Mystical Chain Magica: Magi of the forgotten era

Foreword: This reboot is long overdue. I'm sorry for leaving my original work dormant for years like that. But the truth is, I've made a blunder, massive plot holes that's impossible to fix without tearing it down and rework from the beginning. And I had no motivation nor inspriation to write it for a very long time, until now. This time, I'll try to finish what I started. Hopefully. But my Real Life may interfere, so the updates may take a long while to comes.

I hope you all understand, and again, sorry for hanging up the original Puella Magi Mystical Chain Magica like that.

Disclaimer: Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Touhou Project belongs to their respective owners, I own nothing here except plot.

Chapter 1: Beginning

"Sometimes, a small, insignificant event in the past could affect the outcome of something completely unrelated in the future…"

In the central Japan, Nagano prefecture, there lies a small lake surrounded by cities and then the mountain ranges which yet to be claimed by human's greed nor corrupted by industrialization. It was in one of these mountain, deep in the forested area, stood an ancient shrine, devoted to the gods people no longer believed, looked after by local historians and handful of workers, where one middle-aged man brings his preadolescent daughter to visit on their hard-earned vacation.

At this point in time, the father isn't that noteworthy for the locals; he looked just like any random tourists of the same age and gender. But his daughter was another story, thanks to her natural dirty blonde hair which pegged her as foreigner despite her origin – something her father has to correct passerby once in a while.

The two's walked up the stairs. But instead of stopping and visiting the main shrine, the father turned to the right and walked up the old dirt trail nearby with his daughter in tow.

They didn't have to went far away from the main shrine however, for their destination showed itself just a minute of walk at most.

At the end of the trail stood a rundown shrine on a small hill surrounded by pink cherry blossom trees. Relatively fresh footprints on the ground indicated that the shrine's caretakers did come here to take care of this place occasionally, so it wasn't that suspicious for someone to climb up here.

The man didn't hesitate, he walked toward the shrine, and produced an offering from his pouch, placed it on the offering box which looks quite new compared to its surrounding, and then praying in silence.

His daughter watched for a while before she got bored and wandered around the clearing, looking at plants and various insects flying by, or some frogs scurried away from grass when approached, slowly drifting away from the clearing without her father knowing.

Thankfully, before she could get too far away and lost, she was greeted by another youthful voice of a girl at her apparent age, making her turn around in place searching for the owner of that voice. What confused her greatly is that she felt that its origin is just right by her ears.

"-A young girl like you shouldn't wander out alone in the forest. -"

"Where are you?" the girl demanded, constantly looking around "Stop hiding."

"-That is something we cannot do, child. -" the mysterious voice replied with a tinge of sadness "-Ouranchors to this land are tenuous, but know that we watch over the faithful, like your father. -"

The girl's eyes widen, and whispered to the woodland before her "Are you… guardian angel?"

A soft laugh entered her ears and the mysterious voice replies with mirth in her voice "-More like one of the many gods of this land, child… -" a soft chuckled was heard as the girl's eyes widen "-do not fret, child, it's been so long since people of this land lost the ability to hear us. So, we're quite bored you see… -"

A child, slightly afraid of the mysterious voice claimed to be 'god' nodded instinctively before the voice resume "-Your father prayed to us, you see… and since he offered us faith, we offered him our blessing, including to you, child. -"

"Father… prayed for me?" the child whispered softly, her face bear surprise for all to see.

"-Indeed… -" replied the voice, before she quickly adds "-However, our blessing does not mean you can lie around and wait for fortune, one must go out and grab it with one own's hands. We do not bless the sloth. -"

The girl glanced at her father, who seem to be in trance for a moment before the voice stole her attention back again "-Your father is fine. He's a diligent man, however… -" the voice paused "-his future is clouded. -"

That got the girl's attention, she whirled around in place, green eyes narrowed as if the mysterious voice offended her, however as the girl prepare to retort, the 'gods' spoke again "-Everyone's future is clouded, little one. Not even gods could predict what may befell them, what choice will they make. Even if we are to whisper in their dreams, ultimately, it'd be their own decisions, not our divine intervention that propel their destiny. -"

The girl's head begun to spin, but fortunately, her father voice called out to her from the old shrine snapped her out of trance. She decided to bid this 'gods' last farewell with a whisper "I don't know if my voice will reach you, but thank you for protecting my father for so long, I believe in you."

