Genesis Locorum

The next day, at the hotel, Emily and her party discuss the day’s agenda. The Coloraturas play with Charlotte and Nina in the lobby as the others discuss their daily plans.

“So you came from a rural village Charlotte?” Lily says.

The indigo-haired Alraune nods.

“What was it like?” Rose says.

Charlotte is hesitant to answer. “It was—”

“It was boring,” Nina lies. “A total snoozefest.” The spiderling tries to make the village of Hamlim as unappealing as possible to quell the curious girl’s questions. “There was only one dungeon there!”

“Aw,” Clover says. “I was hoping it was better than here.”

“It seems quieter than Noir at least,” Hydrangea says.

“Icy what you mean, Hydrangea,” Azalia says. The cyan-haired bespectacled girl groans at the pun.

“How about you, Nina?” Strelitzia says.

“Yeah, You don’t seem the type to get webbed up in sticky situations often,” Azalea says.

Nina grins as she talks to the witches. “I want to be an adventurer!” she says, showing off her armored lowered body and bladed legs.

From the other table, Minerva sighs as she sees her daughter express her dangerous desire to become an adventurer and the stories that inspired her to have such goals. She then turns at the other girls with her and wonders why the Administrators had allowed these orphans to live dangerous lives.

“That is admirable,” Anemone says. “But are you sure you know how dangerous it is?”

Hydrangea recalls what happened at the library yesterday. “You do see a little naive,” she says.

“Naive?” Nina says with a flummoxed expression. “What’s that?”

Raine sighs. “You remind me of Rose and Lily at times.”

“What do you mean by that?” the pigtailed lamia says.

The cheerful centaur ignores Raine’s comment and asks Lamia, “You live in a Dungeon now, that means you have met some sentinels!”

“Of course I do,” Nina says. “Why ask?”

Raine looks at the almost naive centaur girl and sighs.

“Please tell me everything you know about them!” Lily says with a giddy smile on her face.

Nina responds in kind, but as she gets to the topic, she can only reiterate the most basic of knowledge on them. Charlotte returns the already deed. “My mother is a Sentinel, albeit a new one,” the Alraune child says.

“Really?” Lily says. “What does she do?”

“She’s a tamer,” Charlotte says. “So unlike the others, she doesn't fight herself, but helps prepare monsters and beasts to fight in her stead,”

“That’s amazing!” Lily says.

“Tim is also a Sentinel,” Charlotte says, pointing at the martial artist at the other table.

Lily’s eyes sparkle at learning that bit of information.

Meanwhile, Emily looks at the other members of their medium-sized group. “We’re ready to raid some local dungeons?”

“Oui, cher,” Heathcliff says.

“The goal is to find Rouge dungeons and get their cores right?” Tim says.

Emily nods.

Richard hands Emily a list. “If we’re going dungeon diving, we should have Emily learn from materials along the way.”

Emily looks over the list. “Floenesium, Arcanite and Orichalicum?”

“Those are some scarce materials, are you sure the rouge dungeons have them?” Elizabeth says.

Richard begins to answer…before the blond and tanned dwarf realizes he isn’t sure and lowers his finger.

“Don’t worry cher,” Heathcliff says. “The Guards gave me a list of Rouge Dungeons on the surface.” The red-headed knight takes out a small booklet of longstanding dungeons.

“We should be careful though,” Elizabeth says. “As we strive to protect Emily and her core, the opposing dungeons will go to great lengths to safeguard theirs. If pushed to the brink, they will activate [Last Bastion Protocols] and bring all they have to bear.”

Lily approaches Tim with the expression of a curious and excitable fangirl. “H-hello, Tim,” she says.

“What is it?” Tim says to the child.

“I j-just found out that you a-are a Sentinel and I want t-to…” her equine legs quiver as she struggles to approach the older boy. “Please tell me everything you know about what it is like!”

Tim sighs.

Emily turns to Elizabeth. “Um, Lizzie?”

“If I may remind you,” Elizabeth says. “Adopting these children would entail making them your Sentinels as well. It seems like Lily is especially excited about the idea.”

With that explanation, Emily remembers being asked to adopt these children by their shared familiarity. Her expression is tense as she is still uncertain if she wants to do it. On the one hand, she knows that they would complicate her efforts to free the children Pruflas has bound to her, but on the other hand, she is aware of the consequences that would happen if they don’t find a new patron in time before Whisper fades from existence. She takes her mind off the complicated decision by reminding herself that she would still need more mana regardless.

Heathcliff finishes pouring over the list. “Well Richard, you’re in luck, there are five dungeons with at least one of them metals!”

“Which ones are those?” Sarah asks the knight.

“The closest one is an art museum,” Heathcliff says. “The Guards claimed it was once a normal museum and that people were getting lost in there.”

Emily takes the book from Heathcliff and learns a few things, such as the dungeon had Arcanite gear and ingots, and two of the disappearances of both a young girl and a teenage man. Reading further reveals claims of a blond girl inside the premises and that paintings resembling the victims suddenly appear the next day. She returns the book to Heathcliff. “Want to do the gallery first?”

Richard is intrigued by the idea, thinking that it might help him gather ideas for finishing touches. “Sounds like a good idea.”

“I’m in,” Sarah says.

Tim expresses a lack of care, being distracted by Lily’s barrage of questions on Sentinels.

Minerva looks at the other children. “Want to visit an art gallery dungeon? “The Arachne says. To various cheers of interest and delight.

“Alright then,” Emily says. “It’s settled. Allons!”

Heathcliff chuckles of her saying that word. The group sets off for the nearby dungeon. The Hallward Gallery.

✦✦✦

Later, the group arrives at the Hallward Gallery. A place filled with various visitors. It seems like a normal museum, with paintings and sculptures lining the walls. Several of those images of landscapes and still life, others however were peculiar portraits.

A sign reads out the business hours. 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM. The security details were peculiar in their absence, with only silent suits of mail in their way.

“This place is a dungeon?” Emily says.

“Hard to say for sure,” Elizabeth says. “There are some that hide in plain sight, putting up a facade as normal institutions for parts of the day, either to hibernate or simply as a disguise. They are usually found in urban centers as dungeons in more secluded areas rely more on geography and distance to conceal them.”

Rose looks at one of the paintings, an image of a young girl sitting serenely in front of a tree, thorny vines wrapped around her.

Strelitzia and Clover sight a painting of a boy hanging from a tree’s branches.

Lily and Clover find a sculpture of a boutique of roses, one red, one blue, and one yellow. The plaque reads “Which of these is the false rose?”

“It’s the yellow one,” Streltizia says. “Never saw one of those anywhere in my life!”

“Are you sure?” Clover says. “I think it’s the blue rose, there are few natural pigments outside some far-off dungeons.”

Rose notices the pair and looks at the sculptures and plaque. “Are you sure it isn’t the red one,” she says, wanting to be contrarian.

Azaela swims by them. “Maybe none of them are real? It seems like a thorny puzzle.”

Elizabeth answers questions from Lily, who seems certain that Emily will adopt them and is pressing the fairy for more on life as a Sentinel.

Tim looks at a depiction of a gleaming tower, golden and black all around, illuminated by rays of artificial light from below and the moonlight above. He is unaware that he is being watched by someone from a distance.

Heathcliff approaches the man. “Looks like someone has an interest in Gatsby Tower,” He says.

Richard and Sarah follow suit. “Many of these portraits are—“ he stops upon seeing the painting. He sees the architectural details lovingly rendered in shades of dark yellow and grey amidst the grisaille surroundings.

Emily soon chances upon two paintings. One depicts a young girl, dressed in pink with brown tresses, with blue eyes and a pink bow on a headband. The plaque beneath it reads “the Heritor.” The painting bears immaculate details. A stark contrast to the one next to it. Which depicts a skeletal figure, with a background that looks like it has been tarnished by the sands of time, with spots on it resembling tears in the canvas. The plaque beneath that one reads “Self-portrait of a fallen man.”

Later Heathcliff examines the “business hours” and realizes that the dungeon is not accessible as such during these hours. He catches up to Emily. “Seems like we’re a bit too early, cher.” He hands her his book on rouge dungeons.

The avatara looks over the other four listings and sees two that catch her interest, the first one claims there is an illusory garden in Anesidora Park, and the other claims there is an abandoned library. Rose and Nina approach her. “I’m bored,” the spiderling says. “I thought this was a dungeon!”

“We might’ve arrived too early for that,” Emily says. The others arrive at the two paintings as Emily asks if they want to try the Library or the Garden next. The Library won out, to Nina’s dismay. The others leave the museum and go there first. As Emily leaves, she looks back, feeling like one of the two paintings is staring at her.

✦✦✦

A few hours later, the group arrives at the entrance of a nondescript building, seemingly similar to the other skyscrapers in Noir. They enter it to find a normal lobby with several people going about their day, ignorant of their surroundings as they hustle to their jobs.

“I thought you said there was a dungeon here!” Nina says.

“I said there might be a dungeon here,” Emily says.

“The dungeons we’re looking for have a clever measure,” Elizabeth says. “According to the Guard’s dungeon guide, it is claimed to have several points of ingress but only opens one of them per day. The entrance differs each day!”

“Aw!” Nina says.

Richard surveys the room. Looking for hidden entrances. He sees that a section of the wall is more pale than its surrounding section and heads towards it. “You say this one dungeon has Orichalcium?”

“That’s what the book says, cher,” Heathcliff says.

“Wonder how this dungeon came to be,” Rose says.

“The rumors claim that a wizard once resided in this area,” Raine says. “Right between here and the underground and that he had vanished one day, with his dwellings becoming a Natural Dungeon.”

Richard feels around the wall and his hand finds a hidden switch. The entrance opens with only Emily and her group noticing. Richard smirks at his discovery.

The group enters the hidden passage and discovers that the adjacent room is a massive library, filled with arcane tomes and shifting shelves. With the ceiling being so far up as to be near invisible among the shelves.

“Be careful,” Heathcliff says. “Finding this place is only half the battle.”

Elizabeth looks at her Lifetree diagram and sees a timer counting down from one hundred and twenty minutes, proof that they had entered a Divine Dungeon. “We are here for two things,” the fairy says. “The Orichalcum being one of them.”

The group steps forward and sees the shelves shift around them, separating them into smaller groups. Half of the Coloraturas, Rose, Lily, Anemone and Clover end up as their own group. The other four, Strelitzia, Azalea, Hydrangea and Raine, were grouped with Emily and Elizabeth. Tim, Heathcliff, Sarah, Richard, Minerva, Nina and Charlotte comprise the last group. Now split up, they are forced to find each other and explore this shifting maze of arcane bookshelves.

