Chapter 9: Maiden Bandage! Subjugated!

Strawberry Sweetheart’s initial form… it seems a bit too… pathetically weak, doesn’t it? Like, seriously, is this a joke?

Black watched, a critical frown etching itself onto her features, as Strawberry Sweetheart was sent hurtling like a discarded ragdoll a considerable distance, crashing unceremoniously into a nearby building with a sickening thud. And this is supposed to be the ‘strongest’ magical girl in the city? Seriously? Are the standards really that low these days?

In her recent month or so of chaotic, fiend-fighting activity, Black had unfortunately encountered Strawberry Sweetheart on several occasions, and each and every single time, without fail, the pink-clad magical girl was getting her frilly butt royally kicked. Sure, she did seem to possess other, more potent forms capable of actually handling serious problems… eventually.

So why in the blazes doesn’t she just use those more powerful, actually useful forms from the get-go? Or, better yet, make one of them her default, go-to transformation? Why stubbornly insist on using that classic, clearly underpowered, practically vintage ‘skin’ all the time? Is it a nostalgia thing? A fashion statement? I just don’t get it.

While she didn’t quite understand the baffling tactical decisions of her fellow magical girl…

The fiend currently hovering menacingly before her, wreathed in ominous black flames and trailing an unsettling amount of bandages, had already specifically, and rather rudely, called her out by name…

A brilliant, almost dazzling, and utterly terrifying smile spread across the girl’s lips, far more radiant, far more genuinely alive, than any of the forced, awkward smiles she had displayed while prancing around on stage earlier. This was a genuine, almost terrifyingly sincere smile. The smile of a predator who had just spotted her favorite prey.

“Alright then! Maiden Bandage! Let’s dance! Hehe~”

With an explosive burst of speed, she leaped into the air, instantly appearing directly before the mid-air, still-monologuing Maiden Bandage, and slammed a devastatingly heavy fist squarely into his abdomen. The sickening impact sent him doubling over like a cooked shrimp, his breath exploding from his lungs in a pained gasp, as he was launched even higher into the sky, a rapidly diminishing speck against the chaotic backdrop of the damaged concert venue.

“Whoa! It’s Black’s signature move! The Infinite Fist of Hell!” someone in the crowd below (probably an obsessive gacha gamer with a well-thumbed strategy guide) might have yelled with unholy glee.

This, supposedly, was Magical Girl Black’s ultimate, character-defining signature skill in the ridiculously popular mobile game, "Magical Girl Brawl." Although she didn’t actually consider it a ‘skill’ in the traditional sense… her usual, brutally effective tactic was to launch an opponent skyward with a powerful blow, then, with impossible speed, appear behind them to viciously smash them back towards the unforgiving ground, only to intercept them again just nanoseconds before impact and send them rocketing skywards once more. She’d keep them bouncing between heaven and earth like a deranged, super-powered pinball until they finally, inevitably, hit the ground, already broken, defeated, and probably questioning all their life choices.

While she didn’t personally think of it as a particularly fancy or sophisticated special move… wasn’t the name "Infinite Fist of Hell" a bit too… crude? A bit too lacking in subtlety? Did it possess even a single, solitary shred of traditional magical girl elegance or sparkly charm? Probably not. But hey, it was undeniably effective.

However… this time, something was different.

She didn’t follow up with her usual relentless, gravity-defying pursuit. She couldn’t.

Because a cluster of sinister, black flames, clinging to her fist like a persistent, bone-gnawing, parasitic maggot, began to rapidly, alarmingly, spread from the point of impact, snaking up her arm, and inexorably towards the rest of her body.

And along with the insidious spread of these eerie, unnatural flames came…

Pain! Excruciating, mind-numbing PAIN!

Yes, she was clearly, horrifyingly aware that her physical body, her magical girl form, was technically unharmed. These strange, dark flames weren’t actually burning her Dress or searing her skin in the conventional sense. Yet, they were inflicting an intense, almost unbearable, agonizing pain, a pain so sharp, so visceral, it instantly drained the color from her face, leaving her gasping for breath. Her personal tolerance for pain, honed by years of soul-crushing corporate deadlines and mind-numbing meetings, was usually quite remarkably high. But this… this insidious, creeping pain felt… different. Deeper. More fundamental.

She suddenly, vividly, recalled Ren’s carefully worded questions from earlier, his pointed inquiry about her mental resistance, his uncannily accurate warning that the enemy might try to probe that very weakness, that potential vulnerability, in this very battle!

He was right! That damn kid was actually, infuriatingly right!

