With her saw-staff in hand, and a promise that no stray shot would hit her, jumping into a crowd of simple monsters was no threat to Rose. The thought surprised her given that she would never have imagined any of this happening but seeing her blade scythe through enemies was a great confidence booster. After landing a hit on the largest monster she quickly worked on thinning out the crowd.

  Striking the big one had been a bit of a risk since she hadn’t fought one before but she needed to stop it from crushing the agent. Thankfully it worked. Like the mimics it was resistant to blunt force and the blood filled ones seemed to hold up a little better to being pierced by bullets. But neither of them could handle being cut. Rose started to worry that if there was a flesh monster that also incorporated the wire people’s resistance to cutting they might be in trouble.

  Until something like that showed up however she had free reign. A few mana bolts sent monsters flying and opened up some room for her deeper in the mob. Grabbing the saw-staff near the base she swung it in a wide circle. Monsters were cut apart or sent sprawling by the impact. With one hand still just above the bottom of the staff she slid the other one up. Using the momentum of her twirl she brought the saw-staff up over her head and slamming back down into a mimic on the floor.

  Another fountain of blood sprayed from that one alongside chunks of stone ripped out of the ground. With each attack the saw blade alternated between perfect mechanical silence and incredible noise as it either sliced with no resistance or its teeth ripped apart whatever it hit.

  As she pulled the saw free Rose saw one of the agents had frozen staring at her. She called out to him but didn’t get a response before she had to focus back on the fight. Even if they must have been trained to handle monster attacks, a magical girl dropping in was probably outside of their expertise. So she couldn’t blame them for being caught a little off guard.

  Between her saw and the agents still shooting most of the mimics were gone by now. At some point the large monster had withdrawn back into the building too leaving only the wire people as an obvious threat. Like before they were refusing to move too far from a light source so they couldn’t cross the dark middle of the road thanks to the fallen streetlamps.

  Letting her saw-staff come to a stop, Rose followed the agents to the street corner they were retreating to. She circled around to get out of the way of the ones picking off the last mimics. As she approached the agents from the side a few looked at her warily. None of them had raised their guns but they were keeping them ready.

  Once Somniphobia flew in behind her most of the agents visibly relaxed. A few straightened up and the one she had called out to before saluted and walked towards them. His uniform and gear were the same as all the others as far as Rose could tell. But he was probably their leader if he was going to speak for them.

  The sound of gunfire had stopped by now and all the agents had made it safely down the street. They were still difficult to see in the dark but Rose counted twelve of them. With everyone out of danger they were checking each other over while the last ones to come around the corner kept watch for any monsters following. Somniphobia landed and took a few bouncing steps before she and Rose stopped in front of the agent.

  “Miss Somniphobia. Thank you for your assistance. Our group was teleported here a few minutes ago. Do you know what’s going on?” the man asked.

  “You are welcome, Agent Angler! Though I can hardly take credit for the actions of Miss Rose. If I may introduce you: this is Rose, a newly awakened magical girl who I am guiding through this anomaly,” she said and gestured to Rose.

  “Hi. Nice to meet you.” Rose tried to give a confident smile. She wasn’t sure exactly how to act towards these people. Somniphobia had called them agents and they definitely had a professional air about them that suggested they should be taking charge. But given how she had just stepped in to save them that didn’t seem right.

  “I do not know why you were brought into the anomaly.” Somniphobia continued. “Nothing like this has happened in similar cases. Anomalies like this, centred on a location, usually require a person to enter before they are subjected to any effects. Of course nothing is certain!”

  “Understood. Thank you Miss Rose.” Agent Angler gave Rose a nod. “Have the keepers decided to do something about this anomaly? I wasn’t informed of any other liaisons being sent.”

  “No, no, not at all. I am still here primarily to observe. Miss Rose is not a member of the alliance. She was one of the people here caught in the anomaly. I noticed her potential when I was about to teleport her out. But you don’t need to worry about that. I will be discussing it with the directors.”

  Rose definitely did feel a need to worry about that. She hadn’t actually thought about what would happen next beyond helping people and getting out of the anomaly. There was no way would agree to go back to her old job. Not when she had magic now. If these directors were in charge of handling anomalies she could understand that they would want to talk to her, but what then?

  Somniphobia had promised to answer her questions about being a magical girl. And they both wanted to know more about Rose’s resistance to anomalies. Besides that there was also the matter of the contract. Really their promises just meant that neither side would try to misuse Rose’s powers. But she had gotten the distinct impression that Somniphobia was hoping for them to work together. For the time being she decided to deal with things as they happened. Maybe it was the still slightly bloody saw she was holding but felt very confident about handling the future.

