《An Uneasy Stalemate》


 Prologue

    In the depths of Midnight, the Bane known as Decay relaxed under the black, starless sky, idly flipping through the pages of a book with his lengthy claws. Despite the lack of illumination from above, the landscape was lit in dull reds, shining up from below through small fractures in the rocky, lifeless ground. Not that Decay particularly needed the light; the book had been read often enough that he could recite every word by heart. The pages were dog-eared, the spine threadbare, and the entire construction was held together more by hope than by any remnants of its original bindings. Nevertheless, he read it anyway, because Midnight didn''t exactly have much in the way of alternative entertainment.


    The Banes didn''t really have the imagination for such activities as creative writing, so the book supply was restricted to whatever drifted in from Earth, and despite the great sacrifices of his peers, that supply was a mere trickle. Thankfully, there weren''t too many of those peers who cared to read, so there wasn''t a huge amount of conflict over the limited goods.


    Decay sighed as a face leaned in, upside-down, peering at the book and blocking his view.


    "Dunno why you spend so much time staring at those squiggles," said the face. "They don''t look very interesting to me."


    "No, I imagine not. Words are little use without the imagination to build them into a living world. But I doubt you''re here to discuss my choice of pastime. What do you want, Envy?"


    "Is that any way to treat an old friend?" sniggered the Bane known as Envy, rotating his neck through a hundred and eighty degrees as he ceased bending over his peer and straightened back up to his full three metre height.


    "No, it is not," agreed Decay, who certainly didn''t consider Envy a friend.


    To be fair, he didn''t really consider anyone a friend, nor did any of the Banes. As a general rule, their grasp of friendship was even more lacking than their imaginations.


    "Well, I just thought I''d stop by to let you know that the rift has reopened."


    Decay frowned. "So, Panic is dead, then?"


    "So it seems. He certainly didn''t come back through the rift."


    "And so our numbers diminish once more. What a waste."


    Envy sniggered. "He believed he could win. The Big D gave him permission to try. He turned out to be wrong. The weakling deserved death, failing after all that confident bluster."


    Decay shrugged. "Had he known his limits, he would still be alive. He didn''t, and now he''s dead, having achieved nothing. I''d call that a waste, but you''re welcome to call it whatever you like. I care little, for you or for him."


    "Know his limits, huh..." echoed Envy, his fanged maw twisting up at the edges. "Like you, you mean?"


    "And what exactly is that supposed to mean, ''old friend''," growled Decay, snapping his book shut as he climbed to his feet, claws scratching at the grey rock and chitin clicking as plates slid past each other.


    "Now, now. No need to get all defensive. Heck, I even heard a rumour that the Big D himself has read your research, and was most impressed with it."


    "What?! Why would he even... Wait... Does that mean...?"


    "So impressed that he''s picked you to be next to cross the rift, or so the rumour goes."


    Decay froze, his grey skin shifting to a sickly green. "That... makes no sense."


    "Why not? You impressed him, and now he wants to reward you appropriately."


    "Reward? How is that a reward? I will die out there! If he''s read my research then he''d know that. He should seal the rift, not send more of us through it!"


    Envy sniggered. "I think that''s the point. I never said he was impressed with the contents of your research. More the cowardice of it."


    "But... we can''t win. We literally can''t win. It''s not a question of the strength of... of... them. Their strength will always grow to the point required to beat us. If by some fluke we kill one, then more will be recruited, and they will be stronger. The world itself rejects us."


    "Excuses of the weak," sneered Envy. "If those human kids are really so strong, why do they feel the need to gang up on us? The rift is only wide enough for us to cross one at a time, but they always operate in a team of four. They never fight fairly. If it was me, I''d try to catch them while they were alone."


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    "If you''re so certain you''d beat them, then why haven''t you volunteered?"


    "I have. Alas, there are just so many volunteers, my chances of being chosen are slim. So I''m sure you can imagine how much everyone hates you right now, being chosen despite not even wanting to be."


    "So that''s what this is about: Envy is envious. Big surprise there. If you want to go in my place, feel free."


    "If only that was an option. Well, like I said, it''s all just a rumour. Who knows, there may be nothing to it."


    Still sniggering, Envy stalked off.


    Decay stared into the distance. The castle in which their lord and master resided was easily visible, the red stone walls standing out against the dark landscape and the tall towers stabbing like fangs into the pitch black sky. "Punishing me like that is indeed the sort of thing he would do," he muttered to himself, tapping a claw against a horn in time with his thoughts. "Nothing I can do about it. Oh well. I''ve lived a long life already, and who knows, maybe I''ll get lucky."


    The tapping continued for a few moments longer.


    "Nah. Who am I kidding? When have I ever been lucky in my life? Everyone who''s ever stepped through the rift no doubt thought the same thing, and where did it get them? Isn''t there anything I can do to win?"


    Alas, no matter how long he considered the task, he simply could not foresee any path to victory. Their enemy wasn''t those pesky human children, it was the entire damn planet. That wasn''t a euphemism for ''everyone on the planet'', either. No, it was literally the planet. The thing had a will and power of its own, and it did not appreciate the invasion of the Banes. The children were merely an outlet for its power. Tools for it to wield.


    By the time the summons to the castle arrived, he was resigned to his fate, but that didn''t mean he was going to accept it in silence. If he was going to die anyway, what reason had he to be polite?


    "And so I order you to cross the rift, to the realm known as Earth, and from there widen the rift," declared the Devourer of Light as Decay knelt before his throne. "I do not require you to fight those little humans you are so terrified of. You are free to flee from them, to hide from them, to cower and tremble at the thought of them. Just turn that pointlessly large brain of yours towards something that''s actually useful, and widen the rift enough for me to cross. Then you will see how much of a threat your so called ''will of the world'' really is. Any questions?"


    "Yes, actually," answered Decay without looking up. "How are you such an imbecile? Seriously. How can the undisputed master of Midnight be so bloody stupid? Were you dropped on your head as a child or something? Did a famished imp fly into one of your ears and gobble up everything it found inside? It''s a good job you never bother with clothing, because I can''t imagine you ever successfully working out which limb goes into which hole. When you eat, do you struggle to remember which orifice the food is supposed to go into, and accidentally shove it up your..."


    "Enough!" roared the Devourer, rising from his throne. He reached Decay in a single stride, picking up the creature in a single hand and yeeting him clean out of a window.


    ''Well, that was cathartic,'' thought Decay as he flew. ''Probably not the best idea I''ve ever had, but still cathartic.''


    Following that, he mostly thought ''ouch'', not so much on account of the defenestration itself, but more because the window in question had been on the fifth floor. Although, every cloud had a silver lining, and in this case it was the fact that the high window meant he went sailing over the castle wall instead of hammering straight into it.


    "Most people use the gate," sneered Envy, who''d been waiting outside the castle.


    "Oh, it''s you again. Come to rub it in?"


    "Yes," easily admitted the Bane. "Enjoy yourself over there. An all you can eat buffet, more squiggles than you can ever read, and, of course, a few oh-so-scary girls."


    "I... actually might..." answered Decay, who was in the middle of a rare moment of inspiration. His master had said there was no need to fight the children, but Decay knew full well that wasn''t an option. They would find him, however hard he tried to hide. After all, the world itself would tell them where he was, and how could he hide from the planet he was walking on? Nevertheless, it had conjured up the seeds of an idea.


    He thought back to the research he''d conducted into the Will of the World. It was an entity with power on the same level as the master, who protected and nurtured the mere mortals that dwelt on its surface. It possessed incredible magic, but that magic obeyed rules. After all, it never personally killed the Banes. It could only act through the children.


    His research had indicated that there was no way he could ever win. Even if the master himself was able to cross, victory would not be assured. But... even if he couldn''t win, perhaps those rules meant that there was an opportunity to not lose. If he couldn''t beat them at their own game, he''d just need to overturn the table and play something else.


    "What are you grinning about?" asked Envy, Decay''s sudden good mood sapping at his own mirth.


    "That''s for me to know, and you never to find out," answered Decay, marching towards the shimmering rift. ''And the best part is that this isn''t even a betrayal,'' he continued in the privacy of his own head. ''If this plan works out, no more of my peers need to die. Yes, the master will be pissed, but... well, I was already sold on this plan even without that little bonus.''


    "Tch," spat Envy. "What''s with this sudden boost of confidence? Oh well. I''ll just have to imagine your reaction the moment before the girls kill you, when you realise that whatever plan you just concocted has failed, and you''re going to die."


    "Oh? You mean to say that you do have an imagination after all? In that case, feel free, if it gives you pleasure. It''s not like it affects me. We shan''t meet again."


    "No. No, we will not."


    Envy fell silent, leaving Decay to continue his march toward the rift. A small, unstable thing. Only large enough to admit a single Bane at a time. Once one crossed, no more could follow until the first either returned or died.


    And now Decay was that one.


    One more step took him through it. The black sky became blue, the sun blazing above. The air full of the tantalising scent of human life, ripe for harvest.


    The Bane shrunk, wrapping himself in the guise of a human. Muscular, not quite two metres, with dark eyes and black hair. A smart suit. A disguise that would let him walk around with impunity.


    At least until he fed for the first time, and the Will of the World noticed him.


    "I drank enough before leaving Midnight that I can last a few days," he mumbled to himself. "I just hope that gives me enough time."

 Chapter 1: School Life

    "Finished!" declared Stacy, putting down her pen with an exaggerated sigh.


    The tall fourteen-year-old girl was dressed in a blue sailor-style school uniform, and was sitting at a table in her school''s library despite the official end of the school day being some time ago. Her eyes and hair were a bright green, and while her eyes could just barely pass as natural, her hair certainly could not. However, despite her apparent utter disregard of the school''s no-dyed-hair uniform code, she was ignored by students and teachers alike.


    "That just leaves our English homework," said Mary, a shorter girl in the same uniform. Her eyes were blue, which was perfectly natural, but her hair was exactly the same colour, which certainly was not, and yet, like Stacy, she received no complaints about that fact.


    "Bleh... Not more homework," complained Natasha. "Haven''t we done enough for today? It''s not due until next Thursday, so we''ve got almost a week! I need a break!"


    Continuing the pattern, Natasha''s eyes and hair were a bright yellow. Not mere blond, but actual yellow, which was certainly not a natural colour for either eyes or hair, and yet, like the other two, no-one spared her a second glance.


    "This is our break," pointed out Tracy, who, despite a somewhat more serious personality, was Stacy''s twin sister. "This is already the longest we''ve gone after the defeat of one Bane without another one showing up. It''s best to deal with our schoolwork in this brief moment of peace, because we may not get another chance."


    As could probably be guessed by this point, her hair was an equally unnatural colour. Red, this time, and given that it was equally applied to her eyes, the result was rather demonic looking. Another correct guess might be that no-one appeared to care or notice. In fact, even the girls themselves didn''t seem to think their colourings strange. Despite how strongly it should have caused them to stand out in a room of blonds and brunettes, it was simply never mentioned.


    "They''re probably too frightened," said Natasha.


    "Doubtful. They''ve never shown any capacity for fear before, so why start now?" answered Mary.


    "Argg, but look at how sunny it is! I don''t want to be stuck here indoors doing work. We should be outside, eating ice cream! It''s not as if I''m going to get good grades, however hard I try."


    "Your grades would be a lot higher if you fixed that attitude."


    "I''m kinda with Nat here," said Stacy. "This is perfect weather for lacrosse."


    "Very well... You two run off if you must, but I''m going to finish my homework. I need to keep my top grades if I want to get into a good university."


    "But then you won''t be around to help me when I do want to do it," moaned Natasha. "Fine, let''s aim for the record for fastest completed English homework!"


    Mary sighed.


    "Nice to see you''re all getting along," chuckled a fifth voice, despite there only being four at the table and no-one else apparently being nearby.


    "William!" hissed Natasha. "What are you doing out? Get back in my bag before someone sees you! Anyway, what part of this makes it look like we''re getting along?!"


    "There''s no-one around," continued the mystery voice as its source¡ªa small, white, winged, kitten-like creature¡ªfloated up from under the table.


    "Did you detect another Bane?" asked Tracy.


    "No... And I''m starting to get worried. This isn''t like them, and they''re normally as predictable as clockwork. They don''t have the imagination to be inventive."


    "I still don''t think we should be worried about monsters not attacking people," said Natasha. "Let''s just celebrate, eat ice cream and move on!"


    "Or at least finish our homework," said Mary.


    Natasha poked out her tongue.


    Despite the complaints, all four girls worked on their English homework, successfully completing it without any interruptions.


    "Finished!" declared Natasha, the last of the four to put her pen down despite her stated intention to set some sort of record.


    "That was certainly a nice change," said Mary. "When was the last time we managed to finish off all our homework with no interruptions?"


    "Before William showed up, I think," sighed Natasha. "And now I need to eat all the ice cream."


    "All of what ice cream?" asked Tracy. "If you''ve had ice cream in your bag all this time, I suspect you''re about to add an important lesson about thermodynamics to the homework you''ve just done."


    "No, you''re adding extra words that I didn''t say. It wasn''t ''all the ice cream I have on me'', it was ''all the ice cream''. I need to eat all the ice cream in the world!"


    "That might be... logistically difficult," opined William.


    "It''s hyperbole," pointed out Natasha.


    "Oh! Well done!" exclaimed Mary. "See, you can do it when you put your mind to it."


    Natasha blinked. "What?"


    "I think she''s congratulating you on using a complicated word like ''hyperbole'' in a sentence, albeit a rather short one," said Tracy.


    "Hey! I''m insulted! I mean, I literally just finished my English homework, and that was one of the questions!"


    Stacy giggled. "Come on. My friends will have finished their lacrosse game and gone home by now, so it''s too late for me to join in. Let''s all go for a walk and enjoy the quiet while we have it. There''s always an ice cream van in the park at this time of early evening."


    "Sounds good to me!" agreed Natasha.


    "Are you sure we shouldn''t take the opportunity to do something more constructive? Some martial arts training, perhaps?" suggested Tracy.


    "Pfft, we''ve never lost before. Doesn''t matter how big they are, we just need to punch them."


    "I feel we should be revising for our exams next month..." started Mary.


    One of Natasha''s eyebrows twitched.


    "... But rest time is important too," she finished.


    "Oh, phew. If you''d tried to make me revise after all that homework, I''d definitely dump you."


    "Dump her?" asked Stacy. "Are you sure that''s what you meant?"


    "Well, I don''t know the verb for defriending someone, and that was the one that popped into my head."


    "... Your head is a very weird place."


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "Only because it hasn''t had enough ice cream!"


    The group of girls packed their books and stationery away, and finally left the library to enjoy their unexpected period of peace and quiet.


