Malal

"Now, this isn't the way I would have handled it, Kharn, but you're the Warmaster here. What say we do this by the book for a change, eh?"

Malal
Also Known As...	Madoka Kaneda
First Appearance	Thread 43
Organization	Ninth Officio
Rank	Culexus Rank Leader
Occupation	Magical Girl
Ability	Anti-Magic Aura
Weapon	Combat Knife, Crowbar, Animus Speculum, Rose Bow
Height	153 cm
Date of Birth

Character Summary

Malal was the Culexus Rank Leader and Equerry as well as a friend to the Warmaster of the Ninth Officio Assassinorum during Valnikov Kharns reign, serving as the reasonable balance to her superiors lazyness and bloodthirst. She was also friends with Chiaki Matsuda during her days as Murderface. Her true identity, this worlds Madoka Kaneda, is kept secret, only known to a select few individuals.

Physical Description

• Malal always wears her Culexus hard suit around others, so not much is known about her appearance.
• She has short pink hair and crimson eyes.

Personality

• Malal is your typical delinquent turned serious, putting up a professional front until provoked.
• She remains mostly calm and polite but is prone to swearing.
• According to Kharn, Malal has never been seriously angry.
• She hates wasting time. This often leads to bad cases of road rage.
• Malal dislikes the concept of honor, more people die from it than are saved.

Character History

Before her contract, Madoka Kaneda was a delinquent and later a runner for small time Yakuza in Mitakihara. She became an enforcer after killing a magical girl sent to take out her boss. Ever since her early childhood she had clear dreams abot her future. For a while they were haunted by a winged girl with black hair in a black cocktail dress who told her she would die for a pointless reason.

Kaneda flipped her off and decided to form a contract with Kyubey to do what she needs to and to write down what needs to be done after her death. Due to her earlier dreams she knew exactly how she had to form her wish to get what she needed. She never saw the girl again and her dreams were replaced by perfectly clear visions of the future she must prevent and how to do it, including her death.

She was a friend and teacher to Sayaka, but never revealed her secret after becoming the Culexus Malal. During her time of service, she delivered the most accurate preognostications of all Culexus, even accurately predicting time and location of the appearance of the witch Charlotte, as well as the fact that somebody would be found inside.

Kharn Flashback

Malal delivers the morning call to her Warmaster Kharn along with "other Warmaster type stuff", politely ignoring the naked blonde in her superiors bed. The days schedule consists of meeting the Third Officio's Warmaster to discuss an incident involving Girl A killing three squads of their magical girls, deciding on Girl A's fate, and informing the Fourteenth Incubator about his Warmaster's whereabouts, the latter still sleeping next to Kharn. Malal decides to relay that they don't know where she is and leaves to make preparations.

Somewhat distressed, she takes a short break in her room, quickly locking the door after stepping out again to prevent anyone from looking inside. She accompanies Kharn to breakfast, briefing her on her appointments. Girl A, found six months ago in a witch barrier by Mami Tomoe and Sayaka Miki, has been allowed to participate in missions with her guardian. Two days ago, she murdered 21 Eversors from the Third Officio during a joint purge mission. The Third Incubator demands her death, but Kyubey is leaving judgment to his Warmaster.

When asked about her opinion, Malal replies that professionally Girl A should be executed, but the circumstances around the incident are suspicious and that she would give her another chance for doing the right thing, just the wrong way. In front of the silent room, Mami appeals to the Warmaster in name of Girl A, putting Malal off somehow. Inside, Malal keeps Kharn from getting too caught up and confirms some details regarding the mission, such as the supposedly captured magical girls from the Third never being found, supporting suspicions about a setup.

Kharn demands her knife and announces Girl A's death sentence, cutting her braids and giving her a new name: Murderface. Malal tries to object, stating that she has a list of better names like Akemi, but is shot down right away. Kharn further decrees that the Third Officio will be brought down for their betrayal and leaves for Kyubey's office, her Equerry at her side stating that Murderface will probably kill her one day.

After meeting Kyubey, Malal informs Kharn that they will be up against a competent magic user should they have to fight the Third Officio's Warmaster, Ahriman, as Kharn is obviously planning.

Driving the companies Warmaster marauder, Malal pokes fun at Kharn for Murderface telling her that she can't have Mami or herself as this is forbidden love. She mentions that Warmasters are generally a crazy sort before giving out headsets and stepping out of the car.

The group enters an empty foyer, assuming the magical girls to have taken up position in the upper floors, and board the elevator bound for the CEO office to meet Ahriman. As Kharn stabs her chainsword into the floor to follow the request to hand her weapon over, Malal merely covers her head in her palms before handing over her own knife and crowbar. As Kharn moves to talk to some girl instead of heading directly to the Third Warmaster, Malal takes Murderface some distance away to teach her about drinks for occasions such as this, giving Kharn some space.

