Over the next four days, a restlessness consumed the Spotlight Sunbright agency.

  Adah and the twins took on simple F- or E-Rank missions, sometimes multiple a day, always heading out as a group even when the mission could easily be completed solo. These jobs were nothing but a way to experiment with new spells, practice coordinating as a team, and put to rest any concerns about Emi’s recovery. Whenever the trio returned home, they’d swarm Grace’s desk in hopes that today would be the day she’d find them a suitable C-Rank mission to take. To save herself some trouble, Grace had taken up the habit of proclaiming, “No,” before the girls could even ask.

  This left them with nothing to do but sit around and wait in anticipation. Some days, they sprawled out in the agency lobby, occasionally glancing at the staircase to the dorms to see if Rika might come down. Others, they tried to hang out in their rooms, only to leave every few minutes and take an arbitrary stroll down the hall to—again—see if Rika might show her face. They felt the girl’s absence all the stronger now that Operation Spotlight had been put into motion.

  Adah had reached out to the blogger Seb as soon as her conversation with Grace had ended. His assistance had proved quite effective during Emi’s recovery, and they had built a mutually beneficial relationship. His channels and connections made for a great megaphone to promote Spotlight Sunbright. Now that they were becoming magical girls worth paying attention to—at least among hardcore fans—it was also to Seb’s benefit to have such a direct line of communication with their agency. Adah would happily feed him exclusive bits of news like an early announcement of their participation in the IndieMagie in exchange for his help on the marketing side of the industry.

  By researching further into his network, she’d learned he kept his focus primarily on agencies that operated within Region 4. That explained his eagerness to write about the Sunbright team, and brought with it an added benefit. He was creating a direct association between their team and this region. That association would be key in generating interest from local news stations in their team as an IndieMagie competitor.

  Before Spotlight Sunbright threw their hat into the ring, a local agency called DreamRise Productions had been the clear favorite for Region 4’s representative. DreamRise was probably the closest thing Region 4 had to a thriving agency.

  While more metropolitan regions had developed healthy ecosystems consisting of industry behemoths, mid-level agencies, and small independents, Region 4 was essentially malnourished. The big name agencies in other regions could afford to dispatch teams across regional borders to claim valuable A- or B-Rank missions, which few teams in Region 4 could handle to begin with. Still, this left all the local agencies fighting over low-rank table scraps and never earning enough cash or glory to match up to the interregional behemoths. There was a limit to how large an agency could hope to grow in this region, as some big fish had already claimed the top of the food chain.

  The newest team out of DreamRise was bucking this trend. They fought tooth and nail to grow despite such unfavorable conditions, and were starting to see the fruits of that labor. That made them an easy frontrunner for regional representative.

  If Spotlight Sunbright was to have any hope of advancing in the IndieMagie, they’d have to spin a comparable tale about themselves.

  Once the publicity train was rolling, Adah had made sure Seb tagged Rika in any posts he made about their team’s plan. Getting her attention was even more important than that of any news station. Yet, even as the buzz around their team emerging as a surprise IndieMagie competitor grew, Rika remained withdrawn to her room.

  Adah tried not to worry about it. So far, she had only set the stage. Rika didn’t need to show up until the spotlight turned on during their fight against a C-Rank. Adah could only wait until then.

  On the fifth day, that waiting came to an end.

  Adah and the twins looked over Grace’s shoulder, eyes glued to the mission details on her computer monitor. A C-Rank Cruelty. It was close enough to take on and still available for them to claim as their mission. They hadn’t fought anything else yet today, and were feeling fresh and eager. This would likely be their best and last opportunity to put the final phase of Adah’s plan into action.

  “Remember, I’m putting a timer on you,” Grace said. “Thirty minutes to the second, then I’m calling it off.”

  “That’s enough time,” Adah said. “It’s going to work, trust me.”

  Those words were partly for her own sake, as well.

  “I’ll tell Rika you three are heading out, but I’m not sure I can do much else at this point,” Grace said.

