To be blunt, they didn’t.
Xia Mo had already made her stance clear—she actually liked the current Luo Shuangyue better, not the constrained, hesitant one.
And Luo Shuangxing… compared to a brother, she wanted a sister more.
Well, if the two people closest to her thought the brother Luo Shuangyue was no match for the Dark Moth Luo Shuangyue, then was there really any need for the former?
Might as well just disappear!
“But I…”
Luo Shuangyue felt her thoughts were a mess. Xia Mo’s words made sense, but also felt odd.
Had she already stopped being Luo Shuangyue at some point?
Looking back on the past few years, Luo Shuangyue did feel strange, like acting as Luo Shuangyue was getting harder and harder.
Yet as Dark Moth, she felt a rare ease.
“Of course, if you want me to explain more clearly, that’s fine too.”
Xia Mo placed a hand on Luo Shuangyue’s shoulder and pushed hard, knocking her back onto the bed.
Seeing Luo Shuangyue’s slightly panicked eyes, Xia Mo smiled.
“I like the you now, got it?”
Lying beneath Xia Mo, Luo Shuangyue blinked. She felt her situation was a little dangerous.
Why had Xia Mo’s aggression suddenly increased after learning she was a girl?
You weren’t like this before!
“Xia Mo, you’re a girl. Can you be a little more mindful of your image?”
“Who told someone to keep dangling their secrets like that?”
Shuangyue, I’ve held back for so long.”
Xia Mo lowered her head, a slightly mischievous smile on her face.
“Now we’re both girls. If you won’t take the initiative, then I have to be the one who does.”
I used to think you were a guy and didn’t want to force you.
Now I know you’re a girl. Do you think I’m just going to let you go?
Tonight, Xia Mo was determined to make Luo Shuangyue fully understand her feelings!
The next day, when Luo Shuangyue and Xia Mo arrived together at the Magic Department in Jidong City, Scarlet Feather Flame Princess asked Luo Shuangyue a question.
“Your heartbeat rate suddenly spiked for a while last night. Did something happen?”
After the fight yesterday, Luo Shuangyue and Xia Mo had gone straight back to rest, and the monitoring bracelets on their wrists were never taken off.
Last night, the monitor sent an abnormal signal—Luo Shuangyue’s heartbeat had skyrocketed at a certain time.
So fast it almost broke the limits.
Scarlet Feather Flame Princess was worried enough to want to rush over and check, but Mysterious Dawn stopped her desperately.
Fortunately, the abnormality disappeared after more than ten minutes, and Scarlet Feather Flame Princess let go of the urge to check, refocusing on more important matters.
But now, seeing Luo Shuangyue, she felt it was better to ask out of pure comradeship.
“Nothing happened. Nothing at all.” Luo Shuangyue’s face flushed as she denied Scarlet Feather Flame Princess’s concern.
Did anything happen last night? No way.
How could a childhood friend be pinned down by a green plum and kissed until dizzy?
That kind of thing just couldn’t happen!
“Right, nothing happened. Everything’s normal.”
Xia Mo smiled naturally. “Flame Princess, you’re overthinking.”
Both parties said nothing was wrong, so Scarlet Feather Flame Princess scratched her head and let it go.
Judging by their appearance, it didn’t seem serious.
“You two are here to see Senior Beyond, right? She’s at the Research Institute. Just take this card and head straight there.”
Scarlet Feather Flame Princess knew their purpose well. She handed a white card to Luo Shuangyue and pointed them in the right direction.
As for herself… sigh, no need to say more.
After the big battle yesterday, although the main fight was around Jingan Palace, many places in Jidong City had been damaged by Demons.
She still had to discuss with other departments how to handle the homeless.
And there were follow-ups to the Resentful Spirit Demon King incident. Those who provided technology to Royal-Class Magic Beasts couldn’t be spared—they all had to be brought to the Magic Department for questioning.
Taking down the Resentful Spirit Demon King was the easiest part. The rest gave Scarlet Feather Flame Princess a headache.
She’d rather fight the Demon army for another day than deal with bureaucratic hassles!
Xia Mo and Luo Shuangyue couldn’t empathize with Scarlet Feather Flame Princess’s troubles, since they hadn’t experienced such things.
The Magic Department in Xinghai City was managed by the Director, and Xia Mo only had to fight Demons.
As for Luo Shuangyue, she was just a delinquent who fought.
After saying goodbye to Scarlet Feather Flame Princess, Luo Shuangyue and Xia Mo strolled slowly toward the Research Institute.
The Magic Department in Jidong City was huge, and the Research Institute occupied an area several times larger than the one in Xinghai City.
Luo Shuangyue wandered inside for over ten minutes before finally finding where the Soul Summoner Princess was.
“You’re here? How was your rest?”
The Soul Summoner Princess greeted them happily, waving as they approached in casual clothes.
Behind her, a large group of people in white protective suits were intensely discussing a black gemstone.
