The Divine-Slaying Wolf

My vision lurched and spun.

It didn't particularly hurt — but it wasn't until I'd tumbled a good long while that I finally managed to make out who was straddling me, hands clamped around my throat.

"Fri... lly?"

"That's right, it's me! Been well?"

That is not how you greet someone when you're crushing them into the dirt.

Frilly's short red hair hung down around her face as she grinned at me from inches away, and the look in her eyes was terrifying.

There's something seriously wrong with your eyes!

"Well, that's as may be."

Could you get off me? You're terrifying.

"But I haven't been well at all!"

The instant Frilly's incantation rang out, light began welling up from the ground all around where I lay.

Oh, hell. Magic!

How is her chanting that fast?!

I threw up my left hand to shove her off — and a ring of blue light snapped shut around my wrist. The ring yanked toward the earth, and the wrist caught inside it slammed flat to the ground and stayed there, immovable. Then my right hand, and both ankles I couldn't even see — all of them glued to the dirt, locked fast.

"There. Now you're worth looking at."

Frilly peered down at me with a nasty little grin, watching me pinned to the ground in a great spread-eagled X, both arms and both legs completely suppressed.

"Frilly, you and I are not exactly on hugging-and-catching-up terms."

"Well, no. But don't you think we've finally earned a little time ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for a nice, civilized conversation?"

Something itchy clung to the corner of my mouth — a strand of my own hair, stuck there from all the rolling.

Frilly's grin widened. She hoisted her one-handed spear high.

CRACK!

The spear punched into the ground right beside my ear the instant I turned my head.

"You crazy bitch!"

Are you actually trying to kill me?!

I strained with everything I had to tear the ring apart, but no strength would go into my left hand at all. Frilly stood over me watching that struggle, and slowly licked one of her own fingers.

"Do you have any idea how betrayed I felt?"

"I was never on your side."

"I thought you were an innocent little maiden. And you're a mom? You fucking bitch. So young and already that shameless — rolling around with a man already!"

Every last one of these people gets angry about the weirdest things.

And she's wildly off the mark, besides. Rolling around with a man. That never happened!

That aside — ah. Kabe. I had completely forgotten about Kabe.

"Kabe — where's Kabe?!"

"Ah, that brat?"

There's only so far you can turn your head when you're pinned on your back. No matter how I craned toward wherever Frilly was looking, I couldn't see Kabe anywhere.

"Mom! Mommyyyy!"

Kabe's wailing finally reached me, calling for me through tears.

"So it is your daughter? You really do look exactly alike. Hey, Econova. Keep a good hold on the brat."

"Don't you touch Kabe!"

"Playing the mother, are we? Ah, the more I think about it the madder I get. If I'd known you were this shameless I'd have jumped you the second I saw you!"

A dull thud, and my breath caught hard in my throat. Pain bloomed through my ribs.

What. Why can I feel that?

"Wondering why it hurts?"

Frilly's mocking voice drifted down as if she'd plucked the thought straight out of my head.

"I'm A-class, you know. A whole different league from a two-bit B-class like Precue. I can punch through Super Armor no problem. Want another look?"

Another thud, and my right wrist screamed as if it had snapped.

"Mom! Mom! Mommy!!!"

"Hey, Econova. Shut the brat up."

A sharp smack, and Kabe's crying pitched up into a shriek.

"Kabe — I said don't touch Kabe! What are you going to do when this all goes out on broadcast?!"

"Ahh, the broadcast."

Frilly crouched down and peered blankly into my face.

"Blocking off a section of the broadcast is nothing. I've already got a full Mind Field laid down. Did you really think I wouldn't consider something you could think of?"

"Mommyyyy!"

"I told you not to touch Kabe. I swear I'll kill you."

"Aigoo, look at this bitch laid out flat still running her mouth. Though, wow, the brat really is loud."

Another smack, and Kabe's crying again.

I was angry.

Furiously, blindingly angry.

At my own stupidity, for staring at a map and still failing to notice Frilly coming. At my own carelessness, for not paying closer attention to Kabe — for never bothering to learn what she even was.

"Don't... touch Kabe...!"

"Dooon't tooouch heeer~ What, am I supposed to be scared?"

The rings.

If I could just rip these rings off, I could do something. I couldn't move because of them. If I could just deal with these—

"Mommyyyy! Get uuup!"

