I blinked twice, my brow furrowing as I considered what exactly it was I was feeling. Was it confusion? No. That seemed like not enough somehow. Baffled was more like it. "What?'

"Don't do bad things anymore!" Was all she'd said before... well... leaving me alone in the ruins of what had once been a pretty nice lair. That was hours ago. This whole time, I'd just been standing there, trying to figure out what the hell had just happened.

"That's IT?" I shouted into emptiness, pulling chunks of hair from the sides of my head. Maybe this was the real punishment for my crimes; the total destruction of everything that I'd built and loved and a simple 'don't do bad things anymore'. I'd been mentally prepared for a few different outcomes- imprisonment, maiming, even death- but this? I think this was gonna be the thing to break me.

“Now don’t do bad things anymore!”

And with that, she and her team just… walked out. They’d left an admittedly impressive path of destruction through the lair in the process of getting to me, and boy did they fight me and my minions well. But then… at the end of it all, they just stopped?

It confused me.

I’m a person of technology, of robots, of logic. This… didn’t follow that. So in the aftermath of our fight… I stopped. For now, I told myself. If I followed their instructions, I wouldn’t be attacked. So I used that time to watch, observe, and think. Why would they just… stop?

They knew that I could rebuild. I had plenty of times before. This was just the first time they’d reached me before I was able to escape. If I’d been in any other town, if they’d been any other superhero or team… Well, at best I’d be in prison. At worst, if the hero was villainous enough, I’d simply be dead.

I hadn’t chosen this town because of the magical girls, before you ask. The town was convenient, its rulers and people in power easy to manipulate, and its citizens forgetful. I didn’t realize any superheroes regularly roamed the town at the time, though I supposed I should have considered it somewhat.

After a few weeks of consideration… I still had nothing. Any “logical” or “efficient” superheroes would have put in more drastic measures. Simply leaving me to, essentially, do my own bidding didn’t make any sense.

I hadn’t seen the magical girls in a while, and I didn’t have the faintest idea of how to find them outside of crime, so I resorted to what I saw as the most efficient way to get in contact with them.

Kidnapping.

Not a random person, mind. I just sent out some robots to kind of just… roam around. Smash a few random, easily replaced objects. Then once one of the magical girls appeared, I made sure to kidnap them specifically. I’m not a monster who just randomly kidnaps people.

“Why did you leave me?” The girl, who I really only knew as Aurora, looked up at me curiously as she sat on the floor. She was the one who’d spared me before. I’d waited for a few minutes after she’d arrived at my lair before making my way to the prison, just to not seem too desperate. And yes, she was treated comfortably, relax.

“What do you mean?”

“When you wrecked my lair a few weeks ago.”

“Oh yeah! You were making the… laser-thingy.” I took a second to breathe quietly. It was a little annoying when people didn’t remember the names of my inventions, but I ultimately couldn’t blame them. I made a lot of them.

“...Yes.”

“What was that supposed to do, anyway?” I shrugged.

“That’s besides the point. What I’ve been trying to understand is why you, effectively, gave me a slap on the wrist.”

“...I still don’t get it.” I crouched down, getting more on eye-level with her.

“Why are you being nice to me?”

“Why shouldn’t I?” The answer caused me to metaphorically short circuit for a few seconds as she continued. “Is there a reason I shouldn’t be nice to you?”

“I’m a villain,” I responded, confused. “It’s not like I’m constantly holding back when I send my minions to fight you.”

“Yeah you did! You haven’t done anything these past few weeks!”

“Because I was trying to understand-!” I sighed, standing back up. “It would be so much easier to just… imprison me, wouldn’t it?” Now she looked confused.

“But why would I do that?” She stood up, though she still looked up at me. I have a fair number of cybernetic parts that have the side effect of making me have less human proportions. “It’s not like you’re a bad guy.”

“I’m a villain!”

“But you’re not a bad guy!” I opened my mouth, paused, and frowned.

“...Explain your reasoning.” Surely there was something there I could understand. If you tell me the ends justify the means, I will demand to know what the means are.

“I mean… You’re a bad guy, sure. But you’re not a bad guy. You know?” I was silent, considering. “You’re not nice, but you could easily be! If you wanted to.” Silence filled the air. “Like… we, me and the others, have to fight a lot of stuff. Evil, darkness-creatures of evil darkness, and such. They’re bad because they figure why not? It’s faster and all. But then… you don’t do that.”

