As winter snow fell on Noir, Erezbert emerged from the elevator on one of the tallest structures of the city. The Polity Center. The young man accompanying her walked her to the orange set of mahogany doors, inlaid with majestic ebony fillings in geometric patterns.

  “Mr. Alucard is behind these doors, Liza,” the staffer said.

  “As expected,” the woman responded. “I believed I told you my meeting with him is to be held in the strictest confidence?” she said as she slipped the man a stack of sterling coins.

  “Noted,” the man said as she discreetly put the coins in his pocket. “I wish you both the best of luck.”

  Erezbert entered the office and closed it. There she found Mr. Alucard, or rather, the man who is her equal among the leadership of the Voorhes Gang. Vladimir Draconis.

  “How’s your day job treating you?” the woman said as she swayed towards the empty chair of the deck. The handsome man had finished looking over the policy proposals for the new year.

  “It has served me well,” Vladimir said. “As it always has.” The disguised gang leader put the documents on his desk.

  Erezbert knew he had disguised himself well. His silvery hair was replaced by blond locks, his black and red robes were replaced by a standard business suit. His faked slight hunch, his microexpressions, the pair of glasses he wore. If she didn’t knew any better, she would’ve assumed they were different people. But Erezbert was the trusted lieutenant of the leader of the Voorhes Gang and the Syndicate.

  The vampiress smirked. Mr. Alucard gave her a stern expression. “I understand that you still kept a trio of failed assets around.”

  “Even the stronzi have their uses,” Erezbert said. “Besides, you of all people should know that death is a thing that must be managed.”

  “Quite,” Mr. Alucard said. His tone differed subtly from that of his other persona, still businesslike but bereft of the subtle theatrical touch he possessed. “Where are they now?”

  “They are currently at a Dungeon called the Hexenflutch,” Erezbert said. “They seemed to have grown more competent since discovering it.” She took a small incense stick from a nearby burner and found a garlicky odor eliminating from it. She had to stifle a chortle from learning of the presence of an alleged “weakness”.

  “I take it your pet project is still in progress?” Mr. Alucard said.

  “Naturally,” Erezbert said. “122 million people nationwide, a dozen times that many Elementalist’s Spheres, and counting.”

  “You said your family was searching for these certain relics?”

  “Ever since the end of the Dissonance.”

  Mr. Alucard nodded. “The Obbligato, the converted cores of beings such as the Earthshaker that once quaked around the continent. Such relics, relegated to myth and legend.”

  “And so are Witches and Cultivators,” Erezbert scoffed. “And yet they exist in our midst. My house had gathered knowledge in a bid to find those sacred items.”

  Mr. Alucard let out a slight chuckle. “I know, as I also knew your task hadn’t impeded operations here. The goal of the secretive House of Camilla, home to many philanthropists and magnates. As I don this mask so too does their matriarch don the mask of Liza Ceréza-Corozon.”

  The matriarch in question looked at her partner’s eyes. “That reminds me, it came to my attention that the death rate has dipped to under 15% throughout the year.”

  “Those blasted Rouges…” His voice was calm, but Erezbert could sense the ire in him. The tone was more akin to an exasperated bureaucrat. Perhaps out of awareness that an outburst would arouse suspicions or perhaps of how weary it is of the everlasting conflict between the Syndicate and the Rouges.

  “Ever the pests,” Erezbert said. “Always trying to bring the unwashed Exsecratii into the hallowed domains of the Elegere or even the Empyrean. Or even just getting them out of their little prisons.”

  “Homeless rats breaching the sewers,” Mr. Alucard said. “Removed from their place in the natural order. Even though we both knew their fates were but the natural selection at work. Only the fittest is worthy of survival after all.”

  “But of course,” the socialite said. “Man, Monster, Dungeon, it matters not. It is our job to sort out for whom life is worth saving and for whom life is but a mere antechamber to the Sea of Souls. And of course to wring out what little value remains along the way.”

  Mr. Alucard took out a book and began reading it. The treatise’s pages flipped to one that was clearly worn from use. “The Siegamento War may be over, but warlords are still needed. Even if they must present as antithesis. That is the mask of the sovereign.”

  “A necessary mask,” Erezbert said. “Too many rabble-rousers as is it.”

  “I pray for our success,” Mr. Alucard said. “For it thought either project where we may find the means to hold life and death in our dominion.” He took out a bottle of red liquid and two glasses. Sanguine fluid flowed down into the two crystal chalices on the desk.

  “Long may we reign,” Erezbert said as she took one of the two glasses. The two clinked their glasses and consumed the red fluid. Erezbert left the office and the disguised Vladimir alone to his devices.

  ???

  Charlotte woke up in a strange realm, reminiscent of the Hexenflutch, yet more bizarre. She found herself surrounded by crystal trees and mucky waters. She tried to move, but her legs were bogged down by the jet-black mud. The mirror still attached to her back.

  “Guys?” the little alraune called as she struggled to move in the bog. Her verdant legs were tainted by darkened muck as she waded through the molasses-like substance to find anything resembling solid ground.

  Charlotte felt something tugging on her submerged leg. With a shriek, she sank deeper into the mud. Her arms were nearly submerged in the quick-sand-like bog and she was unable to move her legs.

  The indigo-petaled girl calmed down as she realized she had a way to escape this snare. “Focus,” she thought as she began casting a gravity spell. A small bubble encapsulated her and the surrounding muck and lifted it out from the bog. While maintaining the apurgy-gravity balance she carefully changed the spell’s boundaries to repulse the muck from her body and petals.

  Charlotte hovered around until she could find something more stable, ultimately landing on a crystal path.

  “Is anyone there?” Charlotte yelled. The echoes were the only response. She knew she was separated from her friends but did not know where she was transported to. Despite the abundance of crystals here she wasn’t even sure if she was still in the Hexenflutch. She looked around and saw crystal trees and platforms on the swampy marshland.

  “Come to me,” a voice inside her head rings. The alraune looked around but could not find any source. “The key to your escape is night,” the echo said.

  “Um,” Charlotte said, “who are you?”

  “A guide,” the echo responded. “Follow me, come close to me child, and I will deliver you from this prison.”

  Charlotte considered the option, but she had her doubts. “Where are you?” she asked.

  “I was trapped, by the vile dungeon, held captive in its crystal halls,” the echoes said. “Follow my voice, it will guide you to me, and to the means of your egress.”

  Charlotte looked around, and could not find anyone else. Her friends were missing and there were no signs of life that she could see. Her eyes soon glimpsed a black cat in the distance. Vanishing into a distance fog. Charlotte with no other choice, decided to follow the cat and the mysterious voice.

  ???

  “Help!”

  Rose’s tail was stuck in the swampy black muck, unable to slither out. Hydrangea had frozen the brackish water around her while Raine and the Tatzelwurm attempted to pull her to the shore. A while later they had succeeded in pulling the lamia out from the bog.

  Rose panted heavily. The three girls were aware that they were inside a Strega. And that the stranger that had assaulted them had vanished. Raine melted the ice around Rose’s tail. “Thanks,” Rose said gracefully.

  Raine Carnation Cadenza turned her head away. Hydrangea began to conjure some glaciers to move around the bog more easily. “Be careful,” she said sternly. “This will be slippery.

  The three embarked on the frozen raft and Raine used her wand to create a jet of flames to direct it. The Tatzelwurm coiled itself around Rose, snuggling up to the lamia again, to her trepidation.

  At the same time, two violet-haired girls had just prevailed against two crystal alligators. The bayou reptiles were pinned to the ground by Anemone’s arrows while Emily skated around them and slashed with her two swords. Emily enchanted her swords with earth and ice and wielded their combined mana to strike with crystal attacks. The two reptiles fell to these blades.

  The violet-haired avatara sighed. “You said you had suspected a Strega here right?”

  The lupine magical girl nodded, as she put her bow away. “Yes. By the look of things, these suspicions proved true,” the young child said.

  Emily brushed off her shoulders. “I’d bet Heathcliff’ll be jealous. He sometimes mentioned how alligators were a common foe where he grew up.” The duo noticed a small glacier in the distance. As it drew nearer, Rose waved her hands. “Anemone! Emily! Over here!”

  Emily’s group was reunited, but questions remained on her mind. She wondered if the other two groups had ended up within the Strega, and also, what happened to the lamia that had attacked them. “Did you see anyone else on the way here?” she asked.

  “If we did,” Raine said. “They would’ve been on that iceberg Hydra whipped up.”

  “The only things we found here were crystal zombies and boars,” Rose lamented.

  “And you?” Hydrangea asked.

  Emily shook her head. “It was just us.”

  Anemone looked around and saw that the marshy swamp had several elements retained from the Hexenflutch, including clear crystal structures. “Something isn’t adding up,” the lycanthrope said to herself. “Strega should be dungeons unto themselves, but this one…” the group heard a feline cry, interrupting Anemone’s thoughts. “Rose!” she yelled. “Can you tell the Tatzelwurm to stop yowing. I’m trying to concentrate.”

  “That wasn’t—” Before Rose could finish, the Tatzelwurm hissed and lunged toward a moving shadow, the serpentine cat had seized, another, less serpentine cat in its fangs. The two felines battled each other until the Tatzelwurm prevailed. The black crystal cat escaped its opponent and fled off.

  The group decided to follow the cat, thinking it might lead them to somewhere important.

  ???

  Meanwhile, Lily was also trapped by the black mud. Sarah was trying to pull out the horse.

  “A little help here?” Sarah said. “She’s too heavy for me to move alone!”

  “Sarah,” Richard said as he tried to help Sarah pull Lily up. “There nowhere to push from behind,”

  The centaur hung her head in shame. “Sorry guys.”

  “It’s not your fault,” Kasumi said. “If anything it’s that nekomata’s fault.”

  Lily couldn’t help but frown as she heard the mention of the intruder. “That girl is bad news!” she said curtly.

  “Do you know anything about her?” Tim said while meditating on a solution.

  The centauride struggled to try to swim upwards, but the mud’s hold on her legs proved difficult. She was at least grateful it was too shallow to submerge her.

  “I have an idea!” Kasumi said as she decided to take out a bauble from her dress. “This mist should solidify the mud, it would be easy to break her out there.” She said with a confident grin. She moved to Lily’s side and threw the bauble down. The exploding fog had the opposite effect, making the mud more fluid and causing her to sink.

  “Huh?” the cocky kunoichi said as her legs began receding into the newly made mud. “What the, I can’t move!” she tried again with another bauble but fumbled and dropped it. The object sank into the object.

