"Mmm, right there... That's the spot."

  She brushed her waist-length curly bck hair away, shivering and sweating as her panion's hands dug into her shoulder bdes.

  Her oldest friend seemed to kly where to lift and hold, how to press and release, and relieve her aches. It was just what she needed after all the stress and exhaustion of the st couple of weeks.

  She gasped as she sank down into the table, arg her bad enjoying the warm sun and cool breeze through the open window.

  Her chocote skin glistened with sweat, and the cool water droplets trailed down her near-naked body, releasing all the tension and ahat had been building up inside.

  Her teammate tio work, whispering in her ear, "Feelin' alright there, Tessie?"

  "You're a real lifesaver, you know that?" she said, barely able to form words as the tension faded from her body.

  "Hey, you deserve it," her girlish, airy voice chuckled, shifting her weight as she adjusted her grip.

  Heat emanated from her touch, warming the magical girl's bones and joints and easing her mind. "'t leave you all coiled up like a spring out here. I?"

  Tesschuckled, her eyes fshing purple as she looked up at the proje orb h overhead in their private little resting area, where several ses were pying out at once.

  She'd aplished mu her career as a Magical Knight, saving millions of lives in a career that spanned nearly two decades. She was strong, fident, and she'd growo the excitement and challehat came with it.

  But the circumstahat had led her to this point had been nothing short of terrifying.

  As hard as she had trained. As powerful as she'd bee, the horrors that had rained down upon the world a month ago were apocalyptic.

  In a short span of two days, eies had beeied, millions upon millions had died, and every sed had been a struggle to keep herself and the people immediately around her safe.

  No matter how fast, how clever, how powerful she had been, it... just wasn't enough.

  But despite the horrors they had faced, the hardships they had endured, and the losses they had suffered, her team was still here.

  She shuddered as Emberliraced a finger down her spine, smirking slightly as she chuckled. "Hey, isn't it a little... well, much for you to throw actual monsters at the kids? The simutor droids were already hard enough when we were here."

  "Eh, maybe a little," Tess replied with a carefree shrug.

  "I mean, I know you trapped a couple hundred of these things when we dropped in over Refuge Gamma, but... is this really necessary?"

  The proje in front of her dispyed the students scattering throughout the misty pin, separating into groups as they approached the fortifications Eric had prepared for them.

  "Ah, don't worry, Kat," Tess said with a smirk. "I know those little scrappers handle a couple of monsters."

  Kat huffed, moving to a table they'd set in the to heat a gss ister of essential oils with her hands. "So, what is this whole thing about, anyway? I thought we were supposed to run an introductory training exercise or something. But you've ft out created some kind of survival game mixed with a blood sport."

  Tess didn't respond for a moment, her eyes glowing purple as the se in front of her sed, and she caught sight of a pair of students with cat ears and tails trekking through the challenge she'd prepared for them.

  "You've heard about the emergency tracts, yeah? The Guardia nuts almost every worthy eight to sixteen year old in trouble a basitract to save themselves whehio shit."

  Kat tilted her head curiously. "Well, yeah. That's part of why you pitched your name i, isn't it? Didn't you send your, you know..."

  Tess scowled, biting her lip as she tried not to think about the memories that still haunted her.

  She thought back to the awful feeling of helplessness as she watched Osmium Titan's enormous hands ed around her oldest and closest friend's throat as he bought time for help to arrive.

  Mortifera Nox's vitriolic cag, the tears flowing down her face, and the smell of the scorched earth filled her thoughts. Haru's final, reassuring smile was the worst part.

  He had truly believed that he was making the right decision, that his sacrifice would be worth it to save the others. To put his faith into Nightingale Eclipse.

  She hadn't truly been 'Tesseract' back then. She was still Euclidia, a journeyman magical girl who had wanted nothing more than to use her abilities to protect people and make the world a better pce.

  A...

  She shuddered as Kat gently patted her on the shoulder, pg a soothing palm over her as she heated the oils again.

  "I never wahis life for her, Kat. But that's the way it is now. We 't ge the past, and we 't ighe fact that we need more knights if we're going to stand a ce against this threat. Kaleidoscope is one of the most prestigious Magical Knight Academies, and if we want to rebuild, we o train the geion."

  "Still, I uand your apprehension," Kat replied, stepping back as she tapped her thoughtfully. "You always were a bit of a hardass. You wouldn't throw the kiddos in the grinder for no reason, though, would you?"

  "Ah, not quite," Tess smirked. "But getting back to the point. These little woodchippers are being pretty silly, aren't they? The ones who had to get into the academy the traditional repared for years, ahese little darlings e popping out of the woodwork. Now they've developed an us versus them mi."

  Kat shook her head, letting out a sigh. "Yeah, yeah. I get it. We 't have kids who are supposed to work together balkanizing aing each other up, now we?"

  "So, I thought I'd mix them up a bit, put them in the same team, and see how they do. Sparks will definitely fly, but hey, that's life, isn't it?"

  Kat let out a soft chuckle, p a dropper rant vender oil into her hands and rubbing them together.

  Tess turo her side, gng at her teammate.

  It was jarring sometimes to see her youthful, vibrant face, red hair and fiery eyes.

  ical girls like them would always appear to be at their physical prime when transformed. They weren't immortal, nor did they live for hundreds upon hundreds of years, but they age slower than normal people, and it showed.