  “The rest is up to her. That’s how it has to be.”

  “Either way, we’ll be fine,” Ami said. “Even if she doesn’t come, we can probably clean this up in under half an hour. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

  Grace placed one hand over the other, interlocked her fingers, and squeezed tight.

  “I’ve always got something to worry about with you three,” she sighed. “You’d better leave before I change my mind.”

  Grace might as well have shot a starter pistol—Adah and the twins sprinted outside the moment she finished talking. Like they had done so many times before, they synced up with their mascots and transformed. Yet, something felt different today. The start of every other mission seemed perfunctory in comparison, like they were just heading out to a part-time job. When they went airborne this time, it was as if they had rewinded back to their first days as magical girls.

  Adah’s stomach was dancing with jitters, even after launching into flight. She shook her arms and rolled her head, trying to brush off an uneasiness akin to stage fright.

  “Not very Heartbreak of you,” Izzy said to her through their magic.

  “Heartbreak believes in the plan,” she said back. “It’s Adah I’m still trying to convince.”

  The farther she flew, the more she managed to clear her head. The feeling of these clothes against her skin, the adornments of a fairytale she’d recited to herself as a child, had grown familiar over the past few weeks. Now that she had seen herself as Heartbreak in Seb’s photos, this appearance seemed less like a costume and more like a mode of expression. Heartbreak was a medium, a way to let loose all her frustration and fear and melancholy in a beautiful performance, rather than in sour solitude.

  It was because of what Heartbreak had become for her that she could believe in the same catharsis for Rika. Because of that, the plan had to succeed.

  Before she could worry about Rika’s future, however, she needed to deal with the reality straight ahead of her.

  They were flying eastward, in the same direction as where Adah had fought the whale Cruelty, though their target awaited at the far end of the town. The farther they went in this direction, the more developed civilization became. The region’s capital stood in the east, near its border to one of the nation’s other three regions, and that’s where most of the population gathered in offshoot towns like this one. Today, the girls wouldn’t be fighting by the town’s park, but within its expansive suburbs.

  After making their way overhead the stout office buildings and tightly packed shopping district downtown, their mission target came into view. They were still a mile out from their destination, but the Cruelty was massive enough that they could see it clearly even at this distance—a giant gray irregularity growing out of the otherwise uniform landscape of the suburban neighborhood. Just like the mission details had said, an advanced scorpion-type Cruelty awaited them. As the girls closed the distance, the true size of the monster became apparent.

  The scorpion basically straddled one of the houses in the neighborhood, one set of legs planted into each of the parallel streets on either side of the home. The monster’s legs stood tall enough that its underbelly hung above the roof of the house with at least five feet of clearance. Lengthwise—excluding the menacing tail that curled over its back—it spanned about a plot and a half of land. If it unfurled its tail and lay flat to the ground, it could crush the house it stood over and the neighboring one to boot. Hell, just one of its claws could smash away the house like a wrecking ball.

  If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  Adah had seen Cruelties of this size before—larger even, and in-person no less. Higher rank Cruelties were often designated as such in part due to their size, so it wasn’t rare to see news stories about monsters that could flatten buildings underfoot. The giant beast that Pureheart had slain in front of Adah’s eyes could crush this scorpion just as easily.

  However, seeing such a Cruelty as a bystander was an entirely different experience from encountering one she would have to fight herself. She suddenly felt so very small.

  “So that’s a C-Rank,” Ami said, utterly failing to talk with her usual fervor. “It’s fucking huge.”

  “And disgusting,” Emi added.

  “What, are you scared of bugs?” Adah asked. “Or arthropods, I guess?”

  “Just this one.”

  Adah had meant to lighten the mood with a bit of teasing, but her attempt might have backfired. None of them could ignore just how imposing the massive monster ahead of them was. With each second that passed, they flew closer and closer to the Cruelty, meaning the reality of actually fighting it grew more and more inevitable. A certain question rose in Adah’s mind that she felt sure the twins must also be considering. What kind of attack could you launch against that thing without worrying it would immediately kill you in retaliation?