But as she quickens her pace to reunite with her father, the voice also gives the girl their parting words "-Child who can hear our voice, so long your deed just, our blessing is yours. When your fate seems dire with no way out, seek solitude and rethink once more. We always watching… -"

The daughter soon returned to the worried father at the shrine. The adult held her in his embrace for a moment, scolding her for running off when he's praying, before the two of them walk down to the main shrine. The thought of telling her father about mysterious voice and cryptic conversation quickly eluded her.

Green eyes snapped opened as a teenage girl with waist-length dirty blonde hair with shade of grey shot up from the floor. The girl's breathing was ragged, her eyes darted around her personal room, as if trying discerns if something is out of place. When she supposedly found nothing out of ordinary, the girl breathed out a sigh of relief before sitting up and begin pondering about her dream once she recollected what had happened earlier that night.

'How long since that day…' the girl thought, her eyes lingering on the curtained window next to her bed which no light shine through, coincide with the time displayed on digital clock on a shelf next to her bed 'is this dream a warning?'

The girl's hand moved toward and clutch a small white gem hanging from her neck; which is now symbol of new power which came at a price, a symbol of what had become of her…

…And symbol of mistake, made in desperation when her world came crashing down a week earlier.

She locked herself up in here, in her home, with no one to see her, with no one to care for her, daughter of a man so vile that entire nation hates him. It wouldn't be surprise if she'd die and rot away without anyone knowing.

Until just last night when she's ready to give up all hope, that 'white creature' showed up and gave her hope – a false hope filled with lies, that she would've never realize until it's too late had she wasn't lucky to get this one specific power out of the specific wish she made.

That creature did not give her power out of goodwill, it cursed her to turn into a monster in the moment she learned of the truth had her mind not protected itself by shutting down, hence why she's sleeping on the floor and not on her bed.

Though it couldn't be called a good sleep, at least it gets her to calm down and be rational once again, or to be more precise, that reminiscing dream did.

Looking around, the girl found no trace of that creature 'Kyubey' anywhere in her room. She got up, dusted her plain, dirty white dress which she never bothered to change during the depression in the past week, and went through her manor to confirm that the creature is no longer in her home.

As she searched through her manor, room after room, they brought back memories after memories, reminding her of the happier time, when her family still whole; father, mother, and her.

From the kitchen where she watched her mother cooked, to the couch in the living room where her father told her of tales and taught her of – ironically given the recent revelation – how one should work for the betterment of a country. It brought tear to her eyes just by walking through, knowing that it all forever gone, never to be the same again.

Once she was certain that the demon in fluffy cat form has truly gone, she returns to the living room and sit on her favorite couch, contemplating what to do from now on.

The girl will never consider suicide, not after what her father did. If she decided to venture into the afterlife right now, it'll only prove to the world that she's no better than her father. She'll not try to clear his name, that much is certain after all the evidences and her family's sudden increase of fortune in recent years – which she could only blame herself for not suspecting it earlier. But her pride demanded that she make those who scorned her for simply having a blood of that man in her veins eat their words by proving them wrong – through action.

Even if they'll not grateful of her, even if they must not know who saved them from the apocalypse that will soon befell this world, for it'll only perpetuate that disgusting creature's agenda – whatever they are – to continue until humanity was no more.

Speaking of coming apocalypse; the girl's frown deepened as she cut her 'ability' short when remembered the words from 'gods' that spoke to her as a child. Shaking her head, she reminds herself yet again that she must think things more thoroughly, and that future is not set in stone.

