Magical Girl Gunslinger

I walked through the pitch black darkness, and somehow I knew it wasn’t due to a lack of light, but rather there was nothing to see. My feet swished through water just high enough to envelop my toes, the sound gentle and oddly soothing. Even though it was impossible to tell if I was making any meaningful progress in the endless void around me, I continued forward, feeling that I was getting closer to… where I needed to be.

Three hundred forty-three steps later, I stopped as I felt the hum of electricity, and something else. Not a physical sensation but an emotion, almost like… emptiness? Loneliness?

Slowly, I turned around, and was met with a somehow familiar sight.

Thorned vines made of lightning tangled together into the shape of a pillar, the electricity of each vine black at its core with violet, glowing edges. I took a step forward on instinct, and a small portion of the vines shifted, thorns rasping against each other in dozens of small electrical snaps. A window formed in the pillars' webwork, and I looked within to see a familiar looking girl, naked yet gracefully veiled by some of the vines wrapped around her. She looked just as I had seen her before, a porcelain doll with raven tresses falling to her hips, chained and gently held aloft by the lightning vines. What caught my attention was that this time, her eyes were already partially open.

Scarlet and azure eyes looked on, her crescent pupils unfocused. She almost looked like she was sleeping, and her mouth moved ever so slightly as if she was saying something. I walked closer to her prison, straining to listen as I approached.

“Kanashī,” she murmured, her tiny voice velvet soft. “Sabishī. Kowai. Mou… gaman dekinai…”

Sad. Lonely. Scary. I can’t take it anymore…

I blinked, recognizing the Japanese. Even more, I recognized my own voice, but something in it was different. There was a barely noticeable undertone, a bass thrum that gave an unnatural weight to it.

I swallowed, staring at the girl for a moment before I worked up the courage to speak.

“Nande? Doushita no?” Why? What’s wrong? I asked her, my throat tightening as I somehow already knew what the answer would be.

She blinked, her eyes slowly opening more fully as she seemed to awaken, her eyes gaining a sheen of focus when she saw me. Gently, she gave me a mournful smile. Taking in a slow breath to answer, her mouth opened and-

“Mai?” the soft, concerned voice of Ji-woo suddenly interrupted, and the moment shattered.

My eyes shot open to be met with the dim light of unfamiliar surroundings. I shot upright with a gasp, my heart pounding. Sweat dripped down my brow as my entire body shook with adrenaline. I could feel my mind racing too fast for any one thought to become coherent, so I forced myself to take a deep breath, slowing my breathing as I began to reorient myself.

I was in the bed alcove of the guard’s barracks, the thin divider drawn closed. Layers of blankets covered me, more than I remembered tucking myself under, and I let out a shiver as cool air bit at me through my now uncovered clothes.

What was that? A dream? No… That room, that girl that looks like me, and those thorns… I remember them… from when I first formed my contract. Why didn’t I remember until now, though?

I frowned, my thoughts suddenly coming to a jarring halt.

Wait, remember what exactly? What was I just-

“Mai, are you alright?” Ji-woo asked from beyond the divider. “I thought I heard you thrashing around in there.”

“Um… yes,” I replied, hastily brushing down my hair and checking over myself. “Just… a bad dream.”

As I did, I suddenly remembered how I had fallen asleep. Panic fluttered through me even as a deep blush warmed my face. Part of me couldn’t believe that I had let myself fall apart like that, and I was all too aware of how much of a gibbering wreck I was trying to apologize while Ji-woo tried to comfort me.

Even worse was the look on her face when I hadn’t managed to stop myself from flinching from her.

“That’s understandable,” Ji-woo replied, oblivious to my inner turmoil. “When all this is over, you might want to talk to a doctor about that, and the papers we’ll give you can help.”

There was an awkward silence, as if Ji-woo was considering something, but then she just let out a long sigh.

“Mai, could we talk for a bit?”

I winced. Reaching to my backpack, I pulled my eyepatch out from where I vaguely remembered storing it before I fell asleep. Pulling the straps over each ear, I gave myself one last check to make sure I was at least partially presentable. Then I took a deep breath, and pulled open the divider.

