Magical Girl Mechanical Heart

Veritas shrieks, bringing up her shield to defend, but I'm much closer to her than I was to Aurora and I will not let the same thing happen to her. Rage and fear bloom like a wildfire inside of me as I direct it to my limbs, intercepting Nanaya with a sudden burst of speed. No. Not again. NOT AGAIN!

"Aʙʀᴇᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴ!" I hiss."Hᴇᴀᴠᴇɴ's Cᴏᴀʟᴇsᴄᴇɴᴄᴇ!"

Rumbling lightning engulfs my staff as I swing it, waves of stormy pressure sucking at Nanaya's body and holding her in place as she tries to dodge. Her eyes widen, she brings up her arms to block, and my staff crashes down like a hammer, shattering the street under my target as well as a few bones.

And then, the lightning strikes. It falls onto my weapon from the sky above, thicker than my entire body. The bolt engulfs the corrupted red mage, ravaging her body from head to toe. I press the attack the instant the lightning lets up, and Nanaya summons her incarnate weapon to block. The force of my strike still breaks her stance, her injured body unable to keep up the way it did before. She leaps backwards to dodge my follow-up, trying to retreat, and Amaterasu immediately attacks her from behind.

But none of this is important right now. I turn and sprint towards my downed teammate.

"Aurora!" I shout again. "Aurora! Isabela!"

I skid to a stop on my knees, grabbing her and checking her for… no. No! She's not breathing! Does she have a pulse? She… oh no. No, no, no, no, no! Oh god, please no!

She's not fucking dead yet! I tilt her head back, check her mouth for obstructions, and put my mouth over hers to breathe air into her lungs. Then, both hands over her chest, I start compressions. Physically, her human body should be mostly fine; the extreme damage to her incarnate form probably just fucked up her nervous system a little and shut off her heart. I just have to restart it. She won't die. She can't die! Su can handle Nanaya while I—

"Cᴇᴀsᴇʟᴇss Rᴇʙᴇʟʟɪᴏɴ," the monster growls, and out of the corner of my eye I spot her wounds stitching themselves back together, her burns replacing themselves with new skin as her bones knit together. Are you kidding me? Is this a joke?

I can't believe I forgot that violent psychopath has true healing!

The advantage I'd managed to give Su is gone in an instant, a swift kick to her gut proving that beyond a doubt. Su brings up her dagger to block Nanaya's next attack, but the madwoman just lets her hand be impaled, grabs Su's arm with several of her own, and snaps it over her knee before throwing her into a nearby building and rushing for—

"Veritas!" I shriek, since the girl is staring in horror at Aurora and me instead of defending herself. My shout snaps her out of it, barely giving her enough time to lift her shield to defend against Nanaya's strike. But again, Nanaya just uses her absurd number of limbs to transition the attack into a grapple. She grips Veritas' shield, leaps over the girl's head, and uses her momentum to yank Veritas off the ground, flip her overhand, and slam her head directly into the concrete hard enough to crack it.

Fuck. Fuck! Am I the only one who can handle her? My lightning would stop her from pulling off grabs like that pretty trivially, no matter how skilled she happens to be. Just give myself enough charge and she wouldn't be able to touch me.

Are you seriously still thinking about fighting her!?

I can't save my team until she stops killing them!

Then we just have to—hey! What are you doing!?

Veritas hasn't dropped out of incarnate form, but she's on the ground, curled into a ball and clutching her head. Not fighting anymore. Nanaya kicks her into a wall anyway, and something in me breaks along with the brickwork. I will not let this happen. I cannot let this happen! Not again! I am going to DESTROY her! I stand up, and—

Stop it! Stop it right now!

Shut the fuck up, you coward! We have to kill her!

Are you crazy!? Give me control RIGHT NOW!

Amaterasu manages to pull herself out of the rubble, rushing at Nanaya with a scream, but Nanaya has already turned her attention to the largest remaining threat: me. But I'm ready for her. I won't let her kill them! I won't! No matter how much Minerva screams at me to run!

