Chapter 41: Mitsuhiko's Witch Transformation!
Hachijo-jima.
The night sky was torn asunder by the light of clashing magic. The once-peaceful island was now a hellscape of corpses and rubble. The reinforcements from the independent magical girls had been nothing more than a brief flicker of hope, quickly and ruthlessly extinguished by the Organization's kill squads.
Gin's cold eyes swept over the battlefield. His forces regrouped, their weapons once again trained on Ran and her cornered friends. Ran's shield was spiderwebbed with cracks. Kogoro was gasping for breath, his movements slow and clumsy. Haibara was pushing herself to the brink, her healing magic a mere trickle. Sera was battered and bruised, but her eyes were still sharp, still defiant.
Is this it? Is this the end?
Mitsuhiko stood a short distance away, his own blue magical light flickering like a dying candle. He looked down at his Soul Gem. The once-clear, sky-blue crystal was now almost entirely consumed by a thick, churning darkness. He was at his limit. A few more spells, perhaps just a few more seconds, and the last of his light would be snuffed out. And then... the irreversible.
He looked at his friends. At Haibara, pale and trembling but still trying to heal them. At Ran, still fighting. At Kogoro, still trying to disrupt the enemy. At Sera, bloodied but unbowed. At the terrified, huddled forms of Ayumi and Genta. At the bodies of the fallen magical girls.
Why did it have to be this way?
"Final sweep," Gin's voice was the tolling of a death knell. "Begin."
The Organization's magical girls raised their weapons, a final, overwhelming volley of destructive energy about to be unleashed.
And in that instant, all the fear, all the confusion, all the despair in Mitsuhiko's eyes burned away, replaced by a single, blazing point of pure, sacrificial resolve.
He threw his hand out, and his almost-black Soul Gem erupted with an impossibly bright, unstable blue light.
"Mitsuhiko?!" Haibara cried out, sensing the shift.
"Take care, everyone..."
He unleashed his final spell. Not an attack. Not a defense. A teleport. A mass teleport, far beyond his limits, encompassing all of his surviving friends.
VMMMM!
An explosive, supernova-like blue light swallowed the heart of the battlefield. When it faded, Conan, Haibara, Ran, Kogoro, Sera, Dr. Agasa, and the few remaining independent magical girls were gone.
Only Mitsuhiko was left, standing alone in the ruins.
He looked at his now-black Soul Gem. There was no fear in his eyes, only a quiet, almost peaceful, sense of release. I got them out. That's enough.
Suddenly, a desperate, tearful cry echoed in his fading consciousness, as if crossing an impossible distance.
"MITSUHIKO, NO!"
It was Haibara's voice, coming through the magically-modified communicator.
"COME BACK! PLEASE, COME BACK!"
She knew. She knew what he had done. The sound of her voice seemed to give him one last ounce of strength. He slowly, painfully, looked in the direction of Tokyo, though he could see nothing but the surrounding devastation. A gentle, heartbreakingly sad smile touched his lips.
I'm sorry, Haibara. I'm sorry, everyone. Live.
With that silent farewell, the last spark of light in his Soul Gem was extinguished. He thought of the bodies of the fallen magical girls. He thought of the carnage. If I had just been a little quicker, if I had just grabbed her hand that day... would any of this have happened?
There were no more what-ifs. His consciousness dissolved.
CRACK...
The sound was a thunderclap in the soul. The once-blue gem, now pure black, shattered.
BOOOOM!
A storm of violent, black lightning erupted from the shattered gem, tearing the air, twisting the light. The broken Soul Gem collapsed in on itself, reforming into a pulsating, grotesque Grief Seed. The energy it contained was immense, terrifying. The sky itself seemed to crack open as black lightning rained down. The space around the Grief Seed warped and buckled.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The Grief Seed exploded, and in its place, a massive, bizarre, and complex Witch's Labyrinth bloomed, expanding at an impossible rate, swallowing the entire battlefield and the stunned members of the Black Organization.
"That little bastard... he played us," Gin snarled, his face a mask of cold fury as the world twisted around him.
Deep within the Labyrinth, an unnamable, monstrous presence, the Witch that had once been Mitsuhiko, let out a silent, soul-shattering roar.
Kyubey watched it all, impassive.
[Witch transformation of primary supporting character Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya complete. Energy Harvested: 5000 units.]
Ten times the energy of the initial contract. Kyubey flicked its tail. It had not cut the livestream to the Non-Human Chat Group. It had, in fact, deliberately focused the feed on the Organization's brutality, on the suffering of Ran and her friends, and on Mitsuhiko's tragic transformation. This was not an oversight. This was an experiment. The Incubators were fascinated by "Tom Cat" and "SpongeBob SquarePants." Their reality-warping, "cartoon physics" abilities were of immense scientific interest. By using Ran and the others as "emotional anchors," Kyubey hoped to provoke a strong response, to observe how these strange beings might react, how they might even attempt to cross the dimensional barrier.
And, as predicted, the chat group exploded.
[Non-Human Chat Group]
SpongeBob SquarePants: NOOOOO! MITSUHIKO! Those meanies in the black clothes! How could they?! The good guys aren't supposed to die!
SpongeBob SquarePants: KYUBEY! YOU LIAR! THIS IS YOUR FAULT, TOO! (A long stream of angry emojis)
SpongeBob SquarePants: sob... I'm going to ask Mr. Krabs for the day off! I have to go find Mitsuhiko! He can still be saved! He has to be!
Tom Cat: [Tom_Smashing_everything_in_a_Rage.jpeg]
Tom Cat: [Tom_suddenly_in_a_Lab_Coat_surrounded_by_Beakers_and_Blueprints.jpeg]
And then, they both went silent, as if they were actually preparing to come over.