    "Wow. That''s an impressive queue," said Stacy as they arrived at the park.


    "Yeah... I''m not sure this is worth it," agreed Tracy.


    "But... But... My ice cream!" complained Natasha.


    "Come on. She deserves a reward after sitting through that much homework," said Mary, joining the queue.


    Natasha peered suspiciously. "Uh, guys? I think I found our missing Bane. Who are you, and what have you done with the slave driver you''re disguised as?"


    "School work is important, but relaxation is important too. Our brains need periods of downtime to work at full efficiency."


    "Wait, so you''re telling me that I need to eat ice cream for the sake of my grades?"


    "I don''t think that''s quite what she said," pointed out Stacy.


    "I suspect that what people say and what Nat hears are rarely fully aligned," sighed Tracy.


    "Hey! I know damn well that was an insult!"


    And so the bickering continued as the queue slowly inched forward, but the four girls nonetheless remained together, their bonds of friendship as unshakable as ever.


    "And what can I get you girls?" asked the van''s owner some amount of time later.


    "I would like your super-over-the-top..." started Natasha before suddenly freezing in response to someone jabbing her back. Given that her back was covered by her backpack, that could only mean one thing.


    "Nat?" asked Stacy with concern.


    "Now? Seriously? Not in the middle of our homework, not even while we were at the end of the queue, but now?!"


    The response was another jab.


    "Sorry, I just remembered I forgot my wallet!" exclaimed Natasha, taking off at a sprint.


    The other girls, realising there was only one reason why she would sacrifice her place in the queue and it wasn''t a missing wallet, followed.


    "Where?" asked Tracy once they''d taken some distance from the other queuers.


    "Slight right. About three hundred metres," answered William from Natasha''s backpack.


    "That close? We really are being unusually lucky with this one."


    "I know, right?" agreed Natasha. "We can defeat it and get back before the van leaves!"


    "By ''lucky'', I meant we can stop it before it does too much damage."


    "Well, yes, that''s good too, obviously."


    "You don''t normally have this much of a thing about ice cream," pointed out Stacy. "Getting cravings? Is there something you need to tell us?"


    "Hey! I don''t even have a boyfriend!"


    Stacy giggled shamelessly.


    Following the directions of the Earth spirit that served as their magical mascot, it took only a few minutes for the girls to find themselves in an almost empty alleyway. Only two others occupied it; a pair of adults engaged in a rather passionate kiss, hanging around at the back door of a pub.


    "Uh..." said Mary, averting her eyes. "Now where?"


    "It''s okay if you take a moment to work it out," added Natasha, who very much hadn''t averted anything, and was watching with undisguised interest.


    "It''s here!" shouted William, bursting out from the backpack. "That''s it right there! It''s draining that poor lady as we speak!"


    The lady in question broke off her embrace and glared at the girls. "Can''t you see the adults are busy? Stop gawking and get... Uh... Wow, I must have drunk more than I thought. Now I''m hallucinating flying kittens."


    "Why don''t you head back inside and get a glass of water," suggested her partner. "I''ll help these lost children, then catch up with you."


    "That... That might be a good idea," agreed the woman warily, keeping her eyes on William as she slowly backed away towards the pub''s door, swaying slightly in a way that could have been due to alcohol.


    The girls, of course, had other theories. Mostly related to the fact that she had been kissing a Bane.


    "I was wondering how long it would take you to show up," sighed Decay. "Come on then, let''s get this over with, one way or the other. My name is Decay, and while I wish I could say it was a pleasure to meet you... well, it is not. Oh, and also, I identify as male, so I would prefer ''he'' rather than ''it''."


    "You''ll identify as a smear on the ground soon enough," declared Natasha. "You spoilt my ice cream!"


    "You invaders are not welcome here," added William. "You covet our world, assault its people and seek to take what does not belong to you. Depart, now, or else be destroyed."


    "I would if I could," sighed Decay. "I really, really would. I don''t suppose I can replace your ice cream and we can all be friends?"


    "Be careful. Something is... not right..." carefully opined Tracy.


    "You can say that again. Trying to talk his way out of a fight? What''s with this guy?" agreed Stacy.


    "Let''s just get this over with so that we can get back to the park before closing time!" exclaimed Natasha. "I call upon the power of the Earth!"


    With her exclamation, her school uniform shone a bright white.


    "I call upon the power of the Earth," echoed her trio of friends, who likewise started glowing.


    "Grant me the strength to protect your children," they continued, and their school uniforms burst apart into bands of light, twirling around them, thankfully at the perfect heights to protect the modesty of the suddenly naked girls.


    "Grant me the courage to stand against your aggressors," they chanted, and new fabric spun itself into existence around them.


    "Grant me the might..." started Natasha, and then Decay punched her right in the solar plexus, hard. She doubled over in pain and the light show cut out, leaving her back in her school uniform as she threw up.


    "... to enact justice," continued the others, staring wide-eyed as Decay spun and caught Tracy in the stomach with a roundhouse kick. She grunted in pain as she went flying backward into a building, then crumpled to the ground, unconscious.


    "Concentrate!" yelled William. "And hurry!"


    "You... You attacked me in the middle of my transformation...!" exclaimed Natasha, backing away. "You can''t do that!"


    "Why not?" asked Decay as he grabbed Stacy by the neck and lifted her from the floor.


    "Gr... Grant..." she choked out, but Decay simply squeezed harder, and words became impossible.


    "Grant me the love to show mercy!" finished Mary, and the bands of light faded, revealing magical girl Graceful Aqua. Her hair had lengthened, hanging straight behind her, and her school uniform had been replaced by a royal blue dress formed of silk and lace, shimmering in the street lamps, as if the material was coated in a thin sheen of water. At the front, it came halfway down her thighs, but at the back, it reached to her ankles. A large bow was tied at the back and ribbons decorated the front.


    "You will pay for that," stated Aqua.


    "Perhaps," said Decay, throwing Stacy¡ªwhose incomplete transformation had already broken¡ªat Natasha. Both of them went down, and neither got back up. "Shall we find out?"


    Mary held up a hand, water condensing out of the air into a ball in front of her. "Hydro blast!" she exclaimed, launching her magical construct at high speed towards the Bane who had dared to harm her friends.


    He did nothing to defend or evade, simply standing there and letting the attack hit him.


    "What?!" exclaimed Mary, dumbfounded as her powerful attack failed to budge the Bane by a single inch. The ball of water simply burst on impact, flooding the street despite the lack of effect on its target. Even his suit seemed dry.


    "And now we have found out," said Decay as his somewhat strained expression morphed into a sneer. "I''ll admit, I was uncertain it would work, but it appears that luck is on my side today."


    "William?" asked Mary, her voice trembling slightly for the first time in the battle.


    "I... I don''t know!" answered the mascot. "He''s immune to your powers, somehow!"


    "Indeed I am," he agreed. "For our next experiment, shall we see if you are immune to mine?"


    He clicked his fingers, causing numerous ribbons of utter darkness to shoot from the tarmac around Mary.


    "You won''t catch me that easily!" exclaimed Mary, chopping at one with her palm, pouring enough magic into the attack that a glowing blue aura formed around her hand.


    The shadowy band didn''t break, but simply wrapped around her wrist, then twisted, dragging her arm behind her back.


    "What?! How... Urk... Why can''t I break it?!"


    She struggled uselessly as more of the bands wrapped around her ankles, trapping her in place. Then they spun around her, winding higher and higher, binding her legs together as they slowly cocooned her. Her eyes widened in shock and fear as more of the ribbons wrapped her arms, pinning them behind her back and robbing her of all movement.


    "How... I can''t move... How are you... mmmph!" shouted Mary, her final exclamation silenced by one of the bands wrapping itself across her face, covering her mouth and nose. She shook in desperation as she tried and failed to draw breath.


    "This really is a best case scenario. It appears that my powers don''t merely work on you, but that you''re completely impotent against them," smirked Decay, his mood improving by the second. "You seem rather confused about why, though, which is a little surprising. Did that fluffy puppetmaster of yours not tell you exactly what you were signing up for? Do you never listen to those cheesy catchphrases you shout?"


    The mummified magical girl could do little but watch in horror as the Bane casually approached, her eyes the only exposed part of her by the time he came within striking distance.


    "Stay away from her!" yelled William, ineffectually tugging at Decay''s hair. "Dammit! Natasha! Stacy! Tracy! Wake up!"


    "Oh, quieten down, spirit," said Decay, casually swatting away the magical kitten. "And as for you, Graceful Aqua, I offer my thanks for your help in proving my hypothesis, but now that I''ve confirmed my theories, I''m afraid you aren''t needed anymore."


    He raised a hand, which roiled and shifted, changing from its human disguise back to its original, viciously clawed form. He pressed one of those claws against Mary''s cheek.


    "Nnn!" she tried to scream into her gag, the suffocating girl struggling desperately, albeit uselessly, in her panic.


    "And so I only have one thing left to say to you," continued Decay as one final band plastered itself across Mary''s eyes, the last thing she saw before being plunged into darkness being Decay letting the transformation of his face slip just enough to put a bit of fang on display. "And that is: goodbye."


    "MARY!" exclaimed William as Decay slowly dragged his claw down to the magical girl''s throat.

 Chapter 2: Stalking

    "Mary! Mary!" shouted Natasha.


    Mary''s eyes fluttered open as she gradually reclaimed her grip on consciousness. "Is this the afterlife?" she mumbled. "But I didn''t finish my exams..."


    "Mary! Thank goodness!" exclaimed Natasha, lifting her defeated colleague from the ground and squeezing her in a tight hug.


    "I''m... alive? But... What happened? How did we win?"


    "You didn''t," flatly stated William. "You fainted, and then he just... left."


    "Pardon?"


    "I said, he just left. You passed out and your transformation broke while you were still tied up, but he just chuckled, dispelled your bindings, caught you as you fell, gently lowered you to the floor, then ignored you all and walked away. He talked to that woman from the bar for a bit, then helped her into a taxi and walked off in the opposite direction. That was about half an hour ago, before any of you woke up. He hasn''t attacked anyone else since, thank goodness."


    "But... that makes no sense. He had us at his mercy. Why didn''t he finish us off?" asked Mary, sitting up. "Eww. I fell into a puddle. My skirt is sodden."


    "Uh... That''s not a puddle," said Natasha carefully. "Sorry."


    "Then what is it?" asked Mary, before noticing the off-yellow colouring and familiar aroma. "Oh..."


    "From what William described, you must have been very scared. I can''t imagine what that must have been like."


    "Thanks for the reassurance, but it''s okay. It''s funny. We''ve been in some tight spots before, but I''ve always known, deep down, that we''d be fine. That all we needed to do was work together and try our best, and we''d pull through. This time... that feeling just wasn''t there. There was nothing but terror and helplessness. Enough terror that I passed out, apparently, because even if he stopped me breathing, it wasn''t for long enough for me to suffer oxygen deprivation. I looked into his face, and I knew that I was going to die."


    "Well, I''m glad that you didn''t," said Natasha, leaning in for another hug despite her friend''s urine-drenched clothing.


    "I''m glad none of us died, or even took serious injuries," said Tracy, who was a little distance away, carefully inspecting Stacy''s neck. "As far as I can see, Stacy only has some light bruising."


    "Light... bruising...?" asked Stacy quietly. "Talking... hurts..."


    "With our rapid healing, you''ll be fine in an hour or two. Just rest your voice for now. But I echo Mary; why didn''t he kill us?"


    "He didn''t think he needed to?" suggested Natasha. "Maybe he thought we were so far beneath him that we weren''t worth his time?"


    "That may be, but then why didn''t he finish off the lady he was draining? He was acting as if he attacked her specifically to lure us, and he treated the entire encounter as some sort of test."


    "He wanted to test if my power worked on him, and if his worked on me," confirmed Mary.


    "And the answers were not good. How is that even possible?"


    "I don''t know," answered William. "I sensed nothing from him but pure evil. There wasn''t a shred of light in him. Nothing that should be capable of resisting your powers. I agree that he considered the encounter a test, though. At the beginning, he seemed almost scared of you. It wasn''t until he took Mary''s attack head-on without a scratch that he began acting confident."


    "He seemed to think you should know," pointed out Mary. "He accused you of not telling us."


    "Well, I don''t. Maybe he was trying to drive a wedge between us, or maybe it''s something only he thinks is obvious."


    "Not much point playing mind games with us when he can finish us off at a whim," said Tracy.


    "True, but I can''t think of anything obvious he could do. Your powers exist to erase evils like him. It''s their entire purpose. He can''t just make himself immune."


    "We should stalk him!" declared Natasha.


    "Hmm? Why?"


    "It''s Saturday tomorrow, so let''s follow him around all day and see what he''s up to. If it''s something he thinks is obvious, maybe we can spot it."


    "Huh, so Nat does come up with good plans once in a while," said William.


    "Hey!"


    "I agree. Me and Stacy should be the ones to do it, though," said Tracy. "With just two of us it''ll be easier to hide, Mary needs time to recover, and Nat wouldn''t be able to keep her mouth shut and would be distracted by every cafe we walk past."


    "Hey! I mean, true, but still... Hey!"


    "I''m fine, honestly," said Mary, who had either not noticed or was ignoring the way she was still trembling slightly. "I just had a bit of a fright. But yes, I agree a smaller team would be less conspicuous. Can you track him, William?"


    "Yup. Now that I''ve seen him, there''s no way he can hide from me! He''s currently about eight miles in that direction."


    This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    The Earth spirit pointed.


    "... That abandoned factory outside of town again?" asked Tracy.


    "Yes, it''s about the right direction and distance," agreed Mary.


    "Seriously? Why do they all end up there?!" complained Natasha. "The place is spooky."


    "We should consider trapping the building," said Tracy, adding, "What?" when the other girls turned to stare at her.


    "Seems a bit dangerous," said Natasha.


    "If our enemies aren''t going to play fair, then neither should we," Tracy countered. "And on a related note, we should transform before we rush into an encounter, not after."


    "But if we run through the city in our magical girl costumes, we''ll be seen," said Natasha. "What if someone figures out our secret identities? I don''t want paparazzi chasing me around! Banes aren''t allowed to attack us while we''re transforming!"


    "They aren''t allowed to steal energy from people, either, but that hasn''t stopped them before. Personally, I think it''s weirder that they normally wait for us."


    "You don''t need to worry about people figuring out your identities, for the same reason you don''t need to worry about your hair being conspicuous," admitted William. "I agree with Tracy. From now on, make sure you''re transformed before you encounter this new Bane."


    "Why would my hair be conspicuous?" asked Natasha, taking hold of a lock of her unnatural yellow, pulling it around in front of her eyes and staring at it in incomprehension.