“I’ve done bad things before.”

“Hasn’t everyone? It’s not like I’m perfect, or anything. I mean, Flare keeps lighting Ivy’s plants on fire accidentally-” Aurora shook her head. “Err- We mess up a lot too. But there’s people who do way worse, you know? There’s… a really small handful of Dark Magical Girls that we have to keep tabs on. Similar powers as us, but they don’t really care about people or keeping stuff safe or whatever. You’re like us!”

“I… think I’m starting to get the picture you’re painting. But how are we alike?”

“We both have super powers! Ours are magical, while yours are robotic! And yeah, we could hurt a lot of people or… break stuff, but we don’t. You don’t like getting civilians involved with all your schemes. Sure, maybe the aftermath affects them, but you don’t… Oh, I know! From… a month or two back! Your big ice machine!”

The “big ice machine” was… well, that was an accurate descriptor, if I’m being honest. It was mostly inspired because overheating was a massive concern with the sheer amount of production I had to do in order on an average day. I’d been trying to make a supercooling liquid, the prototypes of which had the unfortunate side-effect of causing extreme cold outside of my lair. Turns out snow in July is a little unusual in the northern hemisphere.

I should have tried it further north. Hmm… note to future self.

“Yes, I recall. What about it?”

“I mean, you could have like… blown up a building or something. Distracted us with rescuing civilians to finish it all up. But you didn’t. Like… how to put it?” Aurora tapped a foot on the floor for a few seconds, before snapping her fingers. “You’re bad, yeah. But you could easily be way worse, or way better! So if I’m nice to you… why not be nice back?”

After she left, I, just didn't have it in me to continue fighting. I didn't send my minions after her, not that it would have done much good. My Lieutenant asked for orders and, I just couldn't find what I actually wanted done next. I left my throne room, and went to bed.

The next morning I was greeted by my annoyingly loyal Lieutenant again, "Sir, shall I take a group of our elite mega soldiers to capture those meddling heroes?" And, I looked at him for a moment and replied, "Deathjaw, why are we doing this?"

He looked quite taken aback, it took a moment for him to come up with a reply. "Sir, your great goal of galactic domination of course. We with to aid in conquering these foolish planets and enstating the Murder-Violence Empire. Its for your great dream." I nodded as he spoke and looked at him with a realization, thunked into me by the Hopelight Staff that interloper held. "I'm not sure I want that anymore Lieutanant." And my loyal to a fault Lieutenant Deathjaw realized that we both no longer had a purpose.

This damn girl had just ruined years of work. The whole damn building, in tatters. Everyone had scattered, scared of this bloody little girl. I had a half a mind to shoot them all in their homes for that.

Now she stood over me, by some divine providence she’d been able to knock the gun out of my hand and force me to the ground. She hadn’t killed anyone yet and seemed to just sheepishly rush around the halls like she was playing hop-scotch. But as she winded up her arm with her staff, I thought for a second she might just cave my skull in.

Instead, she playfully bonked me on the head and declared pridefully, “There! Now don’t do bad things anymore!” … What?

How the hell had no one shot this stupid girl dead yet? I just got up, no resistance. She looked at me with a hopeful innocent little smile across her face and beaming eyes. She reminded me of someone, though I couldn’t quite place it.

“You’re just… gonna let me go? Why?” I broached.

“Well, what else would I do? I couldn’t kill you, silly boy. Then I’d be the bad guy! And I can’t send you to prism, what would you do in there? Someone would just take your place, and you’d never be able to make up for what you did. Go, and make up for what you did!”

I was speechless for a moment. She was trying so hard to sound adult, but I couldn’t ignore her accidentally calling it ‘prism’. It was… well it was adorable.

I frowned though, because I remembered who she’d reminded me of. My friend’s daughter, the little girl who didn’t understand what I did for a living. Poor little girl didn’t understand the intricacies of the drug world. And then she’d gone and become a witness to murder and threatened to go to the police. I hadn’t had any choice but to kill her.

The pistol, it was right by my feet. She wouldn’t see it coming, I could kill her so easily. But no, I couldn’t. Not again, not after she’d just told me to be better with all the innocence of a little daughter.

“Do you promise not to do bad things anymore?”

And with all the hope I’d ever seen swelling and overflowing in her gleeful expression, I said with a tear in my eye, “Yes. I do.”

