It was the day of the challenge with it taking place in a rented stage. Or rather it was abandoned and Rei can’t afford a real stage for now. There were no audience besides the three judges for the day.

First off was Luna Shinozaki, who finished her homework in time to be a judge. She sat next to three other women while looking excited for the acts. She dressed up for the occasion with an Alice in Wonderland inspired outfit with a blue dress and ribbon. Her typical red ribbon is tied to her right arm.

Second judge is Ophelia Greenwald, a recurring renter in Rei’s head shop and a former contestant of ANGA. She looked reluctant to join as she sat next to the cheerful Luna while glaring at the third judge. Crossing her legs, she hoped to see something interesting.

The third and last judge was Princess Genie Schutter, a watchdog between worlds and neutralized any threats to them. She was currently trying to pay attention to the stage but was distracted over how run down the place is. She then looked at Ophelia and gave a weak wave to greet her.

“Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy!” Luna said as she was hopping on her chair.

“Calm yourself child,” Ophelia said. “I’m only here for that discount and I want to make it worth my while.”

“I’m just here as a favor,” Genie said. “Oh, she even offered me a discount as well.”

“When you have to constantly rent your elders, the discount is blessed,” Ophelia said as she glared at Luna. “But seriously, when did Rei get pregnant?”

“She’s not my mom! She’s my older cousin!” Luna said.

“Right…” Ophelia said. “I seriously find it odd that she allowed you to be a judge. I would expect her to use her heads instead.”

“Yeah but Rei said something to do with having two extra great people here for ratings,” Luna said. “I saw you tried out your magic in season one by the way and it was cool!”

“It’s Magick!” Ophelia said. “Magic is different from what I do and I explained it in the show.”

“I can’t seem to find the difference in pronunciation,” Luna said.

“Say Ma.”

“Ma”

“Gi”

“Gi”

“Ck, heavy emphasis on the k too.”

“Ch”

“It’s ck!”

“C. Magic.”

“I give up child!” Ophelia said.

“Now now, it is a bit confusing since they sound similar,” Genie said.

“Ok, our first contestant is… Eriza Bethy! Her title gimmick is transformation,” Luna read from a flashcard.

“These girls better impress me,” Ophelia said.

“I know they will,” Genie said.

“They worked extra hard to make this work,” Luna said as the lights dimmed before aiming at the center of the stage.

On stage, Eriza was sitting on a makeshift throne with some lizardmen bowing down to her. One of them stood up and offered her a present. The demonic dragon queen giggled in delight and licked her lips as she offered her hands over the box.

“Gift from bitch,” the lizardman said before he returned to his spot.

“For me? Oh thank you!” Eriza said as she held onto the box. She hastily opened it to reveal a twisted Rei inside.

“What’s up?” Rei said.

“Oh f*ck you!” Eriza said.

“Hey! Watch your f*cking language, we have a ten year old there!” Rei said. “Oh f*cking God! Being shoved in here is worse than I thought!”

“She noticed me!” Luna said.

“I don’t think that should be a thing here,” Genie said.

“Good lord! Her presence, it’s world breaking! Her existence defies the laws of this world!” Ophelia said. “From what I heard from her, I thought she was some idiot trying too hard!”

“Huh?” Luna asked.

“Where I’m from, demons don’t usually use magic. She needed to be human in some way,” Ophelia said.

“I heard that!” Eriza said.

“Just continue your act!” Ophelia said.

“As punishment for your insolence and foolishness, a fool you shall be!” Eriza said as she had her claws up and slashed at Rei in that box. However, the box somehow was not scratched.

“Ooo,” Luna said.

Eriza threw the box down and suddenly Rei’s neck elongated. Her body fused together and became springy. Her small magician’s hat grew bigger and stretched out. As Rei got up more and more out of the box, it was clear what she had become.

“Oh screw you!” Rei said as she was now turning into a Jack in a Box. Her face grew red as she gained darker red spots on her cheeks. The box grew a handle that started spinning.

“Now remember this! Anyone who dares to defy me will receive no mercy,” Eriza said as she shoved Rei back in the box. She then decided to play around with the Jack in a Box by turning the handle. She expected a surprise but nothing happened. “Must be broken… oh I mean… I intentionally made it this way to raise suspense!”

“Pretty sus to me,” Genie said.

“Agreed,” Ophelia said.