Ji-woo was standing a few steps away, and something about her tense, forced smile set my nerves on edge. I felt my breath catch in my throat and decided to just give her a nod. Selene sat on the floor beside her, staring up with gently swishing tails. Just seeing her there made me feel more at ease, and some of the panic lost its keen edge. My eyes snapped back to Ji-woo as she ran a hand through her hair and let out a sigh.

“Mai, I’m really sorry to have to ask you this. I wish there was time for you to process what you’ve been through, but there are… things happening, and we could really use all the help we can get. So… if you’re up for it, I was hoping I could ask you some questions about what you saw in the mall with a friend of mine.”

I felt myself relax, my breath leaving in a relieved sigh. That was something I could deal with, especially considering I had expected to have the conversation even earlier. If she wasn’t going to bring up my little breakdown, then I was more than happy to indulge her. Besides, I’d had more than enough time to go over the cover story in my head.

Nodding at Ji-woo, I began extracting myself from the bedding. As I did, I became all too aware of how sore I felt. The entire right side of my body ached, and my leg muscles felt uncomfortably tight. Meanwhile, my ankle throbbed in a line of dull heat. I did my best to ignore it all, putting my feet into the slippers I’d left outside the alcove. When I stood up, I made sure to do it slowly, forcing down a wince as the heat in my ankle took on a painful edge.

“Do you need more pain medication?” Ji-woo asked. “The stuff I gave you before should have worn off by now.”

“No thank you,” I shook my head, testing my weight a little more. “I’m okay.”

Ji-woo didn’t look entirely convinced, but she didn’t push the subject. I hesitated for a moment before I turned back to the sleeping alcove. I grabbed my backpack and put it on, not willing to leave it unattended. Ji-woo didn’t seem bothered by it, only motioning for me to follow with a tilt of her head.

As we left the barrack, I realized there was another thing I had to take care of, and I stopped in my tracks.

“Um…” I stuttered, looking around. “May I use the bathroom before we begin?”

Ji-woo blinked, then nodded, pointing behind me.

“Of course. Down this hall, fourth door on your left. All the rooms are labeled, so it should be fairly obvious. When you’re done, come find the room labeled ‘Command Center.’ It’s the first room in this hall before the entry area. Give the door a few hard knocks and we’ll let you in.”

I gave a grateful nod, and turned to follow her instructions. Selene hopped after me, and I found myself glancing at her as I took my time walking. For some reason, I felt like I had something I wanted to ask her… something about a dream? The more I tried to pin down the question, the more it seemed to flee my mind. Judging by how I’d reacted when Ji-woo woke me up, I'd been having a nightmare.

Which was completely unremarkable, so what exactly had I been meaning to ask Selene about?

Frowning, I gave her another look. Nothing came to me, and I gave a mental shrug. It was probably nothing, but watching Selene hop next to me did bring up a sudden question.

“So…” I thought to her. “Just how long can you stay manifested for, anyway?”

[It depends how much mana you spend to first manifest me, but the general time limit is one hour. When your mana is full, however, I can tap into the overflow of what you are regenerating to keep myself manifested. I took the liberty of doing so while you were asleep. Also, do not forget that I can also appear in your vision as just an apparition, though that will be distinguishable by my form appearing semi-transparent.]

“Right,” I nodded. “It was a lot of information to take in at once… but I guess now that we’re safe, we have plenty of time for you to teach me everything.”

[Indeed!] Selene’s tails perked up. [After the officers ask their questions, I think it would be best to bring you up to speed on the things you’ve let me hold back from you. Also, we can begin talking about a variety of other important things, such as your Magical Girl codename, how to spend your stat points, and potential vaults, grimoires, and skills you might want! And that isn’t even going over things like daily, weekly, and monthly quests, or the rewards you have waiting for you once the Usurpation ends! There’s going to be so much shopping to do!]

