Dawn breaks above Mitakihara, though only a few rays of sunshine manage to make their way through the grim smoke rising up from the city. From atop the commercial district’s largest building, Punisher gazes down at the eight-way intersection below, the city’s busiest traffic hub, now swarming with rioters running to and fro, smashing whatever they can get their hands on to pieces, pelting buildings with molotov cocktails and homemade explosives and dragging citizens out into the open to be subjected to unspeakable violence. On various streets, brawls have broken out between the rioters themselves, riddling the concrete, pavement and asphalt with bloodstains as excessively as they are laced with wreckage and trash.

She ignores the screams, the bellows and the sounds of explosions. She sees only the flames licking at the buildings, the towering beacons of civilization returning to ash.

Shiori: (she puts a hand on Punisher’s shoulder, leaning in) <What a sight, eh… Just what your old man would’ve wanted.>

Punisher: (she continues to stare at the fire, letting the flickering flames consume her sight and the smoke penetrate her nostrils until her breathing begins to struggle) …

Shiori: <Crazy story, I gotta say. Easy to find back online, too. But hey, turns out we’ve got more in common than you might think. Who’da guessed Saint Punisher had some anarchist blood flowing through her veins?>

Punisher: (she brushes Shiori off) <My father was a madman… and a murderer.>

Shiori: <Really? ‘Cause the article said he was declared innocent. Quite the controversy, obviously, but hey, maybe the one cool judge in all of China was like “Hey! Maybe this guy is onto something! Maybe burning down a government building is based, actually!”—>

Punisher: <He achieved nothing. Hundreds died and nothing changed. He was declared innocent and nothing changed.>

Shiori: <Never underestimate what lighting a single fucking spark can do, buns. Can’t help but think it was karma, or—>

Punisher: (she clenches her fist) …

Shiori: <Wait… Is that what you wished for? (her eyes widen) Holy fucking tits… You… You wished for your dad to be innocent, didn’t you? You supported—>

Punisher: <Quiet! You ignorant wretch… I was young. I believed in my father’s innocence, and I was wrong. The fires started up again from the moment he stepped out of prison. Within a week he had burned himself to ashes. He was a monster… and I was a fool. He did not believe in anything. He just acted according to his nature. And so do I. So do we all.>

Shiori: <… Not if I’ve got anything to say about it.>

Punisher: <I fail to see how any of this mayhem has anything to do with restoring balance.>

Shiori: <Oh, spare me the fucking pearl-clutching. Miss “you-cannot-deny-your-fate” here’s gonna tell me I’m being naughty? Maybe it’s just in my nature to be a massive cunt. Maybe burning this city to the ground is my fate.> (she makes an exaggerated pouty face) <Pwease don’t bwame me~! I can’t hewp it, uguu~!>

Punisher: <… I will not deny my nature. But at least I can serve a purpose as the blade that I am. A good purpose.>

Shiori: (she scoffs) <… You don’t actually believe the whole entropy story, right? Dude, I quit school at fourteen and even I know Kyubey’s whole “infinite energy” caper is a crock of shit. We ain’t saving the universe with this…> (she makes air quotes with her fingers) <“Balancing” bullcrap.>

Punisher: <Then tell me, biǎo​zi, what is the point of all this?>

Kyubey: (appearing as if out of thin air, he hops onto Shiori’s shoulder, gazing into Punisher’s eyes) <I don’t need you to inquire into Firestarter’s motives on my behalf, Punisher. Firestarter is performing her duties, and perhaps instead of questioning her, you ought to do the same.>

Punisher: <How will any of this arbitrary chaos allow us to take out our targets? I demand to know!>

Shiori: <We’re smoking them out, man! Keep your fucking pants o—>

Punisher: <But we don’t need to smoke them out. We could crush them as we speak. Why are we wasting our time creating a mess we might never be able to clean up? This is not our way.>

Kyubey: <I decide our way.>

Punisher: <Then tell me why this is it, Fu Hua Zhe. Balance matters so that the Path is to be walked in secret. That is what you told me. We must operate in secrecy, or the end will only come sooner. But after this, there will be no more secrecy!>

Kyubey: <Secrecy certainly is convenient, Xiaofei, but it may not come at the expense of our mission. The cancer in this city has grown so big it can no longer be subtly excised. All we can do… is amputate the entire limb.>

Punisher: <But why? … I…> (she shakes her head) <… I don’t understand.>

Shiori: (she shrugs) <It’s balance, man. It’s, like, in our name?>

Punisher: (she points an accusatory finger at Firestarter, hissing) <She doesn’t even believe in balance! You heard her, didn’t you? Why are you letting her do as she pleases? Why are we ruining everything, just to let this entire city pay for the sins of a few?>

Kyubey: (it hops down from Shiori’s shoulder) <You are a blade, Liu Fei. Does a blade question its wielder when he decides to raze the battlefield? A blade has no sense of honor. Whether it is used to fight fair or dirty means nothing to a blade. >

Punisher: <My name… is Punisher.>

Kyubey: <Then why does Punisher falter when she is told to punish?>

Punisher: <… I… If balance truly is what matters… If all it takes to prevent the end is for Puellae Magi to die… Then why don’t we simply go to another city? You offer contracts to the girls there, and I see to it they pay their dues. That will give you the energy you need, no? Why is it so important to you that it is this city’s Puellae who are eradicated?>

Kyubey: (its eyes seemingly a deeper, more menacing red than ever, the creature looks up, gazing into Punisher’s eyes) <Because we are not merely fighting entropy, Liu Fei. The greatest sin that Yui Arashi and her kin are committing isn’t keeping the energy we — and the universe — are entitled to for themselves… not really.>

Punisher: … (she narrows her eyes)

Kyubey: <No. If you truly wish to know why this city must burn… let it be known that it is heresy.