The great castle was a place where the normal rules did not apply. It was truly the realm of its owner, under his complete control. And he was the only living thing in the castle much of the time. His servants did not count. And those he "invited" to take part in his game did not count for long. Many of them had never left. The fortunate ones left behind their stone forms as ghosts. The unfortunates left nothing more than rubble.

Often he brought a group at a time, mostly strangers to each other. Sometimes they formed groups, sometimes they tried to split up. Few made it to the end of his game, but in a way, they all did. For there were truly no winners, not any time his game was played.

His name was Zauberer, and his collection would never stop growing. His collection would never learn the truth. And his collection was hand picked. His collection would stay where they ended the game for eternity without his intervention.

At least, that had been his original plan. Random chance (With a little interference when he wanted to liven things up, of course) had long been how his games were decided, and sometimes, when readying his next game, he would allow random chance to ensnare a few others. Those he did not want to take part in the game as normal.

Of course, random chance was to have very little to do with what would transpire before his next game. His first "winner" had been very much unlike the others, and even he was to learn just how unlike she was.

***

A blonde girl in a maid's uniform crouched behind a small hedge. She had tried walking down the path away from the gardens she found herself in, but when she stopped and turned to look back she found she hadn't moved very far away from the gates at all. And the road never ended if she didn't turn around and look.

Lizlet had no idea how she had got here. All she had done was walk into the kitchen, and she found herself in this strange garden. All she could see beyond the gardens was a Castle, and more worryingly, heavily armed and armoured knights. A forest outside blocked off all passage, and any attempt to walk through the forest had similar problems to the road. No matter how deep she entered, she would either walk forever, or turn and find the road still in sight.

Only moving towards the castle did anything, but the fact those Knights did not look friendly had dissuaded her from approaching. She had no idea at all of her bearings, no stars in the dark sky above giving her any assistance, and the full moon staying still as if there merely to provide just enough light for darkness to become shadow.

As she pondered her conundrum though, Lizlet heard a noise behind her.

"Hello?" A voice said. She nervously turned, and saw a green-haired girl in blue carrying a bow.

"Um... Do you work in this castle? I'm really sorry if I'm trespassing but I can't..." Lizlet began, but the girl cut her off.

"I don't work here. I was hoping you knew what was going on. I can't get away from the gates. I just keep walking..."

"Oh. That's happening to you too? How did you get here?" Lizlet said, feeling sympathy and some relief. At least she wasn't alone here.

"I simply went through a door, and found myself here. Just one minute, there, the next, here. And no doorway behind me to walk back through."

The girl sighed.

"I guess the only way is towards that castle. What's your name by the way?"

"Lizlet." The maid replied.

"Toune. Have you got any weapons?"

Lizlet shook her head. Toune did not seem thrilled at this.

"I guess we just need to try and find another way out. Or if that's no use a way into that castle..."

***

Heading towards the castle, a black-haired girl in a red shirt and black skirt ran around from behind a hedge. Toune aimed her bow, while the girl seemed to ready a magical attack if Lizlet was guessing right. Lizlet simply stood there for a second until Toune relaxed. The girl wordlessly relaxed too, not knowing that only Lizlet had realised she had posed any threat at all. Toune had apparently not recognised it.

"I hadn't expected to find anyone else here..." The apparent-mage said.

"I suppose you have no idea what's happening?" Toune enquired.

The new girl seemed to make sure no one was following before she spoke.

"Not a clue. I was just trying to go into..."

Lizlet and Toune both interrupted her.

"A door and wound up here?"

"Yeah... How did you know?" The girl asked.

"Same thing happened to us. I'm Toune, she's Lizlet. We got here separately." Toune replied

"I'm Rin. I've been wandering around for a while. I've tried leaving through the gate..." She began, but soon learned the others had tried that also. What she moved onto next was not welcome to the others.

"I've been all around the gardens. There's no exit at all. Just trees, hedges, statues and rocks plus random small buildings. The walls are too high to climb by the look of it. But those knights outside the castle don't seen to be moving too far from the walls of that building. I tried to get in and they attacked. There were too many of them all at once so I had to run."  

"How did you hope to fight? Do you have any weapons or abilites?" Toune asked.

