“I know the end, Xiaofei.”

A blazing inferno in the middle of the city. A bright red truck arrives at the scene, followed by another, and another, each spilling dozens of firefighters onto the plaza. They don’t see Punisher, dashing past her as she gazes up at the mayhem in front of her, hands in the pockets of her jacket. Heinous flames flicker in the corner of her eye and heat licks at her cheeks. She doesn’t move, witnessing the burning building collapse as its foundations disintegrate. The firefighters are losing the battle. They disregard her. One figure, however, approaches the blaze. She is equally disregarded by the firefighters, and as she stands next to Punisher, she forms a visor with her left hand as she looks up at the building.

Yui: Damn, man… was this your doing? (Yui’s voice is oddly casual, despite the scene)

Punisher: (she slowly turns her head, gazing at the woman standing by her side, before muttering a sole, chilling word in her native tongue) <Leave.>

Yui: Cold as ice. Not even a fire can thaw it, eh? (Yui turns her head to gaze at the woman in turn) Probably doesn’t work the first time, does it? Tellin’ people to leave, I mean. …Not that you make a habit of it, right? Nah… someone like you’d probably hope it doesn’t work the first time.

Punisher: … (she ignores Yui, looking back up at the inferno)

Yui: (Yui turns her head to stare up at the blaze as well. As she speaks, her words come out in Chinese, though her lips are still moving as if she were speaking Japanese) Not my first choice for a memory to come to when I go to bed. You probably have some hell of a history. I got that feeling in the few moments before I escaped the Bends, when I read you lot. 

Punisher: Fu Hua Zhe told me you would try to understand. Don’t. We are enemies. This meeting is a coincidence. The next will not be such. The only reason why you’re not dead yet is because killing you here is pointless.

Yui: Sure is. And yeah, we are. But uh, “know thine enemy” or whatever, right? Not that you’d have an easy time in takin’ me down. …One thing you got wrong, though. This isn’t exactly a coincidence. (Yui’s eyes flash violet, not unlike the flash of lightning in a minor storm) I followed you here on purpose.

Punisher: Pointless. (she exhales slowly, muttering) The Worldeater will pay for pulling me into his wretched realm.

Yui: (Yui can’t help but chuckle) Heh… yeah, he’s pretty high on my shit list too. That weird clown lady too, unless someone managed to take her out already. Haven’t worked out what to do about Shiori yet. …But you, you’re different. I dunno how you tick, and that bothers me. You’re less performative than the rest. Like, you’re all business about it. …Like you don’t belong here with ‘em, almost. So what gives?

Punisher: I am no one. I came from nowhere. I am a blade. I kill. There is nothing more to understand. You do not ask a blade how it ticks. You do not ask a blade why it kills. A blade is a blade.

Yui: …You’re lying. Not to me, no. But you’re lying to yourself. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be staring at a memory of a building you burned down.

Punisher: Do not conflate memory with regret. What you are seeing is the Worldeater’s idle attempt at understanding. It’s in his nature to grasp at phantasms. You are wiser than that. The last thing you can do is take that wisdom to your grave.

Yui: That ain’t how this place works. Not for him, not for Niko Segawa, not for the old owner of this place. …This bubble’s yours. But then, that just proves my point. “A blade does not remember.”

Punisher: … Fu Hua Zhe is right. You are arrogant. At least I get to confirm it for myself, if I am to be your punishment.

Yui: That makes your callsign “Punisher” then after all. Hey, I never denied bein’ arrogant. S’how I took down everything that tried to destroy me before. In a straight, brute force fight, I’ll admit, I don’t like my odds. It’s not impossible, I’ve faced shit odds before. But sometimes, I oughtta use somethin’ other than my fists. The others in your little band, they’ve lost their minds. But you? You’re still sane. …Before you deny it, you oughtta know, your soul can’t lie.

Punisher: I am what I am. Make of that what you will. It doesn’t matter. I am here to do what I am told to do. “Cheng Fa Zhe” is all that I am. “Punisher”. It’s not a name for a person. It’s a name for a misfortune.