✦✦✦

Emily’s group explores the depths of the library.

“Dewey need to read some of these tomes?” Azalea asks.

“I don’t know,” Emily says.

Hydrangea looks around the arcane shelves. She curiously takes one form the shelves and opens it, but as soon as she does it snaps itself shelf on her hand.

“Ow!” Hydrangea says. As she and the others see the tomes move from their places and fly around the shelves.

“These books are flying hot off the shelves!” Azalea says. She and Hydrangea use their wands to cast water and ice spells to halt their assault.

“Oh noble water,” Elizabeth sings. “Drench these foes in your embrace.” A geyser spouts from beneath some of the books and drenches them in water. She tries to sing another one in existence but one of them knocks her on her head and causes her to fall to the ground. Before it can repeat its attack. Emily jumps to the fairy’s aid and slices it in half with her two blades.

“Why are the books attacking us?” Emily says

“They must be the Dungeon’s [Cells],” Elizabeth says as more flying books surround them.

Strelitzia uses her short stature to dunk under the areal books and her labrys to swat them aside. “Stupid books,” she says.

Azalia uses her want to finish what Elizabeth started and conjure up geysers. Strelitzia uses her seldom-used earth spells to turn the water spout into mud and works in tandem with the mermaid to ground the books on the floor. Raine meanwhile incinerates some of the swarm with her blazing wings as she confronts them in the air.

The books were eventually felled but it took thirty minutes to do so.

Elizabeth looked at her diagram and saw the time now reading less than ninety minutes had remained. Emily also sees it and grows dismayed. “We just stepped into this place and it takes up a quarter of our time on the beginning fight?” she thinks to herself.

“Looks like we’ll have to book it if we want to get to the bosses in time,” Azalea says.

“But how can we make it past the other cells?” Elizabeth says. “They are gonna be on high alert now.”

“Leave it to me,” Raine says. The young pheonixian girl gives a serious expression. “I think my fires will distract them.”

“Is that really a good idea?” Emily says.

“The Cells are likely replicas of the actual tomes,” Elizabeth says. “Monsters designed as mimics for the literature, still there is a risk that setting the place on fire would make the dungeon more angry.”

“Then they’ll have to get past me first,” Streltizia says. The young minotaur brandishes her labrys. “You go make a smoke screen, Raine, I’ll handle these stacks of scrap paper.”

With little option, emily agrees with Streltizia’s plan. They rush through the dungeon with Streltizia as a rearguard, and Raine and Azalea covering their path with steam to mask their precence.

✦✦✦

Meanwhile, Rose, Clover, Anemone, and Lily are already fighting another swarm of books. Anemone uses her shadow magic to pin several of them down while Rose uses lightning to strike them down.

“Rather lousy of them to separate us like that!” Rose says as she summons bolts of levin to the aerial tomes.

Several books surround Clover. She looks around them and summons a gale to protect themselves from their strikes. The twister moves down the hall and lives every else into the air.

“Clover!” Anemone says as she is lifted from the ground.

“Sorry,” the green-haired Peryton girl nervously says.

“Whee!” Lily rides the wind as she leaps from the hapless Cells, using them as platforms to center high up into the air and grab Rose.

With her shadow-pinning spells unusual, Anemone tries to cast gravity spells to weigh the books down and keep themselves aloft in Clover’s tornado. Clover flies to her with her wings and has the lupine-eared girl hold onto them as they fly off. By this point, twenty-five minutes had elapsed since they were separated from the others.

As the four Coloraturas ascent midway towards the ceiling. Rose and Anemone unleash their spells. The gravity spells work to weigh the flying books down while keeping themselves near weightlessly aloft. The lightning strikes paralyzing them enough to the point where they cannot fly for a long time. The twister soon dissipated and they gently landed on the floor next to a glowing blue ward.

“A whole half hour was spent on these chumps?” Rose says, looking at a timer on the ward, reading ninety-two.

“This is gonna be a difficult dungeon,” Clover says. “Are all the surface dungeons like that?”

Rose recalls their recent trek through the Cocytus Manor as Clover asks that question.

“Some should be easier than others,” Anemone says. “However it’s possible that the dungeon sensed our purposes.”

The ward soon vanishes and the hour Coloraturas move further into the dungeon.

✦✦✦

At the same time, Heathcliff’s group finds the wells bizarrely devoid of enemies.

“What gives?” Nina says. “Did the dungeon decide to let everyone else hog all the fun?”

“It seems it wants to test us through other means,” Minerva says.

The group moves deeper through the shelves, ten minutes in they see three books on a table between the shelves. As well as a plaque next to an artificial river. The plaque reads. “Which of these three is not associated with Water?”

Minerva looks at the three books and sees they are titled “Mythologica Halcyonis: Vol 3”, “The Cups of Tranquitas”, and “The Florilegium of Maimario”.

“A riddle?” Heathcliff shouts. “Of course, it had to be riddles.”

Nina is dismayed at the thought of having to read to progress. Tim takes a look at the three books and takes the copy of “The Cups of Tranquialitas,” recalling a conversation he had with his teachers back in Fairborough about the book in question. He places it on the plaque. The river recedes.

Heathcliff is pleasantly surprised. “Lucky guess, cher?”

“Not quite,” Tim says. He begins explaining his deduction. “All the books have to do with Administrators, all bearing water associations. But the book I chose was about the craters of Tranquilitas.”

Heathcliff smiles. “Alight then, Allons”

The group travels to find another barrier with another plaque and three red books, fifteen minutes in. The plaque asks “What of these three emotions do practitioners of Bardsong associate with the stars.”

The red books are titled “Magenta, the Color of the Cosmos”, “The Polar Queen”, and “The Gate to Eosphoros,” all widely acclaimed literary titles.

“This one is not gonna be simple,” Heathcliff says with a sigh. He, Tim, and Minerva skin through each of the books. There are enough clues from these novels to learn what each of them is about. One tells a tale about a poet who had found the dwelling of Eosphoros. Another is a romance about a woman living in a tundra that melts as she discovers love. The last is a tale of a drop of magenta liquid falling onto a well and corrupting everything, and everyone in its proximity.

After five minutes of skimming, they realize that “Magenta”, representing Terror is the book in question and place it on the pedestal, solving the riddle. They make their way through the new passage.

Along the way, Heathcliff talks with the Dwarves. “So what do you need need those specific metals?”

“Well,” Richard says with a smirk. “We’ve been working on some designs for mana that grows with the wearer,” Richard says. “Figured you might appreciate that more.”

“So this is another plot to get me in one of those frou-frou dresses?” Heathcliff says with a chuckle. “Rather clever, but it’s gonna take a bit more than that.”

“I know Heathcliff,” Richard says. “The Flownesium’s properties lend itself well to storming mana proportional to the wear’s strength, growling alongside it. The Orichalcum proves a base for the allow as it’s the most enchanted category of brass.”

“The Arcanite is where things get rather interesting,” Sarah says. “That metal is said to enhance one’s magical capabilities.”

Heathcliff is a little intrigued by this. “You know my magic is lacking right, cher,”

“Why do you think we are gathering it?” Richard says. “Arcanite is said to be metal laced with pieces of Elementalist’s Spheres and holds some of their properties, it can enhance existing magical powers, but it can also grant the ability to use as well when forged right. Combined with the Floenesium, it can also allow it to grow.”

Heathcliff smirks. “Alright then Richard, if Emily can get these metals then I’ll consider wearing your silly outfits.”

“Is that a bet?” the dwarf smirks.

“Oui,” The knight says.

They soon reach the third barrier. By now seventeen minutes had passed. Tim reads the third plaque. “Of the three Administrators in the titles, which of these is not associated with death?”

Nina and Charlotte find the yellow books on the stand. All titles popular with young adults and older teenagers. They are respectively titled “Ereshkigal’s Wake”, “The Rise of the Prometheans”, and “In the Garden of the Reaper”.

Nine recognizes Ereshkigal’s name from the recent trip to the library at Anesidora Park and eagerly uses her webbing to snag it and rushes to the plaque. “It’s this one! I’m sure!” she says.

Minerva tries to stop her daughter from placing the time, but she is too late. The spiderling places the wrong book on the plaque and the shelves quake. Two books fall from the higher shelves and plop onto the floor. A monster each manifested from the open pages of these tomes and Heathcliff and Sarah have to fight one each. The monsters resemble bipedal bison, like a minotaur but with human features.

“Is that supposed to happen?” Nina says with a nervous smile.

Richard takes out his stunner and aims at the monsters. Tim uses his Qiang to strike the one battling Heathcliff and follows with a barrage of palm, elbow, and knee strikes. Minerva uses her Bardsong eyes to mesmerize the one fighting Sarah and causes him to attack its kin for a short while. Charlotte uses her fragrances to lure them toward a shelf as the hypnotized oxen slam the other into it. Defeating it. The oxen grows lucid against roars at everyone but is quickly toppled by Tim attacking its legs and tangled up by Minerva and Nina’s webs.

The barrier dissipates after the fight, and the plaque reveals the right answer was “Rise of the Prometheans”.

“Nina, why did you pick that book?” Minerva looks at the title.

“I-I thought it was the right one. It has I-Reks-She-Gel on its title right?”

Minerva sighs. She knows there will be a time when she will have to explain them to her, but she also prefers it come later rather than sooner.

Eighty-nine minutes remain on the timer as the group moves deeper into the library.

✦✦✦

The group reunites in a giant circular room. Emily and Rose are overjoyed to see everyone safe as they head towards a gigantic book in its center.

“Is everyone okay?” Emily says.

“We’re fine, cher,” Heathcliff says.

“All present and accounted for,” Rose said with a cheerful smile.

“Less than ninety minutes left,” Heathcliff says.

“The monsters here seem tough,” Emily says.

“They are,” Heathcliff says. “We will need to be prepared to—”

The room quakes as the book lifts itself and knocks everyone off it. Its ascension is punctuated by its pages tearing themselves off coating the cover and spinning into a sphere of enchanted ink and parchment. The paper cocoon explodes to reveal a gigantic worm-like construct that dives onto the ground.

“That is one giant bookworm,” Azalea says.

The first Sentinel emerges and slams the ground, causing the floor to give way to a shifting sand pit that sucked several of the group closer toward the beast. The serpentine monster swipes at them with its head. But Heathcliff blocks the attack with its shield.

