After Alex left the medical center Hema called up Blackcard.

“There was a scare but I managed to put up a wall between the two sides of the girl’s soul. For now, she’s still an uninfected magical girl. I've slipped the data collector in her body to study her, so hopefully, we’ll get something useful soon.”

“How long will the barrier between the two sides last?”

“Give or take a year unless something unexpected happens, and that’s still more than enough time to last through the training. But even though I can make sure that the souls won't mix, for now, they can still talk to each other.”

“A minor matter. I've had to change plans about the number of teachers to send though. The number’s been upped from two to four, so send your disciple in as one and tell her to watch over our key. This girl cannot be allowed to die until we’ve found out everything we can.”

“Are you sure we should send her out? If she dies we most likely won’t be able to find something like this again.”

“As the key to ridding us of this curse, she must grow strong. She may be our best chance to at least have a shot at killing the Shadow Emperor once and for all. Besides, we won’t get any good data by caging her up.”

“Understood Mistress. May your will be done.”

…

As Alex walked next to a finely dressed man with blond hair, she couldn't help but marvel at how handsome he was.

Why is someone like him called a meatbag? This man was a 10 out of 10 on my hunk meter; even merely walking by his side made me flush with embarrassment!

A few minutes passed as they moved through the tunnels until, eventually, they stopped by a doorway where the handsome man held open a door and motioned Alex inside, bowing as he did so.

Alex’s face flushes red at the gesture.

Noticing that she wasn’t going in, the man asked “Do you have any commands, Mistress?”

“Come here, meatbag!”

Out of left field, a blur ripped past Alex and pushed the man up against the wall. Stunned, Alex turned to see that a woman had captured the man between her arms and was currently pressing her lips up against his and squeezing his ass.

Alex stared, aghast, at this strange woman in green as she manhandled the pretty boy and gave him a deep kiss with plenty of tongue.

After what seemed like forever, the girl in green finally pulled back off the man only to turn to Alex and give her a wink.

As she turned, Alex could finally see her clearly. This strange woman had long black hair, feminine English features, flickering green eyes, and a sarcastic smile playing on her lips.

Her confident smile reminded Alex of the one Xel had flashed, causing Alex to instantly go on guard. The girl clad in green laughed when she saw Alex’s reaction, and took the pretty boy by the hand and led him to another room nearby. Soon enough the sound of moaning could be heard through the door, making Alex blush.

How shameless! How bold! How indecent!

Alex’s face lit up like a red apple, and she quickly walked into the room that a strange woman had rushed out of, in a hurry to escape those shameful sounds. But as if the girl knew how Alex would react, the moaning grew louder and bled through the walls.

Alex covered her ears to try and block out the sounds as she looked around the room for Sugar. Soon she spotted Sugar’s sexy figure dressed in a new pair of overalls, complete with a white top, laying on a bed and listlessly reading a book.

Alex smiled after seeing that her friend was alright and ran right over to her.

“Sugar! I’m glad you’re alright! I didn’t know what I’d—”

When Alex came close Sugar grabbed her by her shirt collar and pulled her down onto the bed in one quick motion. Alex’s eyes widened, her heart beating like a drum, as Sugar sat atop of her and leaned in close. Her golden hair draped over them, hiding their faces from sight.

Alex started to squirm, feeling a bit like a scared little rabbit, as Sugar hovered inches away from her lips.“Um, Sug—”

“Quiet. You need some punishment.”

“Eh?”

Alex tried to register Sugar’s words as the girl leaned down, moving ever closer before turning away a mere inch from her lips. Instead of the kiss Alex was expecting, Sugar captured Alex’s left earlobe and started to nibble.

A shock shot through Alex’s body and she grabbed the sheets with a short shriek.

“Wait sto— Eek!”

Feeling Alex's body tense up lit a fire within Sugar. She just wanted to tease her friend but that reaction only made her want to go further.

Sugar bit and breathed on Alex’s ear, and soon her trembling form started to moan with flushed cheeks.

Alex tried to squirm away but Sugar’s surprising strength allowed her to hold Alex down with ease.

At this point, Alex’s ear wasn’t enough anymore. Sugar wanted to go even further, so she slowly started to move her hands downwards, aiming to strip off Alex’s top and have her way with her.

Yet just as Sugar was about to slide her hand under the shirt, a yell sounded out behind them. Sugar sat upright with a frown on her face, allowing Alex some room to breathe, and noticed that the rest of the girls were surrounding them.

They must be watching us for amusement, Sugar thought as she sent them an irritated glare.

The girls snickered and started to move away, so Sugar was about to retract her gaze when she noticed a figure standing in the doorway.

‘Staring’ at the crowd inside the room was a woman with a blood-red sash covering her eyes and white hair that contrasted her dark body tone. Her small button nose was wrinkled slightly, and her small ruby red lips were pursed in displeasure. She was wearing a mixed black and white mourning dress.

In one hand she held the hilt of her sword, and the other had a firm grip on a girl clad in green who had been beaten to a pulp. Alex couldn’t even recognize the girl's facial features before the blindfolded girl dropped the beaten girl in a pool of her own blood.

“You may be magical girls but you are still only blanks, yet to even gain a rank. Let this be a warning to you. Don’t touch the gang’s property without the proper authority or you’ll face the consequences. With that warning out of the way... I am Spada, ranked as the Seven of Diamonds, and I will be one of your instructors.

All of you follow me to get the tattoos that will mark you as one of ours. Those that don’t follow me will be beaten like this one… or worse. Now come.”