You don't get to do this. I'm tak

ing control. I inhale, and speak the only words that feel right.

"Oɴᴄᴇ Aɢᴀɪɴ, I Fɪɢʜᴛ. Bʀᴀᴠᴇ Pʀɪɴᴄᴇss Dᴜᴛɪғᴜʟ Mɪɴᴇʀᴠᴀ!"

The burst of light and force pushes Nanaya back, giving me time to collect myself. Incarnate form, check. Gunstaff, check. Plenty of time to aim for a shot? Check.

I throw my weapon away.

"WE SURRENDER!" I shout, raising both of my hands, palm-forward. "We surrender."

Please work. Please, please, please work! Nanaya's eyebrows twitch, but though she's coiled to spring towards me at a moment's notice she holds her position, examining me carefully.

"The hell we do!" Amaterasu roars, rushing in to try and continue the attack. I grit my teeth with fury. Idiot! She'll kill us all!

"Amaterasu, stand down right now!" I shout as loudly as I can—and I can control thunder. "This is my city. My team. If you keep being stupid I'm helping the red mage take you down!"

That seems to surprise Nanaya enough to get her to stand up straighter, no longer preparing to rush me. Please, please, please!

"You are serious?" she asks. Oh gosh, okay.

"On one condition," I insist. "Aurora's in cardiac arrest. Heal her. Please."

Nanaya frowns, her eyes glancing between me, Amaterasu (who has thankfully stopped), and the rubble containing Veritas. Every second is agonizing, every moment Aurora lies on the ground behind me without breathing feels like condemning her to death. But then, Nanaya nods.

"Acceptable," she agrees, walking towards me. "Betray me, and I will kill you all."

"Yeah, I kinda figured that," I answer, barely stopping myself from collapsing in relief. "Hurry. She doesn't have much time."

Partly because Fulgora stopped giving her CPR, but it's not like I had the time to restart it. Thankfully, it hasn't even been a minute yet. I wish I hadn't wasted as much time as I already have, but Fulgora was right about one thing: we have to stop Nanaya if we want to live. She was just wrong about the best way to do that.

Nanaya told us she didn't want to fight. She tried to talk us down. Surely she'd accept a surrender in that case, right? Of course, I stand by the decision to engage her anyway—we had no way to know it would go this badly—but she strikes me as the kind of person who just wants to get things over with as quickly as possible.

This was a quite literally insane risk.

Oh, shut up, Fulgora. Like continuing to fight her wouldn't have been? I step away to give Nanaya access to Aurora's body, and the horrific woman channels red magic through my teammate's body. I can't help but panic a little as I watch her do it, knowing she could be doing almost anything to Aurora and I wouldn't be able to stop her. But moments later, Aurora gasps for breath and starts coughing, heaving for air as she tries to sit up in a panic, only to be pushed down by one of Nanaya's arms.

"Do not move," the woman warns, and I'm not entirely sure if it's medical advice or a threat.

"Do what she says, Aurora," I order. "Fight's over."

"I… okay," Aurora says softly. "Sorry."

"You've done nothing wrong," I insist. "Nothing."

"Mmm," Nanaya grunts, standing up. "I must admit, I was not expecting you to be so reasonable."

Fulgora's anger mixes with my own, and I somehow lose enough self-control to respond.

"Well, I didn't expect you to try to murder a child," I snap. "So I guess we're all learning about each other today."

I regret it the moment I say it, panic returning as I expect retaliation. But to my surprise, Nanaya… chuckles. It's a short snort of a laugh, but her amusement is clear.

Fucking psycho.

"You would get along well with someone I know," she tells me, and turns towards the rubble of the destroyed wall which—I realize to a burst of power—still contains Veritas and hasn't moved. Nanaya's long strides take her there quickly, however, and her six arms dig Veritas' human body up and lift her onto more stable ground.

"One moment," she frowns. "Do not move her."

I look carefully at Veritas, seeing that, thankfully, she's breathing. Having no further reason to object, I wait as Nanaya wanders over to where she tossed her cloak and starts rummaging around in it, pulling out a splint. She returns to Veritas, locking one of her arms in place.

