My name is Star Morganite.

  According to my mentor, I was supposed to be "the most promising candidate for the Sentinel youth program this side of the Hudson."

  I had a decent GPA. Not quite 4.0, but close enough if you squinted hard enough. A perfect attendance record, and I can recite the Codex of Astral Laws Momo gave me forward and backward in three different languages.

  But right now?

  Right now, I am mostly just trying not to trip over my own pigtails while running for my life through a tunnel that smells like a wet dog dipped in battery acid.

  WHAM!

  My boot caught a stray broken subway tile, and I went sprawling. I didn't just fall on my face; I did that spectacular, undignified slide where your frilled skirt hitches up and your face meets the gravel.

  My wand clattered across the rusted tracks, its pink gemstone flickering like a dying lightbulb.

  "Star Morganite! Get up! It’s right behind us!"

  That was Star Sapphire. She was usually the calm one, the straight-A student who always had her glasses polished and her scanner ready. But right now, her voice sounded like a violin string about to snap.

  I scrambled to my knees, gasping. My lungs felt like they were filled with crushed glass.

  "I'm okay! I’m fine! Just a little... razzled!" I chirped, trying to force my usual "Leader Smile" even though my lower lip was trembling.

  I grabbed my scepter and spun around just as the darkness at the end of the tunnel moved.

  It wasn't a goblin. Goblins were supposed to be green, ugly, and most importantly - documented in the Sentinel Association's codex. That's what we were supposed to be dealing with down here.

  What came crawling out of the shadows looked like something that had been coughed up by a nightmare.

  It was a hulking mass of corded muscle and obsidian skin on six legs, but it was leaking a thick, viscous blue energy that hissed whenever it touched the concrete.

  When the Portals started opening up across the world a bit over twenty years ago, everyone naturally started to poke their heads around inside. We called them "Dungeons" - just like the video games that were popular at the time. And at the same time, people started unlocking superpowers controlled by a System.

  Us though? We had a different briefing.

  "Linda, the scanner!" I yelled, raising my scepter. "Any idea what we're looking at?!"

  "I’m trying!" Linda shrieked. She was frantically waving her hand over her Sapphire Lens, but the blue holographic screen projected in front of her was just a mess of horizontal lines and "No Signal" icons. "Maya, it’s not working! The System... it doesn't recognize the mana signature! It’s like the monster isn't even there to it, but it’s right there!"

  The beast let out a sound like a choir of people screaming through a radio distorter thingie. It lunged.

  "Stay back!" I swung my wand, pouring every ounce of my bubbly, pink energy into a single blast. "Rose Radiance!"

  A beam of shimmering pink starlight erupted from the gemstone. It was the kind of move that usually ended a training simulation with a shower of sparkles and a "Victory" prompt. When it hit the beast, the pink energy washed over its chest.

  In a normal raid, that monster would have been purified. It would have dissolved into harmless motes of light. But this... this thing just walked through it. The blue energy coating its hide just swallowed my pink light whole without a second wink.

  "Oh, sprinkles," I whispered.

  My best friends and I had all awakened as 'Sentinels' - but we'd also been visited by a weird little pair of gerbil-like creatures Momo and Popo who told us we weren't just Sentinels.

  We were Astras.

  While the rest of the world’s "Awakened" were out there getting flashy teleportation or telekinesis powers and signing six-figure contracts with the Sentinel Association, we were approached by a pair of benevolent spirits, given frilly dresses, ribbons, and a very stern warning.

  Momo and Popo told us these dungeons were scabs on a wound in reality that never healed. They never really elaborated on that. But we had the ability to ‘purify’ them and seal them shut once the other Sentinels were done with them. We could also 'purify' and banish monsters far above our league that made it out into the world outside.

  "You okay?" I glanced over at Linda, who was clicking her scanner frantically. She nodded, but her knuckles were white.

  The monster took another lurching step forward. The energy leaking from its body was getting thicker, pooling around its feet like liquid neon.