Killing the harbinger of world-ending apocalypse before its awakening is not an option; and it's not practical when Kyubey will simply find another replacement among six billion humans anyway, never mind the 'guardian' of said harbinger who will impede anyone daring to bring harm to the harbinger at every turn. The only saving grace, is that said 'guardian' will oppose Kyubey as fiercely as would to any other threats, so the harbinger won't wake up anytime soon.

…She need a more permanent solution to this problem, yet she keeps drawing up blank...

Sighing, the girl walked to a small kitchen and cooked herself a crude meal just to put her mind off the matter for another hour.

Once she filled her stomach, the girl sits down and sip a cup of tea, brewed from what's left in the fridge on the couch in the living room, while making a mental note to go out and buy some grocery later. She has to eat, even after turning into... this cursed body by that Kyubey…

Her favorite tea couldn't null all the downcast mood that filled her mind, only lessen it. But even then, it's better than nothing.

'Perhaps changes of scenery is in order after all.' The girl pondered, already drawing up plan in mind 'At least I'm going away from the scornful looks of those in metropolis. A countryside should be more peaceful, if nothing else.'

Her mind is set, and the girl quickly went around the empty manor, obtaining necessary items, from money she saved since the day of primary school, to the small baggage and clothing set that wouldn't stand out among the crowds and begin packing it.

Once the daylight dawned on the horizon, the girl, now clothed in plain simple traveling dress with wide brimmed hat casting shade over her face to prevent her from being recognized, slowly pulling her small baggage along the sidewalk toward the nearest train station. Her destination – Suwa Lake, Nagano prefecture.

Even if she may not hear the mysterious voice whispering wisdom into her ears again, their words of advice from the past still rang true, there should be no 'Witches' or 'Puella Magi' and by extension, Kyubey, in a place relatively far away from civilization, allowing her some peace time, maybe, just maybe, it'll be what she need to find a way to overcomes what lies ahead.

As the girl began her travel in search for solution, her trust in the deity's teaching stirred someone awake from their good night sleep, pondering on the unexplainable, vivid dream.

In another realm unseen by ordinary mortal men, a small battle is being waged by the supernatural.

Bandaged fist collided with giant black tentacle, creating shockwave that knock not only that appendage away, but also making it slapped its owner - an amorphous two-stories high creature of black mass and tentacles with incomprehensible crayon drawing in place of where its face should be - with such mighty force that launched it toward the wall at the far end of the massive hall.

The wall, which has dozens of rainbow-colored ponies painted on it withstood the impact with web of cracks forming. The black creature deformed against the wall before slumping down to the ground. It screeched in primordial rage as it quickly stood up. Its 'face lining' shifted to red as if to reflect its emotion. Massive tentacles swung wildly, attempting to smash the one who harmed it to red smear on a floor.

These rage-fueled swings did little more than inconvenienced the assailant, who knocked any tentacles that luckily found their mark away with contemptuous ease and dashed forward, rearing another fist wrapped in old bandages and punched the creature right in its gut with an ear-shattering sonic boom.

The black creature doubled over, its tentacles slumped momentarily, but still far from finished. But before the creature could recover, the attacker whose figure hidden in shadow jumped up and stomped on its belly, making it groan in pain before the figure quickly rushed up toward its face. That person's rearing bandaged fist glowed ominously purple and slammed on the crayon scripture that's the creature's head, pulping it in a rain of black goo, finally ending the creature's rampage for good.

As the creature's black corpse began dissolving, the dimly lit great hall where the battle fought also crumbling away as its master no longer there to maintain it. Soon the wall painted with twisted rainbow ponies was gone, replaced with a verdant forest full of life. Midday sun shine from above the wood canopy illuminating the grassland where the stone floor one laid and revealed the one who vanquished the creature.

