“So, in a nutshell….” Jenna said taking another long and dramatical sip from her drink, that was one long drink, it had survived many dramatical sips after all, “Evangeline wanted to get you to have super babies with Asher to fulfill the goal of the [World] after bringing you here, and you refused since you wanted to have a lesbian relationship instead and not have babies with the men who you were destined to end up with?”

  “I’ll have you know that Magical Girls can have babies with other Magical Girls too!” Elizabeth said raising her defense, “We are Magical after all!”

  And Elizabeth had already planned who her first daughter would be and what her name would be.

  As for the second…well, she would need to speak seriously with Rena about that, she liked the name of Elena but the girl in question would be Rena’s daughter too, so she needed to help naming it.

  It wasn’t like they had several little girls running around calling Rena as Mother like how Beatrice had done with Rossie after all.

  “....right…Let’s not talk about how that looks, works or even is a thing.” Jenna said sighing, “You can do with your body whatever you want, but this is serious Elizabeth.”

  What? Elizabeth never doubted it was serious; being a Mother was serious business; she would never think otherwise, and being a responsible Mother was more so, so of course, she would do her best about it.

  “I know it is, but we already spoke about it,” Elizabeth said, turning to Rossie, “Rossie will have my daughter; that is a foregone conclusion.”

  Rossie blushed a little and nodded.

  “And I’ll have Rena’s daughter, unless she wants to do it the other way around?” Elizabeth added half a second later.

  Rena merely blushed and hid her face in Rossie’s chest, cute.

  “Not that!” Jenna said suddenly, raising her voice, “You are actively working against [The World]’s designs.”

  Oh, that?

  Elizabeth was sure the purple-haired woman wouldn’t mind it… and if she did, well, she could probably spend a few years pacifying the woman one way or the other; it was that or running away from Zaanam.

  Rossie…didn’t seem like she had many things around to keep her here, and Elizabeth was sure that all that Rena cared about was currently inside this building…

  And Rena didn’t know anyone here besides them.

  “...I know,” Still, Jenna was getting serious for her sake, so Elizabeth nodded, “But it is still something I want to do; I don’t want to let other people say that I must do something because they want it to be done. What good is it something that is [Good for the World] if it doesn’t care about my feelings?”

  And that was important to Elizabeth.

  “What good is it, if it only cares about results? If having my sons or daughters is that important, and if having them will keep them happy, I could always give them some zygotes, and they could groom them however they wanted.” Elizabeth said, crossing her arms atop her chest, “They would be my descendants, no matter whose womb they gestate in.”

  “Elizabeth!” Rossie was the first to react, raising her voice and standing, her eyes shining in pink-light, “No! They don’t deserve it!”

  ….So she was mad because she didn’t think they deserved them? And not because Elizabeth was willing to give away her zygotes?

  “I don’t think it works like that,” Jenna was the second to react, “Even if you gave them your eggs… or zygotes, I think they will only grow according to the degree [The World] wants if they are actually growing inside you.”

  “....I am not birthing the son or daughter of anyone that isn’t Rena or Rossie,” Elizabeth said shaking her head, “I will only birth descendants of people I love and care, and the Student Council ain’t people that live in my heart.”

  “...so if you loved Asher…?” Jenna said as a joke.

  “I don’t,” Elizabeth answered.

  “Eli-Eli would never love him, he is a [MALE],” Rossie added from the side.

  “....” Rena didn’t add anything, but Elizabeth noticed how she was grabbing Rossie harder.

  “The important bit is that I don’t love anyone there, so it is a moot point,” Elizabeth said, shaking her head, “I…wouldn’t mind having yours if you never…”

  “Nope,” Jenna denied it in an instant, “I don’t love you like that, thank you. But I can have my own babies.”

  “I was just saying, if you have the same issues as Rena fears…” Elizabeth said after, “I…appreciate you as a friend Jenna, you don’t impose anything on me. And seem to care, so I’m just saying, if you ever want a child and don’t find a boyfriend, I won’t mind. You are family, too, and I know some people do really want to have children.”

  “You aren’t beating the lesbian allegations,” Jenna said, shaking her head.

  “...At worst I am bisexual,” Elizabeth said sighing, “Not my fault that the all the men around me seem to be twinks or androgynous.”

  “...” Rena sighed at that statement.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “Eli-Eil?!?!?” And Rossie seemed to be surprised, “Ain’t I enough for you?!?!?”

  “Of course you are Rossie, I am both Rossiesexual and Renasexual after all!” Elizabeth said, hugging both girls, even if she mostly hugged Rossie more since she was sitting at her side and Rena was at the far end. When did they move around?

