Getting started, I let out my breath and opened fire on the woman teaming up with the abomination in my nightmares. The bullet quickly piercing through her suit, the battle truly began. Alter Ego, lacking the range that I had, charged ahead with her sword and raised it above her head.

Then, in a mere instant, her body vanished like air, only to reappear behind the Arbiter. Repeating a cycle of dashes to damage the Sephirah rampaging in front of us, her frown did not waver and only reinforced itself with each successful hits. It took me a moment to understand what she was doing but once I did, my eyes widened slightly.

In her own, awkward way, she was trying to mimic Gebura. The mighty Red Mist who shook the facility with her mere anger and none of her previous skills. Following the movements she did, she was attempting to perform the same maneuvers that the AI in red repeated in this cycle of looped days. Nonetheless, her gritted teeth showed her strength of will when clashing against the being dominating her in every aspects when it came to combat.

"A nuisance."

"The cause of all of this... must be eliminated."

With the voices getting darker and darker, I could feel a dangerous aura starting to form around the arm of the one carrying that mixture of the plague, the one thing that I would call a disease of the mind. Refusing to let that slip by, I hurriedly inserted a second bullet into the barrel and shot at the liquid-like entity to catch its attention.

Y/N: How about you learn to commit to something before opening your mouth!

My voice ripping through the almagamation more than any weaponry ever could hope to achieve, it slowly slid down on the ground before aiming me at a fast pace like a snake chasing its prey, going on the offensive.

It was all or nothing, I knew for certain, if I dropped my guard for a moment I could say goodbye to my sanity, it would latch onto me and it would be the end but at least it won't bother any of the other employees trying to suppress Binah, it was all up to me to deal with that shapeless demon.

"Return return return..."

"Why is this happening to us... T... T..."

"Accept us back!"

Y/N: ...

Although I did arbor a confident face when I called out to it, now that I was facing it, my doubts quickly emerged on the surface. Stepping on the side to avoid the first attack, a light headache echoed in my head like an annoying sound that I could not silence. Spinning around like a furious animal blindly charging at anything that moves, it returned once more for a second assault.

I could not afford to lack behind, I had to keep up for my own sake alongside everyone else's. Dashing backward, I dodged yet again, the floor under my feet sliding like ice. I had more than enough days to get used to it and with enough experience, that was the least I could do. Like a performer on a scene, I kept my movements quick and with ease, the moment fatigue would settle in would be the moment I should start to think of a second plan.

...No, that's not a good mindset.

Binah: Out of my way.

Y/N: ?!

Taken aback by the voice disrupting my flow, a sudden eruption of pain caused my nervous system to enter a meltdown. I don't know how she did it but it felt as though the air itself turned into razor blades, cutting me from all angles. Still charging at me, the dark and colorful threat  jumped on the opportunity and forced me to get a little more reckless in my movements

Giving myself a boost to the side, I rolled on the ground and "successfully" dodged out of the way. With no moment to think, I pushed myself back on my feet and witnessed yet another attempt at getting to me. A sweat falling down my face, my instincts took over my body and shoved me to the back, jumping backward from the moving hazard while keeping my gaze fixated on it, fearing what it would do if I averted my attention.

"Stop resisting... there is no point."

"... Heheh, even if we can't get you now, it will soon happen."

"...The downfall of this prison."

"Angela."

Y/N: ..?

At the mention of that name, my footsteps slowed down slightly. To hear that monstrosity call the one thing that I feared in this facility outside of the abnormalities, many questions formed in my head but I knew that I would not be able to get an answer for them, at least not without sacrificing my body in exchange.

Stay focused Y/N, you can't let it get to you, that's what it wants. Muttering that to myself, I moved out of the way and evaded the next attack. The emotions building up, I could feel adrenaline starting to pump into my blood stream, making my movements feel much lighter than they were before

Though, this euphoric drug would not last, nothing ever does, not even this reality. I know for a fact that there is an end to it. Hell, if even that thing thought so then there's no point for me to not believe it.