There was an infectious giddiness to Selene’s voice that made me smile, and I felt myself getting a little excited at the prospect. I’d always liked planning out those sorts of things in video games, figuring out what sort of “build” would work best for the character I was playing. It was weird to think of my future in those terms, but in a way… it made me happier. Imagining myself not as who I was but as some game protagonist made things seem so much more… fun? Exciting? I wasn’t quite sure what the correct word was, but it gave my stomach a little flutter of something.

All I had to do was get through a few questions first. Then I could spend as much time as I wanted talking to Selene.

I found the bathroom without trouble and freshened up. I could have spent some time making my hair less messy, but decided to just wet down some of the more unruly parts. It wasn’t really something I cared about, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to give a little attention to my appearance.

Feeling refreshed and a little more confident, I left the bathroom and went searching for the command center. Ji-woo’s directions made it easy, and the door’s label reassured me I’d found the right room. I knocked on the door, putting a little force into it like Ji-woo had told me.

The door opened to reveal Ji-woo. She gave me a smile, gesturing for me to enter.

“Take a seat wherever you feel comfortable. We’ve got the whole room to ourselves.”

The room in question was fairly simple at first glance. It had a long conference table with chairs down its length. At the far end though, there was a desk and chair facing a wall of monitors and displays, all of them turned off but one in the center showing a camera feed of the shelter’s entrance hallway.

My eyes skimmed past all that to a man who was sitting at the conference table, and I recognized the older officer with the salt-and-pepper hair from before. He gave me a nod, gesturing to one of the seats across from him. I gave a slight bow in response before I went and took a seat, setting my backpack in an empty chair beside me. To my surprise, Ji-woo took the remaining empty seat beside me, giving me a quick smile. Selene, meanwhile, just jumped up onto the table, and I suppressed a grin as she spun around a few times before sitting down.

“I’m Sergeant O’Malley,” the man across from the table began once I was seated, “and I’d like to start by thanking you for deciding to talk with us. I know it can’t be easy, but I can assure you that it is for a good reason.”

I found myself frowning at that but only gave a nod in response. I wasn’t sure what exactly he meant by that, but decided not to ask. Selene reacted in an equally curious way, her head tilting slightly.

“So, to begin with, I want to ask if you are familiar with the Usurpation Survival Act?” Sergeant O’Malley asked.

“It… protects people from actions they take to survive an Usurpation,” I started, furrowing my brow as I tried to recall what I’d been taught in class. “I believe it more or less says that actions that may otherwise be illegal can be sanctioned if determined to be a reasonable measure used to survive the Usurpation, sir.”

Sergeant O’Malley nodded, eyebrows raising slightly. That particular law was part of the reason I felt so comfortable with my liquor store trap earlier. Theoretically, something like that would be protected under the law, and the Arcadian government would be the one picking up the bill for the damages. That hadn’t exactly filled me with complete confidence, considering I knew how slippery the laws were in reality, but Selene had assured me at the time that if all else failed, my status as a Magical Girl would give me immunity.

“That’s pretty much correct,” Sergeant O’Malley agreed. “The reason I bring it up is to let you know that no matter what you might have done, I can almost certainly guarantee you that it will be considered legal. For instance, the ice axe you arrived with. I feel fairly confident you didn’t come to the mall with it, meaning you had to, ah, requisition it. Something like that is no problem.”

I felt my cheeks flush. I’d almost completely forgotten I took that, and while stealing it was such a small thing compared to burning down the store, it still made me blush.

“I-”

“One last thing,” Ji-woo interrupted me gently. “Normally, this kind of conversation should be done with your parents around, or even a lawyer. I want to stress that this is not a formal interview, and anything you say won’t be recorded or reported officially. The only purpose of this conversation is to find out what conditions are like out there, and what tactics you used to survive. Do you understand?”

The curiosity in me gained a worried edge to it, something in Ji-woo’s voice giving her words a grim undertone, but I simply nodded in response. I glanced at Selene, whose tails had almost stopped moving completely.

“Selene, do you know what’s going on?”