  “Right, I was just finishing up work when I walked into the archive and saw a bunch of monsters. I took one of the small ones down and then Somniphobia showed up and told me I can do magic. We were just heading away from the archive and dealing with some more monsters when we heard you guys. I’m glad we got here quick enough.”

  “You’ve just gotten magic and you’re able to do all that? That’s, um, impressive. Well I’m sure that’s a matter for the keepers and the directors. For now I’d like to get my team to safety. We’ve lost contact and protocol for a situation like this is to secure a location and stay in place where possible.”

  “Indeed exploring a spatial anomaly is likely to get you irretrievably lost. I had hoped to give you more time to stretch your new abilities, Rose, but that won’t be possible now. I can only protect so many people at once. Please gather your men Agent Angler. I will teleport us outside of the anomaly. Readings indicate that it is past the peak of activity anyway and once empty will likely rapidly close.”

  It was difficult to read Agent Angler’s reaction under his helmet and goggles but he seemed relieved to hear that. Sitting in place and hoping for rescue wouldn’t sit well with Rose either. While she was looking forward to learning more magic she didn’t really need a chance to go monster hunting.

  Killing these ones had been necessary because they were attacking people. If she could stop this anomaly permanently she would go for it but there was no sense in picking off summons that would probably be replaced anyway. Somniphobia’s explanations did make her curious however. As Agent Angler started giving orders to his team, Rose turned to Somniphobia.

  “Hey, how much do you actually understand anomalies? You said they’re impossible to study directly but you seem pretty confident about how this one works,” she asked.

  “Good question! While the how of abnormal magic is not understood, the what is often clearer. Once you identify what an anomaly does you can work around it. They rarely change. There are certain patterns between them but those can not be relied upon. This one is part of a larger, known anomaly however and a phenomenon we have seen variations of so I can speak with some confidence.”

  “A larger anomaly? So there’s something out there that regularly twists buildings like that?”

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “Not often but yes. It is part of what I will discuss with you and the directors later.”

  “Who are the directors by the way? I thought these guys were soldiers but then you called them agents.”

  “These agents are part of DATA. The Department for the Assessment and Tracking of Anomalies. The directors are in charge of running it. It is one of a number of organisations on your world that the Keeper Alliance has been involved in creating. I am sure they will introduce themselves properly later.”

  It didn’t take the agents long to get ready. A few injuries had to be quickly tended and the supplies packed away again. They seemed very worried about leaving things behind and checked twice if all equipment was accounted for. Rose split her attention between studying them and watching the road for any last minute surprises.

  Nothing showed up however and soon they were ready to go. Somniphobia had everyone stand in a loose ring before she started channelling mana. It was faint but like before Rose could tell that something was happening, even if she wasn’t sure what. Unlike her own instinctual magic this seemed very complex. A pale circle of blue light formed around them before slowly filling with rings of intricate symbols.

  As the spell progressed the complexity became more apparent. There was still only a little mana being channelled at a time. Small amounts of power going into each rune. But the strength required to keep the whole thing in place had to be a lot. It made Rose wonder how easily Somniphobia might have defeated the monsters. The bat had to be pretty good in a fight since she had felt safe throwing someone with no experience into a fight.

  There was no indication the spell was finished before it activated. Mana stopped flowing and suddenly the space inside the circle disconnected from its surroundings. Rose could feel the places where the tethers were cut. Connections going from each of them to their surroundings, some stretching into the distance.

  It only lasted for a fraction of a second before they appeared somewhere else and the background hum of interactions made it too hard to spot the details. The teleportation hadn't even lasted long enough for her to see anything. To her eyes they just went from one place to another.

  Now they were standing in a park she recognised. It was on a hill close to the city centre. One of a few bits of greenery between the shops and government buildings. Down the hill and in the distance she could see the city hall. And behind it, the archive.

  Even in the dark the archive now looked normal. None of the ominous looming or feeling like the building was alive and reaching for its surroundings. Between the distant city sounds and rustling of leaves the night felt positively peaceful. Rose hadn’t noticed how silent the inside of the anomaly was thanks to all the noise she had been making. But now the difference stood out.

  Agent Angler wasted no time enjoying the view and started speaking into a radio. It was mostly codes and phrases that went over Rose’s head but she got the gist of it. He was reporting that they were alright and checking if the anomaly had done anything while they were inside.

  Now that she was looking for it Rose could see the cordon he had talked about. At a few roads there were maintenance vehicles blocking the way. Some roadworks had been set up in one spot. Another vehicle with emergency lights had people that looked like they were working on the streetlamps. On one of the footpaths a bin had been knocked over and a few people in high visibility jackets were making a show of cleaning up.

  A lot of disconnected things that only looked deliberate from up on the hill. Rose couldn’t see all the way around but every way leading to the city centre plaza she could see was closed. Keeping people out was certainly sensible but she had expected something like a police cordon. Yellow tape around the whole thing with people standing guard.