"I have magical abilities." Rin simply said. Toune did not seem too pleased at this either.

***

The trio went towards the castle, determining thanks to a rusting weathervane atop a small gazebo that this was the east wing. Assuming the weathervane was telling the truth, that was.

The plan had been to hide and observe the knights, but barely as soon as the trio had crouched behind a hedge did the armoured figures see them.

"Well, I guess that's stealth gone." Toune shrugged, firing an arrow.

The knight she hit fell to the ground, as Rin's magical attacks tore another apart even as the falling Knight suddenly exploded. The knights, armed only with swords, did not last long at range, and the trio did not learn of the risks of being too close to an exploding knight.

The double doors they tried to open were not locked, but something behind them kept them sealed shut.

"Well, I guess we try and find another way in." Rin noted.

"Considering we just blew up those mechanical knights I doubt the owner will be happy." Lizlet noted.

"I doubt the owner didn't bring us here." Toune countered.

"Those knights moved too fast to be normal machines, I think they're something more. But either way I don't think we were really welcome in the first place and I really want to know who brought us here." Rin finished. None of the others disputed it.

***

Searching found another entrance to the west, surprisingly unguarded. The doors also opened with relative ease.

"I don't trust this." Toune noted. Rin and Lizlet nodded their agreement.

The hall they had entered was large, and empty bar . All that showed the castle had occupants were blazing torches on each wall, but the light in the room was far greater than they should have produced. It was just the latest unnatural event so far.

The next was the sudden appearance of a man in ornate robes, flanked by knights. There were four of them, each carrying a shotgun.

"I welcome you to my castle, ladies... But you are in a way uninvited guests." The man in robes said.

"Uninvited? We didn't ask to come here." Toune challenged, raising her bow.

"So fast to be hostile. A shame." The robed figure said with a sigh. The knights levelled their shotguns.

Lizlet had expected Toune to have fired already, and gasped on turning to look at her. Another knight had appeared, and with a touch, had turned her completely to stone. A grey shape in her form aiming the bow was all that remained of the green-haired girl.

Her gasp however, cause the four other knights to all aim at her. But a single shot rang out, and with a cry, Lizlet was hit, finding herself swiftly transformed to stone as well, arms splayed and mouth open in her final scream.

"No!" Rin protested, dodging and destroying a knight behind her. The other shotgun knights fired, but Rin thought she dodged.

Until a bulky, golem-like knight grabbed her, but she did not turn to stone. Instead, she felt her whole body freeze, muscles paralyzed in an instant. Only her eyes could move as the robed figure moved towards her.

"Some magical ability I see. A mere spark in the dark compared to the glowing sun of my power..." He leered as he advanced on Rin.

Her eyes twitched with alarm as his hand neared, and with a touch, a grey wave began to spread slowly out from her stomach where his had touched. In mere moments, the paralyzed girl was a petrified girl.

He waited for ten minutes, the three statues now solid. He inspected each of them, a keen eye for detail sweeping over their freshly petrified forms.

"Hmm. This one reminds me of someone..." He said to no one, as he examined Lizlet's statue. He compared her mentally to the statue of Anri Hiiragi in his collection room, and he laughed.

"Wonderful. I didn't even intend it but I virtually have a twin of an existing statue. You'll be a fine addition to the collection."

With a snap of his fingers, the statue of Lizlet vanished.

"And these two will serve as a good additional warning for my invited guests." He smirked, before vanishing himself.


***

What he found in the throne room was of considerable surprise. The throne room was empty bar one object. His throne. Lizlet was now in her place in the collection hall, but a statue was missing.

There was supposed to be his first "winner" standing as a monument to her success, before his throne. Yet she was now gone.

"It seems even I can be surprised... But not for long." He said, to the stunned realisation of the woman who appeared before him wearing a suit like a straightjacket.

"What... How did..." C.C said in reflexive surprise. She knew fully how.

"I see that your immortality indeed did pose a problem even to my magic, C.C. But I have an offer for you."

The woman span angrily.

"Nothing you can offer can..." She began, only for her to notice the dozen knights that surrounded her in an instant.

"I can have one watch you forever you know. You turn back, and the knight fires. Really, listening to my generous offer is your only choice..."