Anemone tries to pin it down in its shadow, but as she walks in its shadow, the beast simply dives into the sand and emerges elsewhere. It slams the ground and causes several apple-like boulders to fall from the ceiling.

Raine swoops to incinerate the sand around the wurm-like beast and trap it in glass, while Richard aims his stunner at the invertebrate. The wurm dives into the sand Richard instead hits the phoenixian girl with several volts of energy and causes her to fall.

Clover and Time use wind spells to try to reveal the submerged wurm but only manage to blast sang into the air and nearly blind everyone with the earthen particles. Hydrangea covers her eyes as she tries to freeze the sand in the air. Blinded by sand, her spells hit Lily and Sarah, binging their legs to the ground and the beast emerges and slams down on top of the dwarf and centaur.

The battle continues for an entire hour before the wurm is eventually felled through a combination of Emily, Rose, and Time’s attack. The wurm on its metaphorical last legs, dives into the ground, sand shooting up in its wake as it approaches Emily with a ferocious furor. Tim sees Emily trying to move away from the approaching wurm and rushes towards her. His mind focuses on protecting Emily as he places himself in front of her and spins his Qiang towards the ground. What happens next shocks him as a swirling vortex circles around him and Emily knocking the sand into the air and revealing the beast. The vortex protects them from the wurm’s slam. Emily uses the opening to attack with her twin blades and leave a grievous wound in the invertebrate, causing it to wriggle before it succumbs to its wounds.

A small book falls to the ground and opens, and a treasure chest pops up from its pages. Richard opens it and finds enough loot to compensate for an entire dungeon’s run. Including five Orichalcum ingots and at least one piece of Orichalcum Armor for everyone. Alongside vials of enchanted ink made of Orichalcum powder and several gold pieces.

Emily looks at the chest and is confused by the seemingly generous amount of loot there.

“[Dungeons] are obligated to scale their loot so that most if not all members of their parties can get something,” Elizabeth says, anticipating Emily’s question. “Our party has nineteen people in it now, so they have to give a higher than usual number per loot.”

Richard takes the ingots and presents them to Emily, as well as the vials of ink. Emily takes the materials and absorbs them, while the Coloraturas help themselves by absorbing a piece of armor each.

They realize that there are only thirty minutes left. “Well, cher,” Heathcliff says. “Shall we press our luck?”

Emily deliberates on the decision. While she does need to absorb dungeon cores, she knows that a half hour is not enough to find this specific dungeon’s and realizes that they have enough for their secondary purposes. “Let’s head back to the hotel, “Emily says. “We need to prepare for the return of the museum.”

“Lake to play it safe huh, “Heathcliff says. “Good on you.”

Tim realizes what has happened and tries to replicate it, but the wind doesn’t heed his call. “Drat! Was that a fluke?”

The group leaves the hidden library with their haul, or what is left of it after Emily absorbs the materials to learn them nd the Coloraturas absorb some armor to keep their mana stable.

✦✦✦

Everyone returns to the hotel. In their suite, Tim meditates on the fight with the wurm, trying to find out what caused the barrier to emerge last time.

Emily arrives. “We’re heading out for dinner now,” she says. “Heathcliff’s paying for it, are you coming?”

Tim sighs and stands up. “Yeah,” he says. On the way, the pair walk towards the elevator. Along the way, Emily asks Tim a few questions.

“So, how is the city?” Emily says.

“It’s fine,” he says. “What about you?”

“It feels a little intimidating,” Emily says.

“I’ll bet,” Tim chuckles. “This is your first time in such a place.”

“Hey!” Emily says.

“It’s true,” Tim says.

Emily puffs her cheeks…before bursting out in laughter. “You’re right. This city, this world, it’s still so new to me.” She realizes that even though she has been on Titania for a few months, there are still some things that surprise her.

“Give it time,” Tim says. “Most adventurers haven’t explored all of Titnaia in their lifetimes.”

“You sound like you’ve been to several places yourself.”

“Only Charlemagne, Fairbourugh, and Jiang-hu,” Tim says. “Counting Liberté that’s only four nations.”

Emily giggles. “Can you tell me about them?”

“Maybe later,” Tim blushes a little.

They arrive at the elevator and head to the ground floor. There they meet with Heathcliff and the others, preparing to head to the hotel’s built-in restaurant for dinner.

While waiting for the waiters, the dwarven siblings talk about certain things.

“Please try not to pig out on the food, Sarah,” Richard says. “This is a high-class establishment, remember.”

“I can mind my manors, dearest brother,” Sarah says in a mockery of a posh accent. “But whomst shall challenge the idea that I should go back to the Gallery on a half-empty stomach?”

Richard sighs.

“Besides,” Sarah says in a normal voice. “We got the Orichalcum, all that’s left is the Arcanite and Floenesium and we have all we need for these new outfits.”

“Except the designs themselves,” Richard says in a dejected tone. “This artist’s block is getting to me, Sarah.”

“Don’t worry,” Sarah says as her voice takes a more parodic tone again. “I’m sure there is someone at Gatsby Tower whomst’ve be able to help you with that.” Sarah chuckles at seeing Richard’s brow furrow.

The waiter arrives. “Shall I take your orders?” he says in a dignified tone. Everyone in Emily’s nineteen-person party makes their orders and the writer leaves. A couple of hours later, when everyone’s bellies are full and happy. Everyone leaves the restaurant and the hotel and the restaurant to return to the Hallward Gallery.

✦✦✦

The party arrives back at the art gallery, now after hours. The air around them is eerie and quiet with the lack of people there. Even patrollers are absent, it is just them and them alone as they enter the museum.

“Be careful,” Heathcliff says. “If my hunch is correct, things are about to get more dangerous.”

The party enters the museum, finding that all of the paintings were replaced by blank canvases and all the sculptures had vanished.

“Well, that is a whiteout,” Azalea says.

“Is this really the time for jokes?” Rose says.

Elizabeth observes the canvases. “Why is this considered a Rouge Dungeon again?”

Heathcliff looks at the pages of the guide from the Ebony Guards. “According to this, people are claiming that they saw people vanish after visiting the place.” The knight notices that the listing also mentions unverified rumors and urban legends of demonic involvement.

Exploring the empty gallery, they find that all of the canvases across it are entirely blank. A sharp cry from the art seen earlier in the day. Emily soon sees a wide canvas that hasn’t been there before. And an unbleached painting. It depicts a room covered in chaotic forests. The plaque reads “Spurius Mundus”. Whispers can be heard from the painting, beckoning her forward.

Tim sees Emily entranced as she walks towards the colored canvas. “Emily?” he says with concern in his voice. The avatara is unresponsive as she approaches the painting and touches it. She walks into the panting, a portal to a painted world.

Elsewhere in the gallery, Heathcliff, Elizabeth, and Minerva look around the white canvases and missing sculptures.

✦✦✦

Heathcliff looks around and sees a fallen rose petal. “That’s certainly odd,” he thinks as he examines it. It seemed like an ordinary petal and yet there was no nearby plant from where it could have fallen. Picking the rose petal up he finds it feeling off somehow.

He soon looks around and sees that several of the canvases are now black, and worse yet, that Minerva and Elizabeth are nowhere to be seen. He heads to the room where he last saw Emily and Tim and sees that they are also absent.

The knight sees the “Spurius Mundus” painting. He approaches it and finds that his hand can move beyond the frame his expression bears a mix of confusion, concern, and above all, contentment. “So this is the actual dungeon,” he thinks as she steps over the frame and into the painted realm. He finds his new surroundings reflect the layout of the gallery and draws his sword and shield. “Better find the others,” he says.

✦✦✦

The Coloraturas, as well as Nina and Charlotte, are inside another part of the gallery, watched over by Richard and Sarah. The eight Witches sense the presence of something sinister all around them.

“Well, this is a lousy dungeon,” Sarah says.

Raine looks around and sees that the canvases have suddenly turned black. She flies towards one of the frames and feels the black paint that suddenly emerges. She finds the feeling familiar for some reason.

The phoenixian girl hears Lily cry out and rushes to her on the other side of the room. She sees the centaur’s hind legs and rear ensnared by a web of ebony “paint” from one of the frames, dragging little Lily closer to the frame while Strelitzia and Anemonie try to pull her away.

“What is going on?” Streltizia says.

“We need more help!” Anemone says. “My gravity spells aren’t working!”

Raine looks around and sees that where there were once twelve people here, not there were only four of them. Everyone else is gone, and they are the last. The paint consumes Lily and keeps her in Streltizia and Anemonie’s arms. Raine tries to drag them away, but its inky grip remains firm and soon ensnares them as well. As the fluid touches her fingertips, she realizes exactly what that is.

It is a Strega.

✦✦✦

Emily finds herself in an unfamiliar location. The room seems different, lined with paintings that are painted and canvases that are canvases.

“Where am I?” the dungeon avatara says as she looks around, finding a room reminiscent of the gallery yet not quite the gallery. The texture on everything but the frame feels like paint, and the air is filled with traces of fumes. She soon hears a child giggling in the distance and heads towards the noise.

Tim meanwhile lands in a different room altogether. He takes his Qiang out, anticipating opponents. He soon sees a shadow move and uses a rock spell to strike it. The shadow moves in panic and Tim rushes to chase it, only to find it has vanished. He looks at a canvas on the walls, the image depicts a tree with a solitary apple on it. The plaque reads “Temptation.” He looks at the details of the painting, finding that the clouds resemble eyeballs and that the roots of the tree resemble hands. Tim sees that this path ends at the “Temptation” painting, and that there is no other entrance. Confused he returns to where he started but as he turns around, he finds that the layout has shifted.

While Tim walks in this maze, Heathcliff explores a forested room, the paintings depict subjects with uncanny details—a rabbit with wheels for legs, a single tiger superimposed on several buildings, a house with doors and windows resembling mouths and eyes. These eerie images, disturb the red-headed knight slightly.

He soon comes across a painting depicting an open mailbox. The plaque reads “Contact,” besides it is a dispenser of paper and a pen attached to the wall. Heathcliff notices the painting changing sublist as he views it from different angles. As he observes the image the painting of the tiger changes to depict its absence.

✦✦✦

At the same time, Richard and Sarah are separated from the kids, as they wake up in an orange room.

“Ugh that was a long fall,” Sarah says as she lifts her hammer.