"Bones broken," she explains. "I've set them. A cast would likely be better."

"You… you have true healing, right?" I ask. "You're like Thalia."

Nanaya pauses, turning to give me a firm stare.

"I am nothing like Thalia was," she says flatly. "But yes, I am capable of similar feats. I will not do so, however, because you have attacked me. I think I would prefer that you spend time having to lick your wounds and remember the source of your aches. If you attempt to accost me again, I will not hold back a second time."

I can't help but take a step back, the fury radiating off of her punctuating the threat with lethal certainty. She's not even kidding, is she? That isn't a bluff. This entire fight, she didn't even use a single higher-class spell.

"Why?" I breathe. "Why are you doing this? Why do you fight to kill? Why are you opening portals to the Dark World?"

Nanaya regards me with the impassive calculation of someone who can't quite decide if a barking dog is cute or annoying.

"Technically, we are not opening new portals," she answers. "We are developing a process to seal up already-present portals and keep them on standby so we may reopen them at will. As for why… it is because we live in one. I do not anticipate that it will increase the number of monsters you need to deal with. If anything, it will lessen them, as you will be getting fewer fresh portals as a result."

"Oh," I say. That's… a lot less evil than I expected.

There's no reason to assume she's telling the truth, though.

"As for why I kill," she continues, "it is simply how I was taught to fight. Are you not the same? It is your job to slaughter monsters by the hundreds."

"B-but those aren't people!" I insist. "You're supposed to hold back on people!"

"Oh? Were you holding back?" Nanaya asks. "You swung a weapon at my head and dropped a lightning bolt on me. You had no way to know if I would survive such a thing. The only difference between us is that I have the experience to do it on purpose."

"Do not twist this however you like," Amaterasu snaps. "You are that war criminal, aren't you? The biggest traitor to the Earth Guardians in history. I remember you from the news."

Nanaya glowers at her.

"You are old for an Earth Guardian," she says, "but still so very young. I do not blame you for being angry with me. I hurt children on this battleground. But it would be wise, I think, to spare at least some of your rage for those who put those children here in the first place, and gave them guns. What did you think would happen, you ignorant fool?"

Amaterasu growls like a dog, but Nanaya just ignores her, turning away and shrugging her cloak onto her body as she departs. I reach out and put a hand on Su-san before she can start chasing the woman down.

"Let's go," I tell her. "The girls need to see a real doctor, too."

"You are a coward," Amaterasu spits.

A disgusting coward, Fulgora agrees.

"Shut the heck up!" I snap at both of them. "I saved everyone's lives! If I hadn't done that, you would have lost, I would have lost, and Aurora would be dead. Don't you dare get mad at me about it. You almost got everyone killed and you know it! If you wanna do something about it, then get strong enough to win."

Amaterasu growls at me, but I stare her down and after a few moments she looks away, saying something that I assume is a swear in Japanese.

"... You're right," she admits. "But we still failed. We can't fail. We are the first and last line of defense!"

"I think you and Fulgora both need to remember what our job actually is," I tell her. "We fight monsters. We kill them before they make it to Earth and eat people. If any Antipathy artifacts end up getting out of the Dark World, we capture those too. And we did that today. Successfully. That lady was not an artifact or a monster. She's just some evil weirdo. A criminal, maybe, but that's not our priority here."

"'You and Fulgora?'" Su-San asks, scrunching her eyebrows at me.

"Two incarnate forms, two people, yes it's weird but it's not important right now. Focus. Stop growling and groaning and beating yourself up over this and help me get the girls to a hospital!"

Amaterasu deflates a little.

"Right, yes," she sighs. "I will get Veritas, you get Aurora?"

"Sure," I nod, walking back over to where Aurora is still dutifully lying on the ground as per Nanaya's orders.

"Hey, how're you feeling?"

"I dunno. Like I almost died, I guess," she answers, staring at me with wide eyes. God, she's so small. "I'm sorry, I… I wasn't ready. I didn't expect for her to just go for me like that… I really messed up."

