I punched the cat-thing again, and a sparkly, silvery liquid burst out from its body.

It was beautiful.

The scene around me was of devastation - the street was pockmarked with crater, and a good chunk of them literally burned with high-precision laser. The buildings were similarly devastated - cut-apart by laser, smashed by thrown chunks of asphalt, or hollowed out by cat-thing’s ear.

It was surprisingly capable. Why did it need to contract magical girls at all?

The not-cat laid in front of me, in a short crater. Despite my best effort, it wasn’t a smear on the ground - somehow, it retained physical consistency, and any liquid it spewed out gone a minute.

I wondered how much it got. Enough to flood Metro river, maybe? Hmm. Curious.

More curious was the fact I encountered no people during my battle with the cat-thing. There should be a lot of corpses at the aftermath, and yet… there were only empty buildings.

Mmm. What did I wanted to do? Oh, right, I wanted to protect my family! Now that I knew supernaturals actually exist, they certainly need guardian angel, right?

And that would be me.

I stretched my wings, and flew to the sky, to home.

At least, that was the intention. What happened was there’s a high-pitched, whistling sound, then something slammed at my back, with enough force to knocked me to the street.

I grimaced. I already felt the bruise formed, alright, but I could sense my regeneration kicked-in. I stood, hammer in hand.

… There were no sign of my attacker. How…?

A momentary shift of something pinged my new senses, and I narrowed my eyes, at the newly-built apartment across the river. There was… something, there. A flash of yellow, at the top of the building.

There’s a thunderous sound, and all I could saw was a light.

***

I woke-up with a gasp.

The first thing I saw was a ceiling, painted white, instead of an open sky. And I was on top of something… not exactly soft, but definitely softer than asphalt. Reminded me with rough, cheap sheet my parents bought for their rented house in fact. Which means, I wasn’t on the street anymore. I pushed my hands against the mattress, to sat on the bed. I could see I’m alone.

Fortunate? Maybe.

The room I’m in was mostly bare, save for the bed, the wardrobe, a window, a door, and a mirror. The bed was big, it dominated and almost completely filled the room. The wardrobe was wooden and new - brand new, probably just bought from department store.

Or it wasn’t used much.

The window was dark, but showed a grass field, dotted with trees. The door was wooden and… look, it was a door, there was nothing special about it. And the mirror was right next the door, showed me a glimpse of a girl wait wait wait waaait.

I slid from the bed, uncaring of the sheet I accidentally uprooted and the bag I kicked. I didn’t even care how my skin shivered against the air. I ignored how my hair swished behind me, and how it was several magnitudes lighter than it should be. Because there was something wrong about the girl on the mirror. About her reflection. About me.

All the changes I made back then? Gone. Or replaced, more like. My skin was light brown, instead of pale brown my mother’s favored. My hair was black, straight, and stopped somewhere at my waist, instead of the one I picked. My body become slender, and a bit shorter. And worst, my breasts were smaller.

Alright, that wasn’t a bad thing. A blessing, in fact. So, it was not the worst. The worst is…

Remember my face? Remember how I went on and on about how it was the only identity I had left? Yeah, it had changed as well.

The face that I saw on the mirror was pleasant to look at, but there was something about her features that made it hard to describe. A frown appeared on her - my - face, as I tried to describe her.

My mind reflexively assigned ethnicity to solved this conundrum. She should be a Javanese, right? I mean, I was one. And she did looked like one. But weren’t her features too delicate? She was a Sundanese, then.

Oh, wait, her hair was too straight, and her skin was too light. Clearly, she was a tionghoa. But…

I massaged my head. Let’s stop that train of thought.

Ugh. Why was I changed? The cat-thing was annoyed because I was uncooperative? …wait, no, don’t assume malicious intent without proof. That way lies bad thought. Step back, step back. What did I remember?

I remembered being skewered by its ear-thing. I patted my chest - nope, no holes. I’m still alive, so it didn’t renege the immortality part of the contract. Excepted edge-case like I’m a clone of myself, or something like that. While that’s fascinating possibilities, I’m not in the mood for solipsistic self-reflection right now.

So what else I knew? It mentioned something about ‘being a new prototype’. Or something close. Maybe there was a complication on my old body?

A burst of laughter derailed my thought, and I put my ear on the door. There was a faint humm of people speaking. Followed by a sharp, raised sounds, momentarily louder than the background sounds. Then silence.

Hmm. Well. That was interesting. First, though, I had to secured some cloths!

The first I checked was, of course, the wardrobe. I opened it, and I saw… nothing. Well, the wood was light-brown, the rack was raw and unfinished, and whoever owned didn’t even have decency to at least covered it with newspaper. Disgraceful.

I closed the wardrobe, and eyed the backpack I accidentally kicked. And then I looked at the door. Then at the window.

Right, no one was here.

The backpack was black, but there were enough dirt stains, whoever owned it had given-up on washing it. I didn’t saw any frayed threads, which bespoke of its hardiness. Or the owner’s cares, I guess.

I knelt down, opened the zipper. There was something bright blue, wrapped in plastic cover. I grabbed it - a shirt, clearly new. ‘EDC’ was stamped on the front, with the word ‘English Debate Club’ around it. I tore the wrapper and properly unfolded it - the back proudly displayed ‘SMA 2 Surabaya.’

… wait, wait, did I got kidnapped English debater? Did they planned to be more thorough at presenting ethical issues?

Alright, so I got kidnapped by Surabaya’s second public High School English Debaters.

Nah, that’s silly.

What did the cat-thing said? I’d respawn to safe location if I died? Maybe this house was a veritable fortress, it was safer than apartment located between dimension!

… Actually, that was a serious possibility. Imagine the neighbour in that kind of apartment.

Right, let’s get back to the problem at hand. I set aside the shirt, and continued my task at loot- I mean, inspected the backpack. I could see something dark blue at the bottom, and it looked bigger than the shirt. It was soft and thick when I grabbed it. I brought it up on the air; it was a yoga pants.

Shirt, pants. Well, that was bare minimum necessary to go outside, right?

… oh wait, I’m a girl now. I looked down, and poked at my semi-erect nipples. Damn. Now I actually had to care about that kind of thing.