Luo Shuangyue leaned in a bit and heard a lot of terms she didn’t understand.
Something about magic power conduction efficiency, something about structure anomalies—basically, a bunch of very technical stuff.
“My body’s mostly recovered, but my magic power isn’t fully restored yet.” Luo Shuangyue answered.
The Magical Girls’ magic recovery speed wasn’t fast, but not slow either. It was dynamic.
If half the magic power was consumed, resting half a day could restore it. But if it dropped below the transformation maintenance level, it would take at least two or three days to recover.
Like now, Luo Shuangyue’s magic power was about two-thirds restored.
“Mm, while you were resting, I had others try some tests. We found that under high-intensity magic power impact, the Demons’ core magic power does show signs of fusion. And after fusion, the core magic power carries characteristics of that Magical Girl’s magic.”
The Soul Summoner Princess led them aside, pointing to several differently colored crystals preserved in transparent cases.
These were fusion crystals created by other Magical Girls under her guidance.
“But it seems the fusion process is too long, or the consciousness within the core magic power is too weak. These crystals don’t have as clear an awareness as that black one over there.”
“So what use do they have?” Luo Shuangyue asked curiously.
The Soul Summoner Princess’s expression turned odd. She knew what she was about to say might be hard to understand, but this really happened.
“They… can strengthen a Magical Girl’s weapons.”
“Ah?”
Luo Shuangyue was stunned, then sounded doubtful.
What? The Demons’ core magic power could strengthen Magical Girls’ weapons?
Why had no one discovered this before?
“How does that work?”
“I don’t know. But it’s not like no Magical Girls have tried to absorb Demons’ core magic power before. The results weren’t good.”
The Soul Summoner Princess shook her head. Actually, Demons’ core magic power being absorbed and used to strengthen Magical Girls was not a recent discovery.
A long time ago, some Magical Girls discovered that they could enhance their power by absorbing the Original Magic Power of Demons.
However, this method of enhancement had a major drawback: after absorbing a large amount of Demon magic power, the Magical Girl’s consciousness would be influenced by the Demon’s own mind, gradually drifting away from the realm of humanity.
At that time, it was hard to say whether the Magical Girl had absorbed the Demon or if the Demon’s consciousness had possessed the Magical Girl.
In any case, the first few Magical Girls who tried this method without exception developed mental issues.
The Soul Summoner Princess, being an expert in this field, had treated those Magical Girls.
“Compared to the time and effort required for later treatments, the increase in strength gained by absorbing Original Magic Power is really too insignificant.”
After realizing this, the Magic Department abandoned the idea of using Demon Original Magic Power for enhancement, opting instead to destroy any such power immediately upon retrieval, so as to prevent the Demons from making a comeback.
Because of this, no one discovered that Original Magic Power actually had another use.
“What is the enhancement magnitude of these Crystals on weapons?” Xia Mo asked directly. “Can they only enhance once? Or can they be enhanced infinitely many times?”
“Based on yesterday’s tests, the Crystals formed by fusing the Original Magic Power of three General-level Demons can only improve a First Bloom-class Magical Girl’s weapon by about a fraction of a percent — very small. But yes, they can indeed be enhanced infinitely.”
The Soul Summoner Princess gestured to a nearby Researcher and took a thick stack of reports from their hands.
“To put it more simply, the enhancement value of these Crystals is fixed. Whether you absorb a large Crystal first or a small one first doesn’t make much difference. Also, a Magical Girl can only absorb Crystals catalyzed by her own Magic Power; absorbing Crystals catalyzed by others will cause rejection reactions in the weapon.”
“So these enhancement items are bound to specific individuals?”
Wait, then what about the black gem formed from the Resentful Demon Emperor’s Core…?
Luo Shuangyue’s gaze involuntarily drifted toward that beautiful black gem.
“You’re right. Only you can use that gem, and there’s a high chance that its enhancement effect on your weapon will reach an unfathomable degree.”
The gap between the Crystals from General-level Demons and Royal-Class Demons can no longer be measured by mere numbers.
Even with the most conservative estimate, the Soul Summoner Princess believed that
this Royal-Class Demon’s Enhancement Gem could upgrade Luo Shuangyue’s weapon to the strength equivalent to a Full Bloom-class weapon.
“Our research on it is nearly complete. All the data to be recorded has been collected. The next step is to record how much it amplifies your weapon.”
The Magic Department’s pace was lightning-fast; everything that needed to be done was completed within a day.
Actually, there wasn’t much data to record — the gem hardly reacted to any external probing.
Too violent an approach wasn’t used either, since the researchers didn’t dare take risks under the Soul Summoner Princess’s watchful eyes.
Besides, the replication efforts on the other side were already showing good results. They decided to focus on the smaller Crystals from there for now, leaving this big gem alone for the moment.
Now with Luo Shuangyue here, the stagnant research could finally take a step forward. How much enhancement could a Crystal left behind by a Royal-Class Demon bring to a Magical Girl?
Everyone wanted to know the answer.