After more turning, the box did open but Eriza was greeted with a punch to the face. The queen flinched and dropped the box while holding onto her face. Rei slowly got out of the box, looking completely normal and annoyed.

“Ah f*ck!” Eriza said.

“So judges, thoughts?” Rei asked.

“Hmm… I like it but a bit too mean,” Luna said with a thumbs up.

“She’s a bitch!” Ophelia said. “Though she might be appealing if we ignore that fact.”

“I mostly agree with Luna, she was a bit too mean,” Genie said.

“You’ll never understand true talent!” Eriza said.

“Been there, done that,” Ophelia said. “Next!”

Suddenly a pink smoke bomb was thrown onto the stage. When it cleared, there was no one else besides Pretty Pink and a box. Said magical girl posed with her wand high in the air.

“Hey guys! Pretty Pink is back in action and I hear someone is in danger!” Pretty Pink said.

“Oh fu… I mean fudge! Getting back in the box hurts even more!” Rei said.

“I shall use the power of love and friendship to free this unfortunate soul!” said the woman as she held out her wand.

“Yay!” Luna said.

“What is this childish nonsense?” Ophelia said.

“Seems refreshing in terms of what magic I seen,” Genie said.

The wand started to glow pink as it was charging up some form of magic. The roaring winds grew louder and louder as more and more energy was absorbed into the wand. Rei could hear the thundering sound of the wand as she shook the box in fear.

“Hey… Rosa, I mean Pretty Pink, no need to go overkill here,” Rei said. “I know I said make it magical but this is too magical.”

“I’ve done this many times!” Pretty Pink said. “Now! Lovely Friendly Beam of Friendship and Love!”

A gigantic pink laser then shot out of the wand, obliterating half the stage. The wind blew the judges’ hair way back from the impact. All that was left from the destruction was half the stage that was left intact and debris laying around.

When the cloud and smoke cleared, Rei was at least safe from the blast. The magician was laying on the ground looking shocked and stunned from the performance. She took a look at herself and felt no pain whatsoever. Whimpering the entire time.

“Wow! That was amazing!” Luna said.

“So barbaric,” Ophelia said.

“Honestly, some thought was put into this to make Rei be alright in the end,” Genie said.

“Thank you everyone! Now for the next performer!” Pretty Pink said flick her wand at Rei and returned her into the box.

“I can do that myself! Ouch!” Rei cried.

As Pretty Pink left, Jeanne appeared with her guitar ready. Her knees shocked as she had to be in front of the camera man and three judges. Less than before but as frightening.

“Um, hello,” Jeanne said.

“Hi!” Luna said.

“I’m here to perform for you all and I hope you enjoy it,” Jeanne said.

“Get on with it girl!” Ophelia said.

“Ophelia!” Genie scolded.

Jeanne started playing some notes that started off as the stereotypical snake song as the box but slowly went into a different song. It somehow flowed naturally as it went into something more rock themed. Each note had Rei inside the box twisted her limbs little by little.

“Ow ow ow ow OW!” Rei cried.

Jeanne got lost in the music as she slowly transitioned to a new genre every minute. Leading to new ways to twist her body. However, Rei was in more pain than the previous performances and Jeanne did not notice. She showed no sign of stopping and not showing any weakness in her performance.

“I like the song but Rei does not look too good,” Luna said.

“Honestly, the pain sounds soothing,” Ophelia said.

“Ophelia!” Genie said.

“What? It helps with the music,” Ophelia said.

After more twisting, Rei was out of the box and looked bruised and sore all over. Jeanne managed to timed it just right to stop playing when Rei was back to normal. The magician tried stretching but it inflicted much more pain. Rei ended up falling onto the ground and stuck there while suffering from the aching.

“Oh no! I’m so sorry,” Jeanne said.

“No no, I expected this,” Rei said. “I honestly thought you did improve a little and thought outside of the box with that problem you had before rehearsal. Just… needed some rest.”

Jeanne quickly played a smoothing song that managed to heal up Rei, getting rid of the bruises and aches. The magician got up and stretched a bit more while cracking her neck. She then detached her head and shook it a bit before putting it back on.

“Seeing Jeanne practice was great and she did improve. However, I do see some problems with the performance,” Luna said.

“She lacked the control but she had the tolerance I suppose,” Genie said. “Great effort though.”

