I will strive beyond this cursed bloodline!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!" The scream caught her by surprise.

 

She had been using most of the offensive aspects of her [Skill] against Nyctophagia while trying to protect the magical girl who had stood against the A-Tier Villain.

 

The man seemed to want to use the girl for something and she didn't like that, while he was bound to [Echidna] and [The Hydra's Fang], he still was a true honest to god [Villain].

 

She heard enough stories about how he liked to [Eat young heroines] and [Magical Girls], most of those ended up traumatized for life and stopped working in this type of jobs.

 

And something in the [Magical Girl] behind her called to her.

 

So when the girl started screaming and trashing behind her, she invoked the most powerful defensive aspect her skill allowed. She quickly used one of her more expensive defensive skills "[RHO AIAS!]" This was her Ace defensive [Skill], it condensed a localized magnetic field and brought forth a huge amount of metallic sand that was then molded into a seven-layered barrier.

 

In this case, the barrier was fueled both by her [Skill] allowing it to [Purify] the [Shadows] and keeping her free of the [Taint] while also stopping most attacks.

 

Nyctophagia would be able to pierce that if he wanted, of course, she wasn't under the impression that she had won their little fight.

 

But he would risk hurting her, and they both knew that even if her Mother had disowned her and thrown her away...She would not stand for it.

 

Even if she no longer could use the Windsor name and instead was using the [Ashcroft] of her mother's first crush (Who even allows the daughter of another man to use his last name?!?), she still had her blood running through her veins.

 

And while Nyctophagia held no respect for her, he feared the blood running in her veins, for while it wasn't one that held [The Shadow] attribute, it was one that held [The Mother of Monsters] heritage.

 

But that was enough self-insight for now, she needed to check on the magical girl behind her, "are you okay?" asked Chloe.

 

The girl in question had blonde hair with blue eyes shining a constellation of stars, she got an inkling that the girl looked like a petite version of Elizabeth. The powered girl that she had caused so much trouble...And the same girl that seemed to be a [Tainted].

 

The girl intrigued her, she felt a [Calling] that made her orbit around her in the periphery, as if she had [Something] that made her want to be like her...To be [With her].

 

And by the look she gave her, she seemed to think the same, they had chatted here and there after the midterms started, and while they didn't get to be close friends...She liked the girl enough to consider her a friend of sorts.

 

It helped that people thinking she was her or related to her had helped with her internship with [The Tribunal]...

 

"Ughh......GAAAAH!" Was the response she got from the blonde girl trashing, her body started being covered in shadowy veins and her eyes had turned crimson red.

 

This...This shouldn't be possible!

 

She was going berserk...Her mana was going berserk!

 

But she wasn't a [Tainted]!

 

She couldn't feel any [Taint] in her even after Nyctophagia threw that knife into the girl!

 

"FINALLY MOTHER WILL DESCEND!" Said Nyctophagia while raving on about [Mother].

 

That was bad...She would need to snitch with her brother about that...How had one of the closest members of her Mother be a cultist all this time?!?...Who was she kidding, that woman probably was aware of it and wanted to use it as a way to get information to help [Her Childs].

 

"Wait a second...This might hurt..." Said Chloe while sharpening the [Thunder Mana] that coursed throw her body, her hair probably was turning yellow right now...

 

She had dyed her hair blonde since it was annoying to use a wig... (And the tribunal said it was dangerous), but her hair would be black after she released the [Skill]...So she would need to use a wig again...And splurge on a dye that was mana-resistant.

 

"[Eshu's Blessing]" She whispered while her mana was drained at a rapid speed from her.

 

The only reason she was aware of it was that her mother for all of what she had done after kicking her out of the house...She hadn't spared a single cent in her education.

 

The best teacher in skills and magic the money (And blackmail) could get had taught her, she was even aware of the existence of [The Soulscape], not that she had been able to access it without the [Senses] mages seemed to have.