“Wait,” Richard says. “How did we fell? There were no holes in the gallery!” He soon hears a vice and takes out one of his stunner crossbows. He keeps an eye out but finds nothing around him but paintings of eerie and unheimlich imagery. He slowly turns around until she sees someone rushing at him. A shadowed figure crawls onto the floor, dragging a picture frame behind him as she rapidly crawls. Richard fired electric bolts at the figure, but the monster’s movement was unhindered. Sarah sees what is about to happen and swings her hammer at the beast, knocking it into the wall and smashing the frame. The shade vanishes as the metal frame breaks apart.

Richard breathes heavily as his adrenaline lowers. “Thanks, sister.” The pair see a strange figure glaring at them from the distance. Short with a feminine silhouette, her eyes give them a glower as she turns around.

“Hey!” Sarah says as she and her brother give chase. “Wait!”. The figure’s strides were wider, their footsteps faster and she soon vanished.

The ten children were lucky to have landed in eh same room, surrounded by a multitude of paintings.

“Ugh,” Rose says. “What happened?”

“We are in deep trouble is what happened!” Raine says with urgency. “This place is a Strega!”

The other girls gasp, except for Nina and Charlotte. “What is a Stray-ga?” Nina asks.

“A rather dangerous being,” Hydrangea says.

“Strega are monsters,” Anemone says. “They kidnap innocent people and assimilate them into themselves!”

“Or so it goes,” Azalea says with a small giggle.

“Azalea,” Rose says. “This is serious!”

Charlotte is still confused about the topic. “So this Strega is the one that captured us?”

“Yes,” Raine says.

Clover looks around the room and sees the paintings on the wall. One depicts a metallic forest, with nuts and bolts embedded into the trees while another shows a closed mailbox, and a third a representation of a black hole. That third painting subtly pulls everyone closer to it.

“We need to find this Strega and destroy it,” Strelitzia says. She takes her labrys out and leaves the room through a white door. The other children follow the minotaur.

✦✦✦

Meanwhile, Emily wanders the labyrinthine gallery, passing through several artworks as she follows the giggles of the voice. She eventually finds a small child. Dressed in pink, with a matching headband and bow on her brown hair. The child cries in a corner of the room.

Emily approaches her. “Are you okay?” she asks.

The child looks up at the purple-haired girl in confusion. “No?”

“Are you lost?” Emily says.

“Yes.” The younger girl sniffles. “Can you help me home?”

Emily takes the smaller girl up. She looks around and sees all the artworks have vanished or been replaced with pitch-black canvases. She finds the shift strange as she turns to the girl. “Can you tell me your name, miss?” she says.

“Kaitlyn,” the child says.

“Kaitlyn,” Emily says. “Got it.” She then looks around and sees a hallway. “Do you what is behind that door, Katie?”

The timid child shakes her head. Emily looks around and sees there are no other paths anymore, even the one she arrived from has been replaced. She looks at the white and cream-colored door and opens it, revealing an alabaster-colored corridor.

“Let’s go,” Emily says. “This place is certainly not safe,”

Kaitlyn agrees and follows Emily into the white hallway. As Emily looks at her, she can’t help but find her strangely familiar for some reason.

✦✦✦

Emily and Kaitlyn trudge through the painted world of Spurius Mundus.

“Do you remember how you wound up here?” Emily asks the girl.

“No,” Kaitlyn says.

“How about your parents?” Emily says. “Do you know what happened to them?”

The younger girl stays silent.

They pass by several paintings and sculptures. Some attacked them but were repelled by Emily, others were more docile. All exuded a strange aura of malevolence. Eventually, they soon end up in a forest, within that forest is a small grey house.

Emily looked at the younger child and could not help by see a lot of herself in her. Having lost all of her memories as she awoke in an unfamiliar world. She wonders where the others are.

Kaitlyn shows Emily around the building. The place is gray and featureless, like a canvas that has not yet been painted. The building also lacks windows and lightning.

“You spend all of your time in this place?” Emily says.

“Yeah,” Kaitlyn says with a forlorn expression.

The block’s lack of features causes Emily to envision a prison with little Kaitlyn as its prisoner. Trapped and sealed away from the wider world by the Dungeon they stand in. She wonders if the previous victims were treated similarly.

“Have you seen anyone else?” Emily says.

Kaitlyn keeps her head down. “I’ve seen many people, but they always leave me, and they—” The girl’s loneliness is quite apparent to Emily. Tears stream down Kaitlyn’s face as she tries to finish her sentence. “They never came back!”

Emily comforts Kaitlyn with a pat on the head and then takes her hands. “Do you know how long you’ve been living here Kaitlyn?”

After calming herself down, Kaitlyn tries to guess. “Several months I think?”

Emily looks around but finds that there is nothing here that indicates the passage of time. No light in the pitch black sky that moves, no clocks or timers in the room, nothing besides other paintings. She looks at the timid girl. “Would you like to come with me?” She says.

“You’re not—” Kaitlyn sniffles. “Gonna leave me are you?”

“Of course not!” Emily says. “I won’t leave until we find a way out of here, I promise.”

With a promise made, Kaitlyn agrees to follow Emily. The pair soon leave the featureless house and search for the Dungeon’s core, closer to Emily than she realizes. As they leave the house the phrase “Trying to escape?” is written on the walls of the block-like building behind them.

✦✦✦

Meanwhile, Nina, Charlotte, and the Coloraturas explore the labyrinth in search of the Strega.

“You mean to tell me, that these String-gah—“ Nina says.

“Strega,” Raine says.

“You mean to say that these are also dungeons?” Nina says.

“They seem to be similar to them at least,” Rose says. “If the dungeons all decided on icky black goop and messing with psychics.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s ‘physics’, Rosie,” Raine says.

Nina is lost. “What’s Hy-sics?” the spiderling says.

“Physics are—” Charlotte says before realizing she is having trouble wrapping her head around it too.

The conversation is interrupted when they hear a noise coming from one of the corridors. Heading to the source, they find a young brat harnessing some of the living artwork.

“What do you mean there is no way out?” the girl says, her brown hair adorned with a pink bow while she marches towards a timid figure in a picture frame.

“Miss Kaitlyn please,” the figure says. “You know this place is impossible for you to escape.”

“I don’t care!” the brunette says. “I want out of this hellhole and I want it now!”

The ten girls look at the one called Kaitlyn with a mix of confusion, curiosity, and apprehension.

“She looks like she’s been here a while,” Clover says.

“But that would— Azalea wait!” Raine says

Azalea approaches the girl. “Hello,” the mermaid says cheerfully.

“Oh great,” Kaitlyn says sarcastically as she looks at the approaching kids. “More doomed travelers.” She sighs. “Name’s Kaitlyn, not that it matters.”

The girls introduce themselves. Kaitlyn’s foul temperament gives the impression of a spoiled brat. Raine looks at the girl and finds that something is somehow off from her.

“Well, Kaitlyn,” Azalea says. “We’re looking for something, do you see any weird monsters around lately.”

Kaitlyn suddenly points to the paintings around her, several of whom express indignation at her silent statements.

“Weirder,” Rose says. “And maybe larger.”

“Haven’t seen anything like it,” Kaitlyn says, “Now get lost!”

“That ship already sailed,” Nina says.

Raine looks at Kaitlyn. “How long have you been here?”

“That’s a stupid question to ask,” Kaitlyn says.

Raine glares at the girl. Her glower intimidates Kaitlyn a bit.

“I-I don’t know!” she says. “I have forgotten nearly everything in my life since I woke up here, for all I know it could've been weeks!”

“Is there anything you do remember?” Raine says.

“Only my stupid dad,” Kaitlyn says. “Dastard was always so busy with his paintings.” She stomps around while ranting about her absent father. “Always gallivanting around Noir whining and dining with the Emperyans. He probably doesn't even know I’m gone.” She sighs.

Strelitzia looks at the girl with a feeling of empathy. The minotaur approaches the young girl. “We’re searching for a way out too, come with us,” she says.

“Is that a good idea, Streltizia?” Raine says. Her aloof demeanor fades for a bit.

“You rather want ‘left a defenseless kid behind at a Strega’s mercy,’ on your conscious?” The orange-haired girl says.

“And what if she’s not defenseless?” the phoenixian girl argues. “She could be a Fragment.”

“A fragment?” Nina says. “Fragment of what?”

“Fragments,” Azalea cheerfully says, “are entities related to Strega, they look the same but can harbor different personalities or feelings.” She leaves one of their other common traits from her explanations. She looks at Kaitlyn “That said they tend to be a lot more hostile than this girl.”

“She seems pretty hostile already,” Charlotte says

“I am not hostile!” Kaitlyn says.

“Well,” Rose says. “She hasn't tried to kill us on sight yet, at least.” She slithers to Streltizia and Kaitlyn. “Come on,” she says.

Raine is still unsure if having Kaitlyn tag along is wise but realizes that Streltizia, Azalea, and especially Rose seem adamant about bringing them alone and agrees. As the eleven girls travel the world of Spurius Mundus, Raine keeps a close eye on the bratty tagalong, still suspecting she might be a Fragment.

✦✦✦

Tim wanders the labyrinthine gallery, searching for Emily. As he rushes through the dungeon he is assaulted by monsters emerging from the paintings. He fights through these mysterious parodies of art with his Qiang and techniques.

He uses a shoulder strike on one of the monsters, a centaur with a bovine torso, and knocks it to the ground. A smaller doll-like monster latches at his leg forcing Tim to try to sake it off while fighting the other paintings. Soon another latches to his arm and pins him down. The bovine centaur sees an opportunity and tries to stampede while Time is down. He struggles to get up and escape, but more dolls arrive to keep him pinned to the painted floor.

“Thi-this can’t end like this!” Tim thinks. He thinks about Emily. “Emily, I—”

“Throwing in the tower, cher?” a voice calls out.

Heathcliff rushes in and blocks the charging beast with his shield. The clash causes the painted monster to be pushed back several feet. Heathcliff turns to Tim and kicks the dolls off him, freeing him enough to use wind arts to blow the rest away. The knight offers him a hand up. The young lad looks at his mentor with both gratitude and shame at his inability to fend off his assailants.

Before they could talk, the knight and martial artist heard the centaur-like creature roar as it charged towards them. Heathcliff blocks the attack and strikes back with his sword, slicing one of the creature’s arms. It bleeds a nauseatingly nacreous paint from its veins. It screams as it bleeds out to death. The sight of the display causes a chest to manifest, and one of the framed paintings to change.