A brief digging resulted in the revelation that the pants hid a bra and a panties, both of them white with no frills. It was soft, with elastic edges. Similar with my sister’s, in fact. Definitely for daily use.

Look, you couldn’t escape laundry duty at my house. Not even my dad could. Such is the law.

Now that I had everything I need, it’s time to actually wore it!

… actually, screw that. I had superpower that allow me to generate outfit, so I’d use that.

I stuffed the underwear back, then stood in front of the mirror. Hmm. What should I wore? I tapped at my chin. Well, shirts and pants fits most situation, so let’s did this! Wait, no, my host would expect I wore the clothes she provided, and she might be suspicious if I somehow wore different one. So let’s wish for the same clothes!

Instantly, an outfit appeared on my reflection. Except… well, it wasn’t the same clothes.

The shirt was almost identical, save it was softer, slightly lighter blue, and there were frills on it. The pants? Forget the pants, I wore skirt instead. It was tiered, dark blue, with white border, stopped slightly below my knee, and very wide.

In a moment of whimsy, I lifted it. Yep, I wore that… white thing… that add volume to skirt? Bah. I forgot the term.

There was another burst of laughter from behind the door, and I narrowed my eyes at the door. Then at my reflection. Then at the bag. Last, at the various bits of clothes strewn across the room.

… nope, I didn’t think the backpack could hold that much clothes. Well. I had to wore it manually, then!

But I kept the underwear. No way I’d bother doing it manually.

***

The first thing I noticed when I opened the door was the size of the room. It was cavernous, well-lit, enough to hold three, four cars. I could see the windows - it was tall and dark. There was a wide hallway leading to… somewhere, to my right. The floors were marbled, and cold. And there were, oh, fifty to sixty people on the floor. Most of them wore pink - the rest, the one on the border and the front, wore blue.

“Next is Asian-Parliament format!” the girl at the front, clearly the presenter, said. She wore a blue shirt, a loose red exercise trouser, and a white jilbab. “It does not, in fact, involved punching your opponent until they give up!” she continued, and her audience laughed. “The approved form is- oh?” she said, then turned at me.

Her audience turned, too, and there was a silence.

“… Hello?” I waved. My arms felt like a jello. “So, uh, where am I-”

The presenter girl squinted at me, her head tilted slightly. “Uh. Who are you, miss…?” she asked, a frown formed on her face. “I… think I’ve seen you? But…”

A light cough sounded, somewhere in the audience, and a girl stood. She was short, probably around a hundred fifty or less. Her hair was cut short, ended at her neck. She was cute, but… she looked exhausted.

The presenter girl brightened. “Oh, is she your friend Bintang?” she asked, then frowned again at me. “I… you were brought here this morning, right…?”

“I’ll take this from here, Ratna,” Bintang interrupted. She sighed, and walked toward me. Her movement was fast, efficient, and she maintained her no-nonsense expression.

She stopped right in front of me, her face set in a frown.

“Hmm. You have changed,” she commented. “Come, we need to talk,” she said, grabbing my wrist and pulled me inside the room.

She entered first, and after I’m inside, she closed the door.

Then she leaned on the door, massaging her forehead. “Alright. As you can see,” she gestured toward her back, “I’m rather busy,” she said. “I’ll make this brief: After Cia modified your Bequest - that’s your magical girl power - it got overloaded, and you went straight and become an angel,” she said. “So, it called me, and then,” she paused.

“I exploded your head.”

I stared at her as if she was crazy, then patted my head. I shrugged. “Eh, looks like I have a spare head,” I said. “And I can’t remember what happened anyway. No lasting harm, no lasting foul. Can’t you just… knock me up, back then?”

“You were an angel,” she replied, as if it explained everything. Except I didn’t get it… “You were very durable, with additional power that makes you more durable. Coupled with your regeneration capability…” she shook her head.

“That means even mostly-lethal knockdown is out, because you’ll just regenerate it anyway,” she shrugged. “So, I go straight for the kill.”

Angel. Angel. Hmm, I thought it was one of the cautious tales shown when I accepted the contract? About a girl that loved and cared so much, she reached for more power and ended-up imprisoned everyone she loved because she couldn’t bear the thought they’d be gone?

“I… don’t feel very yandere,” I said, unsure. “So, uh. Things are fine?”

“More-or-less,” she replied, inspecting me from top to bottom. It’s uncomfortable… “After you were dead, Cia modified your Bequest to prevent it from happening again,” her gaze settled on my face, her expression switched from apathetic to thoughtful. “Just what is your wish, anyway?”

I fidgeted in the place. What should I tell her? …well, I could say I didn’t have any wish, but it might make her suspicious!

“… Ah, I’d prefer to keep it a secret…” I replied. “…is that fine?”

“That’s fine,” she answered, disappointed. “After that, I let you regenerate until you have actual body, then brought you here,” she continued. “And that’s it. Any question? Make it quick.”

Right, what did I want to know? “Where are we? Are these yours?” I asked, gestured at the shirt.

“We are on Batu,” she replied. Huh. No wonder it was cold. “The pants are my sister, the shirt is one of our spares. Feel free to keep the shirt, I suppose,” she said, as she fished a phone from her pocket, and activated it. There’s a brief frown on her face. “Alright, I have to go back. I expect Cia will be back to brief you, so don’t worry,” she turned-off the screen, and stored it back in her pocket. “Anything else?”

My heart raced when I heard the mention of cat-thing, and there was faint instinct to stabbed it in multiple places. Which surprised me. I didn’t hold grudges - I find them a waste of time and peace of mind. “Ah, one more thing,” I said, and tentatively lifted my hand. “… we’ve yet to introduce ourselves.”

She looked at my hand, then chuckled. “Fair point,” she said, grabbed my hand. “Name’s Bintang,” she smiled. Or tried to, anyway. It looked weird on her face. “Looking forward to work with you,” she added.

I grinned. My mouth dry. Right, name. Name. My old name was unisex, but I already got a new face. Might as well got a new name. “Karen,” I replied. “Karen Kertarajasa. So, uh, are you the only Magical Girl on Malang?”

She rolled her eyes. “Guardian, you mean,” she paused, unsure. “Currently, there are no Guardians on Malang,” Bintang said. “And Batu, and Kediri,” she sighed. Whoaa. That sounds serious.

