Dark Energy
Origin - Dark Energy
Dark Energy is the only origin that can be connected to another origin, but can also stand on its own.
Dark Energy is also the only origin that cannot be selected by a heroic character. There is no way to utilize Dark Energy in a consistent way without succumbing to its insidious and corruptive nature. Dark Energy, plainly put, is a power source/origin for antagonists.
Dark Energy does not originate from the Dusk Zone, but the Dusk Zone is suffused in it, a mockery of the normal world, twisted and broken, as would be the fate of any world where Dark Energy was predominant.
Dark Energy is maelable, chaotic, and powerful. It is capable of energy blasts, barriers, the creation of monster allies (youma), and more. It can appear in a multitude of (usually but not always dark) colors, shapes, and sounds. A character tapping into it can be terrifyingly dangerous and more than a match for most singular Mahou Shoujo. But at the same time, utilizing Dark Energy causes a person's worldview to warp. They will see their way as the right way and all those who stand against them as enemies to be purged. Where loved lived, jealousy will fester. Where justice would be sought, instead Dark Energy will cause the wielder to seek violence for its own sake. And in the end, the most insidious of all of Dark Energy's warping effects, is despair. For in the end, even the wielder of that energy cannot hide from its destructive urges for long, and Dark Energy corrupts and seeks to destroy everything - even the people who wield it and the monsters who are made of it. It is destruction made manifest.
Staving off that despair is often achieved by leaning into another facet of the Dark Energy emotional web - egotism, hubris, anger, desire. A feeling so intense can stave off the self-destructive despair urge of dark energy, and this is why so many antagonists present themselves in bombastic and overbearing ways. This bombastic self-centered nature, along with the tendency to see conspiracy and enemies even when they do not exist, means that most alliances between wielders of Dark Energy are temporary. Fear mixed with promises of rewards keeps most minions in line, not loyalty... though there are exceptions, some who use loyalty to their superior as the energy they stave off the destructive impulses with.
Dark Energy is extremely susceptible to purification attacks, being what it is, and many magical girls can sense or track it - even if unconsciously through an uneasy feeling that brings them to a too-empty street.
But even with all of these negatives the absolute power of dark energy will continue to pull people into its orbit as it has done for millennia, leading to the need for Magical Girls to cleanse the wielders... or put them down.