C.C glared at him in anger, as the smug and victorious sorcerer Zauberer awaited her response.

***

A short time after the sorcerer had left, a number of other women then arrived in the hall, asleep. Unlike the statue, these women were still flesh and blood, for the moment. Only two of the thirteen were friends before, and other than them, none had any reason to help any of the others. For now, though, they were the same.

"Awaken." The Sorcerer's voice commanded.

Each woman stood stiffly, eyes open but blank. They stood in synchronisation, and each truly awoke at the same time. It was at this point they began to be different from each other in actions.

The first to speak was a long-haired brunette woman wearing a miniskirt and tube top. She stared in bewilderment at the other twelve women before her for a moment before she broke silence.

"What is going on here... " She said, even as some of the other women had began to tense up and stare at each other with hostility.

"Ladies, I welcome you to my home for a most special occasion. For today, I, the master of this castle, have extended my invitation to not just your group, but to another. In essence, the two groups are to compete..."

"Compete with what?! And who are these people?" An orange-haired woman in a mostly black dress with a white and blue jacket demanded.

"Perhaps you should first ask who I am, Teana Lanster. I will introduce you all to each other, but first, I shall introduce myself. You may call me The Sorceror, though I do not have to read your minds yet to realise some of you will have alternative names for me. I am master of this castle, and master of this domain. Those of you with magical powers, such as loudmouthed little Lanster, are advised not to bother attempting to locate me with any magic. Don't even bother using it to navigate the castle, for it is futile. Even if you had the power to overcome my enchantments I would soon remove it."

Some of the women seemed annoyed by what they saw as an arrogant bluff by the Sorcerer. He continued speaking, as the women realised they could not. Left with only glares, suddenly having all had their voices temporarily made silent.

"I do so hate being interrupted, so I have taken precautions. Moving on with the introductions! Our other little chatterbox, though perhaps not so little in a certain department, is Tifa Lockheart."

The first to speak noticed the faces and eyes that looked towards her, and felt both embarrassment and pride that some were jealous. Then she noted that some of them were also well-equipped in the same department. Some of them seemed a little embarrassed also, as the others began to look more closely at the women beside them.

"I draw attention now to the other members of the Zeppelin club. Sichte Meister. She is the aquamarine haired woman even more scantily clad that miss Lockheart there."

The woman did not seem fazed by the words.

"Next, Arisu Arisuwaga. The redhead with the bunny ears ornaments."

Arisu was a woman in a white, red and purple dress, with the aforementioned hair and ear ornaments, plus a golden staff. She seemed a little embarrassed by the attention, but not greatly.

"Moving on, the blunette catgirl swordsmaiden, Karurua. In the red robes and skintight bodysuit."

The woman in question showed no obvious signs of concern at being singled out, bar her tail twitching irritably.

"Next is Eri Hasumi. She is the one in the blue top and white skirt with the twin-tail hairstyle."

She had no reaction to his words even as others stared at her.

"Next, with the ridiculously long blue hair in the same fashion as miss Hasumi, and with the tie to match, Hatsune Miku."

The others looked at this girl, who wore a grey shirt, black skirt, long boots and detached sleeves.

"The lady in red, Nina Sakura."

This girl wore a red dress, and was a little disturbed by all the stares.

"The other Eri, this time Sawachika. The blonde in the white, brown and red school uniform. The long-haired schoolgirl with the bloodstained jacket, Kotonoha Katsura."

Some of the other women regarded the latter of the two in uniform with alarm.

"The blonde in the armoured blue dress is Saber, and the brunette girl in blue hotpants and the white hoodie is Yuna.  And lastly, Nina will recognise her now the pair of them have actually noticed each other, Maya Orihara, the other blonde in blue. But not armoured blue, and certainly not carrying a sword."

The women looked at each other as Nina and Maya smiled at each other.

"Any questions?" The Sorcerer asked.

The women fumed silently, as the Sorcerer began to chuckle. He undid the silencing enchantment to a rapid burst of swearing and insults from some of the women. Eventually, they calmed enough for Hatsune Miku to be heard as she spoke.

"Why are we here?"

"Dear me, none of you have noticed any of my decorations. My newcomers, or my long standing exhibit, poor little Mika Alsted Heine." The Sorcerer tutted. The women looked around in confusion.