“Cia will brief you, so… don’t worry, okay?” she said, with forced smile. “Alright, I have to go. Nice meeting you, Karen.”

I watched her leave, rejoined the crowd, before closed the door. Then I just… sighed, and let my body slumped against the door.

It had been an overwhelming day.

“You are still alive. Congratulations,” someone said. Startled, I lifted my head and looked directly at the cat-thing. It stood on the bed, somehow radiated satisfied-ness, on its blank face.

“It looks like the trial is success. It would be prudent to explore your capability, while we wait until Bintang is done with her activity, so we can fully debrief you,” it added. “It is preferable to conduct training on your interdimensional-dwelling. First, however. Is there anything you want to ask?”

I snorted.

Then I walked, grabbed, and unceremoniously slammed the cat-abomination against the wall.

“Alright,” I said, voice seethed with fury. “Can you tell me why the hell you stabbed and killed me, then changed my everything?!”

“It was necessary,” the cat-abomination said. It didn’t even have decency to sounds strangled. Stupid mind-to-mind communication. “Your immortality, combined with extra, dedicated transformation capabilities, takes far more magical power than I projected. Your Bequest is stressed, and snapped,” for mostly-emotionless being, the cat-thing was surprisingly capable at emphasized its word.

Must be a lot of practice.

“Destroying your body is necessary to fix your Bequest. Then Incognito is weaved into your new body. This provided similar benefit, at much lower cost, even with the…” it trailed off, stared at my face. “…side-effect,” it continued.

I processed what it said, then sighed. I released my hold, letting Cia fell to the floor. Much like cat, it righted itself while airborne, quickly scampered to the bed as soon as it hit the floor.

“Alright, that’s valid reason,” I conceded. Nope, don’t want to become an angel. Might be good idea to grilled Bintang about this, though. “Do you know why I can’t seem to make pants?”

The cat-thing swished its tail. “Apology. I’ve modified your capabilities. It appears some of them interfere with each-others. In practical terms, your choice of outfit will be slightly biased toward your transformed costume. Do not worry - Incognito will ensure your outfit unremarkable.”

I could live with that. So long the generated outfit is free, at least.

“Bintang said there are no Magical Girls in the area. Why?” I asked, then corrected myself. “Well, other than her. And me, I think. Is that connected with whatever big supernatural event will happened on the weekend?”

“Guardian, not magical girl,” the not-cat said. “Magical girl is accepted term used for Bequest Holder; Guardian, however, specifically refer to the one granted by myself.”

Huh. Interesting. “So there are Magical Girls not affiliated with us?”

“Correct,” it replied, then moved its head around the room. “It would be best if we do proper briefing to discuss this. Your interdimensional apartment should suffice.”

To ensure secrecy, huh? Was it that important? I looked at my palm, and I wondered. How did I opened the apartment?

“Simple. You are already keyed-” the cat-thing stopped, and tilted its head. “Ah. It looks like a breach just happened,” it stated.

That was annoyingly vague.

The cat-thing hemmed. “You should knew already,” its tone somewhat reproachful. “Still, it is possible smaller detection is yet another side-effect of your modified bequest. I shall guide you to-”

At that moment, the door opened, with Bintang behind it. Her face was set in a deep scowl. “We have a situation,” she said, taking care to emphasized the ‘situation’. “I see Cia already told you. So, can you feel, or hear, or even taste anything?”

I shook my head. Bintang closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, then opened it again. Bintang smiled. A very bland, very scary smile. “Alright, it’s not a problem. Sometimes that happened. Welcome to your first hunt, rookie!”

***

Bintang didn’t waste time after that. She dragged me outside, in full view of everyone, while shouted “Be back soon!”

The first thing I noticed is how cold everything was.

I shivered, and hugged myself. The view was pretty at least. The moon shined above, and far below, there were many points of lights, slowly decreased the closer they were to my location. We were in mostly undeveloped area, it seems. Not really a surprise - it was the main appeal of Batu. Come rest at the mountain and breathe the fresh air! Or visit a half-dozen overpriced theme parks!

Honestly, other than the house and the housing complexes below, everything else were dark.

“I’m sorry, I don’t have spare jacket,” Bintang said, her tone apologetic. She’d already donned hers - a mostly-grey thing, affectionately known as parachute jacket. It was big enough she almost drowned in it.

“I’ll cope,” I replied. I probably should summoned a jacket or something similar soon. But not this close to the house.

“The breach is somewhere that way,” Bintang said, pointing at the west, to a recently-opened street. It was dark, covered with thin tarmac, and laid between two hills. “If we hurry, we should be able to close it before dawn,” she continued, then sighed.

“I’m sorry. It will be even colder, so… I’ll see if I can get you a jacket or something-”

I interrupted. “I can make clothes,” I stated. “Just, err, we should move away from here?” I scratched my head. “I’m not sure about how open I can show off magical abilities…”

Bintang’s lips quirked up. A little. She seemed amused. “They knew enough,” Bintang said, voice low. “The recruit don’t, and they should be distracted, but yes. Let’s go to the breach.”

Bintang led, of course. Her steps were slow, but sure. I didn’t knew how she could navigate just with the moonlight. She didn’t stray from the recently opened road, but we stopped often - she would stand, just… staring at the darkness, before continued her walk.

We stopped at the end of the street, just before the forest proper. Granted, it wasn’t really a forest. There were tall grasses around us, but the trees were few. Some of the grasses were trampled, to form a rough trail, leading further into… tall… grasses… field?

The air was positively chilly. Going further would need some form of jacket, so I summoned one. At least, that was my intention - what I got was an A-shaped coat with big buttons, a little mantle on the shoulder, and it was a bit too soft for my taste. At least it was black. And actually warm.

Bintang tsked. “I’ll have to see if I could acquire that ability,” she noted. “That’d save a fortune in my budget.”

I nodded. Yeah, that was one of the reason why I picked it. And then an idea come to me.

“Why don’t we transform before we approach the breach?” I asked. Well, that seems sensible. Even if the transformation were instant, it was an instant you’d better spent on other things.

Bintang shook her head. “Untransformed, we’re no different from human. Transformed, they’ll be able to detect us,” Bintang said.

Oh. Stealthy approach.

