Chapter 48: Sera and the Metropolitan Police
Chaos was the only law. The shelter's corridors had become a slaughterhouse.
Mary, seeing her children pinned down, made a decision. She, a "ghost" of MI6, knew she was a high-priority target. She broke from the group, drawing the fire of three Organization magical girls. But as she ran, a terrified civilian woman saw that she was the one being hunted.
"Get her! They're after her! If we give her to them, maybe they'll let us live!" the woman shrieked, lunging at Mary.
Mary dodged, but the brief delay was all it took. The seed of betrayal had been planted. "Hand her over and save ourselves!" a man yelled, and then the mob was upon her. They were a tide of pure, animalistic fear, clawing, biting, and screaming. "Please, just die! We want to live!"
Mary's heart went cold. She had expected to die, but not like this. The Organization contractors who had been chasing her looked on with something akin to disappointment.
"The new world truly has no place for you," one of them said, and with a wave of her hand, a blast of magic vaporized them all—Mary and the civilians who had turned on her.
"MOM!" Sera screamed, her mother's life force vanishing from her senses. A wave of grief-fueled power erupted from her, momentarily blasting back Vodka's squad. But in that same instant, she felt another, fainter presence disappear. Shukichi... her other brother... had been pushed into the path of an attack by another group of fleeing civilians.
Her mother... Shukichi... dead. Because of them. Because of the very people she was trying to protect.
The strength drained from her limbs. What was the point? Why was she fighting? She didn't know anymore. The black corruption on her golden Soul Gem began to spread like a cancer.
"Vodka, fall back!" Gin's cold voice came over the comms. "Chianti, Korn, take her out before she turns!"
Two sniper beams lanced through the chaos, aimed directly at Sera's chest. She saw them coming. She could have dodged. But her body wouldn't move. I'm so tired...
Pfft. Pfft.
The beams struck true. The golden gem, the vessel of her soul, shattered just before it could be fully consumed by despair. Her eyes went blank, and she fell.
"Hold the line! Get the civilians through corridor B!" Inspector Megure roared, his own service pistol firing uselessly at the advancing magical girls. He saw his officers, his friends, being cut down. He saw Inspector Shiratori die while shielding a child. He, a policeman who had dedicated his life to order and justice, was helpless.
The ceiling above him groaned and then collapsed. "RUN!" he screamed, instinctively spreading his arms to shield the people behind him, his last act as a police officer. He was buried under tons of rubble.
"INSPECTOR!" Miwako Sato screamed, her face a mask of grief and rage.
"Sato, get down!" Wataru Takagi tackled her, pulling her behind cover just as another volley of magic blasts tore through their position. He saw what she hadn't—Shiratori, his friend, his colleague, had been impaled by a black energy spear, an expression of shocked disbelief still on his face.
"Dammit... dammit all!" Takagi slammed his fist against the wall, not even feeling the pain of his broken knuckles. He looked at Sato, who was on the verge of a complete breakdown, at the hellscape around them, and a wave of pure, crushing despair washed over him.
Then, he saw it. An Organization magical girl had flanked them and was taking aim at a small group of huddled civilians, among them a little girl clutching a teddy bear.
"A necessary sacrifice," the contractor murmured, her weapon glowing.
"NO!" Sato saw it too and was about to charge out. But the contractor's aim shifted, locking onto her instead.
"SATO-SAN!"
Takagi didn't think. He just moved. He shoved her as hard as he could, pushing her deeper into cover. A searing pain shot through his back. He felt his spine snap. His vision started to blur. Good... he thought, a faint, relieved smile on his face. Sato-san... is safe... I... protected her...
He turned his head, wanting to see her one last time.
And he saw it.
He saw her, staring at him, her face a portrait of horror and grief.
He saw the contractor, her expression unchanged, raise her weapon again.
He saw the black energy beam, faster and more precise than the last.
He saw it pierce Sato's forehead.
He saw the light go out of her eyes.
He saw her fall.
"..."
He tried to scream, but only blood and broken gasps came out. The brief, fleeting moment of relief was gone, replaced by a cold, absolute despair a thousand times worse than death.
It was for nothing.
His sacrifice had bought her mere seconds. He had only succeeded in forcing himself to watch her die.
Why...?
As the darkness finally took him, the last thing Wataru Takagi saw was the empty, lifeless eyes of the woman he loved... and beside her... a small, white creature...