an ideological debate? Nobody gives a fuck about your damn gods!”

Everyone quieted down at the man’s shout, but the brief moment of silence was followed by a louder uproar.

"Wow, these mortals are quite divided over their goddesses," Cassie said with a mocking tone, still watching them from across the street. "It seems like they have completely forgotten what the goddesses stand for, let alone their history. And their arguments are quite amusing, isn't it? They're essentially fighting over their goddesses' body shapes and attire. If I didn't know any better, I'd say they're fighting over their own lust instead of representing their deities.”

As the argument between the residents continued to grow in intensity, Cassie watched with a twisted sense of satisfaction. It was clear that these mortals held no respect for one another, and she could see how their pettiness and selfishness had set the stage for Darkness to creep into their lives.

Noelle watched the tension rise and knew that she had to act now if she wanted to prevent this argument from turning violent. She stepped forward and spoke with a firm yet gentle tone.

“Excuse me, everyone," she said. "Please, calm down and try to understand each other's perspectives. You're all entitled to your own views and opinions, but arguing like this isn't accomplishing anything.”

The residents turned to face her with a mix of surprise and defiance. Some of the residents rolled their eyes at her, while others seemed to be taken aback by her level-headed approach.

The second man who had been arguing for Tiffany rolled his eyes. "Oh, what is it now? What makes you think you can dictate how we communicate with each other?"

"I'm not dictating anything," Noelle countered. "I'm simply suggesting that if we're all going to live together peacefully, we should focus on understanding and respecting each other's perspectives and beliefs, rather than resorting to petty arguments and name-calling."

"Peacefully? Do you think we're in some kind of playground?" the first man snapped. "This is the real world, where people have different values and ideas. We're not all going to agree all the time, that's just life. Can't you understand that?"

"I do understand that," Noelle replied. "But that doesn't mean we have to resort to fighting and insults when we disagree with one another. We can have different beliefs and still respect each other's viewpoints. It's called empathy and understanding, and it's what allows us to coexist as a society."

"Pfft, please! Empathy? Understanding?" the black man laughed. "Yeah right, next you'll probably tell us to sing kumbaya around a campfire and solve all our problems that way!"

Noelle sighed. "No, I'm not suggesting that at all. What I'm saying is that we should try to see things from each other's perspectives and try to have an open mind when it comes to understanding different opinions and beliefs.”

"Y'know," a black woman said. "I reckon our friend here has a point. We have more important things at stake. What about the blackout our town is in? What about the worldwide sugar shortage going on?”

“Forget your whataboutisms, young lady! I don't like to leave arguments unfinished!” the older man spoke up.

"Yeah! I'm not done shaming those horny arsonists yet!"

Before the residents could continue their feud, a swarm of Depraved came from behind the building and stormed inside, lashing out at the patrons.

And so it begins, Cassie thought as she beamed, disappearing during the midst of the chaos.

Noelle gasped and jumped back as the Depraved marched in, summoning her staff. “Oh no, I feared this was going to happen…!”

The swarm of Depraved spread themselves throughout the bar, grabbing up the residents and tearing their bodies to shreds. The screams of terror from the citizens mixed with the cackles of insanity coming from the Depraved.

With a wave of her staff, Noelle summoned a burst of pure light, causing a huge explosion that took out most of the Depraved. She then turned to the residents and started using her powers to heal their wounds.

She shot bursts of light blasts at the horde of Depraved, each blast tearing through their bodies, causing them to scatter. But as one fell, two more seemed to take its place. The swarm rushed back at her, their numbers seemingly unlimited.

Sharline took several steps forward, her hands balled up as Blair stood beside her.

“Heh, you thinking about stepping in too, Shar?” Blair asked with a confident grin.

“Yeah… I can't just sit here and watch her go it alone. Not this time. I'm still powerful in my own right.”

“Then whatcha waitin' for?! Let's do it!”

Sharline took a deep breath and concentrated her aura into her legs before she ran into the thick of it. She threw quick yet brutal kicks that made the Depraved explode into Darkness. Blair swung her limbs and took out wide swaths of Depraved with her wrestling moves.

As she watched them fight, Alice felt herself getting riled up, wanting to jump in herself.

Hmm, Alice thought. Sharline has her kicks, and Blair is very strong. I've got nothing of value…

As if to answer her prayers, the mysterious blue and black blade from before appeared in her hand. Looking down at it, she observed how it glowed with her blue aura even though she's not using Enfold, and the design of the blade mimicked the patterns of her clothes.