"None of this is your fault, Aurora," I insist, checking around her head and neck for any bruises or signs of injury before I carefully lift her up into my arms. "None of us are used to fighting opponents capable of strategy. We faced her assuming she'd go for whoever's closest, and she took advantage of that."

"My head hurts," Aurora groans, and I stop moving immediately.

"Where?" I ask.

"Where… where she hit me," she whimpers. "And where she grabbed me."

I'm going to fucking kill her.

Well… at least none of that pain is likely to be from her human body.

"Your incarnate form was catastrophically damaged," I tell Aurora. "It's going to hurt a lot for a while now. You need to avoid transforming until it's repaired or you could die. The good news is that painkillers work on soul damage."

"Will it really get better?" Aurora whimpers softly. "My skull, it… I felt her break…"

"It will heal," I promise her gently, refusing to let the rage inside me show. I need to reassure her. Revenge can come later. "It might scar, but it will heal. Incarnate forms are a lot sturdier than physical bodies."

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

"Okay," she allows, and I lift up into the sky as softly as I can. I'm going to have to tell her mother about this, aren't I? Well, it's fine. She's alive. Nothing is more important than the fact that she's alive.

I suppose you have a point there. I still can't believe that actually worked.

It's not really gambling if you only have one choice. Either Nanaya accepted the surrender and helped, or we were screwed. Even if we could beat her, it probably would have taken too long to save Aurora.

I… I kind of thought she was already dead.

Well then, it's a good thing you have me, isn't it?

Yeah, I… yeah. Thank you. I was about to do something really stupid. We're still going to have to be able to beat that bitch someday, though. The Corrupted are an even more urgent threat than we thought.

Were you not listening? They don't even want to fight us. That Amalthea girl didn't either.

I don't need to listen, I know what you're thinking before you even speak. So I know that you know that the portal device Nanaya had is the most terrifying artifact we have ever encountered, war robot included. Imagine what could happen if a human military got their hands on that.

I grit my teeth. She's got a point. Even if Nanaya is telling the truth about how that thing works, we now have proof that the Corrupted are learning ways to manipulate Dark World portals. If they can tag specific portals, and manipulate where those portals appear… they straight up have a weapon of mass destruction. The ability to drop a kaiju anywhere they want is probably the single most dangerous thing I can imagine in the hands of a woman who literally has a history of terrorism.

Exactly. I know you're relieved that she healed Aurora, but don't forget she's the one that nearly killed her in the first place! We have no idea what sort of horrific things she's capable of.

Is she really gonna use it for that, though? I'm not really sure what the Corrupted want, but siccing monsters on people clearly isn't it, despite what we once thought. I don't know why the monsters don't attack them, but the monsters don't listen to them either. And it kind of makes sense? I mean, even Anath never actually hurt our brother, she just used him to get to you.

You can't seriously be considering trying to negotiate with the people who caved in Aurora's skull.

But Fulgora, I literally just did that, and it worked!

But what happens when it doesn't work? What happens the next time we catch her with a dangerous artifact and she says 'well, I already warned you, time to murder everyone you care about!'

Hey, I'm not arguing that we shouldn't be able to defend ourselves. There's plenty of good reasons for us to become more powerful. You don't have to worry about me failing to consider the worst case scenario and freaking out over it. I'm just saying that if the worst case scenario doesn't happen, we need to be prepared for that too.

I guess. I kinda just want to kill her for hurting Aurora, though.

I look down at the shivering girl in my arms, her eyes scrunched up in pain. I guess that's a fair point. I kind of want to do that, too. Even Uma'tama thinks that the Corrupted can be saved, though. They can't be entirely bad if they're willing to help an enemy.

We make our way out of the liminal zone, Amaterasu and I quickly sighting the nearest hospital and rushing to the emergency room. I know this kind of thing is normally expensive, but we really don't have time to waste… and there's a good chance something will end up anonymously covering the costs anyway. I make sure to hold Aurora tightly enough to block the view of her face as I push open the doors and float inside, heads turning our way and staring with open shock. I ignore it all as best I can, approaching the counter.

