"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 Vilin.

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

  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 w 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 ihe 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 densed a localized magic field and brought forth a huge amount of metallid that was then molded into a seven-yered 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 uhe impression that she had won their little fight.

  But he would risk hurting her, and they both khat 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 st 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 ohat held [The Shadow] attribute, it was ohat held [The Mother of Monsters] heritage.

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

  The girl iion had blonde hair with blue eyes shining a steltion of stars, she got an inkling that the girl looked like a petite version of Elizabeth. The pirl 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 sider her a friend of sorts.

  It helped that people thinking she was her or reted 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 ko the girl!

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

  That was bad...She would o 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 robably was aware of it and wao use it as a way to get information to help [Her Childs].

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

  She had dyed her hair blonde si was annoying to use a wig... (And the tribunal said it was dangerous), but her hair would be bck after she released the [Skill]...So she would o use a wig again...And splurge on a dye that was maant.

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

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

  The best teacher in skills and magic the money (And bckmail) 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 wa to work. So while the skill was activated and her hands were shining in golden light as her hair and eyes...She pced both hands on the head of the blonde magical girl.

  In but a mere fra of a sed the energy tained 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 tain a os, 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 DESD 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 cat it and started attag 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, sihe girl was a shining bea right now, but soon enough that ged.Slowly something started to grow in the body of the magical girl as she felt the [Mana] start to ge, 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 shadows...But something was different, she wasn't sure what it was till the sileretched...

  The Silence...

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

  "Are you...okay?" Asked Chl 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 ic that this [Magical Girl] had been proteg.

  "[Yes]." Answered the shadow-cd 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 khis girl?"] Answered Elizabeth, she started pig 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 trol 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 trol of electricity she didn't o physically use the button, and this, in tur that she could spam the thing.

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

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

  Ethan? Shadowcaster?

  "[Then after some help I mao awaken my true calling...And while I wao help The world...I found The World only wao use me and discard me...So I instead used what they had given me only to take ter 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 khat 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 Revetion, I embraced a new name for myself.]" The [Thing] puppetering Elizabeth said.

  And with a wink that wouldn't be out of p 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 ohat proved that Elizabeth owered...

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

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

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

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

  She o run away!

  "[The inal Ameri Crusader] and [The inal Stardust Explorer] Killed you!" And while saying that she executed one of her muarded skills.

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

  She didn't give them the ce to even finish f before kig the ground as hard as she could and trying to run away, if the [Entity] that had possessed Elizabeth was ihe [Stygian Bahen this was something that the current top heroes o deal.

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

  No...This was something that o 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 sery arouo 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 e from the floor keeping her in pce. "[First of all...There wasn't a Sed Geion, nor third...aainly not feion of those you call The Ameri 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 stitution 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 fshed blue for half a sed.

  Wait. She felt her mana? How?

  "[Not you though...You have 10 stitution? You have a normal human stitution...This brat, Elizabeth has 56, she has almost six times the average human stitution.]" What was that thing talking about? "[You o fix this girl, we '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 bck hair huh...That expins a few things...But red eyes and you aren't Tainted? Iing.]" Said the thing while it caressed her face, a dangerous glint in her eyes. ["Now...If you accept my Taint in you...I 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 Bahis one was dressed in the same uniform they had from the school..."[Or this if this is more to your tastes.]" And then anirl rose from the shadows, this one was bck-haired with sky-blue eyes.

  Was this how Elizabeth looked uhe armor as [The Shadow Empress]? It looked oodly simir 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 trol over the shadow tendrils that kept her in pd stood to the side, a smile on her face motionio move towards the three Elizabeths.

  She..."What?" Didn't uand, this shouldn't be possible...No skill owerful enough to make something as intricate as this. No one had that much trol over their mana, this was...This amount of trol was close to a mae's precision. "How?" Asked Chloe iing 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 wa to the world...I am doing the same but under better jurisdi, proving Mother she should have chosen me.]" Answered the Stygian Bane. "[Now pledge yourself to me.]" He said and with the snap of his fihe three Elizabeths dissolved into shadows. "[And you have whatever you wish. Power? Fame? Reition? You I will hand it down to you...Just decre your allegiao me.]"

  But...why?

  Why did The Stygian Bane wao do so?

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

  No matter how much she trained, her body didn't seem to want tthen 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 do, but her hand was inside Nyctophagia's head, and iioook it out with brain matter still dripping from her hand, she didn't seem to care about it and even smelled a little befiving it a lick.

  *blergh*

  She couldn't help it but puke at the se of the blonde girl lig her fingers of the brain matter of Nyctophagia, one of the most powerful A-Tier Vilins...

  Ended without being able to resist...

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

  "Do you bleed?" Asked Chloe while all of her mana densed into a yellow arrow made of thunder. "Because you will. After this." And without any fanfare, she intoned what ossibly going to be her st 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 in.

  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 ges iemperature of what she shot (Unless she lowered the mana barrier on her projectile).

  And this...This ecial 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 te.

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

  Fht now in the sky a brilliant fre with the symbol of an eagle was shining, the fre symbolized danger and a call to arms for [The Twelve]. Reinforts would teleport to the in 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 maed meant that she had no way of stopping this "You will not get away with this." Was the st thing she mao 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 e to her and say how much she regretted having stripped her of her st name...

  Hope that [The Ameri 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.]