[I do not believe so… There have been a few irregularities about this Usurpation, but I deemed them irrelevant to your immediate survival to discuss. Now that you are safe, I am beginning to have suspicions. If you wish, I could analyze the data on the main computer terminal here while they question you.]

“You can hack computers?” I blinked in surprise.

[As a Familiar, I share the access level you have as a Magical Girl. I am capable of interfacing with most magitech systems. Because the shelter belongs to the Arcadian government, I should have almost complete access to its information.]

“Oh… then please find out what’s going on.”

Without further comment, Selene hopped across the table and onto the desk at the far end of the room. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as her tails extended towards the surface of the table and then went through it. Her posture stiffened slightly, and the main monitor with the camera feed flickered for a millisecond. The officers showed no sign of being aware of it, only staring at me intently.

“If there is anything that you are still bothered to share with us,” Ji-woo continued nonchalantly. “Just add ‘hypothetically’ before you say what you did. I’m not really sure if that actually works, but it can’t be in all those TV shows if it doesn’t, right?”

Sergeant O’Malley let out an amused snort, and I gave a small smile even though I wasn’t sure what she was talking about.

“Yes ma’am,” I responded, settling into my chair a little more comfortably as the atmosphere relaxed.

“Well then,” Sergeant O’Malley glanced at Ji-woo for a second before giving me his full attention. “Why don’t we start at the beginning. Feel free to take as much time as you need.”

I nodded, and began telling my rehearsed story starting with getting split up from Lily. To my surprise, I was stopped almost immediately.

“Just a moment,” Sergeant O’Malley said. “You said you arrived here with your class?”

“Yes sir. It was a field trip for my entire grade.”

“And you were all on the third floor?”

“Yes sir. We were planning on working our way down as the day went on.”

Sergeant O’Malley and Ji-woo shared a look, and I felt myself tensing up as something unspoken passed between them. They turned back to me a moment later, giving me a nod.

“Please continue.”

After a moment of hesitation, I did. When I got to all the prep work I did in the sports store, I noticed Ji-woo’s eyebrows raising, and even Sergeant O’Malley looked vaguely impressed, giving a few nods. Then I got to my first encounter with an Anathema.

That was where I started my editing. The only part that really changed was the Anathema actually hurting me. Instead, once it pounced on me, I got a lucky hit with the ice axe and killed it before it could do anything. Other than that, I didn’t leave much out. Not about its freaky, serrated tail, or its slick black carapace, or the lamprey tongue it had, or its wicked claws, or-

“Mai?” Ji-woo interrupted softly. “Do you need to take a break?”

I looked up in surprise, suddenly aware how tightly my fists were clenched on the table. I could feel myself trembling, and a few spots of sweat had even formed on my brow. Quickly, I pulled my hands down to my lap and gave a jerky shake of my head.

“N-no. Sorry,” I looked down at the table.

“Don’t be,” Sergeant O’Malley replied, his granite firm voice somehow soothing. “Those details about the creature could be extremely useful.”

Again, I found myself frowning, and this time I didn’t bother to hide it as I looked in obvious confusion. Why would any of that matter? It wasn’t like he was out there fighting them, so why would he care about those things?

“Please, continue,” he insisted, “and don’t leave out any details about what kinds of Anathema you saw, or what they did.”

“I…” I started to ask, but found myself trailing off. In a way, it wasn’t really my place, and it didn’t really matter considering Selene would be able to tell me anything I wanted after this was over.

Ignoring the tightening knot in my stomach, I continued, omitting a few key elements. I never had a gun, never encountered the lone hound that I dispatched, and the rest was mostly me sneaking around. When I got to leaving Brian in the first floor security room, I said I went to scout ahead and found a bunch of Anathema around the main area leading to the shelter. I took my time to explain each type, and found them nodding along.

“When I saw all of them, I knew sneaking past would be impossible, so…” I felt myself trailing off. Geez, I knew I wasn’t going to get in trouble, but it didn’t stop the anxiety tingling across my nerves.