"...The statues?" Yuna asked, noticing them. The women looked at the statues, including one that had been unnoticed even by her two new roommates as they had met their fates.

This statue, across the room from Rin and Toune, was sitting against a pillar, dressed barely in the tattered and shattered remains of a strapless dress and long above-knee stockings.

She had two long pigtails, though one had suffered damage and was shorter than the other. The rest of her was not in good repair either. Though her face was locked in a grimace of pain, much of the rest of her body was badly damaged. One arm was gone, the left shoulder and chest were virtually nonexistent. The statue had barely stumps in place of legs,  a pile of rubble lying there instead.

"Some sadistic pervert's work that's been vandalised. The other two are just strange statues." Eri Sawachika noted. The other Eri nodded agreement.

"Yeah. What do these hunks of rock have to do with anything?"

Some of the more magically-aware among the women stared at the statues with alarm.

"Some of you get it already, I see. She is a little hint of what you face. You are now my guests, but you are not as such welcome. You are free to roam, to try and find the exit, but be warned. There is no exit for some of you..." He said, lying gleefully.

"...Some of us will be decorations." Yuna said grimly.

"Exactly. If you're lucky. You who are petrified will not be solid rock right away. Examine Mika there, notice the cracks. Damage before she set, so to speak. You have ten minutes from petrification to full invincibility. When set, you cannot ever be harmed. When not, the slightest touch spells cracks if lucky, and rubble if not. But it's a painless existence. Your conscious will fade as you are petrified. Oh, and don't try and curative spells, magical girls. Not unless you enjoy exploding statues."

"So what are we supposed to do?" Yuna asked.

"Leave the petrified behind and try to find the way out. Have fun..." The Sorcerer said, before falling silent.

"Fine then. The way out it is." Hatsune Miku declared, walking over to the double doors, which opened without resistance. The other women waited, as if ensuring nothing was about to happen to her as she walked into the garden.

***

Miku looked round and saw that apparently none of the others had followed her. She kept walking, the gardens still devoid of life. Once in a while, there would be a strange statue. She did not believe for a minute that the story of people turned to stone was true, but still she couldn't help but wonder as the hours of aimless wandering passed in the vast gardens.

"Why do some of these garden sculptures look frightened?" She asked herself.

Miku studied one, a woman sitting down but with her arms trying to cover herself. The statue had a dress that she barely seemed to fit in, and her long hair and stone body had a number of small cracks, but no major damage. The Sorcerer did not bother to let Miku know this had once been Lacus Clyne, for he was enjoying how Miku was ignoring the fact the statues were too detailed to have possibly been sculpted by a chisel.

Along from her was a statue of what looked like a schoolgirl, wearing a cracked and damaged beret. The girl was trying to reach something, it seemed, and had much of her right arm shattered away along with parts of her chest. Amongst the cracked areas of her chest, she could see the clothing she wore was a thin shell, something also shown by the fact the inside of her skirt was not a solid mass. Miku once again spoke aloud, as if to challenge a response from the Sorcerer.

"Why would someone make such a weird statue like this?" She said, oblivious to the fact it had been made by petrifying the unfortunate Matsuri Shiho.

A short distance along from her was a small hedged-off area beside a small hut. Here, five even more run down statues stood in varying states of damage. She would never learn that the two standing side by side near the way she entered the small area were Aki Izayoi and Kallen Stadtfeld. Aki had two long bangs and a pained expression on her cracked face, and it was somewhat strange that she was not a pile of rubble from all the cracks over her. She seemed posed in a way that seemed to indicate trying to use some weapon or power.

Her companion aimed an empty handgun at nothing, where her assailant had stood. Kallen wore detached sleeves, above the knee boots, and the remains of formerly connected shorts and a top that had once been brown but were now the same grey as every other part of her and every other statue. Like Aki, she bore cracks across her body, and on closer inspection, Miku noted the two's damage spread out from one heavily damaged spot, as if they had been shot by something.

The other three statues in the clearing were a badly-damaged long haired girl with a flower-petal patterned eye patch. She had once been Barasuishou, and what she now was, was a terrified looking statue staggering against the wall of the hut, staring with surprise at another statue opposite her. She had her left arm and right leg shattered away, dust still lying below her stone form.

