Chapter 147: Broken

Just as Homura left to check out the situation, Kyuubey appeared right beside Madoka. They are now in her house, on her room to be exact. As one would expect from a girl's room, it is filled with cute stuffed toys. She also has her own desk for studying, which is the place where Kyuubey had appeared.

"So it begins."

Confusedly, she asked," What?"

"Sayaka Miki's latent potential increased due to her power from before. It's not surprising that she'll turn into one that surpasses Witches."

For a few seconds, Madoka's mind went blank. It was only until she recalled what Roman told her from before did she regain her composure. Based from it, a Magical Girl's latent potential depends on their weight on the world—on how would they affect the world. If a queen became one, then it's guaranteed that her power as a Magical Girl is tremendous.

She holds the fate of an entire country, after all.

Though, this is what confused all of them. Madoka got pestered by Kyuubey because of her "strongest potential", but Madoka herself is just an ordinary middle school student. How could she affect the world that greatly?

"Sayaka-chan... turned into... a Witch..?"

Madoka couldn't believe it. Even Shiro didn't notice something wrong, much less her. He used two [Enlightenment Chances] to make their willpower stronger, so it's a complete surprise that Sayaka turned into one. Moreover, the Level 5 Heart Demon that she had is the highest-level one, something that are generated when a person does something very unforgiveable which contrasts their beliefs.

Bang-!

Bang-!

Bang-!

Three bullets are fired consecutively, drilling holes to Kyuubey's body. Blood stained her desk as innards littered on top of the desk, but it disappeared soon after.

"Madoka."

"Homura-chan..."

"That guy dealt with her already. You know how he can convert back Witches to normal Magical Girls, so you have nothing to worry about."

Homura explained what happened when she arrived. She could tell that both Shiro and Sayaka's Witch are on similar levels, hence her confidence on him defeating it.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps closing in to her room. Homura used her [Time Stop] to hide before seeing Junko Kaname, Madoka's mother.

"Kaa-san?"

"Madoka, pack up. We'll be evacuating to the shelter."

Just as she said that, the ground shook. Some small bits of rocks fell from the ceiling. Meanwhile, Junko held onto the door panel as a support.

Fortunately, Madoka only fell into her bed when this happened.

"This one's strong. I can see why they asked us to evacuate." Junko murmured while she helped Madoka prepare the items on her bag.

Soon, they finished preparing and went downstairs. There, they are greeted by Tomohisa Kaname and Tatsuya Kaname, her father and litthe brother.

"Madoka! Madoka!"

When Madoka saw him touching her pajamas, she patted him and said, "Tatsuya-kun~"

"Now, now... Hup."

Tomohisa carried Tatsuya in his arms and said, "Let's get going."

*****

Arriving in the disaster shelter, they saw many people inside. Yet, it didn't look too closely cluttered. Perhaps, this is Japan's specialization when it comes to earthquakes.

BOOOOM-!

Suddenly, a huge shockwave swept through the shelter. Light spilled on the windows that allowed others to 'see' the outside. There, they saw a massive explosion that covered the skies of Mitakihara Town.

"What is that..?"

"Explosions?!"

"Is someone waging war against us?!"

The people inside panicked. Stampedes are about to happen when something mysterious calmed them down, allowing the government officials to organize the citizens better.

Though, Madoka saw the dimly-lit golden flowers gathering in one place until it simply disappeared.

"These Bounded Fields and that explosion... Shiro-kun and the rest are fighting right now?"

Memories of them in the last 25 days flashed in her mind. To a normal middle-school student, meeting with the supernaturals, battling Witches, and helping others through it is nothing short of amazing. She knew that there are people that can collapse buildings on their own, split down mountains, and even cause an explosion as massive as the one from before.

However, she couldn't stop thinking about her dilemma ever since she discovered this side. While Shiro, Touka, and Roman didn't explicitly say the existence of other worlds with Magical Girls the same as hers, Madoka deduced that they should exist.

This is the reason why they didn't tell her about this—they knew her feeling of guilt.

To be exact, her guilt for not being able to help Witches when she can. It was made clear that her karmic weight alone is enough to do so, but she didn't. She followed Shiro's instructions, which is to work as a magus.

Yes, she experienced searing pain every time she switched on her circuits, but it is something that she can handle.

"..."

Madoka went in a daze, silent. Both of her parents didn't notice this because of the calming chaos in this place, thus she is left to fully focus on her dilemma.

'Kaname Madoka, you haven't chosen yet. As a help, I will show something."

Just as Kyuubey messaged her telepathically, her vision changed. From the chaotic shelter, she now stood in the ruins of a building. Fires are burning out the vehicles, with some of them spreading to the buildings due to the wirings.

There are large fissures formed in the ground, which can easily let someone fall in it.

Boom-!

Boom-!

CRACK-!

Someone flew not far from her, forming a huge dust cloud in her proximity. By the time it cleared up, she saw a young girl wearing some kind of mechanical suit being pierced by the steel supports that poked out. To add onto her misfortune, the steel supports pierced her heart...

"Cough..! Damn it!" Blood spewed out from her mouth as she spoke. "I didn't expect everything to be like this..."

Her life force dropped sharply until her eyes showed a dull and lifeless look. Seeing a person's death in front of her, Madoka is shocked.

Thankfully, her previous experiences allowed her to get out from it and approached the young girl. By doing a [Structural Analysis], there's still some hope of saving her...

"Are? Are?!"

Looking at the girl, she noticed her pair of amber pupils. Coupled with the black and white hair of hers, she was reminded of Shiro.

"This... No, it can't be..!"

When she realized that, Madoka noticed the natural charm that the girl possessed. In this entire town, there's only one person who has it.

"Shiro-kun..!"

Her face slowly transformed into that of a devastated one. Her voice cracked and tears started falling off on the corner of her eyes. She didn't care about him being a girl right now.

The memories of a kind mentor that helped her.

The memories of a person concerned for her well-being.

The person that guided her as a magus.

He/she... is now gone. In her mind, Shiro had died.

She powerlessly fell into the ground whilst crying. Although, she didn't expect for her surroundings to change once more, but this time, to a more familiar and recent place.

It's the evacuation base.

Madoka noticed that the Bounded Field deployed here are gone. What surrounded her are the grotesque corpses of people who got killed by the strong earthquake. Some got half of their bodies crushed by the debris while there are others who are seemingly burned alive. This made it so that the ones who got their corpses intact be the luckier ones among everyone here.

"Uwaaa!"

Her attention was caught by a little boy crying. She noticed that he got buried in the larger debris out there. Madoka went there before her steps halted all of a sudden.

"Tatsuya-kun..?

Turns out, the crying child is her younger brother... which is under her parents... or their corpses, to be exact. She instantly recognized the attires of them as it is what they wore when they went to the shelter.

"...Why?"

At this moment, her world broke.