Matsui shot awake with a gasp, heart still pounding from adrenaline's grip. Beside her, Reira and Jayla also stirred frantically, roused by some unseen terror permeating the night.

A moment's disoriented panic - then the house shook violently around them once more. Splintering wood peeled from the walls as something monstrous tested its strength against the structure's integrity. A primordial howl like twisted metal splitting rent the air.

No time remained for plans or rousing speeches. They grabbed their staffs hastily in shaking hands and bolted downstairs two steps at a time. Half the lower wall caved inwards beneath immense claws, dragging hunks of drywall and insulation in their wake.

A towering colossus loomed beyond the breach, all jagged bones fused into a writhing effigy of deathly power. Empty eye sockets blazed with hellish light, fixating souls within their feral stare. Another howl split their minds as it crashed its gullet in feral demand.

"What the hell is that!?" Reira cried.

Matsui sobered. "Outside, go!" She shoved her friends through the rubble towards the shadowed lawn beyond, buying precious seconds of distance from those crushing jaws.

They emerged into the night just as the creature wrenched free of the ruined home entirely. Its bulk ripped the roof beam loose in a cascade of timber and shingles, adding calamity to chaos. Dust bloomed thick but settled to reveal its hulking form lunging through the wreckage.

Moonlight spilled silver across the ancient armor weave, threading all imperfections in its design. Yet this thing refused death, driven instead by powers unknown and malign.

Matsui took a shuddering breath to steady roiling nerves. "Divide its focus. Wear down the structure."

Her friends found resolve in duty though tears stained her cheeks. Jayla crackled lightning in chains, lashing out to stagger their foe. Reira shot hail-sharp ice, targeting joints between vertebrae.

The skeleton absorbed each blow with an ominous creak, damage repairing mid-strike. They fought like women possessed to slow its murderous march, desperation lending grace to every maneuver.

Yet exhaustion crept upon them as repetition failed. Their attacks grew sloppy and reckless against its undying frenzy. A single misstep would grant the beast its prize.

Sensing victory, it lunged with a horned maw gaping wide to snatch Reira in a crushing vise. Her staff flew free as she scrabbled at bony armor in panic. Dark eyes found Matsui's across the womb-black gullet.

A terrible choice emerged: watch helplessly or risk all to save a friend. With a growl rending her own throat, Matsui charged. She slid beneath its rack of ribs at the last second and drove her staff between vertebrae embedded with crystalline spines.

The skeleton threw back its skull in triumphant warbling. But its flesh went slack as it staggered, joints creaking in the still night. Matsui wrenched free and rolled clear just as it collapsed lifelessly to the earth with a thunderous impact, losing Reira unharmed from its grip.

Silence reigned but for their labored breathing as the three heroes stared in mingled shock and relief. It was over - the creature laid vanquished, its dark purpose nullified.

For now, they had survived the last clash. Though at what cost the morrow would inform, and how many more enemies lurked in the night?

Silence descended like a shroud as the giant skeleton lay still. Matsui, Reira, and Jayla sagged against each other, adrenaline fleeing the frail frames in a rush.

Hardly daring to hope it was over, Matsui crept closer for inspection. The bones reformed fully into their appointed places, and no jagged edges or fractures remained. Subtle tremors rattled its form.

“Move!” she screamed, yanking her friends backward just as it lurched upright once more. Rage blazed fiercely from darkened sockets as it oriented on prey barely out of reach.

They wanted to flee, but weariness weighed limbs; would tonight see their end after surviving so much? The monster closed in, savoring their growing terror.

A streak of pure white tore across the moonlit sky.

“Look! It's Dorki!” cried Matsui with renewed vigor. The creature projected a bright burst of energy between skeletal jaws. It reared back with a howl, shaking its skull viciously to dispel phantom lights from optic nerves.

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“This way, hurry!” Dorki directed, phasing through the nearest building’s walls. The girls scrambled after, bashing rusted steel doors shut behind them with the last of their strength.

Safety, however fragile, allowed adrenaline’s fog to lift. Matsui dragged herself and her friends deeper into gloomy corridors, putting distance between them and the raging creature outside.

At last settling in an abandoned unit, they collapsed into gratified slumber. Dreams writhed with horrors woke would surely bring come moonrise.

Day-filtered gray through grime-caked windows all too soon. Matsui roused grimly; the others stirred with equal reluctance. Only Dorki appeared unaffected, senses monitoring dangers lurking amid the ruin.

He joined their mindful discussion. “I’m glad that I found you all, but we cannot stay here for long. Dark forces here will find you regardless."