    "Never mind. My point is that you can run through the city transformed, and your powers will cause people to... well, it''s not that they won''t see you. They just won''t think they''ve seen anything strange or noteworthy."


    "Huh. Cool. In that case, let''s go home for the night."


    "What? No mention of ice cream?" asked Mary.


    "I''m... really not in the mood," sighed Natasha.


    "... Once I catch up with this Bane, I''m going to wring his neck," stated Stacy, who had recovered somewhat while the others were conversing. "He broke Nat!"


    And so, the following day, a pair of incredibly conspicuous girls in impractical frilly dresses crouched behind a bush, staring between the branches at a handsome gentleman as he proffered a hand to an elderly lady.


    She took it, smiling thankfully as he led her across the road.


    "What?" asked Stacy. Transformed into magical girl Resilient Nature, she wore a green dress of similar shape to Graceful Aqua''s, except woven from leaves. Vines replaced ribbons and webs replaced lace.


    "Don''t ask me. I have no more clue than you do," replied her twin sister, in her Shining Nova form. Again, while the shape was similar, the materials substantially differed, Tracy''s blood-red dress shimmering as wisps of flame danced across its surface and drizzled from the hem, continuing to burn without heat on the pavement for a few seconds before fizzling out.


    "I mean... Quite aside from why Decay is helping elderly ladies across the road, I didn''t realise helping old ladies across the road was a thing that actually happened in the first place."


    "And again, I''m as clueless as you are."


    They watched the lady hobble into a convenience store. The Bane watched, too, briefly flipping her the bird the moment she was out of sight, before marching off down the street.


    "I''m starting to form a suspicion," admitted William. "If I''m right... it''s not the worst news in the world."


    "He''s completely immune to our magical powers and we''re helpless against his!" exclaimed Stacy. "How is that not the worst news?"


    "Wait and see; I want to confirm my hypothesis before I say any more, because relying on it would prove disastrous if I''m wrong."


    "... I don''t get it, but let''s keep following him, then."


    The pair of girls shuffled from bush to bush, trying to keep out of sight of their prey, but ignoring the other pedestrians on the street. The other pedestrians ignored them in turn.


    "I have to say, this perception filter thing is handy," said Stacy. "Why haven''t you mentioned it before?"


    "Not handy enough to hide me, alas," answered William from where he was hiding inside Tracy''s dress. "But it''s never been relevant. Besides, I assumed you knew. I mean, some of your fights have taken place in malls, busy streets, that war museum. Didn''t you ever wonder why your faces haven''t ended up plastered over the news?"


    "Hmm... Now that you mention it, that is a bit strange."


    "Does any of this filter apply to us?" asked Tracy, somewhat suspiciously.


    "Hey, look, he''s turning into that building!" exclaimed William, abruptly changing the subject.


    "A charity soup kitchen?" asked Stacy. "But Banes don''t need to eat physical food, do they?"


    "No, they don''t. Back in Midnight, the ambient energy was sufficient to sustain them, or they could drink from the black river if they exerted themselves so much that they required more. Here, they can get some of Midnight''s ambient energy that leaks through the rift, but it''s not enough to survive. They can only sustain themselves by draining energy from humans."


    "Then what''s he doing in there?"


    "He''s gone into the back," said Tracy, watching through a window. "I think he''s working there."


    "More likely volunteering. It''s a charity, and I doubt they have the money to pay staff wages."


    They watched for a few minutes longer, Decay emerging from the back room with a rather fetching apron tied over his suit and taking over service at the counter, dishing out bowls to anyone who asked for one. He smiled charmingly at every visitor, no matter their condition, only for his expression to curl back into a disgusted sneer whenever no-one was looking.


    "Helping old ladies across the road? Volunteering in a soup kitchen? What the heck is up with this Bane? He obviously hates it."


    "Well, I think that settles it," said William. "He''s being nice. His motivations are completely screwed, but apparently that doesn''t matter."


    "What do you mean by that?" asked Tracy.


    "Think through the spell you use to transform. Is one of the lines not ''Grant me the might to enact justice''? To enact justice is to punish someone deservedly, and not to punish those who have done no wrong. Is it ''just'' to use your power to kill someone who helps old ladies across the street and volunteers to help feed the destitute?"


    "But he attacked that woman!"


    "It... uh... appeared to be consensual, to some extent. And he didn''t take much from her. Enough to sustain himself, but certainly not enough to widen the rift. After all, she was able to walk away afterwards without even realising anything was wrong. Previous victims of Banes have typically ended up hospitalised, sometimes spending multiple days in a coma."


    "So, you''re telling us that there''s nothing we can do?" asked Stacy.


    "I think he''s telling us that there''s nothing we need to do," said Tracy. "We saw yesterday that Decay was scared of us until he realised his plan was working. It seems this Bane is so terrified of us that he''s acting good. If he keeps it up, does it matter what he really thinks? Besides, as long as he''s here, it means a worse Bane can''t squeeze through. We''d be better off keeping him."


    "... This doesn''t sit right with me," admitted William. "Let''s keep watching, at least. His heart is pure black. Who knows what he''ll do if we leave him to his own devices? He''s not going to continue helping old ladies across the road if he thinks we''ve given up on beating him."


    "Yeah, I agree that we can''t just leave him alone," said Tracy. "But was this what you meant by good news? That he''s not going to widen the rift and flood Earth with his kind?"


    "Well, yes, there is that, but I was also referring to the fact that he can''t hurt you."


    "He sure hurt me yesterday..." disagreed Stacy.


    "He did the minimum required for self defence. Despite having the opportunity to kill her, he didn''t hurt Mary at all, beyond terrifying her half to death. I''m pretty sure he can''t. After all, injuring a bunch of girls who are devoting their life to protecting the world would be a seriously evil act. The moment he tried it, he''d lose his protection."


    "... Then it appears we''re at something of a stalemate," sighed Tracy.


    The other two nodded in resigned agreement.

 Chapter 3: Goading

    Stacy and Tracy sat at a table in a pub, sipping glasses of lemonade, staring at the bar where a disgustingly handsome guy was chatting up an entire party of girls. The pair had transformed out of their magical girl forms, mostly because the perception filter had limits¡ªthere was no way they could order drinks and expect the bartender not to notice them¡ªbut partially because they simply weren''t needed and the bulky costumes were a pain to sit down in, literally. The decorative frills were enough to make even the softest seating uncomfortable.


    "The number of things I''m seeing that I thought only happened in movies keeps climbing," sighed Stacy.


    "And there''s nothing we can do?" asked Tracy, as the Bane French-kissed one of the girls, the others jeering in response.


    "He''s not hurting them and he''s not forcing himself on them," answered a voice from under the table, causing the patrons on the next table to look around in confusion. "He really is only taking enough to ensure he doesn''t starve. To those girls, it''ll feel no worse than if they''d had an extra drink or two. From the looks of them, it''s obviously not an unpleasant experience."


    Decay finished his nourishing kiss¡ªhis ''victim'' a little wide eyed and spacey, but pulling a big, dopy grin that made it obvious that ''not unpleasant'' was something of an understatement¡ªand flashed the girls'' table a wink.


    Stacy mimed throwing up.


    The Bane smirked back.


    "This is stupid," said Stacy. "Let''s go home."


    "No. We need to keep him under watch," said Tracy.


    "Why? He''s just rubbing it in."


    "And if we weren''t watching, what would stop him taking just a little more than he needs? How much energy would he need to drain to balance out a shift of volunteer work? We mustn''t let him experiment."


    "We can''t keep watching him forever, and besides, from the way he acted yesterday, he obviously didn''t know he''d be immune until Mary attacked him. That means any experimentation would require us to attack him repeatedly, in which case the moment his protection does break, he dies. He''s every bit as stuck as we are."


    "Maybe we could capture him?"


    "Oh, that''s some scary stuff for a pair of such young girls to be saying," he said from the bar.


    "The heck?! How good is his hearing?"


    "Just ignore him."


    "We can''t keep him under twenty-four-hour watch forever, though. There are only four of us, and we have school to worry about."


    "Let''s just leave," interjected William. "If he starts draining more energy, I''ll sense it. We can check up on him again later."


    "Fine. There''s no point talking about him here when he can hear everything we say. Let''s go update the others on what we''ve learnt."


    Decay poked his tongue out at the girls as they left. Stacy responded in kind.


    <hr>


    "That''s ridiculous," said Natasha, sometime later, the girls having gathered in Stacy and Tracy''s shared bedroom. It had become the squad''s official meeting point mostly on account of it being the biggest, although Natasha also appreciated their extensive games console collection. "You can''t just act good. It doesn''t mean anything if you don''t believe in it. He''s still an evil monster, however he behaves."


    "Is he?" asked Mary. "Legally speaking, the vast majority of global laws only forbid specific actions, not the contents of someone''s head."


    "Only because no government has yet invented a device to read minds," opined Tracy. "I bet we''ll see a whole host of new laws the moment someone does."


    "... Well, there''s a dystopian nightmare I''ll be having the rest of the week," sighed Stacy. "But Mary has a point. I can want to kill Nat as much as I like, and no-one''s going to stop me."


    "Hey!" exclaimed Natasha.


    "If I start researching poisons and how to dissolve bodies in acid, maybe someone would take notice, but it''s not really until I start buying acid that I''d get into serious trouble. Even then, I wouldn''t be charged with murder. Not unless I''d actually done it. Attempted murder, or conspiracy to commit murder, but not murder itself."


    "Can you stop talking about murdering me, please?"


    "You''re... right, aren''t you?" said Tracy. "What Decay actually wants doesn''t matter as much as his actions, and he''s acting ''good''. To be honest, we don''t even know what he wants. We''re just assuming he wants to watch the world burn."


    "He scared Mary half to death!" complained Natasha. "Not to mention beating up the rest of us. How is that ''good''?"


    "It was in self defence," pointed out Tracy. "He didn''t touch us this afternoon, despite all his sneering."


    "And despite us saying some openly antagonistic things," nodded Stacy.


    "You can''t claim what he did to Mary was self defence. No young maiden should need to go through that indignity!"


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    "It wasn''t that bad," claimed Mary, despite giving a small involuntary shudder at the memory. "I mean, yes, at the time I was convinced I was going to die, but in the end he didn''t hurt me at all. I got off lightly compared to you three."


    "Speak for yourself. I''d much rather be punched than wet myself," said Natasha.


    "But what else was he supposed to do? If he''d simply released me, I''d have attacked him again. With the benefit of hindsight, I prefer what he did to if he''d simply beaten me unconscious, or left me bound by magic that none of us could break."


    "... Putting that debate aside, I must admit, I have no idea what to do next," said William, speaking up for the first time in the conversation. "He''s unambiguously evil, and his mere existence in this world requires him to feed on the energy of humans, but for as long as he puts on this act, your powers can''t touch him."


    "Then we just need to defeat him without our powers," said Tracy.


    "Huh? How?" asked Natasha. "There''s no way we can stand up to him without magic!"


    "No, I don''t mean we should get into an untransformed fist-fight with him. We can use our powers as magical girls, just not on him directly."


    "What do you mean?" asked Stacy.


    "Oh, I see," said Mary. "Rather than hitting him directly with Hydro Blast, I could, for example, hit the supports of whatever building he''s in and collapse it on top of him."


    "Exactly. We have lots of options. Heck, we could go full Acme and drop an anvil on his head. Dig a big pit-trap in front of the factory and fill it with snakes. Wrap up a stick of dynamite in wrapping paper, light it and hand it to him."


    "... As funny as it would be, I''m pretty sure none of that would work in reality."


    "Ooo, this filter we have to stop people noticing us in our magical girl forms? Just how good is it?" asked Natasha. "Could we¡ªto pick a random example that I''m not at all planning on doing¡ªwalk into a military base and come out with a sack of machine guns and grenades?"


    "... You''re totally thinking of doing that, aren''t you?" sighed Mary. "Please don''t do anything illegal."


    "Aww. But isn''t it the dream of every maiden to fire an RPG at least once?"


    The other three girls peered at Natasha.


    "... No," said Tracy carefully. "I am reasonably sure that it is not."


    "Easy for you to say. Your Pyro Bullet attack is practically a rocket already. All I can do is conjure up a bit of wind."


    "As much as I mock your ice-cream obsession, please don''t replace it with whatever the hell this is," said Stacy.


    "Putting Natasha and her proclivities aside, we have two questions we need to answer," said Mary. "Coming up with a way of taking out Decay is secondary to the question of whether we want to take him out. He''s not hurting anyone, and as long as he''s here, no other Bane can get through. Why not keep him?"


    "I don''t disagree that he''s better than other Banes, but there are logistical issues with ''keeping'' him, as you put it," said William. "You must continue to provide checks on his activities indefinitely, because the moment he feels he''s no longer under watch, he''s likely to start acting up. Perhaps he''ll never attempt to widen the rift, because he knows I''ll detect it, but there are so many other things he could do. I can''t imagine he''ll be content living in an abandoned factory forever. Perhaps he''ll murder the owner of a larger mansion somewhere and alter his appearance to replace them. Perhaps he''ll resort to theft or fraud. It''s not like he can get a real job without any sort of national ID."


    "Oof, did anyone else just get a weird image of him in his suit on the floor of a stockmarket, waving a folder around?" asked Natasha.


    "... That''s oddly specific," said Stacy. "Although I''ll admit that suit does make him look like some sort of high-powered businessman."


    "Don''t get distracted," sighed Tracy. "So, the first question; do we remove him or tolerate him?"


    "I don''t think we have any choice but to remove him," said Mary. "We don''t have the capability of keeping him under watch forever, and we know there are a limited number of Banes. Yes, getting rid of him will let another replace him, but we''ll just get rid of that one, too. We''ll keep going until there are no more Banes left to invade."


    "I don''t disagree, but I would like to make an observation," said Tracy. "You keep using terms like ''remove'' or ''get rid of''. Don''t couch this in misleading language. You''re proposing the murder of a sapient being who has, morally speaking, not done anything seriously wrong."


    Mary winced, the other girls looking distinctly uncomfortable.


    "Perhaps it''s true that we''ve spent long enough fighting the Banes that we''ve grown... well... racist," said Stacy.


    "It''s not racism if it''s true," spat Natasha.


    "What other options do we have?" asked Mary. "We can''t send him back through the rift; he said himself that he wants to, but can''t."


    "Then why''s he here in the first place?"


    "I think there''s only one way to find that out; ask him," said William. "As much as this pains me to admit, we might need to talk to him. Properly."


    "You mean negotiate?" asked Tracy. "With a Bane? What''s the point? How can we hold him to any promises he makes?"


    "He started by offering to be friends," pointed out Stacy.


    "He did offer me ice cream," cautiously added Natasha.


