Fight! Battle against rage!

The Fool Arc

The dark alley is clean, but still has that feel of damp and moss that comes with limited skylines. It's an alleyway for dumpsters, for things that you don't want revealed in the public eye.

“Magical Girl Rinrin is here, beware evildoers!” A girl shouts as she leaps into the alleyway, proudly staring around. The creature in the shadows pauses. It had been hiding, aware that what it had done was wrong, somehow, but unable to stop itself from delighting in the moment. The girl was dressed in some pink and white outfit with sparkles and tails, ribbons and stars. She was the classic image of a Magical Girl. The creature grinned, sickeningly. A cosplayer. A girl who wouldn't give a thing like him the time of day.

Wouldn't it be funny to tear her apart? How would the masses on those forums react to a Magical Girl cosplayer being found brutalized in a filthy alleyway? The creature knew. It would shame them. It would make them stop dismissing him. They'd face the truth, that any creature sufficiently powerful could not help but use that power for evil, selfish, vile reasons.

Then something happened. There was a shine, a light of realization. The creature's eyes widened as the world it had known exploded into possibilities.

Magical Girls are real.

♥ Magical Girl Rinrin ♥

“Oh god…” I whisper, eyes wide. A corpse. A real corpse. What the hell am I supposed to do…

“Be careful, mu. This looks… recent.” Nyamu whispers, shaking a little in the air. I stare at him with a nod, moving along the alleyway and taking care not to touch the bloodstain or anything, eyes darting around, looking for… what?

I’m not a detective. I’m not an investigator. I’m a teen with magical powers and I’m way out of my depth here.

I step closer, looking around.

“H-hello?” I whisper into the alleyway. I curse myself for the stupidity of that choice. Then I see movement. Maybe just a flash, But I look up in time to see a metal trash can lid flying at me like a discus.

I cross my arms to cover my head, the flying high speed object slams into them with astonishing speed, cutting into my forearm. I hiss in pain and look for the source.

“Magical… Girl.” The figure points at me from where it stands, squatting on a dumpster at the end of the alleyway. It looks human, or like something that was once human. Dripping from his skin is a thick black ichor-like substance, a manifestation of corruption. It extends up and down his body, creating a thick carapace over his left arm, the left side of his face, jutting out into a large horn curling from his skull. He bends forward clutching his head, and I hesitate.

“...That doesn’t look… please, let me help you.” I say, stepping forwards. As I do, his body convulses and his head faces directly at me. Left eye glowing blood red, the other, human and inhuman at the same time, fixing on me.
“Hate.” He whispers.

“Hate. Hate! HATE!” The whisper turns into a war cry and he leaps forward with inhuman, magically-enhanced strength. He brings his knee up to try and land a blow on me, and I flip backwards to avoid, landing and watching him warily, ready to fight.

“I don’t want to hurt you…” I say, still trying to defuse the situation. It’s pretty clear that he’s responsible for what happened, but maybe I can talk some sense into-

He swings a punch, slamming towards my chest. I sidestep and slam my fist into him, sending him flying and rolling back. He lands like an animal, all fours, staring up at me. I get back into combat position- but this time it’s too fast. He’s adapting faster than I am. He leaps towards me, both hands outstretched, and slams his fists into my chest. I stagger backwards, and he sweeps at my legs, knocking me down. I feel the world spin around me, clutching my head as it slams into the pavement.

“Hey, what’s going on- what the hell-?” Shit, shit, shit. One of the first rules of being a Magical Girl was keeping it a secret, and there was a large crowd approaching from the street below… I can’t let them get involved, just one of those punches would end up like that poor guy in the alleyway. My eyes dart around and I spot a streetlight. With all my force I backflip up to it, landing at an almost-perfect ninety-degree angle, like I’m squatting on its side, before kicking up to get onto a nearby rooftop.

Please take the bait. Please.

He takes it. Climbing up the wall like an enraged beast, scuttling with all arms and then leaping, he slams onto the rooftop ahead of me. I take up a combat pose. Blood drips down my hand from the trash can cut, but I pay no attention. He’s up on his feet. He’s gonna leap, and I’ll counter. Why didn’t I take Judo as a gym elective?

He leaps. I swing my leg around in a roundhouse kick that staggers him across the rooftop. There’s a snap as my foot connects with his arm. Maybe I’ve broken something. He rolls onto the roof this time as I gracefully land from my kick, half jumping in place.

“Magic! use a binding spell, mu~!” I hear a call. Right! Closing my eyes, I do as I’d been taught. Summoning a disc of floating pink and white light in front of me, I begin tracing my hands around it in the form of the sigil I’d learned to bind and freeze enemies. The surface of the plate runs like upright water, sparkles erupting like waves as I begin the enchantments. Only for his face to slam right through it into a headbutt that breaks my nose. I stagger backwards, landing on my butt.

He takes a swing, I block with my bleeding arm and there’s a crack as my arm bends in a way that doesn’t seem natural or safe. I’d be in far more pain, but the adrenaline protects me. I crawl backwards as this… thing… approaches. It’s out for blood, and I’m out of options.

“Oh…” I bite my lip. I’m still a Magical Girl. There must be something I can do. Enhanced strength won’t work, maybe I can… my back hits the stone wall at the edge of the rooftop, I’d been crawling backwards?

He leans forward, demonic, glaring, teeth bared.

There’s a loud crack, and a brilliant white light shoots out across the rooftop from behind me, smacking straight into the creature’s mouth and knocking it staggering back. As it looks around, disoriented, there’s a second and third. Each brilliant white, slamming into it and knocking it backwards with the force of a sledgehammer.

He looks disoriented, then scared. Another hits his chest as he jumps away onto a neighbouring rooftop.

I get up to pursue, but my head can’t properly process direction and it feels like I’m floating. I blink, stumble forwards and fall to my knees. Blood drips from my face onto the ground. I must…

Thoughts… struggling… I blink to remove the blur from my eyes, and again… each time it’s harder to open my eyes after, and the blur cleans for a shorter time. What was I… oh. Right. I look back at wherever those light came from and give a weak thumbs up to my saviour.
“Good job.”

“That was… a Maniacal. I’m sure of it, nyamu. Rinrin, do- Rinrin!?”

Everything goes dark.

Maniacal…?