The statue she stared at was the separated remains of what had been Dita Liebely. Miku would never learn that the reason she was in two parts was thanks to how she had been petrified. She had tried to flee her attackers only to be blasted, distracting Barasuishou into her own fate. Her stone legs still tried to run, not moving, while her terrified expression on her separated torso stared with blank, wide eyes back at the statue leaning on the shed.

Another half-statue sat nearby, but lacked legs. Details were hard to make out as the most solid part of what had been Misty Cornwell was virtually just an upper-torso shaped mass of small rocks. Miku discovered that even a gentle prod did not separate the statue, it having set despite the damage suffered.

The final statue lay nearby, with no left leg, and a cracked body. She wore the patchy remains of a short dress and a full sleeved jacket, but held a rifle in her right hand. Strangely, the rifle was not stone, even though Najica Hiiragi had been wielding it in the last battle she had fought. Miku noted she could carefully remove the weapon and found that it was still loaded by accidentally pulling the trigger, causing a single bullet to fire into the remains of Misty Cornwell.

"Whoops..." Miku said, then noted that the gun had not even scratched the lump of rocks any further. She went over to investigate this, as suddenly, five winged robotic shapes landed.

Miku responded by raising her recently acquired gun, shooting two of them, causing them to explode.  None of them seemed to move.

"Well done. A pity I have three more..." The Sorcerer taunted with his ethereal voice.

Not for long, as Miku fired the gun again. Another exploded, but the other two moved. One whipped the gun away, and the other grabbed her by the wrist for just a second, but it had been enough.

With a scream, the wave of petrification spread out from the wrist, freezing Miku in place as her body transformed to stone. She stood now, staring with her wide open mouth at the wrist that had been the location that had doomed her to become the statue she now was.

However, she failed to see that one person had decided to follow her. She had remained hidden, using the other woman as bait for any traps. Kotonoha Katsura had hidden behind the pair of statues that had been Aki and Kallen, watching as the two remaining flying knight robots leapt into the air.

She decided to them run.

***

The others had broken up into random small groups, soon finding a number of branching paths, and a number of divergent ideas. Tifa and Eri had went off one way alone, and the larger group of women had managed to misplace Sichte Meister as they had tried to navigate a maze-like room.

Yuna, Maya, Eri Sawachika and Teana had also managed to become separated from the other three in their group of eight, losing Saber, Arisu Arisugawa and Karura while searching for Sichte. The women had wandered for hours, and somehow, nothing had ever attacked.

The four were now walking along a corridor that overlooked a courtyard, surrounded by the rest of the castle, where Yuna spotted something below out of a window.

"Hey... Isn't that Tifa and the other Eri down there?"

Teana looked, remembering their names and faces also.

"Yeah. But who are those women with them?"

From their vantage point, they could see Tifa and Eri, but thanks to the hedges and foliage below, it was difficult to make out anything but what may have been three other women following behind the two they recognised. The group of possibly at least five walked out of sight entirely.

"Do you think they found the other three?" Maya asked.

"I hope so. I don't think it's a good idea for anyone to walk around this castle alone somehow. Nothing's happened yet, but I don't like all these statues sitting around the place..." Teana said.

At that moment though, they heard a commotion ahead, the four preparing to fight, weapons drawn if they had them. The door in front of them burst open.

To the relief of the four, it was merely the trio of Saber, Arisu and Karurua. The four did not drop their combat stances though, knowing the three were fleeing from something.

"What happened?" Teana shouted, as Arisu slammed the door behind them.

"I think we lost them..." Saber noted.

"Lost who?" Yuna asked.

"We found out that this sorcerer guy isn't bluffing..." Karurua said.

The newly arrived three explained that they had, after walking through a hall with many statues, located a room with a number of camera monitors and a locked door, watching on one as a group of three girls had ran into a room where three others lay strapped into machines. One of the first group had touched a woman strapped into a machine and both had then turned to stone, and despite this, the other two went ahead and touched the other girls.

On other monitors, they watched as others fell victim to traps, not recognising any of those petrified. The three were not dismissive of the claims of the Sorcerer, but still had no reason to believe these videos were real.