She was a woman of average height in oriental style clothing dyed in red and white with green knee-length skirt. Her face was framed by unnatural pink hair tied into a pair of bun on both sides of her head. Her eyes warily scanned the surrounding and her body tense in fighting stance despite apparent demise of the creature as her sense still ringing in her mind, warning her of invisible danger that may pounce when her back is turned.

The source of her anxiety showed up in a form of tear in reality; a gap that lead to black space filled with eldritch red eyes which opened just a few steps away from the pink-haired woman, before another figure – a blonde haired woman wearing white mop cap and purple dress that clung to her envious figure that many would kill for - poked her head out of said gap and looks around.

The slayer of black creature visibly relaxed a little, before calling the newcomer with neutral tone

"What are you doing here, Yukari?".

The woman whose half her body hidden in the gap turned around and met the first one's gaze with serious look. Her hand pulled out a pink parasol and jabbed at something on the grass while asking, avoiding the former's question entirely.

"I believe you dropped this."

The woman's gaze followed Yukari's parasol and noticed a strange black orb with pointed end on the ground almost immediately. She approached and picked the tiny object up with her left, unbandaged hand, leveled it to her face and examine it under the sunlight for a moment before her eyes squinted in disgust and comments.

"This thing… is full of malice… akin to evil spirit, but it doesn't feel like one…"

Yukari and the gap she emerged from edged closer to get a look at the strange orb in the woman's hand, and then she shakes her head "I think I know its purpose; a container of tormented human soul, twisted and mutilated beyond redemption by some outside force to serve whatever nefarious purpose these being had in mind."

That got attention from the one holding it, she glared at Yukari and demanded "How did you know?"

The underlying question "Who did this?" and accusation that came along hadn't gone unnoticed by Yukari who quickly dispel the latter's suspicion

"I may be a trickster, but I can assure you Kasen, I have no hand in this… abomination you fought."

Kasen narrowed her eyes at the piece of jewelry-like object in her hand and looked up at Yukari

"You're saying that this's the core of that monster I fought earlier?"

Her voice, while even, carried anger; anger toward whoever behind turning the poor soul into the thing in her hand and sent it out to attack people. Her eyes make it clear to Yukari that should she tell her the culprit's whereabout, she'd pay him or her a visit and make her displeasure known very soon, probably with a gut punch for the starter.

"Cool your anger, the culprits are not in our land."

Yukari's voice rang through, calming Kasen down, her anger drowned out to a simmering coal instead of raging volcano, it replaced by frustration; of her inability to do anything due to the 'nature' of their home.

"Then what should we do?"

Kasen voiced her problem out loud to the fellow sages who created this haven for the last of their kinds, out of concern for the safety of everyone who live here.

But it wouldn't be safe for long, had this external threat found their way into this realm, and that's what concerned Kasen the most.

Yukari hummed with thoughtful look "I doubt we can do anything more than putting these 'human' out of misery whenever one appeared within our land. I have my duty remember?"

Kasen snorted at the blonde's statement, knowing well her 'duty' in the past amounted to went to sleep for half the time and leave everything for her subordinates. Not that there're anything wrong with said subordinate, but as a familiar, she's much weaker than her master. So dealing with particularly serious trouble also out of her league.

Such as the person who smuggled this monster into their realm while Yukari and Kasen were none of the wiser, for example.

Yukari flapped her fan, hide her smirk behind it as she continued "Regardless, this's definitely an incident, and must be solve through appropriate channel."

Kasen was uncomfortable with Yukari's statement and predictably, asks back "Don't tell me you're going to leave this to the shrine maiden? You of all people should know she's not allow to leave this land."

The blonde rose her eyebrow "And who said it'll be her to solve it?"

Kasen's lip twitched in irritation, both hands went to her hip and demands "Explain. And don't even think of using that human from the outside world to solve it."

Yukari let out a soft laugh "Not her either. I assure you, if this monster came from her realm…" her eyes lingered at the black orb for a moment before refocusing on Kasen once more "…how come she never mention it?"