  "Plan B?" Linda asked in a very small, very-not-Star-Sapphire-like voice.

  "We don't have a Plan B!" I squeaked back, my smile now so wide it was probably scaring the goblins hiding in the walls.

  We weren't the only 'Astras' around, of course. Astras were just considered a Class like any other. There were magical girl anime around even then, so the general public thought we were a gimmick.

  The "real" heroes were the ones who got the power to punch skyscrapers into dust, not the ones who fought for truth and love in sparkly skirts.

  In a world where being a Sentinel makes you a celebrity, being a Magical Girl makes you a sideshow. Or a freak.

  So, we lead double lives. By day, I’m the girl who apologizes to inanimate objects when I bump into them. By night... by night I’m usually supposed to be "purifying" stray spirits. Not being hunted by a six-legged obsidian tank that smells like the end of the world.

  "Val, get back!" I screamed as the beast lunged again.

  Star Ruby didn't listen. She never does. Valentina was the kind of girl who sees a brick wall and wonders if she can punch through it before it punches through her. Her red gauntlets flared with a violent, abrasive heat as she met the beast’s charge head-on.

  "Eat this, you oversized ink-blot!" she roared, slamming a flaming fist into the monster’s shoulder.

  The impact was loud—a wet, crunching thud that should have sent the beast flying. And for a second, it worked. The blue energy around the beast flickered, sizzling where her red fire touched it.

  But the beast didn't care. It had taken a hit that would have vaporized a skeleton ten levels higher than us, and all it had was a slight singe on its obsidian hide. It was like trying to put out a forest fire with a single, very dedicated squirt gun.

  "It’s not dying!" Val yelled, her high ponytail whipping around as she narrowly dodged a swipe of a clawed limb. "Maya, I hit it with everything! It won't even flinch!"

  Momo bounded up my shoulder, her whiskers twitching with anxiety. "Momo doesn't like this. Momo thinks we should run!" she squeaked, her eyes wide.

  Popo, the other familiar, had tucked himself inside my dress pocket, and I could feel him shivering.

  "Run where?" I replied, keeping my tone level.

  Magical Girl Rule No.1: Never panic. Always keep a smile, even if you’re facing certain doom.

  We were Level 15. Well, I was.

  The other girls were all 13 and 14. We were "rookies" who had been doing secret training in various abandoned low-level dungeons to avoid getting on the Association's radar before we were ready. And this time, we'd poked our heads in at the real thing. A major hub that'd opened up just a twenty minute drive away.

  We were supposed to be fighting shadows and minor spirits, not a creature that felt like a localized apocalypse.

  "We can't leave! This is a subway line!" I shouted, my mind racing through the thousands of pages of Sentinel Law I’d memorized. "If this thing gets out into the city... if it reaches the surface..."

  I thought about my mom. I thought about the bakery on 4th Street. I thought about the 21st-century world that was blissfully unaware that a "Classification: Unknown" horror was currently melting a subway tunnel three levels below their feet.

  "Althea, Shield!" I commanded.

  Star Topaz slammed her golden parasol into the ground. A dome of warm, amber light flickered into existence. For a second, the beast paused, its obsidian face tilting as it sniffed the golden barrier.

  "I can't hold it, Maya!" Althea’s voice was strained. "It’s... it’s heavy. I don't think I can hold it for long!"

  "Linda, any plans?" I gasped, my scepter trembling in my hand.

  "The scanner is... wait..." Linda’s glasses caught the blue light of the beast's veins. "Maya, the map is changing. This isn't just a subway tunnel anymore. The System is trying to overlay something else on top of it."

  I tightened my grip on my scepter. I had to think of something. I was the leader, the one with the big smile and the pink hair and the bad jokes. I had to keep our spirits up.

  The beast took another swipe at us, and Valentina let out a strangled cry as its claws grazed her cheek. She staggered back, her fists still wreathed in flame.

  "Alfie, how long can you hold that shield?" I called out, trying to keep my voice steady. Althea didn't answer, but the strain on her face was enough. We were running out of time.

