An actress in our midst! (web version)

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The situation was growing worse and worse by the minute. The apocalypse didn’t happen – thank god for that – but the worst case scenario was supposed to be Jessica falling into a coma!

“Over your dead body…?” The demon inside Jessica eyed Salem as she continued to struggle. “Sounds like an idea. Get out of there Trix, she’s useless to us now.”

“Wh-argh?!” Salem could barely say anything before a wolf-shaped demonic spirit forced its way out of her body and stood next to the demon possessing Jessica.

Once again, Jessica’s hand rose, now in the direction of Salem’s crumpled body and the groaning Trish. And this time, the magic gathering at her palm seemed different. Rather than just dark magic that Jessica had always used, the little ball of magic looked as if it tore holes into reality, as if looking at a 2D picture of the night sky.

Hecate immediately stood in the way, ready to defend the two. In a flash, Flame, Bloom, and Spark stood by her side, facing the possessed body of Jessica. The black ops were in the background, hurriedly trying to evacuate the civilians and heal Frost, who was struggling to stand after having the demon forcefully extracted from her. Flame could hear Cody trying to move Salem – or maybe just Sally now – along with Trish, and bring them to safety.

The demon didn’t seem to care at all, it fired the magical blast at the ensemble, the unnerving image of a 2D sky expanding into a wide blast. With Frost incapacitated, Bloom and Flame were immediately forced to whip out whatever defensive spells they could.

“Maze of vines!” “Firewall!”

Neither the sprouting greenery nor the solid barrier of flames did anything to inhibit the attack. The blast of magic seemed to completely ignore the obstructions, plowing through and erasing them, along with anything else in its path.

“Dodge!” Spark shouted a split second after realizing this before grabbing Flame and jumping to the side. Hecate did the same with Bloom, dodging to the other side.

Luckily, the magic didn’t travel very far before dissipating, so it didn’t reach Cody who was still struggling to move the two women. Jessica’s eyes narrowed at that.

“You should really stop struggling. There’s nothing you can do,” the demon said, with that haughty, condescending attitude.

“Jessica! You need to fight it!” Flame shouted, desperate to save her friend from the demon’s clutches.

“Come on, Jessica! If you don’t kick that demon out, we’ll have to punch it out of you!” Spark added while the four surrounded Jessica and the wolf spirit from all sides.

The demon scoffed using Jessica’s own face. “It’s pointless. I’ve completely taken over her conscious mind. This body is nothing but a tool for me now.”

That enraged the four girls.

“Sunflower cannon!” “Storm bolt!”

Two powerful blasts of magic came from the front and back. But Jessica’s hands casually lifted to block each with her bare hands. The subsequent explosion propelled the wolf-like demon off to the side, but left Jessica completely unscathed.

Jessica was a weapon now. The weapons were all indestructible.

Despite these thoughts, Flame didn’t waste a second. And neither did the last member of the impromptu team. As if they were fighting side by side for years, Hecate and Flame rushed at Jessica in a pincer attack with their swords moments after the blasts hit Jessica’s palms.

Flame squashed down her hesitation at the horror of slicing her love in half, and slashed with her sword at her unprotected torso at the same time Hecate did.

It didn’t do anything. Their swords were stopped by Jessica’s body as if trying to cut tempered steel with a butter knife.

“Oh? This thing is even tougher than I thought.”

“That ‘thing’ is Jessica’s body, you asshole!” Spark shouted in outrage.

“Jessica! Snap out of it already!” Hecate pleaded.

“Come on, Jessica!”

“Wake up! Jessica, please!”

Their pleas fell upon deaf ears.

The demon merely moved Jessica’s hands to aim at the two girls pushing swords into her waist, the odd-looking magic already gathered in both palms, ready to erase the two.

“Shi-”

Something huge slammed into Jessica’s body, jerking away her hands, and letting her blasts of, apparently, matter-annihilating magic, loose into empty space. They dissipated before they could hit anything or anyone.

“Daddy!”

The something huge was Baugh, ramming his side into Jessica while holding his sword in a wind-up stance, before swinging the massive blade at her. Any other person would have been cleaved right in half, but Jessica’s body was merely flung forward at high speed.

“Nomed! I know a part of you is still in Jessica! You need to wake her up!” he shouted even as Jessica’s body hit a wall in a crash.

Flame didn’t know the name Nomed, but she figured it had to be the demonic spirit Jessica had had. The one Baugh had ripped out of her.

“Another demon…? Odd, I don’t feel anyone here,” the cold voice broke through as Jessica’s unharmed body rose from the wreckage. “Nobody but me.” Jessica’s expression warped into a twisted sneer.