And I just watched her waddle away contentedly. How had she overrun this whole place? Everyone just refused to fight her. Like some bloody spell she’d cast on them. But goddamn, it hurt to think about all the people I’d killed and tortured, for what? For all this accursed money. Too much for me to even spend, why was I still doing this?

I should stop, get out of this business. Make up for my sins, put some good into this world. I had enough money to retire 10 times over, I should spend some of it to make up for all the terrible crap I’ve done. Save some lives for a change.

Well damn, yeah.

I sort of sat there a while stunned. Eventually the others returned, a couple people who hadn’t been there and were ready to mock everyone who’d ran. But everyone seemed to have forgotten already, and were going about business as usual. A few of them came up to me, and started discussing work as normal.

I told them quite frankly that I was out. But they refused to believe me. I’d been in too long, in too deep. And I was too good. My name was engraved in the drug trade, I couldn’t just leave. I had to keep going.

I didn’t want to accept it, I told them I was going to leave as soon as I could, but they talked and talked and coaxed me into staying just until I ‘tied up all the loose ends’.

I decided to do something immediately, i couldn’t just keep going like normal for however long. So I drove straight over to one of my storage lockers where I hid my cash, not realising that my associates had planted a tracker on my car. I took it all and shoved it into the back of my car, then drove into the city, Googling local charities as I did so. But in doing so, I’d just scuffed up.

I was pulled over for reckless driving, and the police officer sussed out that something was wrong. He searched the boot, and found millions of dollars in cash. He of course placed me under arrest and took me to the police station.

There they seized the money and interrogated me. I considered just admitting everything, but no, that little girl was right. I’d just be replaced and I’d never be able to make up for what I’d done.

I had to stay there for a long time, as they put the screws to me to find out where the money had come from. Dozens of hours later, I was finally granted leave to go home and get some sleep. But my colleagues had noticed me arriving at the police station, and had now been watching for hours.

As the police drove me home, they waited until we came upon an empty stretch of road, and then shot the driver and accompanying officer dead. They took me out of the car and started covering up the scene, I saw it was just two young guys who’d been sent to do this.

The one still clutching a pistol came up to me and whispered, “Get out, let’s go!”

I stared back full of woe and dread. “What have you done? They were taking me home! You just killed two damn people!”

He glanced back, ataken, almost looking offended, “What? You’re yelling over two dead cops?”

I just shouted in rage “Of course I am you bloody nonce! You just killed two cops for no damn reason, and you don’t even care? These are people for God’s sake!”

Very well confused now, he explained to me, “What are you on about? You’re Clive Adams, I’ve heard so much about you, the most ruthless drug lord this side of the continent! The calculated relentless puppet master who controls this whole country with an iron fist!”

Oh god, this poor kid. He admired me, as some famous drug lord. I gave up and let him take me. I couldn’t let this go on, I couldn’t let someone replace me and continue to twist these young boys into admiring this trade.

The only way to end this for real was to keep going, and to slowly bring about the permanent end of this cycle of violence and corruption. So I agreed to stay in the business, so that never again a little girl would have to be killed by a drug lord.

Five years later and I’m still deep in it, and nothing has changed.

