I will strive beyond this cursed bloodline!

Her HP had barely climbed back to 40% after the effect from both spells, but at least she had a backup!

 

"Can you fight [Lunar Shade]?" Asked the blue-haired woman, [Lawbringer Sentinel].

 

"My Spells are tailor-made for [Support] and [Containment] I do not have offensive spells." Answered back the black-haired girl, [Lunar Shade].

 

" * sigh* how about you [Elemental Weaver]?" Asked [Lawbringer Sentinel].

 

She couldn't help but wince while letting the mana flow and creating her [Zephyr Wings] from memory, she didn't have the time to go the long way about it.

 

"I have some offensive spells, but burning 30% of my mana pool didn't make a scratch on him." She answered back while thinking, "Though I think that maybe if we [Identify] a weakness I could tailor make a [Light] spell to deal with the shadows?"

 

She let the [Idea] suffuse the [Skill] name and used it to see the [Status] of both magical girls, she felt bad for doing so, but she needed to know what she was dealing with.

She was weaker than both...And maybe if they pilled up their stats together they would have a chance...

 

Nope, they were royally screwd "So...It would be a good time to pull out the dark magicks of [Shadow] aligned mana..." Said the blonde girl looking at lunar shade, her magic never faltered and kept at bay all the [Shadow Tendrils].

 

How did that work?

 

"I do not have any offensive magic. If I'm to be an example for [Tainted] that they can thrive as [Magical Girls] I can't be threatening." She answered without looking her way.

 

Glaring all the way at Nyctophagia.

 

Her hp stopped climbing up at 50% though, it seemed that since she wasn't truly a [Healer] her spell had hard limits.

 

Looking at the blue-haired girl, "So you will be our only hope of damaging him then." Said Elizabeth, wondering how much she could use her spells to affect others.

 

"I don't have lethal grade spells in my arsenal, [Justice] only [Restrains]." Said the blue-haired girl.

 

For her part, Elizabeth wanted to face plant, so neither would work?

 

What was she supposed to do?

 

Perhaps even [Her Rossie] would be more useful here, "Did you finish your chat?" Said Nyctophagia from below.

 

He looked up at them, somehow a shiver ran through her spine and she quickly checked her [Security Nodes]...Yes, the one that hid things under her skirt was at full work. Everything should be covered in Shado...

 

Ah.

 

She quickly pressed the skirt to her body and closer to her legs, "Oh...You used [Shadows] in the [Chastity Node]?" Said Lawbringer Sentinel while giving her a pitying look.

 

"HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW?!?" Answered back the blonde girl trying to not think about it.

 

She was going to kill him.

 

"Now now, I wasn't looking." Said Nyctophagia while placing his hand on her shoulder and giving her a comforting pat.

 

She couldn't help but turn her head ever so slowly and indeed, the [Villain] was in front of her.

 

"[Warp] + [Space] + [Barrier] = [Emergency Relocation]!" And she weaved her spells in a rush and activated the resulting spell.

 

A barrier manifesting around the three girls individually and teleporting them away, just above the clinic once more, "Hmm...That tasted like [Travel], you are a really interesting one...I want to eat you whole more than ever." Said Nyctophagia, appearing once more in front of the clinic.

 

"Interesting spellcasting." Said Lawbringer Sentinel.

 

"[Moonlight Barrier]" While Lunar shade casted once more a barrier spell surrounding the clinic and preventing shadows from worming in. "Is the [Shadow] based magical girl in the clinic?"

 

"No," answered Elizabeth, and then winced thinking about it. Technically she was...But since she didn't have access to her [Shadow skills]...Technically she wasn't...

 

"It's complicated." Decided to add after thinking about it.

 

"Yeah, with [Tainted] it's always like that." Added Lawbringer Sentinel, only to remember Lunar Shade was with them, "Nothing personal."

 

"I know." Answered Lunar Shade, it seems she was used to that type of treatment.

 

"Let's make a deal, you give me the blonde and I leave you the [Tainted]" Said Nyctophagia, all the while his shadow tendrils wormed around the clinic, checking into the barrier made by Lunar Shade...

 

She could see how her mana did quick plunges each time one tried to worm inside...Only for it to replenish later, she could see how a circle had formed below her feet that seemed to shine each time her mana was established.

 

Perhaps some kind of mana funnel to help [Magical Girls] better defend the clinic? If so, it was quite useful...Maybe she could get some of that mana too?

 

"We aren't [Savages] like you [Villains] we will not give up one of our own..." Answered Lawbringer Sentinel.