  But then again Somniphobia had said this type of anomaly wasn’t new, even if it didn’t happen often. There was even a whole organisation set up to deal with them. And yet the biggest supernatural incidents Rose had ever heard of were people smuggling dangerous animals onto Earth losing control of them.

  “Somniphobia, why is this being kept so quiet? I get not wanting to cause a panic. I’d have been worried to learn that something like this can just happen. But now I’m more worried that this can happen and people caught up in it won’t know what to do.”

  “It is an unfortunate necessity due to the danger of abnormal magic.”

  “Regular magic can do some pretty dangerous stuff. Even if it's harder on Earth it's still doable. And people are trying to make Earth more magical. Do magic realms keep stuff secret like this?”

  “Magic is somewhat self regulating due to the effort and resources required. There are shortcuts to power but they have limits. One person can only do so much damage. An actual spell using abnormal magic, not a spell in the sense that it uses mana but something teachable and repeatable, has no such restrictions.

  “The damage that could be done in the wrong hands is immense. But even worse are those things which are dangerous even in the right hands. There is knowledge that causes harm simply by being known. And entities that are able to act upon those who perceive them. Many lives could be lost if the wrong documents were to be released. And unfortunately telling people not to look is an excellent way to guarantee that someone will.

  “Of course some things are benign. When an anomaly can be sufficiently explained, it is no longer really anomalous is it? Certain things have been released to other agencies for study and then to the public. But generally if you discover something you have to explain how. If we can not then it must stay hidden to stop people looking for dangerous answers.”

  Rose thought about that carefully. Leaving people in the dark didn’t sit well with her. But if she was starting to understand anomalies correctly it made some sense. There was a world of difference between creating the recipe for an explosive and leaving boxes of grenades laying around.

  If an anomaly could be triggered deliberately and all it took was knowing the right things, someone could just pull the pin. Deliberately or by accident.

  “You made me a magical girl pretty readily. I already feel pretty strong and I’m supposed to be able to grow much stronger.”

  “Yes. There is some risk there. I consider myself an excellent judge of character and I believe you will do good with your powers. But even if I am wrong and decide not to stop you, you are still one person. It will be decades before you can present a credible threat to a civilisation. There are things I could teach a passer-by at random which would leave Earth barren in mere days.”

  “Wait threaten a civilisation? As in me alone fighting armies? That’s a lot of growth for a few decades.”

  Somniphobia laughed at her reaction. Which coming from a large blue bat sounded a little like a squeaky toy.

  “You may grow slower. But I intend to help you. It is my responsibility as your contractor. However the exact form that takes is up to you. Once we have introduced you to the directors at DATA and registered you as a mage you can return home. From there I will teach you magic that you can use for whichever career you decide to pursue.

  “Alternatively, I intend to suggest that you join DATA. There is a larger project they are working on which would greatly benefit from your aid. You and several others. Magical girls rarely work alone after all. Speaking of which, do you have any particularly close friends? Very kind hearted ones perhaps?”

  “Um, sure. My best friend is a really nice person. Do you think she could be a magical girl too?”

  “It is possible. Magical girls do tend to gather even before awakening. Even if not I have a few contracted candidates in mind who are currently not occupied.”

  The idea of someone as scatterbrained as Lisette, Rose’s best friend, getting magical girl powers was a little concerning but equally exciting. She had been planning to tell her all about this anyway.

  Joining the anomaly organisation was something else entirely though. The offer of teaching was very tempting. Rose had already decided that she wouldn’t go back to her old job after all. Even without a proper tutor having magic would probably afford her a comfortable life.

  With a good teacher? She would probably have more than comfort. The magic she had seen today put any mage she knew of to shame. Just the teleportation circle, never mind all the sensory stuff that had been going on in the background.

  But her worries about someone being stuck in an anomaly remained. Most wouldn’t get the chance she had. And Somniphobia hadn’t been able to save everyone. No matter what, Rose cared about people. She wasn’t the type to throw herself in front of someone to take a hit but she’d do her best to pull them out of the way.

  Working to handle anomalies could save those people. And while fighting monsters probably wasn’t comfortable it seemed exciting. Her two fights as a magical girl had been fantastic. It would certainly be a shame to put the saw-staff away and not have a reason to pull it out again.

  While Rose was talking with Somniphobia, Agent Angler had been on the radio seemingly arranging transport. Three identical black vans were coming up the hill towards them. They had landed on the grass and the agents were now grouping up next to the road.

  “Somniphobia,” Rose said. “Thank you for offering to teach me. I’d like to get to know you better so I’m looking forward to it. And I think I’d like to learn so I can do something useful with it. Fighting anomalies sounds like an interesting career change.”