  "Okay, girls, new plan," I said, my voice shaking despite my best efforts. "We're going to... we're going to..."

  I froze.

  The scanner’s projection caught my eye, and I saw something that made my heart skip a beat. There was a glimmer of gold on the map - a single room behind a locked door.

  "Wait!" I blurted, grabbing the scanner from Linda's hands. "Linda, what’s that room? Is there another exit?"

  Linda's eyes widened, but the hope in her voice was quickly snuffed out. "Maya, it doesn't matter. We can't get there. The door's locked, remember? And we don't have a key. Plus, the shield won't last long enough for us to go back and try it."

  Valentina spat blood on the ground, her fiery gauntlets flickering like a candle in a hurricane. "No offense, Maya, but I’d rather die punching this thing than trying to find a stupid door in this maze," she growled.

  I bit my lip. "Girls, I think that door might be our only way out," I said, my voice wavering. “The Dungeon is newly formed, right? It might not be completely overwritten yet.”

  "And if we open it and there's no exit, we're dead," Valentina snapped. "We can't outrun this thing, Maya. It’s faster than us. Stronger than us. We're just kids."

  The beast lunged again, and Althea's shield rippled. She let out a sharp gasp, her knees buckling. "Maya, the shield isn't gonna last much longer," she panted. "We need to make a choice. Fight or run. I can't hold both."

  But something in me knew that door was our best shot. It was a feeling that burned brighter than the blue fire coursing through the monster's veins. It was the kind of feeling that made me want to grab the universe by its lapels and scream, "Listen to me, darn it!"

  I grabbed Althea's free hand, squeezing it tight. "Alfie, trust me. On the count of three, we're going to make a break for it. Linda I need you to freeze the paths behind us. Val, you support Alfie in the rear. Alfie, you focus on getting us there. I'll keep the thing distracted." I forced a smile, even though my lips were trembling. "Okay?"

  I expected a chorus of protests, maybe a few choice words from Valentina, but all I got were silent nods.

  "Three... two... one... go!"

  Althea dropped her shield, and we ran. I didn't look back; I couldn't. I didn't want to see the blue fire licking at our heels. I didn't want to see the subway walls melting in its wake. All I wanted to see was that door.

  "Rose Radiance!" I shouted, swinging my scepter in a wide arc. The pink light burst out like fireworks, blinding and dazzling. It was a 'Pink' staple move, meant to stun enemies for a crucial few seconds.

  The monster didn't even flinch. But it didn't matter. All that mattered was that we reached the door.

  Linda skidded to a halt, her Sapphire Lens glowing with a cold blue light. "Winter's Echo!" she yelled, and the floor iced over. Valentina was right behind her, her fists wrapped in red flames.

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

  "Crudsicles, we have more of those skeletons coming on our left," Althea shouted.

  "Go, Linda, go!" I screamed. The monster was a looming shadow behind us, a tsunami of darkness about to crash down and sweep us away. We charged down the tunnel, the air thick with the smell of ozone and melting ice. I could feel Momo and Popo trembling in my pocket, their little paws digging into my skin.

  Finally, we reached the door. It was a heavy metal slab with a small, old-fashioned keyhole in the center. Althea slammed into it, her hands desperately trying to find a handle or a lock to turn.

  "It's sealed!" she cried out. "Maya, we're trapped!"

  The monster's roar filled the tunnel, drowning out our panicked breaths.

  "Magical Girl Rule No. 2: Never say never!" I shouted, my voice cracking. "Linda, freeze the door! Val, help her with a combo attack!"

  Linda raised her arms, her blue magic swirling around her fingers. "Winter's Echo!" she yelled again, and the air around the door froze, turning it into a shimmering block of ice. Valentina was beside her, her red gauntlets wreathed in flames.

  "Ardorous Comet!" she roared, and her fists smashed into the frozen door. It shattered in a shower of icy shards, revealing a small, dimly lit room beyond.