“Crai o’ san’ shuary!” a slurred shout resounded from the side.

Attention snapped to Frost, still woozy and limping, using her magic to seal off the loose wolf-shaped demonic spirit who had been knocked to the side earlier.

“Frost! Are you–”

“Don’ worry ‘bout meh. ’m fine,” Frost mumbled, her eyes cold and furious. “Wat matders now… is gettin’ Chessica bak.” She glared at the person in question. Or rather, at the thing possessing her.

Jessica’s eyes narrowed. “You could have been such a splendid vessel…” the demon murmured. “I had high hopes for you… and then you refused to even try becoming a general. You delayed my entire plan… but it doesn't matter now. You became a magical girl instead and everything fell into place.”

Frost growled at the demon, in complete contrast to her usual demeanor, and summoned her demonic sword… despite no longer having a demonic spirit inside her.

“What exactly did you do to her, Magna?” Baugh demanded. Apparently, the demon’s name was Magna. “There’s no way you were inside her body. Not in your entirety at least.”

Jessica’s disinterested eyes met Baugh’s. “Oh? Nothing much. I just had my general–” Magna’s gaze flicked to the spirit sealed inside an icicle. “--summon the rest of me inside her and then I left.” Magna scoffed. “I’m surprised you never recognized that part of me, Baugh.”

Baugh growled as his fists clenched as he growled, “You…”

“I think we’ve played around for long enough now. I do still need to get my kingdom back into order.” Magna raised Jessica’s hand and her spear flashed into it before it was wreathed in the same cosmic-looking magic from before. “Time to end this. Who’s first?”

Baugh, Hecate, and the magical girls gripped their weapons and tensed up as the old king stared them down.

“Baugh…? Is that… you?” a new voice interrupted the standoff.

Heads snapped and landed on the girl who had been the catalyst of everything. The girl, who most people present had only ever seen in coma.

“Trish…” Baugh muttered in a halting voice, his eyes widening.

“Fine. You then.” Magna launched Jessica’s body, spear in hand, straight at Trish, faster than before.

“No!” Baugh launched himself forward, desperation evident in his features.

Trish hurriedly began to stand, but her legs crumpled beneath her. “Ack! Shit! I can’t!” she yelled in panic as her eyes opened wide at her approaching doom.

“Stop!”

“Jessica!”

“Jessica stop it!”

The spear tore through flesh.

But not Trish’s.

Sally stood in the way, a hole burrowed through her chest, shaky hands gripping Jessica’s arms holding the spear.

“Y-you!”

“Sally!”

Sally tried to speak but only managed to cough up blood. Her eyes were bloodshot but determined as she glared down at Jessica.

Baugh came in swinging again, intending to knock Jessica away with his sword. But this time, Magna was ready. He turned Jessica’s head in his direction before the familiar terrifying blob of galactic-looking magic appeared in front of her face, ready to be blasted.

Baugh belatedly realized that Magna didn’t need to use Jessica’s hands for this magic. But it was too late to dodge now. He was going to get caught in the blast. Flame saw the moment he realized it. Instead of faltering, his eyes hardened, his grip tightened, and he charged even faster, perhaps hoping to at least land one final hit before going down himself.

“Jessica, stop it!!!” Flame heard herself scream in desperation.

And then Jessica’s head suddenly jerked upwards, releasing the blast into the ceiling, and completely missing Baugh before Baugh’s sword smashed into her once again.

Jessica’s body crashed into another wall as the rest of the ensemble rushed to stand around Trish and Sally.

“Sally! Sally!” Trish screamed in panic.

Sally only gurgled as her body collapsed into a heap. Bloom was immediately on her, trying to extract the spear still piercing her chest, and healing her wounds the best she could.

“I… I can’t…” Bloom said in horror. “Her lungs are torn to shreds. It’s too much for me to fix…”

“Sally…” Trish murmured with a hiccup as tears sprung up in her eyes.

“Gah! What the shit?!” came the demon’s voice from the debris where Jessica landed. “Why are you… How?! You’re not supposed to resist!”

When Flame looked at Jessica, her body was moving in an odd stiff way. As if fighting with herself.

As if fighting with someone for control.

Flame didn’t know what had caused it, but she didn’t care.

“Jessica!” she shouted. “We’re here! Keep it up!”

“Kick that jackass out of your lawn, Jessica!” Spark added.

“Don’t you deeaaaaaaah! Fuck off, dipshit!” they screamed, Magna’s voice shifting back into Jessica’s.

Everyone stared in shock.

“We need to help her!” Flame rallied them.

There was still hope. Sally’s sacrifice wasn’t in vain.