  Tim stood up and began to make some movements. The ground beneath Lily, Kasumi, and the dwarves was lifted into the air and plummeted just as quickly.

  “Ow!” Lily and Kasumi said as they fell on solid ground, mud clumped on the kunochi’s feet and the centaur’s equine body. Tim helped the girl with the braided hair stand up. The ninja blushed as Tim grabbed her hand and lifted her upright. “I-I could've done it myself.”

  Tim ignored the remark. “You’re welcome, “ he said.

  Kasumi looked around. “Hey did any see Salliandra?”

  “She said she left to look for the others,” Richard said. “The dire wolf also followed her.”

  As if on cue, the sprite and dire wolf returned, with Streltizia, Clover, and the swan in tow.

  “Stre! Clover!” Lily exuberantly galloped to her friends. “So the Strega got you too?”

  The peryton nodded. “What happened?”

  Kasumi explained that their group was attacked by a strange Nekomata witch. Clover in turn revealed that her party was instead attacked by a blue-haired dormarch witch.

  “It was the one from the Broadway attack!” Lily chimed in.

  “You mean that one with the wrecking ball?” Stretlizia said.

  “No!” the centaur said. “The other one!”

  “Oh,” the minotaur said. “I thought that was the last we’d see of her.”

  The blond girl shook her head. “She’s back and she seemed fixated on Tim!”

  “She should get in line,” Salliandra snarked.

  Tim was a little disturbed by how infatuated the blond nekomata was with him, but his mind was left on other matters. “We need to regroup,” he said. “At the very least two of the three groups are now inside this swamp.”

  The others agreed, and they set off to find the rest of their friends.

  ???

  “This swamp is yucky. Too much mud and dirt and grime. Why are there crystals?” Azalea said as she swam around Carla and Nina. By now the water that Azalea uses to breathe in the air had returned to a pure liquid state.

  “Pray tell, small mermaid. Why are we talking like this? Is this a ‘you’ thing?” Nina said.

  The three woke up near a path of floating logs, beneath a strange plant. Carla looked at the unusual botanical entity. “Mayhap we should move. See what lies beyond the logs. And Reach normalcy?” Clara said.

  Nina looked towards the flotsam in front of them. “Don’t know if it’s wise. Those logs are rather spooky. Try a different path?”

  “What other road lies?” the mermaid began. “This marshland is waterlogged. There is no other.”

  “You swim through the air!” Nina said. “Why can’t you find a new path? You’re not scared, are you?”

  Azalea was taken aback by the spiderling’s words, hypocritical as they are. “Might be worth a shot. What are those logs gonna do? Arise from the brine?” The clionid turned to the bog around them and swam forward in the air above. She swam several yards away from the logs, noticing one suddenly sank under the brackish swamp.

  Azalea soon saw another isle in the swamp. “Hey!” she said. “There’s another—” Her jubilant exclamation was interrupted by the emergence of a geyser, a monster with tendrils ending in log-shaped structures emerged. The frog-like beast roared as it turned towards the blue-haired clionid, its frog-like body locked onto the little mermaid.

  The amphibian exhumed poi. Azalea swam reflexivity to dodge it. The log-covered toad extended some of its tendrils, poised to launch the logs at Azalea. But before it could do so, Nina landed on the back of the beast and pierced its hide with her bladed legs.

  “A most fowl beast!” Nina sided as she slid black and sliced the leathery skin of the toad. “I thank you for the escape. Carla, come on here!”

  Carla was shocked at the spiderling’s brazen attempt to use the toad as a mount, but Azalea picked her up and placed her onto its back. Nina attempted to direct the toad. She used the blades on her armored legs to direct the toad.

  Eventually, the toad collapsed on a patch of mud, bleeding out from the wounds Nina inflicted on it.

  “Well done Nina,” Azalea said. “You’ve ribbited into it. The toad had done croaked.”

  They dismounted the corpse and landed on solid ground.

  “Azalea, dear. Can you tell us where we are? This is no Dungeon.”

  “I know what this is. This feels like a Strega. That I am certain,” The clionid cheerfully said.

  The effect of the plant had faded and they are no longer bound to speak in haiku, to Nina’s relief.

  “Oh thank Astra,” the spiderling said. “I have no idea what I do I spent the rest of my life speaking like that!”

  They traversed the swamp, fighting through several toads and the occasional Crystslime. In a place that is more crystal than swamp, they discovered and regrouped with Tim and his party, only without a certain member.

  “Where’s Charlotte?” the alraune mother said.

  Lily sighed. “We lost her,” the centaur said.

  “She got separated from us where we fell here,” Sarah said. She looked around and noticed Stretlizia and clover were absent. “Take it we’re not the only ones?”

  The worry on Carla’s face was as apparent as the pitch coloration of the mud, and the immaculate translucence of the surrounding crystals. “We…we have to find her!” she said.

  “Agreed,” Tim said. “This is no place for someone like her to wander alone.”

  The assembled group began to search for the others. As they did Carla fretted about her young daughter’s safety.

  ???

  “Ah, this swamp feels more like home than I imagined.”

  The Weyward sisters were reunited after they fell into the Strega’s domain. Hildur in particular relished in the atmosphere that resembled her place of birth.

  “Careful, eldest sister,” Grisella said. “Thou know thy surroundings art the boundaries of a Strega, right?”

  “I know!” Hildur lashed out, her red curls seemingly flared up with her glower. “A pitiful shame we are stuck here, but I can’t help but feel a little…nostalgic.”

  Savina meanwhile looked on the ground in a mix of fury and lament. Her tails dragged on the mob below. “I was this close to making that heartthrob squeal like a little piggy!”

  “What is up with youngest sister?” Grisella said.

  Hildur gave an uncaring shrug. “We must needs focus. We must defeat the Strega and absorb its mana, then we can resume our prize!”

  “That is a brilliant plan, sister,” Grisella said.

  “Okay,” Savina said.

  The sisters Weyward began exploring the labyrinth, in search of fragments that would lead them to the core.

  As they searched a thought came to Hildur. “Sisters,” she said. “I must wonder.”

  “Yes, Huldur?” Grisella said loyally. Her ears perked in curiosity.

  “The Lobosiam massacre,” Hildur said. “Are we certain the survivors were taken care of?”

  “I think so, sister,” the dormarch said. “Madama Erezbert and Master Vladimir said that the remnants were destroyed by the remnants of the ‘Mustache Petes’. Why do you ask?”

  “Oh, no reason that concerns you, sister,” the red-headed lamia said. “Just musing on some thoughts.” She knew that among those whose was reported missing was the daughter of the patriarch Malthus. And that someone who bore a resemblance to her was among those she had met earlier. “It seemeth rather strange that eight orphans had gathered together so easily,” she thought to herself.

  The three witches continued their exploration of the Strega.

  “What do we do,” Savina said for the first time in half an hour. “If we find a fragment that is?”

  “The same thing we always do in times like this, sister,” Hildur said. “We make her our own and have her lead us to the core!” she said with a malevolent cackle.

  The youngest sister followed suit. “Right, sister. How could I forget?”

  The three soon heard rustling in the leaves of the crystal trees. Hildur turned to one of them and found a shadow leaping from its canopy. “It seemeth our search has yielded fruit, sisters,” Hildur said. They summoned their weapons and began chasing the shadow through the marsh.

  ???

  Emily’s group explored the crystal swamp until they discovered a large pit, resembling the Citstern they were previously in. Complete with unusually clear water.

  “Is that a bridge?” Emily asked. Noticing the flat path floating in the tranquil water.

  “Seems like it,” Hydrangea said.

  The group looked around and noticed that the pool’s design strongly resembled the architecture of the Hexenflutch the most. Complete with a crystal barrier that kept the brackish water out.

  Anemone thought about the assailants. “Do you think those witches are connected to the Strega?”

  “They do know an awful lot about the Dugneon,” Hydrangea mused. “Anemone have you seen them before when you last visited with Lily and Charlotte?”

  The lycanthrope shook her head. “I haven’t seen them before.”

  Rose and the Tatzelwurm slithered onto the bridge, being careful not to fall into the transparent water. The feline serpent beside the lamia noticed something and mewed to call Rose’s attention.

  “What is it?” Rose asked as she slithered to the serpentine cat. She looked down and saw that there was a large door at the bottom of the artificial lake. Chains crisscrossed through the ingress, locked by a giant sword crossing both.

  “Emmy!” Rose called to Emily. “Look at this!”

  Emily looked at the bottom of the pool and the locked door. Through this, a thought came to her mind. “We’ve progressed through the Hexenflutch by raising the water level, maybe we can find the core by draining the pool? But how?”

  Strelitzia meanwhile stood guard over the others, keeping a watchful eye out for monsters. Clover approached her.

  “Are you okay, Streltizia?” the peryton said.

  “I’m fine,” the minotauride said.

  Clover knew that Strelitzia was not fine. “You’re making that face again,” she said.

  “I’m not!” Streltizia denied. Even though her microexpressions told otherwise.

  Clover sat down next to her friend. “You didn’t know that attack would bring us here.”

  “But I should’ve,” Strelitzia said. “Anemone suspected that a Strega would be here, and I let myself be goaded into having it swallow us up! I should’ve—”

  “Strelitzia!” the antlered girl said to the horned one. Clover’s wings unfolded as she said her name. “It wasn’t your fault. If anyone was to blame it was that dromarch! We’ll find a way out, I’m certain of it!”

  Strelitzia calmed down a little. “I guess you’re right.”

  “I know I’m right!” the fawn smiled. “How many Strega and Dungeons have we found ourselves in again?”

  “Fair point,” Streltizia said while giving a wry smile and a wistful sigh.

  Clover noticed her expression had changed slightly and was glad she was able to lift her spirits a little. “Now come on, no use dawdling around!” she said.

  The group looked around the area and noticed there was a path of logs floating around. Clover used her wings to fly over the logs and discovered a locked door framed by several brambles and throned hedges.

  “I found a door!” Clover yelled to the group. “It’s locked!”

  As Clover returned to the group, Anemone noticed a strange cat running on the muddy water to the right of the lake. She turned to Hydrangea who also saw the cat.

  The cyan-bobbed girl took her grimoire out and looked to a certain spell. She then took her wand and motioned it in various patterns. A sheet of ice formed above the mud, allowing the group a way to move past the otherwise debilitating mud. Emily led the group as they followed the black cat.