After about a minute of Kharn staring at a painting, she sends Murderface to get her Warmaster. Malal tries keeping Kharn in check, but when Ahriman demands Girl A's soul gem and Mami Tomoe as compensation for her murdered Eversors, Kharn burst out laughing, the Equerry agreeing that the Thirds demands are ridiculous.

As Kharn calls Kyubey to demand full mobilization, announcing to kill everyone in the building, Malal turns a dial on her suit to release her powers and the group charges at the Third Warmaster. Pulling the crowbar that Murderface returned to her when fetching Kharn's Skulltaker, Malal crushes the face of her first opponent mercilessly. She asks Kharn to go by the book this time, but cedes to her Warmaster's wish to turn the office into a slaughter house, telling her to finally build her skull throne afterward.

Within a short time, the group annihilates the hundred magical girls in the hall, leaving only Ahriman and Erebus standing. Kharn offers the lives of the Third Officio in return for Ahriman surrendering her life, but Erebus tells her Warmaster to flee. Murderface tries to stop her but is suddenly tossed at Malal, knocking her back. Suppressing the pain, she tells Kharn that Murderface is unconscious before returning to her side. Turning the dial on her suit again, the Culexus prepares to act as anti magic defense while Kharn engages Ahriman and Erebus.

As the Third's Equerry is flung away by Kharn, Malal begins charging Ahriman, the russian following a step behind her. Ahriman's spells collide with Malal's barrier and are deflected, each bolt of sinister lightning tearing holes into the walls until she collapses, exhaustion affecting both her and Malal. Telling her Warmaster to take Ahriman out, she can only watch as Erebus tackles Kharn out of the building and is forced into a defensive position by the corrupted Ahriman whose twisted form keeps firing bolts of destructive energy at her.

Her powers diminished, Malal shouts for Kharn to hurry, and, relieved to see her return, prepares to evacuate Murderface. She tells Kharn to get the golden staff away from Ahriman, stating that it's evil and the likely the source of her corrupted power. When Kharn begins her charge at Ahriman, Malal shoulders Murderface and moves to evacuate. But Ahriman strikes Kharn down, impaling her with fragments of her shattered chainsword and starts closing in on Malal.

The Culexus procures firearms from Murderface's shield, unloading everything onto Ahriman, and screams at Kharn to get back up before her barrier is penetrated by a bolt of lightning, breaking several of her ribs. Ahriman lifts Malal up and tears her arms from her body, sending the Culexus into a fit of tormented spasms that render her unconscious.

Not long after, Kharn wakes her up with knocks on several body parts, Ahriman lying dead nearby. She realizes her arms missing, mentioning how this is going to suck and keeps joking around with her friend until the evacuation teams arrive.

Midori & Miracle Midori

In Siberia, Chiaki tries to interrogate Mirai Wakaba, but the Tenth Incubator forces his agent to witch out, trapping Chiaki in a barrier. Inside, Malal somehow still exists and encounters Mirai. Being mysteriously well informed as she always is, Malal explains the situation and convinces her to help in trying to find the fragments of Chiaki's psyche.

They wander the place and arrive at the reflection of the Hanegawa ramen restaurant. Scouting outside they fight a fragment of Chiaki, but can't reach out to her in the rain and decide to try again later.

When they return to the restaurant, they find Midori and two other fragments. After talking to Mirai for a while, Midori asks Malal who she is and how she knows so much. The fragments cut into the conversations and explain that she is indeed Malal and indeed dead. The Culexus confirms this and decides not to explain how she ended up inside this barrier, leading the conversation back to gathering the fragments. She admits that they would ideally want all four, but could make Chiaki work well enough with only three to avoid the danger of having the insane fourth fragment kill the others.

Midori requests more information, but Malal states that they have told her everything she needs to know and anything more will not help their cause. The green haired girl then makes a call with her wristwatch and reports the current situation. Malal identifies Souji's voice and cuts into the conversation. He told Midori to forget about Kharn and focus on Chiaki's fragments, but the Culexus refuses to leave her former partner. She promised them a happy ending while she was still alive and wants to use the current chance to make it happen.

She then requests more detailed information about the readings he mentioned to Midori and learns that a powerful signal is approaching them, carrying the original teleporter beacon Chiaki had before. She thanks him and explains Midori that the angry fragment they encountered before is approaching and that their group will have better odds now that Midori and the two other fragments are present.