‘….the fuck?’ ‘You heard me. Don’t do bad things anymore!’ Em exclaimed, not a single hint of sarcasm in her voice. That definitely wasn’t what Ami was expecting. Emri had just kicked their ass, and along with that destroyed the biggest project they’d had since they started. Yeah, sure they’d been a magical girl before, but that was long before Em and her team had gained their powers. Long before Ami had gone ‘bad’, as Mint would’ve said. Why was Em giving them this chance? They’d nearly killed her and her team, killing multiple citizens in the process. After all the taunting, all the nights Em’s team had spent chasing Ami down, fighting only to get bloody and tattered while Ami’s rage and old magic kept them going… Yet she says this? Part of Ami was outraged. Why should Em get what she wants? Why should she reach her goal, but not them? Ami had fought tooth and claw for their goal. Instead of newfound friends, safety, and a peaceful ending, the peaceful ending that Em was so close to.. Ami had just gotten their childhood ruined, and their partner killed right in front of them. Mint didn’t deserve it. No one did. Yes, Mint would never actually approve of this, but Ami was done. They’d done everything in their power, and it hadn’t been close. Their villain had moved, or disappeared, or retired. Either way, their villain was gone. Moved on, and so had Ami in their own way. A year after Mint died, Ami gave in. Set fire to their home, began using their powers working towards a new wish. Instead of giving hope to the world, they destroyed it. They had fucked up the world because the world fucked up them. Yet part of Ami was also curious. They could see the shock in the rest of the teams’ eyes. Clearly, this wasn’t part of the plan, so Em was just going off of instinct, right? Why did this girl trust in them? After all, they’d gone on quite the crime spree after Mint’s death. And yet this self proclaimed Emri Magica had just told them, wholeheartedly, that she knew they could do good again. Maybe they could. In the end, their curiosity won over their rage. “Why?” Ami prompted. ‘Why what?’ Em responded, innocent and open. God, to think they were almost the same age, Em’s team only appearing two years after Ami had stopped protecting the city, dipping their toes into villainy.. “Why have hope in me? After all that I’ve done?” ‘Well. Why do you think?’ “I don’t know. I’m a shit ass magical girl, an even shittier villain. Why do you trust I can do good again, when all you’ve seen of me is my worst at my best?” Silence. Emri’s team shuffled, clearly unsure what to do. Ami just stood there, their now-darkened blade at their side as they waited for an answer. Neither side lunged in the strange calm after the destructive battle that had just occurred. And finally, after what seemed like hours when there had been minutes.. ‘.. you were my hero’ “Excuse me?” ‘You and Mint. I’d watched MagicTube videos of you two as a kid. Yeah, the audio and video were absolute shit, and the videos were old. But I thought it was so cool how you two had fought together. The smoothness of your teamwork, your magic always complimenting hers and vise versa. Hell, I was even you for Halloween for like, three years straight! I remember seeing all the crimes you did… yet I still believed, and still do, that you can still be good. Do good.’ “… mint would’ve been so proud of you, y’know. Even if I weren’t your villain, she’d have cheered you on every step of the way.” Ami’s image flickered as tears appeared in their eyes. Their magic was dying. Their passion was. Maybe that was for the better. They let themselves down from the pull that their magic had on their heart, and for the first time in forever, instead of being Ami Madoka, magical girl.. they were just Amia, the schoolgirl. ‘I’ll try, kid. I’ll try. I can’t promise you anything.. but if it’s for Mint, and for you, I’ll try.”

"-then she said 'There! Now don't do bad things anymore!' and she left. The s-silly little girl. You see, you must help me, doctor, I have nowhere else to turn.

Ok I guess i can f-fully see why you don't think this is a problem. Although it's a secret I would normally k-keep well, you know I'm the BlackChainer because I, for some insane f-foolish reason, feel I have to answer every question fully, honestly and even provide supplementary information if there's a chance of confusion. Because lying is f-fundamental bad. And so is sarcasm, ap-absolutely. And you think that me not doing bad things anymore is a good thing.

Ok. Fine. Encoding all the banks, governments and medical records behind a concensus algorithm protocol and holding the world to ranson was not just a work of g-g- a very naughty little cleverclogs it was also quantifyably harmful. But you are sorely mistaken if you think that's all I do. I worked tirelessly to get myself into a position of trust - as my alter-ego, Barum Manifest, tech billionaire, in case you were wondering, I normally wear plasti-skin over the facial scars, and a prosthetic hand instead of the claw, if I cover the scars with my hand like this and you imagine me wearing glasses, yeah, yeah, you got it. F-fiddlesticks.

Well, as Barum I run factories all across Asia, admittedly the best of them were sweatshops and the rest used slave labour, d-drat. Ok I own Friendpad and YourBox outright - mostly I used them to manipulate the populace, distort the truth and steal from or spy on my customers, b-bugsplat. Health insurance firms - that formed a cartel with my private hospitals, specialised in shoddy plastic surgery, to hike the prices for the uninsured to force everyone to insure or essentially die in poverty. F-fuchsine h-heliotrope! I was running those as legitimate business fronts for my nefarious schemes. I'm worse than I thought.

But the fact remains that, forget the evil g-cleverclogs stuff, I can't run my f-functional business empire while I'm like this, without a major value overhaul and reorganisation, I'd have to change the business model to something like a co-operative, and cut a lot of ties and fire a lot of people who even I find distasteful anyway, but I could totally do it and still make a profit if I tried because I'm a g-very swotty cleverclogs.