  “I…I…can tolerate it…” Rena finally said, “I…I think I could tolerate a man if you vouched for him…so long he…doesn’t….touch me…”

  Rena seemed like a lost puppy who had been kicked.

  “...I promise Rena, if I ever like someone like that I will make sure that they don’t even look at you,” Elizabeth said teleporting to Rena’s other side, “He will not even smell you, and if they want to get handsy you tell me and I’ll banish him into a solar orbit like Papa did that one time.”

  “....but if you like him?” Rena asked, looking at Elizabeth, all teary-eyed.

  “I may like them, but I will still love you more.” Elizabeth answered kissing Rena on the cheek, “And you came first…well Rossie came first, but you are also important to me.”

  “...And if they ever look at you with perverted eyes I’ll rip out their eyes, then rip out their soul, stick it into the body of a donkey and make them rape their former body.” Rossie said, venom dripping from her voice, “Then and only then will they be allowed to die.”

  ….yikes.

  Fair, but still…yikes. And here Elizabeth was only planning to roast this hypothetical man’s soul in the fires of her Shadow Haven for a couple hundred years before destroying their soul and making sure they never reincarnated in any plane of existence.

  Oh well, who was Elizabeth to judge?

  “That is… horrifying, but anyway.” Jenna said sighing.

  What did Jenna mean? It wasn’t like that, it was the proof of their love for Rena! Look at her, all cuddly and sad! She was innocent!

  She deserved to be pampered and protected!

  “That is love!” Elizabeth said, shaking her head, “You will know it one day, too,”

  “...I don’t want that kind of toxic love!” Jenna retorted, to which…Elizabeth really didn’t have a defense; she was at least aware that their relationship was anything but normal, even by Magical Girls metrics.

  There was way too much codependency going all around; the fact that the most normal of the trees was Rena did not help; at least she had the most normal reaction of them all.

  But that was beside the point.

  “So? What are your plans now?” Jenna decided to ask.

  “We will go to find the last teacher.” Elizabeth said, “We already have you and Lily after all, we are missing one.”

  “....Just…enjoying….the….show….don’t….mind….me….” Lily said from the side, the girl hadn’t spoken much. Which was good, since the girl took way too long to speak when Jenna wasn’t sticking someone from an alternate reality into her.

  Perhaps they could do that again?

  “I can’t stick people willy-nilly into Zaanam,” Jenna said before Elizabeth formulated her idea to the public, “I need to worry about the world’s integrity.”

  Dang it.

  “Well, then what do we need to do now?” Elizabeth asked casually pulling Rena into a hug and letting her rest atop her chest, “I do have something that I could do since we are near [Echidna]’s territory.”

  At that mention, there was a sudden laugh at the back, right…Zoe had remained here. Had she been hearing their talk?

  “We can do that for now, Amelia hasn’t called me to confirm she is ready.” Jenna said, nodding, “Shall we go to her base?”

  “Well, I know the way to one of the bases I guess…” Elizabeth said scratching the back of Rena’s head, the girl was resting atop her lap now.

  Elizabeth decided to ignore the giggling of Rossie when the red-haired girl had sank all the way to Elizabeth’s thights. MAYBE she had forgotten the fact that she was currently using her Shadow Empress shift.

  That is to say, that she was currently wearing the body of Alice, who wasn’t known for her…plot.

  …..rude…fair, but rude…

  "Then shall we go there?" Jenna said standing up.

  "They aren't there anymore." Zoe said from the back. "I wasn't paying attention to the bullshit you spoke before, but this was about Echidna. So I couldn't help myself."

  Zoe said standing up lazily, she seemed to be struggling to even stay awake for some reason.

  "But this I know for sure, if you are really one of our rookies before Advent. Then you probably went to one of our outer recruitment bases, right?" Zoe said looking up and down at Elizabeth, "...Yeah, I think you were in the last batch, probably around the days pre [Advent]?"

  Elizabeth nodded, she was indeed among the last, since she came here a few days before [Advent].

  "Well, those bases are bust. They got abandoned the same day all our [Taint] was removed." Zoe said, doing a small laugh, "They all left, every single one of those ingrates."

  ….Ingrates?

  "We protected them, nurtured their skills….we did many things to keep the [Tainted] safe, and the same day the [Taint] was gone. They all threw away our coat of arms." Zoe said as she spat the words, "But who can blame them if even our boss did the same…[The Mother Of Monsters] threw away their children and embraced the [Shadows] fully. The same ones that had been haunting us for so long…"

  "So…the base?" Elizabeth said, pulling out her phone and punching the address into the search bar, "Is now a…bank?"