  ???

  Tim’s group meanwhile was still searching for the others. Carla frantically called out for Charlotte, her worry for her daughter was visible on her face.

  “Charlotte!” the alraune cried out inconsolably. “Where are you?”

  Azalea and Lily are unsure how to comfort the concerned mother. Carla was well aware of the dangers of adventuring, but she was still overcome with fear for her daughter. Azalea considered trying to lighten the mood but reconsidered upon realizing she did not have any material that wouldn’t come off as mockery.

  Nina scurried about when she noticed a nearby tree rumbling. She curiously approached the tree. “Is anyone there?” she yelled.

  The tree suddenly rotated one hundred and eight degrees and revealed a ravenous face, with bark that resembled two buck teeth. The swamp tree uprooted itself and moved to attack the group. The sight of this caused Nina to scream.

  Carla turned to see the tree attack the spiderling and commanded the two beasts with her to fend it off. The swan assailed it with molted feathers and pecks, while the dire wolf used fang and caw to proliferate the mud-caked bark. Nina bravely and defiantly moved around the bark and used her legs to peel off some of it.

  The others noticed the gigantic treant and lent their assistance. Tim disoriented it with close-range attacks, while Azlaea summoned a muddy geyser beneath one of its roots.

  “Timber!” the clionid yelled as the treant fell unto the mud. The swam was poised to claim the fallen monster, but it used its branches to hoist itself upright and roared. Lily charged forward and leaped with her spear. The centauride impaled the treant when one of the larger branches met the trunk. Sap and mud flowed from the monster’s wound as Tim knocked it over with a toppling palm strike.

  Carla commanded her beasts to prune the larger branches from the monster after it fell. Azalea used her knives to create water cutters that sliced several of the remaining branches off. Sarah and Richard coordinated their attacks to paralyze the tree and keep it pinned down as the branches were removed. The tree’s ability to put itself back up dwindled alongside its branches, and Nina and Carla carved into its body and pierced its heart, defeating it for good. The tree’s corpse landed near another island, this time with more crystal architecture.

  The group crossed the swampy lake through the treant’s fallen body and followed the trail of crystals. Along the way, the group encountered a treasure chest. The contents inside were similar to those of the Hexenflutch, crystal-adorned armaments, and armor, as well as jewelry and already filled jars of aqua regina. Tim took the jars while the dwarves removed the other items from the coffer.

  As they followed the crystal trial, Carla still expressed worry for her missing daughter. Lily cantered up to her, finally trying to cheer up the grieving mother.

  “Um, Carla?” Lily said.

  “Yes?” the alraune said, trying to hide her pain.

  “Um,” Lily still struggled with finding the right ways to console Carla about Charlotte. Still, she was aware of why she was fraught with pain. “You…you cared about Lotte huh?”

  “That obvious, huh?” Carla said wistfully. “I do. It is normal for a mother to worry when her child is in danger.”

  Lily stumbled on how obvious the answer was. “Yeah,” the blond centaur said.

  The chartreuse-petaled woman looked at the child. “Tell me, I knew your parents were no longer around, but can you tell me what they were like?”

  Lily nodded. “Mommy and Daddy were wonderful, though we didn’t play together that often I could tell they were doing their best.”

  “Do you miss them, Lily?” Carla said.

  “Well,” the centaur said. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t, but It’s okay I don’t feel as lonely as before. I got Rose, Anemone, and the other Coloraturas.” Lily beamed as she said those words.

  Carla wondered if she should pry into Lily’s past. It was clear that she and her friends were embroiled in unusual circumstances.

  “Don’t worry,” Lily said. “I’m sure we’ll find her. I promise!”

  Carla was a little soothed. “I hope you’re right, dear child,” she said. “I hope you’re right.”

  ???

  Emily’s group traversed the swamp, following the ebon-furred cat until they reached another crystal-laden area. And a herd of wild boar stampeding around it.

  “Boars?” Anemone whispered as they hid behind the bog’s trees.

  “What did you expect?” Streltizia said. “Strega or not, this is a swamp.”

  “Are you sure?” Clover said. “It looks more like a bog to me.”

  “Feels like a marsh to be honest,” Rose said.

  “Nah,” Raine said. “It’s a bog.”

  “Why are you arguing?” Hydrangea said. “It is a swamp, I’m certain.”

  The Tatzelwurm noticed that something was amiss and slithered away to investigate.

  While the six magical girls bickered about what biome the dungeon resembled most, Emily noticed that one of the rampaging boars had made a sudden turn. “Um, girls,” she said as she drew her swords.

  A second boar noticed the group’s presence and rushed toward them as well.

  “I’m telling you!” Rose said. “This is definitely a marsh!”

  “Rose!” Streltizia said. “This is a swamp. Plain—” Leaves suddenly fell from the branches as one of the boards crashed into the crystal bark. The four girls saw that the herd had noticed them and charged around them and that Emily was already defending herself against them with flame-tongued and lightning-bladed swords.

  “How did they—” Streltizia was stunned to see the Boards had noticed them as she took her axe out. Raine and Clover used their wings to fly over the herd as more boards emerged from behind the crystals and the trees. The phoenixian and the peryton used fire, wind, and smoke to attack the herd from above, while Emily, Rose, Anemone, and Streltizia engaged with the tusked beasts on the mud and crystal ground.

  “Sparking Rondo!” Rose called out as a volley of levin emerged from her wand and sunned some of the boars. She then slithered towards one of them and sliced it with the rapier, the defeated boar melted into black mud.

  Anemone fired from afar, landing arrows on the shadows of the boars and pinning them into the ground, Hydrangea froze the pinned boars solid, and Rained provided fire to thermoshock them. The mix of frost and flame ravaged their hides as Streltizia took her axe and slammed the ground. Sending the boars flying. Clover used her fan to channel a windstorm to carry away the lifted boars.

  The herd was thinned, but several still remained. Emily sliced and danced her way through them with her swords before channeling light through her blades and throwing a Photon Ring at them. As the swords-turned chakram flew, another board attempted to ram her, but Emily assumed a horse stance and drew on and used a palm strike to repel the boar. The returning chakram sliced the side of that boar as they returned to Emily’s arms. The board attempted to headbutt the avatara, but she dodged to the right.

  “Too slow!” she said mockingly as she carved into the boar like a pork roast. The boar melted and two more attempted to take her place.

  “Emily!” Hydrangea called as she created a wall of ice around her, stepping the boards in their tracks.

  Anemone looked at Raine with a knowing look. The red-feathered girl dived into the ground and used her rings to summon an inferno around the remaining boars. Melting the ice that protected Emily, The avatara took it as a sight to get away from the fire as Anemone aimed a volley of dark-enchanted arrows at the blaze. The violet haze of the arrows turned the vermilion fire into a noxious veridian as the elemental mana merged and became that of curse magic, incinerating the boars with unyielding and painful flames. The ablaze boars soon melted from the nigh-unquenchable fire.

  Strelitzia was reminded about how she and Azalea had been attacked by curse spells an hour ago and also how the clionid jokester had suggested a risky move to purge the otherwise unpurgeable fire. As the group looked for the black cat around this place, the minotauride turned to the lycanthrope.

  “Hey, Mone?” Streltizia said. “Did you collect some of that clear water?”

  Anemone nodded. “Why do you ask?”

  The horned girl told Anemone about what happened to herself and Azalea. The lavender-ringleted girl was surprised to learn that they used the Hexenflutch’s waters to clear what should’ve been an equally dangerous ailment.

  “You could’ve gotten yourselves killed!” Anemone said.

  “That’s what I tried to tell her,” Stretlizia said. “But it wasn’t like there was any other choice.”

  Rose overheard her two friends mention cured fired and looked at the burning piles of black mud, still emitting verdant cinders. She was reminded of the encounter that preceded their descent into the Strega, the other Lamia who used cursed fires. Before she could bring that up, everyone was interrupted by the presence of a black cat.

  “You’ve done well to prevail here, guests,” the cat said, Carla’s Tatzelwurm beside it. The group was shocked to hear the cat speak.

  ???

  The black cat stood over the confused Emily and her equally flummoxed friends. They let out a simple chuckle. The six Coloraturas tensed as they drew their weapons.

  “I see,” the cat said. “Rest assured that I come in peace.

  Emily noticed a familiar aura from the cat. “Are you…”

  The cat purred affirmatively. “I am, or was, a Sentinel of the Hexenflutch. It’s nice to meet you.”

  “A Sentinel?” Rose asked.

  “Yes, much like you,” the cat said. “I’m sure you knew that the swamp was once a person, also like you?”

  “We figured,” Strelitzia said. She recalled what Azalea had told her and Clover a while back, the same knowledge that the clionid had told the others.

  “Can you tell us more about them?” Anemone said.

  “Alas, my memory is faint,” the feline said. “But I do know that this encroachment, this…you called it a ‘Strega’ yes?”

  “That is correct,” Hydrangea said.

  “Right, this ‘Strega’ had emerged as soon as the wards around Vanitas wanted,” the cat said with a tone of certainty.

  “Vanitas?” Emily said.

  “A dread weapon,” the cat said. “A village of Agneists had gone to great pains to ensure it doesn't pervert the surrounding land. Perhaps you came across them?”

  “We haven’t seen anyone of the sort,” Emily said.

  “I see,” the feline said wistfully. “Anyway, the Blade of Lies is a cursed sword that seeks wielders to possess and will use honeyed words to that end. Thousands of souls were already trapped in the corrupted blade.”

  “Hold on,” Raine said. “What is a cursed weapon doing in a place like this?”

  “My master, the Hexenflutch, as it came to be known has a rare power to purify the corruption of the Unlifetree. It took the form of water that is not quite water. I’m certain that one previous traveler called it ‘aqua regina’,” the cat said.

  “Aqua regina,” Emily said. “Got it.” She recalled her encounter with a lamia stranger. “Did you see any other ‘visitors’ here?”

  The cat grimaced. “My master was able to warn me about some incursions. A trio of pests, most recently. And a small araune child before that.” The cat looked at Anemone. “They told me they were accompanied by a least someone resembling you, as well as a centaur child.”

  “Yeah about that,” Anemone explained about the mirror and what had happened with it.

  “I see,” the cat said. “So it is worse than I feared.”

  “What is?” Rose asked.