For Zalgo, the white and red blade resembling Alice's appeared in her hand. It was enveloped in her black and red aura, and replicated the two-tone black and white style of her clothing.

“Huh, they're back,” Zalgo said, holding up the sword to her eye level before looking at Alice. “You too, Alice?”

“Um, yeah,” Alice replied, turning to Zalgo. “I dunno what's up with these swords, but I suppose we should make ourselves useful now.”

Zalgo nodded to Alice, the two of them joining in on the fight. The Depraved seemed to keep coming back no matter how many got taken down, each new wave being more frightening than the last. But as Alice struck down each of them with her sword, she couldn't help but wonder what the Depraved wanted and if they were just an unstoppable force of destruction.

Zalgo and Alice kept fighting for their lives, striking down the waves of Depraved while the townspeople ran for cover.

Noelle turned around and noticed them fighting alongside her. “H-hey! You should let me handle this! I'm your protector!”

“Nu-uh!” Blair protested. “We ain't weaklings, we can handle our own! And plus, we can't just leave ya hanging like that!”

As the two of them worked together to take out a huge swarm, a large Depraved charged right towards them. It is several times bigger than the other ones, and it has a bright red glow covering its body. This new Depraved slammed into Blair, sending her flying.

Noelle watched as Blair went flying through the air, yelling in pain.

Sharline sprouted into action, jumping at the Depraved and throwing a powerful kick at it. The Depraved dodged Blair’s attack just barely, and she dodged out of the way of the Depraved’s counterattack.

The Depraved continued to try and overwhelm Sharline, swinging at her with sharp claws and fangs. Sharline evaded the attacks again and again, until she was able to get a few good kicks in before the Depraved overpowered her and began a relentless assault, slamming Sharline into the ground repeatedly with its fists.

Sharline used Increase and reinforced her legs using Fortify before she charged the Depraved once more, her eyes gleaming with murderous intent. Sharline unleashed a devastating roundhouse kick on the Depraved, sending the dark creature careening straight into the building behind her. Sharline took this opportunity to slam the Depraved back against the building, pounding it with kicks as she gave it no space to fight back.

Noelle and Blair watched from the sidelines, observing the sheer brutality that Sharline was unleashing on the Depraved.

“She's…quite strong,” Noelle said.

“Yup! I'm glad she's on our side rather than our enemy!” Blair replied.

The Depraved began to get worn down by Sharline’s attacks, and Blair took notice of this.

“I'll admit, it ain't like me to settle for scraps,” Blair began, her grin returning with a vengeance. “But I'm going to take advantage of that thing's weakened state!”

Blair ran up to the Depraved, but before she could reach it, it grabbed Sharline by the arm and threw her high up.

Alice watched Sharline launch into the air and gained an idea, coming to Blair's side. “Hey Blair, I have a plan.”

“Oho? Go for it, Al!”

“I can keep this Depraved still while you pummel it. Then Sharline will finish it when she lands on it. There's no way it'll survive that.”

“Oh hell yeah, now you're talkin'! Here goes nothing, then!”

Alice extended a hand towards the Depraved and used Possession to keep it in place. Blair slammed her fists against the Depraved’s head, which stunned it long enough for Blair to land another devastating punch to its face.

While Alice and Blair were busy, Sharline came crashing down from her fall like a meteor. She landed right onto the Depraved’s head, her feet slamming it with tremendous force with the sounds of the impact echoing through the dark town. The Depraved vanished into the dark after the vicious blow, making Noelle sigh with relief.

With their strongest fighter gone, the smaller Depraved scattered off deeper into the town, leaving Alice and the others alone.

“Damn, that was good, Sharline!” Blair praised.

“Great work, everyone!” Noelle cheered.

"That was intense..." Sharline said, catching her breath and looking at her friends.

"We did it though, that's all that matters!" Blair replied. "I can't wait to tell Cel about what we accomplished here."

“I'm sure she'll be happy to hear it,” Noelle said with a nod. “Anyways! We defeated the most powerful Depraved, so now the smaller ones are retreating to flee from our Light.”

“Gee, you sure know a lot about those things, don'tcha?” Rachel asked.

“Yes. I have a lot of experience with them, especially as a servant of the Light. But stay alert: our job here isn't done yet. We still have the generators to deal with. Let's get going, girls.” Noelle ended with a smile.

The darkness began to fade away, revealing the amount of destruction and bloodshed that had happened in the candlelit bar. Alice looked around, seeing the bodies on the ground and the ruined furniture everywhere. She sighed and walked off with her friends.