Bintang nodded, satisfied. “Keep that in mind. It will help your family safe,” she said, her step faltered for a second, then she began followed the trail. “Where do you live, anyway?”

That was an interesting question. Where did I live? I couldn’t exactly return, after all.

I shrugged. “Everywhere, I guess. The cat-thing gave me portable apartment, so it’s not an issue. I’ll stick in Malang for a while, though,” I said.

Bintang looked at me as if I grew second head. Technically true, if she did exploded my head before. “That’s… unusual,” Bintang replied. Her tone was even, slower. “Were you a homeless?”

“I moved around a lot,” I replied, giving non-answer. Ah, the joy of having parents that’s often relocated every couple years due to job.

My dad was a banker, see. And the bank he’d worked at had that policy to prevent corruption. Didn’t always work, of course. There was this case on Tirto when one of the General Manager… alright, that’s as far as I could say. Not exactly confidential, but it wasn’t something I could blab around.

“I’ve never met home- Guardian like you,” she admitted. Curious. I expect there would be more, since wouldn’t it be easier to recruit homeless kids?

“Homeless Guardian?” I said, my eyebrow raised. Bintang nodded.

“That, and you can recover from having your head blown-up,” she said, shaking her head. “I know some monstergirl can do that, but you were an angel…” she added, her stares piercing. It was, well. Disconcerting.

“I don’t know anything about that!” I said. More defensive than necessary, maybe. “The cat-thing did mention something about prototype, though,” I added.

Bintang blinked, then sighed. “Oh dear,” she murmured. “So you are the new Class?”

This time, I blinked. “Class?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Cia - the cat-thing - did it tell you anything about being a Guardian?”

I scratched my head. Well. Awkward… “Uh, kinda? It told me I’m supposed to, uh, solve supernatural problem? And some Guardian went crazy and become monstergirl?”

She took a deep breath, then slowly released it. “That’s… broadly correct, yes,” she said. “No other details? Are you sure?”

… Well, she already killed me once and saw me regenerated, so… “Cia also said something about being immortal?” I admitted.

Bintang didn’t say anything. She didn’t even look surprised. But there was something approaching pity when she looked at me.

“Roughly speaking, there are two Classes of Guardians,” Bintang said. “Now three. Probably. I’ll have to see your performance first before making judgement, but…” she took a deep breath.

“The first is Defender. Defender is recruited solely to solve an incident,” she continued. “Maybe there’s a supernatural serial killer on the loose. Maybe a Sprawl faction want to harvest ‘human ability to feel emotion’ or some other junk. They’ll remain Guardian until it’s solved,” she stared at me again. Her eyebrows were knitted-up.

“After that, it’s up to them. They can lose their power and go back to normal life…” there were an undertone of horror on Bintang’s voice.

“… Or they can become Sentinel. Sentinel’s task is for day-to-day incident. Haunting, manifestation, maintaining Veil…” she trailed off.

“Plus diplomacy with Extraplanar factions. Sentinel served for limited time - at most a decade or so, then we’ll lose our power. We’ll go back to normal life,” she said.

There were something about her statement that made me thought she wasn’t satisfied with the arrangement, though.

“You know, I noticed both Class only retain their power for limited time,” I pointed out. “Defender until the incident is done, and Sentinel up to a decade. What’s the deal with that?”

“What else? Most of us want to continue our real life,” Bintang said, her tone dry.

“It’s dangerous job. You can actually die. Especially if one of the nastier Cold One running amok,” she shook her head.

“Or you got kidnapped while on the Sprawl, ‘persuaded’,” she made air-quotes with her fingers, “to serve one of the factions,” she exhaled. Her face weary.

“That sucks,” I said, with as much sympathy as I could muster. It was not easy, since I knew I couldn’t die. What she said doesn’t exactly resonated with me.

Well, other than the ‘persuaded’ part. That one was worrying.

“And that’s why I’m confused,” she continued. Her voice is slightly raised. If looks could kill, she’d probably already fried my nerve. But I doubted she can.

Well, she probably could. It wouldn’t stick, though.

“You have no fixed home, you don’t care about dying - in fact, you can’t die at all. You don’t really care about ‘normal life’,” she sighed. I opened my mouth to protest-

“Let me finish,” Bintang interrupted. “Do you have any family at all? Friends? Maybe some of them is at least a magical girls, or someone on the supernatural side?”

Well. That was an interesting question… “Kinda?” I tried.

Bintang frowned.

“Uh, I think we’re kinda estranged now…” I admitted.

“Is this before or after you become a Guardian?”

“Both?” I replied. She narrowed her eyes. “I mean, I. Uh. I doubt they’ll accept me now…” I trailed off.

“See? This is what I mean!” Bintang said. Her face was red, her teeth gritted, and she invaded my personal spaces to poked my chest with her finger. Repeatedly. For each punctuation.

“You don’t have any friends! Family! And you can’t get out! This is reckless! What the hell is that abominable-cat-weasel-marshmallow-”

“Hey now,” I interrupted. “I appreciate the concern, but I can handle it. I’m used to being alone, anyway.”

“No! You don’t!” Bintang retorted. Then her head snapped back, her face twisted in distaste. There were… something. I moved my head, trying to listen. Something had moved in the grass.

“Three kuyangs, one o’clock,” Bintang said, under her breath. “I know I shouldn’t shout…” she murmured, then glared at me. Who merely looked at her with innocent expression. Hey, I wasn’t the one that ranted in the middle of operation!

And then I chocked. Metaphorically. Huh, I had not actually eaten or drink since I accepted the contract. Nor am I hungry or thirsty. Food for thought. “Wait, kuyang? Flying head, spinal cord, intestines? That kind of kuyang?”

“Not really,” she admitted. “We call them kuyang because after you destroy their body, their head will fly around, spinal cords and some other stuff hanging,” she moved her hand around, making very, very, rough approximation how they looked like.

“…And they’ll try to put it on your mouth. Or other orifice, really,” Bintang said. She sounded distracted. She moved her head, her invisible senses guided her.

Alright, I could see why they were called kuyang. At least they didn’t eat fetus. Or did they? How should I knew?

“Anything special I should know about them?” I asked.

“Don’t get taken over, so destroy their head first,” Bintang replied. “They’ll try to eat human…”

Oh, joy.