She asks if they should wait for the fragment to pass or face it head-on, and the green haired Callidus decides to take a chance at facing it. She asks Malal why she tried facing the fragment earlier despite being outmatched, and the Culexus replies that somebody had to try and only the rain, which makes the fragment go berserk due to traumatic memories, caused them to fail.

Malal explains that they are going to fight to subdue and then bring the two fragments in to have something happen. Midori asks how Malal can be sure that anything will happen at all, but the Culexus replies that this is a secret. Just then a bestial roar from outside shatters the windows, hurling glass shards all over the place.

Chiaki and Homura tackle Midori to the ground to take cover while Malal and Mirai jump outside and engage the angry fragment. A feral looking form of Chiaki, it's hands and legs turned into jagged metal even more monstrous than Kharn, heavy plate armor covering her upper body, face covered in scars, wielding a jagged sword as big as herself. Mirai is easily thrown aside by the impact of the jagged weapon crashing into her own broadsword and is only saved by Malal throttling the armored fragment with her crowbar. The two other fragments cling to it's arms, trying to remove the sword, and Midori hugs the spiked form.

Their opponent roars and shakes them off, but loses it's weapon in the process. Malal tells Midori to stand back while the others try to restrain the armored fragment again to focus all her attention on convincing the angry monstrosity. They burst forward but are easily beaten down one after another within a few heartbeats.

Midori manages to reach out to the armored fragments mind, but right after they hug each other in peace, Kharn shows up behind them, bearing her golden chainaxes. Midori and Malal try to dissuade her from starting a fight but the former Warmaster tells her aide's ghost to be quiet, insisting that the Blessed Lady wants this fight to happen. Malal screams at Kharn to remember a promise she made to her, but the Betrayer refuses to listen to what she considers a barrier born phantasm, calls upon the golden weapons power and sets the Culexus ablaze for a moment, leaving her smoldering and unconscious on the ground.

The infuriated Midori manages to drive Kharn off with a heated speech and the Homura and Chiaki fragments help Malal get back on her feet. She wants to press onward right away, but Midori fell unconscious from exhaustion and Homura is seriously injured, so the group takes shelter in the restaurant once again to heal up and rest until the rain stops.

Malal tries to fix the worst damages on her suit with heavy tape while talking to Kyubey. After a while Midori approaches her and asks about Kharn's soul gem in case they have to fight her for real. She wonders why the three fragments are not uniting if they are supposed to be enough and Malal replies that they probably don't want to do it yet. Malal could convince them , although getting the dangerous fourth fragment as well would be ideal for restoring Chiaki in full.

Malal picks up the hat Kharn lost earlier and tells Midori that she made it as a copy of the original one her Warmaster lost during a hard fight before asking whether they will go with three or four fragments. Midori asks if Malal's powers can affect the fourth fragment, but the Culexus is uncertain whether she can weaken the owner of this barrier or not.

She tells the green haired girl that she only needs to get the fused Chiaki and herself out while Malal will try to do something about Kharn before collapsing the barrier from inside, taking herself and Mirai with it as they have no place in the real world anymore. Malal then asks Midori to decide whether to take three or four fragments, who declares that only a full restoration will be any good. Malal then explains that she knows where the fourth fragment is and that the armored one will be the key to surviving the expected blood bath.

When asked if the two of them met before, Malal explains that she went to the Hanegawa ramen restaurant with Kharn and Murderface where Midori helped her father, but that they didn't talk and that people tend to forget about meeting a Culexus. Midori then leaves Malal to take a rest herself.

When the rain stops, the group departs towards the outskirts, the still sleeping Midori carried on Chiaki's back until she wakes to save time. While the sky darkens, they arrive at a graveyard where Malal states that the final fragment is close. At that moment they hear Kharn's chainaxes buzzing nearby, and both Malal and the armored fragment want to claim her as an opponent.

Midori calls Souji and requests that he pilots Tiny Pete to talk Kharn down and get her out. The scientist agrees and Malal mentions that he will be useful in removing one thing to worry about with teleporting Kharn out.

Following the path they arrive at a clearing and find twenty numbered grave stones with shades carrying golden weapons in front of them. The fourth fragment, bearing blinding golden wings and a shield of the same material, her hair tied with a crimson ribbon, stands in the middle. Kharn lies in a pool of her own blood, one arm torn from her shoulder. The fourth fragment mentions that she will still live for a short time and thanks Midori for bringing the other fragments to her.

Midori shouts an offense at the fragment, who turns to walk away while the shades start moving in with the order to kill everyone. As the fight breaks out, Malal unleashes her power, the Animus Speculum's lines glowing red, yet unable to prevent a shade from killing Midori on her way towards the winged fragment.

