During the tryouts for joining a guild, Cindy was not doing well. She was average at best. Exhausted and nearly out of hope, she dragged herself into the changing room. There, she overheard three girls mocking her ability, saying she could not even use it properly. They imitated the faces she made while struggling, exaggerating her expressions and laughing. Cindy felt her chest tighten with sadness.
Then Lucy and Molly walked in and defended her from the girls. At that time, they were still strangers to Cindy. Lucy and Molly did not tolerate that kind of behavior, so they put the girls in their place by pointing out their own slow progress. The girls grew annoyed and left.
Lucy’s eyes met Cindy’s. Cindy quickly tried to hide herself, embarrassed, but Lucy and Molly approached her and apologized for the girls’ behavior. Cindy said she did not mind. Lucy and Molly began mocking the girls themselves, but Cindy seemed uncomfortable and out of place. They noticed her discomfort and stopped, apologizing for their behavior and explaining that they simply hated people like that. They introduced themselves properly and began getting to know each other. Just as their conversation began flowing naturally, an announcement echoed.
“Everyone, please return to the trial rooms. Thank you.”
The girls decided to go together, but Cindy said she needed to use the restroom first. Inside, she accidentally bumped into one of the three girls who had mocked her. The girls seized the opportunity to lash out at her again. Cindy apologized humbly, but they walked off, still mocking her.
Cindy washed her face and stared at herself in the mirror.
“Come on, calm down. You got this,” she whispered to her reflection.
She went to open the door. It would not budge. She tried again. Nothing. Panic set in. She knocked repeatedly, calling out for help. On the other side, the three girls were laughing as they walked away.
During the trials, the instructor called Cindy’s name, but she was nowhere to be found. Lucy and Molly were confused and worried, but they could not leave—they were about to be called themselves.
Hours passed. Alone in the restroom, Cindy sat in silence. Eventually, she heard someone trying to enter. She sprang to her feet and began shouting. The voices outside belonged to Lucy and Molly. They heard her and asked why she was in an out-of-order bathroom.
“Why are you in an out-of-order bathroom?” asked Lucy sarcastically.
“The other bathrooms were occupied. We had no choice,” said Molly.
Cindy begged them to get her out. Lucy used her telekinesis to manipulate the handle and unlock the door. They pulled Cindy out and asked what had happened. She did not fully understand. Molly went to use the toilet while Lucy and Cindy waited.
Molly noticed something.
“How is this toilet out of order when nothing is broken or leaking?” she asked.
“Really? That’s weird,” said Lucy.
“Who were the last people you saw here?” Lucy asked.
“Those three girls,” Cindy answered.
They immediately understood. Cindy, naive as ever, did not understand why they would sabotage her when she was not even performing well. Lucy suggested confronting them, but Molly wanted revenge and already had an idea. Cindy disliked both plans, but the decision was made for her.
Later, inside one of the halls, Lucy stopped the girls while carrying a box. She handed it to one of them, claiming she was in a hurry because the instructor was calling her. The girls were distracted, asking questions. Lucy smiled.
“If you do this favor for me, I’ll put in a good word for you guys!” she said.
She directed them to a specific room and ran off. The girls carried the box inside. The room was filled with dust and stacked boxes. As they set the box down and turned to leave, the door slammed shut. They tried unlocking it. Nothing. Their abilities did not work either—the room was reinforced with the same diamond material used in Colossal Door artifacts. It required immense power to break. They began to panic.
Outside the room, Molly and Cindy stood with Toad, a worker at the building. He explained the room used to belong to one of today’s guild masters and who was insanely rich decided to reinforce the room with Colossal Door diamonds. Cindy felt uneasy, but Molly assured her it was only to teach them a lesson.
Lucy caught up with them, and they left them in the room while panicking. Lucy, Molly, and Cindy went to the instructor to tell him about Cindy's situation, but he refused to give her a chance. Cindy said, "We don't have any time to go back; we have to move forward." They tried to plead with him, but the instructor still didn't change his mind. Cindy was sad and even decided to take a walk outside to relax her mind. Molly and Lucy joined her.
Outside, the girls went for something to eat, but as they were talking, they could see Cindy's depressed face. They tried giving her hope that there would be other trials, even trying to make jokes, but she was still depressed, just accommodated them with a smile. Molly and Lucy got sick of it; they dragged her from the restaurant to go have fun.
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They had ice cream.
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They went to the arcade.
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They visited the amusement park.
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Then the photo booth.
Some guys tried to flirt with them. Lucky and Molly teased Cindy in front of the guys, embarrassing her deeply. They laughed and pulled her away. Cindy was be annoyed, but Molly and Lucy had an idea to cheer her up. They ended the night at karaoke, promising to sing embarrassing songs just for her. They laughed until their stomachs hurt.
As they walked back late at night, they barely noticed how empty the streets had become. Then they saw smoke. A crowd had formed. The building was on fire.
They rushed forward and saw injured people outside. They saw Toad and went to him to find out what is happening. Toad explained they had been attacked by monsters that emitted fire from their bodies and exploded upon defeat. They first looked like humans, but they changed into monsters after they got denied entry into the building because they couldn't identify themselves and began attacking. Lucy recognized them as shapeshifters—drawn to the spores that Slayers’ abilities emit.
Someone called for healers. The man recognized Cindy from the trials and asked her to help. She froze in fear. Molly and Lucky encouraged her. The man pulled her forward.