“…and other animal, plus random objects. Destroy them before it happened,” Bintang shuddered.

“Else, they’ll turn into something worse.”

That was the moment when the movement closed, and something jumped out from the grass. I stared, wide-eyed, half-expected Bintang to be… well, dead.

There’s a flash, and I reflexively shielded my face with my arms. There’s a buzzing, crackling sound, followed by a sudden, piercing shriek.

The smell of ozone hanged on the air.

I opened my eyes, blinking. Bintang had exchanged her EDC shirt and parachute jacket with something… dashing. Her hair was in ponytail. She wore a black long coat, decorated with several brass gears. Her trouser was black as well, with a black fedora on her head. She wore a white, ruffled shirt under her coat. Overall, it gives off victorian, steampunk vibe.

Which was further accented by what she wield: an improbably tall, two-meter bastard child of a stun baton and tesla coil, crackled with electricity.

The kuyang itself were thrown the side, blackened, faintly smoking. It looked like somewhere between a human and a gorilla, with a head made of an organic, purple-black blob thing covered with crisscrossed vein. It twitched.

And then it just… gone. As if it was sublimated.

“Karen, look!” Bintang barked, and I turned my head. Just in time to saw a kuyang, jumped at me. There were another flash, too bright to see, and the kuyang fell on the wayside. Charred, smoking, before disappeared.

“One left!” Bintang said, turned at me. “And transform, you fool!” She said, her face fierce. I gaped, then nodded.

“Right!” … Do I had to strike a pose? I clenched my palm, placed it on my left hips, then shouted, “Berubah!”

There was a sense of warmth, of being cocooned with… something. The coat were gone, dissolved into aether. Followed by shirt, jeans, and a flip-flop I borrowed from random recruit. Then my costume materialized, one by one. The first that appeared was a white blouse, followed by a dress with chocolate-patterned skirt, a white thigh-high, and a black shoes.

… wait a second, those weren’t mine! These didn’t even looked like a costume, it looked like actual lolita dress!

The last that appeared was my hammer. I stared at it in disbelief. The only original component was the handle - it was a white, thin cylinder. The head turned into, well, a hammer head, instead of lollipop candy. Tool hammer, not war-hammer.

It still looked like a candy, at least. Well, chocolate bar is technically candy, right?

“Good,” Bintang said with a frown. “The last of them run back and-” her eyes widened. “Fifteen- twenty kuyangs! Twelve o’clock!” she shouted, her voice trembled. The grass continued to rustle. My eyes darted, trying to track where they’d jump.

“Delaying tactic,” Bintang murmured. She narrowed her face, all sign of fear vanished. “What’s your specialization?” she asked. She clenched her weapon, and the spark burst.

“Reinforcement!” I answered. There was another rustle, and a kuyang jumped out. I swung my hammer, and another crackle sounded as the kuyang thrown deep into the grass field, out of sight. There was a faint smell of grass and charred meat.

I glanced at Bintang, who pointed her weapon at the place where it appeared. “You’ll do,” she said, her lips quirked ever-so-slightly. She offered her hand. “Now, hold my hand!”

… Eh? “Ah, okay!” I answered, released my left hand from the hammer and grabbed her hand.

“Don’t just stand there, transfer your mana!” She barked, pointed her weapon, one handed, at somewhere on the grass field before activating the trigger. Another bright flash, followed by piercing scream and charred grass-smell.

… how did I transfer mana? I looked inward, to find a… pool of energy, or something like that.

I didn’t find it, no. But somehow, I knew a… mnemonic, of how to do stuff. From enchanting to healing to, yes, transferring mana.

It required touch, though. For maximum efficiency.

I relaxed the muscle of my left arm, my heart, and my stomach. There were… warmth, from my heart, flowed to my arm, then to my hand. I felt slightly light-headed.

Bintang noticed it, too, because she smiled. Her smile was wide, savage, and when she jammed her weapon to the ground… well. The best description was ‘gleeful’.

There was another bright flash, followed by a shriek, capped by the smell of ozone and burned flesh.

Then another flash.

Another flash.

“Carry me!” Bintang shouted, somewhere. I blinked my eyes, trying to clear the spot. “Look!” she said, half-hugged her cannon with her left arm, her expression dead serious. The thunder on it already grew, more frantic. There were more rustle on the grass.

“I’ll need both hands to use this! And I still need your mana! So carry me, and any kuyangs that’s close to us will get fried! Understand?!”

“Yes!” I replied, half-shouted. Bintang nodded, satisfied, then jumped to my arms. I huffed, expected her to be heavy. She was, but somehow, I could carry her. Must be the enhanced physique.

She squirmed, balanced her tesla cannon with her right arm so it jutted out at the sky. She turned at me, gave me a tight smile, before hugged me with her left arm.

There was a warmth, transferred from my body to my neck. Somewhere, a flash, a crackle, and a shriek. My eyes were spotty, and I blinked to clear it. I looked up, and my jaw dropped open - there were, literally, a ring of electricity above.

“Just go straight!” Bintang said, and I ran. I didn’t knew where we’d go, but I trusted her enough to gave me the correct direction.

It wasn’t like I’d die anyway.

Our journey was far from silence. There was a sound each time I stepped on the grass trail, and bulldozed undergrowth. Another sound when Bintang’s electricity ring fried a kuyang or two. It was always followed by the smell of ozone and charred flesh.

Oh, and a piercing shriek.

It got colder for each step I took, and I wondered if the so-called breach were on the mountain’s peak. Bintang herself didn’t seem to care - she’d closed her eyes, then tugged my neck before pointed the correct direction. Then I’d continue ran.

The frequency of Bintang-made thunder lowered when we entered the forest proper, leaving the tall grass field. That was when I felt something tugged at my brain. It was a sense of wrongness, of something slimy and cold.

Something that must be purged. Judging by how Bintang tensed, tightened her hold on my neck, she agreed.

I suspected it was the so-called dimensional breach. So I followed the sense, Bintang on hand. When I saw the clearing ahead, and the feeling got stronger, I knew we found it.

I jumped out to the clearing, intended to make stylish entrance heralded by thunder. The thunder part worked wonderfully, because it fried at least five kuyangs out of eighteen or so. The stylish part? Not so much. Because I stumbled on the air, suddenly feeling drained.