Heathcliff opens the chest to find…more paint, but also a crossbow, some earrings, and two ingots of Arcanite. “Looks like we just felled a boss,” Heathcliff says as he takes the items. He turned to Tim. “Now then…”

“It’s Emily,” Tim says. “I saw her just walk into a painting. I tried to stop her but—”

“Deep breaths, Tim.” Heathcliff places his hand on Tim’s shoulder. “We’ll find her.” The two men take a look at the painted portal, showing a forest coated in metal. “We’ll need to find the others too,” Heathcliff thinks.

✦✦✦

Meanwhile, Richard and Sarah had lost the trial of their figure and found themselves surrounded by metallic trees and concrete cliffs.

“Well this is lovely,” Richard says sarcastically. “Stuck in a ghoulish art gallery with no way out. With no one else in sight.”

While Richard is ranting, Sarah looks around the bizarre forest. She touches the trees and feels some of the heat of her hand drain. She soon hears another voice.

“...help me!” the voice calls. “I’m …uck!”

Sarah turns to her brother. “I can hear something, tone it down please.”

Richard stops his ranting and listens for the voice. They head towards its direction. A while later they find Elizabeth trapped in a black cocoon. Sarah and Richard attack the mass holding the fairy prisoner and free her shift. Elizabeth coughs out some of the sludge in her mouth and wipes it. “Thanks. Now um…where are we?”

Sarah shrugs.

“The last thing I knew,” Richard says. “We were inside the Hallward Gallery, and the next thing we knew we were stuck chasing voices around the place!”

Elizabeth looks around the surrounding trees. “This feels a lot like a [Dungeon],” she says. “But…”

“But what?” Sarah says.

“I think we need to confirm with the Coloraturas,” Elizabeth says before realizing they aren’t with the siblings. “Where are the kids?”

“We didn’t see any of them when we woke up,” Sarah says.

Elizabeth’s expression changes to one of panic. “We need to find them fast!” she hopes that the children are safe.

“What about Emily?” Sarah says. “Was she with you?”

“She wasn’t,” Elizabeth says. Her panic worsens.

The three realize the situation they are in. And begin to search the forest for the others. As they scowl the metallic forest and stone cliffs they can only find paintings of people, none of which they knew, all of which bear expressions of terror.

“What is up with all these portraits,” Richard says.

Elizabeth feels something odd coming from the paintings. She touches one of them and senses an unusual type of mana. The mana of souls that had been been converted and absorbed. Her dread worsens upon realizing this.

The trio soon hears growling nearby. Richard aims his stunners in its general direction as a nearby tree becomes inscribed with the phrase “This is your fate!”

A painted wolf arrives to “greet” Elizabeth and dwarven siblings. Its neck is surrounded by rose petals as it voraciously growls at the opponents. Before it could charge, Sarah knocked it into the air with her hammer.

“Oh no!” Sarah says. “We do not have time for this!”

The wolf is hurled towards the painted moon, colliding with it and plummeting down to the ground with a thud.

“You’d give the Sallets a run for their money with that swing, cher!”

Heathcliff and Tim arrive, having found Minerva along the way.

“Heathcliff, Tim, Minerva,” Elizabeth says.

Richard looks around and grimaces when he sees no one else with the knight. Tim does likewise.

“Well, we’re missing ten kids and Emily,” Heathcliff says.

Elizabeth examines herself. “Emily seems to be fine for now,” she says.

“Right, you faeries know if the cores are alive or not,” Heathcliff says.

“It is more than just knowing,” Elizabeth says. “My mana is dependent on Emily’s safety, if she were to fall I would follow her after.”

“All the more reason to find her then!” Tim says.

“Tim’s right,” Heathcliff says. “Allons!”

The group sets off to fine Emily and the children.

✦✦✦

The Coloraturas, as well as Nina and Charlotte, follow Kaitlyn around the dungeon. The moody brunette girl is watched over by Raine, who still harbors suspicions of her.

“So you seriously do not recall how you arrived here? “Raine says.

“Of course I don’t!” Kaitlyn says, “I’ve told you a dozen times by now!”

The other seven Magical Girls hold mixed feelings about Raine’s treatment of her. Some are aware of the possibility of Kaitlyn beginning a Fragment, a pawn of the Strega keeping them here, but on the other hand, if she is a Fragment, then only Azalea could be said to have encountered one as relatively harmless as her.

Rose decided to change the topic. “Can you tell us about your dad?” she asks Kaitlyn.

“My dad?” Kaitlyn says. There is a rage in her eyes. “He claims to be some world-renowned artist…” she says as the group passes by several paintings. The images depicted seem less grotesque than the ones they came across, instead resembling scenes of a painter’s studio and an apartment. Raine takes note of the unusually usual images.

“He always spends his time at the stupid studio,” Kaitlyn says as they pass by an image of a man holding his daughter in his arms.

“He’s always talking to celebrities,” she says as they pass an image of a family eating together.

“And worse of all he had the gall to—” Kaitlin stands motionless for a few moments and collapses.

The others tend to the fallen girl, but Rose and Raine instead look at an image of a tombstone. The illegible inscription is seen by two female figures.

“Something’s wrong!” Lily says. She attempts to use her light to heal Kaitlyn.

The phoenixian girl stares at the picture of a tombstone. Raine looks around the other images, seeing pictures of a girl with a happy life and a family.

“Raine,” Azalea says.

“Yes?” the aloof redhead says.

“Do you think the Strega can be saved?” the clionid mermaid says.

Raine is confused. “What are you talking about? Is this another one of your jokes?”

“Nope,” Azalea says with a cheeky smile.

“Azalea,” Raine says. “Why ask such a question?”

Whisper emerges from Azaela’s pockets and climbs onto Raine’s shoulder. Their form is nearly perfectly invisible. “Raine,” the familiar says. “Are you certain the Strega are always monsters?”

Raine is stunned by Whisper’s question. “Did you say as such?”

“I said they are the enemies of witches,” Whisper says. “Not that they are evil, destructive yes, but not always malevolent.”

Raine looks over the paintings again, certain they are related to the Fragment that is Kaitlyn.

The ground rumbles as something emerges from the painting of the grave. Scrawls emerge on the spaces between the pictures each saying the same thing. “Please, don’t leave me!”

The emerging sentences soon cover the spaces between the images in a black sludge as a skeletal being emerges from the painting. Clad in a suit and an artist’s smock. And wielding a palette with a paintbrush. The eight Coloraturas, Nina, and Charlotte now must face this deadly foe.

✦✦✦

Meanwhile, with Katelyn in tow, Emily tries to find a way out of the dungeon.

“What is a ‘Dungeon’?” Kaitlyn asks. “Is it something you eat? Have you ever tasted crayons? They’re yucky. Oh, do you know what a sunset smells like?”

Emily answers each of Kaitlyn’s increasingly weird questions as they scowl the gallery for an exit. They soon find a room with unusably normal paintings. One depicts a small figure practicing her painting. Another image shows her reading alone in a library. Another shows her eating dinner with her family.

Emily looks at the images and notices the young girl resembles Kaitlyn. Furthermore, she begins to notice Kaitlyn feel more and more familiar to her even though she is certain this is the first time she ever encountered her.

Kaitlyn’s exuberant prattling of questions is interrupted when she looks at a small message written on my walls. “Trying to escape?” it reads, “how droll, you know it is impossible to escape…”

The ground rumbles and the images change to ones more in line with the grotesque and uncanny paintings the two had passed thus far. Emily sees a strange emerge at the end of the room. As she trails closer to the frame she hears something tumbling towards her. She soon realizes the sound is coming from the image.

“We need to go!” Emily says.

“But why? Kaitlyn says.

“No time!” Emily picks up the young girl and runs away from the hall, as she tries to flee a large boulder rolls from the picture frame and follows her. Emily runs as fast as she can as the boulder slowly catches up to her and her young friend. They pass by several paintings of laughing faces and mocking expressions. She turns a corner, but the boulder rolls around a curved path to follow her. After another turn, the boulder still follows.

They soon reach the end of the hall, decorated by a solitary painting of metallic trees.

“Drat!” Emily says. “We’re trapped.”

The boulder rolls towards Emily and Kaitlyn at accelerating speeds, they only have a few minutes to act or be crushed under its weight. As their backs are on the wall, Emily touches the painting and realizes that she can move into it. This realization gives her an idea.

Taking Kaitlyn in hand, she leaps towards the left right before the boulder collides with the wall, it rolls into the painting and down the metallic forest. Emily looks at Kaitlyn. “Are you okay?”

Evelyn nods, too frightened to speak. She clings to Emily as she examines the painting further. She sees the path the boulder left in its wake as it tumbles down the hill and slams into a concrete formation. They enter the painting and head towards the bottom of the hill. There they find footprints.

“Footprints?” Emily says.

“What are those?” Kaitlyn says.

“They’re um…” Emily tries to think of an accurate answer. “They’re like patterns you make with your feet.”

“I love patterns!” Kaitlyn says with a wide smile. She then makes tracks in the loosened soil. Metal particles erupt from the child’s marching.

“It’s so fun!” Kaitlyn makes an array of tracks in the shape of a butterfly between the boulder and the hill.

Emily sees several frames on the nearby trees. She heads out to examine them. “I’m gonna check these trees out. I’ll be right back,” Emily says. “Can you wait here for a moment, Kaitlyn?”

Kaitlyn is a little surprised by the question. “I— can I go too?”

“It’s a short distance, Kaitlyn,” Emily says. “Don’t worry.” She smiles as she begins to examine the trees.

“O-okay,” Kaitlyn meekly says.

While Emily is examining the pictures, Kaitlyn sees a wring of writing around her tracks. “She’ll abandon you, just like the others,”

“That’s not true!” Kaitlyn says.

“How many visitors had failed to escape?” appears in another wring. “How many had you stopped from leaving?” appears in a line beneath that ring. “You are rooted to the gallery, a part of it. No one will save you now.”

“Sh-shut up!” Kaitlyn begins experiencing a headache.

“Oh dear Fragment, return to me,” appears at her toes.

“No!” Kaitlyn says while collapsing onto the ground, black sludge emerges from her fingertips and shoes. Memories begin flooding back to her. “I don’t want to be here! I don’t want to be alo—” Her body collapses as she fails to finish her sentence.

Meanwhile, Emily looks at the images on the trees, all depicting various people trapped in either horrified or serene expressions, all coiled by thorns. Touching the feelings shocks her as she senses a peculiar type of mana emanating from the portraits.

“What, what are these?” Emily says.