During the chaotic encounter Malal defeats the shade of the golden scythe wielder and shouts orders at Tiny Pete who breaks through a group of enemies to pick up Midori's broken corpse. Still outnumbered, she acquires the golden broadsword and uses it to fight off any approaching enemy while supporting the injured Mirai with her other arm, working together in an efficient block and stab combination. Nearby Tiny Pete, now dual wielding the golden hammer taken from a shade and his own weapon has teamed up with Kharn, who regained consciousness and wields the combined form of Blood God in her remaining arm.

When Malal notices that the winged fragment is defeated by the one closely resembling the current Chiaki, who keeps smashing the golden shield into her fallen opponents face while laughing manically, she screams at her to stop. She notices the glowing form of Midori appearing behind the fragment and is stunned at the impossible feat, checking to find the green haired girl's body still held by Tiny Pete. Midori stops Chiaki from smashing the shield into the corpse and talks to her before reuniting her soul gem and disappearing again.

With the battle over, Mirai insists on giving her soul gem to Malal so she can exchange it for Midori's life. As the barrier collapses, the Culexus uses her powers to chase after Midori and finds her talking to the Blessed Lady who tells the green haired girl that her soul gem is burned out. Malal interferes by throwing Mirai's soul gem at the goddess, demanding Midori's revival in exchange for Mirai's life.

Midori refuses to use her friends life like this, but Malal doesn't intend to ask for her permission and tells her to make Chiaki stop drinking and abusing pain killers. Midori suggests using Kharn's soul gem instead, but Malal laughs her off, stating that while tempting, living with her sins is a better punishment for the Betrayer. She shouts at the Blessed Lady to hurry up and tells Midori she is glad Chiaki is in good hands.

Midori asks if there is any way to save Malal or Mirai, but the Culexus tells her that some things just can't be fixed and that she's just trying to make things less horrible than they should be. Midori then asks her to take off the helmet before they have to part and Malal agrees to show her face since her powers are unleashed completely to force herself into this place anyway.

She removes the pressure seals and reveals a splitting image of the Blessed Lady, only with pink eyes and short hair. She explains to the utterly confused Midori that the two of them are the same person but at the same time not due to strange timeline mechanics. Her inside knowledge comes from dreams she had ever since she was a child that even told her how to form her contract the right way.

She tells Midori that she left a package for Chiaki with Kharn that will explain a lot of things she doesn't have time to do herself. The Blessed Lady calls them and hands Midori her restored soul gem. Malal suggests not crying when she thanks Mirai and the Blessed Lady explains that her body will be healed enough to sustain life, albeit still injured.

She asks for any last words and Midori hugs both of them before thanking them and promising to take care of Chiaki before being enveloped by light and disappearing, leaving Malal and the Blessed Lady behind.

Malal Flashback

In a flashback episode taking place five years prior to the quest events, Malal travels to Varrigan City to save a kidnapped rookie. Varrigan City is a dangerous place filled with criminals and refugees, augmented humans and rogue magical girls and said to be one of the worst places in the world. Malal literally coerced Kyubey into allowing the mission and refused his support to make use of her own connections.

After a rough trip with Kyubey's teleporter where she had to force herself out of the warp near the end, she arrives in Downtown Varrigan City and is contacted by her support, Xiaomei Baocun from the Seventh Officio, via her suits communication device. She takes cover on a nearby rooftop to avoid any unpleasant surprises and has the disgruntled Xiaomei refresh her memory of the mission target.

She is to find and save a Vindicare recruit named Ekaterina Valnikov who went missing a few months ago, suspected of being abducted by the Tenth, although no evidence for their involvement was found. She was declared deceased a month ago, but Malal refused to give up, stating that finding her is important.

Xiaomei also informs Malal of her local contact, Professor Madaraki The Second from the Thirteenth Officio and her last known whereabouts and how to best reach her. She tells Malal that the evacuation transport will leave in four hours and reminds her to watch out for the Eighth Officio as she is in their territory.

They end the call and Malal gets up to move out, but is interrupted by a group of punks trying to capture and violate her. Malal thinks about talking her way out, but realizes that these punks, unlike the Yakuza clan she belonged to earlier, don't know honor. She swiftly strikes the leader down with her crowbar, terrifying the rest into submission. She demands a motorcycle, and while the gang doesn't have one, one of them offers to show her where he saw a pair of magical girls riding one not long ago. Malal asks about a description, one of them sounds familiar, and has the punk lead the way past gangs looking ready to start a war.

