Tian Luo

The Archives were quiet.

So quiet that Love could hear her fingertips tapping against the table.

She was frustrated. She knew little to begin with, and Truth's evasiveness only made it worse. She had thought she could investigate on her own, only to discover that even her own records had been encrypted.

She was Dawn Rank. How could she not have access to her own records?

Someone had clearly encrypted them!

Click, click, click...

A strange sound suddenly came from between the shelves deep in the Archives.

It sounded a little like footsteps, but the beats came too close together.

Metal struck the floor in a steady rhythm, rapid and precise, eight beats to a cycle. Beneath it came the faint gurgle of liquid sloshing and a hiss like escaping steam.

Love turned toward the sound.

At the end of the shelves, a strange shape slowly came into view.

It was a chair supported by eight long, slender mechanical legs with distinct joints. Like a spider forged from steel, they carried the chair steadily across the floor.

Bottles and canisters of various sizes were fixed to its sides and back.

Transparent tubes ran from the canisters into the body of the person seated there. As she moved, the liquid inside them gently sloshed.

And the person in the chair—

She was a Magical Girl.

She wore dark Regalia. Her left sleeve hung empty, and a black patch covered her right eye.

Click, click.

The Mechanical Spider Wheelchair carried her to Love's table and stopped.

"Love, it's nice to finally meet you."

Love had never met this Magical Girl, but she recognized that familiar voice at once.

"Tian Luo?"

Love's gaze fell on the tubes and canisters connected to Tian Luo's body, then on her empty sleeve and eyepatch. Her throat