    "You''re all seriously considering making peace?" said Mary. "You call it murder, but do Banes even ''die'' when we purify them?"


    "Yes," stated William. "What did you think was happening? That you were sending them back to Midnight mildly chastised?"


    "They kinda blow apart into clouds of dust..." pointed out Natasha. "Hard to survive that."


    "I know! That''s why I assumed something weird was happening. Most people leave corpses when you kill them."


    "So all this time, you''ve believed you were saving the Banes?" asked Natasha incredulously.


    "... No," admitted Mary, quietly. "It''s what I wanted to believe, for sure, but deep down I knew what I was doing. I just didn''t want to admit it, because if I admit that, then I need to admit that we''re not better than they are."


    Natasha blinked. "Huh?"


    "You''re too bright for your own good," sighed William.


    "Huh?" repeated Natasha.


    "If you went out onto the street right now and stabbed someone to death, what would happen?" asked Mary.


    "Uh... I''d get arrested?"


    "Exactly! Then you''d have due process, a proper trial, and if you lost, you''d be imprisoned somewhere you couldn''t hurt anyone else. What wouldn''t happen is that a bunch of random schoolkids would swoop in from nowhere and vaporise you."


    "Oh. I see your point. But the Banes are monsters! It''s not like we can arrest them."


    "They''re intelligent, and, as Decay has proven, they understand the difference between good and evil. Just because they generally choose evil, what gives us the right to kill one that doesn''t?"


    Natasha opened and closed her mouth as she floundered, unable to come up with a response.


    "That''s simple," said Tracy. "This isn''t ''crime'', it''s ''war''. We aren''t law enforcement dealing with criminals, we''re soldiers dealing with an invasion force. We''ve had every right to kill the previous Banes."


    "If we use that logic, then the Hague is going to want words with William," said Mary. "But yes, that logic does make me feel a little better, but it simply doesn''t apply to Decay. He''s not leading an invasion. The worst we can call him is an illegal immigrant."


    "That''s enough," declared William. "You''re just talking yourselves in circles, and it''s not going to achieve anything. He''s back in the factory. Let''s go have a little talk."

 Chapter 4: Cohabitation

    "No," sneered Decay. "I was more than willing on our first encounter, but why should I cooperate with you now that I know I''m immune to anything you can throw at me?"


    "Because you aren''t," said Shining Nova simply. Tracy had transformed into her magical girl form, as had her teammates, who had all gone to confront their latest invading Bane in his borrowed home. "Would you survive this factory collapsing on your head, for example?"


    "Yes," answered Decay, equally simply.


    "Darn. I knew we should have borrowed some equipment from the army," said Gentle Breeze. In her transformed state, Natasha was clad in a yellow dress that was almost imperceptibly thin, yet still opaque. The loose fabric fluttered around her at even the slightest movement of air.


    "Oh? ''Borrowed''?" asked Decay, raising an eyebrow. "You mean you planned on breaking and entering, trespassing in a highly restricted area, theft of military assets, illegal possession of weapons, and, to top it all off, destruction of property and murder?"


    "Uh... I wasn''t planning on any destruction of property, as such."


    "Oh, believe me, short of me traipsing out into the middle of a desert somewhere, the amount of conventional firepower required to bring down any Bane is going to cause a considerable amount of collateral damage. Now, if you''ll excuse me, my shift at the soup kitchen starts in twenty minutes, so I really must get going."


    Ignoring the girls, the Bane walked over to the door of the abandoned factory.


    "Why?" asked William to his retreating back. "Isn''t our offer exactly what you wanted? We stay out of your hair, and our terms weren''t exactly onerous. Graceful Aqua striking you with Hydro Blast did nothing whatsoever. It didn''t even get your suit wet."


    "It''s the principle of the thing," replied Decay. "I''m not going to report to you once a week and let you attack me."


    "Then negotiate! That''s why we''re here! Would it help if we came here for your check-ups, rather than expecting you to come to us?"


    Decay didn''t respond, marching out of the factory door and slamming it behind him hard enough to send clouds of dust and rust into the air.


    "Grr! I hate that guy!" complained Gentle Breeze, dropping her transformation to reveal regular Natasha, her billowing dress shifting back into jeans and a yellow tank top. "After we came all the way over here to talk to him, too! It was a perfectly reasonable deal to leave him alone in return for letting us attack him once a week to check he''s still considered ''good''."


    "It wasn''t perfect¡ªhe could do a lot of damage in a week¡ªbut yes, I''m surprised he shot us down so quickly," said Stacy, the other girls likewise cancelling their transformations.


    "Actually, he did say something useful," said Mary. "He''s given me an idea."


    "He did? When?" asked Natasha.


    "When listing off that set of crimes."


    "Oh, I see," said Tracy. "William has always been against us involving the police before, because they wouldn''t be able to stand up to a Bane, but now things have changed. Decay won''t be able to attack them any more than he can attack us, and if they try to lawfully arrest him, what can he do?"


    "Lawfully arrest him?" asked Natasha. "What for? Isn''t he behaving himself? That''s kinda the whole point."


    "And who do you think owns this factory?" asked Mary. "It''s certainly not him."


    "Ooo! So he''s the one trespassing!"


    "Exactly. We wait for him to get back from his volunteer shift, then call the police and report a break in."


    "I can''t imagine them being too interested, given that it''s been abandoned for years," said Stacy.


    "Perhaps. They''ll certainly show up, but it''s likely they''ll just chase him out with a warning. That doesn''t matter, though; the point is to prove to him that cooperating with us will be less inconvenient than the alternative."


    "I see. They may not be too interested this time, but if they get called out again and find the same person here, they''ll start getting annoyed. He''ll be forced to either cooperate with us or find somewhere else to stay."


    "And he doesn''t have anywhere else to stay," finished Tracy. "He has no money and no legitimate identity. He has no choice but to squat in some abandoned building, and this one is presumably the ''best'' given that the Banes seem to gravitate towards it. Even if he does find somewhere else, we can just call the cops on him again."


    "Exactly."


    "I don''t understand all this plotting," complained Natasha. "If you don''t mind, I''m going to find some ice cream and leave this all up to you."


    Stolen novel; please report.


    "Oh? That''s promising," said Stacy.


    "Is it?"


    "Yup. That''s the first time you''ve mentioned ice cream since Decay beat us up the first time."


    Natasha blinked. "I suppose it is. I just haven''t been in the mood."


    "And now you are."


    "I''m not sure Nat''s desire for ice cream is a particularly reliable measure of confidence, but whatever," sighed William. "We have a plan. Let''s get it done."


    <hr>


    "I have to admit, this is not the outcome I expected," said Graceful Aqua, Mary having transformed back into her magical girl form not so much because she intended to confront Decay but more because climbing onto the roofs of buildings was kinda difficult without either magical aid or a ladder. She was positioned on the roof of a familiar convenience store and staring across a road into the top-floor window of an equally familiar house.


    Yellow flickered alongside her as Natasha rejoined the other three girls, having once again transformed into Gentle Breeze, for exactly the same reason. "What did I miss? You sounded a little panicked on the phone."


    "It wasn''t panic, as such," replied Mary. "More like... consternation."


    Natasha tilted her head in confusion.


    "Look," said Tracy, pointing across the street.


    Natasha peered. "Is that... Decay? What''s he doing in someone''s house?"


    "It''s that old woman he was helping across the street. He''s moved in."


    "He WHAT?!" screamed Natasha.


    "Ow. Volume!" complained Stacy, massaging her ears.


    "He moved in," repeated Tracy. "He told her he had nowhere to stay, and she invited him to use her guest room."


    "For as long as needed, too," added Mary. "She was quite enthusiastic."


    "Enthusiastic? You don''t think she...? Eww... She''s like ninety!"


    "No, Decay hasn''t drained her at all," sighed William. "I think she just wanted the company. As far as I can see, she lives alone, and we haven''t seen her take any phone calls or have any other guests."


    "But he''s a Bane!" complained Natasha.


    "She doesn''t know that, and how do you intend to explain?"


    "But... But... Bane!"


    "You can say that till you''re blue in the face, but it''s not going to make any difference. To her, he''s the gentleman that helps her across the road each morning."


    "But never helps her back," said Mary. "I think lonely is right. Stacy said it was odd to help someone across the road like that, but I doubt she actually needs the help. It''s just an excuse to talk to him."


    "Great, so Decay has a lonely old biddy on his side. Now what?" said Natasha. "If he hurts her, I''m never going to forgive him."


    "Hopefully, he''ll find this arrangement rather tortuous," said Tracy. "Given the way he swore at her when she wasn''t looking, he obviously dislikes her, so living together is likely to drive him crazy. We might have succeeded in our objective after all. We just need to leave him alone for a few days and wait for him to come crawling back to us."


    In the house opposite, Decay glanced out of the window at his group of colourful watchers and smirked.


    <hr>


    Tracy watched Decay support his new landlady as they crossed the street, the elderly woman stepping into the convenience store as she did every morning, while Decay continued up the street towards the soup kitchen.


    He sneered at Tracy as he passed.


    She just sighed, not even having bothered to transform. There really didn''t seem to be any point.


    "Is this worth it?" she asked.


    "Is what worth it?" answered the Bane, for a moment looking genuinely confused.


    "Living with a human, just to snub our offer."


    "A comfy bed. Free food. I fail to see the problem."


    "But you don''t need to eat or sleep, and you hate people! Now you''re deliberately living with one just to spite us."


    "Hate people? No I don''t. Whatever gave you that impression?"


    "Uh... The way you''re always sneering? You''re polite to people''s faces, except for us, but as soon as they aren''t looking, it''s all foul expressions and middle fingers."


    "That''s not because I hate them. It''s frustration, because they don''t recognise their inferiority, and I''m not allowed to do anything to break them out of their delusions. Agatha is easy to tolerate. Perfectly happy to sit in silence without feeling the necessity to start up inane conversation, always polite and deferential, has a study full of books, and plays a mean game of scrabble."


    "Scrabble? Sorry, but that''s what you''ve been doing in there? Playing scrabble?"


    "And reading; it''s not as if I need to sleep, unlike her."


    "I don''t believe this," complained Tracy.


    "Then I am fortunate that my continued existence is not contingent upon your belief. Now, if you''ll excuse me, I have some incurably lazy bums to feed, because apparently people feel like keeping them around instead of letting them starve to death is good public policy."


    Tracy watched the Bane dawdle off up the street. It wasn''t until he''d turned the corner that it occurred to her that this time, he hadn''t flipped the old woman¡ªnamed Agatha, apparently¡ªthe bird, nor had he sneered or pulled any derogatory expression at all. He''d simply watched her walk into the convenience store, then turned and left.


    "Hmm..." she said thoughtfully as she waited for Agatha to finish her shopping.


    <hr>


    "I assure you, I''m quite alright," said Agatha, who, sure enough, was walking fairly steadily despite carrying a shopping bag in each hand.


    "Are you sure?" asked Tracy, wondering how she could possibly point out that the elderly lady had been leaning on Decay earlier without sounding like some sort of creepy stalker.


    "Yes, I''m sure. Say, didn''t I see you around earlier? Ah, are you worrying about little old me because that nice gentleman was giving me a hand earlier? That wasn''t for my benefit, you see. It was for his."


    "For him?" asked Tracy, resisting the urge to complain about the abuse of ''gentleman''.


    "Yes. He just looked so lonely and afraid the first time I saw him. So lost. Did you know he jumped three feet in the air when I first spoke to him?"


    "No, I didn''t know that," said Tracy honestly.


    "I don''t know what he was so frightened of, but he seemed glad to have someone to talk to. I hope the poor lad isn''t involved with some sort of gang. That suit of his makes him look like a mafia godfather."


    Tracy didn''t respond, the disparity between ''poor lad'' and ''mafia godfather'' doing battle in her mind.


    "Anyway, it was nice of you to worry about me, but I really must be going. It''s been a very long time since I''ve had the chance to cook for two."


    "I''ll let you get on with it then," said Tracy, noting the use of ''had the chance to'' rather than ''needed to''. "But if you''re worried he''s mafia... he hasn''t done anything... ungentlemanly... has he?"


    "Not at all," snorted the woman. "He''s perfectly polite. Besides, I think I''m a bit past the age at which people are tempted to be ungentlemanly at me, more''s the pity."


    Tracy watched as Agatha crossed the road unaided and let herself back into her house.


    "Well, this plan has been an epic failure," sighed the stumped magical girl. "Now what?"

 Chapter 5: Assassination

    "William?" asked Tracy, the group of Earth''s defenders once again gathered in her bedroom. "When you say that Decay has a heart of pure black, is it possible that''s just because he''s... well... lonely?"


    "The heck?" asked Natasha.


    "That''s what Agatha seemed to think, although obviously she phrased it differently."


    "Who''s Agatha?" asked Mary.


    "The elderly lady he''s staying with. I had a quick chat with her yesterday while I was checking up on Decay before school."


    "I can tell you what''s in his heart, but I can''t tell you why it''s there," answered William. "Perhaps it''s true that a life led in Midnight, surrounded by other Banes and under the authority of the Devourer of Light, would not be conducive to the purity of one''s soul."


    "Then perhaps there''s another option we haven''t considered. Redemption."


    "Seriously?" asked Natasha. "You think it''s possible to stop him just acting good, and make him actually good?"


    "Even if that''s possible, it doesn''t change the fact that he needs to feed on people to survive," pointed out William.


    "But he''s not hurting anyone. He''s being very... uh... charming about it," said Stacy.


    "That''s true for now, but it is not sustainable," declared William. "If he wants to avoid hurting people, he can''t feed from the same person repeatedly. He needs to find new victims each day. Multiple new victims, given how little he''s taking from each one. What if he fails to find anyone one night? Will he let himself starve, or will he employ force? The global pool of people willing and able to feed him is large enough to sustain him indefinitely, for sure, but it''s not as if they all visit the same nightclub in some sort of conveniently arranged rotation. Decay will need to start moving around between different establishments. Right now, he has it easy, because no-one knows who he is. Will that still be true if he continues this for months? And what about years from now? Never kissing the same person twice, he''ll soon get a reputation, and maybe even banned from the city nightclubs. He''ll likely be forced to leave the city, and, away from the rift and the passive energy supply that leaks through, he''ll need to drain dozens of people each night to survive."


    "Can''t he just change his face?" asked Natasha. "He seems capable of it. That mafia godfather wannabe obviously isn''t his real form."


    "Perhaps. Aside from his first fight with you, he hasn''t given any sign of using his powers, presumably to conserve energy, but I''m sure he could do something in an emergency. But that wouldn''t resolve the issue of not being able to drain the same person repeatedly."