  “With the Strega’s emergence,” the black cat said. “My master had attempted to seal it within itself, to turn it into a Sentinel. A method that only partially succeeded. This was because Vanitas had attempted to exploit the emergence of the Strega as a wielder and a host. Because of this, the purification process was corrupted and the malefic enemies of the sword began to leak out from its tomb. It also means that the soul of the swamp was not bound to my master, and would pass to the seal of Souls if defeated.”

  “Are you saying that the mirror is corrupted by this ‘Vanitas’?” Hydrangea said.

  “It is well within possibility,” the cat answered.

  “This sword,” Anenome said. “Could it be a Profaned Arm?”

  “I know now what you meant by that,” the cat said., “But I do know the blade once went by the title of ‘Vertias’.” The cat’s response was confirmation enough for Anemone.

  A question lingered on Rose’s mind. “Could the Strega be saved?” the lamia asked.

  “Rose…” Raine said understandably.

  The cat shook their head. “I do not know if it is possible.”

  “If at least one fragment remained…” Hydrangea said.

  Emily looked at the cat. “You said the Hexenflutch was visited by three ‘pests’?”

  The cat nodded. “Three women hexed. Whose presence was a bane unto the dungeon. I do not know what motive they have, but my master warns me that it cannot be good.”

  “Did they include a Lamia, by any chance?” Rose said.

  “Like you?” the cat said.

  “Less cute, redder hair,” Rose clarified.

  “What about a blue-haired dromarch?” Strelitzia said.

  “Both do match what my master said of the unwelcome guests. A blond cat-eared woman was among them as well.”

  Emily, Rose, and Streltizia exchanged looks of worry. Emily looked back at the cat. “We came with some others,” she said. “Have you seen them?”

  “I’m not sure,” the cat said.

  The group heard a loud explosion. They turned in the direction of the noise where they saw a plume of smoke.

  Stolen story; please report.

  “Something’s wrong!” the cat said before running off. The group followed their feline guide.

  ???

  Tim, Carla, two of her beasts, Lily, Anemone, Sarah, Richard, Kasumi, Salliandra, and Lily eventually arrived at a flooded pit, surrounded by crystalline structures and bridged by a floating platform. The pit was filled with the transparent aqua regina. As clear as a pristine lake.

  “Do we need to make a pit stop,” Azalea quipped about the pit in front of them.

  “As above, so below,” Tim said.

  “Huh?” Lily said in confusion.

  “Heaven and Earth are as a mirror, at least in this case,” Tim said as she moved his eyes around the artificial lake.

  Richard nodded. “If traversing the Hexenflutch necessitated reaching the top, to raise the steps…”

  “Then it would stand to reason that draining this pit could allow us to reach our goal,” Salliandra said.

  “You’re saying the Strega’s core might be at the bottom of this…lake?” Lily said.

  “I dunno,” Azalea said to the centauride. “Something doesn't add up here.”

  Carla mused on a certain possibility. “Correct me if I’m wrong,” the alraune said. “If this monster is defeated, would everyone held captive be released?”

  “That’s what usually happens,” Lily said.

  “It happened with that ‘Anima Mundi’ place,” Sarah said.

  “And the fake movie studio,” Nina said.

  A possibility had opened up to the tamer. Lily saw her microexpressions shift. “Carla, what are you thinking?”

  “Lily, Azalea,” Carla said. “Do you think you two can defeat that monster?”

  “Huh?” the centauride said. “We don’t know!”

  “It’s been a while since we fought a Strega without the other Coloraturas,” Azalea said. “And this one seems to be very powerful.”

  “And if we lent our strength?” Carla asked.

  “Carla,” Tim said, realizing her plan. “I understand your concern for Charlotte,” he said in a calm manner. “But please consider the potential risks involved.”

  “I have, Timothy,” the alraune said. “In this group, there are four Sentinels, people tasked with protecting Emily and those who called her home. Myself included. We are both aware of the boons that came with such a role.”

  “Um, Carla?” Lily said with a frightened tone.

  “I know my daughter is out there in this place, and that her life is at risk.” The alraune mother said. “Administrators as my witness, I will gladly do everything in my power to save her, as I would to save those taken by the Piper Pruflas and submerged in Emily’s mana.”

  Tim started at the older woman with a stern expression. “That is your resolution?”

  Carla nodded. “Perhaps you will understand one day when you have children of your own to protect.”

  “Now hold on!” Kasumi said. “Do we even know how to drain that lake?”

  “If Tim’s assessments are correct, “Carla said. “The mechanisms would likely be scattered around this swamp.

  “That’s a big ‘if’,” Azalea said. “The Strega may be Dungeons, but they don’t play by the same rules as Emily. That said, it’s not as if we’re swamped with leads.”

  The group suddenly heard a shriek from the direction of the fallen treant. Lily and Azalea already rushed back to the log that was the drowned monster. Sarah and Richard followed suit. Carla realized that the discussion must be put on hold as she and the others headed back to whence they came.

  ???

  Meanwhile, the Weywards, after a lengthy chase, had trapped their prey. A young child, with mahogany-colored hair. Her freckled head made a defiant expression against her three captors.

  “Well done sisters,” Hildur said. “This bog hath yielded an interesting catch.” She slithered towards the young girl and noticed the child’s body had a crystalline luster translucent and tinted in tawny tones.

  The young girl glared at the lamia. “Get away from me!” she yielded as she tried to strike the captor, but her crystal hand was caught mid-punch and held by the lamia.

  “Careful, child,” Grisella said in a polite but venomous tone. “Elder sister hath quite the grip. Thou wouldn't want to test how brittle thy diamond skin is?” Her nose picked up the scent of incoming interveners.

  Savina giggled at the punier girl’s attempts to resist her captivities. “That child doth not know when to admit defeat.”

  The crystal child struggled to free herself. “I’ll never go with you freaks!” she said in defiance. “I won’t let you have that sword.” She then covered her mouth with her free hand.

  “So thou doth know of the relic?” Hildur said with piqued intrigue.

  “Sisters!” Grisella said. “We must make haste, I smell people approaching.” The blue-haired dormarch’s warning came too late. Brackish water began rising from the body beside them. A torrent of mud had crashed down on them. Hildur shielded them with an incantation.

  “Wicked flame, hollowed bane. Defend us with might arcane!” Hildur said as a ring of green fire erupted from around them. The tsunami was burned away, but the mud in turn negated the fires.

  “Interesting,” the red-haired lamia said with a wicked grin. She kept her grip on Savina and stared intently into her eyes. “Starlit night, filled with fright. Imbue dwimmer in thy sight! Let courage wane, through might arcane. Rend desire to escape to nane.”

  The crystal girl’s eyes began to see monsters more fearful than the sights she was already used to. The Bardsong prevented her from mustering enough bravery to resist. Her arms grew limp as she was overcome with dread.

  Tim’s group encountered the sisters hexed. Azaela looked at their adversaries. “I was sure that mud wave would stop you.”

  “Ah the would-be comedian,” Hildur said. “I think we hath met not?”

  Lily glared at the blond nekomata beside Hildur, but Savina did not return hers to the wrathful centaur, but instead gazed on Tim. “Hi there,” she waved slowly.

  A brief look of disgust flashed on Tim’s face. A longer lasting long lingered on Kasumi’s. Who are you?” the martial artist said.

  “We are sisters three,” Grisella said. “Weyward and lost in need.”

  “We came in search of treasure vexed,” Hildur said. “Sealed in crystals and swamps we hex.”

  “That fragment knoweth the way to the sword. So kindly let us move forward?”

  The trio attempted to use Bardsong to manipulate the party, but Lily and Tim saw through their plot and attacked them. Lily’s charge broke Hildur’s grip on the crystal child, but she remained frightened of the girl, still under the spell.

  “Give that child to me!” Hildur said in rage, but Tim used palm and knee strikes on the lamia, she attempted to counter, but Tim expertly dodged the amateurish attempts at riposte. Savina and Grisella tried to assist, but Richard paralyzed the nekomata with his stunners and Carla’s swan hindered the dormarch sister with its aggressive and graceful movements.

  Kasumi took a bauble from her dress and threw it at the sisters, enveloping them in fog. An enraged Hildur cast a spell to dispel the mist with her flames. The evaporated mist revealed that Tim and his party had escaped, and the fragment with them.

  “Curses!” Hildur screamed as a plume of smoke rose from the flames.

  ???

  As the other two groups searched for each other and as her mother looked for her in the Strega’s boundaries, Charlotte wandered the swampy dungeon, guided by the enigmatic voice.

  “You’ve been trapped here for centuries?” Charlotte said.

  “Indeed,” the voice said. “Those wretches had sealed me here, for they fear that which they do not understand. Close-minded fools.”

  “I think I can relate,” Charlotte said.

  “From the looks of things,” the voice said. “You weren’t treated well by the village you left either.”

  “It’s complicated,” Charlotte said with a sigh.

  “Is it?” the voice echoed. “Your mother was blamed for crimes by a demon most fowl, and of slaying one she held dear. Whilst you were ignored by the villagers at best, a mere accessory to one the ignorant masses felt a danger, a threat, a monster.”

  “Well…when you put it like that,” Charlotte said.

  The alraune child had avoided the dangers of the swamp, the decelerating mud, the boars, the treants, not even the Weywards, those who had sent them plummeting into this domain, were seen by the girl.

  Soon she came across a strange device, a wheel affixed to a crystal pillar. It looked like something you’d find on a ship.

  “We’ve arrived at the first switch,” the voice said. “Turn it and one of the seals will lift.”

  Charlotte gulped as she approached the larger wheel. She tried to reach it, but her frame was too short, her jumps hindered by the heavy petals attached to her waist. She tried to use her gravity magic to ensure she floated in the air, but her attempts ended in failure.

  “Focus,” the voice echoed.

  “I’m trying!” Charlotte said.

  “Do not let fear cloud your mind,” the voice said with honeyed words. “Be not intimidated by the daunting stature of this switch. You’ve a special gift within you and what will be the key, our key. Of this, I know.”

  “A special…gift?” Charlotte said.

  A little more confident, Charlotte tried again, creating an aura of apurgy around herself that allowed her to reach the switch. She pushed down on one of the crystal poles crossing the wheel with all her strength, and slowly it began to turn.

  A nearby weight was lifted as she pushed on the wheel. Aqua regina flooded from a nearby crystal dam. The clear river washed away blackened mud and debris.

  “Excellent,” the voice said. Another cat emerged from the top of the dam and ran off. Charlotte did as she was instructed and followed the feline.

  At the same time, in a certain pool, the crystal clear water began to sink, draining into one of three floodgates.