“Your fate!” is suddenly written beside the portrait in front of Emily. The sudden appearance of the text causes her to step back in fright. “And the fate of all your friends.”

Emily begins to realize that her allies might be trapped in the paintings as well. Her face is awash as horror as she rushes back to Kaitlyn.

She returns to the hill and finds Kaitlyn collapsed onto the ground, unconscious and unresponsive. Part of the girl’s body is covered in obsidian muck. She picks the child up.

“Leave her be,” more text is written on the ground, crimson in hue. “She cannot exist outside this place.”

Emily ignores the waring and cleans the ooze off her carrying her off.

✦✦✦

The Coloraturas, as well as Nina meanwhile confront the gigantic skeleton while Charlotte tends to the fallen Kaitlyn. Rose and Clover summon gale-force winds and lightning to attack it, but the boss remains steadfast in its pursuit and the lightning doesn’t faze it.

“This guy has got nerve!” Rose says.

“Really?” Azalea says. “I don’t see any nerves on him!” She summons conjures spheres of water to attack the skeleton, but the bubbles become filled with paint and the monster turns them on the mermaid.

The skeleton monster prepares to cleave Azalea, having been trapped by her backfired attack.

“Azalea!” Rose cries out.

Nina, Hydrangea, and Anemone try to stop the boss’ movements via webs, ice spells, and shadow-pinning magic respectably, but the frozen blasts miss, the spiderling’s webs snap as the monster moves and Anemonie’s magic fails to hinder the monster.

Azalea braces for the incoming attack, and closes her eyes. She realizes that the attack didn’t hit her and opens them to see Raine in front of her. Her arm is replaced by a blaze. And a severed arm is seen to their right.

“Raine!” Azalea cries out. She wriggles her way out of her paint prison.

“I’m fine,” Raine said curly. A new arm emerges from the blaze and the phoenxiain girl clutches it in pain. “Don’t worry about me!”

The skeleton attempts another attack, but Lily uses her magic to blind it and then rushes towards the monster. “Hey, bonehead! Over here!” she says as she rushes towards its fibula and kicks it with her hind legs. Streltizia sees the monster write as Lily’s shin kick and light magic cause it agony and turns to Raine. “Your arm good enough to give me a lift!” Raine nods.

Rose, Azalea, and Clover also see the rest of Lilly’s attack and work in tandem to sever the bone from the rest of the boss. Azelia swims to use her water closer to the bones, the boss corrupts it into paint and tries to bind their opponents, but she swims out of the way with a backflip before the corrupted watercolor paint can bind her. The missed attacks hit the bone and prime it for Rose’s lightning strike. Closer then uses wind to push it closer to snapping off.

Raine meanwhile lifts Strelitzia onto the arm of the skeleton that wields the knife. As the skeleton readies another attack. Raien drops the minotaur onto the blade’s flat edge and she runs along it to the hand.

Hydrangea creates a path to slide on with Anemone, but as with Azalea’s water, the ice is corrupted into frozen paint and begins to turn on them. Hydrangea, aided by Anemone’s gravity magic, leaps off and conjures a new ice path to slide on. As they get closer to the arm, She uses her wand to freeze the arm’s joint. Strelitzia sees the frozen joints and uses her forward momentum and her earth-enchanted labrys to cut through the ice, The giant skeleton’s arm falls separated from the rest of the skeleton.

The beast tries to take the knife with its other arm, but Streltizia uses her powers to buy it beneath before it can touch the weapon. The resulting tremors cause the movements of the others to be thrown off as a fissure emerges in the arena. Charlotte tries to move the torpid Kaitlyn out of the way but is caught in the pit and left to hand onto its edge, with one hand while holding onto Kaitlyn with the other.

Raine sees the alraune hanging on for life and flies towards her, but the skeleton aims to block her. Raine dodges her opponent’s arm as it attempts to obstruct her, weaving through its bony fingers and reaching the newly made cavern.

Charlotte tries to hang onto the ledge, but her fingers slowly slip off the edge as she is weighed down by the other child. She loses her grip, but Rain arrives just before she can fall further than a few feet and grabs her arm with both of her arms.

“Hold on!” Raine says. She tries to lift the two children as the skeleton aims to push them all into the crevasse.

“Sorry buddy,” Azalea says as she swims at the giant’s arm. “But I think it’s time for you to make like a tree and fall!”

Hydrangea slings ice spells at the arm of the giant while Azalea uses water magic. They freeze the air before the giant can corrupt it into the paint. Rose and Lily use their wands to conjure blinding light and stunning lightning strikes.

With the boss dazed, Nina launches several web-lines at the boss from behind and the Coloraturas sans Raine attack the disjointed leg and the frozen arm, their blows force the painted skeleton to topple closer to the crevasse.

“Come on,”! Nina says. “Move you big dummy!” she struggles to drag her webs as the tension threatens to snap them. Anemone uses her gravity spells to make the boss slightly lighter, but it is not enough to compensate for the sheer weight of the bones of the monster.

Raine manages to get Charlotte and Kaitlyn to solid ground. “Thanks,” Charlotte says before taking the torpid child and getting to safety. Raine then flies to aid her fellow Magical Girls.

The giant is now close to falling over and everyone struggles to finish the job.

Rose sees Raine fly to her. “Raine! Ready to go all the way?”

The phoenixian girl nods as she brandishes her wand. The pink-haired lamia summons hers and they combine their powers.

“Skyfire Strike!” the two shout in unison. A crimson bolt of lightning attacks the arm and leg of the boss, causing both to break from its body and fall. Losing its balance, the rest of the suited skeleton follows suit and tumbles down into the fissure.

The children converse on Cahrlotte’s location as the fissure suddenly closes and the room returns to normal. A new painting deciding a chest appears next to them.

Kaitlyn soon wakes up. “Ugh, my head. What happened?”

“Someone had a bone to pick with us,” Azalea says.

“He’s gone now!” Lily says with a cheerful smile.

Azalea looks at the new painting and opens the chest inside. She finds a smaller replica of the palette knife among its contents. “Score!” she says as she takes out the pristine blade. Clover and Streltizia look at the rest of it and find three ingots of Flowesinum and several gold coins.

“Flowenesium, Didn’t those dwarves want these metals?” Strelitzia says as she examines the violet-blue metal.

“Yeah!” Clover says. “We probably shouldn't absorb those.”

“Are you alright,” Raine says to Kaitlyn.

“Yeah,” Kaitlyn says. “Why?”

“No reason,” Raine says.

Rose realizes that Raine is cornered for Kaitlyn. “She’s worried about you, you know.”

“Am not!” Raine says.

Rose and the other girls chuckle.

“Let’s just go!” Raine says.

The girls secure the coffer’s contents and continue on their way. They see the gravestone had vanished from the painting and had been replaced by a sign with “reunion” emblazoned on it. On a hunch, Rose slithers towards the painting and then into it. “Come on!” she says to the others. They follow her into the painting. As Kaitlyn enters she sees a message written to her left. “They are your enemies, not your liberators,”

“They are your enemies,” Kaitlyn mutters.

The writing vanishes, along with any trace of memory of the covnersation from Kaitlyn’s mind.

✦✦✦

At the same time. Tim’s group finds themselves in a strange hallway of strangely mundane paintings.

Richard examines the image in front of it, depicting an empty bedroom with an easel placed beside the bed.

Minerva sees a painting of someone reaching out for a woman as she enters a car. She can tell it resembles a daughter trying to reach her mother, but not why.

Heathcliff looks at an image of a handsome man, the plaque reads “At the start of the curse,” and next to it is a replica of a painting from earlier in the day. It depicts a skeleton. The plaque beneath it reads “Immortality’s Illusion.” Tim looks at the portrait with interest.

“Immortality’s Illusion?” Tim says, curious about the title.

“Looks like someone had failed to escape the Reaper,” Heathcliff says.

Elizabeth and Sarah see an image of a tiny arm painted on a canvas, a frilly sleeve is visible on the arm. The plaque reads “Progress: Day 491”

“What do you think this is?” Sarah asks.

Elizabeth’s expression shows uncertainty. “I don’t know. These portraits seem to be telling something, but what?” She sees a twinkle coming from the floor. Her gaze turns to a key, lying prone beneath a painting of a cushion and a plaque that reads “Key to the Heart”. She picks up the key and puts it in her pocket.

“We need to get a move on, cher,” Heathcliff says. “Got to find the others.”

The six move deeper into the dungeon, hoping to find Emily and the others. As Tim walks, he keeps a close eye on Elizabeth, knowing that her continued presence indicates Emily’s safety.

✦✦✦

The group of eleven girls find themselves in another room surrounded by more paintings. Liminal scenes are depicted on their canvases.

One painting shows an image of a hallway. Azalea swims into it. “Hello?” she calls out, but no one could hear her, the other girls became inaudible to her. She swims out of the painting and examines the plaque. “Silence” is emblazoned on it.

“Hey Hydrangea,” the mermaid shouts to her cyan-haired friend. “Can you come here?”.

Hydrangea comes to the little mermaid. “You found something Azalea?”

Azalea swims into the painting and beckons her friend over. Hydrangea climbs into the frame. “What is it Azalea?”

While the two girls discuss inside the painting, Rose talks to Kaitlyn. “Hello!”

“What do you want?” Kaitlyn says. As moody as ever.

“I was wondering,” Rose says with her usual perky smile. “Do you know about Magical girls?”

Kaitlyn racks her head, she knows there is something about the phrase that seems familiar to her. Raine looks at the two. Her expression bears a degree of conflict and concern.

Streltizia approaches her. “Hey!” the minotaur girl says.

“Yes?” Raine says.

Strelitzia looks at Kaitlyn. “You seemed more tense than usual, are you okay?”

“Of course I’m okay!” Raine says.

“Still think she’s gonna turn on us huh?” Strelitzia says.

“She’s a Fragment, they’ll always attack us,” Raine.

“Rose doesn’t seem to think that way,” Streltizia says. “How did you two know each other?”

“You want to know, huh?” Raine says. “Will you tell us how you and Clover met then?”

“Probably not,” she says.

“Why not?” Raine says with incredulity on her face.

“I just don’t want to tell you, nosy,” Streltizia says.

“I’m not nosy,” Raine says. “You’re the one wanting to ask how I met Rose.”

The minotaur stomps her foot. “Can’t a girl know how our fearless leaders met?”

Raine looks back at Rose and Kaitlyn. “May we talk about later, like when we aren’t trapped inside a Strega?”

