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Mami Tomoe eyed her Soul Gem, its amber glow growing as she neared her quarry. Her trek took her through the southern Mitakihara Ward, to an abandoned apartment building – the perfect place for a Witch to lure people to commit suicide.Inside the building she saw the tel-tale distortion of the air, like a heat haze, indicating the presence a Witch's labyrinth. With a thought, she focused her magic through her Soul Gem, forcing an opening in the labyrinth to the real world – taking the form of a circular white glow emblazoned with a green sigil shaped like a skull with no lower jaw, a lightning bolt-like crack in the top and a curved blade sticking out the top of that crack.Passing though the sigil, she arrived in a sandy plain dotted with obsidian pillars, some with chains linking them together that clanked in the wind. Vaguely humanoid shadows wandered in the distance; further out was twin spires of black stone from which the Witch's magic emanated. The surreality was completed by a starless, moonless sky that screamed “night” despite the sky being green and clouds moving at speeds jets would be jealous of.
Pretty tame as far as most labyrinths go,
Mami thought idly.
Far closer to her, a half dozen of the Witch's Familiars wandered past. They took the form of black-boned skeletons that towered a head taller then any man – meaning they were over two heads taller than 15-year old Mami. They wore chainmail shawls with studded bronze strips encircling their heads like a helmet. Bronze oval-shaped shields were in their left hands, while similarly colored axes with handles shaped like bones were in their right hands. Their eye sockets emitted a sickly green glow.Mami took the opportunity to transform, her magic coiling around her like a dozen living ribbons, before bursting away with sparkling flowers to form her yellow magical girl outfit – her Soul Gem turning from it's egg-shape to a flower-shaped pin on her barrette.The Familiars turned to face Mami in response to the flare of her magic. One of them pointed its axe at her and shouted(though its mouth barely moved): “Pareísaktos! Paradotheíte amésos í katastrafeíte!”It was the first to be shot in the head.As the first Familiar collapsed in a heap, Mami discarded the ivory musket in her hands and used her magic to conjure several more, using them to shoot down the other Familiars as they charged. None of them used their shields to block her shots, so only one of them got close enough to actually swing its weapon at her. Slipping inside its guard to evade the attack, she swung a spent musket like a club, the butt smashing clean through the Familiar's spine below the ribs.The two halves of the last Familiar fell to the ground and went still. Satisfied, Mami started jogging toward the twin spires.She encountered several more groups of the skeleton Familiars, each more numerous then the last. None of them were any better at fighting, however, and she made short work of them each time.The only real trouble she had was with one of the “humanoid shadows”; which, up close, turned out to be just a skeleton Familiar, but around ten times the size and welding a massive two-handed hammer.It was no better of a fighter than its smaller counterparts, however, and its great size made it slow too. Its attacks were easy enough to evade; the real problem was damaging it. In the end, Mami had to make a full blown cannon with her magic to blast apart its chest.Mami knew she couldn't keep using attacks like that on small fry; her Soul Gem was already looking muddy. She resolved to avoid fighting the giant Familiars before she got to the Witch. Several more fights with smaller Familiars later and half an hour after she first entered the labyrinth, she reached the twin spires.Or rather, she reached a gigantic pit with a mountain-like ruin within it. Atop those ruins was a cathedral with its twin towers poking up out of the pit. Sensing that the Witch was in the cathedral itself, and figuring there were more Familiars than she cared to deal with in the ruins themselves, Mami opted to use ribbons to swing across the gap like a trapeze artist directly to the cathedral.The interior of the cathedral was shockingly empty; no pews or even carpet covered the checkerboard pattern floor. Stained glass windows depicted something illegible but roughly divided into green and blue, both interlaced with black and gray. Chains and rusted chandeliers dangled from the ceiling. Where the altar would be, a simple throne was placed on a raised platform, upon which the Witch sat.That has to be the Witch, right? Mami thought. It was the source of the corrupted magic; but it took the form of a young woman a few years older than Mami wearing a black dress with a white bow on the left hip. In fact, if it weren't for the ash white skin, vertebra-like horns, skinless bone wings, and green-on-green eyes; she would think it was another magical girl who happened to wield a black metal scythe.Mami summoned two muskets, one in each hand, and pointed them at the Witch; which raised an eyebrow in response and stood up. It was far more human than any Witch Mami had ever seen. Steeling herself, Mami fired at the Witch, which dodged her shots at a run. Summoning more muskets she kept up a constant barrage of fire on the Witch; she only succeeded in slowing its advance, however. Once it got close, the Witch lashed out with its scythe; Mami deflected with a musket like a staff. Several more blows from the Witch drove Mami back, its longer reach preventing her from properly counterattacking. Mami wasn't discouraged however, she only needed to wait for an opening-There! Mami fired a shot right into the Witch's gut. Black and green blood gushed out of the wound. The Witch winced for a moment before grinning.Witches... don't normally bleed. Mami thought idly as she conjured a replacement musket. She went on the offensive, unleashing a combination of musket bashes and shots to force the Witch back toward the throne. The Witch, for its part, maintained a skillful defense of blocking strikes and dodging shots.One dodged strike had the Witch twirl inside Mami's guard – all the way behind her; and she found the scythe's handle at her throat, forcing her to grab it to avoid having her windpipe crushed.'Caught you~' a sultry voice echoed in Mami's head.