  ???

  A few moments later. Tim and Carla’s group had arrived back at the aura regina pit they had found.

  “Is it just me,” Azalea asked, “Or did that well look…less full?”

  Carla examined the well. “How did it happen?”

  “Maybe it was from that giant tree?” the clionid quipped.

  “I don’t think so,” Kasumi said. “It didn’t seem that empty when we came here.”

  “Maybe it was a delayed reaction!” Kasumi said.

  Tim wondered if Emily’s group was responsible. He turned his attention away from the pool and towards Lily, Salliandra, and the crystalline child that the centaur carried.

  The fragment had passed out from the trip when Lily galloped away from the Weywards and avoided the patches of much that would surely slow her down. Salliandra had worked to dispel the illusion Hildur had cast on the young girl.

  “…and there,” the capped sprite said.

  The young girl slowly roused, her vision restored to normal, yet that did not assured he fears at the new company. She made an aggressive face and jumped off Lily. “Who are you?” she said with a fearful yet determined tone.

  Carla walked to the child, secreting a pleasant aroma to help calm her nerves. “Do not be afraid,” she said. “We are friends.”

  “Hi!” Azalea swam to the girl. “My name’s Azalea! Water you waiting for?” she said in anticipation of an introduction.

  The fragment was startled but she looked around and saw less malice compared to the trio she encountered before. “N-neil.”

  “Hi, N’niel!” Lily said. “My name is Lily!”

  “No, it’s Niel,” the girl said a little more calmly.

  “Huh? “Lily said in confusion. “No, My name is Lily?” she chirped.

  Azalea whispered something in the centauride’s ear. Lily had come to a more obvious realization. “Oh.”

  Niel noticed a familiar aura coming from those two girls, she could sense they were fellow witches like herself or at least like the person she remembered herself as. “What are you doing here?”

  “Well,” Lily said. “We came here without friends to see if there was a Strega here.”

  “To try to slay it?” Niel said.

  “Yeah!” Azalea said. “Can you help us find the core?”

  Niel looked toward the well. “It’s beyond the door at the bottom of the water.”

  A hunch was confirmed, yet Niel made a threatening grimace. Tim picked up on it. “Is there anything else beneath those waters?”

  “I had escaped from the Strega’s attempts to assimilate me,” Niel said. Her statue-like body refracted the ambient light from the artificial sun over the swamp. “In all of these escapes, I’ve noticed that several cats with me. Some were working with that dungeon that it partly absorbed, others seemed to be the minions, or maybe they were the other ‘mes’ that were absorbed. I wouldn’t know.”

  “Cats, you say?” Carla asked.

  Niel nodded. “Those allied with the Hexenflutch mentioned something about a sword, that was also at the bottom of the well. Something the Strega’s core jealously guards.”

  The group noticed they had seen strange cats around since they arrived at the dungeon. Tim caught a possible lead. “Can you tell us where we might find one?”

  Niel nodded. “Follow me,” Niel said. She led the group to a nearby set of crystal structures, on the mud, they noticed several sets of tracks. Lily, Azalea, and Tim noticed they corresponded to their missing friends. Rose’s tail, Stretlizia, and Clover’s hooves, Anemone’s and Emily’s feet, Nina’s pointed legs, and the dwarves’ tiny footfalls. Yet they were nowhere to be seen.

  ???

  Meanwhile, Emily’s group arrived at the source of the explosion, there they could see signs of struggle and verdant fires, but no living creature in sight.

  “Seems like there was a battle here,” Rose said.

  The cat moved around the site of the battle. Anemone followed them as they tried to search for clues about what happened. “Can you tell me about the cursed sword?” she asked.

  Sarah also approached the cat. “Yeah, I’m mighty curious about it as well. Maybe my hammer can beat the curse out of it!” she joked.

  “The Profaned Arms are not something so easily released from the curse,” the cat said. “My master said it thus, if they were so easily purified, then sealing them would be unnecessary. The use of the aqua regina is a process that takes centuries.”

  “Profaned Arms?” Sarah said. “I think I’ve heard of those.”

  “They were holy weapons that were used against the Archfiends,” Anemone said.

  The cat nodded. “That is true. Of course, ‘were’ is the operative word here. The tools and armaments were corrupted, their divine purposes subverted.”

  Anemone suspected that was the case. “Did you know how the Strega emerged?”

  “Alas, I do not,” the Cell said. “That is something my Master keeps to themself. All I know is that it happened after a child had entered the dungeon. Back then, the nearby village was set to abandon their settlement and migrate eastward. They feared that the blade would bypass the seal and cause great harm to them. They were also fearful of the aqua regina used to purify the sword.”

  “How so? “Sarah asked.

  “The villagers figured that an essence that dissolves essences would be useful in many applications. Especially cleaning. But several people got too careless and ended up losing their lives to its properties, and others who attempted to explore other uses were eventually exiled.”

  Anemone figured that the child the cat spoke of was another magical girl, from long ago it seemed. The cat noticed her inquisitive look. “The girl had acted strangely that day, saying she was becked to aid someone unfairly detained in the Dungeon and asked why they were holding someone prisoner. I suspect that the village was vindicated in that the cursed blade did seep from its tomb.”

  Emily called to them, telling them that they had found something. Anemone, Sarah, and the cat put their conversation on hold to follow the avatara.

  ???

  Emily’s group came across a crystal statue resembling a sleeping child, clad in wizardry robes.

  “Weird stature,” Nina asked. “Wonder what it’s doing in a place like this?”

  Anemone noticed a finger on the “statue” had moved. “This is…”

  The cat moved to wake up the “statue”, who turned.

  “Come on Dale,” the feline said. “You know it’s dangerous to sleep here.”

  The crystalline girl stood up and rubbed her eyes. “Good morning.” She blinked and noticed that the cat wasn’t alone this time. “Um, who are you?”

  “Lost travelers,” Sarah partially lied.

  Anemone and Hydrangea realized that the young child before them was a fragment from the Strega. “How long have you been here?” Anemone asked.

  Dale yawned, a fine mist exhumed from her mouth as her crystal body refracted some of the light. “Several years I think?”

  The cat sighed. “Dale here sleeps like a log. She would often slumber in torpor for decades on end.”

  “That’s one way to avoid the Strega I guess,” Rose said.

  “Um,” Emily said. “Can you tell us how to find the Strega?”

  The tired girl didn’t answer, the group wondered if Dale had fallen asleep again.

  “Dale,” the cat said to the dozing girl.

  “I-I’m awake!” Dale replied as her eyes snapped open. “I’m sorry but I don’t know much about this entity.”

  “Well,” Streltizia, said. “That was a bust,”

  “Stre!” Clover said before turning her attention back to Dale. “Would you like to come with us?” Clover asked. “It’s not safe here.”

  “I guess,” the child timidly answered. Dale followed the group.

  The party then noticed a familiar figure move in a distant shadow.

  “Is that?” Anemone said.

  Emily turned to the cat. “Can you two stay here?”

  The cat nodded and agreed to watch over Dale. The Tatzelwurm also stood guard over the crystal.

  The group decided to track the shadow.

  ???

  Emily’s group followed the shadow until they reached a strange switch. The earth rumbled as they approached the shadowed figure, and black mud sprouted from the ground. The switch turned as they witnessed a gigantic blob rise in front of it. A slime made out of dark mud shaped like a reptile and covered by a matted mix of gnarled ivy and moss.

  “Oh great,” Rose said. “More mud!”

  Strelitzia didn’t waste any time engaging the monster in battle. Her labrys chopped at the mud-beast, but her weapon was caught in its gooey scales. Sarah also attacked the beast, but her hammer was also stuck in the sticky mud. The beast then let out a dread yell, the solid earth beneath the party instantly transformed into mud.

  “Drat!” Rose said as she tried to slither around, the liquified dirt turning into a hindrance that slowed the movements of her tail.

  Hydrangea tried to freeze the mud solid, but her ice sank into the depths, Clover and Raine took to the air to avoid the burdening mud while Anemone and Richard fired their projectiles at the beast. Lightning from Richard’s stunner bolts shocked the mud beast enough for Sarah and Strelitzia to reclaim their weapons from the monster.

  The reptilian mud beast recovered and leaped onto the wall above the switch, climbing the crystal wall and Dodging Anemone’s arrows. It lobbed balls of mud at Raine and Clover, who remained in the air and dodged its attacks.

  Strelitzia had an idea and took her wand out. “Orbis Rondo!” she yelled as the wand glowed an orange hue. Parts of the mud lifted themselves from the ground and began orbiting the minotauride. She used all of her might to leap from the mud’s snares and jump closer to the beast. The monster fired three projectiles at her, but the mud that orbited her deflected these attacks as she made another mighty leap.

  Emily observed Stretlizia’s movement and had an idea. She channeled bard song to create a gust of wind beneath her. The air created a bubble in the mud that exploded and propelled her into the sky. From this vantage point, she quickly channeled wind and fire into her swords and threw the chakram into the beast.

  The two attacks caused the mud-beast to fall from the wall and land on its backside. Exposing a more solid sphere. Smoke from Emily’s attack had singed the mud-beast.

  Rose launched a Sparking Rondo, stunning the monster further as everyone else waded or flew closer to strike the exposed underbelly. The beast was attacked from all sides as it struggled to turn around.

  “Oh no you don’t!” Clover said. “Gigue Giocoso!” A whirlwind swirled around the reptile-like mud creature, preventing its tiny legs from finding purchase on the mud beneath before propelling it into the air. Raine followed up by slashing at it with her rings ablaze.

  The monster was unable to keep its attacks as Hydrangea, and Anemone attacked the core, freezing it solid and shattering it. The beast could no longer hold its shape and exploded, splattering everyone with mud.

  A chest formed in front of the switch. Clover landed in front of it and picked up the crystalline contents while the others helped themselves and each other out from the mud.

  “You did great,” Streltizia said to Clover as she approached her. She noticed the chest’s contents included items similar to what they found in the Hexenflutch, including a crystal bow and an axe.

  The beast was destroyed, but they had lost the shadow. The group decided to return to Dale and the cat.

  ???

  As Emily’s group returned to where they left the cat, Dale, and Carla’s Tatzelwurm, they discovered a horrifying sight.

  The cat stood over a pile of crystal pieces. Their face washed over with grief and rage. The Tatzelwurm was missing, and Dale was nowhere to be seen. The pieces in the pile resembled the broken body parts of a human child.

  “What happened?” Anemone said in shock.