“Needs work,” Ophelia said. “But I can see her getting better when Rei whips her into shape.”

“Alright, our next girl now is Noel!” Rei said as she hopped back into the box.

Noel appeared and gave Jeanne a pat on the back. “You did great.”

Jeanne blushed and said. “Thanks.”

As the vampire left, Noel held a staff that looked like an enlarged version of her wand. In fact, she looked a lot more grander than usual with a more robe like outfit rather than her typical school witch girl dress she had. It was much bigger and oversized, yet Noel was able to move in it with ease. Her hat was bigger yet it fits on her head.

“I command you to rise!” Noel said. “Rise higher than the heavens!”

The background of the stage looked sky like as the box got higher before transitioning to what appeared to be in space. Noel then said some magic words as the box started to configure itself. Sometimes it twisted like a rubix cube while other times it tore itself apart. Odd cosmic music was playing in the background which impressed the judge with the detail.

“So pretty!” Luna said.

“Wow, she really took the performative aspect of the challenge at heart,” Genie said.

“Pretty good for a magician,” Ophelia said.

“Is that even a compliment or insult?” Genie asked.

“Take it as you will,” Ophelia said.

After a lot of configuration of the box, the bottom hatch opened and released Rei from it. The magician fell down and landed on her two feet gracefully with her arms in the air. All while showing off how she was clearly fine.

“Ta da!” Rei said.

“I love this! I really love this! Who can even top this now?” Luna said.

“I definitely agree, this act really stands out,” Genie said. “Not that what the other girls did is bad, just this one feels like something ANGA would have.”

“I would agree based on personal experience,” Ophelia said. “There was a theme and she could act for this role as a grand wizard.”

“The way she used magic on the box looked so cool!” Luna said.

“Agreed,” Genie said. “Now let’s see if the last contestant can top that.”

Suddenly the lights went off with everything appearing darker than usual. When the lights came back on, the stage looked like a sushi restaurant, well sort of. The box containing Rei was on a table with Killer behind it. The bounty hunter was wearing a sushi chef outfit with knives at hand.

“I am a sushi chef now,” Killer said.

“Hmm, something tells me that I would like this girl,” Ophelia said.

“Killer is so cool and very friendly with me. But not so much to Rei,” Luna said.

“Oh right, the bounty hunter who wanted Rei dead,” Genie said. “I hope it’s just an act.”

“Oh no, she means it,” Luna said.

“What?” Genie asked.

“Oh ho, this would be interesting,” Ophelia said.

Killer did what appeared to be a pale imitation of a kabuki dance as she sliced the box. Each slice was smooth and graceful as she shouted a bunch of Japanese terms as if they were background music. The box did not appeared to have any cuts but looked as if it can fall apart if you poke it.

“Now, for the finale!” Killer said as she whipped out two guns.

“Whoa!” Luna said.

“That’s a surprise,” Genie said.

“Oh my,” Ophelia said.

Killer started shooting as holes in the box started showing. None of the bullets hit the judges luckily as a protective Japanese paper wall appeared before them. All the judges can see is a silhouette of the boxes falling off and Rei forming back together. It slowly showed Rei being shot down to death as well.

“Oh no! Rei!” Luna cried.

“Okay, she’s annoying but she clearly does not deserve this!” Ophelia said.

“I hope she found a way out of this,” Genie said.

When the wall fell down, Rei was still standing and all in one piece. She turned around and the judges saw a bunch of bullets just sitting on her back before falling off. Killer remained emotionless but there were small hints of disappointment.

“Sigh. She got away with it,” Killer said.

“Man, that was intense,” Luna said. “But this is messed up at the same time.”

“I know that she intended to kill Rei, but this was impressive as an act,” Genie said.

“The previous act is a spectacle but this was thrilling. Not that I am really into this, but I like this girl,” Ophelia said. “Feels like she is my type.”

“Thank you very much,” Killer said.

…

The judges had time to discuss with each other on who won by counting up on certain factors and how they felt the entire time. All while the contestants were on stage and awaited their judgement. Rei was beside them but clearly looked fatigued from the act.

“After much consideration,” Genie said. “We decided on a winner.”

“And that would be…” Luna said.

“Killer,” Ophelia said in a deadpan voice.

“Huh,” Killer said.

“That’s all you got to say?” Eriza asked.