“H-hypothetically,” I started, looking down at the table. “I might have gathered a bunch of alarm clocks and set them off in a store to serve as a distraction.”

I glanced up to gauge their reaction so far, but they didn’t seem phased.

“And… hypothetically, it might have been a store with lots of expensive things inside that they would smash when they started looking for the alarms going off.”

Again, no reaction.

“It also hypothetically might have been a liquor store, and I might have spilled some of the bottles in advance.”

Now they were looking slightly confused but still not particularly upset, so I decided to just go for it.

“And I might have thrown a lighter into the store when all of them gathered inside. H-hypothetically.”

They stared at me blankly, and I held my breath.

Then Ji-woo burst out laughing while Sergeant O’Malley just shook his head with a small smile playing across his face. I wasn’t quite aware it was possible for my face to feel on fire from embarrassment until that moment, and so I chose to remain quiet while Ji-woo got her laugh under control.

“Well,” she said, eyes glittering. “Hypothetically, if you had done that, it would be well within reason. I’m guessing it had the desired effect?”

I gave a relieved nod. “Yes ma’am. The ten or so Anathema lured into the store died. One of the wasp ones managed to make it out, though, and hit my leg with a stinger before it died. That’s how I got wounded.”

Slipping in the little lie there wasn’t too hard. I figured hiding it with a bit of truth that I was embarrassed to admit would make it harder to spot, and neither of the officers seemed to give it a second thought.

“After that, it was just returning to Brian and bringing him to the shelter,” I shrugged. “That’s about it.”

Sergeant O’Malley leaned back, scratching his chin thoughtfully. Ji-woo herself seemed to sober up, her smile fading as she looked at him. I risked a glance at the control panel, and my eyes widened as I saw Selene sitting there, facing me. Her head and all her tails were drooped, looking defeated.

“S-Selene? What’s wrong?”

[It… ask them what exactly is going on. It would be worthwhile to see what they are willing to share, and I believe a more personable explanation might be better.]

That made me raise my eyebrows as concern flooded through me. I glanced back at the two officers, both looking lost in thought. Steeling myself against my nerves, I took a quick breath.

“Could… Could you tell me what’s going on? None of this seems… right, exactly. The way you framed everything, it feels like something is happening.”

Sergeant O’Malley winced, shooting Ji-woo a glance. Biting her lip, she gave him a nod, and he let out a tired sigh.

“I’ll tell you some things, because you deserve to know, but I need your promise that you won’t be spreading this around the shelter,” he said seriously.

I gave him a nod, my breath catching at the sudden intensity in his voice. I wasn’t sure why exactly I deserved to be informed on everything, but I assumed it would become clear with the explanation.

“All right…” he sighed. “I guess the easiest way to explain this is to start at the beginning. When the Usurpation started, do you recall the message about the power supply being compromised?”

It seemed like forever ago, but I did vaguely recall the message appearing right after the lights went off. I gave a nod, and he continued.

“The power supply it was referring to was a magitech mana generator. From my understanding, there are generators stationed throughout Arcadia, and these generators are what power the shielding stations, the things that keep the Anathema from opening their portals and creating Usurpation zones with little to no warning. They still can open their rifts, obviously, but it makes it much tougher for them. Any portals they open are also much weaker, meaning they can’t send in their strongest monsters right away.”

“The entire island is covered with shielding stations,” Ji-woo added. “Even though they can punch through the shields to make a rift, it takes them a long time, and we can get up to an hour warning ahead of time.”

“But there was only a ten minute warning this time,” I frowned.

They looked at each other for a moment, then O’Malley gave a shrug.

“There’s a reason for that… but we’ll get to that in a second. For now, what is important to note is that the generator giving energy to the shielding station suddenly stopped. We think that the reason this happened is because the generator is also responsible for powering the shelters during an Usurpation. We don’t know why, exactly, but we think that when the shelters started coming online and drawing more power, the computer in charge of the generator must have thought it was being tampered with and triggered an emergency shutdown.”