Suddenly, Cindy remembered.
“The girls are locked in the room!!” she screamed.
Molly and Lucy both remember, and they asked Toad whether he knew they got out or what. He tells them he is not sure, but probably not. That got them scared, but he reassures them that the fire won't enter because the room is proofed with the Colossal Door's diamond. The girls decided to go in to get them. Toad was confused about how they would do that.
Molly formed a shield around them, allowing them to walk through the flames, upstairs until they had reach the floor of the room. They reached the reinforced room—but had no key. They argued briefly. Molly had to lift off the shield so that Lucy could use her ability. Inside the shield, it blocks abilities from being used. As the shield got lifted, the heat got to them. Lucy uses her ability quickly to unlock the door because the heat was unbearable.
Inside, the girls were collapsed on the floor. Molly pulled them close while Lucy held them together with telekinesis so the shield could encompass them all. It was a struggle. On the stairs, they crumbled and they fell.
On the other hand, Cindy was given a task to heal the people who were injured. She was too nervous, thinking that she might not be of any help. She looked around, and people were suffering. She decided to get her act together and try to heal the people assigned to her. She did her best, and it worked. She was excited, and as she looked around, some people needed healing. She went and healed more people. Cindy looked at a girl trying to heal a man whose leg was half cut off. That girl, as she was healing, blood began dripping off from her nose, then her eyes. Then she just began coughing up blood; that was her limit. Cindy, with her motivation, asked that she try. They agreed. Cindy tries her best to use as much healing power as needed, but even for her, she was not at that level. Blood began dripping out of her nose, then her eyes. They tried to stop it, but just continued. She seemed to be getting the hang of it, but she couldn't take it and coughed up blood. The people helped, a woman knelt beside her and healed the leg effortlessly.
“Your healing ability is a source of medicine and life, not power,” the woman said gently.
Slayers eventually extinguished the fire and rescued the trapped girls.
Investigations were underway, even reconstructing the building. In the meantime, the girls were being schooled by the leader of the investigation team and the instructor in the office about their stupid behavior for locking the girls in that room so they could get revenge for locking Cindy. They disqualified them from the trials. As the girls went out. Cindy began laughing, Molly and Lucy were confused, and she began laughing hard. She starts saying things that happened, and yet their revenge backfired. The other girls began laughing too as they walked out of the station. They spot the girls, and Lucy makes an angry face at the girls. The girls were shocked by it, and she just laughed it off and walked out of the station. Outside, they met up with Toad. They asked him how he was, and he explained he was fired for helping them. The girls felt bad and apologized to him, but he assured them that he was fine, that even the job he was doing was just as dangerous. They said their goodbyes, and they went their separate ways. Toad went his way, and the girls went their way.
In the next trial, the girls got elected into different guilds. They promised to meet each other regularly.
One day Cindy showed up at Molly's house on a rainy day. They both looked at each other and just rushed into each other's arms. They cried their heart out, kneeling down in a hug, crying out in the rain. Lucy had died in one of the Colossal Doors on a mission. Lucy's funeral came. It was an emotional day for Molly and Cindy. In that moment, Molly and Cindy promised to be in the same guild together so they can protect each other. They got in the same guild, built themselves, got in teams with other people, met, and that's where they met Captain Lucky, Drek, Brian, and more of the group. In that guild, all seemed well until now...
Back to the present day.
Cindy still held Molly’s severed head, using her healing ability. Josh told her there was no point—Molly was gone. Cindy did not respond. The captain asks Brian to go talk to her. Brian was hesitant, but he went as he called out her name.
“I know she’s gone. I’m not trying to save her. I can’t save her. Her face… I just need to fix her face. At least she can still look beautiful. At least she can still be fine,” Cindy said, trembling.
Brian silently brought Molly’s body to her. Cindy repaired the broken limbs, the shattered bones—but she could not bring her back.
While everything seemed down, the door opened up, and the group looked at the door slowly. At that door, eight slayers appeared. They were walking in the room. In that moment, Brian tried to shout at the group, but they just kept on moving inside the room as if they didn't hear anything. Brian tries to move, and just like before, he was paralyzed, so was the rest of the group. Brian tries to scream, but nothing. The group still advanced inside the room as if they didn't even exist.
Josh noticed the being’s eyes glowing blue.
“He’s blocking us from interfering,” Josh said.
The captain frowned. “If he didn’t want us to interfere, he would have put us inside a circle.”
The priest answered.
"Because just like us, this is an unexpected visit. The jury only works with conditions given by him. Something unexpected is out of his hands. He doesn't let us interfere because he is getting more in the jury's language worshipers," said the priest
The group could neither hear nor see the others. Even the beam had hit itself. Just as the group got to the center, the door began to close. Just as it was closing, one of the other group members with lightning speed ability tried to run to the door before it closed fully. Before he could get there, on his left side, a soldier-like being had already manifested, holding a battle axe. Without hesitation, it hurled the weapon. The man was obliterated mid-run, just before he could get out. The group was shocked by what they witnessed. Brian and the others were able to move. After that, when the group could now see them, they got confused about where they came from. Out of nowhere, a scream echoed. The leader of the other group was frightened by the scream and confused. But he also couldn't ignore the presence that was there.
To his right—
The being stood.
The Grace Jury.
All eyes widened in horror.
THE DOORS CLOSED FULLY
(GLANG!!)