 

"Nor we will give up a possible candidate for [Magical Girl]," Added Lunar Shade.

 

"I will cast a boosting spell [Lawbringer], please direct your magic towards it." Said in a low voice the blonde while she started the preparation of her mana.

 

It would be the first time her mana would interwind with another magical girl, so she needed to make sure it would go without a hitch. So first, she focused her intention and [Idea] as much as possible.

 

And with the correct image in her head she started "[Amp]+[Merge]" Starting first with the principal functions of her spell, she would increase the power of whatever was used and then would merge said effect into the spell that would get the boost.

 

But to delimit the area of the effect she would need, "[Barrier]+[Afix]" a way to contain the effect and direct it into the boosted spell, of course, the finishing touch to properly merge both spells would be added by the final touch, "[Magic Circle]"

 

And with that, she combined the five spells into "[Magic Trace Boost]!" A spell that would create a magic circle to help the other magical girl use a spell to increase its power.

 

She could see how her mana was being eaten in livetime "Quick! This one is too hard to keep in one piece!" Said the blonde girl, her mana was already below 50%!

 

And this was just a buff!

 

The efficiency seemed to be quite bad at this, she would need to check if her [Shift] was truly being affected by the [Idea] that she had while creating it, and if so, she would need to fix it ASAP!

 

"You don't need to tell me twice!" Answered Lawbringer Sentinel while materializing an oversized rifle.

 

HOW WAS THAT NON-LETHAL!

 

"[Lock-On]" She said while her rifle seemed to deploy stakes that dived into empty space and affixed it in place, "[Shot]" And with a single word a bullet got shot out of the rifle straight into her magic circle.

 

She felt the strain as both spells merged and the bullet broke free with almost 30% more of her mana leaving her barely above 20% of mana total.

 

But at least that would be good enough to finally deal with the [Villain]!

 

She had listened about plenty of stories from her mother about how the [Heroes] would put all their might together to triumph against evil!

 

And so she had orchestrated this as much as possible within the allowed premise, of course, this was still the best available option for her right now, she would further the power of the more powerful magical girl and help her get [Villain].

 

And then they would laugh and be happy, and maybe drink Tea or something.

 

"Tasty." Alas...It wasn't meant to be.

 

"W-W-Wha....t?" Stuttered the blonde girl while dropping to her knees.

 

Lawbringer Sentinel nodded as if she was expecting that, and Lunar Shade didn't show any response to that.

 

Nyctophagia was standing with a red tongue licking its lips in his black mask, "That tasted just delightful, [Justice] mana always leaves that tingly feeling...And the girl... That was [Support] Mana? [Weaver] Mana? " Asked the black-masked [Villain].

 

"Say...How many of those spells can you make?" Asked LAwbringer sentinel.

 

"That burned 40% of my [Mana Pool] I only had 60% left..." Answered the blonde girl trying to stand, but her feet didn't seem to want to answer.

 

"You have a very good sense of your Mana for a low-ranking [Magical Girl]" Said the blue-haired woman.

 

"[Lunar Shade] any hopes of transferring some mana to her?" And this time the black-haired magical girl turned to them and answered "Can't, my mana would [Taint] her."

 

Oh right...the [Taint].

 

She couldn't answer that she was able to purify herself without bringing suspicion her way.

 

But why didn't it work?

 

"Now now, I let you talk enough already...HR shouldn't bother me now, so..[Lunar Shade] if you limit your [Spells] to the clinic I will not attack it." Said the [Villain].

 

Bringing attention to both girls who then looked at the black-haired magical girl, "You can't be serious..." Said the blonde girl.

 

This was such a classical cliche move, at least they would get a power boost after Lunar Shade refus...

 

"Same deal as always?" Said the [Shadow Magical Girl].

 

Flabbergasting the blonde girl, who turned her face to look at the other magical girl, she didn't seem to be joking...

 

"Sorry for making you do this." Said [Lawbringer Sentinel] who jumped out of the roof, not looking back as she landed in the street.

 

"...Sorry about this [Elemental Weaver], but we need to prioritize the civilians." Said [Lunar Shade] before she could feel the previous protection from the magic of [Lunar Shade] fade out.

 

Only for a few seconds after an invisible force pushed them out of the roof, she balanced herself while landing, still not sure what to think about "This is the real world [Elemental Weaver], while it nice and all to stand up for your beliefs...You need to prioritize the Civilians." Said Lawbringer Sentinel, turning her attention to the Villain.

 

"And that is why you will lose, so...Left or Right?" Asked the [Villain].

