Puella Magi Midori ☆ Magica - Deceit

Chapter 24 | Familiar Arrival

Mature content warning for this chapter:
Violence, gore

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             Wandering into the woods, a young girl dressed in red, brown, and white timidly jogged towards the labyrinth. Her chocolate braids swished at her sides before she came to a stop.

              "K-kyubey? It's around h-here, right?"

             "That would be correct. You have improved so much in the last week, Ritsu. It's quite impressive." The cat-like creature padded alongside the girl.

              "Oh, uh, thank you, K-Kyubey."

              "Just be careful. A magical girl is already inside, facing the witch."

             "O-okay! Thank you, Kyubey, for your help."

             The shy girl revealed her bright red ring that began to glow. Within a moment, a new warm and flowing skirt magically clothed her, followed by socks, shoes, and a fur-lined hood. The girl's long, brown hair formed two pigtails and slid out of tiny holes in her hood. The eskimo-themed brunette then spawned a wooden sled with two large blades replacing the runners.

              The moment Ritsu finally completed her magical transformation, the labyrinth's entrance revealed itself to her. She looked up, scared yet determined. Never before had she interacted with another magical girl. 'No matter what happens...' she reminded herself, 'No matter how nice, no matter how mean the girl is, I will do what's best for everyone.' She nodded and then quickly ventured into the maze of madness.

              After passing many undefinable, lurking creatures, Ritsu had finally made it to the entrance of her destination. She could sense the witch beyond several sets of doors. Unexpectedly, the floor beneath her began to move forwards. She used this to her advantage, picking up speed on her sled as she burst through each pair of doors.

              When the light of the chamber finally revealed the witch, Ritsu's eyes went wide.

              A bleeding, yellow magical girl was slowly being brought to her demise by the giant, medieval disaster of a witch. Ritsu had no time to think. The sled accelerated towards the witch as Ritsu prepared to flip off it. The girl focused hard on her ability to deceive as she launched the bladed bottom of the sled directly towards the witch.

               As the witch's attention was dragged away from the ginger, Ritsu leapt from one piece of armor to another until she reached the other magical girl. The brunette spontaneously used her memory ability to erase the girls existences from the witch's mind as she promptly spawned another sled that could carry two. Carefully yet quickly, she snatched Haruka from out of the beast's grasp and prepared to land her sled. The wooden weapon collided against the chamber floor, throwing the two girls off of the sled as it despawned.

             "Ah- oh- uh! I'm sorry!" Ritsu stumbled to find words as she ran to Haruka's side. "Q-Quickly! W-we need to escape! Uh, sorry! Are you okay?! Sorry!"

             "Nnnnghh..." The injured girl moaned in agony, flinching at every move she attempted to make. She was able to roll onto her side, making the large wound in her back more visible. Her left hand reached for seemingly nothing, then fell limp next to her. The soul gem on her palm was near-black.

             "Ah!" Ritsu let out a tiny shriek, unsure of which was worse: the black gem or the wound in her back. "Sorry! Sorry!" The brunette's mind panicked as she tried to focus on the tasks at hand. 'Dark gems need grief seeds. To get grief seeds, you need to kill a witch.' She reminded herself, continuing to process the situation. 'And the nearest witch is-' She turned around to look at the opponent she knew she couldn't beat. The beast reached incredible heights and wore unbelievably strong armor.