  “She…she just shattered,” the cat said in a tone that indicated it wasn’t the first time they saw that happen.

  Rose slithered over to the pile that was Dale’s remains. She shed a tear for the broken fragment.

  Anemone turned to the cat. “Can you lead us to the core of the Strega?” she asked.

  The cat made a surprised face. “Maybe, but I need to know more about what it is you seek.”

  Anemone explained Stregas and their cores to the cat, but upon hearing that, the cat’s face grimaced.

  “My master knew where such an entity lies,” the cat said. “But I can’t let you go there.”

  “Why not?” Hydrangea asked.

  “The core you seek was discovered in the chamber where the sword was sealed,” the cat said. “Though this part was severed from the rest of the Hexenflutch, my master ensured that it still influenced that chamber, so that nothing could get in or out.”

  Emily made a realization. “Does that mean that the Hexenflutch made the Strega…”

  “Precisely,” the cat said.

  “What?” Rose said in shock.

  “You made a Strega a Sentinel?” Streltizia said.

  “It was all that could be done at that hour, my master said,” the cat said. “The sword must not be allowed to fall into any hands.”

  “That is insane!” Clover said. “Do you know that this swamp is also the Strega?”

  “I am privy to that knowledge yes,” the cat said. “It is tantamount to absorbing another dungeon, and its spirit. Yet—” The cat noticed that the nearby mud and brak crew more clear, more pure, and made an ominous face. “Something’s wrong.”

  “What’s wrong,” Richard asked.

  “The well,” the cat said as it rushed back towards it. Emily and her group followed it.

  They arrived at the well and discovered another shocking sight. The clear pond was nearly empty, drained of aqua regina, the water level was now just above the arch of the locked door.

  “Was this your doing?” the cat said to the party in an accusatory manner.

  “What?” Raine said. “We don’t know how that happened.”

  The cat yowled in disbelief, but before it could strike, the Tatzelwurm returned and glared at it. The crystal cat and cat-headed serpented exchanged looks and the former calmed down.

  “You said you came here with others, yes,” the cat said.

  “That is true,” Emily said.

  “We need to find them,” the cat said. “Time is of the essence.”

  As soon as the cat uttered those words, Tim’s group arrived. Lily and Azalea moved to greet their fellow magical girls, while Carla moved to address any wounds on her tamed Tatzelwurm. Emily noticed that Kasumi and Salliandra were beside a young girl who resembled Dale.

  Carla turned to Emily. “Have you seen Charlotte?” the alraune asked.

  ???

  Earlier, Charlotte had just finished activating the second switch. Guided by the voice, she rushed towards the next one.

  “Excellent,” the voice said. “My emancipation is nigh.”

  “There is still one more switch, yes?” the little alraune said.

  “Indeed,” the voice said.

  Before Charlotte could inquire further, she heard rustling in the distance.

  “More foes dare to draw near,” the voice said. “Flee, this swamp will hinder them.”

  Charlotte did as the voice told and left the second switch behind. The mirror at her back reflected a small light as she followed another cat.

  Soon she stopped in the foliage of the swamp, hidden from sight. There she sighted a familiar beast. One of the Tatzelwurms her mother had tame, the one that came with her and her friends. She stopped as she saw the serpent was with a different cat and with a young crystal child.

  “That’s…” Charlotte said.

  “Tell me, child,” the voice said. “You mentnioend having those you want to free yourself?”

  Charlotte nodded. “There were from the village.”

  “The same one that had shunned you?” the voice answered. Its tone sweet and calming. “Perhaps it is better to leave those to their fate? Let them reap what they sowed?”

  Charlotte reaction was horrified. “You know I can’t do that.”

  “Why?” the voice said. “Who let yourself be burdened by misplaced guilt?”

  Charlotte stayed silent for a few moments. Yet the voice somehow knew what her reasons were.

  “I see,” the voice stated. “Twas not your burden alone. You are noble indeed.”

  The Tatzelwurm noticed something in the foliage and ran to check.

  “You cannot be spotted,” the voice whispered to the alraune child. “Your friends would never understand my plight, now would they understand I am the key to their freedom. Run. The third switch awaits!”

  Charlotte saw the Tatzelwurm getting closer to closer to her. She was certain the voice was wrong, that perhaps she could explain it her friends, to her mother.

  “Are you willing to let this journey end in vain?”

  “No!” Charlotte yelled.

  The Tatzelwurm heard the familiar voice and slithered towards its source. Charlotte was certain things would work out, but something had happened.

  Charlotte’s arm started moving on its own. “Wait, what’s happening?”

  “Fear not, young child,” the voice said. “This is necessary!”

  The crystal girl near the cat began showing cracks on her slumbering body, Charlotte was unwillingly increasing gravity around the statuesque girl. The increased pressure caused the cracks to turn into fractures, as pieces of it fell from the body. Before wither of them knew it, the sleeping crystalline girl was no more.

  Charlotte was horrified at what she was made to do. Before the Tatzelwurm noticed her she ran away. She ended up in a new path in the brackish mud, a line of stumps sticking out of the bog. The dirty water cleared up as aqua regina flooded it, replacing it with browns and blues that soon gave way to colorless clarity.

  Charlotte stopped running and held her knees, desperate for breath, “What…what did I do? What’s happening?”

  The voice whispered once more. “You did nothing wrong, child. That girl was long since dead.”

  “But—” Charlotte said.

  “Proceed!” the voice commanded.

  Charlotte looked back and saw that the road behind her had sank unto the clear water. There was no way back, even if she wanted too. With a heavy heart she obeyed the voice and leaped from stump to stump, heading towards the third and final switch. Yet with each leap, she wondered if she was truly doing the right thing. Doubt formed into her heart.

  ???

  Emily and Tim’s groups caught each other up on what occurred since they separated, including the current state of the well.

  “There were thee sisters that attacked us?” Emily said.

  Tim nodded. “Quite, they were trying to abduct this child,” he gestured to Niel.

  Niel looked at the pile of broken crystal that was her doppelganger, her other self. Thought she had not known Dale, something within caused her to shed a tear regardless. The cat that accompanied Emily’s group approached Niel. “You encountered those recurring pests?” the feline said.

  At the same time, Carla sat on a nearby crystal stump. Her thoughts turned to her missing daughter and what danger could had befallen her.

  Lily approached Carla. The forlorn mother noticed the centauride’s presence. Carla gave a gentle smile. “You face such begins before, yes?”

  “The Strega?” Lily said. “Of course, but…” the blond girl knew of how dangerous these monsters were.

  Carla looked into Lily’s eyes and let loose a wistful sigh.

  “I’m sure she is still alive,” Lily said. “You know how well she can handle herself, just have faith.”

  Carla was less moved then in the previous conversation, but she appreciated the attempt anyway. “You believe everything will work out int he end?”

  “Mm-hmm!” she said cheerfully.

  Later, Emily looked at the well, she knew that the water level is a quarter of what it was before. She looked at the cat, who was still talking with Niel. “There is one more switch left, right?”

  The onyx cat looked at the avatara. “That is right, three switches lied in this swamp, as part of my master’s attempt to bind the Strega, and keep the sword sealed.”

  “Can you lead us to the third switch?”

  The cat was taken aback, before they realized the intention. “You believed that we would meet the interlopers there?”

  “I think so,” Emily said. “Someone had to be going around and using them right?”

  “I supposed that makes sense,” the cat said. “Very well, I shall lead you to the final switch.”

  Emily gathered the rest of the group. They followed the cat as it lead them to the third switch.

  ???

  Charlotte ventured across the swamp’s quagmires on her way to the final switch. The path behind her vanished, pushing her forward as she began to doubt the voice that guided her in this swamp.

  “Why do you hesitate?” the voice echoed to the alraune. Their tone tinged with a subtle aggressiveness. “Don’t you wish to save those lost souls?”

  Charlotte still remembered the previous incident with Dale, and how she was forced to crush the unknowing girl with her magic. “Why did you—”

  “I simply did what was necessary,” the voice cut Charlotte off. “The stature that crumbled was but a mere vestige of a soul long past, a ghost. To linger on one who already floats in the Seal of Souls is to ignore the plight of those not in its waters.”

  Charlotte was not entirely convinced of the voice’s reasoning. “But—”

  “You sure love to dawdle don’t you?” the voice cut her off again.

  Charlotte spoke again. “Who are you? Why do you not show yourself?”

  “We are prisoners,” the voice answered. “Held hostage within a dungeon within another dungeon. Sealed against our will for acts that were deemed sins by the ignorant and the privileged. Now I think the time for talk is long past.”

  “But—” Before Charlotte knew it, she was placed under the effects of a toungebind spell. Her mouth was unable to make a single sound, no matter how she tried to move her tongue.

  “Now,” the voice said. “Shall we proceed?”

  The silenced alraune let out an inaudible sigh as she moved along the path laid out for her.

  At the same time, the Weyward trio were on their own path, close to where the large treant fell.

  “Ugh,” Savina said, wringing her soggy clothes. “The boggarts were pests most foul!” her tone whined like a petulant child.

  “Junior sister, hush!” Grisella said. “Hildur is focusing.”

  Hildur was in the middle of casting a spell that would lead them to the weapon. “Flowers, grass, sunlit day. Reveal to us the way. Bogs, swamp, mud, and quagmire. In this path, ignite hellfire!”

  Around the three, noxious green flames erupted the swamp and brackish mud blazed to the southwest of the trip. Hildur cackled gleefully. “Sisters, it is time to greet our prize!”

  The three hexed their way down the blazing path, the wicked witches followed it until they reached a crystalline shrine.

  “Elder sister,” Grisella said. “Perhaps thine spell hath failed?” Her blue ears drooped in anticipation of a certain response.

  Hildur’s nostrils flared up. “Failed? My spells art immaculate!” she said in a wrathful tone. “How dare thou question them?”

  “Then…where doth we find the sword?” Savina said ignorant of the foul mood her eldest sister was in.

  Hildur’s eyes darted around the shrine, there was nothing around that would indicate ht presence of the cursed sword they sought. “This hath to be a trick,” Hildur said frantically. “An illusion of the fowl swamp! Yes!” she slithered around turning over each and every stone around them.

  The dormarch and nekomata sisters exchanged looks. “I think this Strega hath broken her,” Grisella said.

  “I heard that!” Hildur turned around and glared at them.

  Unbeknown to the Weywards, Charlotte silently lurked behind some nearby foliage, having been “encouraged” by the voice to see where the green blaze led.