The Witch? Not important, I have to-!
Focusing her magic, Mami made ribbons stream out of the bullet holes in the walls and floor. The pressure on her throat lessened slightly as the gold-and-red ribbons surrounded them.
'Clever girl.'
The Witch kicked Mami away and began to slash away at the veritable forest of ribbons, cutting them up before they could ensnare it. Green fire started to slowly gather on the scythe, the Witch's magic burning away the cut off ribbons.Mami wouldn't give it the chance to pull off a big attack; she summoned a gigantic musketoon with no stock; and with a shout of “Tiro Finale!” she fired at the distracted Witch.The Witch dodged.Or rather, it tried to.A huge cloud of dust was kicked off by the explosive impact of her attack. Conjuring a ribbon, Mami made it spiral to blow away the dust. When she layed eyes on the Witch, it was missing its left arm.And had no bullet wound.Even the dress was repaired there.So it can heal itself, Mami thought, maybe the core is-?The Witch slammed its glowing scythe into the ground, generating a green shockwave that raced toward Mami. She conjured a barrier of crosswise woven yellow ribbons to block it; her barrier held, but she was driven back several steps.Then the floor broke under her.Shifting her barrier under her, Mami launched more ribbons from it, arresting her fall two stories down. She had another five stories to fall past that. Around her hung chains(many of which her ribbons had anchored themselves to) from which dangled many hooks. From many of those hooks hung unarmed skeleton Familiars, most of which reached out towards her uselessly. For a few, however, they simply stared at her – Sadly, it seemed, but Mami had no idea why it seemed that way.The Witch landed on a chain, frowning down at Mami. Its left arm just finished regenerating, revealing that the bonny claws on the hands weren't part of the gloves in the currently reweaving dress. The Witch started hopping from chain to chain down to the floor below. Mami followed, using her ribbons to avoid the grasping hands of the Familiars.Mami chased the Witch down several hallways and flights of stairs, into a massive circular chamber, the center of which was occupied by a tiered tower topped by a pair of vertebra-like horns. Chains leaked out of holes in the tower, some of them connected to four statues that surrounded the tower:A sword planted point-first in the ground with an over-sized disk for a hand guard. An arm with a clenched fist, like it had punched out of the ground itself. A wavy blade covered in spines. A cross made from a long rifle and a short katana.Lining the walls of the chamber were coffins, almost all of which opened as Mami entered the room. The Witch, perched atop the tower, stared down at Mami with an unreadable expression; meanwhile two Familiars shaped like giant black skulls almost as tall as Mami hovered just behind and above the Witch, emitting a sickly green glow from their eyes, nose, and mouth.The Witch gestured with its scythe – chains tipped with spikes shot out of some of the coffins in response. Mami dodged some and swatted aside the rest with her muskets. The Witch sent more chains at her while the Familiars advanced. Musket fire bounced harmlessly off the Familiars, and Mami was forced to jump as one Familiar crashed into where she had dodged to evade chains – only to use a ribbon to pull her out of the way of another barrage of chains.Directly into the path of the second Familiar.Mami reflexively used her magic to cushion the blow as the Familiar slammed her into the wall. She was still left stunned in a crater while the Familiars regrouped.Blearily, she saw more chains heading for her. Holding out her right hand, Mami summoned more ribbons to bind the chains and redirect them away from her body.
I'll be overwhelmed like this! I need to get rid of these Familiars!
Rising from the crater, Mami readied ribbons around her hands. The Familiars charged, Mami jumping just high enough to evade the first skull, wrapping the ribbons in her right hand around that Familiar as she landed on it. Jumping again to dodge more chains, Mami used the ribbons attached to the first Familiar to alter her flight path out of the way of the second Familiar, which she wrapped in the ribbons from her left hand.Releasing the ribbons from her hands, Mami had the ribbons bind the Familiars together and to a wall. Summoning a cannon and a barrier, she used the latter to block a barrage of chains and the former to obliterate the Familiars before they forced their way out of her ribbons.Mami landed on the floor with a wobble – she'd spent too much magic in this fight. The sound of heels striking stone drew her attention to the Witch and where it had jumped down. The Witch charged, using its scythe to batter Mami toward the tower. One overhead slash was blocked by one of Mami's muskets two-handed.Leaving her open to a sweep kick to her legs.Mami fell prone to the floor, and rolled to face the Witch as it spun its scythe overhead with a grin.A musket shot shattered the blade of the scythe. The Witch discarded the scythe and licked its claws.So the scythe wasn't the core, Mami thought as she rose to her feet, then is it the head or heart-?The Witch leaped back and gestured with both hands, sending even more chains from the coffins at Mami. Too tired to dodge, Mami deflected chains using her musket with one hand and readied ribbons with the other.Claws coated in green fire sliced through her ribbons, burning them away.Swatting aside chains with a musket-Kick from the Witch in Mami's gut, sending her into the air-Chains wrapping around Mami's limbs, pulling them straight- Trapped. Mami summoned ribbons with razor edge-No ribbons came.Mami summoned guns-No guns came. Trapped.