  Kat had the appearance of a twenty-three to twenty-five year-old woman in a pin bck t-shirt and denim shorts, but her real age was somewhere in her forties.

  Her luscious, long red hair flowed around her shoulders, and she had a sultry, pyful personality that always made Erichthonius flustered. It was easy tet that she, Tesseract, and Strike formed arguably the stro knight team in the world.

  "Well, I guess we'll have to see how they hahings together," Kat giggled. "If you're so willing to put our precious little kittens in a spot, then I won't stop you, you crazy goose."

  "Speaking of kittens," Tess go the side at a red-haired girl with cat ears and gaus leading a charge through the forest. "That half of my se is getting aloer than I expected, actually. I'm impressed."

  Kat snorted, returning to her massage. "Don't get too cozy with this. You'll intervene if somethioo serious, though, right? We wouldn't be proper teachers if we didn't."

  Tess hissed as Emberliraced her thumb down her back, digging into a knot by her spine. "Oh, no. I have no pns to py the part of the savior."

  Emberliopped, leaning in closer. "Wait, you're just gonhem fight it out?"

  Tess shrugged, gng up at her orb. "I have a tingen in pce, Kat."

  Kat grimaced, stepping bad putting her hands on her hips. "You always were too cool for your own good. Let me know if you need me for this too, yeah?"

  Tess yawned, giving her a zy salute. "Yes, ma'am."

  She adjusted her weight, reing bato the table. "I do wonder what Strike came up with for his se. He has a bit of a thing about seeing people self-reflect, that one."

  "Oh boy, he's still chasing that angle, huh?"

  Tess shrugged. "His heart's in the right pce, but maybe a little too into the idea of extreme ownership and atability for their as."

  "I hope for your own rascal's sake, she has enough stubboro withstand whatever surprises he throws at them."

  "Yeah... And who knows. Maybe they even learn a few things from it."

  "Let's hope so," Kat nodded. "Let's just stay sharp and keep a in case things get serious."

  "Yep, yep," Tess smiled, feeling the warmth and release of tension flowing through her body.

  "Now, why don't you join me for a little sauna ter, hm?" Kat griurning toward the ister as she adjusted the temperature.

  Tesseract licked her lips, flexing her fingers as she watched the students battle and strategize through her orb, a smirk f across her lips.

  "My, my," a new voice chuckled, a bright, deep purr eg through the air. "What do we have here?"

  Tesserad Emberlied instantly, their transformations triggering and summoning their battle regalia with a rush of red and purple energy.

  Ihan a sed, Tesseract had gone from zing on a massage table to standing to her full height in a fighting stance, her chest and hands shimmering with silver light as a cluster of miniature singurities orbited her ched fists.

  Emberine glowed brightly, and her fming dress bzed to life around her as she gred in the dire of the noise.

  Someone had gotten past the yers of protes and wards that had been id into the perimeter of her training ground.

  She hadn't detected anything, aher had her trag equipment or the school's security feed.

  Who could have possibly peed her defenses so easily?

  She turned quickly, and her eyes widened as she caught sight of a bck cat sitting by their doorway, its tail curled around itself as it gave her a bemused look. It had golden eyes and wore a golden colr with a rge emerald that pulsed with mana.

  Emberliared at the creature, which glowed with magical power. "What the..."

  Tesseract rexed her posture, dispelling her Art. "Bastet."

  The creature had a glimmer in its eyes, and its mouth twisted into an uling grin.

  "Oh, you remembered me! How sweet," Bastet purred.

  Her form shifted, growing and transf into the lithe figure of a dark-skinned young woman wearing a bck dress, gold bracelets, and a colr identical to the ohe cat had worn.

  She had golden eyes and long, silky, wavy bck hair that flowed behind her like a cloak, with matg cat ears and a bck tail.

  "Of course, I didn't mean to interrupt your css, dies," Bastet said, sitting down in a chair at their side table. "I was just passing through, and I saw yic signatures fring. I figured I'd get a front row seat for this exercise you've set up."

  Emberline and Tesseract exged a gheir minds rag as they took stock of the situation.

  The Guardians had a strion-intervention policy before the Cataclysm. They facilitated the World System and offered magical tracts to individuals and anizations, but they refrained from interfering with the affairs of cultures or nations.

  But the advent of the Cataclysm had forced their hand, and they had mobilized their agents and forces to protect the fragile human civilization and maintain the bance of the world.

  To have a high-ranking Guardian like Bastet arrive unannounced and in her cat form was strao say the least.

  "Oh settle down, you two," Bastet smirked. "I haven't e to cause any trouble or intervene in your little drama."

  "Then why e, Lady Bastet?" Tess asked, keepione respectful.

  Bastet waved her hand, clig her tongue. "Just bored, that's all. I figured it'd be more eaining to watch the show live. Plus..."

  Her eyes nded on a proje orb, and she leaned forward eagerly.

  "Some of my chosen children are participating. They're so cute, aren't they?"

  Tesseract followed her gaze, and she couldn't help but chuckle as explosions e-red filled half of her viewing mirrors.

  Emberline sighed, shaking her head as she looked at Bastet. "Why do I have a terrible feeling about this? What are you plotting?"

  Bastet smiled with a golden glint in her eyes, revealing sharpened es as she purred.

  "Well, you'll just have to wait and see."