"Pattern recognized..."

"Reunited at last!"

During one of my tries to steer clear from it, the morphing body twisted itself around and like an arrow, shot right in my direction with the intent of piercing me with all of its being. Trapped inside my own tactic, the only option I had would be to give up everything and drop to ground but it would mean leaving myself open to the following move, in both cases I was in big trouble.

???: Captain!

Then, stepping into the terrain, one of the clerks charged into the liquid with a powerful tackle, pushing the voices away from its original path. Arboring the yellow suit of the Central Command team, it was one of the people under my guidance, rushing in to repel the assault.

...Something deep inside felt like it was on the verge of breaking... breaking... breaking...

Y/N: What are you doing?! Get out of here, quick!

Yelling back at them, I ordered them to retreat before the worst scenario could happen. Heeding my warning, the one not carrying any sort of equipement to deal with this type of emergency ran off, barely avoiding a row of spikes/spears emerging from the liquid. Blood flowing down a cut wound on their face, they rushed to the desks, now turned into makeshift barricades for the poor office workers

"That annoyance, all of them must be eliminated."

"Tear their limbs, drink their blood, they must all pay! Quench that thirst!"

"They will all pay... their time shall come soon."

Emerging from the stairs behind that mixture of voices, Zeta19 observed the chaos unfolding in the main room. Completely ignoring the Arbiter, he focused on the rainbow beast assailing me. Carrying the dark gloves that he wore when we confronted Gebura, he broke into a full sprint and violently gave the thing a rapid swipe of the leg, kicking it away.

A crack was heard in my body... something was struck but I could not tell what.

Zeta19: Man, those abnormalities are getting weirder and weirder every day. A flying fetus and now this, can't wait to face the wizard of oz next.

Y/N: What are you doing? You should help with the Arbiter.

Zeta19: Wait, it was here?

Y/N: Huh?

Looking back behind me, I was taken aback by the lack of that certain presence, the origin of this mess. Her disappearance was also accompanied with Alter Ego's, probably tracking her down. As I pondered about it, the ground below my feet trembled a second time and the same dark amalgamation took form below our feet, aiming for a quick strike.

Y/N: Dodge!

Both stepping away, the spikes launched out of the ground and quickly retreated, simply there to take out the weaklings that were still standing. Once gone, the ex-clerk assumed a fighting posture and then looked at me.

Zeta19: How are we supposed to deal with something that doesn't have a form?

Y/N: ...I don't know.

No matter how many bullets I had, I could guess that they would not do much except angering it. In that sense, I could assume that his own attacks would not even be felt by that... disgrace.

"Try to harm us Y/N, see for yourself what will happen."

"You will give up, you always did and nothing will change that."

Zeta19: That thing's getting on my nerves.

Y/N: I can understand that feeling.

Heaving a sigh to myself, I adjusted the rifle that I was carrying and aimed at the obscene filth trying to latch itself onto me. Those emotions still welling up inside me, it was a torrent of names that could describe that nightmarish error of nature that should have never seen the light of day, none of them nice and for a reason, my mind was instinctively aware of the ugly nature that anomaly represented.

Y/N: We need to keep it under control while the others attempt to suppress Binah.

Zeta19: Sounds good to me, not like I have the fighting capabilities to face off against an Arbiter of all things.

I had no intention on making him deal with this shapeless curse but with the little I saw of him, it was not even worth trying to convince him. A bullet prepared in the chamber, I pulled the trigger and witnessed the projectile launching itself deep into the wriggling body on the ground. Completely shrugging it off, our opponent regained a more threatening size and went for the quick attack.

Almost sensing it from a mile away, the clerk tightened his fists and firmly took a single step to his left, shifting his body along with the movement. In place, he calmly waited for the enemy to be at a close enough range and finally unleashed a powerful fist inside the colorful liquid.

