With an unnerving, practiced ease, Hanavari began to weave her power. The energy from her submission-fuelled abilities flared around her, but instead of the cold, precise output Victor expected, it was sickly sweet and aggressively pink.

"Milly is a very good source," Hanavari cooed, turning her attention to her flatmate. "Milly is submitting all her thoughts about how much she loves Hanavari's sparkly top. And Milly is sending all her cute energy to Hanavari!"

Milly instantly went rigid, her eyes rolling up in a caricature of blissful surrender. "Milly is feeling super empty and ready for more cuteness!" she gasped. "Milly is completely submitting her will to the Great Hanavari's sparkly vision!"

With a snap of her fingers, a torrent of pink, glittering energy erupted from Milly and flowed into Hannah. Hanavari's body arched, utterly consumed by the surge of raw, adorable power.

"Behold!" Hanavari shrieked, her voice now a high, theatrical squeal. "The Great Hanavari's latest creation! A beautiful gift of appreciation!"

With a theatrical flourish, Hanavari manifested a physical object directly in Victor's path. It wasn't a monster, or a wall of shadow. It was a flawless, life-sized, shimmering pink pony, complete with a blonde, flowing plastic mane and an oversized, bejeweled pink saddle.

"A gift!" Hanavari squealed, clapping her hands. "Now the handsome man can go riding with Hanavari! Because riding ponies is, like, super, super fun!"

The pony neighed—a saccharine, computerized whinny—and then trotted forward, its oversized, plastic hooves clip-clopping softly on the sterile floor, heading straight for Victor.

Victor stared at the synthetic abomination, his face a mask of utter, speechless horror. The elegant simplicity of his plan had been violently rejected, and the contamination had now become actively hostile.

"This," Victor whispered, utterly defeated, looking from the encroaching plastic pony to the three giggling, vacant women, "is an existential crime against the very nature of magic."