Compared to the vigilant girls, Kyubey remained remarkably composed. After all, he possessed no emotions and was therefore incapable of feeling fear.
"You bastard! Not only did you turn us into these ghastly things, but do you actually intend to lay your hands on these three children as well?!"
Under the disbelieving eyes of Sayaka Miki and the others, Kyoko Sakura took a step forward, shielding them.
In their impression, Kyoko was someone who enjoyed making cynical remarks and seemed far too proud and difficult to approach. Consequently, they hadn't expected much from her from the start, placing their trust more in Mami Tomoe. However, Kyoko didn't care about their opinions; she simply did what she felt she had to do.
She had once been as innocent as any other girl, but under the manipulation and negligence of a certain bastard, that innocence had utterly destroyed her life. Her father, who had lived the life of an ascetic, fell into a hysterical fit, killing the rest of her family before committing suicide. She had chosen to close herself off, swearing that the power of "magic" would never be used for anyone but herself.
It wasn't out of selfishness, but because she felt this power called "magic" was a curse—it was destined to hurt everyone close to her.
Even so, Mami had used her gentleness to chisel a crack in Kyoko hardened heart, and a certain rough man had barged into her life regardless, tearing that seemingly indestructible wall to shreds. Though he didn't intentionally try to get close to her, she could feel the gentleness in his heart through his attitude; he helped and protected her... or rather, all of them, from the bottom of his heart without seeking anything in return.
In her, time that had once stood still seemed to have begun moving again.
Facing the furious Kyoko, Kyubey simply tilted his head.
"Kyoko, what you're saying isn't quite right~ While Homura and Sayaka are also excellent, the only person present who can save this world is Madoka. So—Madoka, with me..."
Pshht!
"Ah!"
Before Kyubey could finish, a metal chain-spear whipped out like a venomous snake, binding him tightly. The spearhead, sharp as a serpent's tongue, drove straight through his head.
The splattered blood caused the girls protected behind Kyoko to let out a cry of alarm, but her own expression didn't change in the slightest.
"Tsk! Damned bastard!"
With a violent flick of the chain-spear, she hurled Kyubey corpse away, shaking the blood off the weapon. At that moment, however, another white shadow dropped from mid-air.
"Kyoko, I should remind you that 'waste' is shameful. While creating a body like this doesn't require much energy, I still don't quite like wasting them."
The newly appeared Kyubey maintained its brilliant smile as always, but the sight of it unhesitatingly devouring the "corpse" of its other self made everyone's skin crawl.
Mami expression turned particularly grim.
Sometimes humans are strange; while they feel anger toward many cruel things, what they hear will never have the same impact as what they see with their own eyes. Compared to what Kyubey had already done, this was nothing, yet as Mami frowned and Kyoko prepared to kill him again, Kyubey suddenly looked up.
Watching Walpurgisnacht, which had begun to invert high in the sky, Kyubey voice—devoid of emotion yet terrifyingly cute—echoed once more.
"Once Walpurgisnacht begins to invert, she will completely destroy the civilization of this world. The accumulated resentment of Witches passed down for thousands of years within her will cause the entire world to resonate. In this instant, the 'emotions' exploded by all humans influenced by negative feelings will reach a terrifying value. Personally, I would prefer a 'sustainable flow' of energy. This was originally my final resort prepared to save the entire universe; I didn't expect it to be activated now. But Madoka, as I said, you can stop it. So come! Sign a contract with me and become the most powerful magical girl!"
If Lancer were present, he would likely be very confused. The reason for that confusion would naturally be Kyubey obsession with Madoka Kaname.
In essence, while the girl "Madoka Kaname" possessed excellent potential as a magical girl, it wasn't actually enough to make her "Madoka-kami." The fundamental cause of all this was Homura Akemi!
In the "original story," Homura witnessed Madoka death, and it was at that moment she signed a contract with Kyubey, entering an endless cycle of loops in an attempt to save her.
Her wish itself was fine, but her actions completely scrambled the world lines. The causality of countless timelines began to entangle themselves around the "Madoka" of her current world line, eventually elevating Madoka Kaname into the existence known as "Madoka-kami" or the "Law of Cycles."
Because of the Law of Cycles, "Witches" were completely eradicated; every magical girl destined to fall into despair was saved by her before they could turn. Unfortunately, she saved all the "Witches" but could not save herself.
As an observer, one could only feel profound respect for such selfless spirit, but for Homura Akemi, who was "inside the game," all her efforts amounted to nothing. Falling into total despair, she seized a portion of the Law of Cycles' power and became an existence more terrifying than a Witch—a "Demon."
The Homura Akemi that Lancer first encountered upon arriving in this world was in that state, and he had accepted the commission from the Law of Cycles to come to this point in time.
Lancer had always assumed this was the "original timeline," because only here was Homura still an ordinary girl who hadn't become a magical girl. But if that were the case, Kyubey wouldn't have such a bizarre obsession with Madoka.
Therefore, Lancer deduction had been flawed from the start; he was not in a simple "original timeline"!
Unfortunately, he knew none of this right now, as his full attention was focused on the increasingly grotesque form of Walpurgisnacht.
Lancer had thought that by destroying Walpurgisnacht's body, his mission would be complete, and the next step would be finding a way to deal with Kyubey, the source of all evil. However, as he dropped from the sky holding his dual spears, he realized something was wrong.
He had clearly struck the enemy's vitals—so why hadn't the black clouds bred from negative emotions dispersed?
Suddenly, Lancer eyes widened as he looked at the wreckage in the air and that massive gear—
'Don't tell me... that thing is the true body?!'
Finally realizing the problem, Lancer tried to pursue, but he stumbled. Without a doubt, the previous attack had pushed his body to its limit. The consecutive explosive strikes in a split second had strained his muscles; even with his monstrous physical stats, he needed time to recover.
At that moment, a terrifying black mist accompanied by the turning of the gear began to spread rapidly in all directions...