They arrive in the slums and while Malal identifies the bike as Schpeltiger, the vehicle of her acquaintance Nicole Touchdown, the punk cowardly sneaks away. She decides that Nicole would not mind her borrowing the bike and gets on top, but before she can start it, she was the one who set up its touch screen controls, a different magical girl points a knife at her from behind and demands she gets off.

Malal asks for Nicole, the owner of the bike, but is still threatened and does as the girl behind her demands. The girl asks how Malal knows of Nicole, but as the Culexus realizes she is being threatened with a kitchen knife of all things she unleashes her power, disabling the magical girl with overwhelming sickness.

At that moment Nicole shows herself and recognizes Malal right away, calling her by her family name Kaneda. The american non-magical girl makes fun of her "vomit powers" before asking why Malal came to this area and tried to take her bike. She explains to her old friend that she is on an important secret mission with a four hour time limit and wants to borrow the vehicle. They look back on their past and Nicole agrees to lending Schpeltiger, hands Malal the keys and tells her to park it in a safe location with the keys in the lock box once she is done.

They say goodbye and Malal takes the bike to Redline Highway, heading for Asian Town to meet her contact. On the way Xiaomei contacts her again and mentions a distress signal close by, an injured magical girl from the Second Officio calling for help. Malal decides to check it out despite the possibility of a trap and speeds up, finding a magical girl on a badly damaged bike chased by a group of bikers and a roughly constructed tank like vehicle.

She quickly passes by the gang and offers the magical girl a ride, who jumps on Schpeltiger just in time as her own bike explodes right behind them. Seeing this the gang speeds up and Malal releases a bunch of grenades from Nicole's bike, taking the bikers out and damaging the tank enough to slow them down before hitting Schpeltigers booster and leaving the wreckage behind.

Soon after they reach Asian Town and stop to refuel. Malal takes some beer from the bike's integrated mini fridge and offers a drink in honor of the destroyed vehicle, learning that it was the magical girl's first self made bike by the name of Stranger. The girl thanks her savior and introduces herself as Enyo Karasawa, recognizing Malal as a member of the Ninth Officio by her accent.

She explains that she was challenged to a duel to the death and that the Blessed Lady's Champion of the Second Officio's Black Templars is bound to accept even if a trap awaits. She refuses to reveal her opponents identity, but assures that she has a way to leave the city despite loosing her bike and accepts Malal's offer to help if she really needs it. They talk more over their drinks, Malal using a Culexus trick to do so without opening her helmet.

They depart together and Malal drops her off on her way to Great Wall Street where she meets a white haired girl that leads her to the Professor. She introduces herself as Odette Brighton, Warmaster in training of the Seventeenth Officio, and confirms the Professor's identity with a detailed description. In a typical chinese restaurant Malal meets the sickly looking Professor Madaraki who is in an unusually good mood.

After a bit of friendly banter, the Professor takes a big syringe from a suitcase and asks Malal for a blood sample, stating that Xiaomei arranged it as payment for Ekaterina Valnikov's location. The Culexus contacts her support to ask what this is about, and Xiaomei explains that Malal told her to do anything necessary and that she managed to bargain the Professor out of taking live tissue samples instead.

Malal then agrees to giving Madaraki some of her blood who then explains that Valnikov is held in Casino Town to fight in an underground magical girl fighting scene. She also reveals that the Thirteenth Warmaster is keeping Ekaterina captive and conducts experiments on her. She explains that Doktor Emma Strauss is trying to create a symbiosis of magical girl and witch and used Ekaterina as her prototype, breaking her will, body and mind before grafting pieces of witch flesh onto her body and soul gem.

Madaraki also explains that Valnikov most likely doesn't remember Malal and might attack her with the intent to kill. Malal asks for a way to subdue Valnikov long enough to take her outside the city and the Professor supplies her with a hypogun containing a powerful anesthetic that even works on witches.

When Malal demands that she accompanies her, Madaraki refuses, terrified of the place, and explains that she will lead the ousting of Strauss inside her officio instead. To make up for it, she hands Malal her own ID card to enter the lower levels of the Blood God's Arena in Casino City and tells her to look for a young man names Souji who will help her instead. Malal encourages her by saying that this situation is Strauss' fault and she s right to get rid of her.

The Professor then leaves with her pet Xerxes that has been stuck on the ceiling and Odette while Malal heads to Casino town. The huge banner at the Blood God's Arena tells her that Ekaterina's scheduled opponent is none other than Enyo, the Blessed Lady's Champion she helped earlier. Realizing Enyo would not back down, Malal decides to get Ekaterina out before the fight can start and heads towards the staff entrance.