And then the door unlocked, to their surprise. Saber had entered cautiously, and to the horror of the three, had found the statues from the first video.

Then a strange knight-like robot had materialised from nowhere. In the tight confines of the room, they could not fight, and had elected to instead flee. They had ran back the way they had came at first, noting with surprise that another statue had appeared on their route. But with no time to check it, they were uncertain if it had been another member of the group.

"So you evaded it?" Teana asked.

"We believe so." Saber replied.

"Okay... So, we've got this group, Shicte is missing, and Tifa and the other Eri have linked up with another group of people. I'm betting we're not the only group he brought here. If we can find others, maybe we can learn something from them and work together to find an exit."

The others agreed.

"Oh, and I suggest we don't split up. Make sure everyone's accounted for and be careful."

The group, now unofficially led by Teana, moved out, uncertain as to the fates of the other women who they had awoken with. At least five of them had been separated from the group, and it was likely one or more of them had met the same fate as the other statues...

In fact, the group had only just met up after the second of the three on their own had become a part of the castle décor. The last of the women all alone was now fleeing from having seen Hatsune Miku transformed to stone before her eyes mere moments before...

***

Kotonoha had no idea what was happening now. It seemed the story of statues was true, and she had simply ran. To her glee though, she had found a gate! Charging out, she ran down the road...

...And kept running. When she looked back, the gate was less than a hundred feet away. No matter how far she ran, it was like she ran on the spot.

"What the..." She asked the air. She walked back to the gate, staring in confusion. She almost missed the red dot of a laser sight on her chest.

Almost. The shot missed as she leapt back into the gardens, diving behind a wall.

Peeking up from behind her cover, she noted a distant shape moving away from the castle's roof. The sniper was moving. She was going to move too...

She did so, only to run into a suit of knights armour carrying a flamethrower like device. She turned to flee, only to be enveloped in a spray of grey gas. With barely a chance to scream, the gas surrounded her, her short cry silenced almost right away. As it faded, it exposed her attempting-to-run form, her mouth open in the surprised, short, final scream.

***

The first of the group to have been petrified had done so not very long after having gotten lost in the mazelike room. Ironically, she had almost made it to the "exit".  Sichte had also encountered the knights, and with almost no trouble had fought them off. Her abilities to manipulate time and manifest knives from nowhere had served her well.

Entering the room, empty bar a throne, Sichte noticed an open door. Cautiously, she moved over and saw a man in robes inspecting a statue. He kept glancing from her to a similar statue.

"Ah, Lizlet. You and Anri resemble each other quite a bit. It's fortunate you were not in the same group. I would have become confused, even with my powers. It seems I do have some limits."

Sichte realised the man was talking to his statues, and perhaps hadn't even noticed her.

"Why, all these guests in the castle tonight... So hard to keep track of them all. They might even slip into the throne room without me seeing... Right, my dear?" He said.

Sichte tensed, and made to fight, only to then realise another person had entered the room. It was a girl in a green dress, with two mismatched eyes, one red, one blue.

The girl then attacked her. Sichte dodged, and was about to try and reason with her, or, if she turned out to be a servant of the Sorcerer...

"Oh, she's not one of mine. Not yet, anyway." He said from the other room. She saw it was full of statues now, and then saw him vanished.

She tensed, and span around expecting an attack from behind. She had been half right, but had she not turned, it would of course have been an attack from the front. A hand reached around, and to her indignant shock, grasped her chest.

She did not have long to be shocked, for with that one touch, she instantly turned to stone, a statue poised to fight with a look of surprise, staring down forever at a phantom hand...

The Sorcerer vanished, leaving the girl in green very confused indeed. She had only ever sensed one person, and it seemed that one person was now made of rock...



***

The remaining eight bar Tifa and the other Eri had now found themselves in a room with many doors.

"Ah, getting very close, ladies. One of these leads to the throne room! And that, dear ladies, is the finish line."

Teana counted the doors quickly.

"Any hints? I'm not a big fan of opening thirty doors that could have a trap behind them..." She asked.

"No clues, ladies. I wish you luck..." The Sorcerer lied, leaving the eight women to ponder their next move...