Spada's words left the group of girls speechless. Obviously, none of them wanted to get beaten up, so all twenty-four girls quickly started moving. The only ones to lag behind were Alex, Sugar, and the passed-out girl clad in green.

Sugar took some time to get off Alex, but they weren't left too far behind and quickly caught up with the crowd.

As they walked past the girl in green Alex pulled over Sugar, who had moved past her, “We should help her.”

Sugar gave her a strange look, “Why? She got her ass beat for overstepping her bounds.”

“Although she seems like a slut it’s best to make friends instead of enemies,” Alex explained.

“Who are you calling a slut?! Bitch!”

The girl in green seemed to have woken up just in time to hear Alex‘s words. She was already quite angry that she’d been beaten up for feeling up that pretty boy, and now this plain girl was dissing her? Unacceptable!

If she had the strength she’d bite this bitch to death!

“See? She’s awake now so she can walk by herself.”

“Can’t you see that her leg is broken? She can’t walk on her own!”

“All the more reason to abandon her! Spada must wish to make an example of her, if we get on her shit list don’t you think we’ll also be made an example of?! Think Alex, think!”

“It’s a test.”

“Eh?”

“Eh?”

Sugar and the girl in green looked at Alex with confusion, wondering what the hell she meant.

Seeing their confused expressions, Alex realized that they didn’t know what she was alluding to. She didn’t know how to explain it either, but Alex just had this feeling that it was some sort of a test to help this girl.

Alex forewent the explanation, knowing that she probably couldn’t get the two girls to understand, and grit her teeth as she grabbed one of the girl's arms and tried to pick her up. She tried her hardest to carry the girl. Maybe she should've spent more time working out as her papa told her to instead of just studying and eating meatloaf...

Seeing that Alex was hard-pressed yet still trying to help the girl, Sugar cursed under her breath.

“Alex, you're crazy. But... I’ll trust your judgment.”

Sugar went to the other side of the green-clad girl and put her arm under the girl’s, and lifted her up with ease.

The girl in green, stunned by the turn of events, couldn’t help but think. Why are these girls helping me? Do they have some kind of goal? Whatever, this will keep me from being punished again.

“Hey, you're just gonna be a limp noodle? Stop dragging your feet or I'll drop you on your face.”

The girl clad in green wiped away her thoughts and began moving her one good leg. Their group of three lagged a bit behind the rest of the girls, but they managed to make reasonable time.

As they walked, Alex suddenly asked a question.

“Hey, what’s your name?”

Smacking her lips, the girl in green bitterly replied, “Loka. Loka Verde. How about you, bitch? What’s your name?”

Sugar's hand twitched into a fist and smashed into Loka’s stomach. Sugar didn’t hold back either, making Loka gasp for breath as bile rose up to her throat and threatened to spill out.

Alex was surprised by Sugar's sudden outburst of anger, as she’d never shown such violent emotion back when they were stuck in the cages.

“If you dare talk to my sister in such a manner again, I’ll break your other leg.”

Loka could only choke on a cough and glare angrily in response.

Alex stared, stunned by Sugar’s attitude“Why did you do that Sugar? This isn’t like you!”

Sugar snorted and kept moving, “Humph. Bitches like her think that the world is their oyster. They need to be taught a lesson or they’ll just become more arrogant. And if they mess with you, Alex, then they’ll be taught a lesson— it’s as simple as that.”

Sugar didn’t say anymore and dragged Loka, who was coughing up a storm, away. Alex didn’t push the subject further and hurried to keep up with Sugar.

After an agonizingly long twenty minutes, the group led by Spada finally reached their destination.

The room Spada led them to smelled of ink and was filled with strange needles that hung from the walls. Hanging above the various needles were countless strange symbols and different types of art.

Alex inwardly felt that this place was quite similar to a tattoo parlor she’d seen in a picture before.

A few beautiful girls covered in tattoos and piercings lazed around inside the room, seemingly bored out of their minds. Sitting in the center of the parlor was the oldest one of the group, who seemed to be preparing needles and setting aside ink that the younger girls had mixed up.

Bright blue and yellow braids hung over the eldest girl’s bronze skin as she leaned over her supplies. She wore a black tank top that exposed her pierced and tattooed sleeved arms, and a faint glimpse of exquisite scenery was revealed due to the angle her body was at. The girl had a small metal ring hanging from her nose, and a tribal marking ran down the left side of her face.

Her bright yellow and blue eyes flashed with an exciting light as she smiled at Spada and gave her a nod before turning to the group of magical girls behind the blindfolded girl. Her smile grew even wider when her gaze reached Alex and Sugar’s figures.

“You two will get an extra tattoo for passing Spada’s test. How did you guess that you needed to save that disrespectful girl?”

The group of girls was shocked at the head tattoo artist’s words. They were supposed to save that slut!? And what were these extra tattoos? Were they important? Why weren't they getting them!

“Tsk. I guess you win the bet, Nadel. I wanted to teach all of them a lesson by breaking a few of their bones for leaving a sister behind... Such a lucky group of blanks. When I joined the gang my master broke all of our bones for leaving someone behind. You should be thanking those girls for saving your hides.”

Hearing Spada's words cause a chill to sweep through the group. They’d seen what Spada had done to Loka, and none of them wanted to end up like that.

They quickly sent looks filled with gratitude towards Alex and Sugar before immediately changing their tune. Their burning envy from missing out on getting a sweet reward filled their souls, transforming their grateful gazes into murderous, hateful gazes.

Alex felt wronged when she noticed their death glares. She saved them from a beating and this was the thanks she got?

What bitches!