Bintang managed to jumped from my arms, and shot at one of the kuyangs. The rest didn’t waste any time to…

…scattered and darted inside the forest.

Well. Turned out, even mooks could be sensible. Who would had thought?

I panted, lying on the ground, stared at the sky. There were no electricity ring, only the moon and stars. It was replaced by Bintang’s face.

“I’m sorry,” she said, with a touch of guilt. “I don’t expect there will be that many kuyangs, and…” she shook her head, then offered her hand. “Anyway. Can you stand?”

I took her hand, grimaced, and stood. Bintang grabbed my waist and steadied me. I would turn and thanked her, but I was too entranced by what I saw.

There, on the far side of the clearing, was a market. There were stalls, and stalls, and stalls everywhere. They were all empty.

But there were people, too, just on the edge of my eyes battling kuyangs. Around three-fourth of them were girls, the rest was monstrous human I couldn’t really pin their gender. They were all dressed nicely, though. In a manner of speaking.

One of them was a pretty girl with brown hair, in a twintail, wearing something resembled fleshy cousin of power-armor. She waved at us, then punched a kuyang. The kuyang went limp, and… collapsed, on itself, before disappeared.

“They take care the other side,” Bintang said. “Now, we must seal the breach. Do you know how?”

“I- I think so?” I replied, uncertain. “I… release the mana, then… fill it on the breach…?” I said, feeling confused. I knew how, but I just… didn’t know how to say it.

“Good enough,” Bintang nodded. We walked together, to the center of the clearing. The sense of wrongness got stronger, and I just… want to extended my hand and… pinched it? But there were changes already. The edge of the clearing resolved back into grass field, or trees.

“Alright. Here is how most Guardian sealed the breach,” Bintang said, then closed her eyes. “Dulu, ada seorang gadis…” she said, her voice low. There’s a brief, sad glow, then the gears were gone from Bintang’s coat. And pants. And fedora. Her tesla cannon wavered, before turned into… well, actual cannon. The one that used cannonball.

More and more, the parallel market converted into the section of the forest as it was. And the other side situation grew frantic, as more kuyangs spawned to storm the breach. That was what I thought, at least - the smaller the breach, the harder to track them. They slipped in and out of my edge of vision.

“Karen!” Bintang said, and I turned. There were… twelve kuyangs, surrounded us on the edge of the once-market. I glanced - at least two in front of us, three on the either side, and the rest at our back.

Then they ran toward us, grunted and snarled.

“I’ll handle them, you seal the breach!” Bintang said, stomped on the ground, then glowed. Her gears were back, and her tesla cannon. There was a brief crackle, as she shot the two kuyangs on our front.

They were thrown back, slightly singed and twitched- fuckdammit, I need to seal the breach, not watching extermination! I narrowed my eyes, then I placed my palm on the ground - it seemed the right thing to do. Then I just… let my power flow.

It was different then simply letting Bintang enhanced herself with my power. I could see the… damage, the place where the fabric of reality teared. It was like… I didn’t knew how to explain it. Something broken and it should be able to be fixed yet it couldn’t unless you brought special equipment that I had?

Sorry if that made no sense.

I guided my power, to filled the tear. But I also knew it wouldn’t be enough - it would be a slapdash, not proper. I could re-enchant it, made it stronger, and-

“Forget the fancy solution!” Bintang shouted, somewhere. I snapped from my funk, and glanced at her - she was behind me, her cannon swung, made a rather pretty and… glowy, electricity fence. There were three fried kuyangs, on the ground, twitched and smoked, before disappeared.

“We’ll fix the enchantment tomorrow! For now, just close the damn breach!” Bintang said. I nodded, then poured as much as my power on it.

The sense of wrongness receded on my brain, informed me whatever I did worked. It was slow, and steady method, and probably around five minutes later, it was vanished. My body weren’t sore. But I did feel tired.

So, I fell to the grass, turned to the sky, and just laid down, my breath heavy.

***

I expected to see stars - what I saw was a girl’s face, with a huge grin, and rather-improbable spiral pigtails that’s bigger than her head. Unlike Bintang, she’s actually beautiful, though her choice of attire detracted from that. She wore something that could be described as flesh version of power armor.

“Hi!” she said. Her smile dimmed ever-so-slightly. “So, you’re Karen?” I nodded. “Good! Can you stand? Bintang need to get back, and we’ll need to hunt these kuyangs!” she stated.

I groaned, then pushed myself up with my elbow. She left, approached Bintang, then start fussed at her. She righted Bintang’s hair, dusted her coat, and… poked her cannon?

“I’m fine, Intan,” Bintang sighed. “That’s why I used First Resurgence. And,” she stopped. There was a sound, faint but piercing, and then I realized it was the sound of adzan. Call to prayer.

… wait, it was four in the morning now?!

“I’ll only get three hours sleep at this rate,” Bintang groused. Intan giggled. “Don’t worry, kakak! I-” she glanced at me, still sitting on the grass, before corrected herself. “-We’ll hunt the remaining kuyang!” she said. “So you can go back to your friends and help them debate or packing or something!” she added.

She sighed. “Alright, so just… do your thing,” Bintang said. Intan squealed, opened her palm and… a squishy, slurpy sound, before a phone jumped out from her wrist to her palm.

It was covered with drool.

Bintang looked at Intan’s costume in distaste. “How do you get those? Did Cia contracted… flesh specialist Guardian?”

Intan shrugged, already fiddled with her phone. Without looking. …oh wait, there was an eye on her palm. “If she did, she didn’t tell us,” Intan claimed. “No, I transformed used a bunch of kuyangs as template. Alright, I’m ready!” she smiled, grabbed Intan by the neck, and lifted her phone.

It was a comical sight - Bintang only as tall as Intan’s chest, her face bored, while Intan pursed her lips, lowered her body until her head was on the same position as Bintang. Her arm outstretched, phone already above their head and- took a selfie?

A click, a whirr, and Intan’s flesh-armor disappeared, replaced by a white, ruffled shirt, a black long coat, and- wait, that’s Bintang’s costume!