Yui: Man, if I had a dollar for every person I came across who fed me that bullshit line… unless the genie cat created you. Like, from birth.

Punisher: My birth was no such miracle.

Yui: (she rolls her eyes) Damn, man. Typical broken assassin bit, huh? You’re not the first I’ve gotten to talk to me, you know. We got forever, since time don’t work right down here. An’ I ain’t goin’ anywhere.

Punisher: … (she exhales slowly, electing to simply ignore Yui if she insists on pursuing this awkward interrogation)

Yui: (unfazed, Yui continues) …I could’ve ended up like you, y’know. If things turned out different… if that genie cat didn’t exist, I might’ve gone down that road too.

Punisher: (she suddenly turns to Yui again) You don’t know me. You don’t even know the road I went down. I do not need your empathy, and you have better things to do than to try and give it to me. If you seek to escape death by my hands, use your body and your mind. Not your mouth.

Yui: The fact that you don’t see this as some giant mind game as it is tells me the cat didn’t give y’all a good enough dossier about me before sendin’ you all to Mitakihara. Besides, better things to do? Girl, we’re both sleeping. That ship sailed, and won’t be back for a few hours at least. (Her eyes close, and with a sigh, her voice and tone both lower) …You made a wish for someone else, and it bit you in the ass, right? Tale as old as time, I know. But instead of bein’ buried by it, you started killin’ for the genie cat. …You know damn well that none of us are makin’ it to the event horizon that the damn thing’s worried about, right? So why do it at all? Why do you kill for it?

Punisher: Because killing is what I do. It is what I am. Not a blessing, not a curse, not a choice. It’s in my nature. I am a weapon that staves off the end of everything. I am a white blood cell. 

Yui: I’m asking the person, not the persona you created to survive killin’ so much all these years.

Punisher: That’s where you are mistaken. The one you want to talk to? The one with a history, a name? Sentiments? Memories? She is the persona. The killer is the person. The essence. The core. Everything else is a delusion.

Yui: We call that a ‘soul’ ‘round these parts, Killer. I’m not searchin’ for weaknesses or like your powers or whatever. It’s a conversation. You might not make a habit of chattin’ with the girls you knock off, but you can’t be that bad at it, right? Heh… Is that why you kill? ‘Cause you can’t picture yourself doin’ anything else?

Punisher: You assume I have any choice in the matter.

Yui: You’re in a magical bullshit dream world staring at one of your own memories like it’s a theme park ride. You can do whatever the fuck you want.

Punisher: I do not want.

Yui: I’m not speakin’ to you. I’m speakin’ to that soul you buried so you could do this bullshit job.

Punisher: You can speak to it in the afterlife.

Yui: It ain’t dead yet. And I ain’t gettin’ another chance to talk to my enemy ‘fore we start throwin’ hands. I’m not passin’ this up. ‘Cause like hell if anyone else in your band has a functioning brain enough to sit down and talk for five seconds. Cold as you are, you’re still the best conversation I’ve had yet with any of you Balancers.

Punisher: Why do you want to talk to your enemy?

Yui: ‘Cause I wanna know why we’re fighting. Not because you have marching orders and because I wanna survive. But I wanna know why we fight. What makes you tick? There’s lots of bullshit reasons to throw hands. Understandin’ it all is what keeps me movin’ forward. …Not that I can’t throw down without it. I’ll just sleep better at night knowing what kinda person I’m standin’ against out there.

Punisher: You accuse me of lying to myself. Why don’t you hold yourself to the same standards? Why is any of that necessary? Knowing why we fight? What makes me tick? Do you truly need to know? Or have you fooled yourself into believing you need to? Who is to say, perhaps you too simply fight for the sake of it.