“The biggest problem this caused is that the shielding stations rely on mana, the magical energy from that generator,” Ji-woo said, tapping the table in a slow rhythm. “So when the generator went down, the shielding station went offline too. This let the Anathema start opening their portals early, as you noticed when the power went out. We were also told that when the generator initiated its emergency shutdown, it caused a surge of mana which is what tripped the mall’s power and switched it to the backups. Understand so far?”

“Yes ma’am… But I don’t understand what the problem is.”

“The mana generator is also supposed to power the shelters. It sends the mana to the shielding station which then transfers it to the shelters. Normally, the generator going offline isn’t a problem as the shelters can just draw from the city power grid. That’s why this shelter isn’t in some emergency power mode. In fact, the shelters themselves have their own batteries inside them as another backup, just in case. The problem… is that shelter three initiated its emergency shield.”

My brow knitted together in confusion. Why would that…?

“The shield doesn’t just cover the doors,” Sergeant O’Malley explained quietly. “It wraps the entirety of the shelter in a millimeter thin bubble, cutting through all the material around the shelter. It's meant to protect from Anathema coming in from any angle, as I understand it, but it also means the shelter is entirely cut off from the outside. Power lines, air, and everything else has to be provided by the shelter and its battery.”

Ji-woo met my eyes, and her hand reached out halfway to me on the table.

“Mai, the emergency shield takes lots of power to stay active,” she said slowly. “Normally, the shielding station itself takes over powering emergency shields when they activate, but ours is offline. That means shelter three’s shield is drawing the entirety of its power from the shelter’s internal battery at an alarming rate. The same battery that is responsible for recycling the air and all the other life support functions in the shelter.”

Realization dawned on me like a hammer, and the bottom of my stomach dropped. I could feel my heart pounding in my throat as Lily’s smiling face flashed through my mind. Pushing past it all, I tried to form a coherent thought.

“W-what happens when they run out of power?” I asked.

“The shield will drop, and the shelter will use the last of its power to open its doors,” Sergeant O’Malley closed his eyes. “They have a little less than four hours of power left, by our computer’s estimate.”

“Won’t the Usurpation be over by then? It’s already been almost five hours, so shouldn’t…?”

I trailed off as I saw O’Malley shaking his head slowly.

“Normally, yes, the Magical Girls would have the situation cleaned up by then. Even if it wasn’t, the MS, the magical soldiers, would be able to do an emergency evacuation. That won’t be happening though for the same reason we only got a ten minute warning before this Usurpation.”

“This Usurpation isn’t localized, Mai,” Ji-woo said, her eyes flicking up to meet mine. “That’s how the Anathema got their rifts to open so quickly. They attacked multiple points across the city to reduce the shielding stations’ effectiveness. Instead of punching through at one specific place, they’ve essentially tried to attack everywhere at the same time to overwhelm the city’s shield network. And it worked.”

Ji-woo took a small breath, as if steeling her nerves before she continued.

“As of five hours ago, dozens of areas across the island of Arcadia were usurped from reality, and every single Magical Girl and soldier is already busy fighting to retake control.”

Slowly, I felt myself sink deeper into my chair, too stunned to speak.

“It sounds bad, and it probably is,” Sergeant O’Malley gave a helpless shrug. “Using the communication equipment here, we were able to contact the city’s defense headquarters and talk to a Magical Guardian about all this. He assured us the situation is under control, if not a little chaotic. They're confident they can fend off the attack, but it’s going to take them time.”

[That lines up with my analysis, though I do not have access to the situation at large,] Selene chimed in. [Arcadia is a base of operations for the magical soldiers who get their equipment directly from Guardians, meaning many are stationed here. Besides having overwhelming numbers, dozens of Magical Girls call Arcadia their home. Breaking through Arcadia’s two-fold barrier system will have made sure the Usurpations that have occurred are relatively low in intensity. There are even plans in place for scenarios such as this.]

Right… Sometimes, it was hard to remember Arcadia was one of the seven sanctuary islands created by the Zenith themselves. The city was a literal haven spanning most of the island, and was home to people from North America, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, and Oceania. I wasn’t too sure how many people lived in Arcadia, but I knew even the smallest of the sanctuary cities boasted a population of over fifty million, which spoke volumes just how safe the city was when the Anathema actively targeted large cities.