    "It''s not like he can never drain the same person again, surely? They just need some time to recover. Otherwise, the victims of other Banes wouldn''t wake up from their comas."


    "You''ve never followed up on those victims, have you? You see on the news that they ''wake up'' and think that they''re fine. Yes, they''re awake, but that doesn''t mean they''ve fully recovered. They''ll experience tiredness and lethargy that could take years to fade. In bad cases, it can be crippling¡ªleaving victims house-bound or even bed-bound¡ªand never fully heal. So yes, it''s true that given time to recover he could feed multiple times, but that time is a lot longer than what you''re thinking, even with how little he takes, and even then, there could be a gradual build-up of damage."


    "Oh..."


    "Realistically, if we''re going to... remove... him, we need to do so sooner rather than later," said Mary.


    "Huh? How so?" asked Stacy. "We should have plenty of time before he runs out of victims."


    "It''s not his victims I''m thinking about. It''s the morality. We talked about redemption, but from Tracy''s description, that''s already happening. He''s befriended Agatha. Or perhaps Agatha has befriended him. Either way, he seems to actually respect her. If that seed grows..."


    "That''s one hell of an ''if''," opined Tracy.


    "Indeed. If it wasn''t, then I''d say it was already too late to consider removing him and still call ourselves defenders of justice."


    "Argg! When I agreed to be a magical girl, no-one warned me there would need to be all this thinking!" complained Natasha. "Bad guy shows up. We blast bad guy. Rinse and repeat. We should hurry and squish Decay simply for being too bloody complicated!"


    "Let''s be reasonable. We tried to negotiate with him, and he spurned us," said Tracy. "He wants conflict. As long as we keep William with us to confirm he still has a heart of evil, I have no issues with fighting him."


    "Right. Let''s just drop an anvil on his head and be done with it," said Natasha.


    "He seemed fairly confident that without magical powers, we wouldn''t be able to take him out without causing collateral damage," said Stacy.


    "Probably just bluster," said Tracy. "He''s hardly going to admit to any vulnerabilities. A more fundamental flaw with that plan would be finding an anvil. Might I suggest a girder, or heavy section of pipe?"


    "He heads into the city centre to feed. There''s lots of high-rise building work going on, some of which he walks past," said Mary. "An ''accident'' wouldn''t be completely implausible."


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    "Okay, so we have a plan," said Natasha. "We wait for him to head to the city centre, climb onto the roofs, wait for him to walk past a building site, then shove a big pile of metal off it and onto his head."


    "I''m not entirely convinced that builders habitually leave big, convenient piles of girders lying around, either, but it wouldn''t hurt to look," said Tracy.


    <hr>


    "Huh. Well, what do you know?" asked Tracy, who was in her Shining Nova form, and was peering at a big pile of girders that had indeed conveniently been left on the twentieth floor of an under-construction block of flats.


    "And Decay is still heading this way?" asked Mary, who had likewise transformed into Graceful Aqua. All four girls had transformed, their baseline human abilities not being sufficient to leap around between buildings or scale twenty floors of a building which did not yet contain a useable staircase.


    "Indeed. If he doesn''t turn aside, he''ll pass us in two minutes," answered William.


    "He''s not turning aside; I can see him!" exclaimed Natasha, peeking out of the hole where a wall had yet to be built. "He''s on our side of the road and everything."


    "We need to get ready, then," said Stacy.


    "How? I mean, the girders are already right on the edge. We just need to push them."


    "Just keep an eye on him and shout when it''s time for us to push."


    "No, whisper," corrected Mary. "We don''t want to alert him."


    "Okay..." whispered Natasha, watching the approaching Bane carefully and wondering how long it would take a girder to fall twenty stories. "Three... Two... One... Now!"


    The other three girls pushed, their superhuman strength easily sufficient to move the weighty pile of steel.


    Of course, pushing a weighty pile of steel across a concrete floor resulted in some amount of noise, and Decay had already been proven to possess above average hearing.


    Decay looked up, just as several tonnes of steel rained down.


    If the sound of the girders scraping across a concrete floor made ''some'' noise, the amount of noise generated by those girders slamming into a concrete pavement after a twenty story drop should have been described in such ways as ''lots'' or even ''deafening''. The fact that nothing but silence came up from the streets below was therefore rather surprising to the girls.


    Or at least, all the girls other than Natasha, who was still looking over the edge.


    "Uh... Girls?" she said carefully. "Was he supposed to catch them?"


    "Catch?" asked Mary, running up and peering over the edge herself. Down below, Decay was staring upwards, his eyes scanning the various floors of the construction site while a dozen girders hovered in the air, held by bands of shadow that had risen from the ground. Where they contacted the metal, it lost its lustre, the colours shifting to browns and blacks as the material corroded.


    The eyes of the Bane met Mary''s, his expression instantly warping into an arrogant sneer.


    "Run!" exclaimed William as Decay moved, his joints bending in ways that no human''s had any right to as he leapt at the half-finished building, clinging to the wall like a spider, despite a lack of handholds, then moving up it at a sprinting pace.


    "Where to?!" exclaimed Natasha. "We need to go down, but he''s coming up!"


    "We can fight!" argued Tracy. "We''re all transformed already, so he can''t take advantage while we''re defenceless like last time. Just stick to punching him instead of magical abilities."


    "No, we can''t beat him," said Mary. "Those black ribbons of his are too fast to dodge, and we can''t break them. We won''t get close enough to punch him."


    "Over here! Jump off the back!" shouted Stacy.


    "Too late," declared Decay as he climbed over the wall and pulled himself upright, bones popping and clicking as he moved. His transformation had slipped enough that there was no way he could pass as human, even in the faded moonlight, his hands distinctly ending in ''claws'' rather than ''nails'', and his grin far too wide for his face, with contents that were far too pointy.


    Mary took a step backward, but stumbled; she was trembling, and her breath caught in her throat.


    "Mary! Don''t panic! We''re with you this time," shouted Natasha, noticing the effect Decay was having on the poor girl.


    "And you think that will make a difference?" sneered Decay.


    For a moment his trousers rippled as muscle shifted beneath, and then he erupted into a whirlwind of claws and shadow.


    This time, the girls weren''t caught completely defenceless, and were able to work together, but it soon became obvious that they were outclassed. They still had their superhuman strength and speed, but so did Decay. Alas, Decay also had some rather nasty claws.


    "What the hell?!" exclaimed Natasha as she barely managed to dodge a swipe, Decay''s claws missing her skin by millimetres but instead slicing through the fabric of her dress as if it was nothing more than satin. Given that it was satin, that wouldn''t normally come as a surprise, but it was supposed to be magical satin. "When we fought Violence, he had a bloody machine gun, and he still couldn''t poke holes in us. These costumes are supposed to be bulletproof! How''s he cutting them?"


    "Our magic doesn''t work against him! That''s kinda the point!" shouted back Tracy. "You need to dodge, not block!"


    "The yellow one''s a bit slow on the uptake, isn''t she?" laughed Decay as he launched a few more swipes. Strips of fabric fell from Natasha''s body as he sliced chunks off her floaty dress.


    "Hey, I have a name, you know!"


    "That''s nice, but given that you''ve never introduced yourself, how do you expect me to know it?"


    He spun to counter a kick from Tracy, grasping her by the shin and tossing it upwards, flipping her backward. She turned it into a neat somersault, landing on her feet, but it still took precious seconds to recover.


    Stacy picked up another girder and swung it, but Decay simply conjured another of his solid shadows, blocking the oversized weapon. Its sudden halt wrenched it out of Stacy''s grip and it crashed to the floor with an almighty clang.


    "Ahh! What do you think you''re doing?!" screamed Natasha as the last of her dress gave up its attachment to her body, leaving her standing in little more than her underwear. "Pervert!"


    Mary watched the scene impotently, caught in the grip of fear. She hadn''t thought she''d been too badly affected by her first loss against Decay, but now that she was before him once more, in the middle of a fight, she couldn''t stop shaking. The memories of being trapped rose up unbidden, threatening to overwhelm her. Bound up so tightly it wouldn''t have been surprising if she couldn''t breathe even had her mouth and nose not been covered, completely helpless as he pressed a claw against her neck. The sight of his face sneering at her as he robbed her of her sight, leaving her completely senseless as she waited for her end.


    "Mary!" shouted William. "Snap out of it! You don''t have to fight, but at least think up a way to escape."


    Mary blinked.


    That end had never come. She hadn''t taken so much as a scratch, her only wounds being mental in nature. Even now, in this fight, none of the four had taken any wounds. Had Natasha really been dodging so precisely that Decay had ended up undressing her without so much as nicking her skin? Of course not. He couldn''t hurt them. Maybe, if they were actually a threat to him, things would be different, but for as long as he had the power to simply toy with them, he was forced to.


    She stopped shaking and took a deep breath. "We surrender," she declared.

 Chapter 6: Loss

    The fighting stopped, not so much because any surrendering actually happened, but more because Mary''s declaration had come from so far left field that even her allies needed some processing time.


    "What? No we don''t," said Tracy.


    "Yes, we do. Look, he''s not even fighting seriously. It should be obvious that we can''t win."


    "He might not be fighting seriously, but you''re not fighting at all," pointed out Stacy. "That does kinda make things easier for him."


    "And he seemed pretty serious to me," said Natasha, taking the opportunity to peer down. "Huh. I''ve never noticed that my magical girl transformation changes my bra. What for? It''s not like anyone ever sees it."


    "I''ve seen it," shrugged Decay, who, despite his flippancy, was looking a little uncertain. "And now I''ve also seen one of your planet''s defenders surrendering to an invader. What do you make of that, Will of the World?"


    "It is against the nature of things, but so is your entire existence," sighed William. "I won''t object. For now."


    "For now? Do you expect me to simply let your pets go, so they can try another strategy tomorrow? You wish to use the word ''surrender'' as a meaningless tool, knowing that with my self-imposed restrictions, I can''t continue fighting them if they don''t fight back?"


    William didn''t answer.


    "It doesn''t matter what he thinks, because we''re not giving up!" exclaimed Natasha, launching a punch at Decay from behind.


    Decay simply twisted a hundred and eighty degrees at the waist, caught Natasha''s fist and squeezed.


    The half-naked girl screamed.


    "Why are you all so... so... stupid," sighed the Bane as Stacy picked up another girder. "Why would you broadcast your intentions while attacking? My attention was elsewhere, but you nevertheless insisted on shouting, drawing my attention right when you should have avoided it. And you, green one. Yes, as a weapon that has a lot of weight behind it, and I really wouldn''t want you to smack me with it, but even with your enhanced strength, it''s far too unwieldy. Even the most devastating attack means nothing if you can''t land it."


    Proving his point, he simply ducked under her swing.


    "Not to mention I still had a grip on your teammate," he continued, as if nothing had happened. "What if I''d tossed her upward into the path of your swing? You''d have batted her straight off the building."


    "We all know that you can''t," answered Tracy, edging sideways to keep the Bane surrounded.


    Decay clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Some surrender this is, but fine by me. Let''s finish undressing this yellow one."


    "Nooo!" screamed Natasha.


    "Really? Death and injury don''t scare you, but the shame of nakedness does? You lot are perfect matches for the others of my race."


    "Thanks?"


    "That was not a compliment!"


    "Everyone, just stop already," sighed Mary. "We can''t hurt him and he can''t hurt us, so it''s in all our interests to not drag this on any longer. The more energy we force him to use, the more he needs to replace, which isn''t something any of us want."


    "That''s... true," admitted Tracy. "Fine. Let''s retreat, for now."


    "Really?" asked Natasha. "We''re just going to run away?"


    "It''s not running away," said Stacy. "It''s a strategic disengagement."


    Decay clicked his tongue in annoyance as his trio of combatants regrouped around Mary, then blurred past them as they backed away towards the missing wall, blocking their way to the exit.


    "Whu?" exclaimed Natasha. "We''re running away! What more do you want?!"


    "And why would I let you simply run away?" asked Decay, sounding genuinely confused. "I believe it is safe for me to do whatever is required to ensure my safety, and if I let you go right now, you will simply attack again. Maybe it won''t be tomorrow, but you''ll come up with some other foolish plan at some point, and I would rather not take the risk that one of them will work."


    "Yes, it''s true that we could just attack again tomorrow, but that would be equally true if we kept on fighting," said Mary. "As you said, you can''t harm us any more than necessary for... self... defence..." she continued, stuttering to a halt as she realised what Decay was planning.


    Mary knew full well that Natasha wouldn''t be so energetic had she experienced the same terror that she had.


    "It won''t work," she continued. "Yes, you got me, to the extent I can''t even think of fighting you without my body trembling, but now that we know you''re fangless, you won''t be able to instil the same fear into the others."


    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "I''m hardly fangless," he said. "I''m certain I can find a way to instil into your teammates the appropriate amount of despair without breaking my protection."


    "Perhaps, but if we surrender, you''re not going to find out. No way will your protection survive attacking us after we''ve given up."


    "If you surrender," echoed the Bane. "Surrendering means accepting a loss. Acknowledging the victory of your opponent. You do not get to simply walk away unscathed, ready to begin another round at your leisure. If you want to surrender, make an oath you will not attack me again, otherwise I''ll take whatever minimal steps I feel necessary to ensure you will not attack me."


    "No," said Mary, hoping that she sounded more confident than she felt. "Even if we continue this fight, I don''t think you can give yourself any certainty of that. Knowing the personalities of my teammates, it''s more likely you''ll just harden their opinions that you need to die."


    "Oh? And you don''t share that opinion?"


    Mary didn''t answer.


    Decay clicked his tongue again. "Fine. I''m sure a few more failed plans will teach you the futility of continuing to oppose me, regardless of how much effort I put into beating the lesson into you. Since you''ve made this night a complete write-off, I''ll accept your surrender if you simply replace the energy I intended to gather along with what I''ve wasted defending myself."


    "Wh... What?" exclaimed Natasha, blushing as she recalled Decay''s usual method of obtaining nourishment.


    "Is that safe?" Mary asked William.


    "Of course not!" exclaimed the mascot. "But... for as long as he wants to maintain his protection, I suppose he can''t take too much, and thanks to your powers as a magical girl, you have plenty to spare..."


    "I''m not kissing you," she said, turning her attention back to the Bane.


    "Why do you think I''d want to?" he laughed, lowering his gaze at a point somewhat lower than Mary''s eye level. "I prefer my women rather better developed."


    "You''re seriously going to let him drain your energy?" asked Tracy. "That seems... ill advised."


    "It''s the only way you get out of here with your dignity intact," said Mary. "Face it; the moment he blocked the falling debris, we had no hope of winning today."


    "But he can''t hurt us!" shouted back Natasha. "We only need to get lucky once."