  Time to find an answer grew short, but they had a plan. As a leader, if her teammates were willing to put that level of faith in her, then Adah had to do whatever it took to see that plan through to the end. The most important thing was to learn what they could about this monster while they waited for Rika.

  “Listen up,” she shouted to her teammates. “We’re going to play it slow at first. Poke at it and see what damage our spells can do, as well as how it responds. We stay safe for now and go for the kill when Rika gets here.”

  The twins yelled back in the affirmative. No one dared mention a contingency plan—they needed to be all in on preparing for Rika’s arrival. If they fought half-heartedly, thinking they might as well give up if Rika doesn’t show, that slack could open them up to danger. They all had learned how quickly a fight could turn deadly. They had to commit fully to delaying this Cruelty. They had to believe in Rika.

  “Hang tight, Heartbreak,” Ami called to her as she and her sister zoomed ahead without warning. “Raindrop and I will lure that thing into the street. Give you some space to really let loose.”

  “Take your time,” Emi added.

  “Why do I get the sense you’re actually just calling me slow?” Adah said.

  Emi turned around just long enough to stick her tongue out at Adah, then rushed even farther ahead. In their own way, the twins had a knack for calming her nerves. A warmth spread from her core throughout her body, bringing life back to her hands which had grown cold.

  Just when the twins had nearly reached the scorpion, Adah noticed out the corner of her eye a crowd gathered on a perpendicular adjoining street. Given that the whole area had been swiftly evacuated, that must have been the news media. They had set up their cameras such that they peeked around the street corner toward the Cruelty, filling up the sidewalks with their equipment and even spilling out onto the empty roads. A fleet of motorbikes, modified with saddles or sidecars that the media crews could quickly dump their equipment into and scram, lined the opposite side of the street.

  Adah had assumed Seb was somewhere within that crowd, fighting for whatever scrap of standing room he could find. However, she quickly learned that wasn’t the case. Just ahead, she saw a familiar-looking boy perched atop the roof of a house only three plots away from the scorpion. He must have seen her, too, for he tracked her through the sky with his camera lens. She didn’t know if the lens could pick it up from that distance, but she felt compelled to mouth a bewildered, What the fuck? at him.

  What, did he think he couldn’t let himself be outdone by the traditional news?

  The saving grace behind this instance of insanity was that, unlike with the wolf Cruelties, the girls couldn’t possibly lose track of the scorpion. They would be quite certain if the monster was gunning for Seb, so they wouldn’t have to scramble in response like they had with the farmhand Lucas. The more difficult question would be figuring out what to do if that happened. Maybe it was up to him to jump off the roof into a bush or something.

  “The mission brief said this thing can only attack in front of itself,” Adah said to Izzy, whose presence was still connected to her. “How true is that?”

  “That would depend what you classify as an attack,” he answered. “Its stinger and claws mostly strike forward, but I imagine if it managed to step on you, you would consider that very similar to an attack in terms of outcome.”

  In other words: be careful getting close to it.

  Which, at that very moment, was what the twins were doing. Ami prepared a preemptive shield with her [Aspis Meniscus] and led the charge, sweeping from side to side between the Cruelty’s legs with Emi at her back. The latter cast her [Crux Current] and thrust noncommittal spear stabs at the legs, all of which bounced off the scorpion’s exoskeleton with a splash like she had thrown a water balloon at it. As Izzy predicted, the scorpion couldn’t find a target with its stinger or claws and began stomping around with all eight legs, rotating in search of prey and maybe hoping for a lucky blow in the process.

  This was the moment the twins were waiting for. They darted out behind the Cruelty and flew up above the center of the street. The monster, sufficiently agitated by their prodding, searched around for them and followed onto the street once it found them. It moved slowly, at least proportional to smaller, real scorpions. It seemed unable to put its tall legs to good use and scuttle around quickly, instead having to take more deliberate steps. As such, the twins had little problem outpacing it and leashing it down the street. That was a relief. They would be able to run away if—

  All at once, Ami’s body slammed into the pavement.