...The sweats continued to pour, it was like my body was on fire... so wrong...

"Begone from our sight, unimportant waste of space."

Taking in the hit, the mixture of many beasts finally retaliated and from its body, just like the spikes from before, many sharp spear-like blade impaled the worker of the Extraction department in the arm along with his hand. His eyes widening, he jumped back and then looked down at the injuries he received.

So many wounds... it was like seeing a target dummy after receiving a whole magazine of bullets put into it. Blood pouring into his clothes, the black soon turned more red than its original color. Gritting his teeth, he mumbled a swear under his breath and violently shook his injuried limb while raising his remaining one to demonstrate that he was ready to keep going.

Y/N: ...

There wasn't much we could do, no matter how many times we tried to injure it, it would simply ignore any sort of damage received and keep attacking us. It was a new sort of unfair, to be confronted against an invincible type of foe that would not give up. The only way to temporarily avoid it was by playing smart, not the offensive.

No way to truly stop it, no way to effectively combat it, we were at a disadvantage. All we could do is run around in circles until we run out of energy, it knew that as well, that was the only reason that would explain its extreme aggressiveness.

"When you fall at your lowest bottom, you should not despair at the situation."

My senses going into overdrive, my body panicking at the idea of losing against that thing, my instinct was simply screaming "get out" and abandon those who could do even less than me in this scenario.

"For one shall always lend a hand to combat evil!"

Y/N: ?

"In the name of love and justice, Magical Girl is to the rescue!"

...That voice, don't tell me-

QoH: Arcana slave!

Breaking my doubts into pieces, the voice that followed a massive laser going through the entirety of the room made my body unconsciously move towards it. The clerk who tried to assist me felt the same way and retreated, not wanting to be forced in a second round so soon.

Y/N: Why... Why are you here?

Marisa: Because we got her out!

Standing right behind her, the agent wearing the same outfit and carrying the same weapon as the abnormality standing proudly in the room and a few clerks greeted me. Then, it all came back to me, they all left their duties... so that was where they went.

Y/N: You can expect a good scolding once we're done... though you did save us, so thanks.

Warning them with a lukewarm voice, I flashed the culprits behind this a quick smile but focused on the task at hand.

"Annoying..."

"Worthless girl."

"The title Queen suits you well, both are worthless in these times."

QoH: ...I'll pretend I didn't hear that last comment, for your sake rather than mine.

Responding harshly towards the comments given, her beam slowly dwindled away and a few sweats began to fall down her face. Although exhausted after that powerful attack of hers, I could tell that she wasn't gonna drop now.

Y/N: Don't mind them.

QoH: Heh, as if I would let a low-tier trash mob villain get to me, I got bigger threats to deal with!

Wow, she has her own sharp tongue whenever she feels like it, that's a surprise and a half. Well, whatever, now is not the time for idle chatter, that thing was soon going to attack again.. Reforming itself like it was nothing, the tormentor of my sanity was back to its original state like nothing happened.

"Nothing... not even mere a damage."

QoH: ...I hate villains that brag about their strength.

Her shoulder slumping slightly, she dropped a comment that only those near her could hear before grabbing her staff, ready to keep fighting. While the true menace of this day was rampaging somewhere, we had our own demon to exterminate.

Y/N: We can't defeat it, we can't even damage it to begin with.

Now, it was my turn for my shoulders to drop, sensing how hopeless we were when facing the true unknown. We had no knowledge of how to defeat it and nothing seemed to be able to make it stop completely its assaults

Marisa: H-Huh?! When did that happen?!

Y/N: ?

Averting temporarily my gaze to the employee standing behind, I saw her peeking at the monitor in fright.

Marisa: Nothing There just escaped containment!

Office Worker: W-What are we going to do, we already have to deal with this thing!

Marisa: I'll send a warning to the other teams.

Finally, the one standing on its own side grasped that chance and launched forward at our group, shaping its body into a massive whip with spikes coming out of its body, done playing around.