    "He can hurt us plenty, in ways that leave no scars," said Mary. "Believe me, I know, and given your current state of undress, it should be obvious to you, too. Now, unless you want to go through what I did, shut up and let us get on with it."


    "I don''t like this..."


    "And you think I do?! This isn''t a game! We don''t get to quit and reload when things don''t go our way."


    "At least one of you has some common sense," snorted Decay, waving a hand and summoning more of his solidified shadows, which immediately grasped at Mary''s ankles.


    The breath of the poor magical girl immediately caught in her throat as the trauma of her previous defeat once again overwhelmed her conscious thoughts.


    "What are you doing?!" demanded William, glaring at the Bane.


    "Not kissing her," he answered with a shrug, uncaring of Mary''s panic as the black bands slowly mummified her. "Don''t worry. This will only take a minute."


    Mary, for her part, despite hyperventilating, managed not to move. Admittedly, it helped that she knew she couldn''t; from the moment the Bane''s magic had caught her legs, there was no escape. Instead, the darkness wrapped her from bottom to top, pinning her arms to her sides and covering her mouth, eyes and ears, although this time he did at least leave her nose poking out.


    A thin blue haze rose from the black cocoon, before seemingly being sucked straight back into it.


    Decay staggered backward, barely managing to catch himself before he fell. "What the hell? Did you just..."


    After shaking his head rather violently¡ªmore like he was trying to shake something loose than as an expression of denial or disagreement¡ªhe frowned and jumped off the building without uttering another word to any of the girls.


    "Mary!" exclaimed Natasha, diving toward the cocoon.


    "Nnn!" answered Mary from inside, the airtight seal over her mouth a rather effective gag.


    "Don''t worry! I''ll get you out right now! Argg, dammit! What are these things made of?! Tracy and Stacy, help me out!"


    The trio of girls tugged at the bands of darkness, but they had no give. Magical attacks proved useless.


    "Hey, William! How do we get her out?"


    "I think you''ll have to wait for them to dissipate on their own. Without Decay nearby, it shouldn''t be too long."


    "Rather cunning of him. It ensures that we couldn''t chase him," said Stacy.


    "I''m not sure it was deliberate, actually," said Tracy carefully. "Didn''t you see him at the end there? Was this whole surrender thing a ruse by Mary? Did she poison her energy somehow?"


    "Nnn," answered Mary.


    "I have no idea what ''nnn'' means," sighed Natasha. "Tell you what, moan once for yes, twice for no. Did you just poison Decay?"


    "Nnn nnn!"


    "I''m not even sure that''s possible," said William. "You can''t ''poison'' someone''s energy. At least, not in any way that wouldn''t kill its owner, and that would be very obvious to a Bane before they absorbed it."


    "Hey, I think his magic ropes are decaying," said Stacy as the bands of shadow started to fray around the edges. They faded further over the course of a minute, before vanishing with a crack. Stacy caught Mary as she fell over.


    "Woah. You look... uh..." started Natasha, looking her teammate up and down.


    "I don''t feel too bad," said Mary. "Just a little light-headed."


    "Your costume is transparent," said Tracy. "I can see your skin straight through your dress."


    "Oh, please don''t tell me Decay just stole her magical girl powers," said Stacy.


    "No, that''s not how they work," answered William. "They can''t be stolen, but since they rely on their users'' internal energies, being drained would have weakened them. Mary will recover quickly enough, but I suggest you undo your transformation for now."


    Mary nodded and concentrated, her transparent dress bursting apart and a denim jumpsuit forming back in its place. Her hair darkened slightly and shortened.


    "Huh? Now I feel... perfectly fine," she said.


    "You''ve lost too much energy to sustain your Graceful Aqua form, but you have more than enough left to be human."


    "Interesting... And you say I''ll recover quickly?"


    "No," said Natasha. "I bet you''re thinking something silly like ''if I can keep him fed on my own, we won''t need to kill him and he won''t need to attack anyone''. Well, forget it. No way can you go through that every day."


    "What if the rest of us chip in?" asked Stacy, turning to William. "You said we have plenty of energy compared to regular people? Would we be better off spending it keeping him fed rather than fighting him?"


    "It would probably work, for a time, but you couldn''t sustain it long term. Even if you took it in turns, at once every four days, the damage would still accumulate faster than you recovered. It''s not as if I can just create more companions for you, either, else I would have done from the beginning."


    "Pity. That might have been a viable solution."


    "Let''s just go home. Today was a complete failure, but perhaps we''ll think up another idea tomorrow," said Natasha.

 Chapter 7: Conference

    "Right, I hereby call the third what-to-do-about-Decay meeting to order!" said Natasha, back in the twins'' bedroom after school on the next day. "First point on the agenda: what the heck to do about Decay."


    "Actually, I have another point I''d like to address first," said Mary. "My PTSD."


    "Your what?"


    Mary sighed. "I thought I was fine after our first fight, but recent events have proven otherwise. When faced directly by Decay, I not only found myself physically incapable of fighting, but I panicked and made poor tactical decisions."


    "Well, I wasn''t going to say anything, but letting him feed off you was kinda... gross."


    "No, not that. Now that I''m calmer, with the benefit of hindsight, I still think that was the correct thing to do. If we hadn''t replaced the energy he spent fighting us, who knows how many regular people he would have needed to drain last night? No, my error was calling for surrender too early. I should have called for retreat immediately. If the four of us had worked together to escape from the moment we knew our attack had failed, we might have got away, but I was so terrified that I didn''t believe there was even the slightest possibility of escape. I can no longer be relied upon in combat situations, either physically or mentally."


    "That''s a bit... harsh."


    "No, it isn''t," sighed Tracy. "You saw her back at the construction site. The three of us were fighting, and she was just edging away, shaking, doing nothing except yelling at us to surrender."


    "So, what can we do to help?" asked Stacy.


    "Nothing. I need time, and probably a good therapist. Until then, we all need to acknowledge that for as long as Decay survives, my decision making in the heat of battle is going to be flawed. I''ll need to rely on you."


    "But you''re the smart one!" complained Natasha. "You''re the one that tells us what to do!"


    "And now I can''t. But I suspect that in the end, it doesn''t matter that much. Any battle in which we end up facing Decay head-on is a battle we''ve already lost."


    "Okay, fine. So, we can all agree right now that if we plot another assassination attempt and fail, we get the hell out of there immediately, and don''t try to fight."


    "Yes, that would be advisable. Don''t forget that he wants to do the same to you as he did to me. His aim is to break our spirits sufficiently that we can no longer bring ourselves to resist him, but without ever physically harming us."


    "I don''t get how that works," complained Stacy. "What difference does it make if wounds are physical or mental?"


    "Probably none. What makes the difference is that he acts in self defence, and that his responses are reasonable and proportionate. We tried to kill him, and have made it obvious that we intend to keep trying, so he is not only perfectly justified in taking action to stop us, but we''ve given him a significant amount of leeway in how he stops us. Since we''re using assassination tactics, rather than engaging in fair fights, he can easily justify preventative measures as self defence."


    "Okay, so what options do we have left?"


    "The easiest option is to ignore him until he finds himself unable to feed off willing victims. Eventually, he''ll build up enough of a reputation as a playboy, and have already drained so many people, that he''ll be forced to start extracting energy by force. That should break his protection and let us fight him normally."


    "And what if he decides to move out of the city once he runs out of easy targets here?" asked Tracy.


    "Away from the rift, the number of people he''d need to drain each day to survive would increase to the point of infeasibility," answered William. "He''d either need to employ force, or to take so much energy from each person that he''d never be able to pass off the effects as one too many drinks. Even if he leaves, he''ll swiftly end up losing his protection."


    "That doesn''t mean he won''t do it," Tracy continued. "It''s more work for him, yes, but it gets him away from us. We can''t exactly chase after him."


    "We''d have to..." said Stacy. "We couldn''t just leave him alone, and the police couldn''t stop him."


    "Decay leaving the city is one of the worst scenarios I can imagine," said Mary. "But yes, you''re right. Unlike other Banes, who needed to remain here to enlarge the rift, if he reaches the point at which he''s forced to commit an evil act or starve, then he will very likely flee. Even if William can track him, as children, our ability to chase him will be limited. We need to deal with him before then."


    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    "Before we decide on what to do next, I think we need to find out what we''ve already done," said Tracy. "The way he reacted after feeding on Mary was very strange."


    "He didn''t appear to be in pain, and gave no indication that he considered it an attack. If anything, he looked shocked."


    "Are you absolutely sure we haven''t just accidentally given him magical girl powers?" asked Natasha.


    "Yes, I am completely certain," answered William. "That''s simply not a thing that is possible. Although, I''ll note that it''s getting pretty late, and he hasn''t left his new home."


    "He''d better not be feeding off Agatha!"


    "I can''t be sure, because he''s been taking so little from each person that I might have missed him, but I don''t think he''s fed at all today."


    "Maybe he isn''t hungry? Perhaps his surprise was because he got far more energy than expected from Mary?" suggested Stacy.


    "Or perhaps he really is sick, and now''s our chance to take him out for good?" said Natasha.


    "Perhaps we should call round and find out?" suggested Tracy.


    Mary shuddered.


    "You don''t have to come," said Natasha kindly. "We''re only going to look, and we''re not going to attack him unless he''s already dying, so you can wait here."


    "Can you even transform?" asked Tracy.


    "Uh... Yes, actually. I tested it before coming over here. I feel a little weaker than normal, but I can transform properly and you can''t see my underwear through my dress."


    "Hmm... If you''ve recovered that much in a single day, and if it''s true that Decay got more than one day''s worth of energy from you, maybe we can keep him fed on our own."


    "Eww, don''t say that," said Natasha. "I don''t want to be mummified in his weird black shadows."


    "You''d rather kiss him?" asked Stacy.


    Natasha mimed throwing up.


    Mary flashed a smile, but it soon faded. "I don''t think he''d accept. He''s too prideful to rely on us if he doesn''t need to. Maybe once it gets harder to pick up girls at the bar, but until then, I can''t imagine him agreeing. Also, we''d need to be really sure of the logistics. Not only that we''re capable of keeping him fed, but also that at no point would all four of us be weakened to the extent that we couldn''t fight back if he attacked."


    "Why does that matter? He could kill us all right now if he wanted."


    "I''m not sure he could. Once he kills one of us, his protection should break."


    "He could still immobilise us so that we couldn''t fight back, then kill us after."


    "He''d likely find that his method of immobilisation ceased to be effective. We''ve fought Banes in the past who have used magic much like Decay''s shadows to restrain us, and never failed to break out of it before."


    "True. Well, shall we get going?"


    <hr>


    Three untransformed magical girls knocked on Agatha''s door.


    "Yes?" asked the elderly lady who opened the door, her eyes locking on Tracy. "Oh, you''re that girl from a couple of days ago. Can I help you?"


    "Actually, we were hoping to talk to your guest."


    "Oh? You want Sebastian? Well, come on in, then. We were just playing a nice, quiet game of scrabble."


    "Sebastian?" asked Natasha. "No, we..."


    She stopped as Stacy whacked her over the head and mouthed, "Of course he''s not calling himself ''Decay'' in public," at her.


    "Maybe we can join in?" suggested Tracy.


    "W... What?!" exclaimed Natasha. "But I''m hopeless at scrabble!"


    "Whatever do you three want?" asked Decay as they entered. "And where''s the last one? Too scared to come?"


    Natasha and Stacy glared, thoughts about scrabble forgotten.


    "Yes," answered Tracy. "Congratulations, I suppose, Sebastian."


    Decay sneered.


    "Mind if I join in your game?"


    The sneer vanished. "What? Why?"


    "We mostly wanted to check what condition you were in after your rather odd recent meal. Since you seem to be perfectly fine, to the extent of taking the day off today, that job is done already, and it would be a shame to have made this entire trip just to leave in less than a minute."


    "Whatever are you planning this time?" asked Decay, who was now frowning.


    "Yeah, what are you planning? We never discussed this," said Stacy.


    "If we were going to play board games, I''d have brought snacks," agreed Natasha.


    "I don''t know how you lot know each other, but it''s nice to see Sebastian making friends," said Agatha. "Don''t worry, I have plenty of snacks."


    "We''re not friends!" exclaimed Decay, Natasha and Stacy in perfect synchronisation.


    Tracy just grinned.


    <hr>


    "You were gone a long time," said Mary, later in the evening. "I was getting worried."


    "Tracy forced us to play scrabble, the big meanie," moaned Natasha.


    "You''re only bitter because you lost," laughed Stacy.


    "Yeah, yeah. Laugh away. You only beat me by five points."


    "What?" asked Mary, somewhat nonplussed.


    "Tracy insisted on playing Agatha and Decay at scrabble," said William. "And no, I have no idea why either. All I do know is that I''ve been hiding in that backpack for far too long."


    "I saw an opportunity, and I took it," said Tracy. "We had the chance to observe Decay for a long period, and confirmed he in no way seemed sick, nor hungry. We also befriended his landlady, which could be an advantage in the future, especially since she invited us to join in again another night. And, last but not least, it pissed Decay off."


    "I''m not sure that last one was a great reason," said Mary.


    "... And I''m not sure it''s even true," added Stacy. "Yes, he was pissed to begin with, but once we started, he seemed more competitive than anything. At least with you. Me and Natasha couldn''t keep up."


    "Hmm..." said Tracy. "Now that you mention it, that is indeed a bit weird."


    "Not half as weird as peacefully playing boardgames with someone we tried to kill yesterday, and have every intention of trying to kill again," said Natasha.


    "Right, so shall we get onto what this meeting was supposed to be about?" asked Tracy. "How are we going to kill him?"

 Chapter 8: Violence

    "This whole plan stinks," complained Natasha, who, despite having transformed into Gentle Breeze, was wearing a dress that was no longer entirely yellow. "Literally."


    "You''re preaching to the converted," agreed Stacy, who was lucky enough to be the only girl without a shovel, leaving her hands free to hold her nose. She''d transformed too, as had all the girls, but their magical protections did nothing to deaden their senses of smell. If anything, it only sharpened them. Alas, given the physical labour they were partaking in, the strength boost of their transformations was a must.


    "Just shut up and dig," said Tracy.


    Mary, who''d had the foresight to bung a pair of plugs up her nostrils, said nothing and continued to shovel dirt in silence.


    "Are we even sure William can pinpoint Decay''s location accurately enough to target him?" continued Natasha.


    "We''ve already been over this," said Tracy. "You really need to listen more closely to our discussions."


    "Sorry, but when you opened with ''climb down into the sewers and dig a hole straight upwards'', I figured the plan was so bloody stupid that of course we wouldn''t try it, so there was no point in paying attention."