It was. Intan dressed identically to Bintang, now, without the tesla cannon. Her twintail is replaced with Bintang’s far more sensible ponytail, though it’s still brown and longer. Then her phone itself expanded, briefly hanged on the air, until it became an almost identical tesla cannon. The only difference was a small screen on it, white, and too bright to see. Intan grabbed it, her other hand still on Bintang’s neck. She began eyeing the control panel…

“Good,” Bintang said, before bowed down and freed herself from Intan’s hug. Intan pouted. “They scattered after I activated Resurgence, so finding them won’t be easy,” Bintang stated. “Look for them until dawn - if you can’t find them, return here. We still need to fix those,” Bintang said, pointed at somewhere deep in the forest. I followed what she pointed out, and-

There was a table. And a tent. On a tree, somehow.

“It’s just minor overlap,” Intan said, with a shrug. “It should right itself after the Ward re-erected, right?”

Bintang sighed. “That’d take a week,” she pointed out. “Better to fix this- ugh. Look, you two,” she pointed her finger at us. “Go find the kuyangs. Kill them. If dawn, come back and fix this. Even if you don’t get them all. Okay?”

Me and Intan shared a look, before nodded. “Right. So I need to get back quickly. Lend me your hand, Karen,” Bintang said, offered her palm. I took it, and there was a brief jolt of… something, followed by a flash of fatigue. “Thanks,” Bintang smiled. It was a small smile. “I’ll owe you one. Come back to the house after you’ve done fixed the clearing.”

Then Bintang gone, in a flash. I blinked my eyes, and I saw a shadow scaled a tree before jumped to other trees, and repeat.

“Wow…” I mumbled. Intan shrugged. “Best way to travel both on city and forest,” she commented, then turned at me. She smiled.

“Right! So, how strong are you?” she grabbed the screen, and her phone detached itself. Then she pointed it at me. Another click, and her face frowned in disappointment.

“You- you are bad at everything except magic!” she exclaimed, her eyes wide, her mouth downturned. I slowly stepped back from her… Then somehow, she managed to appear in front of me, her hands on my shoulder. “Oh, Cia said you’re special, right? Is this why? Did she-”

“Uh,” I interrupted. “We’ll need to hunt kuyangs?” I offered. “We can talk power later, if you wish.”

Intan stopped, her expression flat, her gaze calculating. Then she broke into a smile.

“Deal!” she cried. She grabbed my wrist, then pointed deeper on the mountain. Closer to the top of the mountain. “There are at least two of them! Let’s beat them up!”

Hmm. Well. I didn’t want to trudge through forest, but I just saw Bintang pulled that jumping-trees trick. Could I did it?

I knelt to the grass - it was wet and cool, but I ignored it. I tapped my legs, letting my power filled it. I could sense my legs become more… solid? Strong. More… reliable.

You could say they were reinforced. Heh.

I stood, already feel refreshed from before. I glanced at Intan, who watched me with interest. She grinned. “The nearest kuyang is on your left!” she said, shifted her feet?

“Bet I can get to them before you!” she continued. Then ran.

Oh, that-

I lifted my feet, and ran with all my might. And proceeded to hit a tree.

There was a faint sound of laugh while I fell to the grass, dazed. I pushed my palm, and shook my head. Damn. That was, uh. Something. Yes. Something.

I looked around the now-empty clearing, and felt creeped-out. Right, Intan already hunted the kuyangs, Bintang returned to… lectured her charges about how to debate well or something like that, I guess. And I… I probably should get around hunted kuyang, really.

First, I’d need to know where they were. So, I closed my eyes and tried to find those sense Bintang and Cia mentioned.

There was a faint… something, too weak to pin where it was. Then I could sense Intan - she was moving, somewhere to the west, and catching-up with her would be a pain. But Intan’s… taste, was a bit like Bintang, too, even though I knew she was on my south, not moving - presumably, slept.

…I opened my eyes in shock. Wait. How did I knew that?

Hmm. I did pick that quest mark power, so maybe that was how it manifested themselves? I put my hand to my chin. How do I exploit this for fun and profit?

Wait, no. Let’s not get ahead myself. Let’s… do something more practical. Like, oh, where could I find the nearest concentration of kuyang?

My sense tugged me toward north-east.

***

I ran.

The leaves squelched for each step I took. The wind bit my skin, despite my costume. And somehow, I could still ran. Much better compared to my previous body, in fact.

I wonder if this is how transhumanism felt. Of having a body that’s stronger, better, and faster than humanity.

Alternatively, I was a slightly-overweight twenty-something that now just experienced the joy of sport. Let’s go with that.

I followed the tug, my path meandered all over the landscape. Sometimes, I’ll go up and the air will thinned and threatened to choke me. More often, I’ll go down, skirting close to the newly-built housing complexes, and hoping against hope I won’t have to battle them in public area.

It didn’t came to that, fortunately.

I pinged Intan and Bintang - Intan was somewhere to the south, and west for Bintang. I didn’t know their precise location, though.

Man. Was I lucky or what? My first hunt, and I already lost my supposed-escort. Probably because they weren’t worried I’ll actually, oh, die or something.

I shook my head. Right, get back on tracking.

My path looped back into the forest, bypassed tall-grass field this time. More trees, more lack of lights, and more squelch under my feet. I’ll have to remember to get a pair of boots or something like that if I wanted to go back here, it seems.

But they were close. I knew it.

The presence on my mind tugged, and shifted again. I hold back an aggrieved sigh - couldn’t those kuyangs stand still? First, running all over everything. Second, avoided a settlement. I swore, it seems like…

… they deliberately led me away from Intan.

I was about to summon my hammer when something kicked me from behind.

It hurts.

I turned, trying to catch the attacker, but it kicked my stomach. Then my jaws cracked. Because it uppercut my jaws.

I wonder if I can re-grew tooth.

The force was enough to make me stumbled backward. I was still standing, albeit woozy. My eyes watered, and despite the fuzziness, I can identify my attacker - it’s a kuyang, alright. And it didn’t seem very different from the one Bintang slaughtered left and right.

How would I compare against more serious threat if I couldn’t even handle one of them?

I opened my palm, summoning my hammer. At least that was the intention - a body tackled me, sending me flying backward, and I vaguely register there’s another kuyang.

I hit a tree, and fell. My body ached - I swear, everything is bruised. But it’s fading - I can feel my regeneration kicked in, repairing my body and making it ready for fighting again.