"We have one with a broken arm, and…" I pause for a moment, trying to figure out how to describe catastrophic incarnate form damage to a civilian in a useful way, "…and this one is in a lot of pain. Nothing life-threatening."

"I… oh god, we can get you right in, just one moment," the desk person says, working rapidly.

"Again, it's not life-threatening," I remind her, but she ignores me. Which… I guess isn't too much of an issue. It looks like there aren't a lot of other people in the emergency room right now, thankfully. Before I know it, Amaterasu and I are dropping the girls onto gurneys and following some nurses deeper into the hospital. Aurora is given an IV and quickly starts to settle down afterwards, while Veritas gets checked over extra carefully given she still hasn't woken up. It seems like her arm will heal just fine, at least, and after several intense minutes of stress she briefly wakes up before falling back into a restless sleep. Both of them, the doctors assure me, are going to be okay.

The confirmation rushes over me like a waterfall, the nervous energy I've been burning by floating all over the place finally giving out and letting me drop into a chair. I let out a long, shaky breath. They're going to be okay. I was in fight mode for most of that, and then I was in problem-solving mode, and then damage-control mode, and it was task after task that needed to be done right now before I could let myself think about anything else… and now that's done. And I just… they almost died.

They almost died.

They didn't die, but they almost died. We were so terrifyingly, horribly close that even the slightest difference in how things turned out could have been the end of it all. We fought that woman four-on-one and it was, by far, the worst call I have ever made as a leader. She destroyed us.

I can never allow Veritas and Aurora near her again. Fulgora and I need to be able to face her alone. Amaterasu is strong, but not… reliable. And I think she doesn't like me anyway. Besides, she's only here as temporary backup. She'll be going back to Japan sooner or later. This has to be a problem we can solve ourselves. I can never let the others be in danger like this again.

We need new battle strategies. Ways to fight against people, rather than monsters. Ways to take them down as hard and fast as necessary. But how do I train specifically to fight someone with a completely unique body plan? It's not like I can spar with anyone who has six arms and horrific monster legs.

This is such a mess. We are so fucking worthless!

I think Chloe would get mad at us for saying—oh! Chloe! I summon my phone out of wherever my human body is and wait a few moments as it connects to the network and registers a new text from my friend and roommate.

You gonna be late?

Aw, shoot, I completely forgot we agreed to go shopping later.

Won't make it, sorry, I respond. At the hospital.

I get an immediate text back.

What!? Are you okay!?

I'm fine, I assure her. The girls got roughed up but they'll be okay. City should be safe, too. I'm probably going to be busier than usual for a while, though.

Chloe's response is short and to the point.

Oh god.

Aurora mumbles and squirms a little in the cot beside me, her consciousness clearly fading. Good. She'll need a lot of rest after this. Before she can fully pass out, though, I lean over and gently prod her for her attention.

"May I use your phone to text your mom?" I ask. I don't have the woman's number, myself. Aurora seems a little stressed at the idea, but she mumbles an affirmative, allowing me to rummage through her pockets to retrieve the device. It's a very old phone, the kind that was actually built for longevity before planned obsolescence got its hooks into the entire industry. The screen is still cracked, but it works just fine as I unlock it and thumb through her contacts. There it is.

Now, how do I phrase this? I know I'll agonize over the message if I let myself, so I send off my first draft just to make sure it gets sent at all.

Hello, this is Minerva, your daughter's team leader. I would like to preface this statement by assuring you that your daughter is safe and in no danger. However, we are currently located in the Poudre Valley Hospital emergency room after an unfavorable combat. Your daughter has suffered no damage to her physical form, but the damage to her incarnate form is severe enough that she requires temporary medical assistance. I will be staying with her until she is discharged, but as her family you will of course be able to do the same if you wish. Again, I emphasize that her condition is neither life-threatening nor permanent. However, I will be putting her on a minimum of one month's leave from all Earth Guardian activities while she recovers her strength.