  It happened in the duration of a blink. The instant the Cruelty stepped in range, its poised stinger had jabbed at Ami. The point struck her shield and shot her like a bullet into the ground. By the time Adah’s brain processed the stinger’s movement, Ami had already hit the street. Emi, likewise, was sent flying by the impact of the attack against her sister’s shield. Since she hadn’t absorbed the hit directly, she instead ricocheted sideways through the air, ending up somewhere above a parallel street.

  A second flash of motion immediately followed the first strike—another jab from the stinger to the same airborne location Ami had once been. Noticing it struck nothing but air this time, the scorpion began to search again for its target. Meanwhile, Ami rolled onto her stomach and struggled to push herself back onto her feet. Thankfully, whatever power had managed to maintain her shield against Adah’s whip also defended her fairly well against the stinger.

  The magic essence that granted magical girls the ability to fly and cast spells also offered a layer of protection against physical harm. While this protection couldn’t nullify a Cruelty attack on its own, it did reinforce their bodies against impacts, whiplash, and traditional injuries. It was that reinforcement that had prevented Ami from turning into a pile of broken bones when she hit the pavement.

  Still, surviving the first attack only put her in danger of suffering the next.

  “Under!” Adah screamed to her.

  By a miracle, Ami managed to understand. She scrambled to a position like a sprinter in starting blocks, then flew underneath the scorpion before it could align another attack. Adah, at risk of falling under attack herself if the monster advanced much farther, zipped to the right and regrouped with Emi while the Cruelty was distracted. Emi fared better than her sister, only slightly disoriented but otherwise unharmed.

  Ami reappeared on the tail end of the scorpion, flying noticeably slower than usual. Adah called out to her again but got no response. While still out of the monster’s sight, Ami flew over to the other girls where they had gathered a safe distance away from the Cruelty. When she connected with them, she croaked out her answer.

  “Knocked… the wind…”

  She was hunched over slightly and wore a constant wince, but at least looked to be in one piece.

  “Are you okay to fight?” Adah asked her.

  “Good enough,” she managed to answer.

  That was a mistake they got to make once. Ami was the only one capable of defending against an attack like that, and she certainly wouldn’t be able to withstand another impact of that caliber without injury. As they all knew, their magic essence was a limited resource, and they’d burn through it quick if they tanked many more hits like that.

  Immobilizing the Cruelty became their new priority; if they could limit its range of motion, they could avoid any more attacks from the stinger. They would just need to be decisive—the Cruelty was already turning in their direction again.

  “Ami, your chains could connect across a pair of legs, right?” Adah asked.

  “Probably,” she answered, twisting her torso to assess any lingering damage from her slam. “But I’m gonna need a better distraction.”

  Four chains binding four sets of legs. That would effectively turn the scorpion into a shackled prisoner. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but it’d definitely jam up the Cruelty for a while.

  “Emi, you’ll be a visual distraction,” Adah directed. “Head far down the street—I mean really far—and show yourself in front of the Cruelty. I’ll hit it with a whip from behind, then Ami can use the chaos to set up her spell.”

  Emi shouted in agreement, but her sister didn’t join her.

  “Using all four takes all my focus,” Ami said. “I’m basically out of the fight after that.”

  She set a heavy gaze on Adah, the implication of which Adah didn’t miss. They were giving up Emi’s shield.

  “I know,” she said. “It will work. We just need to buy time.”

  “If it doesn’t,” Ami said, her voice still strained, “we need to call this off. I don’t care how much time Grace gave us.”

  Adah could only nod in response. There was nothing to debate. They needed to fight with everything they had while they could, and retreat without hesitation when the time came.

  But until that time came, Adah would buy Rika every second she could.

  The three magical girls flew off in separate directions as the clock ticked down.