She uses her anti-magic on a magical girl that's singing and dancing in front of two guards to cause a distraction and slips in, exploring the backstage area. Malal decides to take the stairs down, passes several levels of animal pens filled with what looks like test subjects and finds Ekaterina on the lowest level. The russian magical girl is in a bad state, sedated and chained down inside a cage, covered in blood, wires protruding from her head behind a horned black metal visor.

Malal also spots a brown haired man in a lab coat typing on a laptop and identifies him as the Souji Madaraki mentioned. She knocks on the door hard, startling the caffeine filled man enough to send him jumping towards a shotgun near the desk, knocking his face into the furniture. She tells him Madaraki sent her to take Ekaterina away but the man doesn't believe her and clumsily aims his gun. Malal shows him Madaraki's ID, but he calls it fake and tells her to get lost, threatening to shoot her otherwise.

She tries to reason with him, but he mentions that Strauss said somebody would show up with her story. Frustrated Malal uses her magic to disassemble his gun from afar and reassembles in her own hands, stating that she came to steal Ekaterina from the Thirteenth and bring her back to where she was kidnapped from in the first place. Calming down, she returns his gun, telling him that Madaraki would like fixing his arm if he tore it off misusing it. Proving she knows the professor and not shooting him convinces Souji of her intentions enough to help.

Souji explains that he wants Ekaterina out of there and mentions that she kept repeating one word over and over: Malal. Shocked at this, the Culexus turns away for a moment but decides to keep the fact Ekaterina has been calling for her all this time from Souji. The young man deactivates the cage and explains that while unconscious Ekaterina is harmless since Strauss' implants can't turn her into a berserker while her body is disabled. In order to ensure she doesn't activate them during their escape, he suggests keeping Ekaterina heavily sedated.

Malal asks if they could remove the implants right away, but Souji explains that they need a well equipped operation room for the process and have to remove them from both her body and soul gem simultaneously or their link will destroy both when one is removed. He walks over to inject more sedatives, but at that moment Ekaterina's visor starts glowing red and her claws move behind his back.

The Culexus quickly unleashes her power on the russian magical girl, flinging her back as far as the chains allow and making her collapse. Malal tells the confused young man that Ekaterina's visor lit up, which makes him panic as this means she is supposed to go into the fight. Right that moment he notices footsteps approaching and tells Malal to hide from Strauss' personal goons. The Culexus refuses to hide, stating that she found what she came for and will make her way out right now.

Souji calls her plan crazy but figures that he is in trouble anyway, hands Malal his shotgun and tranquilizes Ekaterina. While Malal takes cover Souji distracts the goons until shutting off the lights and diving into cover so the Culexus can kill the six opponents. Malal kills the goons one by one, announcing each kill in a loud voice, saving the leader for last before telling Souji to switch the lights on again.

While Souji prepares Ekaterina for transport, Malal is contacted by Xiaomei who tells her that the evacuation site is compromised by a large number of hostiles. She tells Malal to take Red Highway to the docks and evacuate on the Thirteenth Officio's flagship Rafflesia with Fran Madaraki's help. Malal wants to talk to the Professor herself and tells Xiaomei to look for an alternative escape just in case. Madaraki is glad that Malal decides to accept her help, assures that they will protect her and do all they can to undo what Strauss did to Ekaterina.

Souji wraps Ekaterina in a big poncho to cover most of her body and they head upstairs while Malal convinces herself that people will remember her by what she managed to accomplish instead of what she did for it. Upstairs in the backstage area they notice that battle has started in the arena and realize that Enyo is fighting Nicole Touchdown instead of Ekaterina. Souji tells Malal that her friend will die in this place, but she ensures that Nicole can take care of her own and that they will more likely wear each other out instead of taking lives.

Outside they find a group of guards beheaded by Wendy Cooldown who needs to talk to Malal, Schpeltiger standing ready nearby. Malal points Souji towards the bike and tells him to get himself and Ekaterina into the passenger seat. Wendy mentions that she had a dream about Kaneda Madoka and needs to ask her something.

She explains that she saw her die with a smile, stating that Nicole likes her a lot and would not like her dying at all. She asks Malal if she really plans on getting killed who returns that she is not planning it, but knows her death is a side effect of what she does have planned. She explains that she wants to make it count and asks Wendy not to tell Nicole until after it happened.

Before they can say any more, a new group of goons shows up to give chase and Wendy holds them off while Malal departs with Souji and Ekaterina on Schpeltiger, remembering that she had a dream about the other magical girl's death, too.

While Traveling on Red Line Highway towards the docks and thinking on how to put the broken pieces of Ekaterina's mind back together, Malal's communication is hacked by Emma Strauss. The Doktor compliments her on stealing both her assistant and experiment and wants to negotiate. She offers to spare Malal's life if she returns Ekaterina, threatening to have her killed by the very girl she wants to save after being passed around as a piece of meat throughout the entire town.