Kasen couldn't help but acknowledge Yukari's reasoning, but that also spiked her worries up, and that reflected in her next question "If so, then how can you be sure that whoever you chose will be up to the task? We're not only going to send them to the outside world, but an outside world in another parallel reality where Gensokyou may or may not exist."

"Afraid not, my friend, for even if I did nothing, one of the incident-solvers will investigate anyway."

Yukari's cryptic message sparked another question from Kasen, but the blonde gives another hint before she could ask "Some being have multiple selves, yet single consciousness across time and space you know? Even the border of this wonderland, as strong as it may be in separating supernatural from outside world, cannot prevent the feedback from reaching those being whose original self resides within its confine."

It took Kasen but a moment to realized who Yukari was talking about. She crossed her arms and mutters, disbelief clearly on her face "You can't be serious."

"Unfortunately, I'm really serious."

Slipping her fan into the black portal appeared on her side, Yukari gazes at fellow sage before elaborating "For other reasons why I considered her; she came from the outside world relatively recently… by human standard. She can quickly adapt, unlike other native incident-solvers here who…" she paused "…a lot behind the time and will certainly jeopardize everything without anyone to closely supervise."

Kasen narrowed her eyes then waving the black orb – remains of the monster she slain – in front of Yukari's eyes "And the chance that whatever turning people in the outside world into monsters will set their sight on this place?"

"Don't hurry too much; the show won't start for a long while…"

Yukari replies with disturbingly casual tone, smile morphed into smirk as she said the next sentence "After all, grand expedition also requires equally grand actors to assemble for the task…"

The sage trailed off when she saw Kasen started getting impatient and so she quickly concludes her explanation "It'll be quite some time before the incident solvers noticed the appearance of these… once-human… and start making their moves. For now, why you don't just wait and see?"

Kasen contemplated punching Yukari in the gut but decided against it. However, she still has to give Yukari a piece of her mind before she takes her leave, with the 'black soul container' in her hand.

"What are you going to do with that container, Kasen?"

The pink-haired sage turned around to address Yukari's inquiry with annoyed sigh "I'm going to take it to the one who manage the dead, seek advice on what should we do about it."

"Even when this soul was not originate from this reality?"

Kasen scowled at Yukari's question "You expect me to purify it on this spot like all Evil spirits that crossed my path when it came from another reality? I may not be an expert in this kind of thing, but I know enough that my action may has more far-reaching consequences than normal."

Yukari held up her hands in placating manner, albeit with mocking undertone "Hear, hear, anyway, let us departs, I still have arrangements to make. See you around, Kasen."

With that parting word, Yukari slipped into the void before it closed, leaving Kasen the sole 'human' in the area. Before the pink-haired sage also departed a moment later, flying up above the tree, heading toward destination she had in mind and get the tormented soul problem off her hair as soon as possible.

In a small, pocket dimension stood a Feudal japanese-style house surrounded by small garden, a resident of one of the sage who created and protect the land of illusion; Yukari Yakumo. Isolated from away from the rest of the land, it gives its occupants a sense of privacy and peace no other place could match. No noisy and nosy villagers outside the fence, no wildlife intrude upon the land in finding its meal. It's a perfect place to rest after long, hard work, and hibernation through winter.

Small, black portal with countless creepy eyes appeared in the house's courtyard right in front of a blonde-haired woman in white robe who has yellow, fluffy nine fox tails waving in the wind behind her, two pointed ends on her mop cap twitched a little as her golden eyes observed Yukari appeared from said portal, before she bowed at her once she emerged fully.

"Welcome back, master. I presume that your business went well?"

"Indeed, now Ran, but before we discuss any further, how about you go prepare my tea first?"

"Right away, master."

The nine-tailed fox walked back to the house, hurried to the kitchen to brew tea as her master ordered. While Yukari takes time appreciating the beautiful garden surrounding her home for a while longer, as if her heated discussion with Kasen earlier didn't happened, or it was nothing to worry about.