  We stumbled into the room, our breaths coming in ragged gasps.

  The room was large and filled with the detritus of a city that had forgotten us. Rusted pipes snaked along the walls, and a single light bulb flickered above our heads, casting long, ominous shadows. But none of that mattered. It was always strange how a Dungeon seemed to overwrite reality, like an editor scribbling notes over a manuscript.

  "No exit, no windows," Valentina groaned, slamming her fist into the wall. "We're trapped, Maya. We're freaking trapped."

  Linda was frantically checking her scanner, her fingers flying over the holographic screen. "I don't understand. The map showed a portal here. It has to be here!"

  I looked up at the ceiling. The monster's blue fire was licking through the cracks, dripping down on us like a poisonous rain as it rumbled closer.

  "Alfie, can you put up the shield again? Buy us some time?" I asked. Althea nodded, her face pale and drawn. She raised her parasol once more, and the amber light of the shield shimmered into existence. But even as it did, the blue fire ate away at its edges, chewing through the barrier like acid through paper.

  "Maya, we're screwed," Valentina spat. "We're dead. We're dead, and it's my fault for dragging you all down here. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

  I grabbed her hand and squeezed it. "Val, don't say that. Don't you dare say that," I whispered fiercely.

  I squeezed Valentina's hand, but my own was shaking so hard I could barely feel hers. Above us, the ceiling wasn't just cracking; it was dissolving. The blue energy was dripping through like molasses made of static, sizzling as it hit the rusted pipes and turned them into gray ash.

  "Linda, there has to be something!" I shouted, my eyes darting around the room. Medieval suits of armor lined the walls, and I wondered briefly if we could somehow wear them to protect ourselves.

  "I'm trying, Maya! The scanner is acting crazy!" Linda yelled back, her voice muffled as a droplet of blue energy splashed onto her shoulder. It sizzled, and she screamed, the pain in her voice tearing at my heart. "There’s a resonance... something underneath the trash! Maya, the density is off the charts!"

  Althea's shield flickered and died. She dropped her parasol, falling to her knees with a sob. "I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice barely audible over the sound of the monster's footsteps. "I can't hold it anymore. I'm so sorry."

  I closed my eyes. The ceiling was caving in now, chunks of stone and metal raining down on us like meteors. The blue energy was everywhere, wrapping around us like a cocoon of death.

  And in that moment, all I could think about was my mom and how I'd never see her again. Or Jules. Or my silly little brother. How we'd never have another midnight pancake party, or stay up till 4 a.m. watching old reruns of magical girl shows. What would Daichi think if he came back from camp to find missing persons posters of us everywhere?

  I'm sorry, Mom. I love you. I love you all.

  But as the blue fire got everywhere, a section of the floor burned away, and something glimmered beneath the grime and dirt, half-buried in the ground. It was like a box was jutting out.

  Out of desperation, I whipped my wand and cast a quick 'Pink' spell. "Starlight Shine!" I screamed, and a burst of pink light shot from the tip of my scepter, blasting a hole in the ground.

  And suddenly, the floor caved in.

  We were all falling, plummeting into a darkness that swallowed us whole. We were all screaming, and I was screaming the loudest of all, because that's what magical girls are supposed to do when things go wrong.

  Momo was squeaking in my ear, her tiny paws clutching my hair. Popo had dug himself so deep into my pocket that I could barely feel him breathing. I landed with a thud, my wand skittering out of my hand. I scrambled to find it, my fingers scrabbling in the dark. Althea, Valentina, and Linda all landed beside me, their cries echoing off the walls.

  "Is everyone... alive?" I wheezed, pushing myself up. My pink ribbons were torn, and my "Leader Smile" was long gone, replaced by a face full of dust and a growing sense of "I really should have stayed in bed today."

  "Okay is relative," Alfie grumbled, sitting up and brushing dust off her skirt. "We're not dead, if that's what you mean."

  "I think my ribs are now a jigsaw puzzle," Val groaned from somewhere to my left.