Fine... fine. Did I tell how I realised the nature of my ailment? No? Very well then. So that s-silly girl did her bop on the head and no more badness thing and I thought 'Really? And you're just going to walk away? No enforcement? No consquences beyond a smashed lab and a few henchmen turned into off-broadway chorus dancers, Artsy artists and on demand Etsy model-makers. I'll have rebuilt in a week.' I picked myself out of the wreckage of the ChainGun, disguised myself as best I could and walked to the nearest safe house - flat 47a on Madison, key 1337 into the pad and it just lets you in. S-shoot.

At least I tried to, turns out disguising yourself is bad, I spent 15 minutes trying to apply the plasti-skin and fit the f-funny prosthetic hand before I gave up. At the time I put it down to nerves. I got a cloak with a collar from some recess and stepped out in the evening drizzle. The appartment is just across the road from the ChainCave, it should present no problem. Except I got to the deserted thoroughfare and just couldn't cross it. I had to walk 500 yards to the nearest pedestrian Illumination, wait for the f-flashing green man, and then walk 500 yards back.

While i was returning in the cursed deluge I spied a p-, a p-... Really? I can't say p- p-... A cock-of-the-walk remonstrating physically with one of his hens. It's a scene I've seen a hundred times and there's nothing anyone can do - unless you're a billionaire, or even just have some disposable income, and can use it to set them both up with a safe space away from their constraining lives, a re-education and retraining program and some seed money for their new careers. Um. I was compelled to intercede. 'Unhand that woman!' I cried. Yes. They laughed too. That's when I knew there was something amiss beyond any nerves or brain damage.

Thanks to his inebriation, and a boyhood summer spent as grease-monkey aboard an ilicit Solomon Islands pearl diving schooner, I survived the ensuing fisticuffs: my dignity did not.

If you must resort to such crude categorisations as 'super-villian' I consider myself on the cerebral rather than the physical side of the profession. I did have several lethal and non-lethal forms of self-protection upon my person; apparently it's immoral to use a tonic immobility ray in a fistfight, even if your sparring partner outweighs you by a good 30 pounds.

I immobilised him briefly, despite having to abide by strict Marquess of Queensbury rules in a street brawl, and fled to my refuge place. It was there I discovered that my attempts at self-concealment had failed because of this st-silly curse rather than nerves.

There was a car, ready in the garage. Have you ever tried to drive with exact obeyance of the highway code in this city? I was almost run off the road by SUVs twice before I reached the mansion I share with my partner- Bradley Travers the Non-Fungible-Titan. Um. With whom I have a had p- a carnal relationship more years than that st- b- silly little girl has been on the planet. A relationship without the tawdry commonplaces of how the general herd display their w- affection, a relationship which has plumbed the very depths of pleasure and pain -because I Luv! Luv! Luv! my snuggle bear and he still makes my heart go pitter-patter after 20 years and I get sad if I don't see him for so much as a day. Uh. Can we just both forget I ever said that? Please?

Anyway I came home tired and defeated. I wanted physical-and emotional and spiritual- comfort from my partner. He welcomed me wonderfully, asked me if anything was wrong. I tried to kiss him. I couldn't. I tried to hug him. I couldn't. All I could do was pat him manfully on the shoulder. That s- silly girl had done what a dozen sessions of electro-shock 'therapy' administered to my teenage brain by a grinning, sadistic, colleague of yours could not and made me think my own homosexuality was 'bad'.

Except, of course, it wasn't the silly girl- who I think has a semi-serious relationship with a sapient female unicorn. That's not how the spell works, that's not how the spell can work. It's me that's the closet homophobe. It's no wonder considering I was fathered by an ageing, aristocratic, Brindisi gigolo who tried to cure his 13-year-old sons penchant for b-backdoorsmanship by making me throw porcelain dolls at the convent girls and paying the local pr-. Ladies of i- r-. Extra friendly ladies to flagellate me; and my mother, a defrocked skete nun, beat me every Saturday, Sunday too if there was an 'm' or an 'n' in the month, with a wooden shoe stretcher for reasons of hygiene. I realised that if the problem lies within me I merely need to heal myself.

Which is where you come in, I don't seem to think it's bad to see a s-psycho-analyst so long as it's a Jungian with an academic non-practicing role, can't go near a Freudian without screaming childish abuse, and CBT practitioners make me throw rocks, I'm the richest entity since Mansa Musa and you're on an academic stipend surely we can work something out.