Once Yukari made her way to the living room with opening overlooking her garden, her loyal nine-tailed fox servant showed up at the door, carried a tray with steaming teapot and plate of snack, just a moment before Yukari entered the room.

"Perfect timing, as always. Ran."

Yukari smiled as the nine-tailed fox – Ran – placed a tray on small table where she sat before retreated to stand beside the door, awaiting further order from her.

The sage poured herself a cup of tea and held it up, savoring its fragrant smell and sipping it elegantly befitting status of the lady of the house, before she spoke up.

"You have questions."

Ran bowed slightly in response to Yukari's statement and proceeds with worried tone "Forgive me for stepping out of bound, milady. But as we cannot contain the situation of these 'monsters' crossing boundary between alternate realities and then penetrated into our land even now. Despite your best effort at strengthen the Hakurei barrier."

"Now that you've done stating hindsight, do you have anything else to tell me?" Yukari interrupted without looking at Ran who shifted uncomfortably.

"Forgive me milady." she apologized "…it won't happen again."

Yukari shook her head "There's nothing to apologize for." before continues "Your concern is valid; even with my power, I still couldn't figure out how they penetrated the boundary into our land yet, however, I have some ideas."

Ran kept silent, didn't want to interrupt her master as she pondered on the implication "Indeed, there may be multiple sides involded – one who's creating monsters from tormented human souls from outside, parallel world, and another one who led said monster into our land without the former knowing."

At this point, Ran couldn't keep her silent and asks, "Is that even possible?"

"Have you forgotten all the time the incident popped up in the past? The miko and the witch would fly around beating up innocents for a few stages before they finally get on track?"

The nine-tailed fox shook her head but said nothing. Allowing Yukari to again speaking her thought.

"Regardless, to penetrate the Hakurei barrier and depositing these monsters in my land repeatedly without me catching them certainly mean the culprit must be very powerful."

Ran suppressed the urge to rolls her eyes, knowing well that the previous incursions happened during her watch while Yukari still in hibernation during winter and early spring, which is right after Yukari done fixing whatever damage the lunar kingdom incident caused to the barrier last year.

She couldn't blame her master for lazing around doing nothing, that kind of mess would left anyone in charge of cleaning it drained too.

And now a new incident showed up, one that simply siccing the shrine maiden of paradise or the black-white magician at it like how previous incidents were solved isn't going to work anymore.

"Relax Ran…"

Yukari's voice made it into the nine-tailed ears, making her blink at her master in a silent question.

Noticing her faithful servant's doubt, Yukari placed her cup of tea down and addressed her issue "the situation still under control for the time being. Any of the monsters showed up were quickly found and dealt with before any could suffer casualties. Almost… too perfect…"

Yukari lost her smile at the last bit. Uncomfortable silence settled between master and servant as they contemplated on what transpired over the last few weeks.

And then Yukari broke silence once again "I already formulated a plan, accounting for certain individual's nature and origin, they'll be able to go outside the barrier and they'll do it with or without our intervention…" she pondered "…but it'd be better if I give them a head up, when they decided on the expedition. This going to be fun."

Ran listened to her master's monologue and suppressed her sigh, while confident that her master will have the last laugh over whoever culprits out there, it was her, usually, who has to bear the brunt of some nasty retaliation from those who had been manipulated into solving the incident.

Yet, it was her duty, and she'd do as Yukari asked to the best of her ability.

For the safety and continued existence of the land of illusion. Yukari will do anything, how could a familiar like her do anything less?

However, Ran couldn't shake off the feeling that something was amiss; as if someone else who also lives in this land of illusion is pulling the strings behind this newest incident. But whether that's the case or not, it's not time to be choosy; least more of those monsters will infiltrated and shattered the peace of this land the moment they let slip out of fatigue.