Deathblow

Shosuko is the first to react. She knows the right move. She knows that she needs to get away from right here right now. There's still time to move away but if she does, Kasai will be completely defenseless. So she pushes away her better judgment and moves on nothing but instinct, shielding Kasai's body with her own.

There's a sound like a firework exploding but a thousand times louder. There's a light like a flashlight being shone directly into the eyes but a thousand times brighter. There's a force like a gust of wind but a thousand times stronger. Both Yuki and The Batter are blown away. Yuki slams against the wall while The Batter crashes into a nearby car. When the dust clears, Shosuko's lifeless body is slumped up against Kasai's nearly lifeless body.

"Kasai?!" Yuki rushes to Kasai's aid, completely ignoring the I-C behind her. The girl pulls out a paper talisman, makes a symbol with her hand and whispers. "「Fuinjutsu - Hell Seal 」" before tagging Yuki's back with the seal. Black marks like tattoos spread through her body as she falls to the ground.

"Y-Yuki…!" Kasai tries to get up but she barely has enough strength in her to keep on breathing.

"Damn!" The Batter whirls around just in time to greet the I-C bearing down on her. She also has a sealing talisman gripped between her fingers. Bringing her bat around in a short arc, she delivers a swift blow that breaks the I-C's fingers. "Don't think I can't smell you!"

"You're sharp." The I-C takes a step back. She quickly snaps her fingers back into place. The Batter tries to press her advantage with another swing but another I-C intercepts and deflects her strike with her spear.

"Tsk." Just when did they get surrounded? There are four I-C's, the two in front of The Batter that she clashed with and two behind that she's only now noticing. She lets herself be backed up until she's near enough to Shosuko to see that she's still alive. Barely.

"You make this too easy." There's the distant clinking of fine china. Tami Momoe sips her tea elegantly as she stands on the roof of a nearby building. Next to her is a giant mechanical cannon. Its body is made of porcelain with golden curls emblazoned on its sides, with its roots wrapping around its matchlock mechanism and branches traveling up the oversized barrel "It's nice to finally see you again, Batter."

"Tami Momoe, what is the meaning of this?!"

"You were right. The yakuza really are the scum of society." Tami pulls at her hair. The more she talks, the harder she grips. "I can't believe I've been so blind to your ideals for so long. But in the end, you were right. I gave them the opportunity so they took her away from me."

"...What happened to Nagisa?"

Tami nods solemnly. "They killed her. Gunned her down in cold blood. That's why I've finally decided. I'm going to purge the yakuza from this city."

"This isn't what I meant. You can't just kill all the yakuza."

"Of course not. We won't be killing them, we'll just be sending them straight to hell."

"Without the yakuza outfits we have now, other bigger yakuza organizations will just take over this city in their place. The Umi Alliance was created specifically to prevent that outcome–"

"As far as I'm concerned, we can just send them to hell too."

"You really intend on starting a war?" The Batter raises her bat and jabs it at Tami. The other four I-C's draw their weapons. A saber, a spear with a large tip, a light machine gun, and an ornate bow made of golden curls.

"Correct."

"You're batshit insane."

"Listen." Tami sighs. "You're either with us or against us, take your pick."

"Yakuza or not, I won't stand for genocide."

"Then time for you to join poor Yuki." Tami laughs to herself as the matchlock mechanism next to her starts cocking. The other I-C's step back. "「Jujutsu - Tiro–」" What she says after that is completely drowned out by the sound of the cannon firing. A ball of pure light crashes down directly towards The Batter, Shosuko, and Kasai.

"「TAIJUTSU - SPECIAL HOMERUN!!!」" Burn trails coat the length of her bat, not from magic, but from the sheer friction generated by the air friction as she swings. There's a clang like a bell tolling as the bat clashes against the car-sized bullet.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" The Batter lets out a brutal war cry as she forces an immovable object to clash against an unstoppable force. If it was a contest of sheer willpower alone, there's no doubt that she would emerge triumphant. But this is a contest of sheer brute force, and in that field, Tami's giant fuck-off cannon has her beat. The ball detonates in a blooming cascade of fire.

When the smoke and dust clear, The Batter is slumped up on the building opposite the skyscraper. She's motionless, save for her weak breathing. There's blood running down the side of her face, her right hand, and both of her legs. She can't feel anything below her neck. If she had to guess, that's probably because her spinal cord's been crushed.

Tami waves her hand and the cannon dissipates into strands of white light. "I'll leave the rest to you, girls. I still need to go make the final preparations to the incubator."

"Yes, Ma'am!" The I-C's below look up at Tami and salute. She, in turn, nods before jumping away, dashing from rooftop to rooftop. Then it's just Kasai and the I-C's.

"G…gh…" Kasai struggles to shift Shosuko's weight off of her body.

"This one's still conscious." The long, jet-black haired I-C looks down at Kasai.

"Wh-what should we do, Amaru?" Next to her is a meek-looking pink-haired I-C. She has her hair bound in short twintails.

"Leave that one to me." Kasai shifts her gaze to the side, where an I-C with short-medium blue hair speaks.