Instead of worrying about what I might do if you help me - although obviously if you managed to cured me complete I might kill you to tie up loose ends. Um. You should think about what I might do as I am. I told you enough about my upbringing for you to realise it was unconventional. My dad told me it's bad not to stick up for women no matter the cost. My mum told me it's bad to swear. And they both taught me that even a semblance of a lie is bad. But try to imagine what else an impotent nymphomaniac and a holy laudanum addict had to teach a growning boy. If you asked your secretary in here I could show you how my father taught me it's bad not to salute a pretty lady with an exposed erection everytime she enters the room. My mother told me that the best and right thing to give to the children of the poor was a severe birching to warm their blood. I blanked out most of my childhood but who knows what over horrors await within. I could be worse for being unable to do anything I consider bad. Imagine if she'd done this to an entity like Thomas the TorqueArmada or The Ayatollah K-Maimy? I don't need to be able to commit mass-murder or steal the world's GDP- I just want to be able to hold my Snuggie-wuggems."

I stared at the girl, her hands on her hips as she stared down at me. The fight in me was gone, thoroughly beaten out of me by the barely five foot girl in the frilly outfit that barely protected her modesty, let alone her vital organs from attacks.

"Excuse me?" I asked, incredulity lacing my voice as potently as destruction laced my magic. "Can you... can you repeat that once more?"

The magical girl, whose name I labored to remember as Alice, puffed out her cheeks and stomped her feet as she regarded me. "I said that I don't want you doing bad things anymore! Think of all the people whose feelings you hurt!"

I was sure that I hurt a lot more than people's feelings. I hurt their bones, skins, and souls as I rampaged across the land, bringing darkness and misery to all that I encountered. I had killed many magical girl before this girl, and that wasn't even accounting for all the civilians I had murdered both before and after those magical girls had failed.

And... and yet this young child thought bonking me on the head was a valid enough punishment? I was a psychopath bent on world destruction, but even I thought that such a reaction was lenient. Putting it lightly. Did she think me some sort of errant child? Did she think that a stern talking to and a time out to be sufficient to cow the entity said to be the Herald of All Darkness?

Apparently so, because she raised her staff again, intent on bonking me until I agreed.

"I understand," I lied. Because I was a supervillain, and lying was not outside of my realm of evil. "I will stop doing bad things."

"And you will never do so again."

I stared at the girl. This time my incredulity could not be tamed, and it showed clearly on my face. "Excuse me?"

"Did our last clash blow out your ears or something? I want you to promise me that you won't do any bad things ever again!"

First off, our last clash had enough power behind it to destroy reality twofold. The only reason I survived the backlash of that attack was because I was too much of a coward to dedicate all of my energy to it, and instead redirected some of it into a shield to protect myself. Second off, even if I had lost my hearing, I would have assumed that I had because what in the Nine Realms was she asking of me?

"I... will not... do bad things ever again?" I repeated, unsure if this was really happening or if I was hallucinating vividly. Perhaps that last clash had been enough to give me a concussion or something. I didn't actually have a brain--I was a mass of collective magical energies given a consciousness--but I didn't have a better excuse for this madness.

Alice beamed, her smile bright enough to light every corner of the cosmos. She floated away from me, stardust leaking from her very pores, as she turned around and prepared to fly home. She had grown strong enough to do so, a far cry from when I first started observing her. Back when she was a high school girl of little renown and even less power.

Now, she was a universe destroying powerhouse. Insane what could change in a month.

"Now, I'm going to trust you," she said. Her words confident despite having no real reason to do so. "But if you start acting up again, I'll be coming right back to stop you!"

If I started acting up again, millions of lives would be lost in the blink of an eye. That would likely go against her code, something that only confused me more. She should have evaporated me, and yet she was just flying away?

What was going on?

"Alright," Alice said, apparently satisfied with my words. "Then I'll go off! Hopefully we never see each other again!"

As she turned her back to me, I waited a few moments to make sure that she had well and truly lowered her guard. Then once I was sure she was exposed, I raised my hand. I channeled what little power I had left--just enough to destroy a galaxy--and aimed it at the retreating back of my enemy.

She was a fool for believing in my words. I was an evil entity bent on the destruction of the world. I was a liar, a cheater, and a villain in every sense of the world. What even was evil, anyway? Everything was relative in a universe as big and varied as our own. As my attack finished charged and the magical girl was none the wiser, I smiled at how, after everything, I would finally win. There was no one left to challenge me once Alice was gone. I would finally be able to...