Trapped!
Mami struggled against the chains as the Witch walked up to her, a glance at her Soul Gem confirming the worst: it was very dark – Mami had used up her magic.Closing her eyes, Mami prepared for the end... A clawed hand caressing her cheek?
'You look so tasty, I don't think I can let you go!'
the voice echoed in Mami's head again.
Mami opened her eyes just in time to see the Witch's expression change from a tight grin to a frown.
'But I did promise not to eat people anymore...'
Promise? To who?
The Witch grinned again, teeth visible, 'One bite wouldn't hurt, would it?'That would hurt a lot! Mami thought as the Witch uncovered her shoulder, then bit into it.“Ow!”'Oh yes...' the Witch's “voice” was enraptured, '…exquisite!'Several long, agonizing seconds later the Witch stopped gnawing, licking it's lips clean of blood. 'Whoops! Can't have you dying on m-'The Witch froze, expression confused, as it starred at Mami's shoulder. Mami's eyes followed its gaze – magical flowers had appeared around the wound, the wound itself closing. Even the blood had disappeared.
'No way... You can heal yourself...?'
How? Mami thought, my magic should be used up!'But that means...' the Witch grinned again, bigger and toothier then ever, 'that I can eat you and you won't die, right?!'The Witch bit Mami again – this time ripping a chunk of flesh and muscle from her shoulder. Mami's wound hadn't fully healed before the Witch finished chewing.Before it could bite again, an explosion rocked the building, a cloud of dust filling the area behind the Witch. Looking back, the Witch's voice echoed in Mami's head again: 'Ah, she's here.' Indeed, a young woman a few years older than Mami walked out of the dust, wearing a bikini top; a pair of shorts; and a long jacket open at the front, all in black. A massive black rifle, practically a small cannon, was held in the girl's left hand, once again giving Mami the impression of another magical girl. But she didn't need to see the ash white skin or blue-on-blue eyes to know it was no such thing: its magic was just as corrupted as the first Witch.The first Witch took it's hands off Mami and skipped over to the second, gripping its free hand like an old friend. The second Witch slapped the first's hands away and pointed at Mami. The first Witch made a placating gesture to the second, which shook its head in response.Are they... arguing? Mami thought. It was hard to tell, given Mami couldn't hear anything from them – not even the telepathy from the first Witch; but it did look like they were having a silent argument over her. If they are having an argument, then now's the perfect time to escape! Mami checked her Soul Gem.It was clean.
Meaning the reason I can't use magic isn't because I'm out; it's because of these chains!
Mami griped the chains, feeling their magic. At first, all she could sense was the corrupted magic of the Witch, but she noticed something else threading through it...Grimly, Mami realized what she was sensing was her own magic, entwined within the Witch's own. Imprisoned by it. But now that she really felt it, the magic that formed the chains wasn't that different from her own. And her own magic was already a part of them...Carefully at first, then more forcefully as the Witches failed to notice, she reached out to her magic in the chains, making them slither around that of the Witch; binding them as they had bound her-The chains glowed gold as Mami took control of them – she forced them to release her, which simultaneously broke her control over them, causing them to fall to the ground with a clatter, drawing the attention of the Witches.Mami had already used a ribbon to pull herself to the door she came in from and started running. Explosions filled the halls behind Mami, the gun-welding Witch opening fire. Strangely, the explosions got further away as Mami progressed, meaning the Witches were falling behind. Mami didn't look behind to find out, nor did she speculate, as to why that was – she just ran.When she reached the multi-story drop from earlier in the battle, Mami saw a new type of Familiar: Black, eyeless snakes with alligator-like mouths and a blue, zigzag stripe on their sides. Fortunately, they were too busy wrestling with the hooked skeleton familiars to stop her assent.After exiting the pit, Mami made a beeline for where she'd first entered the labyrinth. She only encountered more of the snake Familiars, but none of them tried to bar her path – slithering away at her approach. Only once she'd exited the labyrinth and closed the opening did Mami stop to catch her breath.“That Witch... So strong... And there's two of them...!”Fighting them alone was out of the question. That left finding help from other magical girls. Kyōko was the obvious choice: while the two of them weren't on good terms now, they did work together in the past. And the transfer student, Akemi right? she had made no attempt to poach Mami's kills despite operating in Mami's territory.With one final glance at the empty air where the opening to labyrinth had been, Mami walked out of the building to attempt to acquire aid.