Souls to Ash

Chapter 7

6 days until the skirmish

    "We just went hunting the other day, why do we have to go again?" sighs Reiko as we walk through the industrialized city of Kazamino.

    "We were ordered to, so we'll do as we're told." I state, following Maki whom has her soul gem out to find the level three witch.

    "But we're all tired. Why do we need so many grief seeds, anyways?"

    "We just had a magic tournament, what do you expect?"

    "Still..."

    "Stop whining, Reiko, at least you didn't get beat up four times yesterday." retorts Emi.

    "Thank you, Emi." I say.

    "Fine..." Reiko grumbles, carrying on in silence.

    "We're here." Maki states, stopping in front of the entrance to the labyrinth.

    "You girls ready?" I ask, turning to my team. At this, they all nod and we enter the witch's domain. We come across a few familiars, button eyes, their bodies either in the shape of bears or dogs. We eventually get to the witch.

    "Is that the witch?" asks Maki, pointing towards a large, dark figure.

    "Emi." I command, not taking my eyes off of the creature.

    "Alright." she nods, shooting an arrow into the mound. It instantly releases a deafening demonic cry before standing and facing us. The witch stands to be at least seven feet, resembling a bear with pointed ears like that of a dog. Sharp grey teeth can be seen from its mouth, its light green eyes glaring into our souls.

    "Scatter!" I yell just as the beast charges into us. We all move in different directions, confusing it. "Reiko! Run!" The witch runs after said girl, its powerful feet pounding onto the ground with every step, causing Reiko to flinch as it becomes dangerously close to her.

    "Emi!" she shoots an arrow into the monster, causing it to stop and run after her.

    "Maki!" said girl runs forward, jumping just in time to stab her katana into the witch. It howls in pain and swings side to side, hopelessly trying to dislodge Maki from its back. I nod to Reiko and she rushes forward, using her hammer to hit out a leg. She kneels and I jump off of her back just as the witch kneels. I bring both axes and slice them across its chest in the shape of a X. Yasu then springs up as I land on the ground. He bites onto the creature's neck, pulling it to the ground. In the blink of an eye, Emi shoots an arrow into the top of its head. The flaming arrow travels throughout the witch and comes out the other end, causing it to grow still and the labyrinth disappears before our eyes.

    We soon find ourselves in front of the next witch on our list, a large monster with a goat like head and horns, wings, and goat hind legs which it stands on, an ax clutched in its humanoid hands.

    "Maki, move!" I yell, to which she does just before the ax crashes down onto her. It looks at me with its red eyes and charges, its ax hitting the ground where I had been standing. Its eyes gleam and it swings its ax horizontally towards me, successfully cutting into my side and sending me flying across the room. Before I can blink, it charges into the wall I had hit, causing its horns to dig into my flesh. I release a scream of pain as it recoils and gets ready for another attack. An arrow shoots into its back and it stops before turning around. I peek past the witch and spot Emi with her gauze on the ground, aiming another arrow at it. The witch lunges forward and Emi dodges with ease. She shoots an arrow and the creature dodges. I see Reiko sprint up to the monster from behind as it busies itself with Emi. She jumps up and crashes her hammer into the side if the witch's head. It groans in pain and turns around in rage before swiping its ax, hitting Reiko with a bone-shattering blow. I try to get up, but collapse onto my stomach from the pain.

    "Don't move, Kame!" Reiko shouts, getting up with blood dripping down her forehead, "We've got this!" The witch's ax comes down only to be reflected by Maki's katana. She pushes the creature back, reflecting its blows. Yasu clings onto its back, clamping down on the back of its neck and dealing more damage as Emi shoots another arrow into its abdomen. It stumbles back and falls onto Yasu, causing said fox to disappear. Maki attempts to end it by shoving her sword into its skull, but is pushed off and flung to the side by another of the witch's blows. I curse under my breath and struggle to pick up my ax that had fallen from my hands. I aim and throw just as the witch lands a blow to Emi shockingly. My ax hits the witch and bounces off without doing any damage.
    "Hey, ugly!" I yell, struggling to stand despite my body's protest, "Come get some, fucker!" the witch growls and rushes forward. I hold out my ax in front of me, but just before it has a chance to end my life, its head suddenly falls to the ground as Reiko's hammer clatters into the opposite wall.

    "Even though you just about died, you still saved us." sighs Reiko, picking up her hammer as the maze dissipates.

    "No, I'd be dead if it wasn't for you girls." I sigh as Emi rushes over to heal me.

    "That's why we're a team, Kame," says Maki, "we stick together even at the cost of our lives."
    "Someone's getting mushy." I joke.

    "I'm just glad we're all safe." she smiles, to which we all agree.

~

    I sigh as I crash onto my bed, wanting nothing more than to sleep. I had told the others I was going to bed early, to which they told me "Good night" and went to the main room to hang out with the other magical girls.

    "Kame Shohei." I look up to see Kyuubey, fluff and all, sitting on Reiko's bed.

    "Kyuubey? I haven't seen you in forever."

    "I simply came because I sensed you wanted to ask me something. What is it?" he tilts his head to the side. He's not right, but he's not wrong either. Ever sense Reiko mentioned it, I've been wondering why we would need so many grief seeds. We haven't saved up this many ever since Walpurgisnacht attacked one of our territories.

    "I guess I could ask you." I sit up on my bed, "Why are we storing so many grief seeds?"

    "I'm afraid I can't tell you that." he flicks his tail.

    "What do you mean you 'can't tell' me?" I growl, "If you can't answer, then what are you doing here?"

    "I don't expect you to understand yet, Kame Shohei, but something big is going to happen. Four dangerous girls are going to be brought into this world soon."

    "What do you mean by that?"

    "Again," he jumps down, "I can't tell you that." he leaves my room, leaving me to contemplate his words.