  “Fools,” the voice said to them. “They knew not the nature of that they seek, mayhaps we should dissuade them before they harm themselves?”

  Charlotte recognized Savina amongst the trio. From the presence of the other two, she realized that they were allied and dangerous. Unable to speak, she moved around the foliage. The rustling unnoticed by the quarreling triad.

  She sneaked around and tried to cast a spell. Her toungbind interfered with the casting process, but she managed to slightly increase the gravity of one of the spoke’s ends on the shrine’s wheel.

  With the sudden increase in weight, the wheel slowly turned. Amidst the arguments, Grisella noticed the shifting wheel. “Sisters?” she whimpered.

  “What!” the lamia said scornfully and loudly.

  The blue-haired sister directed their attention towards the turning wheel, the weighted spoke had moved towards the bottom. Hildur slithered to the wheel. “Of course!” she said with a flash of inspiration. “How doth I ignore something so obvious as that? Sisters, help me turn the wheel!”

  Charlotte noticed the sisters had seen the effects of her spell. The voice had an idea.

  “Perhaps it is fortuitous,” the entity said from afar. “But they must not reach the well. Use your skill of the arcane and ensure those fools do not follow us!”

  Charlotte was left with no choice but to comply. She walked toward the path, unnoticed by the sisters.

  “Heave…ho!” Hildur said as the three toiled to turn the heavy wheel, not looking back to the little alraune child behind them.

  Charlotte moved to create a glyph on the ground, that once activated would increase gravity around the area. As she worked on the spell, the three witches continued to rotate the wheel. The counterclockwise motions slowly lifted the final floodgate.

  Charlotte finished her glyph and hastily covered it with mud. As she did she noticed Grisella’s head had begun to turn back and rushed back into the foliage.

  The dormarch looked back and saw nothing, yet her nose picked up the sweet scent of the alraune. “Eldest Sister,” she said.

  “What?” Hildur said as she and Savina struggled to complete the wheel’s revolution.

  “There is a child here,” Grisella said. “I can smell it. The scent is unmistakable.”

  A click was heard. The wheel stopped, and its position indicated that its task was finished and the flames changed their path to lead elsewhere. Hildur rubbed her hands. “Mayhaps we can take a small detour on the way?” she said with a subtle malevolence.

  “A small snack wouldst be suited for the road,” Grisellda answered with a scheming tone.

  Charlotte realized they were coming after her and rushed away, awaking her that in their attempt to follow her they would fall into ehr trap. Sure enough as the three Weywards walked onto the obscured glyph, the gravity was increased around them, the grove gave way beneath them and they unwittingly fell into an underground crevasse.

  “Splended,” the voice said to Charlotte. “That will keep them at bay. Now, proceed.”

  Charlotte did as she was told and returned to the well.

  ???

  At the same time, Emily and her group attempted to find the third switch but were barred by a wall of cursed flames. Anemone and Rained attempted to dispel it with their own fire, while Hydrangea and Azalea worked to quell the patches of vermilion that replaced the verdant fires.

  “Why was there a wall of cursed fire?” the cat said in shock over the obstacle.

  The group eventually created enough of a gap in the firewall to pass through, they soon arrived close enough to the third switch to see it from a distance. The cat gazed at the switch, nothing something was off. Their eyes soon jolted wide with shock.

  “What’s wrong?” Emily said to the feline guide.

  “We were too late!” the cat said. “The last switch was turned. We must return to the well, hurry!” The cat ran off, and everyone else followed suit.

  Upon arrival at the well, their guide’s worst fears were confirmed. The pit was void of aqua regina, and the doors at the bottom were opened, the sword and chains that kept them sealed were absent. The group resolved to enter the gate, in the hopes they could reach the intruder before they arrived at the Profaned Arm.

  ???

  Beyond the gate, Charlotte walked, surrounded by dark crystal mirrors. She walks surrounded by her own reflections.

  The voice's toungebind spell had faded, yet Charlotte was not willing to speak—not the voice willing to respond. She eventually reached a dead end, greeted by yet one more reflection of the alraune child.

  The indigo-haired girl looked wistfully at her reflection. “Have I made a mistake?” she asked herself.

  The reflection silently glared at her. Her eyes shone with a contempt for Charlotte’s actions. She first came to this place to try to free the souls of the Hamlin children, but yet she ended up destroying another child with her magic, forced by the voice she had slowly trusted since she ended up in this swamp. Could she ever forgive herself? Would her mother forgive her if she knew what she had done?

  With these questions in her head, Charlotte continued down the mirror-coated maze. Her indigo petals shad from her skirt, and from the flowers growing from her head.

  A while later, she arrived at a sanctum, grand and immaculate, with fountains spouting clear water from the walls, pristine and untainted by the brackish water of the swamp. In the center lay a sword, black crystal comprised its blade. The sword was splendid in its dark radiance, yet she sensed an eerie presence emanating from within. Like an ancient evil that was sealed for good reason.

  “Take the sword,” the voice echoed to Charlotte for the first time since she opened the gate. “Release us from our gaol.”

  Charlotte’s suspicion of the voice returned to levels where she felt they should have been all along. “Why should I? What do you plan to do if you’re free?”

  The voice echoes with the same honeyed tone, its gentle words trying to assuage the alraune’s fears. “We simply wish to live in peace, free from the bindings that hold us so?”

  “Was that worth her life?” Charlotte said referring to the now shattered crystal child.

  “I told you, that needn’t concern you, dear,” the voice said. Its echoes changed to match the voice of someone familiar. A motherly voice. Carla’s voice. Charlotte only glared at the response of its use of her mother’s voice to sway her.

  The two were at an impasse. The voice attempted to manipulate Charlotte again, yet the alraune grew more suspicious of the unseen entity.

  “I’m leaving,” Charlotte said as she turned around. “I want no—” she tried to finish, but her mouth failed to utter the words. She tried to move, but her legs instead turned back toward the sword. Her ears were assailed by a rhythmic wail. A bardsong spell, traces of which she heard in each conversation of the voice that she had. She fought with her own body. “Get …away …from me,” she said with a strained voice.

  “To think you have come this far, only to throw everything away at the last moment. Such a pity,” the voice’s tone shifted to a reverting growl. “A pity that you cannot comprehend that you don’t have a choice in the matter. Now. Proceed.”

  Charlotte tried to move back, but her legs slid forward on the crystal floor. She attempted to use gravity magic to pin her to the wall, but her movements and words were interfered with by mumbles and jerky movements.

  “Proceed.”

  Charlotte attempted to use her arms to cling to the guard rial on the staircase, unfortunately for her, the crystal was slippery, and she ended up moving closer. Her eyes grew wide. “No …please …stop!”

  “Proceed.”

  Charlotte was not at the pedestal where the sword was embedded. One arm grabbed the handle of the sword, below a crystal pommel of the same make as the blade, polished and sanded to a perfect translucent sphere. Her opposite arm clung to the first, trying to wrest it away from the sword.

  “Proceed.”

  Charlotte’s willpower was not enough to take back control of her body, the other arm gave up and and joined its twin on the handle. With pained cries, the alraune slowly lifted the sword from its crystal prison.

  “Splendid,” the voice said.

  The blackened blade glowed with a dark aura, Charlotte looked on in horror when its malevolence engulfed her. She let out a scream that reverberated through the tomb and echoed through the surrounding mirror maze. Vanitas was unsealed.

  ???

  Emily and her group navigated the reflective maze, guided by their feline guide. They fought through several reflections, the last line of defense against those who would liberate the sword from its prison.

  After they dispatched the shades, everyone heard a loud scream echo through the mirrors. Carla’s eyes widen upon recognizing the sound. “Charlotte!” she yelled. She rushed ahead of the others, with her beasts following suit. The Tatzelwurm, dire wolf and swan helped her remove the last few obstacles in their way.

  Carla arrived at the labyrinth’s center, where the Profaned Arm was chained. Greeting her was Charlotte, hunched over with tears streaming from her face. The mother slowly approached her, relief subduing any sense of foreboding that she had felt.

  “There you are,” the mother said in a gentle tone. “Sweetie, we need to get out of here.”

  “Please…” Charlotte’s voice strained. “Don’t!” her voice held a subtle reverberation. She turned to face her mother. The sclera of her eyes turned black as ink, and their pupils shifted to a blazing scarlet hue. She then grabbed her head in pain. Carla tried to help her daughter, but a shockwave erupted, pushing her to the wall. Charlotte floated into the air as her body grew limp. Her arm was outstretched. It changed into the form of a sharpened crystal blade of a longsword.

  The others arrived and gasped in horror over Charlotte’s state. The young girl looked at the newly arrived and spoke in a voice far deeper than normal.

  “After all of these years,” the voice said, using Charlotte as a vessel. “We are freed.”

  The black cat hissed in furor. “Vanitas,” they said scornfully, “let her go!”

  Vanitas moved towards the party with their borrowed legs. “Why should I?” the cursed weapon said. “Why would we let ourselves be chained again?”

  The party was hesitant to fight Charlotte. Carla most of all. Time observed the possessed alraune’s movements.

  The cat scowled at the sword. “We need to separate the weapon from her.”

  “But how?” Lily asked.

  “We must fight,” Tim said. “As painful as it is, we have to subdue them. Or else she would be trapped by the sword.”

  Carla was taken aback by Tim’s suggestion. “Are you…” She didn’t dare finish. The look in the martial artist’s eyes was enough to show his suggestion as in earnest seriousness.

  “I’m sorry,” Tim said, “I wished there was another way.”

  Vanitas manipulated Charlotte’s arm to point the grafted blade a the party. “Struggle all you want, you face the legion of a myriad souls!”

  With rue and hesitancy, the party prepared for battle. As Anemone drew her bow, she took careful notice of the crystal tendrils wrapping around Charlotte’s elbow.

  Emily looked at the cat. “You’re friend is right! We must separate the sword from her body and seal it again.”

  Vanitas took a single step, but from that step, the earth rumbled, and a large wall of glass materialized between Dale and the others, locking her from the arena and separating the crystal child from the others. The sword then made a battle stance and wreathed the shoulders and legs of their unwilling host in verdant dark fire.

  ???

  Before they could make a move, Vanitas’ blade shone a blinding eerie glow. The arena had transformed into a wide crystal floor, with plumes of cursed flame lining the edges. Emile activated her skates in response to this shift.