So it did make sense that the Anathema were being fought off, that there were safeguards in place, but if this really wasn’t some huge crisis…

“If everything's under control,” I began, trying to work through the situation, “why can’t they send a rescue team to evacuate the shelter?”

“The shield generator,” Sergeant O’Malley shook his head. “When it went down, it was like ringing a dinner bell for the Anathema. They’d been expecting a shielded area to usurp and instead were suddenly given relatively free access. They took the opportunity to immediately start opening rifts all along the perimeter of the area, turning this area into a sort of beachhead for them. They’re pushing outwards, making it hard for anyone to come to our aid. From what I was told, everyone is currently tied up trying to keep them from expanding their area of control or putting out other Usurpations before they can turn into problem areas and stretch resources even more.”

“The only saving grace of the situation,” Ji-woo said. “Is that we are right at the center, and the Anathema are focused on establishing their perimeter and spreading outward. Theoretically, there should be relatively few Anathema actually in the mall, and they shouldn’t be that strong either. Not if they’re sending their best to fight on the frontlines, anyway.”

“Which is why we had to talk to you,” Sergeant O'Malley said with a sigh. “We needed to know what kinds of Anathema you saw and how they behaved, because while nobody can break through to us, we actually have a decent shot of resolving this situation ourselves. Now that a few hours have passed, there should only be a few Anathema left in the immediate vicinity, and any that are will be the dregs. It gives us an actual chance of sending someone to sneak to the generator and turn it on.”

“I know all of this must be hard for you to hear,” Ji-woo gently added, “but I promise you, we’re going to do our best to save your classmates and everyone else in their shelter. Thanks to what you’ve told us, we have an even better chance than we did before.”

Images flashed through my mind of the Anathema I’d seen so far, and I felt my breath leave me. Closing my eyes, I directed my thoughts towards Selene as nausea built up inside me.

“Selene, if they encountered an Anathema…”

[Mundane weaponry is still capable of killing Anathema, but they would lack the stopping power your silverbane bullets carry. The chance of them getting injured before putting one down is significantly higher. Against something bigger, like the gorilla you faced, they would have an exceedingly difficult time putting it down without hitting a vital area.]

I shook my head. Their plan… it wasn’t like there was anything wrong with it, but that was just because there just wasn’t a better one. It relied almost entirely on luck and stealth, and if they did encounter an Anathema, they would have to win as quickly as possible without suffering any injuries. With normal weapons, though, how likely was that? And if they did get injured, what would the chances be that it’s an injury they could just shrug off and keep going? Even if they made it to the generator and turned it on, they would still have to sneak all the way back.

No. This was all to save hundreds of people, but that didn’t change the fact that what they were talking about was little more than a suicide mission.

For them, at least.

“Selene, how much better of a chance would this plan have if I was the one who went?”

[Their plan itself is based on sound reasoning, and with the advantages of being a Magical Girl, even without having access to the protection provided by your Astral Shift, I feel confident in success. Not only do you have better weaponry, access to a variety of first aid solutions, and an Augment that gives you incredible combat capabilities, but I would also be able to scout ahead. Even if you could not complete the mission, I see very few circumstances in which you would not be able to retreat if I did discover something insurmountable.]

I opened my eyes and felt a strange calm set over me as I considered my thoughts. The pounding anxiety and fear in me hadn’t disappeared, merely settling into the pit of my stomach and my nerves in a low, keening edge. It was a familiar sensation, the feeling of thinly veiled danger and preparing myself to willingly enter it. It wasn’t easy to accept, it never was, but there was no point agonizing about it when it was just the way things were.

Besides, when I thought about all those people in the shelter, people like Lily or Brian’s sister, what choice did I really have? I was a Magical Girl now, even if I didn’t have all the fancy tools available. Having Selene to scout ahead was already a huge advantage, and that didn’t even account for me being able to just summon anything I might need if a problem arose. Sure, it would cost points, but I had over a hundred of those to spend on preparations alone.