 

Even so, the vague feeling she got was that she had spent about half her mana pool in the [Skill], but [something] in her wanted it to work. So while the skill was activated and her hands were shining in golden light as her hair and eyes...She placed both hands on the head of the blonde magical girl.

 

In but a mere fraction of a second the energy contained in her hands shot through the head of the girl and she shone as brightly as the birth of a supernova...

 

"AAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!" She of course screamed in tandem with this.

 

Her skill wasn't meant to be used in [Mages] or in this case [Magical Girls], her mana wasn't used the same, and their way of spending it was different, but...

 

She couldn't hold back, the girl was being [Tainted] at a speed that shouldn't be possible, not without a [Shadow] skill or [Affinity]...And nothing in the girl reeked of [Shadows].

 

Pastel blue frilly dress, blue eyes that seemed to contain a cosmos, star-shaped jewelry, and blonde hair...Not a single sign of the usual [Gothic] style most [Shadow] based Magical Girls or Heroes used.

 

"IT'S USELESS [Thunder Queen] MOTHER WILL DESCEND UPON THE WORLD!" Raved in the background Nyctophagia.

 

She was about to dispel her [Skill] to use that mana in saving the girl, but he seemed to catch on it and started attacking it, not enough to break it of course, but just barely enough to strain her mana.

 

Even so, her skill seemed to be hitting against...[Something]. She wasn't able to see it, since the girl was a shining beacon right now, but soon enough that changed.Slowly something started to grow in the body of the magical girl as she felt the [Mana] start to change, she slowly was covered in shadows with red streaks.First, from her feet, it started to grow as the shadows around them started to dart towards the magical girl, she of course tried to amp the output of her [Skill], but it didn't seem to work.

 

Soon enough the shadows climbed to the waist of the [Magical Girl]...Her torso...Her arms...And when it started climbing into her head she felt a sting in her hands as she was repulsed away from [The Magical Girl].

 

Something had shoved off the influence of her [Skill] and threw her away, the girl was now clad in shadows...But something was different, she wasn't sure what it was till the silence stretched...

 

The Silence...

 

The girl was no longer screaming...Nyctophagia was no longer raving...Everything was...Quiet.

 

"Are you...okay?" Asked Chloe trying to stretch her senses...But the only [Taint] that her skill returned was that of Nyctophagia and the faint sense of purified mana in the clinic that this [Magical Girl] had been protecting.

 

"[Yes]." Answered the shadow-clad girl while her figure started to stand, "[I always hated these dresses those girls used.]" Said the girl while the shadows receded.

 

There no longer was a [Magical Girl] standing there, instead, it was..."Elizabeth?" The girl that had said it was okay for her to join [The Tribunal] even if it was because they thought she was her.

 

"[Huh? You knew this girl?"] Answered Elizabeth, she started picking up the signals.

 

The blonde girl in front of her wasn't her friend, she gave a ping to her skill and it took all her control to not puke at what it returned. "Who are you?" She said while she prepared her fastest escape skill and used the emergency button [The Tribunal] had given her.

 

Of course, since her [Skill] allowed the control of electricity she didn't need to physically use the button, and this, in turn, meant that she could spam the thing.

 

"[I once was known as Ethan O'Connell.]" Said the [Thing] that was controlling her friend.

 

The eyes of Elizabeth shining an unnatural red while her skin seemed to have shadowy veins all over the place, "[I then got known in public as The Shadowcaster.]" What was that [Thing] talking about?

 

Ethan? Shadowcaster?

 

"[Then after some help I managed to awaken my true calling...And while I wanted to help The world...I found The World only wanted to use me and discard me...So I instead used what they had given me only to take later for My Own Wish.]" Said the girl with a smile on her face.It was such a sweet smile...That usually would mean something good, if not for the fact that Chloe knew that wasn't Elizabeth...

 

That was some type of powered using a [Shadow] type possession skill, the worst kind of [Tainted], some people said this type came out after [The Taint].

 

"[And of course with that Revelation, I embraced a new name for myself.]" The [Thing] puppetering Elizabeth said.