Malal spits an insult at Strauss who claims that there is no escape and that she only offers the trade out of the goodness of her heart. She states that she has other experiments, more dangerous than Ekaterina, at her disposal to hunt the Culexus down and demands her surrender again.

Instead of following the topic any further, Malal asks what makes Ekaterina so special to the Thirteenth Warmaster. Strauss explains that she managed to create a perfect synthesis between magical girl and witch, one who retains conscious thought paired with the power of a living nightmare, the first ever Maerorus.

Malal notices a group of armed vehicles quickly approaching from behind and Strauss announces it as the first bounty hunter force. She offers to call them off if Malal stops and tells their leader that she surrenders herself to Strauss' mercy who is instructed to take her group to the Doktor safely after which the Culexus may leave unharmed.

Naturally Malal declines the offer, thanks the Doktor and tells her that she knows for a fact that she doesn't die in Varrigan City. She signals Souji to hold on tight and releases a batch of grenades unto the pursuers before igniting Schpeltiger's booster, darting forward at a speed high enough to push the new bounty hunters joining the hunt aside with air pressure while Strauss screams in rage. Souji shouts something, but the airstream and engine are too loud to hear.

The moment the booster charge runs out, the bounty hunters far off in the distance, Malal notices a place above them and spots the grinning Doktor Strauss at the rear door who sends a bulky, spiked monstrosity with metal cylinders for hands jumping towards them. Estimating the creature's path, Malal waits for the right moment and dodges at the last second, but loses control of Schpeltiger when her opponent grabs the rear end.

The creature is dragged behind while Malal struggles to force the bike back on track, but is eventually thrown off when it tears the back wheel out. The three riders are hurled across the street and the Culexus taps her power to slow Souji's fall, preventing him and Ekaterina from cracking their heads open upon impact. Malal herself hits the road hard, cracking several bones and nearly breaking her spine.

While Malal starts to heal herself, Strauss who is still on the communication line introduces her experiment “Butterfingers” and leaves him to kill her, laughing as the plane flies off. Malal tells Souji to run for the docks and have Madaraki start fixing Ekaterina right away while she takes care of Butterfingers. He refuses at first but complies when she tells him how he is useless in this situation and starts shouting.

The hulking creature charges at Malal, who struggles dodging his attacks with her damaged body before hitting Butterfingers' face with her crowbar, only to confirm her suspicion that it doesn't hurt him. With her weapon bent, she discards it and dashes away. Strauss ridicules her for running, but Malal replies that she is only getting into range.

She holds out her hand and materializes her magical girl weapon, a big rose stalk shaped bow with a blossom bathed in pink flames, a crimson arrow of compressed energy forming in her other hand. Coming to a stop and turning around, Malal draws the invisible string back and takes aim at the charging monster's glowing chest implant. The arrow stops momentarily, growing bigger and hotter, before continuing even faster, a blinding roaring projectile burning right through Butterfingers' midsection and disappearing in the distant sky.

While Strauss screams in shock and rage at the loss of her creation, Malal's bow disappears and she falls to her knees in a sudden wave of nausea and sickness. Removing her helmet just in time to throw up the black blood surging up on the road instead of inside the suit, she hears a familiar voice behind her.

The black haired girl from her dreams, showing an expression of pure hatred, tells her that the contract is killing her and that all of Malal's plans will be for nothing. She spits at the winged apparition who reminds her that she can't save her if her soul is trapped in a gem and screams, asking why Madoka didn't listen to her.

While Malal picks up her helmet again, not showing any reaction, the other girl is incredulous at how she dares to ignore the one who saved her, grabbing the Culexus' shoulder and exclaiming she loves her. When Malal pulls herself free, the apparition starts crying, begging the pink haired girl to at least look at her after she killed so many people and timelines to be together with her.

As the helmet is put back in place, the Animus Speculum's limiter returns from emergency mode to normal and the apparition is gone. Relieved, Malal considers contacting Madaraki to send a transport for herself, Souji and Ekaterina but is interrupted by the sound of an armed vehicle approaching. But instead of bounty hunters Odette Brighton, the magical girl accompanying the Professor earlier, emerges from the top hatch to offer her a ride.

The canadian Eversor helps Malal tie the wrecked Schpeltiger onto the vehicle and feeds her candy while they drive along the road. Upon reaching Souji, the Culexus pretends to be a ganger to mess with him before getting the young man and Ekaterina on board. While the new passengers sleep, Odette explains that Madaraki sent her back into the city halfway to their original destination, to help Malal any way she can. She overheard gangs talking about the bounty and stole the first armed vehicle she could find, smashing her way through any opposition.

