A group of Shadows attack while they're all distracted!

(chapter originally by Phantom Pen at writing.com)

While Yukari desperately tried to think of a halfway decent way to deflect any possible suspicion, she noticed a slight movement from behind Mitsuru. It took a moment for Yukari to fully realize what she'd seen, but realization dawned quickly enough: it was a Shadow!

"Senpai, behind you!" Yukari cried.

Eyes widening in surprise, Mitsuru spun around just in time for the Shadow to crash into her midsection. The impact sent the redhead flailing to the ground, the dark creature's arms wrapped tightly around her. Shortly after hitting the ground, the sound of tearing fabric could be heard. From the sudden reddening of her cheeks and the look of shock on her face, it was plainly obvious where the sound was coming from. The Shadow was actually trying to tear off Mitsuru's blouse!

"Quickly, get it off me! Aigis, destroy it!" Mitsuru shouted, desperately pushing at the mass of darkness currently wrapped around her.

"The risk of friendly fire is too great." Aigis stated, her robotic tone giving away a hint of despair. "I cannot engage without injuring you."

Before Mitsuru could even get her next sentence out, the imperiled redhead felt a shift in the creature's weight. With the sound of a great tear, the Shadow went flying off Mitsuru, her now ruined blouse still in its grip. Looking up, Mitsuru saw her savior: Minako, her foot still raised from a strong kick, looked on in surprise and slight embarrassment as she realized what she'd just facilitated. Quickly regaining her senses, Minako knelt down, helping Mitsuru back to her feet while studiously trying to look anywhere but at her senpai's newly exposed flesh.

Both girls jumped at the sound of gunfire. With the Shadow now separated from Mitsuru, Aigis must have felt safe to engage the enemy, riddling the dark creature with dozens of bullets. The Shadow writhed in pain, went still, and dissipated. To everyone's shock, however, the ripped blouse in its hands dissipated along with it!

"I-impossible!" Mitsuru stammered out. "Why would my blouse disappear with it?"

"A question for a later time, senpai!" Minako said, hurrying to where the group's weapons were hidden. "We're not done yet!"

Looking around, the other three women realized that Minako was right. They were far from done; a small swarm of Shadows had managed to find them while they were focused on Yukari. With their ambush turned around on them, the element of surprise was on the Shadows' side! The mass of dark creatures didn't waste any time in pressing the attack, closing in as Minako desperately tried to distribute the weapons and Evokers to Mitsuru and Yukari. So focused was Minako, in fact, that she failed to notice a Shadow approaching her until it had leaped up and grabbed onto her skirt!

"Eek! NO!" Minako screamed, swatting at the Shadow. However, the creature didn't seem to mind, roughly yanking on Minako's skirt in spite of her blows. With the sound of a failing zipper, the Shadow pulled its prize right off Minako's legs, leaving the young lady with her panties openly on display! As the Shadow pulled away from Minako, Aigis quickly adjusted her stance, taking aim at the offending creature.

"Aigis, don't shoot!" Yukari shouted, doing her best to avoid the Shadows trying to advance on her at the same time. "If you kill it now, the skirt will disappear!"

However, this exposed a different problem. The Shadow with Minako's skirt, now with its prize and not under attack, quickly skittered away into the night, its retreat covered by the swarm of Shadows that remained.

"We're screwed either way!" Minako cried, awkwardly trying to cover her panties while wielding her polearm. "We've gotta kill them before they can grab anything!"

Frantically trying to fend off the sudden attack, the four SEES operatives fought bravely. With their dignity on the line, the battlefield was a mess of nerves, fear, and adrenaline. Still, the four were vastly outnumbered, and it was simply impossible to fend off every advancing Shadow. As it was, their only hope was to hold off the attack until the end of the Dark Hour without losing too much. The four women fought their hardest, and as the Dark Hour finally came to an end and the sky returned to its natural dark blue, the outcome of the battle was-