 

And with a wink that wouldn't be out of place in a whimsical girl, she snapped her fingers and all the shadows around answered her call, they flew towards her with great speed, all merging into her body.

 

They started making a type of armor no different from the one she had shown her before, the one that proved that Elizabeth was a powered...

 

No wait, how could she have been a [Magical Girl] and a powered?

 

"[The name that signaled my true calling and the wish that I had twisted in my Soul.]" The girl of course continued to speak without minding her.

 

The armor...Started to look ominously similar to something that had haunted her in nightmares...Something that haunted the nightmares of any child living near a [Shadow] skill user... A billowing cape full of tears dark as the deepest abyss...A crown of bones sitting on her head...A few silver chains hugged her chest as if someone had tried to tie her down...Only for her to break free and carry on the chains as a medal of pride...

 

The only thing different from the nightmare that haunted her dreams was the fact that instead of inky dark skin, the girl in front of her still held a normal skin...Even if it was pale and full of shadowy veins, but even with that...

 

"[The name of The Stygian Bane.]" The [Thing] puppetering her friend said the name as if it wasn't the most important revelation ever.

 

"Y-Y-You are supposed to be dead!" Said Chloe while funneling all her remaining mana into her back.

 

She needed to run away!

 

"[The Original American Crusader] and [The Original Stardust Explorer] Killed you!" And while saying that she executed one of her more guarded skills.

 

"[Horus's Wings]!" Exclaimed Chloe while a pair of plasma wings materialized in her back.

 

She didn't give them the chance to even finish forming before kicking the ground as hard as she could and trying to run away, if the [Entity] that had possessed Elizabeth was indeed the [Stygian Bane] then this was something that the current top heroes needed to deal.

 

Not her, certainly not [Echidna] and not even [The Tribunal].

 

No...This was something that needed to be dealt by with [The Twelve]...

 

"[Now...There are a couple of things I have to correct girl.]" Said a voice from behind her.

 

She didn't turn and just pumped more mana into her wings trying to flee faster, burn faster, the smell of ozone in the air was making her dizzy but she couldn't stop herself.She tried to not think about the scenery around her, to not think about how far she had traveled...

 

"[Stop wasting mana girl.]" And more importantly...To not think how she hadn't been able to fly away, nor how she was tied down by a myriad of shadow tendrils that had come from the floor keeping her in place. "[First of all...There wasn't a Second Generation, nor third...and certainly not fourth Generation of those you call The American Crusader and The Stardust Explorer.]" Said the blonde red-eyed girl...

 

What?

 

"[You see when your body is suffused with enough mana...You tend to live longer...Mother would say your Constitution is different from a normal human...Identify.]" Said the thing possessing Elizabeth's body, she felt some mana pool in the girl's red eyes and they flashed blue for half a second.

 

Wait. She felt her mana? How?

 

"[Not you though...You have 10 Constitution? You have a normal human constitution...This brat, Elizabeth has 56, she has almost six times the average human constitution.]" What was that thing talking about? "[You need to fix this girl, we can't have her other half die too soon, not till I finish eating her.]"

 

She felt how her mana was about to dry out too...So instead of wasting it in a vague attempt to run away, she turned off her skills...All of them.

 

"[Ohoh...So black hair huh...That explains a few things...But red eyes and you aren't Tainted? Interesting.]" Said the thing while it caressed her face, a dangerous glint in her eyes. ["Now...If you accept my Taint in you...I can promise you many many things...I could even give you this...Shadow Doppelganger.]"

 

Instantly a copy of Elizabeth rose from the shadow behind the Stygian Bane, this one was dressed in the same uniform they had from the school..."[Or this if this is more to your tastes.]" And then another girl rose from the shadows, this one was black-haired with sky-blue eyes.

 

Was this how Elizabeth looked under the armor as [The Shadow Empress]? It looked oodly similar to her.

 

"[Or even this.]" Without missing a beat a third form rose from within the shadows...This time it was the same [Magical Girl] she had tried to protect before...