    "As long as he''s close enough, yes, I can," said William, whose alien sense of smell meant that he wasn''t bothered by the sewage flowing down an open channel only a metre away from where the magical girls were digging. "The biggest problem we''ll face is ensuring I don''t get caught up in the explosion."


    "Oh, right, there was that part of the plan, too," nodded Stacy. "I think that was the point I decided you couldn''t possibly be serious."


    "Explosions?" asked Natasha. "That sounds exciting. I might have kept listening if I knew there would be explosions."


    "You two are hopeless," sighed Tracy.


    "Hey!" complained Stacy. "That''s not a very sisterly thing to say. At least I kept listening, unlike a certain someone."


    "How I have a sister that''s so completely unlike me is..."


    "All done," said Mary, speaking up for the first time.


    ""Oh,"" said Stacy and Tracy in perfect synchronisation.


    "So, now what?" asked Natasha, looking around the hole they''d dug. They''d cut a small passage into the wall of a sewer, then dug upward, reaching the underside of the pavement above. A few beams of wood were all that prevented an immediate collapse, and the magical powers of Resilient Nature, shifting the dislodged soil, were the only reason their activities hadn''t blocked up the sewer.


    As if those activities weren''t dangerous enough, a few gas cylinders clustered at the base of the excavation¡ªlooted by Tracy from her father''s caravan¡ªpromised that there was room for the danger to grow far worse.


    "Now we plug up this hole," answered Tracy.


    "We need to rebuild the sewer wall? We kept all the bricks, but don''t we need cement?"


    "No, because we''re about to blow up this whole sewer. We don''t need to be neat. Just stack them up. Then you, Mary and I go outside to wait, while William waits in the sewer with Stacy. When William gives the signal, Stacy uses her powers to collapse the pit trap and skewer the gas cylinders. Nat, you use your powers to keep the gas contained in the pit, then, as Decay falls in, I launch a fireball in from outside to explode it all. Stacy keeps using her powers to protect herself and William from the explosion, and collapses as much earth as possible onto Decay."


    "So we drop him, blow him up, and then bury him," nodded Natasha as Stacy magically summoned a few pillars of earth into the breech.


    "Exactly. And Mary puts out any fires and you... uh... deal with any emergencies that crop up."


    "Emergencies? Like what?"


    "Never mind," said William. "Decay is approaching. We need to get into position."


    "I have a bad feeling about this," complained Stacy. "How are you going to explain to Dad where his camping barbecue supplies have gone?"


    "He never uses them. You know that," said Tracy. "Those canisters are as old as we are!"


    "Just because he''ll never use them doesn''t mean he won''t notice they''re gone."


    Tracy didn''t answer, having already climbed halfway up towards the manhole they''d used to enter. Mary was above her, opening up the cover and trusting in the magical filter to ensure no pedestrians above paid them any attention.


    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    "This is never going to work," grumbled Stacy to herself.


    "An opinion that would have been better expressed a couple of days ago, when this plan was being discussed," said William.


    "I didn''t think Tracy was being serious! She''s right, though. However do I have a twin sister so unlike me?"


    "It''s not as if you''re identical twins."


    "So? We should still be half-alike. What if there are civilians in the street?"


    "Then we simply abort and try again when Decay returns home. I''ll be able to detect anyone close enough to be in danger."


    "Bah. The sooner Decay is out of the way and we can get back to honest fighting, the better."


    "Then make sure you make this attack count! He''s about four minutes away."


    Stacy passed the time in silence, mostly cursing the fact that her earth element abilities had left her in the sewer while the other girls had escaped into fresher air.


    "He''s almost here. No civilians in range, and with the path he''s taking, he''s going to walk right over the trap. Five..."


    Stacy, who was still convinced this was a bloody stupid plan, tensed as she prepared to unleash her magic.


    "Four..."


    Tracy peered around a chimney stack, watching the Bane. On the surface, she didn''t know exactly where their pit trap was, but she knew it must only be a matter of seconds until it was triggered. A small flame smouldered in her hand, ready to detonate their makeshift bomb.


    "Thr... Huh? I mean three..."


    "Hey, what was that? What''s wrong?" asked Stacy, somewhat alarmed.


    "Two..."


    "Don''t just ignore me!"


    "No time! Later! One!"


    "Dammit!"


    "Now!"


    Stacy flexed her magic, and the pavement crumbled.


    Decay had just enough time to flash a look of surprise before he fell.


    "Pyro Bullet!" yelled Tracy, launching her fireball straight at the pit.


    Stacy sprinted, William flying ahead of her. "Earthen Wall! Earthen Wall! Earthen Wall!" she yelled, raising as many barriers as possible behind her with no regard for what they were doing to the flow of sewage. After all, the pipe was about to have bigger problems.


    Decay had declared there was no way to take him out without substantial collateral damage, and after his most recent demonstration, the girls were inclined to agree. That being the case, they''d done their best to ensure the damage was limited to a street, and not something that would be measured in lives or even private property. The street could be rebuilt.


    Tracy''s fireball impacted the pit. Even through the layers of earth, the shock-wave bowled Stacie over. Every window in the street shattered as tall flames blossomed into the air. Broken fragments of stone and clods of earth followed them, raining down over the area.


    "Collapse it! Hurry!" yelled William.


    Stacy threw up. Having just fallen face first into a stream of sewage, who could blame her? Especially as the blockage behind her meant that the level of waste was quickly rising.


    "Collapse it! Bury him!" repeated William.


    "Urk..." groaned Stacy, trying to focus her magic behind herself. "Sinkhole!"


    She stumbled forward, desperately trying to locate a ladder as the sewage spilled out of its channel and rose up around her ankles.


    Outside, the other three girls watched nervously as the ground collapsed around the site of the explosion.


    "Did it work?" asked Natasha.


    "I... think so..." carefully said Mary, who, despite her words, was trembling, unable to shake the image of Decay bursting out of the crater and taking his revenge against them, just like in the girder incident.


    "We need William to confirm," said Tracy, her gaze carefully searching the street. The fire had been short-lived, limited to a single explosion, and hadn''t spread, but a water main had obviously been ruptured because a ten-foot fountain was spraying out of the street. Coupled with the damage to the sewer, the stores lining the street were likely to have a bad night.


    "We should get out of here," opined Natasha. "I think this is a little beyond what our perception filter can help with..."


    "Yes, please," agreed Mary, albeit for very different reasons.


    "We need to pick up Stacy and William first," pointed out Tracy. "They should be coming from that manhole over there."


    The girls turned to look, and so were facing away from the crater when it exploded for a second time, this time without any fire but plenty of raw force.


    There was also a rather inhuman screech.


    "Run!" screamed Mary.


    "Not without my sister!" answered Tracy, leaping toward the manhole.


    She didn''t reach it. Decay, no longer cloaked in any semblance of human disguise, dropped between the girl and her target. He stood at his full three metres, but several chitin plates were missing, and his hair, thin enough to start with, was entirely gone, the stubble smouldering. His flesh was charred, deep burns covering his exposed skin.


    He snarled, his voice containing no more language than his body did disguise. Nevertheless, the meaning was completely clear. He held a single arm outstretched. The shocked magical girl didn''t have time to change direction, her momentum carrying her straight into the waiting claws.


    There was surprisingly little noise. Tracy simply came to a sudden halt, suspended two feet from the ground. There wasn''t even any evidence of blood, her dress already a deep enough red that the spreading wetness didn''t show. Nevertheless, the four claws protruding from her back made it clear that her life hung in the balance.


    So did the fact that her transformation shattered. And then the blood showed, a circular patch expanding around the claws, dying her white t-shirt in her trademark blood red. More blood poured from her mouth as she choked, the claws having punctured straight through a lung.


    "Tracy!" yelled Natasha, desperately charging forward to save her friend.


    Mary, her trauma-induced visions having come true before her eyes, was in no condition to help. She simply curled into a ball and whimpered.


    Decay, for his part, showed none of his usual sneering or smirking. His eyes held nothing but rage as he lifted Tracy high into the air, supported by nothing more than the claws running through her torso, and threw her straight at Natasha.


    The yellow magical girl did her best to catch her friend, the force pushing her backward into a wall. Her dress, already filthy from her time in the sewer, acquired a few new splashes of red.


    "Run..." mumbled Tracy, weakly.


    Natasha looked around wildly. Neither Mary nor Tracy were in any state to escape, nor could she carry both to safety. It was unlikely she could escape herself, even without the additional weight. Decay was charging at a speed that belayed his wounds, his extended claws leaving deep scores in the road.


    Natasha swore, lay Tracy down as gently as she could given the time constraints, and took a fighting stance.


    "Like hell I''d abandon you..." she muttered. "Whatever the cost."


    Decay sliced downwards.


    Blood splattered.


    Natasha screamed.

 Chapter 9: Surrender

    Stacy hurried up a ladder, shoving the metal manhole cover out of her way at its top. "Are you sure Decay is still alive?" she demanded.


    "Yes!" exclaimed William, who was flying up below her. "He''s weakened, but alive, and even worse, he''s dug himself out. I can feel him moving around the surface."


    "Then where''s Tracy and the others? Did they run? Shouldn''t we head further down the sewer and come out in a different street?"


    William didn''t answer.


    "Seriously! Where are..."


    She froze as her head emerged out onto the street, then said a few words that had no business escaping the lips of a fourteen-year-old child.


    "Oh..." said William as he flew out of the hole and took in the scene around him.


    The street was in ruins, building facades cracked and windows shattered from the force of the initial explosion. A deep crater in the pavement was flooded with water, more still fountaining into the air from the burst main, and the building behind it¡ªthankfully empty, because the girls had put some care into picking their ambush site¡ªhad partially collapsed. That much was to be expected, given the explosion the girls had deliberately set off.


    What hadn''t been part of the plan was the way Natasha was hanging from a lamppost, tied there by a single black ribbon around an ankle. Her left arm was missing completely, blood still trickling from the wound. Her transformation had broken, and she hung limply, showing no signs of consciousness. Only her slow, shallow breathing gave any indication she was still alive.


    Tracy was in an even worse state, laying in a pool of blood on the pavement, her skin as pale as snow. It was enough that it would be a surprise if any blood was left on the inside, and there was no visible sign of her breathing.


    Finally, there was Mary. In a way, she was doing best out of the three, lacking any serious injuries. Her transformation still held, but Decay stood over her, inflicting small cuts one at a time. Despite the apparent torture, he didn''t seem to be revelling in it, snarling with anger rather than laughing. Mary was just whimpering, not resisting or even reacting as Decay cut her over and over. Despite physically being in the best condition of the three, mentally, there didn''t seem to be much of her left. Her eyes were vacant, and she was neither screaming nor begging for mercy.


    Perhaps it would be better to say that Mary was physically in the best condition of the four, rather than the three, since Decay was seriously injured, too. The fire had cauterised his wounds, but his remaining chitin plates were cracked and his flesh was black, through a combination of burns and the stains of his black blood.


    "What do you want to do?" asked William quietly. "Escape, or try to save them. I won''t think any less of you either way."


    "Are they all alive?" asked Stacy in turn, knowing William should be able to sense them. "Is my sister alive?"


    "Yes," answered William. "She''s weak and fading fast, but for now, she''s alive."


    Stacy climbed the rest of the way into the open air, then took a deep breath.


    "We surrender!" she yelled.


    Decay paused in his torment of the blue magical girl, a claw frozen in a downward swipe, held against Mary''s skin. His neck spun a hundred and eighty degrees, letting him stare at Stacy while holding his claw in place. Stacy held up her hands. "We surrender," she repeated. "You''ve won. I swear we''ll never attack you again, on condition all four of us live."


    "Oh? And here I was, thinking you had won," replied Decay, one corner of his mouth twisting in a way that may have been the very beginning of a sneer.


    "Huh?" asked Stacy, wondering how on earth the Bane had come to that conclusion. "I think we''re pretty thoroughly beaten here..."


    At that, Decay unfolded, rising from his position over Mary and ascending to his full height. And then he laughed.


    Great peals of mad laughter echoed around the shattered street.


    "Oh, I see," said William. "He''s right... Given what you tried to do, and that you''ve proven yourselves an actual danger to him, he''s likely justified in employing lethal force against you now, but it no longer matters. He''s so badly injured that there''s no way he can heal it just by sipping at the energy of willing victims. He needs more. Much more. Either he dies of his wounds, or he survives by breaking his protection."


    The laughter cut out, "Indeed," flatly stated Decay. "So I''m afraid your surrender is not accepted. Go, be with your friends in their final moments, then come for me when the mass murders start. Kill me, cry at their funerals, and spend the rest of your life asking yourself, ''was it worth it?''"


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    "Drain me, then," said Stacy.


    "What?" asked Decay, the mix of amusement and anger on his burnt face warping into a blank confusion.


    "I said, drain me. If you take energy from someone willing, it won''t break your protection, right?"


    "You do realise this is nothing like my deal with the blue one, right? As much energy as you living weapons of Earth possess, the amount I need to heal myself is... extensive."


    "I guessed as much," shrugged Stacy. "I''m not stupid."


    "Then why? Why go that far?"


    "You''re the one that told me to ask myself if it was worth it. I don''t need to, though, because the answer is obvious: it isn''t. If I can save my family and my friends, I will. The cost is irrelevant."


    "You would turn this victory into a defeat? And you would allow this, Will of the World?"


    "I will enforce this oath," answered William. "You shall no longer be considered an invader, and the power of the Earth will not be turned against you for as long as these four live."


    "They''ll die of old age eventually," grumbled Decay, the momentary flicker of surprise erased as he spotted the loophole. Or rather, loopholes, plural. "Fine. Doubtless something else will go wrong in the next fifty years that renders the end of your promise irrelevant, but I do insist you add a clause about indirect attacks, harassment or any other problematic behaviour."


    "Those who carry the power of the Earth will not be permitted to do anything that risks your personal safety, whether in ways that use their powers or otherwise, nor will they instigate others to do so on their behalf."


    "Very well. I have concerns about your weasel wording, but we''re on a time limit here, so that much will suffice."


    He waved a hand, conjuring more solidified shadows which clamped themselves around the wounds of Tracy and Natasha, stemming the bleeding.


    "Between that and their enhanced healing, they should survive long enough for help to arrive. Now, it''s your turn."


    Stacy closed her eyes and waited, wondering how long medical aid would be. The explosion had been some time ago, and yet there were no spectators, nor the sounds of approaching sirens. She had a horrible suspicion that the perception filter was acting against them, here. Still, in a strange way, she trusted Decay. He was too afraid of death to break the terms of their agreement. She knew all four of them would live.


    And, as if in answer to that strangely placed trust, Decay thrust one of his black ribbons straight into her heart.


    <hr>


    Natasha groaned as some semblance of consciousness did its best to wriggle its way into her life.