I rammed magic into my left hand. As much as it would take. As messily as it would go.

The ring had contracted from the outside in until it sat locked exactly to the size of my wrist. So if I pushed out from the inside until the ring couldn't take it anymore — maybe it would break.

I had magic to burn anyway. So if I just crammed in everything I had, something had to give.

It was an incredibly sloppy idea.

SHATTER.

It worked.

The ring binding my wrist broke, and the others shattered with it. Freedom rushed back into all four limbs at once.

I surged up off the ground and drove straight at Frilly.

Frilly's hand touched my head.

A sharp, ringing sensation shook through my skull — but my body was faster. I drove into her guard and threw a Rocket Punch with my left—

"I knew you'd do that!"

She'd read it.

Frilly was already a dozen paces away.

So this is the difference experience makes.

Radiance erupted behind Frilly. Six shining spears lifted into the sky, hanging there like judgment.

That's cheating.

Magic circles began to form in both of Frilly's hands.

"Were you a soda commercial?!"

"That's right! They said it's pineapple cider! Have a sip sometime!"

The circles finished drawing themselves. Frilly's hands came together. The two arrays merged, swelling into something far larger—

"The vibe really doesn't match."

"You're one to talk, Frilly."

Not that I had any room to criticize — I was too busy dodging the radiant spears screaming toward me. Fortunately, they didn't fly much faster than Precue's smashing attacks, so evading them wasn't impossible. The problem was how many there were.

I tried to throw up a shield of magic, but there was no way I could shape one big enough to cover spears coming from above, below, left, right, front, and back all at once.

BOOM!

The blast hit, and the world went suddenly, blindingly bright. I was down again, tumbling end over end, agony tearing through every inch of me.

I was so focused on the spears I never saw it coming... that's the problem.

I couldn't even stand under the weight of it. I was half-collapsed when Frilly strolled over, a leisurely smile on her face. She bent down, peered straight into my eyes, and grinned.

"Well? Hurts, doesn't it? That's called an Aura Cannon."

Yeah. It hurts like hell.

"It probably hurts less than I did, though."

I'd love to test that. Mind taking one more hit for me?

None of that made it out of my mouth. I had to put Frilly down to save Kabe. I rolled my eyes toward where Kabe was — and there she was, thrashing in the grip of that magical girl I'd never heard of, Econova or whatever her name was.

"Mom! Mom!"

"Kabe, just hold on a little longer. Mom's going to get you out."

I tried to push myself up toward the approaching Frilly. My knees buckled and I sagged halfway back down.

"Last time I let my guard down. This is what magic really is. You understand? Dealing with someone who can only fight up close is nothing."

Frilly's hand caught my chin and forced my face up. That swaggering look of hers was, frankly, punchable. If I could have, I would have put a Rocket Punch straight through it.

"F-Frilly..."

This time it was the Echo-whatshername magical girl calling for her.

"Econova, are you going to shut that brat up or— ah...?"

Irritation was written all over Frilly's face as she glared in that direction — and then the end of her sentence just... trailed off. I followed her gaze to the same spot, and my own voice died in my throat.

It had come without a sound, and now it stood over us, looking down.

Me, half-collapsed on the ground. Frilly, mid-glare, irritation still frozen on her face. The magical girl who had been holding Kabe, now sprawled on her back. Every pair of eyes pointed the same way.

A colossal wolf, easily twice my height at the least. Fur so white it burned under the moonlight. Eyes a wet, gleaming red. Pale breath curling from its muzzle with every exhale.

"Shi— Shinsallang..."

Frilly's voice was shaking apart.

"Mom. Are you okay?"

"The wolf talks...?"

Well. I'd met a leopard who used to be a cat and that one talked, so there was no real reason a wolf shouldn't. That wasn't the strange part. The strange part was a wolf twice my size calling me Mom.

"Kabe... is that you?"

"Yeah. You okay? Thank goodness. The charge filled up just in time."

Her pronunciation was much clearer, too. Maybe because she wasn't missing any teeth.

"Y-yeah... I'm okay. Mom's okay."

"Yeah. Then... shall I clean up these pathetic things that hurt you? Or would you rather I do something else? I'll do whatever you say, Mom."

Kabe's red eyes rolled, gleaming, and fixed on Frilly. Frilly had gone white as paper, crushed under a terror so complete it left no room for anything else.

"Whew."