  "My scanner..." Linda’s voice was a whisper, hushed and terrified. "Maya, look up. This... this isn't the subway. I don't care how much a Dungeon can warp the place it's in."

  I looked up, and the breath left my body.

  We were in a cathedral. But not like any church I’d ever seen in the tri-state area. It was a massive, soaring space carved from obsidian-black stone that seemed to drink the light.

  The architecture was a terrifying blend of brutalist efficiency and gothic dread - high, sharp arches and pillars that looked like frozen lightning. And the walls... they were covered in inscriptions. A jagged, beautiful script that looked like Japanese katakana.

  It looked like a cathedral built for a god of war.

  "My scanner is back up," Linda said, her voice trembling as she stared at her screen. "But Maya... look at the timestamp. Look at the Sector ID."

  I looked. The blue box was pulsing a violent, warning red.

  [LOCATION: SECTOR 01 - THE BLACK CATHEDRAL]

  [YEAR ESTABLISHED: UNKNOWN / DATA CORRUPTION]

  [ANOMALY DETECTED: THE SOLAR SARCOPHAGUS]

  "Wait. Look over there!" I shouted, pointing toward the back of the chamber. Behind a curtain of hanging, corroded rebar that'd fallen with us, sat something that definitely didn't belong in a New York transit basement. It was a massive, blocky slab of dark, matte-finished alloy. It looked less like a coffin and more like a piece of heavy artillery, etched with sharp, English-Japanese runes that glowed with a faint, dying amber light. But it looked like a really big box covered in rebar and a tarp that'd fallen down with us.

  "Um. Speaking of which. Something's here," Althea whispered, her voice trembling. "Maya, something’s coming."

  She was right. A sinking feeling twisted in my gut.

  As I turned my head, three figures began to materialize out of the air itself, like ghosts taking shape. They were slender, vaguely humanoid, but their bodies were made of a shimmering, semi-transparent substance that reminded me of mercury. Their faces were blank, smooth and featureless, and looked like pixelated video game glitches. They had claws.

  "Those aren't spirits or goblins," I hissed, gripping my wand tightly. "They're something else. Uh. Let's call these things Husks!"

  Valentina snarled, her red gauntlets igniting. "Whatever they are, I'm not going down without a fight." she growled, stepping forward. The creatures hissed in response, their claws clicking against the stone floor as they advanced.

  "Maya, they're not registering on the scanner. It’s like they don't exist," Linda stammered. Her eyes widened as the creatures closed in on us, their claws twitching menacingly. "What do we do?"

  "Buy me a bit of time. Magical Girl Rule No. 3: Always stay fighting!" I said, trying to sound brave. I raised my scepter, and a wave of pink energy washed over the cathedral, illuminating its dark corners. "I'm going to check the box!"

  "Maya, get away from that!" Linda screamed, but I was already scrambling toward it. I didn't know if it was an exit or a weapon, but it was the only thing in this room that didn't look like it was waiting for us to die. I had a feeling these faceless monsters were no less dangerous than the six-legged thing that was following us around.

  I scrambled toward the pile of rebar and the tarp, tripping over a loose cable and skinning my knee, but I didn't stop. I reached the tarp and yanked it with every ounce of my desperate strength.

  The fabric tore away, revealing a block of dark, matte-finished alloy that looked like it had been forged in the heart of a star. It was a massive, brutalist pod, etched with sharp, old English and Japanese inscriptions that glowed with a faint, dying amber light. It felt... heavy. Not just in weight, but in time.

  [WARNING: UNKNOWN RELIC DETECTED] [ANALYSIS UNAVAILABLE]

  I fumbled with the surface, my fingers searching for a seam, a latch. Anything. "Open up, please! Whatever you are, help us! I don't care if you're a giant laser cannon or murder robot, just do something!" I screamed, pounding on the metal.

  Nothing happened.