 

Lawbringer sentinel ignored him and summoned a pair of pistols instead, "Can you do something with your mana pool for these?" And turned her attention to her.

 

Pistols...Yeah, that could be done.

 

"Sure...I will not have any mana left...But not that I can do anything anyway..." Said despondent the blonde girl.

 

This...Wasn't going like the stories her mother had told her, what was different?

 

She had acted as her mother or one of those in her stories, moved the same way...What was different?

 

Was it because [Lunar Shade] and [Lawbringer Sentinel] weren't her friends?

 

No, some of those stories always had some people come in and help.

 

Was it because the [Villain] wasn't someone important?

 

No, Nyctophagia [Is] an important Villain.

 

She turned her attention inwardly and started weaving the spells, she didn't have enough mana for something complex anyway "[Amp]+[Afix] = [Amp Weapon]." She fixed the spell into the guns of the blue-haired magical girl...

 

And saw her mana sink further down, she barely had 5% left...Not enough for any useful spell...

 

Not that her spells had done a thing...

 

She thought about it...She had managed her goal of being just barely above average...At least she thought she had.

 

"Good, now prepare to hit him as hard as you can...We will probably not get reinforcement, so drop all the juice you can." Said the blue-haired magical girl while running towards the Villain while shooting blue energy balls from her guns.

 

"[DESPERADO RUSH]!" All the while her body shone blue and her shooting speed increased.

 

Of course the [Villain] didn't seem to dodge out of the way and just intercepted all the guns with his shadow tendrils, every single bullet sank into the shadow tendrils and she could swear that the shadows seemed to like the taste...

 

But more important..."I don't have any mana left though..." The blonde girl didn't have more energy to cast spells...

 

She still had her physical stats of course...But magic?

 

Yeah no, her [Shift] was maintained by the paid mana she had separated from her [Mana Regeneration] that kept it stockpiled...At best, she could maybe try to siphon mana from the other [Shifts]?

 

So that was a no...

 

Still...Creating a spell...Maybe there was something about that...?

 

"MOVE IT [ELEMENTAL WEAVER]!" Said the blue-haired girl from the background.

 

She just gave a sigh and focused her mind "Fine...Don't say I didn't warn you...This.." She said while a magical circle materialized below her feet. "..Is..." The circle rose above her head and turned pointing at the [Villain] "...All...My...Remaining...Mana..."

 

She weaved four-fifths of her mana and condensed it, sharpened it... And

after getting all ready she started her chant "[Lighting]+[Manipulation]+[Barrage]+[Cutter]=[Lighting Barrage]"

 

And lo and behold, a barrage of lighting barrage of sharpened yellow blades shot forward with a thunderous roar!

 

That would be her victory!

 

She dropped to the floor as the mana drain hit her as a headache hit her and she even puked some blood as her body cringed at being so low on mana.

 

"Hmm...[Thunder]? Not quite...[Lighting]?" Mumbled the [Villain] while the four lighting blades got stopped by a maw that rose from the floor and promptly ate them all. "You are indeed a threat...I might actually nab you as a [Chef]." Said the [Villain].

 

He was just mocking her at this point, and Lawbringer Sentinel didn't fare better, as she was running all over the place shooting at him without stopping, but Nyctophagia was just ignoring her at that point.

 

"You know, we had recruitment recently...And I am in a quite good mood, we found a cute [Kouhai]...I was planning to save you for her since you seem to be around the same age...But you are weaker than her." Said the Villain while talking her way.

 

Lawbringer Sentinel took that as a cue to rush in while getting a shotgun from somewhere, she was covered by the villain from her point of view, but it seemed as if she had stopped a few centimeters away from the [Villain].

 

"Miss...I'm speaking with the girl...I will deal with you later." And with a movement of his arm, Lawbringer Sentinel got thrown into a wall...Through a wall, then from his shadows, a barrage of Shadow Spears shot into the darkness.

 

" * thud* " And she heard a drowned scream followed by slow whimpers and some muffled noises.

 

"There, now..." Said the villain standing in front of the blonde girl. "What else do you have?"

 

She...Didn't have anything else short of releasing her [Shift], but she wouldn't do that...

 

"Nothing?" Asked the villain playing with the dagger in his hand.

 

"A Shame, buckle up this will hurt you [Way more than it will hurt me]" And afterwards a dagger got shot straight toward her forehead.

 

She didn't even feel the dagger hit her head, she could only see the red smile on the face of the mask of the [Villain].

 

And the ominous notification that sprang in front of her.