Yui: (Yui, however, can’t help but laugh) ‘Cause I’m a hypocrite runnin’ from her own past, that’s why. Man, the genie cat sucks at givin’ out intel if you didn’t get that by now. It ain’t a secret that a part of me just likes the fight. Gonna be a long, long time ‘fore she gets to run free for real, though. ‘Til then, I’m trying to be better than the shit I was born into. Mafia bullshit, Conductor bullshit, even the Angel bullshit. I’m just trying to be better than all of that. I’m wingin’ it, of course. But at the same time, I’m at least tryin’, instead of givin’ into it blindly. 

Punisher: You cannot deny your nature. You cannot disavow your blood.

Yui: Says who?

Punisher: Do you deny it?

Yui: I choose to redefine my nature. Blood means nothing. ‘Specially since I have none of it left. Who’s at the head of the table? Me, sitting alone.

Punisher: You carry the sins of your parents. Whether they are still alive or not. You are, after all, one of them.

Yui: The past doesn’t define me. It’s just the startin’ line for who I’m gonna be tomorrow.

Punisher: Yet what you will be, in the end, is a harbinger of destruction and despair. You cannot deny this. This is exactly why Fu Hua Zhe wants you gone.

Yui:  You and I will both be dust under the topsoil long before entropy is even a possibility. Nah… you don’t buy that shit either, deep down. C’mon, man. Be honest with yourself, like, for once.

Punisher: What good is honesty? This is not how we operate. We live in strive, until we become what we are sworn to kill. You are already a tool. You are already doomed. The fact that you think your life is anything more than what it is, is exactly the reason why it is now forfeit.

Yui: I was born with a death sentence, same as everyone else. Makin’ a wish kicked that can, sure, but nothin’ changes in the end. All our lives are forfeit. Doesn’t stop me from livin’ it how I want to. Despite my family, despite all the bullshit I went through to get here. Openin’ up a little ain’t gonna stop you from tryin’ to kill us all once we wake up, right? So what’s the harm?

Punisher: I knew people like you once. Mofa shaonu who tried to be more than what they are. Who tried to understand. And they fell. One by one. Now only I remain, because I did not show weakness.

Yui: And you’re not gonna fall? You plan on livin’ an’ killin’ for this fucking alien cat forever?

Punisher: It is inevitable, I know. Otherwise, I would be on the opposite side of this conflict. I am not above fate. What matters is that these girls — their unity, their project, their rebellion… it did not save them. They denied their nature, and got nothing out of it. They ended up as we will. So I realized there was no point in trying to deny who I am. What I was born to do.

Yui: Yeah, but if your fate’s the same, why let yourself sink to the level of bein’ some alien cat’s tool? It ain’t gonna save you either, you know. The damn thing’d throw you out the first chance it could. It’d kill you if it were convenient to it.

Punisher: I know. What you don’t understand is that any other path I could follow is equally meaningless. What is the point, then, of straying from the one I was set on by birth?

Yui: Maybe I’m just a punk, but followin’ some fated path at birth doesn’t sit well to me. I wanna carve my own out, do things my own way. That way, I feel like even if I failed, I at least tried. I’ll go out on my own terms, not anyone else’s.

Punisher: You will not feel anything when you are dead. No regrets. No lingering sentiments.

Yui: You uh, you don’t know where we are, do you? That masked fuck hasn’t burned the place down yet. There’s a world where I feel things after I die, assuming this place survives. But I feel like you’re just dodgin’ the things I say to turn ‘em on me. What’cha runnin’ from, Killer?

Punisher: (she ignores the question) This place will not survive the Balancing.

Yui: Heh… maybe not. But you’re still dodgin’ my question.

Punisher: No point in dodging an attack that will not hit to begin with.

Yui: Man… I don’t actually wanna throw a punch right now, but like… (Yui shakes her head) …You mentioned others like me. I assume you’re not just talkin’ about girls you killed for work, right?

Punisher: There was a group in Shanghai who operated very much like you and yours. These were… people I used to know. Some of them were. Fu Hua Zhe recruited heavily where I grew up. It wanted me to eliminate them, but they eliminated themselves before I could.