  A loud crash sounded far behind me, and I could only look around in horror as the six-legged creature forced its way into the cathedral through the hole we'd fallen through, its blue fire lighting up the chamber with an unholy glow. It was like watching a nightmare crawl out from the depths of hell. I thought of the people above, of the world that had no idea what was coming for them.

  I had to do something.

  My mind raced, trying to remember every Sentinel Law I’d ever studied, every piece of lore that Momo and Popo had shared with me, every magical girl anime I'd binged.

  "Maya, look out!" Linda shouted, and I turned just in time to see one of the creatures lunging at me, its claws poised to strike. I dove to the side, hitting the ground hard, but the creature's claws grazed my arm. It felt like being cut by ice. I gasped, my wand slipping from my grasp. Momo leapt from my shoulder and bit into the creature's leg, but it swiped her away like a rag doll.

  "Momo!" I screamed, crawling toward my wand. The creature turned its attention back to me, its featureless face somehow conveying an eerie hunger.

  I snatched my wand and swung it wildly. "R-Rose Radiance!" I cried, and a wave of pink light washed over the creature. It recoiled, hissing, but it didn't seem hurt.

  Then it lunged, its jagged, blue-slick claws aimed straight for my head.

  I threw myself to the side, rolling over the hard stone, my frilled skirt catching on a piece of metal. The Husk’s momentum carried it forward, its claws scraping uselessly against the alloy of the pod.

  Then, the world changed forever.

  BOOM.

  The heavy alloy door of the sarcophagus was launched from its hinges with the force of a high-velocity projectile. The ton-heavy slab of metal caught the Husk mid-air, flattening it against the far wall with a wet, bone-shattering crunch. The abomination didn't even have time to shriek before it was turned into a smear of blue mist behind the steel.

  A thick, pressurized cloud of freezing white vapor erupted from the pod, smelling of ancient ozone and scorched metal. A person’s boot stuck straight into the air where the Husk had been a moment earlier.

  And then, a figure tumbled out of the mist.

  She hit the floor on one knee, her black-and-red tattered dress fluttering in the sudden vacuum. Her wild hair was a tangled mane of midnight, frosted with ice. As she looked up, I felt a jolt of primal terror that made the monsters chasing us look like stuffed animals. Her eyes were blood-red, wide with a frantic, animalistic frenzy.

  She stared at me, her gaze sweeping over my pink pigtails and my trembling wand. For a fraction of a second, the violence in her eyes wavered.

  "Sakur...a?" she rasped.

  It was a jagged, broken sound, a name that seemed to carry the weight of a world's end. But the moment was gone as quickly as it came. She blinked, and the red glow in her eyes hardened into a cold, mechanical clarity.

  The six-legged, bus-sized beast that had been pursuing us suddenly turned its attention to her, letting out a distorted roar as it lunged.

  The stranger didn't reach for a wand. She didn't call out a spell. She was a blur of black and red.

  She met the beast mid-leap, catching its obsidian head in her bare hands and slamming it into the ground, completely negating its own momentum. With a guttural snarl, she twisted. With one hand. CRACK.

  The sound of the beast’s neck snapping echoed through the room like a death knell. She didn't stop. She planted a boot on its chest and ripped, tearing the head clean off its shoulders. Blue ichor sprayed across her face, but she didn't even flinch.

  "Jesus fucking Christ," Valentina whispered, her red gauntlets dimming as she watched the unceremonious slaughter. "What the hell?"

  I couldn't take my eyes off the brutal scene unfolding before us. This wasn't magic. This was pure, unstoppable, murderous violence.

  As the blue ichor sizzled on the cathedral floor, the stranger stood, her chest heaving. She looked at the Husks, her eyes narrowing.

  I gulped as skeleton after skeleton dropped from above, followed by two more of those six-legged monsters. And the stranger just stood there, waiting.

  The Husks hissed and lunged, their claws slicing through the air. The stranger didn't hesitate. She caught one by the throat, her fingers digging into its shimmering skin like it was butter. She lifted it off the ground, her arm bulging with impossible strength, and slammed it into the cathedral floor. The stone cracked beneath the impact, and the creature let out a pitiful wail. She brought her fist down, smashing through the creature’s chest in a burst of pixelated mist.