I pushed myself, to stand and fight again. Suddenly, there’s a rustle above me, and I turned my head above - at two kuyangs, who jumped from the trees, and proceeded to land on me. Feet first!

So that’s what it feels to be on the receiving end of drop kick.

As expected, I fell again. Then a cold hands grabbed my legs, holding it tight against the ground. Another arms grabbed my wrist, holding it above my head. I looked up, at the faceless visage of a kuyang, who proceeded to… vibrate?

A liquid trickled-down from its neck, then its head started to detach- fuck!

I gritted my teeth, and reinforced my legs with magic until they were far stronger than they should be. Then I heaved, freeing my legs, before kicked the kuyang that held my legs.

It flies deeper in the forest, and I didn’t see its presence anymore. I hope it was actually dead.

Then I transferred the magic to my arms, before grabbed the nearly-headless kuyang’s wrist, make it come closer to my face, then punched its head.

The result was unexpected.

Its head literally explodes, coating everything in the area with cold ashes. The body remained, not vanished. When I released it, it just fell sideway, before collapsed on itself into more ashes.

Curious bit of physiology, that.

I stood as fast as possible, then summoned my hammer - this time, I’ll be ready. I looked at the forest, and the gloom around me, and I wondered where they would strike. Somehow, I didn’t sense them.

Was it normal? Having rather patchy detection sense? I couldn’t say. There were too many things I didn’t know, and it was rather annoying.

The sound of thunder snapped me from my reverie, and I runmaged my senses to check Intan and Bintang. Alright, Intan was close, with Bintang, while Bintang was somewhere far away to the south- wait, that didn’t make sense!

A patch of shadow in front of me rose from the ground, obscured whatever behind it. I stepped backward, narrowed my eyes, and leaned to see whatever behind.

Nope, I didn’t see anything strange.

Then the shadow retreated back to the ground, revealing a grinning Intan on its place.

“Two out of four,” she stated, her eyebrow raised. “I don’t know what your patron planning by giving you such substandard Bequest. Care to explain?”

“Hell if I know!” I replied, with a smile and voice as perky as possible. “But it offered great benefit and living arrangement! I don’t expect one of my senior will leave me stranded while on first-time combat, though!”

She rolled her eyes. “Well, you didn’t die, right?” she replied, before detached her phone from the cannon. Her costume went black, then flowed into the shadow under her, leaving her with blue blouse and a jeans.

She activated the phone, and frowned. “Five thirty,” she stated, her face turned to the east, at the beginning of the dawn. “Let’s go back to Bintang, she’ll want to know what happened after she left!”

***

It was a bleary-eyed Bintang that received us.

“Come in,” Bintang said, with a big yawn. We walked through the empty auditorium, and passed through the kitchen, where Bintang snagged a bottled water. We stopped at the veranda - the dawn’s sun makes a lovely backdrop, and the air was ever-so-slightly warmer.

“So,” Bintang said, leaned at the fence. “Report.”

Intan nodded. “We got all of them,” Intan said, and Bintang released relieved breath. She broke the seal, and start drinking.

“Oh, you’re right by the way,” Intan continued, with a wide grin.

Bintang choked, and coughed. Intan began patted her back, murmured something that’s supposed to be soothing.

“That,” Bintang said, then took a deep breath, “… we really should debrief soon, and…” she sighed. “Karen…?”

I blinked. “Yes?”

She looked at me, her expression serious. “We need to talk,” she said. Then she sighed. “… Well, not now. I’m still busy. Will be,” she turned to Intan. “Met me here at… oh, thirteen? Thirteen should do. Works for you?”

Intan nodded. “Can do!” she replied with a bright smile. She turned to me, still holding her smile. “And you owe me an explanation, Karen!”

Bintang looked at me, her expression dim. Intan giggled, before went back to kitchen.

Whoops.

“… what did you promised to her?” Bintang asked, her tone cold.

I lifted my hands. “She just want to know the detail of my power!” I said. “I figured, well, we’re gonna fight together anyway. So she’ll know, right?”

Bintang massaged her forehead. “Refrain from doing so next time. Okay?”

I blinked. “… that serious?”

“That serious,” Bintang nodded. She fished her phone from her pocket, and began unlocking it. “Now, just… do whatever, but make sure to come back at thirteen o’clock. Okay?”

“Well, I don’t mind…” I said, scratching my head. Bintang’s finger stopped above the screen, her head lifted to look at me. “But, uh. I don’t bring any vehicle? Brought while fainted and all that?”

Bintang stared at me, her face blank. Then she sighed. “You’re right. I’ll see if I can get-”

“Whoa, whoa,” I said, interrupted Bintang. “I don’t think I plan to do something, so if you need help…”

Please accept. Please accept. The alternative was wasting time on Batu as a girl without money, and I really didn’t want that. Not because it’s insecure, but because hahahaha public location nope nope nope.

She raised her eyebrow at my statement, her face thoughtful.

Then she shook her head. “Sure, why not,” she replied. I took a relieved breath. “Alright, let’s introduce you to the rest of the team…”

I froze.

***

So, uh.

Sorry for being so late.

I was elated when I saw the viewcount, and doubly elated when I saw the kudos of the first chapter. Incidentally, Welcome to Windy City is my first work that break 5000 words. In one sitting, I mean.

I think Untitled Magical Girl break 5000 words, too. But it’s Twine game, so it doesn’t count.

Admittedly, it’s rather linear, so maybe it count?

So, I promised myself that, this time, I’ll do it right. I’ll actually plan stuff, instead of just compulsively write.

Anyway, the first draft of Chapter 2 is done… roughly a month ago. Then I sent it to my first readers, and. Uh,

It panned.

So, I rewrite it. The second version, the one you read right now, is much better received! Though, admittedly, I went ahead myself and post it before it can be looked over for the last time, so. Uh.

If it’s bad, please don’t hesitate to tell me.

A good chunk of time was spent to deal with the fight scene, which is harder than I imagine. I think it alone takes 2 weeks to write, and I’m not sure how good it is.

I’ll greatly appreciate if you can tell me your impression of it.

So, yeah! Next chapter: Social combat. … how do I write social combat, anyway? Gaah.

We’ll see.