Although the pain was excruciatingly, breathtakingly intense, Black was grimly certain, with the stubborn resilience of a cornered badger, that it wasn’t enough to render her completely incapable of fighting. Not yet, anyway. So, the bandaged fiend currently gloating before her was still a target she could, and absolutely would, subjugate. But, the next time an enemy attacked, the insidious power they wielded would undoubtedly be even more difficult to handle, even more insidious, than these cursed dark flames. This was it. This was the fiends’ new, targeted strategy against her. They were adapting. Evolving. Damn them.

Her gaze, sharp and intense despite the agony, fell squarely on Ren in the crowd below. She saw the look of quiet affirmation, of unwavering understanding, in his eyes.

Though no words were exchanged between them, she felt, with a strange sense of clarity, that she understood his unspoken meaning perfectly—she could not afford to show any sign of weakness in this battle. Not now. Not with them watching. Even if she had to grit her teeth until they cracked, even if she had to endure unimaginable torment, she had to maintain an appearance of cool, detached, almost bored composure. For Hana. For Ren. For her own damn future.

She endured the searing, mind-splitting pain, lightly, almost casually, patting at the clinging black flames on her body as if they were mere annoyances, a bit of lint perhaps, and looked up at the fiend still hovering arrogantly in the sky. “What is this tacky stuff, anyway?” she drawled, her voice carefully devoid of any tremor. “Why is it still burning on me like some cheap party trick? Is this one of your pathetic, desperate little ploys, Bandage Boy?”

Maiden Bandage was stunned into momentary silence. His jaw, hidden beneath the layers of linen, dropped.

This… this shouldn’t be happening… It’s impossible! He knew the soul-searing agony of these dark flames, sourced directly from the unfathomable power of the Darkmoon Queen herself. If he had to give a reason for his certainty, it was because he was currently, at that very moment, experiencing that same, all-consuming torment! The continuous, relentless burning of these cursed flames was fueled by his own deep, festering inner suffering, his grief, his rage. It shouldn’t be—Black shouldn’t be able to ignore this level of pain! No one could!

But why… why did she seem so calm? So utterly unfazed? As if she felt nothing at all? Was she even human?!

“BLACK!!! YOU MONSTER!!!”

Black’s composed, almost mocking demeanor seemed to amplify Maiden Bandage’s own internal suffering to an unbearable, sanity-shattering degree. He shrieked, a raw, animalistic sound of pure agony and rage. He screamed, his voice cracking with despair. The black flames engulfing his body surged violently forward, a pillar of pure, destructive hatred, and his burning bandages expanded, writhed, and lashed out to their maximum, terrifying extent. “You killed Silver Drill! My brother! You killed Quivering Tentacles! My dearest friend! And you even killed Fiend Mask, that poor, misguided fool!!!! Someone like you! A heartless, sadistic monster like you! How could I ever, ever forgive you for what you’ve done!” 

“Heh! Pathetic. Utterly pathetic.” Black scoffed, her voice dripping with contempt. “Fiends, daring to speak of lofty concepts like ‘friendship’? You’re mere dregs of society, parasites, and you dare speak of ‘forgiveness’? They should be on their knees, thanking me. By killing them, I allowed them to finally, mercifully atone for their wretched sins with their miserable deaths. I imagine they’re all kowtowing to me in whatever fiery hell they undoubtedly ended up in right now, grateful for the release!”

“BLAAAAACK!!! YOU WILL PAY FOR YOUR ARROGANCE!!!”

Her callous, taunting words finally, irrevocably shattered Maiden Bandage’s remaining sanity. With a guttural roar of pure, undiluted rage, he plummeted from the sky like a vengeful meteor, wreathed in an aura of roiling, destructive black fire.

She really, really didn’t want to make direct contact with those cursed, pain-inducing flames again, but… damn it all…

I have to look cool! I have to look strong! In front of my daughter! And Ren! This is non-negotiable!

“YOU DAMN FIENDS SHOULD JUST CRAWL BACK TO YOUR FILTHY GUTTERS AND BE THE PATHETIC RATS YOU ARE!!!! EAT MY BLUE WHALE EXTINCTION FIST!!!” (Okay, maybe the attack name needed some work, but it sounded cool in her head at the time.)

Without a moment’s hesitation, she shot upwards at blinding speed, a black comet of righteous fury, delivering a devastatingly powerful punch that collided directly, cataclysmically, with the descending "meteor" of burning rage!

Magical Girl Black truly, undeniably lived up to her hard-earned reputation in "Magical Girl Brawl" as a meta-defining, ridiculously overpowered character. After all, her base stats, even without any fancy power-ups, were already absurdly, unfairly high. With that single, earth-shattering punch, she tore straight, brutally, through Maiden Bandage’s supernaturally enhanced body as if it were made of wet tissue paper.