“Fine, fine,” Streltizia says. “Say if we get adopted by Emily, can you have those dwarves look at my labrys?”

“I’ll think about it,” Raine says, trying to come off as aloof as usual. Strelitzia giggles.

Meanwhile in the “Silence” painting.

“You were a—“ Hydrangea says.

“Shush,” Azalea says. “Don’t think the others are ready to know that yet.”

“But how? Why?” The bespectacled girl is confused as to how Azalea swims before them now. “Why tell me this?”

“You had a dream right?” Azalea says “Right after you and Rosie froze back at the manor?”

Hydrangea recalls her dream, surrounded by mirrors.

“All I can say is that there is more to us than you know,” Azalea says in an unusably serious mood.

The two look at a door at the other end of the hallway. They try to move to the edge but find the walls and ceiling close in on them with each step.

“It’s a little cramped isn’t it?” Azalea says.

Azalea examines that the door is locked and needs a small key.

The two return to the larger edge of the corridor and exit the painting. She is seeing Rose continue talking with Kaitlyn.

“So Magical Girls can get their wishes granted?” Kaitlyn says, in a polite manner that ill-suits a surly girl like her.

“Eventually,” Rose says. “Though they forget it at first.”

“But why?” Kaitlyn says. “That sounds so stupid!”

“I know, right?” Rose says. “Whisper doesn't know why either, but they assure us that they will try to help us get our wishes.”

Strelitzia looks at Raine, “Oh right, you wished for parents?”

“I think so,” Raine says.

“Sounds like a waste of a good wish to me,” Strelitzia says with a shrug.

“Hey!” Streltizia says.

“It’s true,” Streltizia says impudently. “Parents are nothing but trouble if you ask me.”

Raine sighs. She has known of Streltizia’s opinions on parents for a while now, and that she always dodges the question when pressed why. And that Whisper and Clover had also refused to elaborate on why that is.

Meanwhile, Clover, Lily, Anemone, Nina, and Charlotte each look at several paintings for clues. Nina sees a picture of a spider web titled “Sinner’s Fate” She tries to examine the painting, but as she does a spider monster pops out and scares her. Lily attacks the emerging monster with a blast of light.

“Thanks,” Nina said while still quivering with fear.

Charlotte looks at the spiderling with concern. “Nina, you shouldn’t approach these paintings.”

“Says who?” Nina says.

“Says me!” Charlotte says.

Nina blows a raspberry at the alraune girl. Charlotte sighs.

“How long did you two meet each other?” Lily says.

“Several weeks now,” Charlotte says.

Anemone looks at Charlotte. “You look like you have been through a lot lately.”

Charlotte sighs. She recalls what had occurred at Hamlin. As she thinks about what had befallen the children of the village and what her mother had done. Smoke suddenly emerges from a painting behind her.

Everyone sees that a fire is forming near Charlotte, most of all Kaitlyn who suddenly panics. “Fire!”

The girls escape the room before it is consumed in flames. Kaitlyn’s breathing heavy pants as she barely escapes the blaze before Hydrangea creates a wall of ice to contain it.

“Where did that come from?” Charlotte says.

“You were there!” Kaitlyn says, returning to her usual self. “You tell me!”

“What do you mean?” Charlotte says, confused about what it means.

“We did see smoke coming from a painting here,” Nina says.

“It’s the Strega,” Raine says. “They want to kill us.”

“That track,” Azalea says.

“But why?” Charlotte says.

“The Strega are dangerous monsters,” Raine says. “They especially want to consume Magical Girls and will target them.”

“They see them as a threat to themselves, for we have the power to defeat them,” Azalea says.

Hydrangea muses on the conversation she had with Azalea. She knows that Witches are the only beings capable of killing a Strega, but wonders if that is the proper method to deal with them.

“Hydrangea?” Rose says.

“Huh,” Hydrangea says. “It’s nothing, just lost in thought.”

Raine looks at Kaitlyn with a mix of conflict and suspicion. “What exactly do you know about this place? You’ve been here for a while.”

“No duh,” Kaitlyn says.

“Can you help us find its core?” Raine says. “If we can destroy that—”

“With pleasure,” Kaitlyn says. “Stupid thing keeping me captive here for Astra knows how long! Sure, I’ll help you take it down.”

The other Coloraturas are concerned. They know that Fragments are parts of the Strega, and that if they defeat that then they defeat Kaitlyn. Yet at the same time, they agree that they cannot let the monster exist in its current state.

“Are you sure you know what you’re getting into here?” Rose says. “It could get dangerous.”

“Like that matters,” Kaitlyn says. “I’m in.”

“Raine,” Lily says. “What are you doing?”

“What we have to do,” Raine says.

“Follow me,” Kaitlyn says.

The Coloraturs follow Kailtyn. Raine prepares herself fro the coming battle, whether it be a trap or the conflict with the dungeon themself.

✦✦✦

Emily and Kaitlyn are now inside a ravine with paintings shown on the cliff faces. The cheerful girl looks at Emily with the awe of a little sister as they travel along the ravine.

Emily looks at the artwork in all its creepy glory. She sees a painting of a hand with more hands as fingers, then an abstract piece of a tree made of limbs, and then an image of a bird contorted into the shape of a human foot.

“Do you know why these paintings are so…” Emily says.

“Creepy?” Kaitlyn says. “I don’t know why. They’ve always been like that.”

Emily sighs. It feels like they had been there for hours. The sky above them remains static, not indicating what the time actually is. To her, it could be hours, or it could be days.

“I’d bet your parents are worried sick about you,” Emily says.

“Parents?” Kaitlyn says. “What are those?”

Emily is stunned by the question and wonders how she doesn’t know about family. “Parents are,” she realizes she does not quite know what they are either, least of all how to properly explain it to one as young as Kaitlyn is. “Well they are people that take care of kids, people like you.”

“Like me?” Kaitlyn says as she points to herself.

“Yeah,” Emily says.

“Emily,” Kaitlyn says. “Would you be my parent?”

The innocent question surprises Emily. “Um, I’m not that old.” She ends up explaining the ideas of family, siblings, and adults to the young girl. Teaching her a little bit more about the world beyond the painted borders of Spurius Mundus.

“Will you be my sister then?” Kaitlyn says.

“Um…” her mind turns to the familiar asking Emily to adopt the Coloraturas. And her hesitancy to give a definitive answer to that question. “Kaitlyn, I’m sorry but…”

The child’s smile fades as she sighs. “It’s okay I understand. You don’t want to be around me anymore.”

“Kaitlyn it’s not like that at all,” Emily says.

“That’s what they all said too,” Kaitlyn says, “But they always leave me alone in the end.”

Emily wonders how many people have abandoned Kaitlyn. She wonders how many planned to return but couldn’t.

“Kaitlyn, I—”

The ground rumbles as a rush of water comes in, threatening to flood the ravine. Emily looks at the incoming tsunami. Panic is visible on her face. She instantly grabs Kaitlyn’s arm and runs away from the incoming wave.

The tsunami, resembling blue, cyan, and green paint more than water, rapidly floods the ravine as the two try to hurry to find a way toward higher ground. “The time for games is long past over!” is scrawled in the sky above as the water threatens to submerge Kaitlyn and Emily. Emily sees a cliff with that rock wall that seems more climbable and rushes towards it, placing Kaitlyn on her back as she begins to climb the tall cliff.

“Hold on!” Emily says as she begins to scale the cliff face. Kaitlyn grabs onto Kaitlyn as tightly as she can while the emerging river rises towards them.

Emily makes her way hallway to the top of the cliff when she suddenly feels someone biting her ankle. She winces in pain and sees the emerging river has piranhas in its painted waters. She tries to maintain her composure while Kaitlyn cries in fear of what is happening around them.

Emily looks to her right and sees another torrent incoming, its crest higher than even the top of the cliff. She tries to get to the top as fast as she could, but as her hand grips the edge. The wave arrives and swallows them, and Emily loses her grip on the cliff that is now the river’s wall.

Emily and Kaitlyn are carried away by the rapids. Kaitlyn is rendered unconscious from the water filling her lungs and the speed of the river. Emily tries to swim against the current but the waters are stronger and the river’s flow inescapable. They are soon carried over the edge of a waterfall and plummet into the lake below.

✦✦✦

Tim’s group is now in a painted rainforest. Tim looms over the fallen corpse of a pterosaur-like entity as it melts into paint, revealing a chest.

Sarah opens the chest and sees an ingot of Floenesium and several Arcanite armaments. Her and Richard’s jubilation was short-lived when they realized they were still trapped in the dungeon and separated from both Emily and the young girls that were with them.

Heathcliff puts the treasures away as they hear a gigantic splash in the distance.

“What was that?” Elizabeth says.

Minerva looks around and sees several creatures running past them. “That way!” the Arachne says.

Meanwhile, the children hear the same splash from another part of the jungle.

“What was that?” Azalea says.

“Come on!” Kaitlyn says. “That stupid core will be here!”

The eleven kids rush to the source of the sound and find Emily crawling out of the lake, dragging another Kaitlyn with her arm.

A sense of dread washes over Raine, knowing that Emily is in proximity to another Fragment. “Emily!” she cries out. “What are you doing?”

Emily places the other Kaitlyn on the shore and tries to get the water out of her lungs.

Heathcliff and Tim’s group arrive shortly after. “Cher,” Heathcliff says. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Emily says. “But this child. She needs help!”

Elizabeth looks at the twin Kaitlyns as Emily tries to prevent the one near her from drowning.

The Coloraturas and Tim rush towards Emily. A replica of “Silence” emerges from the lake, with a plaque that reads “Path to the Heart” beneath it. Roses use her lightning magic to restart Kaitlyn’s heart while Azalea tries to remove the excess water.

The unconscious Kaitlyn wakes up and sees Emily and other people, including herself. “Emily? What happened?”

Emily is relieved to see Kaitlyn is alive. Tim notices Raine’s expression. “Is she the core?” Tim asks her.

“No,” Raine says. “She is to this place as a Cell is to an average dungeon.”

“Can we get a move on already?” the other Kaitlyn says. “I want to escape this place and I wanted it yesterday.”

“And who is this spunky little lass?” Heathcliff says.

“We found her on the way here,” Rose says.

“You found her?” The Kaitlyn near Emily says.

Heathcliff senses imminent danger. Elizabeth notices that both Kaitlyn’s mana resemble that closer to Dungeon Constructs and that the key in her pocket begins glowing.