And… send. I hate having to do this. I can't imagine what it would be like to get a text like this. But I guess it's better than the alternative. On the other side of me, Veritas sleeps in her cot, and I can't help but think about how she doesn't even have anyone to call.

I wonder if we can keep a dog in the base for her or something. …Though considering the base was recently destroyed, I'm at least a little worried about that. Still, it's just… it's not fair. Vertias deserves to have someone. I have Chloe, and my brother. I get to live with people who care about me. Veritas has Uma'tama, and I'm sure Uma'tama takes care of her well, makes sure she eats and goes to school and does her homework and stuff, but… well, they're busy most of the time. And as nice as they are, they're not human. Hanging around Earth Guardians all the time is comfortable, it makes sense, but… I don't know. I feel like I've been doing a lot better ever since I started hanging around with Chloe more.

Maybe that's just a Chloe thing.

Do you want me to bring you guys anything? my phone buzzes, speaking of the devil. And do you want me to do the shopping or wait so you can join too?

Whatever you like, I respond. I'm not picky about food. You'd probably know better on what to buy than I would.

OK, I'll make sure we're stocked and we can do a follow-up run if there's anything you want that I missed. Text me if you think of anything in particular you want me to get.

Alright, I answer, sighing. See, this is exactly what I mean! She's way too nice. I feel awful making her do all the chores by herself, but… it's not like I can leave my team.

Trying to figure out what kind of get-well-soon gift I should buy for ten-year-olds, Chloe continues.

I don't think the hospital will let you in. You aren't related to any of them, I remind her. Also they have secret identities to keep.

Oh right, duh, she says. Well, I can just give the gifts to you and you can deliver them.

You don't have to, I insist.

You can't stop me, Chloe declares.

That's factually untrue, I point out.

Nuh-uh, she counters immediately. And well, dang, I guess I can't argue with that. I let out a sigh, smiling at the phone. She's kind of a dork, huh?

The tiny bit of relaxation I get vanishes immediately when I feel Aurora's phone buzz, indicating a text from her mom.

On my way. Put her on indefinite leave.

I sigh.

That's not a decision for me to make, I remind her. But if that's what your daughter wants after this, she's welcome to leave.

Damn you.

The frank, biting curse catches me off guard a little. I suppose I can't blame her for hating me. Objectively, the best way to protect her is to not let her be an Earth Guardian at all. But I can't. Both in the literal sense of lacking the authority, and the sense that I could never do it to her if she didn't wish for it. If she didn't have the whole-hearted conviction to uphold her duty as a protector of our entire world, the Preservers never would have asked her in the first place. To spit on that conviction, to tell her that I can make the sacrifice but she can't, would be an unthinkable insult. Not to mention that she might have to give her transformation stone back to the Preservers. To tell someone they can never access their incarnate form again after giving them a taste of it? I can't imagine anything more cruel.

Although… Castalia was allowed to keep hers. So maybe if she leaves on good terms, Aurora could too. Then again, Castalia is a very special case.

A sudden burst of love almost makes me think she'd just appeared in response to me thinking about her, but no. Uma'tama now floats overhead, a worried look on their face as they flit between Veritas and Aurora.

"Oh, no," they murmur. "Oh, you poor things."

"The doctors think they'll be okay," I assure them. "They're getting a specialized doctor to check for any lingering problems from Aurora's heart attack, but they expect a full recovery."

"…We see," Uma'tama says, relaxing slightly and turning to look at me. "That's good. That's… very good. How are you holding up, Minerva?"

"Me?" I blink. "I'm fine. I contacted Aurora's mother. If you're still here when she arrives you can expect to be seriously chewed out."

Uma'tama raises their eyebrows in shock.

"Is her mother truly so violent!?" they ask.

What? Oh. Pfft.

"…No, Uma, it's an expression," I sigh. "To chew someone out means to berate them for their failure."

"Oh," Uma'tama says. "Is that anything like eating someone out?"

I nearly choke.