    "Natasha? Nat!" yelled someone. "She''s waking up! Nat!"


    "Mum?" mumbled Natasha. "Why are you waking me up? I set my alarm properly."


    "Oh, my gawd. You''re okay! I''ve been so worried!"


    "Huh?" asked Natasha as her burgeoning consciousness grew to the point that she could tell something was very, very wrong. "Where am I?"


    "You''re in hospital. You were... seriously injured."


    "Hospital? But... What happened? I don''t remember."


    "You were in the wrong place at the wrong time... There was an explosion."


    Natasha lay still as a few fragments of memory rebuilt themselves.


    "Tracy!" she exclaimed suddenly. "How is Tracy?!"


    "She''s doing okay. Better than you, in fact. The doctors say she''ll make a full recovery."


    "Better than... me...?" repeated Natasha as her growing consciousness pointed out a few more incongruities. "I can''t feel my arm..."


    "Oh... Oh, my precious little girl," said her mother, her voice cracking as she tried to hold back her sudden tears, the elation of Natasha waking up erased by the reminder of her injuries.


    "If you''re awake enough to worry about others, perhaps you''re awake enough to explain what you were doing out at that time of night?" asked another voice. "Or why you were in that part of town at any time?"


    "Seriously, dear?" asked the first voice. "She''s only just woken up. Give her a minute."


    "Dad? You''re here too?" asked Natasha.


    "Yes, of course I''m here. How could I not be? And yes, seriously. I want to know which of you four had the stupid idea to take such a late outing, and why you went along with it!"


    "Don''t mind him. He''s just looking for someone to blame."


    "Damn right I am! The bloody police are claiming the explosion was an accident. An accident! How in the hells could it have been an accident?"


    "Please calm down, dear, before you get kicked out of the hospital."


    The irate man growled and stalked angrily around the room.


    "Four?" asked Natasha, picking up on that titbit. "Were Stacy and Mary hurt, too?"


    "Mary only has some cuts and bruises, but she''s in shock," answered Natasha''s mother. "Stacy is... very badly hurt."


    "Can I see them?"


    "I think you should rest a while first."


    "No! I want to see them!"


    "Then just turn your head," responded her father irately.


    Natasha blinked, reminded that vision was a thing that she had. She was staring upward at a sterile white ceiling, covered in lights, sprinklers, PA speakers, smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms, and all the other things that meant that ceilings in public or corporate settings tended to contain only a small amount of actual ceiling.


    Turning her head to the left revealed Mary, her own parents stood over her, her mother tightly clutching a hand. She was wrapped in bandages¡ªthe regular kind, thankfully, not Decay''s shadowy ribbons¡ªbut her blue hair was unmistakable. Her eyes were open, but empty, simply staring at nothing.


    Turning to the right revealed Tracy, with no obvious signs of injury, but her eyes were closed and a mask was tied over her mouth and nose, hissing as it provided her with above-ambient concentrations of oxygen to breathe. Unlike Natasha or Mary, she was alone, with no family by her side.


    "Where''s Stacy?" asked Natasha, not seeing anyone else around.


    "The ICU," answered her mother. "She was the worst wounded out of all of you. A piece of shrapnel nicked her heart."


    "The doctors say it''s a miracle she''s still alive," added her father. "They say it''s a miracle you are. With that wound, they don''t understand how you didn''t bleed out before paramedics arrived, so please forgive me if I''m a little shirty."


    "Just be thankful there was a miracle," said her mother.


    "Wound?" asked Natasha, who''d once again forgotten about it, distracted by the fates of her friends. "Oh... My arm..."


    "It''ll be okay. You''re safe, and that''s the important thing."


    Natasha remained silent, now awake enough to realise the likely cause of the ''miracle''. If she was still alive, the only possible reason was that Decay had decided it was advantageous to himself for her to live. For all of them to live. She''d watched Tracy get stabbed through her torso, and the fact she merely was on oxygen and not in intensive care herself was inexplicable otherwise.


    "I guess we lost, then," she mumbled.

 Chapter 10: Convalescence

    "Hey, Mary. Look: I brought you some nice, fun homework to do," said Natasha, waving a sheet of paper in front of Mary''s open eyes.


    Mary didn''t react.


    "Come on, I need you! I can''t do this on my own!"


    Mary continued to stare upward at nothing.


    "Give it up," whispered Tracy.


    "Pardon?"


    "I said, give it up. Please don''t make me talk loudly. It hurts."


    "Sorry," said Natasha, walking back to Tracy, who was sitting on the edge of her bed. "I just don''t know what to do... The doctors say she''s awake. She just won''t respond to anything."


    "Watching me get stabbed¡ªfatally, as far as she knew¡ªmust have combined with her PTSD to leave her catatonic. I was hoping seeing me alive would help, but alas not. Maybe it needs all three of us?"


    "That will require Stacy to wake up first. And I''ll need to hide my not-arm. And where the heck is William?"


    "How should I know?"


    "It was rhetorical!"


    "I''m here," answered a quiet, tired voice.


    "William!"


    "Yes, I''m here. I apologise for my absence. I was... recalled."


    "Recalled? How the heck can you get recalled? Who can recall you? You have a boss who''s pissed that Decay beat us, and threatened to fire you?"


    "I''m glad to hear you''re still as energetic as ever," answered the white kitten, floating towards the crippled magical girl from the window.


    The window that was closed and locked, but William had never let that sort of thing stop him.


    "That didn''t answer my question!"


    "If you must know, I was punished for making a decision that was not mine to make. But I stand by it. Circumstances have... altered."


    "What does that mean?" asked Tracy.


    "Stacy made a deal with Decay to save your lives. You are no longer to attempt to harm him, directly or indirectly."


    "We really have lost, then..." said Natasha, sitting on her hospital bed. "Completely and utterly."


    "I can understand Stacy doing that, but why did you let her make that promise?" whispered Tracy. "If we''d died, his protection would have broken, and you''d have been able to appoint new protectors to finally defeat him."


    "I''m not certain that''s true," said William. "You almost killed him, and left him heavily wounded and desperate. Given the circumstances, killing you could easily be construed as justifiable self defence."


    "Successful enough to prove that we posed a threat, but not enough to actually win. Urk... I''ve done too much talking. Sorry, but I need to lie down."


    "Please do. I only came to warn you about the deal Stacy made, before you got it into your heads to attempt revenge, breaking her promise. I... probably won''t be around anymore, after this."


    "No! You can''t leave!" exclaimed Natasha. "That''s too sad..."


    "I''m not sure I''ll have much choice."


    "Liar..." accused another voice.


    "What?" asked William. "No, I''m afraid I really will need to leave."


    "Yeah, why would you accuse him... of..." started Natasha, before realising who had spoken. "Mary! Mary, you''re awake!"


    "He is lying," repeated Mary, who was still lying on her hospital bed, staring upward. "Whatever his reasons for agreeing to that deal, it was nothing to do with saving our lives."


    "Huh? What are you saying?" asked Natasha. Even Tracy pushed herself up on her bed, trying to get a look at her teammate.


    "Well?" demanded Mary, turning her head slightly to bring the floating creature into view. "Because I''ve been considering the options, right from the moment you made that oath to Decay, and there''s only one possibility that makes sense. And, if I''m right, this is all your fault."


    "I... I..." stuttered William. "I''m sorry..."


    "Wait, from the moment he made that oath?" asked Natasha. "You''ve been listening the whole time? No, more importantly, what do you mean, this is William''s fault?"


    "Because when he felt Decay approaching our trap, he also noticed that his heart was no longer completely black, right? And, despite that, you didn''t inform us, but told Stacy to spring the trap. We agreed you''d tell us if he changed! Instead, you used us like mindless weapons, to assassinate your enemy."


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    "No! It wasn''t like that!" exclaimed William. "It was only a speck. Hardly anything. A tiny seed, alone in the darkness!"


    "Seeds sprout and grow," said Mary, coldly. "Perhaps it''s for the best that you leave."


    "Stop arguing!" cried Natasha. "Mary and William are both back. We should be celebrating!"


    "How can you think like that after what Decay did to you?" asked Mary. "Aren''t you going to blame William at all? It''s his fault this happened."


    "Well... I can''t really blame Decay, can I?" answered Natasha. "I mean, we''ve tried to kill him, repeatedly, and this time we almost succeeded. Did you expect him to just laugh it off? And we should at least give William a chance to explain himself."


    Mary sighed and rolled over on her bed, facing away from the others. "Do what you like. As for me, I quit, for all the difference it makes."


    "No! Don''t quit! I still need your help with my schoolwork or I''m gonna flunk the whole year!"


    Despite herself, Mary smiled slightly, but she didn''t answer.


    "William..." breathed Tracy, quietly, but even that much made her wince.


    "Yes?"


    Unable to speak, Tracy scribbled out her question on paper instead: ''what happened to Stacy?''


    "Decay stabbed her through the heart. She was... seriously..."


    The floating kitten stuttered to a halt as Tracy''s eyes narrowed.


    ''No more lies,'' she wrote.


    "Yeah, her wound has mostly healed already," nodded Natasha. "She just won''t wake up. She isn''t even breathing properly on her own. It''s been days since then, and they still have her on a respirator in intensive care!"


    "She... uh... let Decay drain her. Given how seriously injured he was, it took a lot of energy to heal himself. Pretty much everything she had. He stabbed her through the heart and took her life force directly. He promised to let you four live, but good health wasn''t a part of the deal. She''ll wake up, eventually. Possibly in a few months, but it may take up to a year."


    "A year?!" exclaimed Natasha. "Wait, didn''t you say that victims of Banes suffered after-effects even after waking up? Will she be okay?"


    William looked away without answering, which was all the answer the girls needed.


    "Share... mine..." whispered Tracy, uncaring of how much talking hurt.


    "Share yours? Your energy?" asked William. "That''s... I mean, Banes can devour the energy of others, but humans can''t."


    "Why... not...?"


    "You... uh... don''t have the required bits of... uh... magic? Soul? I don''t actually know how it works. But I do know you can''t do it."


    "Are you sure?" asked Natasha. "I mean... They''re twins. Defenders of Earth. If anyone can share energy, it''s going to be them. Heck, you can take some of mine if it helps."


    "It doesn''t. I''m sorry, but it''s simply not possible. You''ll need to wait for her to recover on her own."


    With a shallow sigh, Tracy rolled over in turn, looking away from the others and falling into silence.


    "Sheesh. Looks like it''s all up to me, then," said Natasha. "Dad said they''d let me out of hospital tomorrow."


    "Up to you?" asked William. "What are you planning?"


    "Isn''t that obvious? And don''t go vanishing on us, because you''re coming too."


    <hr>


    "Oh, you were Natasha, right?" asked Agatha, answering the door to the injured magical girl''s knocking. "I saw you on the news. I''m so sorry... That''s not something a girl of your age should need to deal with."


    "Meh. What happens, happens, and there''s no point whining about it," said Natasha. "Is... uh, what was he calling himself...?"


    "Sebastian?" asked Agatha. "What do you mean, ''calling himself''?"


    "That''s not his real name, but his real name is stupid, so I don''t blame him for changing it."


    "I see you''re as empty-headed as always," came Decay''s voice from deeper into the house. "What the h... I mean, why are you here?"


    "Oh, trying not to swear?" grinned Natasha. "Good for you. I''m here for two reasons, actually. Firstly, to say sorry."


    From deeper within the house, something went smash.


    "Uh... Are you okay?" called Natasha.


    "Did you just break your teacup?" asked Agatha. "That was my grandmother''s..."


    "Sorry," said Decay.


    Natasha snorted.


    "That is a rather inappropriate response, young lady," chided Agatha. "That teacup had sentimental value. It also contained very hot tea."


    "Sorry. Hah, lots of apologies today. It''s just that the thought of ''Sebastian'' apologising for smashing a teacup was just kinda... well... hilarious."


    "Yes, yes, laugh away," grumbled Decay, walking out into the hallway. He was back in his human disguise, his suit immaculate¡ªexcept for some amount of tea soaking into one arm¡ªand no sign of the burns or injuries he''d received a mere week earlier.


    "Have you never considered changing into something more comfortable when you''re at home?" asked Natasha. "It''s weird to wear a suit around the house."


    "You know full well that I''m not really wearing... Actually, who cares? Why are you here? Really?"


    "I said, I came to apologise. And to ask a favour."


    Decay''s eyes narrowed.


    "Umm... Sorry Ms Agatha, but could we have a bit of privacy, please?"


    "Suit yourself," she shrugged. "I''m well aware there''s more going on here than meets the eyes. I just hope I''ve done my part to help."


    Natasha and Decay shared a glance. "I rather think you have, actually," said Natasha.


    "Good."


    And, with that blunt declaration, Agatha toddled back into the house.


    "So..." said Decay. "What, exactly, are you apologising for? And, more importantly, why, by the Devourer''s right horn, would I ever do you a favour?"


    "By the Devourer''s right horn? What sort of expression is that?"


    "Stop getting distracted," said Natasha''s backpack in William''s voice. "To be honest, I''d quite like to know why we''re here, too. The simplest way of fulfilling the terms of our agreement would be to stay away from Decay."


    "Right. Well, first, the apology. After our first fight, our group made an agreement. William could sense the evil in your heart, and so we knew that despite how you were acting, it wasn''t how you wanted to act. It was just a, well, act. A way to protect yourself from us. We decided that because you were only acting good out of fear of us, and not because you were actually good, we wouldn''t treat you differently from any other Bane. We also made William promise us that should you ever change, and should your heart not be wholly evil, we would... reconsider our relationship."


    "That''s a nice story, but what does it have to do with anything?" asked Decay.


    "Because your heart changed, but William never told us. Our last attack should never have happened. That''s why I brought him with me. He damn well owes you an apology, too."


    "No he does not," said the Bane. "My heart? Change? Utter nonsense. Your head really is full of air if you think I''m any different now from when I first arrived."


    "You were drinking tea. With a human."


    "So? She''s better company than any Bane I''ve ever met. Since I''m stuck here, why not avail myself of the available facilities? The only difference between now and when I arrived is that I know what some of those facilities are."


    "Well, you''re welcome to remain in denial if you want, but William, you still need to apologise."


    "What''s the point? He doesn''t think we need to."


    "William!"


    "... Okay. I''m sorry," said Natasha''s backpack.


    Decay snorted. "So, the great Will of the World is taking orders from little girls now. Fine, for showing me such a hilarious sight, I''ll at least humour you long enough to listen to your request. What is this ''favour'' you want?"


    "I obviously know you can take energy from people. I also know you can pump that energy into other things, because it''s how other Banes tried to widen the rift. I want you to take half of my energy and pump it into Stacy."