The neon-drenched glow of the modern metropolis painted the night sky. Glass towers, standing like a forest of light, reflected the city's vibrant pulse, creating an illusion of eternal day.
A girl with raven hair moved like a shadow across the high rooftops.
Clad in a dark, uniform-like outfit and a cloak as deep as the midnight sky, she sprinted, dashed, and leaped, landing soundlessly on the peak of the next skyscraper.
The damp night wind tugged at her skirt, revealing black stockings and the sleek, powerful thighs of youth in motion.
She was a ghost, weaving through the urban canyons with wind-like grace.
Halting before a massive billboard, she brushed a strand of ink-black hair from her face with a slender finger, her lips curling into a smirk.
"'Black Tooth.' Still hiding? Come out and play!"
The moment her voice cut the air, the silence in a cold, dark corner cracked. A dark rift tore open in reality.
From the spatial seam, a monstrous form erupted.
It was a hill of living shadow, its two blood-red eyes seeping a terrifying killing intent. Its maw was a nightmare of iron-hard fangs, capable of shredding starship hulls.
"A Shadowbeast," the girl whispered, her voice cold. "A monster twisted from souls burdened with pain. Now, taste the suffering you've inflicted on the innocent!"
The gem deeply embedded in her neck flared, releasing infinite magical power.
Simultaneously, the dark violet sigil in the center of her palm glowed with a sudden amethyst light, spreading translucent ripples.
In a flash of blinding light and the sharp ring of metal, the hilt of a katana—etched with intricate carvings—materialized in the air.
Her eyes refracted a lethal light. Seizing the hilt, she drew the blade with a whisper.
The katana hummed, thirsting for enemy blood.
The girl launched herself high into the air, descending upon Black Tooth like a falling star.
The beast fixed its gaze on her, its eyes wide.
Black Tooth roared, opening its fanged maw wide.
The girl didn't hesitate. She swung her blade. A bloody, crescent wave of sword energy shot forth, cleaving through the monster's body with unstoppable force before striking the building behind it.
A violent explosion followed, leaving a gaping hole belching thick smoke.
A curtain of blood and gore sprayed outwards as the roaring beast plummeted from the rooftop.
The ground shattered. Debris flew. Dust plumed. The monster lay on the ground, motionless, as if dead.
"Weaker than I expected…" the raven-haired girl mused, a hint of disappointment in her voice.
She tossed the katana into the air; its blade gleamed and vanished without a trace, as if dissolving into the atmosphere.
She stretched lightly, then leaped down to street level, landing beside the smoldering monster. A glance at the carcass, and she let out a soft sigh.
"Gotta collect the Crystal Shard… If I gather enough, maybe I can become normal again."
To wield the power of the gods, a price must be paid. The Cards were bonds, and only by accumulating "Battle Merit" could she hope to redeem what she had lost.
She drew a strange card from her belt. One side was blank, save for a faint gem-like pattern; the other was marked with a star diagram inscribed with peculiar golden circuits.
"Will this ever end?"
As she aimed the card at the monster, its head spun with unnatural speed! Its maw gaped, swirling with black energy.
Bad move! I let my guard down!
She dodged swiftly, but a searing wave of dark breath erupted from the beast's mouth. It grazed her, melting a nearby wall into molten slag.
Clutching her arm—now a bloody, seared mess revealing glimpses of white bone—she gritted her teeth against the unbearable pain and slowly advanced on the creature.
The monster was finally dead, but its final, time-bomb-like attack had nearly killed her. Her forehead was damp with sweat, her lips trembled, and she gasped for air.
She, a veteran of countless fights, had never thought she'd be so careless.
"That was too close… I can't afford to underestimate even the lower-tier Shadowbeasts anymore. A single misstep could be my last."
Pointing the card at the corpse, she closed her eyes and muttered an incantation. The massive body dissolved into mist, coiling into the card like a wave of darkness.
A tiny, glittering crystal fragment was added to the card.
The moonlight caressed her slender frame. Countless glittering motes of light danced around her, adorning her with the pure, mysterious aura of a princess of the night.
She looked up at the deep twilight sky, her pupils contracting slightly.
"Is that… light above the park? A tree? Why is there such a tall tree there?"
She stood still for a moment, then looked down and pulled a bandage from her pocket, hastily wrapping her wounded arm.
"Tch, it stings..."
As a Magic Girl, she knew her only raison d'être was to fight. A cursed existence— if she failed to wrest salvation and hope from the corpses of these once-dead Shadowbeasts, her own existence would be erased forever.
The Shadowbeasts were incarnations of despair and chaos. She was the bearer of hope.
"Someday… I might fall and become a Shadowbeast myself."
With the card secured, she turned and disappeared into a tunnel between the high-rises, vanishing into the night. Left behind on the ground was a trail of blood, dotted with spots that glowed with a faint, translucent amethyst light.