"No!?" I wheeze. "No. It's not. That's a, uh. That's an adult thing. Don't say that around the kids."

"We see," Uma'tama nods. "We will remember that. We have also recently been informed that it is best to assume that, if you respond to the question 'how are you doing' with 'I am fine,' you are lying. So we shall reiterate our prior question with the mutual understanding that we are onto you, Brave Princess Dutiful Minerva."

Ack! They brought out the full name!

"I… really, though!" I insist. "I'm completely fine. Fulgora got roughed up a little but not as bad as anyone else, and I didn't get hurt at all."

"We notice you are still in your incarnate form," Uma'tama says, pivoting the conversation. "Are you expecting another attack?"

"What? No, I'm not, I just…" I shrug, looking away awkwardly. "I like it better this way. And it's good practice, right? It'll help make me stronger if I manage to stay in incarnate form perpetually. Right?"

"Minerva," Uma'tama says gently. "Are you trying to force yourself not to fear for your allies' safety?"

Coward.

"I… I probably wouldn't… there's still things I have to do," I say softly. "I can't do them if I'm panicking over nothing. It's not like I don't feel afraid at all, I'm not greenburning or anything, I just… I have more than enough magic to work with."

Uma'tama floats over and lands on my shoulder, sitting with their back paws dangling and their front paws lying on my head.

"You told us the doctors said the girls would be fine," Uma'tama reminds me.

"They did," I confirm. "They will be. But… it was bad, Uma. It was really bad. I almost lost her. I almost lost them both. Nanaya shattered Aurora's skull."

I can feel Uma'tama tense, though they try not to show it.

"…Nanaya?" they ask. "One of the Corrupted? I thought you all were fighting a swarm."

"She was there," I explain. "Doing something with the portal. She had an artifact that could turn the portal on and off somehow. She claimed it couldn't create new portals, just manipulate ones that were already there, but… well, we had to fight her. But she destroyed us, Uma. Nearly killed Aurora with a single attack. I… when I saw that, I just… I'm sorry. I surrendered to her, and asked her to heal Aurora so she wouldn't die."

"And… did she agree?" Uma'tama asks.

"She did," I confirm. "Aurora's heart had stopped, but she started it back up. Fulgora tried a bit of CPR beforehand but… I don't know if it would have been enough. …I should learn how to use my powers to defibrillate someone. I wonder if the doctors can help…"

"Wait, Minerva. Tell us more about Nanaya," Uma'tama insists. "This could be important. What was she like?"

Oh, right. I still need to do the full debrief. I describe the lead-up to the fight and the fight itself as best I can remember it, with some intermittent help from Fulgora as the one who actually did most of it. Uma'tama stays uncharacteristically quiet the entire time, only chiming in to ask for a few clarifications. I'm not sure when I start idly scratching them behind the ears as if they were a real cat, but Uma, thankfully, doesn't object. It feels weird to treat them that way, but… well, they are very soft.

"Thank you for telling us all this," they hum. "It is… troubling."

"The implications of that artifact are pretty terrifying," I agree.

"Yes, but that is not what we meant," Uma'tama frowns. "Something is wrong. It is wrong and we do not know why."

"I… don't understand," I admit. "What's wrong?"

"Minerva," Uma'tama says seriously. "What we are about to tell you is not to be shared with anyone else, is that understood? Not your team, not your friends, not even Castalia. It is normally not discussed among humans at all, but we have deemed the information imminently relevant to your personal duties."

Oh. Oh geez, okay.

"I understand," I nod at them.

"Dark World corruption is the source of monsters," they say solemnly, and… well, that's not exactly a huge revelation, actually.

"I kind of put two and two together on that already," I admit.

"It is a logical step in thinking," Uma'tama nods. "But it is not the complete picture. When the great execration tore the world of the Antipathy asunder, the lingering malice seeped into what was left of the world. The wild magic was utterly unchained, but it was not without direction. It was, after all, the byproduct of one of the single greatest acts of spite any species has ever banded together to achieve. It is, quite literally, the lingering will of the Antipathy. And if there is one thing all the Antipathy could agree on, it was their hatred of us."