Jayla grasped the implication with dread and certainty. “Of course, but how do we get the hell out of here?"

Matsui nodded grimly. “The portal… It is the only way.” Determination hardened her tone; going through the portal meant returning home.

"Exactly," Dorki agreed. "Climbing to the tallest building beneath it will help you. But first, we get some rest. Exhaustion will only weaken your power."

The girls nodded and cuddled together to rest. Inhuman sounds howled outside, but nothing approached their shelter.

Matsui drifted off peacefully, reminding herself that light was at the end of the dark tunnel. Later, they will escape from this nightmarish world.

*****

The ruined city stretched into silence as the night deepened its cloak. Matsui, Reira, Jayla, and Dorki moved with renewed purpose towards their goal under the swirling purple portal.

The conversation drifted to lighter topics to buoy weary spirits. Matsui prompts Dorki about the adversary in their world. "We found Revena's old home here. What was she like?"

Dorki confirmed, "Her original name was Kugo Kaho. She was withdrawn, yet a creative soul crushed under bullying and abuse. She found escape in the colorful media, dreaming of designing games where outcasts felt safe. I know little about her, but she was indeed sweet before her corruption possessed her."

"Such a sad fate, to be corrupted by darkness within," Matsui said softly.

Reira huffed. "If I was here, I could take on her bullies and give her parents a piece of my mind."

Jayla nudged her with a grin. "With your temper? You'd both be in detention."

Their laughter echoed warmly despite foreboding shadows. Up ahead, a jagged spire rose like a guard over the portal's vertex.

Just then, a shriek cut the night - inhuman, keening with malevolent purpose. From side streets emerged staggering forms, skin sloughing bone as decay overtook re-serviced flesh.

A horde filled the avenue, driven by their skeletal puppet master's dark designs. The mass outnumbered any army, ravenous jaws working hungrily.

Matsui assessed grimly. "We'll have to fight through. Whatever stands in our path, we cannot stop."

She brandished her staff high. "For home!" Magic gathered at her call, crackling icy winds swirling visible even in the dark.

Her friends answered with fire and lightning, faces set in steely resolve. If this was their end, they'd go down fighting to the last breath for all held dear.

The mob shuffled closer, groaning melding into a dirge heralding annihilation. But within heartbeats, movement ceased - their decimated forms collapsed into piles of putrid viscera.

Matsui led the charge through teeming streets, Reira and Jayla hot on her heels. Dorki flitted effortlessly above, guiding their path.

Bursting from an alley, they found the entrance blocked. Two zombie dogs snapped vicious jaws, once mangy stray corrupted by the infection's touch. Jayla aimed and unleashed crackling bolts that arced through the matted fur. The dogs convulsed, allowing their passage.

The lobby lay in ruins. Collapsed walls formed treacherous barriers that slowed their flight up brooding stairwells. Debris shifted underfoot with each hurried step, threatening to plummet them back into the chaos below.

But desperation lent strength, and up they climbed. On each landing, they drew ragged gasps of stale, dusty air before plunging upward once more. Faint ethereal light from the portal guided their progress, driving them ever higher toward freedom's brink.

At long last, crumbling concrete gave way to an open sky. They emerged onto the roof utterly spent, collapsing in a jumbled heap of fresh oxygen. A glorious swirl of violet energy hung tantalizingly out of reach, washing their exhausted forms in restorative promise.

Reira shook shakily. "Hold on, I have an idea." She activated her staff, magic coalescing within its luminous crystal heart. "Grab hold tightly, everyone!"

Matsui and Jayla gripped her waist in a fearless hug, trusting their lives to her plan. Dorki gripped on Reira's shoulder, holding on as if his life depended on it. With a roar, Reira blasted them skyward in a burst of scorching, magical winds.

Darkness swallowed their elated cheers as the portal enveloped hopeful souls. An instant of freefall, spinning sickeningly through the void, then blinding, verdant, dazzled vision. Light spilled beneath as the barrier between worlds peeled open once more.

They tumbled onto pillows inside a truck's trailer, parked on familiar streets. They gaped in astonishment, then their joyous cheers erupted from peril beyond imagining.

But on the horizon, military jets screamed over the city in formation. Matsui's friends sobered–little time remained before annihilation rained down upon the innocent below. The undead still roamed the streets, and their evil queen lurked unseen, bidding chaos like the plague.

Summoning grim resolve, Matsui turned to her comrades. “Revena must be stopped before it’s too late. Are you with me to the end?”

As one, they nodded. Dawn of a new day was nigh–one of ultimate victory, or fading into shadow forever more.