The group eventually reaches the harbor and board the Rafflesia. Madaraki welcomes them and orders a group of Medicae to take Ekaterina into a room and prepare for the procedure after ordering the ship's departure.

Souji is allowed to assist after Malal confirms that he was useful in freeing Ekaterina, after which the Professor asks what the Culexus did to him when he would usually never step outside. Madaraki implies seduction, but Malal reminds her that her suit is barely fitting for this kind of thing and explains how Souji cares for Ekaterina enough to trust somebody trying to save her.

Madaraki tells her about how the Officio successfully ousted Emma Strauss and that she was elected as the new Warmaster, now under the title of Chief Director, and promises not to repeat her predecessor's mistakes. She then hands Malal her phone, explaining that Strauss has been calling for hours an that she wants to leave the pleasure of informing the now ex-Warmaster of what happened to the one who made it possible.

Strauss, assuming she is talking to Madaraki, tells her that Malal is approaching the docks and wants the crew to use the ship's cannons to kill her for taking out Butterfingers. Malal enjoys telling the angry woman that she is fired, who only believes her when Madaraki explains that she is no longer fit for the position due to her unethical research methods and abuse of Officio resources. Strauss screams in rage that the Officio belongs to her and how Malal killed Butterfingers, but Fran only replies that the Culexus has treated him more humanely than the Doktor. She also decides to let her live instead of blasting the city into smithereens as an act of mercy before ending the call.

Madaraki then leads Malal to the operation theater to help with Ekaterina's treatment, explaining that she will introduce her to one Misaka later, who wants to meet a Culexus. Malal also decides to write this day's events down in some way and to get a tablet PC back home.

Trivia

• As this worlds Madoka, her character design is based on Madoka Kaname from Puella Magi Madoka Magica.
• She always carries a tablet pc with her.
• Kharn had Malal install a kill counter in her helmet to keep track of her Warmasters records, but had it removed again as her own count was always higher, causing arguments between them.
• Malal promised Ekaterina Valnikov's mother to take care of her child when she was dying, hinting that she brought her into the Officio.

NECO Profile

Rookie

NAME: Malal
	"This isn’t a place for nosy kids. Go home before you get hurt.”
OFFICIO: Ninth, in Mitakihara City
RANK: Rank Leader Malal
BIO: A superpowered Callidus that joined the Ninth Officio recently. The circumstances surrounding her arrival are kind of sketchy, and nobody really seems to know where she came from. I heard she started pushing her own agenda from the moment she showed up, though…but maybe it’s for the best? Agendas don’t always have to be creepy and evil, right?
ABILITY: Standard Culexus ability – anti-magic – although Malal is super strong, even for a Culexus.
WEAPONRY: A crowbar and a special suit.
	STRENGTH	 C
	SPEED		 B+
	MELEE 		 A+(?)
	RANGED		 A(?)
	MAGIC 		 SS(?)
	TACTICS		 S+
	CHARM		 D(?)

TRIVIA
-To be honest I have a lot of questions about this one. It’s hard to catch her in action, though.

-It’s really suspicious, the way she swings that crowbar around. She’s pretty much some kind of gangster, right?

-She designed that special suit herself…So she’s a science officer, too? Where did she come from? The moon?

"...huh, there's a pretty big typo in this. can't remember if this was an accident or i didn't know the difference..." -NECO

Outdated

NAME: Malal
	"This isn't a recorded interview, is it?"
OFFICIO: Ninth, in Mitakihara City
RANK: Equerry of the Ninth, Rank Leader Malal
BIO: An enigmatic magical girl that seemed to appear out of nowhere about three years ago. She’s become a guiding force for the Ninth, with her tactical mind, technical expertise, and snappy wit. One could argue she’s the REAL leader of the Ninth, with Valnikov Kharn acting as a figurehead.
ABILITY: Standard Culexus ability – anti-magic – although Malal is extremely powerful, even for a Culexus.
WEAPONRY: A crowbar…and a tablet.
	STRENGTH	 C
	SPEED		 A
	MELEE 		 S
	RANGED		 S
	MAGIC 		 SSS(?)
	TACTICS		 SS
	CHARM		 D(?)

TRIVIA
- No one has ever seen her eat or drink, but food disappears around her when people aren't looking!

- Every other Culexus takes the name Alpharius or Omegon. 'Malal' is actually indicative of rank, as opposed to a name.

- Rank Leader Malal's tears can cure cancer. unfortunately, she's never cried.

Gallery

Artwork by Nicehatguy

<gallery> File:Chikuwa Malal.jpg </galery>