"Of… the Preservers?" I clarify. "All of you?"

"Yes," Uma'tama nods. "We made terrible mistakes with them. Ones I hope we have learned to never repeat. But it is this sheer malice, this remnant of magical might, that necessitates the existence of the Earth Guardians. We are unable to enter the Dark World, not without the magic that fills the air ravaging our souls, breaking our bodies, and devouring our minds. Humans, conversely, are not Preservers. They have done nothing to earn the Antipathy's ire. But hatred… it is an emotion prone to lashing out and spreading, by its very nature. It constantly seeks new targets, new breeding grounds, twisting in every direction until it ultimately burns itself out. So humans, while not the target of this horrible spell, are not immune. And that is what the Corrupted are."

"Which is why they're slowly turning into monsters," I say. "The effects are delayed, but not blocked."

"Right," Uma'tama confirms. "And the younger a human is, the greater their resistance. We do not entirely know why. Perhaps the Antipathy simply retained some level of sympathy for the young, and simply did not… do not wish to harm them. Thus, while Earth Guardians get more powerful as they age, they also become less capable of fighting in the Dark World directly. Amaterasu, for example, has been changed by overexposure to Dark World miasma. She is not, under any circumstances, allowed to enter a portal again. We fear for the damage it would do to her body and mind. We must always balance the degree to which entering portals can better protect the Earth, and the degree to which avoiding them is necessary to protect the Guardians. But the Corrupted… they have lived in the dark world for six years. They have bathed in the full hatred of a malicious, transformative spell unlike any before or after it… for six entire years. And they are no longer children. By all accounts, by all our understanding of the Dark World's nature, they should have lost all semblance of sanity long ago."

Oh.

"But… they haven't," I say. "They didn't. If Nanaya had gone insane with hatred, she wouldn't have stopped fighting when I surrendered."

"I agree completely," Uma'tama nods. "And so that means something is wrong. There is an error in our understanding, or perhaps an added element we are unaware of. Certain areas of the Dark World may have more or less miasma; it may be possible that low-miasma areas are simply livable for extended periods. In the best-case scenario, something has changed and humans are even more resistant than we thought. But in the worst-case scenario… we aren't wrong about anything, the transformation has simply been delayed, and the Corrupted are unknowingly running out of time. Given how powerful they already are… we shudder to consider what sort of monsters they would become."

I swallow. Just thinking about it frightens me. Those crystals growing out of them, just like the ones monsters have… how far does it go? Can that kind of corruption really grow into their souls? Their minds? If it's that slow, would they even notice it's happening?

"Where… where do I come into this?" I ask. "What's so important about me knowing these things?"

"I told you, Minerva," Uma'tama says. "We struggle to balance the strength of an adult with the resistance of a child. But you may very well have both. And if we are to save the Corrupted before they cross a line we can't pull them back from, you may have to do so in their world."

"Wh—me!?" I blurt. "I don't… I can't save people! Certainly not like that! I can't beat even one of them, how do you expect me to fight them in the Dark World?"

"If they aren't insane, then why would we need to fight!?" Uma'tama insists. "We… I want them back, Minerva. I raised some of them, I can't stand… I…"

They let out a shuddering breath.

"I'm so proud of you," Uma'tama tells me. "I'm so proud of all of you. But you, especially, for today. You're right. You have no training with… negotiation. Talking to enemies. But you made the right call anyway. You did exactly what you needed to do and got your entire team out alive. And that's all I want, Minerva. I want all of you to get out of this alive. All of you."

"But what if I can't talk to them?" I ask. "What if they won't listen? Whatever they're doing, they aren't going to stop just because I ask them nicely."

"No, probably not," Uma'tama sighs. "But like we said, we also need your power. If you have to bring them back kicking and screaming… it is better than losing them forever."

"I'm not strong enough to do that, though," I tell her helplessly.

"Not yet," Uma'tama agrees. "But we will make you strong."