With the keen eyes of a hero, the magical girl standing by our side merely raised her weapon and released a flurry of stars to counter the attack and forcefully stop it in its progress... or least that should have been the hoped result.

The cause of said disturbance? Yet another shockwave making the floor vibrate like it was affected by an earthquake and causing the abnormality to make her calculations go slightly off. Just like the other times, many portals formed into the ground, spikes emerging from them. however, I could feel like something was off.

Y/N: What's the status on the Arbiter?

Quickly grabbing my radio, I called for the other departments before gaining some distance from our own source of danger.

Dana: We got her down another time! It's like Gebura all over again, she won't drop dead!

Y/N: How many times now?

Dana: Well, if we trust what the Manager told us, that's the second time now- What is she doing?!

Y/N: What's going on?

Dana: Oh god, everyone retreat, she's charging her pillars again!

"You're wide open!"

Y/N: Tch!

Darting to the side, I moved my feet along the floor and skillfully ran out of harm's way. Looking back at where I was though, the presence that would have forced me to do such an action was nowhere present.

QoH: Y/N!

Y/N: W-What?!

It tricked me! Dammit! Quickly turning around once more, a blinding light filled my vision and the second after, the abnormality that was assisting us stood in front of me as a shield, completely taking the sentient liquid at full force. Her arms keeping it locked on her, I could feel her gritted teeth even though I couldn't see her face.

"Out of our way!"

"Eliminate..."

One by one, her body was pierced from all sides by different methods, protruding from her back. Left more than horrified by the scene caused by my own stupidity, I was even more shocked to see her still standing up, making a final stand against the threat that she could not fully counter.

QoH: Geh, those hurts but not the worst.

Planting her feet in place, she did not loser power in her hold and continued locking the both of them in a deadly embrace before turning around to face me, blood pouring out from her mouth due to the many wounds she suffered.

QoH: Don't look at me like that... it's the duty of a hero to protect their partner.

Y/N: ...

Speechless at her action, I aimed my rifle at the one attacking the person who literally saved me from insanity, right when the grim reaper was about to take hold of me. Sensing some fury burning up, my fingers found comfort on the trigger that they immediately pressed, unloading the magazine into the beast with no remorse, not like I had any when it came to that abomination.

...Ignore the headaches, I just want to see that thing gone for good.

Completley out of ammo, I had no time to reach for another clip, witnessing the wounds in Queen of Hatred's body growing wider and wider, her gasps of agony echoing in my ears. During that time, Marisa, the only agent present with me, tried her best to shake that thing off of the magical girl who protected me.

...But it was futile when the one being attacked was the one keeping the monster pinned to them.

Y/N: You need to let that thing go Queen!

She didn't respond to my call, silently pressing that thing clsoer to her body and applying pressure on her wounds even more.

QoH: Heh... Y/N, don't you know that a hero must go out in a blaze of glory?

Y/N: Now's not the time for the melodrama!

Weakly raising a hand into the air, she readied her fingers.

"Oh no you don't!"

Almost as if sensing what she was planning on doing, the shapeless entity began to submerge her body into its own, trying to assimilate her. However, as quick as it was, it was nothing compared to the fire of determination when facing against a powerful foe.

QoH: Justice never dies, so neither shall I.

Her staff slowly looming above her head like a guillotine, her face revealed a grin plastered on it, a bloodied grin beaming with a final spark. Finally, her fingers snapped, calling her weapon into motion like a dog waiting for its owner.

Charging down, it pierced the both of them before charging up a powerful source of light. Forced to avert my eyes, I stepped away from the scene and joined the office workers standing in the backline. Now a safe distance away from the threat, all I could do is witness her finally act of glory.

...Growing stronger and stronger, the spectacle made with the soon to be defeated magical girl as fuel. Blinding all who dared to gaze at the scene of a fallen ally, it continued escalating until a massive explosion of pink filled the room, signaling the end.