  "The bank? Oh, so you went to the bank…yikes…" Zoe said, shaking her head, "That one was the first one to go; Echidna used to stay in that one before, monitoring the purge of the Taint…Hah! The most useless of all the bases."

  "Then the old man?" Elizabeth asked, remembering the face of that old man who had helped her when she was stuck in the memories of her Echo, fearful of Echidna…no, of Eleanore.

  "Hephaestus?" Zoe asked, "Or was it Hermes? Well that old man is gone, he took a job in a new company and started using his Tinker power to actually do what he wanted."

  Well, at least he hadn't suffered more from it; Elizabeth did get the impression that the old man was there only because he wanted to help other people, even if he himself wasn't [Tainted], or if he was, he was dealing with it without needing help from other people.

  "So…if we want to see Echidna?" Elizabeth said, standing up and stepping in front of Zoe.

  "Good luck getting that bitch to answer to you, she cares not for we lowly mortals…" Zoe said yawning, "She only cares for [Framework] and those that attempt to [Taint] his design."

  What?

  "What?" Elizabeth asked.

  "Oh…she is one of…those." Jenna said sighing and nursing her head as if she was even capable of getting a headache.

  "One of what?" Elizabeth asked.

  "One of those that are a little too zealot for the cause," Zoe said shrugging, "People who got affected too much by the [Advent] are in one of multiple types."

  Like Elizabeth?

  "What do you think those types are?" Zoe asked while stretching, was she tired or something?

  "Those that settled up and started living like normal?" Elizabeth asked, that got a laugh out of Zoe.

  "Ah, good joke. I mean, sure, there ought to be a few of those. But no, the great majority aren't in that. Murderer vibes, your turn." Zoe said pointing to Rossie.

  Rude, she was more of the crazy stalker type.

  "Those that wanted to get revenge against the ones who looked down and abused them." Rossie answered, she got a nod from Zoe.

  "Those are definitely one of the types I meant. Now it's your turn, afraid assassin." Zoe then pointed to Rena.

  What was with those nicknames?

  "Those that pretended they were never tainted." Rena said, closing her eyes, "Those that attempted to leave behind their previous lives and start anew…if the chance was granted to them, that is."

  ….Rena? Are you….are you okay?

  "I'm fine Eli…I am fine now." Rena said, grabbing Elizabeth's hand.

  "....cute, you will make me puke. But yeah I guess. The old man is one of those, as is the owner and the maid that works here." Zoe said, shrugging, "Those are the boring ones."

  "I guess, it's my turn," Jenna said taking a step forward, Zoe shrugged and didn't say anything, "Those that embraced their power fully and stood forward, showing the world that they too could be Heroes."

  "Boring," Zoe said, "But yeah, around half of the [Tainted] did that. Some to greater results since they had already been doing that from before the [Advent], like that gothic magical girl, [Lunar Shade] was it?"

  Oh, Elizabeth knew that one!

  "...Those…" Lily started speaking.

  "Yeah I'm gonna stop you there, ain't got time to wait for that. I want to go back to sleep," Only to be stopped by Zoe. Did…did she know who she stopped like that?

  Lily was astonished too.

  "The last type is the cultists." Zoe said ignoring the danger to her life, "Those that embraced this as a chance of revolution, those that became cultists and fully took to the Shadows."

  ….A cult?

  Why a goddamned cult?

  "What do they worship?" Elizabeth asked, she hoped it wasn't [The Stygian Bane], the last thing Elizabeth wanted was for Ethan to return.

  "That's the thing, they don't know." Zoe said, laughing, "It's ridiculous, but all they say when you ask them is that they worship the Shadow Goddess."

  No [Idea] in that word?

  "The what now?" Elizabeth asked, it was…way too close to comfort to her own moniker.

  "That's all they know, you can identify them since they all have the same traits." Zoe said yawning again, "Care to guess what they are?"

  "Red eyes?" Elizabeth said pointing at her own eyes, her shift still had red eyes, at least until she started using her Shadows, then they…"....no. It's Azure eyes, isn't it?"

  "Bing bing bing," Zoe said, mimicking the sound of one of those television contests, "Got it in one; they all channel their shadow mana into their eyes; if they turn Azure, they are true followers; if they turn red, they are heretics, and if they only gain mana light, that is to say, their color doesn't change or gets enhanced. They are normies."

  ….why?

  "So…what color do your eyes turn…Shadow Empress?" Zoe asked as her eyes shone in red color.

  The color of the [Taint]...

  Elizabeth… didn't want to answer that question.