The falling "meteor" came to an abrupt, sickening, almost anti-climactic halt in mid-air.

Black’s fist had pierced clean through Maiden Bandage’s chest and exploded out his back in a shower of dark particles and burning linen. Her slender, deceptively delicate arm was now like a gruesome skewer, and Maiden Bandage hung from it like a limp, discarded piece of meat. Powerless. Broken.

“BLACK!!! YOU… YOU DEMON!!!”

Yet, even though he had been impaled so brutally, so decisively, Maiden Bandage showed no despair, no fear. Only hatred. His eyes, filled with an unholy, dying light, still burned with pure, unadulterated, all-consuming hatred for Magical Girl Black. At that very moment, as if fueled by his final, defiant surge of malice, the black flames suddenly flared with renewed intensity, completely, terrifyingly engulfing Black’s entire form.

“Even if I can never, ever truly defeat you… I WILL MAKE YOU KNOW MY HATE!!!! MY SUFFERING!!!”

He finally, finally saw a change in Black’s usually stoic eyes. He saw, unmistakably, raw, unadulterated anger and agonizing pain reflected there, mirroring his own. And he smiled. On his horribly burned, bandage-swathed face, that grotesque, triumphant smile was horrifyingly, chillingly conspicuous. The roaring black flames, in his dying eyes, were now so bright, so beautiful, just like that fateful day:

"Hey! You there! You’re called Maiden Bandage, right? What kind of pathetic, trash-tier fiend are you supposed to be? Don’t you know this entire territory already belongs to me, the magnificent Quivering Tentacles? There’s no place for a lowlife like you here! Scram!"

"You little brat! You’re surprisingly, annoyingly strong, I’ll give you that. I can’t seem to take you down for now! But just you wait! I’ll get my big brother, the mighty Silver Drill, to come and deal with you personally! He’ll teach you some respect!"

"Maiden Bandage! My friend! My brother! You’re practically my soulmate in depravity! I’ve only now, in this moment of shared villainy, truly realized something profound! While plump, writhing tentacles for binding and restraining are certainly, undeniably titillating, these versatile bandages of yours… they possess their own unique, exquisite charm! When a delicate, struggling young girl is wrapped snugly in bandages, that delicious suggestion of being clothed yet wearing nothing at all, the way it so perfectly, so tantalizingly outlines the delectable curves of her body! Absolutely exquisite! A true art form! I, Quivering Tentacles, acknowledge your genius! From this day forward, we are brothers in arms! Partners in crime!"

They were not good people. Not by any stretch of the imagination.

In this strange, new era, fiends like them, unlike those truly powerful, ambitious fiends who dreamed of grand schemes like world conquest or societal upheaval, were simpler, more pathetic creatures. They just… existed. They drifted. They caused minor chaos. They indulged their petty cruelties.

They all knew their ultimate fate. Sooner or later, inevitably, they would all be hunted down and mercilessly exterminated by the so-called heroes, by the righteous magical girls. It was the natural order of things.

That day, Quivering Tentacles, his eyes gleaming with a perverse excitement, had said:

"Hey, brothers! I heard there’s a brand new magical girl in town! Just awakened! She must be super weak, totally inexperienced, ripe for the picking! This is our golden opportunity, my friends! A once-in-a-lifetime chance to entangle a fresh, innocent magical girl with my magnificent tentacles and… play with her to my heart’s content! We absolutely, positively cannot pass this up! Once she gets stronger, gets some experience under her belt, the opportunity will be gone forever! For fiends like us, pathetic lowlifes that we are, this might be the only chance we ever get to taste true glory! My Quivering Soul is burning with anticipation! I absolutely cannot, will not, give up on this dream! Maiden Bandage-aniki, will you join us in this noble, perverted endeavor?"

He regretted it. Oh, how he regretted it. With every fiber of his dying being. If he had gone with them back then, if the three of them had fought together, could they perhaps have defeated the Magical Girl Black of that time? Could they have changed their fate?

No… Probably not.

They wouldn’t have won. Not against her.

At best, they would only have been able to die together, as brothers. A slightly less pathetic end, perhaps.

Because…

Magical Girl Black was now, with a savage, guttural roar, tearing his burning body apart with her bare hands. She was using this brutal, almost animalistic method to combat the searing, mind-shattering pain she felt, to channel her own rage.

This… this wasn’t a magical girl. This was a true—a genuine—monster, clad in the deceptively innocent skin of a magical girl.

The flames… they weren’t even hot at all, not really. Just… pain. And even though I finally killed him… I don’t feel any satisfaction. Not a shred. This fiend… he intended to die from the very beginning, didn’t he? The bastard.

He had clearly, deliberately, launched a suicide attack, a final, desperate act of spite.