It all felt a little surreal. I had fought tooth and nail to get to the shelter in an effort just to survive. Even becoming a Magical Girl hadn’t really been much of a choice, not when the alternative was dying. Yet here I was, about to propose a plan that would have me walking back out into danger.

But maybe this wasn’t much of a choice either, not when the alternative was letting somebody go to what could very well be their death, and not when it might mean hundreds of people dying.

And not when it meant losing the only friend I had.

“Well,” Ji-woo said softly. “Thank you again for sharing with us, Mai. I know you must be worried about your classmates now, but we really do have a good chance at saving them. I’ll take you back to the barracks now. Hopefully you can get a little more rest, and I promise to let you know the second we have any news.”

“Can I… just have a moment?” I asked.

Ji-woo nodded without hesitating, and I took a slow, steadying breath.

“Selene. I want to be the one to go out there and restart the mana generator. Is that… okay?”

[I have no objections, but even if I did, you are the Magical Girl. I am your Familiar, meant to help you achieve whatever you wish. You do not need my permission, and I think you may be surprised by just how much authority your new status grants you outside our relationship.]

“Right…” I said, giving myself a mental shake. “I guess I’m still adjusting. You don’t think this is a stupid plan or anything, though? That I shouldn’t be risking my life like this?”

[Risking your life is part of your new job description, and doing it to save others is the best reason there is. I can also assure you that if I found something you were planning to be sub-optimal, I would let you know. Loudly. Perhaps with fireworks, if necessary.]

I fought down a smile, my eyes flicking to where Selene sat on the desk in front of all the computer monitors.

“So… how do I do this? I’ll have to let them know I’m a Magical Girl, obviously, but…”

[The police have protocols in place for protecting the personal identity of Magical Girls in situations like this,] Selene explained, jumping over onto the conference table and sitting down between the three of us. [There are also various magics and technology that monitor for anyone who might be trying to reveal such things, though I doubt any of that matters considering how well these two have behaved so far. As for how to tell them, might I suggest something appropriately dramatic?]

I listened to her idea, my face reddening, but I nodded anyway. Then I slowly turned, looking between Ji-woo and Sergeant O’Malley. I couldn’t believe how nervous I was feeling, considering what I was planning to do even later. Still, for some reason this gave me more anxiety than the idea of going back out to face a bunch of Anathema.

“Sergeant O’Malley, Officer Oh, I, um…” I stuttered. “I’m really thankful for everything you’ve done for me and… I have something else to share, but it needs to remain as secret as possible.”

Sergeant O’Malley’s brow furrowed, and Ji-woo looked even more confused now. Still, she gave me a nod.

“Of course, Mai. Like we said, this isn’t a formal interview or anything like that, so please share whatever you think might help.”

I bobbed my head in assent. Then, following Selene’s instructions, I raised my hand dramatically over the table, hovering it over where Selene was sitting. Considering how short I was, even with me sitting in a chair, it looked more than a little ridiculous how high I had to raise my hand, and I felt myself blushing further. Taking a deep breath, I said the next words with as much confidence as I could muster.

“Come forth, Selene!”

To my surprise, violet light appeared on the table beneath Selene, forming into the familiar magic circle. Purple motes began to gather, forming around Selene in a glow as it gradually covered her entire form. Then with an intense flash of light, the heptagram and glow vanished out of existence, leaving Selene sitting there alone and unchanged. Judging by the way both Sergeant O’Malley and Ji-woo flinched back and were now looking at Selene with wide eyes, though, I was guessing they were now able to see her.

Selene’s nine tails slowly unfolded behind her, each one waving independently with a slow, ethereal grace.

[Greetings,] Selene said, and both of them flinched again. [It is a pleasure to properly meet you both, and I thank you for taking such good care of my Magical Girl.]

Slowly, Ji-woo turned to look at me, and it was then that I realized I was going to have a lot more explaining to do.