"Hm?" The final I-C, a girl with raspberry-red hair tied in a high ponytail with a black ribbon, playfully elbows the blue-haired I-C in the side. "You got a bone to pick with that one or sumthin', Isaka?"

"Something like that." The girl called Isaka elbows her back. "I just want to be the one to tell her."

"Hmph." The girl named Amaru crosses her arms and turns her nose up.

"I heard that."

"We were told to seal them. What you're doing is going against our orders."

"Well…" Isaka folds her arms behind her head. "Technically, Tami didn't say anything about not talking to them first…"

Amaru sighs. "Talk some sense into your girlfriend, Ryukko."

Ryukko, raspberry-red, shrugs. "I'm sure the cap will understand. Right, Amanda?"

Amanda, the girl with the pink twintails, is suddenly put on the spot. She fidgets with her fingernails. "B-But Tami will be really really mad when she finds out about this."

"Fine. I'll go ahead and seal the Kuze Clan Head, then I'll have a chat with Yuki's sister. Is that acceptable to you, Amaru?"

"Fine. It's better than nothing."

"Good." Before Amaru can protest any more, Isaka walks over to where Kasai and Shosuko are lying.

"Howdy."

"...what are you–"

"Relax, I'm not here to hurt you just yet." Isaka takes out a paper talisman from her pocket and places it on unconscious Shosuko's back. "「Fuinjutsu - Hell Seal 」" As she whispers those words, black mystic sigils spread throughout her skin until her body is covered in a black darker than ink.

"What did you do to her?"

"To make things brief, I sent her soul to hell."

"You–!"

"Relax. It's really not as bad as it sounds." Isaka rolls her eyes behind her sunglasses. "Look, I really don't know how to feel about Tami right now. Just between you and me, I think she's lost her marbles. Starting a war with the yakuza is… I don't want to say 'stupid' so let's go with 'insane.'"

"You sent Shosuko… and Yuki… to hell?!" Based on the horrified expression on her face, Kasai's a little stuck on that thought.

"Well, yeah. Tami's gone completely insane, but she isn't completely merciless. That's why she's only making us send them to hell instead of killing them."

"What– What does that even mean?"

"Okay look, there's a difference between dying and being sealed to hell. This is an ICMG secret so don't go around telling this to everyone but you can think of hell as the ICMG's personal supermax security prison that just so happens to be in the spirit realm."

"The spirit… realm?"

"But yeah, only I-C's know how to send people to hell so we're using it as a correctional facility. So, yep, it's possible to break in, steal their souls back and get out."

"Why are you telling me this?" Kasai's look of confusion turns into a deep frown.

Isaka stands up, and places her fist where her heart is. "I'm Isaka Kaymi! The Magical Girl of Justice and I believe in the spirit of fairness! So far, everything's going along pretty smoothly for Tami. I want at least some kind of resistance. Maybe that'll help snap her out of her delusion."

"Why don't you do it yourself?"

"Are you kidding? I'm an I-C, I could never betray my captain. It's her place to give orders, I just listen. And for that matter, you're Yuki's sister, she's been looking for you for so long. Shouldn't you at least try and return the favor?"

"That's…"

"Consider this a test." Isaka looks at where The Batter is lying down. "For both you and her."

"You're going to spare her too?"

"I figured you'd need an ally for your journey into the spirit realm. Just to even the playing field a little bit. Plus, she has her own sister to rescue."

"..." Kasai doesn't know what to say, so she says nothing at all.

"Oh and don't expect this to be a walk in the park. Ryukko and I will do our best to make sure you never make it out of the spirit realm."

"Hey." Raspberry-red gives her a tip from her imaginary hat.

"...You… bastards." This is just a big game to them. One very big, very sick game.

"Anyway, I think your ride's here." Isaka takes a deep breath and looks over her shoulder. Right as she does, the pops of distant gunfire echo through the street. Dust is kicked up where the bullets connect with the ground. Isaka and the other I-C's dart out of the way, their footwork graceful and precise. In the distance, a girl with a red coat and a gangly-looking girl rushing from rooftop to rooftop.

"Oka!"

"R-right!" Little red flings a fire extinguisher in a long arc while the slender girl sends a large letter opener flying after it. The two collide in midair, the letter opener bisecting its target. The foam contained within the extinguisher explodes outwards, creating a dense smoke screen.

"We'll meet again, samurai sword lady." Isaka's words come from somewhere within the fog. Kasai feels Shosuko's weight being lifted off of her and then her own body being lifted from the ground.

"Sayonara, suckers!" A cackling laugh echoes through the empty street. A moment passes as the smoke screen clears. When it does, it becomes apparent that all the bodies are gone. Yuki, Shosuko, The Batter, and Kasai have all disappeared.

"O-oh no…" Amanda falls to her knees. "Wh-what are we going to do?! What are we going to tell Tami?!"

"Good question." Amaru glowers as she turns to Isaka. "What are you going to tell Tami, Isaka?"

"I don't have to tell her anything. Like I said, if I make sure that they don't ever make it out of the spirit realm, then there's no harm and no foul."