"Excuse me, miss... can you please help me?"
The voice was small and trembling. I didn't relax. Instead, my fingers tightened around the cold grip of my revolver. I turned slowly, keeping the gun tucked behind my waist, hidden from view. Standing in the middle of the empty, moonlit park was a child.
"What are you doing out here? It's late," I said, my voice dropping into a, innocent tone.
The kid didn't answer. Not really. "I need you..." it droned, taking a jerky step forward.
I need you? I felt a chill that had nothing to do with the night air. "Sorry, what!?" I thought, my eyes narrowing as the 'child' continued to close the distance.
"Stop right there," I commanded. It didn't. It didn't even blink.
"Very well then."
I didn't hesitate. I whipped the revolver forward and pulled the trigger. Bang! The bullet caught it square in the forehead, the force knocking the small body backward. I waited for the spray of blood, but none came.
"Hehehe... you're different..." The thing's voice distorted, warping into something guttural as its form began to ripple and melt like wax.
"Well, shit," I muttered, leaping back to create distance.
"Are you scared yet, Magical Girl?" a voice hissed. A suffocating, oily black aura began to bleed out of the creature's skin.
"Cut the crap," I snapped, drawing my second revolver. "We both know you can die."
I aimed both my of guns, but the shadows around me began to stretch and writhe. From the darkness, a dozen more 'children' stepped out, their faces blank, their eyes hollow. I was surrounded.
"Your chances of winning are zero to none," the monsters spoke in a chilling unison.
I felt a wild, reckless grin pull at my lips. "Never—and I mean never—tell me the odds."
Bang!
The lead monster dropped, its head vaporized.
"We are many," the clones chanted, charging from all sides. "Shoot all you want. We will always come back."
"Great," I laughed, dodging a swipe from a pale, elongated hand. "So you've got clones for me to kill? My own personal landfill."
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The rhythm of the shots was a heartbeat. But for every one I dropped, two more emerged from the trees.
"Hahaha! Your little toys cannot stop us!" the monster shrieked. "Your time has come! No one is coming for you i have won!"
I skidded to a halt, the clicking of my empty cylinders echoing in the silence. "You're the one who should be scared," I whispered.
I didn't reach for more ammo. I reached for more. In a flash of blinding light, the revolvers vanished, replaced by the heavy, rotating barrels of a Minigun.
The monster froze.
"What—?"
BRRRRRRRRRTTTTT!
For twelve seconds, the park was a cacophony of lead and thunder. Muzzle flash illuminated the night like a strobe light. When the barrels finally slowed to a whine, the clones were nothing but scrap and tattered shadows.
In the distance, perched atop a clock tower, two figures watched the carnage.
"Hehehe... she pulled out that Minigun again," one of the Corrupted Magical Girls giggled, swinging her legs.
Her companion, a girl with jagged wings and a permanent scowl, crossed her arms. "I want to kick her ass already."
"Later. Let her waste her mana first."
The scowling girl squinted. "Something's wrong. She feels... different."
"Different how?"
"There's an aura around her. It's not pure Light, but it's not exactly like our Darkness either. It's like... she didn't fall into corruption. It's like she was born into it."
"Mhm... that raises the question: who turned her?"
The first girl smirked, her eyes glowing crimson. "I guess we can ask her after she breaks."
Back in the cratered remains of the park, I was panting. My head was thumping. Not from exhaustion, but from a voice a rhythmic, oily whisper crawling through my brain.
Always on the verge... you can't fight the urge...
"What!?" I barked, looking around wildly.
Kill it... over and over again...
"Is that your doing, monster!?" I screamed at the remaining shadows. The monster stayed quiet, but the voice grew louder, more violent.
"I thought my necklace was supposed to protect me from this!" I hissed, clutching the gem at my throat. It felt cold. Dead.
WE WANT THEM DEAD! the voice roared.
"No, no, no! Get out of my head!" I lost it. I pulled the trigger again, spraying the forest in every direction, screaming at a ghost I couldn't see.
I fired until the gun run out of ammo. I stood there, shaking, until a heavy kick caught me in the temple. I went flying, skidding through the dirt until I hit a tree.
"I should have known..." I groaned, wiping blood from my lip as the two Corrupted Girls landed in front of me. "You were behind the illusions."
"You know, you act just like us," one of them sneered.
I went to reply, but the world suddenly froze. The wind stopped. The dust stayed suspended in the air.
"What!?"
I turned around, and there I was. Or rather, a version of me with glowing red eyes and a smile that had too many teeth.
"Hello, me," the shadow-self said.
"Are you the monster?" I demanded, trying to summon a weapon. Nothing happened.
"The monster? Please. That was just a cheap illusion," she laughed. "I'm the real deal. I'm your 'Insane' part."
"What!?"
"Yes, yes. You can call me... Nux."
"I think 'Insanity' suits you better," I spat.
"Well, I'm still a person, aren't I? Nux is the name I chose." She stepped closer, her presence overwhelming.
"So, this is the part where I take control?"I looked at the two girls waiting to kill me in the frozen world. I looked back at Nux.
"Well... alright. It's not like I have a choice. Just... make sure you kick their asses."
Nux smirked, her eyes flaring with a manic light.
"Don't worry. I am you, after all. I'll do much more than just kick them."
The world snapped back to motion.
"Are you sure you didn't kill her?" the Corrupted Girl asked her friend.
"I didn't! It was a light kick!"
I stood up slowly. My posture was different loose, predatory. My eyes turned red.
"You think killing makes you unique?" I spoke, but the voice was Nux's, dripping with malice. "All that power, yet you're still weak. No need for a flashy facade to beat a psycho freak."
The two girls blinked, taken aback by the sudden shift.
"Have you girls ever seen a light show before?" Nux asked, her hands blurring.
"Light show?"
Nux didn't pull out the Minigun. Instead, a dozen flashbangs materialized in the air around them, their pins already pulled.
"Think fast!"