Yui: They go Witch or somethin’?

Punisher: As one does. That’s when I learned I didn’t have to fight fate. You have witnessed it, too, and yet you do not accept it.

Yui: Do I look like the type to just give up and accept fate? My other half’ll have her day in the sun, sure. But we’re cool ‘til then. So what, were they your friends or somethin’? ‘Til the cat gave the marching orders, I mean.

Punisher: Perhaps. If anything they didn’t call me a killer before I actually became one.

Yui: …Lonely one, ain’cha? But that suits this life you chose, eh?

Punisher: I do not choose. An orphan doesn’t get to choose. All she can hope for is to be chosen.

Yui: Technically speaking, I’m an orphan. I sure made a choice. Or is that just an illusion to you?

Punisher: … Maybe you’re right. I am incorrect to assume one’s ability to choose matters at all. I was not made to choose. You were. And still, in the end we will both be naught but dust.

Yui: I don’t live in the far future of the heat death of the universe. I live in today, the here and now.

Punisher: And so we are both selfish in our own way. As for who is wise and who is a fool… that is for our blades to decide. (speaking these last words with the slightest hint of melancholy, she turns back to the fire)

Yui: …Guess so. But that’s for when we wake up, right? I get the feelin’ your heart isn’t in it right now.

Punisher: It would be pointless to strike you down here and now. Though that doesn’t mean I prefer talking, not in the slightest.

Yui: Guess that’s as good as I’m gonna get outta ya now, huh?

Punisher: You must understand that interrogating your enemies like this is not exactly customary. You have been granted an unprecedented privilege.

Yui: You’d be surprised how often I get away with this shit, actually. I’m annoying as hell, but somehow, endearing enough that people open up. I wish I understood why.

Punisher: No, you are not. You are not endearing. You knew exactly what you were doing when you sought me out here. You cheated your way past the language barrier. You separated me from Fu Hua Zhe. You cut off my escape routes. All you had to do was persevere in your questioning. This is a mind game, and I realized far too late that I am ill equipped to deal with mind games… (she narrows her eyes) … I underestimated you. I will not make that mistake again.

Yui: That makes two of us, then. I don’t plan on underestimating any of you again. Y’all got the jump on me exactly once. That won’t happen again. Ya wanna take me down, you’ll have to face me head on. Just to clear some stuff up though, all I did was persist in questioning. The nature of this place did the auto-translate, and genie-cat ain’t allowed down here. …Not gonna deny the rest of it though. This was a mind game. Feels nice to have some kind of win over you lot. (she turns to face Punisher with a smug grin) Any questions of your own? ‘Fore someone on the other side wakes you up, I mean. (Unfortunately, the Balancer appears to have disappeared already.) …God damn it, I forgot to ask her name.

Punisher sits up, having been lying on a mattress laid out in the corner of The Bends’ backstage area, taking in her surroundings for a few seconds before getting up, causing the creature curled up on her chest to jump up like a startled kitten.

Kyubey: <Ah, I’m afraid it isn’t morning yet, Punisher. No need to worry, I don’t sense the enemy—>

Punisher: <They’re infiltrating our minds. Arashi saw my memories.> (she paces towards the nearest door, grabbing a zip-up hoodie from a chair) <Where is Worldeater?>

Kyubey: <He is taking care of some matters of his own, as far as I’m aware!>

Punisher: <That fool dragged us all into his domain. He’s giving the enemy free access to our weaknesses—>

Kyubey: <What are you talking about? You have no weaknesses. Certainly none that could be exploited by the likes of Yui Arashi!>

Punisher: <Don’t flatter me… J-Just get him to fix it—Where is my phone?>

Shiori: <Looking for this?> (she grins, leaning against the wall next to the lever that activates the stage’s pulley system, waving a decently sized smartphone in a red case) <Can’t go five seconds without your Candy Crush, eh? Scary assassin needs her blankie?>

Punisher: (she walks up to Shiori, snatching back her phone) <If I were plotting against you, I’d be smarter than to leave any trace about that on my phone, biǎo​zi.>

Shiori: <Ah bloo bloo bloo. So much for doing you a fucking favor. Just when I was about to ask you one.>

Kyubey: (the creature hops onto Shiori’s shoulder) Have you received any new intel, Firestarter?

