Equinox Spider Lily did not have time to ponder her new appearance. She should have expected this kind of change after hearing the words of Hades, but it truly came as a surprise since she had not listened to half of his explanation.
Following the instructions of the god, she willed her magic wand into existence. What appeared in her hand was not a needle like her sister possessed but four separate spider lilies.
"Huh?" Equinox Spider Lily was bewildered as she looked at the flowers.
'Are these supposed to be weapons?' she wondered. The imps on the roof laughed even harder at the sight of a magical girl pitifully holding the flowers on the palm of her hand.
Since the strange power had to have some connection to the flowers, she began to channel her mana into the spider lilies. The knowledge of how to wield them came to her.
'War'
A wicked smile formed on her face. The spider lilies morphed and elongated until they became four black spears with crimson tips. With just a thought, all of the spears began to levitate in the air. Three of them suddenly launched forward in an all-out attack toward the imp that had dared to hurt her sister.
The imp was a rank higher than the magical girl in front of it, but it was taken aback by the relentless speed of the levitating weapons. The imp moved frantically to dodge the spear tips and once again used the trick to burst into flames and teleport. The moment it manifested in front of Equinox Spider Lily, the spear that was waiting for it flew straight down from above.
The spear drove through the monster from top to bottom and pinned it to the ground. The creature died instantly. As it breathed its last, the flames on Liara began to disappear, and her dress finally repaired itself fully.
Seeing that her sister was safe, Equinox Spider Lily relaxed a little. Her mind briefly forgot that there were still four imps on top of the building. With one of their kin dead, the laughter vanished and was replaced by pure bloodlust for vengeance.
The imps disappeared into flames and began to surround Equinox Spider Lily. She felt the shift in the air and hardened her resolve again. The monsters were poised to deliver a devastating blow with their fists enhanced by the flames.
The monsters jumped her at once, but their attack only met each other. The magical girl had already ascended from the ground and into the sky.
The concentration of magic from the imps exploded into a massive fire pillar. The monsters were pushed back by the force of their own combined attack. As they stumbled, one of them was suddenly impaled by the spear that Equinox Spider Lily had placed there after seeing them flung away.
With three imps remaining, Equinox Spider Lily had to change her tactics. Three of the spears turned into black shields with a red spider lily emblem, while one turned into a chakram.
The shields bashed the head of the imps, blocking their vision while the chakram spun as fast as it could like a saw blade on a motor and flew towards the weakest-looking imp.
The chakram met the reddened skin of the imp and sliced through it with little to no resistance into the other side, splitting the hateful monster in half.
The two other imps became even more enraged at the death of their kin. They lost all restraint and just lunged at the magical girl with all they had.
Knowing that one hit meant death, she wasn't keen on meeting their attack head-on. But she had no choice but to stand there because her sister was right behind her, and to move would be letting them attack the thing she was supposed to protect.
With haste she turned the chakram into a fourth shield and aligned them in a wall in front of her to block the full force of the imps.
An explosion went off, and the impact snapped the wreckage in half. The force of the blow was so great that Equinox Spider Lily was sent flying through the wall and into the other side of the street. While flying through the wreckage, she immediately caught her unconscious sister in her arms and blocked the impact with her body, but she felt nothing hurt on her back.
The imps did not wait to continue their attack. They flew toward the layers of smoke to finish the job, but they were met with a phalanx formation. Behind the shields was Equinox Spider Lily, who was hugging her sister tightly.
Being too fast for their own good, the imps were impaled on the spears. Just before they came in contact with the tips, they managed to move slightly to the left, and the spears went through the right side of their bodies instead of their hearts.
However, it did not contribute much to their survival, as the spears that impaled them morphed into flails. Massive spiky balls replaced the sharp tips, and the sudden change in shape bulged out the stomachs of the imps from the inside.
With a sinister smile from Equinox Spider Lily, the flails began to spin in the air and repeatedly crash the imps onto the road again and again.
The hard ground could not deal damage to the monsters, but the flails could. The imps could only wail in agony until their lives finally flickered out from internal injuries.
A wisp of blue flame appeared beside Equinox Spider Lily.
"Brilliant display. I have high hopes for you in the future, boy," Hades remarked.
"I just do what needs to be done."
"Indeed, however, I advise against revealing your true self to anyone. Not even your family."
"Why is that, Lord Hades?"
"Looks like our time for post-battle discussion is up. You can return to your civilian form when you think about it." The blue wisp of flame vanished as fast as it appeared, leaving more questions than answers.
Equinox Spider Lily followed the instructions once again and immediately found himself back in his male body, which gave Ludwig a huge relief as he didn't want to look like a goth girl all the time. He brought his sister to the nearby convenience store to rest for a bit, planning to find an apartment a while later when he had enough rest.
Lustrous Gosyppium woke up in a cold sweat. She sat up with a gasp and frantically looked around the shadows of the dark room. Her heart beat against her ribs as she searched for the monsters.
The fist-sized spider descended from the ceiling on a silver thread. It hovered right before her eyes, and its eight eyes gleamed in the dark.
"You have woven your first pattern in the tapestry of blood and ash. The threads of the one you call 'brother' remain. To return to your mortal shell, you must envision the person you were before the contract."
With those words, the fist-sized spider disappeared from the magical girl's sight.
Lustrous Gossypium pictured herself before the contract, and the light of transformation enveloped her, turning her back into Liara once again with her old clothes dirtied by the pursuit, and her ankle was still sprained.
"Big bro, where are you?" She screamed from the bed.
"You're finally awake?" The voice of Ludwig came running towards her until it arrived at her door, where he gave the door a knock.
"Get in. I need help with my leg."