  The possessed Charlotte then plunged towards the party, but Sarah intercepted the longsword’s crystal blade with her iron hammer. The weapons clashed for a moment, but Vanitas forced Sarah back with arcane might and then followed up with a slash. Sarah leaped to avoid it and the crystal sword instead hit Emily’s two swords.

  Emily tried to reach Charlotte, but the bewitched alraune child only responded by moving the sword and thrusting it forward. Her consciousness suppressed by those of the phantasms sealed within the Profaned Arm. Emily parried the thrust and attempted to urge Charlotte to resit the possession, to no avail.

  Tim leaped into the air and tried to strike the adversary, but Vanitas anticipated that and countered with a wide slash. “Even a fledgling had more skill than that,” the sword mocked before it used its host to attack Tim.

  The battle was waged for several minutes. Rose and Emily attempted to appeal to the consciousness sealed within, but the possessed child failed to heed their calls. Lily and Anemone attempted to hinder their opponent through binds and blinds, but those tricks failed to deter them. Nina attempted to trap Charlotte in her webs, and Richard tried to paralyze her with his stunner, but both were only met with a slash that infected them with cursed unyielding burns.

  Strelitzia and Sarah attempted to block the foul sword’s slashes, but the possessed Charlotte ignited the crystal blade and her vines in curses and struck them down. The three clashed as Sarah and Stretlizia fought through several curse volleys, aided by Clover’s winds, Azalea’s waters, and Kasumi’s mist. Yet those five had failed to wrest the cursed sword and its hold from Charlotte and they were all thrown into the burning wall.

  Raine and Hydrangea attempted to fight the possessed alraune, but they were also taken out of the fight by her use of cursed flames and gravity spells.

  Carla could only watch, helpless as her daughter rampaged around the area, possessed by wicked spirits and fighting her friends. It was only by the intervention of the others distracting it that the cursed sword failed to acknowledge her presence. She struggled with what to do, and how she could free her daughter from her current fate. Her three beasts attempted to help, but Carla had commanded them to stand down. She was conflicted.

  Lily stampeded forward and clashed her spear with her sword. “Lotte, please,” Lily beckoned, “You have to fight this!”

  “Charlotte is long gone!” the possessed alraune responded. She broke through the stalemate and slashed Lily from her front legs to the flank. The centauride was burned by the cursed wound as Charlotte prepared to strike her down.

  Before the blade of Vanitas could slash Lily again, the blade stopped, and Charlotte’s unarmed arm grabbed the other. Holding it back as the alraune cried tears of pain of regret. Lily fought her own pain as she stood up.

  “Please…” Charlotte said in her own words. “Help…”

  Lily nodded and took her staff. Preparing to separate the sword from the arm it was attached to. With a slash, a gash was made on Charlotte’s arm, below the guard of the crystal sword. Red dripped from the wound as it was moved away from the other blade mid-cut. The sword asserted dominance over the body.

  “Her will is stronger than I thought,” the sword said, “but that alone is insufficient!” Vanitas had struck Lily, wilding Charlotte and her own gravity spells to pin Lily down. The blond girl was unable to move as the weapon was poised to carve her out.

  An arrow was fired and it missed, yet Charlotte struggled to move her arms. “What is this?” The voice possessing her said.

  Anemone had used gravity magic to stop the attack, making the crystal sword too heavy to lift. Azalea swam forward to Lily’s aid. “Come on Charlotte!” the mermaid beckoned. “Are you really going let some mean old sword wield you?”

  The possession empowered its host with herculean straight, it lifted the heavier blade and attempted to slash at the clionid. Azalea dodged with nimble moments and parried with two daggers, the one she came with and a pristine blade from earlier in the Hexenflutch. Anemone rushed to the Centauride as well, helping her up. Lily could barely move while her side was singed with endless pain.

  “I have an idea,” the lavender-haired lycanthrope said.

  “Already ahead of you!” Lily said. She moved despite her pain and took her wand out, Anemone did likewise.

  “Dwimmering Twilight!” the two cried in unison. Yellow and violet radiated from the wands and engulfed the malevolent ghast and its host.

  The cursed weapon suddenly saw multiple instances of their opponents. Each attacking and charing at once. Charlotte tried to attack, but the target faded into nothing afterward. Like a mirage.

  “Fools!” the sword bellowed as it attacked nothing but thin air. “Do you think such pitiful tricks would work on me!” Charlotte channeled mana into the possessor’s true form and held it high into the air, curse projectiles erupted from the crystal as gravity around her increased. Lily and Anemone fell to the floor, unable to move, Azlaea struggled to keep herself aloft as she tried to separate the sword from who is wielded by it, but Vanitas countered the attempt by slashing at her, knowing her back several feet and rending her daggers flying away.

  The crystal dagger landed near Carla. Sharp and pristine. The immaculate blade remained intact despite it clashing with the ebon onyx of Vanitas. Carla gazed at the knife as thoughts swirled around her mind. “Could I really do it? Bring harm to my only child to save her?” she couldn’t bear to think about it. “What if I miss?” she said, knowing that she would only have one chance at striking and severing the sword from her beloved daughter. She looked back at the fight and saw Charlotte clashing with Rose. The lamia had slithered around her friend, dodging her attacks as she was assailed by the illusions.

  “Charlotte,” Rose said. “Fight this! Let me help you!”

  “Silence!” the sword possessing the alraune girl said.

  Rose coiled around and parried the sword with her own, as Vanitas prepared for another attack, Rose lunged forward with a shocking thrust and retreated back into her position. Emily and Tim soon arrived to assist the lamia child. Carla watched as her daughter struggled to free herself from her possession.

  The alraune mother looked back at the crystal dagger. She knew what must be done.

  ???

  Charlotte, still possessed by Vanitas, fought with Emily, Tim, and Rose. The ghast-possessed child had attempted to overwhelm them with its curses, but the three dodged them and countered with a barrage of attacks. Rose soon coiled herself around Charlotte and tried to constrict her.

  “I’m sorry,” Rose said as she tried to stop the child from slashing with the crystal sword.

  “You will be!” the sword-possessed girl repelled Rose back several feet. Emily attempted to attack but Charlotte dodged the avatara.

  “Pitiful dungeon!” Vanitas had landed a heavy blow on Emily and slammed her into the ground.

  “Emily!” Tim cried out as he tried to reach her. The martial artist had attempted to defend her. He held his own for several minutes, but even he failed to hold Charlotte back.

  The possessed alraune child loomed over the fallen. “Freedom, true freedom is nigh!” the sword uttered as it prepared to charge a spell. While Charlotte channeled a large amount of mana, she noticed something pierce her sword arm. Her concentration was broken. “Who still stand!” the sword bellowed.

  Carla had grabbed Charlotte from behind and retained her. “Forgive me,” she said as held the dagger to the arm fused to the sword. “This will hurt, dearie.” She thrust the pristine blade into the arm with the tainted blade.

  The pain from the stab roused Charlotte’s dormant concisenesses. She looked and saw her mother had held her in her embrace, while her arm was pierced by the sword. “M-mom?” she said.

  “I’m here, honey,” Carla said with a steely yet warm smile.

  Red tears streamed down Charlotte’s face as she endeavored to help Carla free her form the sword’s influenced. With all of her might her unarmed hand was moved to her mothers and together they moved the dagger around the arm fused to the blade.

  “How dare you?” the sword bellowed. “How dare you reject us?”

  Charlotte and Carla continued to move the dagger, crimson dripped from Charlotte’s arm as she fought both the influence that controlled her body and the pain from the wound. Soon the sword was severed from Charlotte’s arm and was sent hurtling towards the gorund.

  “Nooooo!” the sword bellowed. “I won’t let you take our freedom again!”

  The black cat, having not participated in the fight until night rushed into the arena. Emily had managed to stand up. “We have freed the child,” the feline said. “Now to seal the sword!” They attempted to recreate the sealing wards, but a dark aura erupted form the crystal blade and repelled the cat.

  Emily impulsively rushed toward the sword and tried to absorb it. “You…you won’t harm anyone anymore! I will not let you!” she began absorbing all the dark mana around it, all the malice and malevolence that surrounded it, she took it into herself. The sword’s physical form began dissipating into shards of glass, themselves vanishing into motes of purified light. Emily had absorbed the Profaned Arm. The battle was over.

  ???

  Over the course of thirty minutes, Emily, Tim, and Salliandra helped heal the cursed burns, using the aqua regina with Azalea’s guidance. Anemone was surprised to see this aspect of the clear liquid in person.

  Carla meanwhile looked over Charlotte, knocked unconscious from the fight, her chartreuse skin and indigo petals singed by the dark fire, her stump bandaged and redressed to prevent sanguine plasma from leaking out. Emily approached her. “Will she be okay?” she asked.

  “We alraunes possess a potent healing power,” Carla said. “At least potent enough to heal from dismemberment. In a few months, her body would heal but…” She wasn’t certain about her mind. Having lost control of herself and became puppeted by a malevolent sword.

  Anemone turned to Niel and the cat, noticing something amiss. “You said the Dungeon had attempted to make the Strega a sentinel?”

  The cat nodded. “My master had tried, but Vanitas had absorbed and usurped the Strega. It was one with the blade.”

  Anemone reconciled the ramifications and turned to the crystal child who was unaware of them herself. Her gentle contention turned to a subtle panic as soon as she heard the ground rumble around them.

  Crystal began shattering as the chamber caved in on itself. The swamp was vanishing.

  “We need to go!” Salliandra said, fluttering around in a panic. “This place is collapsing on itself.”

  The party heeded the warning and made their escape. Carla carried Charlotte’s torpid body over her shoulder as she followed the others. The party made their way outside the unsealed chamber and saw that the swampland was transforming into a mass of dirt and bedrock. They raced the emerging walls until they discovered a staircase, summoned by the cat’s master to grand them an exit to the Hexenflutch.

  “Quickly!” the black cat said.

  The party ascended the stairwell, as the rest of the Strega’s domain vanished around them. Sarah, Richard, Nina, Raine, Clover, Streltizia, Rose, Hydrangea, Azalea, Kasumi, and Salliandra ascended the stairwell, Carla also had her beasts carry Charlotte up as she climbed the stairs. Leaving only Niel, the cat, Emily, Tim, Lily, and Anemone to ascend.

  “Thou had doth angered us!”

  The three Weywards emerged from the subterranean mire. Having escaped the trap and noticed that Vanitas was absorbed. Hildur glared at the group. “Foul dungeon, noble pests. We forbid you from your egress!”