The clinging black flames still seared her body, bringing an endless, agonizing torment. Even moving a single muscle was becoming incredibly, almost impossibly difficult now. Her vision was starting to blur at the edges.

In this dire, desperate situation…

She smiled. A wide, terrifying, utterly unhinged smile.

“Just a few pathetic, insignificant fiends, and you actually have the unmitigated gall to stand there and preach about your twisted ‘friendship’? Trying to make it sound like I’m the villain in this story? How utterly, laughably delusional.” Enveloped in the swirling, malevolent black flames, the girl’s smile grew even wider, even more unsettlingly radiant. The more it hurt, the more intensely she laughed, a wild, defiant sound. Faint, almost invisible cracks, like fissures in porcelain, began to appear on the surface of her skin, as if something ancient, something powerful, something other, were about to break free from this flame-scorched, tormented mortal body…

“STRAWBERRY SWEETHEART! SPARKLING FOOOORM!!!”

At that critical, desperate moment, a brilliant, blinding golden light instantly, gloriously swept across the entire devastated venue. With the sudden, almost divine arrival of this pure, golden radiance, the clinging black flames engulfing Magical Girl Black abruptly, miraculously vanished, extinguished as if they had never been. This golden light brought with it an overwhelming sense of healing, of peace, of hope, immediately calming the still somewhat chaotic, terrified venue. Faces in the crowd, moments before etched with fear, relaxed, replaced by soft, relieved smiles as the warmth washed over them.

The flames were gone. The agonizing pain receded, like a nightmare fading with the dawn.

Black looked, somewhat surprised, almost dazed, towards the direction where Strawberry Sweetheart had been unceremoniously knocked away earlier. There, suspended in mid-air, Strawberry Sweetheart’s magical girl Dress had transformed into something magnificent, something golden, resembling a suit of ornate, almost divine armor—though still, ahem, quite remarkably revealing in certain strategic areas. She now held her radiant staff aloft, radiating a powerful, benevolent golden light, looking sacred, majestic, and utterly inviolable. A true goddess of justice.

So this… this is her legendary ‘Sparkling Form’? Not bad. Not bad at all.

Although many people had, of course, filmed this spectacular form of Strawberry Sweetheart on countless occasions, and various grainy videos and fan-made AMVs circulated wildly online, the actual, visceral feeling of being personally bathed in this warm, comforting, life-affirming light was entirely, profoundly different. It was… overwhelming.

This is… this is Strawberry Sweetheart’s true power! Her hidden ace! No wonder she’s number one.

The brilliant golden light gradually, gently faded, and Strawberry Sweetheart, looking slightly drained but still smiling, returned to her normal, default pink state.

Black, feeling a strange lightness in her limbs, landed softly back on the damaged stage.

Strawberry Sweetheart flew over, her eyes filled with genuine, unadulterated admiration. “Miss Black! Oh my gosh, you’re so totally amazing! Incredible! Those horrible black flames hurt so much when they just barely touched me, I almost couldn’t concentrate enough to even transform into my Sparkling Form! For you to be able to actually defeat the fiend while completely enveloped in flames like that… You’re just… you’re beyond incredible! You’re a legend!”

No… you’re the incredible one, kid. Black thought, a rare flicker of genuine respect in her eyes. You saved my bacon back there.

No wonder she’s considered the "strongest" magical girl in the city, maybe even the country. The sheer, overwhelming power this Sparkling Form possesses… it’s more than enough proof of her true capabilities.

Her gaze, still a little hazy from the lingering pain, fell upon the people present in the now-quieting venue. She saw Ren, his face a mixture of relief and intense concentration. And beside him, her daughter, Hana, looking pale but unharmed, her eyes wide with a mixture of fear and awe.

And Ren’s gaze, when it met hers… it was somewhat strange. Intense. Almost… knowing.

He looked like… he had finally, truly realized something. Something important.

For some inexplicable reason, Black felt a sudden, unwelcome jolt of pure, unadulterated panic. Oh no. Oh no no no no no.

“So… is the concert… are we actually going to continue this thing?” Black asked, her voice rougher than usual.

“Of course we are!” Strawberry Sweetheart beamed, her usual cheerful optimism returning in full force. “It’s precisely at times like these, when people are scared and uncertain, that we magical girls need to shine our brightest and lift everyone’s spirits! Besides…”

She scratched her head, looking a little embarrassed, a cute blush dusting her cheeks. “The only real damage to the venue was that little crater where I crashed. Your fight, Miss Black, it didn’t destroy anything at all~ Not a single spotlight out of place! We can totally, absolutely restart the concert! The show must go on!”

Black let out a weary sigh. “Fine. Whatever. Let’s just… do as you say. Get this over with.”