The Kaitlyn near the Coloraturas expresses her desire to leave again.

“Do you know how?” Emily says.

“Did the fairy tell you of Strega?” Raine says.

“I did, yes,” Elizabeth.

“That simplifies things then,” Raine says. “We kill them, you get the core’s mana we get to escape. Everyone wins.”

Rose knows that isn’t quite the case. “Raine…”

“You know it has to be done, Rose,” Streltizia says.

“A-are you so sure, Streltizia?” Hydrangea says.

“Of course. Hydra, what’s gotten into you?” the minotaur says.

“I know the dangers Strega poses,” the cyan-haired girl says. “But perhaps there’s another way.”

“Another way?” Raine says. “You can’t be serious.”

“Sure she can,” Azalea says. “I’m the better jokester here, remember?”

“Debatable,” Streltizia says.

The bratty Kaitlyn approaches her counterpart and extends her hand. “You wanna quit this place or not?”

“O-of course!” the two grips the other’s arm. Their memories flow into each other. Storm clouds gather over the rainforest. The Kaitlin with Emily grows silent “Y-you’re—”

“Katie?” Emily says to the Kaitlyn she encountered.

“You promised!” Kaitlyn shouts to her.

“Drat!” the other Kaitlyn says before being repelled. The key in Elizabeth’s pocket flies out and into the “Path to the Heart” painting.

“Everyone stay back!” Rose says. “The Strega’s coming!”

“Why, why, why?” The fragment of Kaitlyn that Emily had encountered floats into the painting. “Why did you break our promise?”

The painting morphs into a cocoon of black inky sludge around her. The Kaitlyn fragment looks on in terror as the orb changes into a monster, resembling an animated bed. With a metallic frame holding a mattress made of black goo, and the other Kaitlin sealed inside.

The monster roars as everyone prepares for a fight.

✦✦✦

Sarah glares at the demonic bed. She tries to grab its attention, but the Strega simply swats her aside.

Tim leaps at the bed monster, using his wind powers, and stabs it with his Qiang. He can hold on to it for a while but is eventually shaken off by the monster.

Richard rushes to Sarah’s aid as she fires several bolts, but they too prove ineffective against the beast. Elizabeth observes the Strega as Raine and Rose step in with more effective attacks. Emily is stunned by what has just happened and is unable to move.

“Kaitlyn,” Emily says. “What had—”

Speaking of which, the other Kaitlyn composes herself. “Screw it, I’m out of here!” she tries to flee but the bed simply leaps in front of her. Ribbons emerge from the obsidian mattress and bind her arms and legs, slowly pushing her towards it as she struggles to run away. Kaitlyn is left helpless in the face of the Strega she is a part of.

Before she is consumed. The ribbons freeze over and shatter, freeing Kaitlin. Hydrangea arrives to save the fragment from the Strega.

“T-thanks,” she says, shivering as she slides on Hydrangea’s ice paths.

Raine attacks the bed with fire attacks, but the bed evades them with agility.

“Clover,” Streltizia says. “Give me a boost!”

“On it!” Clover uses wind spells to propel Strelitzia into the air, from which she plans to pin the bed down with her axe. She slams her weapon into the mattress and down the monster.

Everyone but Emily, Elizabeth, and Kaitlyn attacks the monster, dealing some damage to it. But the fallen Witch soon roars and shakes off the minotaur weighing her down. The bed tries to move, but Anemone uses her shadow spells to keep it in place. Lily attacks it with light spells, while Heathcliff attempts to get its attention. The bed’s ribbons clash with the knight as he notices Elizabeth is fighting. “You think this fight to sit out, cher?”

Elizabeth is unable to move, her mind, linked with Emily’s freezes as Emily is too shocked to act. The bed tries to attack the fairy, but Sarah tackles Elizabeth and knocks her out of the way.

“Skyfire Strike!” Rose and Raine use their combination attack on the bed and call forth a rain of lighting and fire on it. The duo manages to get it to the ground where Azalea and Hydrangea freeze it from the bottom. As the bed falls, Hydrangea approaches Rose while the Kaitlin fragment drops from the ice path. Hydragia calls to Rose.

“What is it?” Rose says. “Can’t you see we’re busy here?”

Hydrangea whispers an important piece of knowledge into Rose’s ear. Her eyes widen in shock as she learns certain information.

Streltizia makes another swing with her axe and breaks off a piece of the hardened ooze revealing Kaitlin trapped within. The other Kaitlin realizes from her gleamed memories that Emily had bonded with her.

“Snap out of it!” The Fragment says to the catatonic avatara. “She needs you! I need you!”

The bed breaks free from its binding and makes an attack on Emily. Tim sees this and immediately rushes towards her. “Emily!” he calls out.

He reaches Emily and adrenaline takes over. A whirlwind begins forming around him, Emily, and the Kaitlin fragment and causes the attack to nearly miss. The impact jolts Emily awake and she realizes she is in a battle. She sees Kaitlin on the bed monster and another Kaitlin beside her.

“You want to save her?” the brattier Kaitlyn says. “Then do it!”

Elizabeth escapes her daze at the same time as Emily, as she sees Tim’s wind shield. She turns to see the Colorturas preparing to down the Strega, and Heathcliff clashing with it while Sarah, Richard, and Minerva support him.

Clover sees Tim’s wind shield and rushes to Emily. “Want a lift?”

Emily looks at the bed monster and nods.

“Leave it to me!” Clover says with a wink as she uses her wind magic.

“I’ll help too!” Anemone uses gravity spells to lighten Emily as Tim realizes he has created a wind barrier again. His surprise gives way as he hears the thud of the bed being downed once more and begins channeling one of his usual spells.

The three manage to propel Emily into the air and onto the top of the giant bed monster. Rose also slithers onto the bed top to support her.

“Got any plans?” Emily says.

“It’s pretty simple,” the younger lamia says as she uses lightning magic to stun the bed. The voltage causes another piece of hardened ooze to break off and wake Kaitlyn trapped within.

Emily rushes to Kaitlyn “Katie please wake up!”

The child awakens. “Emily? You’re still..”

Rose helps Emily try to break Kaitlyn free while Emily looks into the child’s eyes. “I’m not gonna leave you, Katie. I’m not gonna break my promise, please.”

Rose uses lightning magic to chip at the hardened cocoon. “If there is a chance that you can still be saved…”

Kaitlyn looks to the lamia in confusion. “Of right, that was the other you. Name’s Rose.” She says with a ditzy expression before resuming her spells. “Now hold on.”

The bed monster begins to rouse as Raine sees Rose and Emily trying to free Katie from her binding. “Rose, what are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing?” Rose says.

“That girl is dangerous!” Raine says.

“That girl is my friend!” Emily says.

“That girl can still be saved!” Rose says. Determination shines in both of their eyes.

“You think a Strega can be redeemed?” Raine says as the bed begins to rise.

Rose glares at her friend, “I don’t know, but if there is a chance I want to take it.”

“Rose, why are you doing this?” Raine shouts.

“Isn’t it obvious you dummy?” Rose says. “I’m a Magical Girl! We save people, remember?”

Rose recalls all the times Rose had said that to her, ever since they first met. “You naive brat…”

“Are you gonna help?” Rose says, already knowing the answer.

Emily pulls at Kaitlyn with all her might, but the girl is still rooted to the Strega.

Raine looks at the vulnerable girl trapped in the black cocoon, a far cry from the fragment of her they had encountered. She sees that Emily would not give on on saving her and Rose would not give up on helping her would-be adopter. Raine sighs. “Come on, then!”

Rose smiles as the two Magical Girls and Emily work to free Kaitlin from her prison. The two Coloraturas summon their wands. “Confracta Celestia!” the two shouts in unison as fire is called from their wand and ignites the cocoon. Melting it enough for Kaitlin to move. Emily pulls on Kaitlyn with all of her strength and liberates her from the cocoon. The bed monster grows agitated and rears up, shaking everyone off them and aiming to trap both Kaitlyns within themselves once more. But Raine counters with a wall of flame.

“Coloraturas,” Raine calls to her fellow Magical Girls, “It’s time to end this!”

Lily and Clover use Wind and Light in unison. “Heavensward Storm”. A radiant wind blows around the bed and blinds and buffets it. Hydrangea slides around and freezes it once more while Azalea distracts it with her water. The ice coats the bed and roots it to the ground while Streltizia slams into it with her labrys. Lastly, Anemone uses Gravity magic to increase the force on the bed monster and pin it down.

“Now!” Raine says.

Rose twirls her wand and calls down a heavenly bolt. “Lightning Allegro!” The bolt strikes at the bed, charring its already black ooze and its metal frame. Mana begins to seep from it as the bed lies motionless.

“Emily!” Elizabeth says.

“R-right!” she attunes to the mana seeping from the Strega and absorbs it. The core of the dungeon is absorbed by her. Kaitlyn and Katie begin to vanish as she does so, being absorbed by her as well.

“Thank you, Emily,” Katie says as she vanishes.

“About darn time!” Kaitlyn says.

✦✦✦

The paint on the canvas fades into a blank white as Emily absorbs the mana of the core of Spurious Mundus. Before they knew it, they were back in the Hallwald Gallery. Stella’s light peeking just over the horizon outside.

A chest lies in the center of the room. A farewell gift from the dungeon. Inside lies several suits of armor.

“Wait!” Emily says “Where did they go?”

“You absorbed the Dungeon,” Elizabeth said. “As they were part of it, they too were absorbed.”

Emily’s expression darkens.

“But don’t worry,” Elizabeth says. “I think it is possible for you to see that girl again.”

“So that means we’re done here?” Tim says.

“I’m tired,” Nina says.

“Not quite,” Emily says. She has witnessed a Strega firsthand and knows what strife it can bring to others and themselves. “Is Whisper here?”

The squirrelly familiar climbs out from Azalea’s pocket and greets Emily, barely visible.. “Yes.”

“You still want these girls adopted?”

“Of course,” Whisper says. “We must hurry.”

Elizabeth and Whisper walk Emily though the process of taking the eight girls on as Sentinels. A process that entails Emily absorbing the familiar and all their accumulated mana, and taking on both their memories and the knowledge of the wishes used to contract with them. The Coloraturas give Whisper their thanks and their farewells and the squirrels fades from existence.

“No turning back now,” Heathcliff says. “Welcome to the crew, chers,”

The young witches celebrate their new patron and the group pass by normal paintings and sculptures as they leave the empty museum as the day dawns on Noir.