 

Three different Elizabeths...The Stygian Bane released her control over the shadow tendrils that kept her in place and stood to the side, a smile on her face motioning her to move towards the three Elizabeths.

 

She..."What?" Didn't understand, this shouldn't be possible...No skill was powerful enough to make something as intricate as this. No one had that much control over their mana, this was...This amount of control was close to a machine's precision. "How?" Asked Chloe inspecting the Elizabeths.

 

They felt human, they had a warm skin, they breathed and while their eyes were empty they still seemed real enough...Was the Elizabeth she had known at school a fake?

 

"[This is a sample of what Mother wanted to bring to the world...I am doing the same but under better jurisdiction, proving Mother she should have chosen me.]" Answered the Stygian Bane. "[Now pledge yourself to me.]" He said and with the snap of his finger, the three Elizabeths dissolved into shadows. "[And you can have whatever you wish. Power? Fame? Recognition? You name it I will hand it down to you...Just declare your allegiance to me.]"

 

But...why?

 

Why did The Stygian Bane want her to do so?

 

She...She wasn't even allowed to live with her family...She had power, yes, but it was nothing in comparison with monsters like Nyctophagia...Or even most B-Tier Heroes.

 

No matter how much she trained, her body didn't seem to want to strengthen itself as it should, she could absorb the mana, yes, but that was about it...

 

"Mother...Perhaps we could dea..." Started saying Nyctophagia in the background before a wet sound stopped it.

 

"[Sorry about that, these cultist never get the hint. So you will bow to me in allegiance yes?]" Said the thing puppetering the body of Elizabeth.

 

She hadn't seen how the girl moved nor how she had done it, but her hand was inside Nyctophagia's head, and in one motion she took it out with brain matter still dripping from her hand, she didn't seem to care about it and even smelled a little before giving it a lick.

 

*blergh*

 

She couldn't help it but puke at the scene of the blonde girl licking her fingers clean of the brain matter of Nyctophagia, one of the most powerful A-Tier Villains...

 

Ended without being able to resist...

 

Yeah...She was screwd, but..."Say..." At least she had bought enough time to condense as much as of her remaining mana as possible.

 

"Do you bleed?" Asked Chloe while all of her mana condensed into a yellow arrow made of thunder. "Because you will. After this." And without any fanfare, she intoned what was possibly going to be her last skill "[Railgun]"

 

And a streak of light was shot at almost three times the speed of light, it always amazed her how that worked, because while this was the first application she had managed of her [Skill]...The attack didn't have the same effects that its normal weapon origin.

 

While the attack broke the speed of sound (Hers was closer to three times the speed of sound on a bad day), it didn't make the usual explosion sound...It didn't create huge changes in the temperature of what she shot (Unless she lowered the mana barrier on her projectile).

 

And this...This was a special ammunition she had used...One of the few things her mother had given her...

 

One embedded into a seemingly normal bracelet...

 

It seemed that the thing portraying as Elizabeth was wary of her attack as she raised a curtain of shadows as a defense "Heh." But it was too late.

 

"[You got me there girl.]" Said the Stygian Bane. "[But what does that accomplish?]" Her attack had done what she intended.

 

For right now in the sky a brilliant flare with the symbol of an eagle was shining, the flare symbolized danger and a call to arms for [The Twelve]. Reinforcements would teleport to the origin of the call of course...

 

And if anyone could save Elizabeth was [The Twelve], she could only hope that it would work...

 

"[When I finish them...You will bow to me.]" Said the Stygian Bane, all the while shadows rose from the floor and bounded her tightly.

 

She started to sink into the shadows afterward, her mana depleted meant that she had no way of stopping this "You will not get away with this." Was the last thing she managed to say before her world turned into darkness.

 

She had hope, hope that her brother would be able to save the day...Hope that her mother would rush with worry...That she would come to her and say how much she regretted having stripped her of her last name...

 

Hope that [The American Crusader] wouldn't just punch Elizabeth to an early death and call it a day...

 

But that's what being a Hero is right?

 

[Hope.]