I got slowly to my feet and walked toward the wolf who claimed to be Kabe.

"Kabe... right?"

"Yeah."

Kabe's tongue came out and licked my face. The rasp of it was a little alien, but it didn't feel bad.

"Frilly."

Frilly didn't seem to hear me at all. She was staring up at Kabe with a face full of raw fear.

Ah. Right. Unlike the Mains, if these ones died, they stayed dead.

"Frilly."

"W-what."

"Retreat."

I wasn't that big a person. I wanted to give back every blow I'd just taken. But the reason I didn't wasn't some soggy line about wanting to take my revenge with my own two hands. Taking a life just... sat wrong.

And besides. Even if this wolf was Kabe's true form, she still called me Mom. Her mind was still that young. I didn't want to make a child into a killer.

"And you."

I looked back. The magical girl named Ecogreen or whatever had gone white as a sheet and collapsed where she sat... uh. That wet patch was... anyway. She was staring up at Kabe.

"You too. Retreat."

"R-retreating!"

And with that, the girl vanished.

"Frilly. You retreat too."

"I— I can't. I can't do that."

"Why not?"

That surprised me. I'd fully expected her to be first out the door, faster and more uniquely than anyone.

"There are still allies on the field. We have to stop the Shinsallang here."

"You do?"

I flicked a glance across the map. The only ones left on the battlefield now were Frabel, Aquamarine, and Frilly right here. Precue's marker was gone. Dusick's health had gone red, so she'd forced a retreat.

Good job, Dusick.

"Retreat. We'll be retreating too."

I'd been too busy with this mess to keep track, but we'd done well enough. Three magical girls forced off the field, their ringleader Frilly about to follow, and Dusick taking Precue with her — we'd more than saved face.

Frilly hesitated a moment. Then she seemed to make up her mind, and drew a long breath.

"...I retreat."

And with that, Frilly was gone.

"Yes!"

"Understood!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Mom, you okay?"

Kabe was human again, looking up at me with worry. I smiled instead of answering and stroked her hair.

"Mom's okay. I just can't give our Kabe a hug right now."

Everything hurt. The ribs Frilly had kicked. The wrist. My whole body, courtesy of that Aura Cannon.

"That stuff's okay..."

Kabe wilted.

The fact that Kabe's true form was that wolf was known only to me, Frilly, and that Ecogreen magical girl. But it would spread soon enough. Shinsallang, she'd called it. An ominous name, just from the sound of it.

"The gauge fills slowly, I take it."

"Yeah..."

So that was why Kabe hadn't shown her true form until now. Once Count Off was declared, a gauge began to fill, and only when it topped off could she take her real shape. I hadn't seen her actually fight, but the way Frilly had been that terrified, there was clearly something to it. Which would also make her overtuned — so a slow charge speed made a certain amount of sense.

When I asked why she hadn't told me ahead of time, she said she'd wanted to surprise Mom.

It was such a purely childish bit of mischief I couldn't even scold her. All I could do was laugh.

Kind of feels like I pulled a hero unit.

The kind of unit that, raised right, could flip an ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠entire war. But right now she was just my adorable daughter.

I took Kabe's hand and headed for the rally point.

"You all fought well."

Seven Mains had been destroyed. Seven out of twenty-four. But we had achieved results so far beyond anything we'd managed before that there was no comparison. A successful debut by any measure, and a showing I could be satisfied with. Push a little harder and we might even have been able to play for a win.

The Mains seemed to think so too, given the faintly questioning looks they gave me for deciding to retreat here. Not that I could exactly tell them the whole thing was a fixed match.

I looked over the Mains assembled in front of me.

"Think of it as experience. Today's bitter defeat will come back to us as tomorrow's overwhelming victory."

"Yes! Mother!"

Mother or Boss — I wished they'd pick one and stick with it. Being called Mother didn't feel bad, though.

"I commend your efforts. You've all worked hard. Let us make certain of victory in the next battle. Understood?"

"Yes!"

I swept back my battered, bloodied coat and raised my hand.

The declaration that closed the battle and withdrew the field. We had made it first, so it would be judged our loss.

A pillar of white light surged up — and a moment later, an answering pillar of gold rose from the other side, accepting the close.

Battle over.

"Unni!"

I leaned into Dusick as she came running to prop me up.

I was exhausted.

This was harder than I'd thought.