Shiori: (she grins) I was right about the fucking illusions thing, man. They pulled a goddamn invisibility cloak over that gym to make it look like a pile of rubble, but they’re still usin’ it. If we can reverse engineer that magic, we got these goodie-two-shoes dead to fucking rights.

Punisher: (she briefly looks up from her phone to glare at the two) …

Shiori: <Oh, calm your tits, Panda Express.> (she eyes up her rival, who is wearing a plain T-shirt and shorts) <I know you don’t exactly got the juice for it, but, y’know, now you know how I felt whenever you and the weasel here were dishin’ the dirt in Chinese.>

Kyubey: … What makes you think they’re capable of this kind of trickery, Firestarter? I’ve never seen Arashi or any of her companions ever use a power like that.

Shiori: Ta-dah! (she pulls out her own phone, showing Kyubey a picture before holding it out for Punisher to see as well — Alice standing in the gym, with Aoi behind her, pointing the Chairman’s Baton at the various walls) Turns out if you nag him long enough, the incel will produce results eventually!

Punisher: …

Shiori: <It’s a magic wand! They’re using a  literal fucking magic wand!>

Punisher: <That is a conductor’s baton. Arashi’s roommate is a student at a music university. She is practicing conducting.>

Shiori: <Conducting, my ass! That twerp wouldn’t wanna be found dead in front of a fucking orchestra. That thing… That thing is—I just know it—>

Kyubey: The Chairman’s Baton… so that’s where it ended up…

Shiori: Hah! He knows it! He knows the thing! I was right on the fuckin’ money! I knew it! I knew they were taking us for a ride. Boom! (she twirls up to Punisher, making a provocative hand gesture mimicking an explosion in front of the calmer Balancer’s face)

Kyubey: No wonder you felt… instinctively drawn to it… Satomi Yasuda.

Shiori: (she turns around immediately, glaring at Kyubey) Sorry, what? I thought we’d evolved beyond a need for fucking slave names, furball.

Punisher: (she clears her throat) …

Kyubey: <But your name is all too relevant here, Satomi! You see, that wand Alice is wielding in the picture is not unlike Worldeater’s mask of Backspacer’s—>

Shiori: <We’re not calling him that.>

Punisher: <We’re not calling him that.>

Kyubey: <-camera! An Artifact, containing within the immeasurable power of a fallen Puella Magi, for its wielder to used!>

Shiori: <So… we just lure Ebony Dark’ness Dementia Raven Way here into a fucking alleyway, steal her little disco stick and… voilà! One platter of sanctimonious cunts, ripe for the picking!>

Kyubey: <I believe that won’t even be necessary!> (it hops down from Shiori’s shoulder, turning to Punisher)

Punisher: <Impossible. I can make a duplicate, but the prerequisites for using it remain the same. The duplicate Masque only works because Worldeater has a blood tie with its original owner.>

Kyubey: <No need to worry about that! We have a relative of the Baton’s original owner right here!> (it turns back to Shiori)

Shiori: … What the hell are you—Wait… Are you saying… (she looks back at the picture) And she got it? The one cool thing my fucking name will ever give me, and it went to her? Oh, it’s on. It’s so fucking on!

Punisher: (she narrows her eyes) <This had better work, Fu Hua Zhe. I will not allow her to disrupt your meticulously laid out plans any further. If this doesn’t play out…>

Kyubey: (the creature simply stares at Punisher, wagging its tail) <Do as you are told, Punisher. Plans change.>

Punisher: … (she grunts a dispassionate confirmation, before snatching Shiori’s phone out of her hand, studying the picture from up close for a few seconds, and leaving)