... and then it happened. A large, distinct pain where my heart would be if I were human. It didn't start off as most pains did: stinging and painful and maybe burning if it were of a certain magical variety. Instead, it started off dull, echoing in my core for a few seconds and delaying my attack.

"What... what is that?" I asked myself. It was unusual. Like an invisible barrier that stalled my actions and muddied my thoughts. It was so abstract that I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but after concluding that it wasn't magical in nature I relented. I refocused my sights on the still retreated magical girl and aimed.

... and the pain returned, echoing from my core but much stronger. I found myself not only unable to focus, but unable to bring forth my magical energies. The dark magic bomb I was preparing began to fizzle out, and the last vestiges of my magical strength started to leak away, evaporating uselessly into the cosmos.

"W-what is... going on?" I gasped. My breath, something that I hadn't found the need for until now, was coming out labored. I found it hard to talk, even to think, and it only seemed to grow worse the longer I focused on the magical girl.

Had she managed to inflict me with some kind of magic that even I wouldn't know about? That was unlikely. As powerful as she was, she wasn't as intelligent as me. She was just a little talented with her abilities and far stronger than she needed to be. Kind of like a baby with a nuke. She wouldn't have had the time to do the research necessary to learn how to place a powerful enough magical curse. At least, to place one that I wouldn't be able to detect.

No, there was nothing wrong with me magically. So why couldn't I shoot down this damned girl? She was retreating further and further away, and soon enough she would be out of my range.

"Damn it!" I cursed, my voice loud enough to echo off the asteroids and broken debris of the planet we destroyed. "Just... go!"

I focused all of my energy into my palm again, fashioning it into a spear rather than a bomb. She was too far away for me to toss a dense magical bomb, but a sharp magical spear was more than enough to overcome the distance and kill the girl. I reared it back, preparing myself for the massive effort required to spear that girl, when...

Right. The pain was back, and this time it was overwhelming. I nearly fell to the ground from the pain it had cause, and this time my focus was shattered so completely that the dark spear broke apart immediately, bleeding out into the cosmos and likely unwilling to return to me for quite some time.

I had lost. Utterly and completely. And for some reason I couldn't strike down the hero. Had something gone wrong? Were the magical circuits that made up my being damaged from our last attack?

I didn't know. I couldn't know. And I was all the more confused for it. I laid down, closing my eyes as I thought on my predicament.

All my thoughts kept coming back to whatever reason it may be that I felt so incredibly bad whenever I felt like attacking Alice, and going back on the promise I made to her.

"There! Now don't do bad things anymore!" She said.

"What?" I asked, looking up at her, kneeling after getting tired out from the fight. The teenage girl with long, pink hair, and wearing a white, flowing dress, looked at me.

"Don't do bad things anymore," she repeated, "I mean, it's just a friendly advice, but if I were in your position, I'd follow it."

"Why?" I asked. Her cheerful smile disappeared, and she turned serious.

"Because," she said, and cracked her knuckles, "I'm still standing, and you can't even lift your arms."

"Wha- what's that supposed to mean?" I asked, a mix of confusion and fear rising within me.

"That means I'm letting you go," she answered, "I'll consider this situation over with, but if you try something bad again, I'll come back. Over, and over, and over again. Until you learn." She turned to leave.

"Hey, wait," I said.

"What is it?" She asked and said, "I gotta get home for dinner."

"Why just not finish it?" I asked.

"Multiple reasons, really," she answered, "For one, I believe in redemption. And secondly, it's been two years since a real big bad showed up, and our fight just now was really fun. I actually had to get a little serious. Bye." With that, she flew away faster than I had ever seen her move.

As I sat there, as her magic repaired the damage our clash had caused, I realized several things. I realized that, throughout it all, she was giving it just enough to not go down, while I was trying my hardest to destroy her. I realized that, in a serious fight, she would have destroyed me much sooner. But I also realized that she didn't take pity on me, but rather, that she showed mercy.

And considering all I had done, showing mercy may just be the greatest feat she had displayed that day.

---

Side note: The magical girl in this story is mainly based on Cure Lovely from Happiness Charge Precure.

Throughout the whole season, she does several things that heavily imply she loves fighting evil because the forces of evil aren't protected by the Geneva Convention, allowing her to do things like this.