“Oh come on!” Rei said in disappointment.

“Congratulations Killer,” Jeanne said.

“That act was so suspenseful!” Noel said.

“I still find this all wrong,” Pretty Pink said. “You were trying to kill Rei!”

“I only did what I was told for the act and used my own judgement on the matter,” Killer said.

“For someone so deadpan, you were pretty creative today,” Noel said.

“I am capable of thinking for myself when I need to,” Killer said. “But I felt that your performance should have beaten mine.”

“Oh…” Noel said as she blushed. “Thanks.”

“Don’t worry Noel, you were definitely close to winning and I personally wanted you to win,” Luna said. “At best, a good second place!”

“But Ophelia had stronger emotions on that last act which let us give Killer the win,” Genie said.

“Third would have gone to Pretty Pink, then Eriza, then Jeanne,” Ophelia said.

“Oh no,” Jeanne said.

“Jeanne, we know you worked hard, but you have so much to improve on,” Genie said. “You clearly done so much training but you lack the control. Try to think about that next time.”

“Of course,” Jeanne said meekly.

“That big laser was something but I was surprised that Rei wasn’t blown up,” Luna said.

“I made sure it didn’t,” Pretty Pink said. “In fact, that laser can only destroy evil things and non-living things. This just shows that Rei was not evil all along.”

“Aww,” Rei said. “Thanks girl.”

“As for Eriza, I like the theme but it’s too meh compared to the others,” Ophelia said.

“Plus you were being a bully,” Luna said.

“Oh why you?!” Eriza said before Rei had to restrain her physically.

“Calm down you,” Rei said as she pinned Eriza down. “Since you won Killer, you get a special prize and immunity from being dropped out of the competition.”

“Unhand me!” Eriza said.

“Hooray,” Killer said in a deadpan tone.

“That prize being… a discount to my head shop spa!” Rei said.

“Charmed,” Killer said. “I am curious what that entails.”

“I’ll make it free for you if you don’t attempt to kill me,” Rei offered.

“Hmm… since I do like being a head… I shall make a temporary truce once I get the treatment,” Killer said.

“Really?” Rei asked.

“Honestly, I shouldn’t and I am getting my emotions in the way. However, I got this job before having an actual vacation. I might as well,” Killer said.

“Oh thank God!” Rei said.

“That is rather surprising from you,” Noel said.

“Perhaps my time here changed me a little,” Killer said.

“So um… how will we know who will be kicked out?” Jeanne asked nervously.

“It’s all in the hands of the audience!” Rei said. “Okay people! You get to vote on who gets kicked out and the results will come in about a week or so!”

“Oh no…..” Jeanne cried. “Please don’t vote me out!”

A screen showed some initial stats of votes with Jeanne being the highest. All with comments and racial slurs on her vampiric heritage, mostly the Twilight elements.

“Oh don’t worry Jeanne,” Rei said as she got up. “I won't count the votes from those haters. Most of these are probably jokes.”

“I hope so,” Jeanne said as she hid herself in her hoodie more.

“You all better not vote me out or else!” Eriza roared while breathing fire.

…

“Hi everybody!” Rei said. “Our heads are here to answer questions as always! As a small bonus, you can even ask questions or comment to the losers!”

“Oh no…” Jeanne said.

“First comment!” Rei said.

From Gwiber49: (Due to the length of the comment, it should be noted that the characters did read the message.)

“I still find it weird that you know so much about my sister and I,” Luna said.

“You are still free to comment or ask questions but don’t do anything like that again!” Rei said.

From tigerman2011:

Rei, is there anyway you can hide me from the humans while I visit your show live? Last time I tried visiting, the humans didn't take kindly to an 11 foot tall demon walking across the street, I got a bit carried away, and, well, let's just say heads rolled.

Also, Jeanne, I accidentally got into a fight with your father, how do I get your father to stop attacking me? He even threw an oil tanker at me!

“Damn it, you gave me more work to do after this!” Rei said. “I might have to even get the cops involved!”

“Papà? I honestly do not know. Once he goes after someone, it is really up to your intelligence and wit at that point. I’m sorry,” Jeanne said sadly.

“An oil tanker? Thought vampires use steam rollers,” Rei said.

“When they need to improvise, oil tankers work too,” Jeanne said.

"That's it for today folks!" Rei said. "Be sure to vote who you want out!"