An actress in our midst!

One last burst of magic and the surrounding ice shattered.

Hecate hovered in place, staring down at her adversaries.

“Is that all you have, magical girls?!” she howled at them.

Just as always. Just as daddy had told her to do. The magical girls weren’t strong enough to seal her away anymore. It had to have been the attunement deterioration in Frost daddy had spoken about.

“Thunderstorm!”

Arrows of light flew at her from all sides, but Hecate nimbly dodged half of them and deflected the rest. A moment later, Pretty Flame was on her, clashing her blade against hers.

“Blossom pop!”

Pellets of magic flew at her from the side, forcing Hecate to put up a barrier to block them, which bought Flame the opening she needed to land a hit.

“Gah!”

She flew through the air, catching herself with her wings before crashing. As soon as she recovered, though, the assault continued.

“Solar flare!”

“Northern glacier!”

A combination attack that barely made any sense. From the Earth physics classes daddy made her attend in the human school, wouldn’t fire and ice just make each other weaker?

They didn’t.

The attack slammed into her blocking sword at full force, nearly knocking it out of her hands, but she managed to hold on. By the time she caught her bearings, Bloom was already standing to her left, her wand opening up to unleash her ultimate move, while Spark to the right waited with her bow drawn, aiming in the direction Hecate would most likely dodge.

They really were a good team, weren’t they? As good as they would get, probably. Maybe daddy would finally move on to the final stage of the master plan in that case. Even if Frost was losing her attunement. It’s just been so long!

Instead of dodging, Hecate pulsed her magic into the sword and slammed it into the ground, releasing a shockwave that knocked Bloom and Spark off balance, making their attacks miss.

“Hmmph! I’ve seen enough for today!” she yelled whilst making the air around her shudder with magic.

The four recovered and stood on guard, eyeing her warily. None of them were attacking anymore though.

“Running away again?!” Spark taunted.

Hecate gave her practiced haughty princess scoff. “I have no time to play with you anymore! I’ll see you next time if you’re still alive!”

With one last small pulse of magic to accentuate her words, she activated the recall spell, illuminating the surroundings with a flash and disappearing from the street. She reappeared in her quarters among her minions who were waiting for her.

“Oh! You’re back, general,” one of them called before lifting up a carton of cranberry juice and a plate of caramels.

“Thanks!” Hecate beamed at him as she took the offered items. The minion beamed back. Ah, this guy always knew what she needed. Mm, nothing better than some sugar after a round of exercise with the girls.

“Any injuries? Your hand looks singed,” another minion asked, already holding a set of enchanted bandages.

“Nah.” Hecate waved her hand. “I totally blocked it. The flame just nicked me. It’s gonna be fine in a moment.” She grinned at him.

“Anything we need to report?” a third minion asked, clipboard and pen at the ready.

“Eeh…” Hecate pushed out her lower lip as she paused. “I think Frost is finally close to losing her attunement.”

“Oh! That’s great!” a different minion exclaimed.

It wasn’t. Hecate didn’t say anything though. The minions were still led to believe that the magical girls were enemies, after all.

“Has daddy come back yet?” she asked.

“No, not yet. Still at the trials,” her favorite minion replied.

“Aww…”

She exchanged a few more words with her minions as always. Describing her attack and subsequent fight with the girls, teasing the blond minion about his crush on the brunette one, chatting about ice cream and cookies and the appropriate amount of sugar needed to function.

Standard stuff.

Hecate was a very relaxed boss. Nothing like Salem. She honestly didn’t know why the other general was so stuck up. Sure, she understood that Salem wanted to save her friend, but she didn’t need to be so depressing!

With the post-battle meeting over, Hecate decided to visit her again. She left her quarters and walked through the castle. As always, the minions from the other division left her a wide berth, some even bowing.

Hecate had long gotten used to Salem’s minions being weird like that, so she resisted rolling her eyes.

She entered daddy’s quarters. Only she and daddy were allowed in, along with anyone they deemed worthy to invite. Which, so far, was only Salem. It was only fair to let her see her friend, after all.

She closed the massive imposing door behind her and strode over to the hidden door in the corner.

Then, she stopped, her head snapping around as she felt something odd.

There was nothing. Nobody. Just a bookcase.

She scrunched up her nose and her eyes narrowed as she sent a pulse of magic around to scan the room.

Her eyebrows furrowed further when her scan returned minor traces of unknown magic behind the bookcase.

“Who’s there?!” she yelled out as she brought forth her sword again.

She walked up to the bookcase, looking for the intruder. There were none. Even the previous signs of the unknown magic were gone.

Had some pest gotten into the castle? Was it them? Maybe. It felt like a real demon, so it sure as heck wasn’t a minion.

After one more scan which returned nothing, Hecate huffed to herself and decided to leave it be for now. She headed for the hidden door again, keeping vigilant of her surroundings.

She tapped the specific spots with her fingers coated in magic in the remembered pattern and the wall soon gave way.

She stepped in and closed the door behind her.

The hidden room was very small. It featured tables littered with notepads, magical stones, and various vials of liquids. Tucked away at the far side of the room was a bed. And inside lay a person.

She looked like a teenager. Her hair fiery red, her sleeping face smooth and spotless. One might have mistaken her for a schoolgirl taking a nap if it wasn’t for the incredibly oppressive magical aura surrounding her. The same aura that had kept her alive, youthful-looking, and unconscious for over a decade and a half now.

Hecate smiled as she kneeled beside the bed.

“Hey, mom! How was your day? Mine was great!”