My head twirled in pain and confusion, i look up at her dizzy foggy eyes looking deep into her gaze trying my best to look intimidating. "W-What? You think a hit in my head can stop me? i am more powerful than you girl, i-i was only using a fraction of my power! " I forced the words from my maw. She looked at me an unmoving smirk, her simple victorious smile infuriating me the longer i see it , "What are you going to do?! I am a god! I can rip your innards out right here as i stand!" i yelled once more, unable to swallow my pride. she laughed, Laughed! in a fit of rage i attempted to use my power to kill her while she gloated, unfortunately she threw my hand aside using her staff. I was reminded i was worthless pinned against a wall surrounded by rubble, ribs felling about to crack. I had no power, but dumb as i am i attempted to attack once more i used my last remaining strength shooting a cone of flame from my mouth, she did not even doge she spun he staff using it as a blockade. was i going to go out like this? I thought a desperate mutt fighting for his pride? I would never die uncool, i am the Dragon her nemesis we fought for years, i would never give in. I attempted to rise to my feet my body in shambles my suit torn my mask lathered with dirt and grime. I went in for a slash and it hit, but i did very little damage. i could not hold myself up i toppled over and fell unable to move my body, and it all went black.

People underestimate the Magical Girl. They either think them soft because of their mercy or weak because they are usually mere children given comsic power...

Neither is correct, at least for any who don't dig deeper.

Mercy is not weakness and any who think so are the most deserving of it, even if they would reject it. Mercy is not the same as forgiveness, it is an opportunity to make up for it. While some are more childish than others is it not a miracle that despite what you have done to them and others they offer you a chance to be better than the being you were before?

The Power is given to children to teach them this; adults tend to be too... what's the word? Cynical. Some can hope, some are still children at heart yes but growing up removes perhaps the most human part of us, the innoccent part; that their is such a thing as good and anyone can try. Some children can be cruel, mind you, but that does not mean they always are nor that they cannot be better.

Is that not what it takes? - Glynda, Goddess of Dreams and hope

I felt my dizziness stop now feeling better and a little less nauseous I realized the hero who attacked me was a young girl not a older hero like usual around 10 or 12? . ‘Ah how I wished it was that easy little girl once you join ,there’s no way out my dear’ I said then suddenly realized I had called the hero ‘dear’ there it was my sweet spot for children taking slight control over me , Mrs. Seattle would have me dead in the pits of Tartarus if she knew about that if u joined the ‘villains array’ u had to care for none and absolutely no sweet spots for anybody ,eh I’d probably be going there anyway after all I’d done I would trow m6sled in there as well

-Well why would u join then ? The hero said. if u knew u couldn’t leave -B-Because I was foolish just like you are being right now . I noticed my temper rising I could kill u right now and I w-

just then I felt a spark of guilt the ‘hero ‘ was likely a half blood ,around here it was no big deal If you were half god or half witch/wizard I’d around 95% of the population was either a witch or a god but something was different about this girl she felt way magical she had to be half witch , half god , I turned my back while fidgeting with my sword that was still on my sword belt

-Get away from here hero before the others find out u were here I said in a nervous voice trying to sounds brave. usually we would have killed you heroes consider yourself lucky I was the one u caught otherwise you wouldn’t be spared

I suppose the Hero had seen my sword whom was larger than most and a solid gold ,with metal as well as poison in the point of the sword

-F-Fine I’ll leave . The hero said I could tell she was trying to sound fierce but all she sounded was like a mouse

I watched as she left for a quick second I remember what it was like to be free go on quest , be a hero she was just like me or how I used to be .. only half gods were admitted into the Villains Array which meant my staff had been locked away and I was only able to keep my sword I was surprised I was admitted judging off the fact I am or ‘was’ according to Mrs Seattle, a witch once a powerful one as well , my Father a full wizard was powerful I was also very wise supposedly it was to be expected I was a daughter of Athena after all I was about to head inside the lair as I was on the roof till I heard a noice that made me stop dead in my tracks , made my blood run cold Mrs Seattle …

-You spared her , u spared a hero u know ur meant to eliminate them Mrs Seattle shouted angrily it wouldn’t be the first time … To the dungeons I’ll deal with u later

-My lady I promise it won’t happen again please. I pleaded

-That was u said the last times she said then turned to her guards what are u waiting for take her to the dungeons come on!

I kicked and but but it was no use I was taken to the dungeons the musty smell , the dead rodents everything was dead and hideous in this place when it seemed like things were going the absolute. worse . I heard footsteps from the stairs leading to the dungeons Mrs Seattle … (reply for part 2 if y’all want one )

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