  The last Husk tried to run, but the stranger was faster. She grabbed it by the ankle and swung it overhead, slamming it into the ground again and again, until it was nothing more than a smear of blue energy. Then, she drew a blade from a magnetic holster on her thigh. The blade was glowing with a series of pulsating, electric-blue runes. It looked like a jagged, oversized knife or short sword.

  The six-legged beasts charged, their obsidian hides gleaming with blue energy. She sidestepped one of their attacks, and her sword flashed. She carved through the monster’s legs like they were made of jelly. As it hit the floor, she buried her blade in its skull.

  "Rip... and Crush," she growled in a slight Japanese accent, her voice a guttural snarl.

  She tore the head off with her bare hands, sending more blue energy splattering across the walls. The second monster roared and swiped at her with its claws. She caught the beast by the wrist, and her hand began to glow with a white-hot energy.

  "And tear!" she snarled, and I heard the bones in the monster’s wrist splinter under her grip. She didn't stop. She ripped the creature’s arm off and proceeded to beat it with its own limb, each blow landing with a meaty, wet thump. Soon, the monster was little more than a twitching mass of pixelated pixels and blue ichor.

  But still, the monsters kept coming, crawling out of the darkness, their eyes glowing with malice.

  She narrowed her eyes, and then she did the most unexpected thing in the world. I could only gape in disbelief as a swirl of shadows coalesced around her, forming into a weapon.

  "Is that... is that..." Althea started.

  "She's a magical girl, right?" I asked, still half stunned.

  "Magical girl with—," Althea started.

  A freaking double-barreled shotgun. Well, it looked like one, but wasn't exactly like any I'd ever seen in a video game or movie. It was very... intricate, to say the least.

  And it was big. Ridiculously so. It looked like she shouldn't have been able to wield it given her size, but she pivoted it around like it was an extension of her own limbs.

  She pumped the slide and pulled the trigger, and a deafening BOOM shook the cathedral. The shotgun blast punched a hole in a charging creature's neck, and it staggered, roaring in pain.

  She didn't let up. With a fluid movement, she holstered the shotgun, and launched herself at the monster. She moved like a whirlwind, her jagged blade flashing as she sliced through its limbs.

  The beast howled in agony as she cut it to pieces, its blue fire flickering and dying with each strike. With a final, decisive swing, she cleaved its head from its shoulders, and the creature crumpled to the floor, its body dissolving into a cloud of blue ash.

  "Maya! Look out!"

  I spun around, aiming my scepter at a Husk that was sneaking up behind me.

  "Rose Radiance!" I shouted, and a beam of pink light shot out from the gemstone, striking the creature in the chest. It stumbled backward, momentarily stunned. Before it could recover, the stranger was upon it.

  She grabbed the Husk by the throat and slammed it into the ground. With brutal efficiency, she tore its head clean off and tossed it to the side.

  Linda and Althea were staring, their mouths hanging open in disbelief. Valentina was crouched low, her gauntlets still ignited, but she looked more scared than angry.

  She didn't look at us. She didn't ask if we were okay. She turned toward the doorway where the rest of the horde was screaming.

  The mysterious girl racked a shell into the chamber — a heavy, mechanical clack that seemed to echo through the very soul of the cathedral, and slowly walked towards the monsters.

  As she charged the beast, I saw a flickering screen appear over her head.

  [USER: STAR ZINNIA]

  [CLASS: Astra-Void]

  [TITLED DESIGNATION: THE ASHBLOOM]

  [STATUS: ERROR]

  [LEVEL: ERROR]

  [CALIBRATED ESTIMATE: LEVEL 459]

  "Level... four hundred?" Linda gasped from behind me. "That’s not a Sentinel! That’s—"

  BOOM!

  The cathedral shook as her shotgun roared.