It’s a pity that neither of those two conditions can be met right now.
Xia Mo is still in her recovery period after disintegration, and Luo Shuangyue’s condition isn’t any better—like a candle flickering in the wind.
What should I do?
White Shadow had already darted past Xia Mo and lunged straight toward her.
As Luo Shuangyue braced herself to keep rolling away, she racked her brain for a way to counter.
The other me in my head—can’t you do something besides eat?!
Other people’s second personalities are always so strong—once they switch, it’s like having a cheat mode. Why is yours so useless?!
But!
White Sword stabbed into the ground, missing Luo Shuangyue’s head by a mere hair’s breadth.
If she hadn’t tilted her head in time, that sword would’ve pierced right through her skull.
Even though she can hardly be called human anymore, and her head is filled not with a brain but some odd thing, Luo Shuangyue wasn’t about to gamble that nothing would happen if her head got run through.
The consciousness Luo Shuangyue was so furiously complaining at felt wronged—she was just a newly born child! Wasn’t knowing how to eat already good enough?
Eat?’
And that was the only suggestion she could offer.
If you eat this White Shadow, wouldn’t you win?
Luo Shuangyue’s face darkened. True, if she could eat this White Shadow, she could win—but how was she supposed to eat this thing?
She was the one getting beaten down, not White Shadow. If she wanted to get close and bite, she’d definitely have to take a stab.
You won’t die. Go eat!‘ The voice inside her rang out again.
I won’t die even if I get stabbed? Is that what you mean? Luo Shuangyue hesitated.
But thinking it over, she really had no other options.
If she kept dodging in this sorry state, sooner or later she’d get stabbed anyway.
In that case, maybe she should trust the consciousness inside her body—this guy surely understood the body better than she did, right?
Her gaze hardened in an instant.
Taking advantage of White Shadow’s formulaic lunge, Luo Shuangyue shot up from the ground like a leopard, dodged the thrust of White Sword, and crashed heavily into White Shadow’s body.
White Shadow stood immovable as a pillar; instead, Luo Shuangyue felt as if her own bones were about to shatter.
But at least she’d gotten close.
Next… following her instincts, Luo Shuangyue opened her mouth and bit down hard on White Shadow’s shoulder.
A pitch-black color started spreading from White Shadow’s shoulder, and Luo Shuangyue felt a torrent of boiling hot magic power pour endlessly into her body.
“This thing’s taste……is really awful.”
The next instant, as Luo Shuangyue struggled to adapt to the terrible taste of this magic power, White Shadow—still pinned by her—thrust backward with the sword, running both Luo Shuangyue and herself through.
Then, the same scalding sensation began to spread from Luo Shuangyue’s impaled abdomen, little by little.
What the heck, this thing really doesn’t care about its life… Oh, right, this thing doesn’t even have the concept of life, so of course it’s reckless.
White Shadow’s very existence was for completing the mission—so what did stabbing itself even matter?
Anyway, she wasn’t human; getting stabbed was just getting stabbed.
But poor Luo Shuangyue, physically connected to White Shadow now, had no way out.
All she could do was desperately absorb every bit of power from within White Shadow.
There was quite a lot of magic power in White Shadow, but this meal was pure torture for Luo Shuangyue—even the glutton inside her head, who always thought about eating, stayed completely silent now, not even trying to seize control of the body.
Apparently, even though she likes eating, she still knows what tastes good and what doesn’t.
Looks like in the days ahead, whenever this guy sees Mother, her first reaction definitely won’t be “I want to eat this,” but rather “this thing tastes horrible.”
Eating this terrible stuff to survive every now and then is one thing, but who would eat it for fun if they had any choice?
The torment lasted for almost half a day before Luo Shuangyue finally finished absorbing all of White Shadow’s magic power.
Good news: she wasn’t hungry anymore.
Bad news: now her stomach hurt.
White Shadow’s disappearance taught Luo Shuangyue a lesson—your mother will always be your mother.
Even if you eat this White Shadow, you’re not getting off easy.
Clutching her aching belly, Luo Shuangyue curled up in Xia Mo’s arms, trembling nonstop, muttering as she shook,
“I might as well have just died!”
She really had absorbed White Shadow’s magic power, but that power’s source was her mother—the legendary Magical Girl, White Night!
How could magic power from such a being be easy to digest? Just like when Phantom Scythe ate Luo Shuangxing’s Sealing Card, Luo Shuangyue was suffering indigestion now.
Mother’s magic power had condensed into a tiny sphere inside her, radiating blistering heat, bringing Luo Shuangyue a dual torment of body and soul.
All she could do was wait for her body to slowly scrape away the magic power from the little sphere, gradually digesting it into her own strength.
There wasn’t much of this magic power, but its quality was astonishing.
At least, Luo Shuangyue figured she wouldn’t feel hungry again for a while.
“I’m going to faint for a bit—be careful not to get bitten by the other one.” Unable to bear the torment, Luo Shuangyue chose to escape, letting someone else take the pain.
She knew her current physical state well. As long as Xia Mo was careful, she wouldn’t get ambushed by the other guy.
Almost all of her body’s strength was being used to digest Mother’s magic power—she didn’t even have the energy to walk now.
“Mm, I’ll definitely protect you.” Xia Mo nodded firmly, wrapping Luo Shuangyue tightly in her arms.
Those White Shadows wouldn’t attack her, so she thought this should keep the sleeping Luo Shuangyue safe.
The girl in her arms closed her eyes, her tense body relaxing in an instant.
Paired with the already lifeless features, it gave Xia Mo a subtle, uneasy feeling.
Why did it feel like she was holding a corpse in her arms?
No, no, don’t think like that—just now, Shuangyue was talking to me just fine, she’s not dead.
“We still have so many things left to do… you promised me.” Hugging the completely unresponsive body tightly, Xia Mo whispered softly.
“Ugh… is this really my Mindspace?”
Ruined walls and a cramped space—Luo Shuangyue looked around in surprise, wondering if she’d come to the wrong place.
But the two shadows sitting by the campfire nearby silently told her this really was her happy old haunt.
“Phantom Thorn, where’s your big house? And what happened to Phantom Scythe—why is she in such a pitiful state?”
Phantom Thorn was still the same as ever by the campfire, except now her face held a strange expression.
Phantom Scythe was another story—just like before when she’d appeared in the outside world, she was nothing but a wisp of faint mist.
Looking up, Luo Shuangyue realized that the Butterfly of Netherworld that used to hang in the sky had vanished.
Could it be that the missing butterfly was the cause of all these strange changes?
“It’s a long story, sigh…” Phantom Thorn beckoned to Luo Shuangyue, motioning for her to come sit.
“So what actually happened?”
“In short, the big butterfly came alive.”
Handing Luo Shuangyue a cup of hot tea, Phantom Thorn exhaled a white breath and explained in a melancholic tone,
“My previous suspicions were right—you’re completely different from those other Magical Girls.”
If this were the old Luo Shuangyue, she would’ve scoffed at Phantom Thorn’s words.
But now, all she could do was rub her nose and accept it helplessly.
Her current physical state was indeed no different from a monster.
“That butterfly meant you no harm. It just wanted to make you stronger, to draw you closer to itself. But sometimes, what it thinks is good for you isn’t really so.”
“You were stuck on how to break through to Full Bloom Class, right? Because of your special physique, you couldn’t use the Magical Girl’s usual method—you needed to absorb monster magic and let your body undergo a transformation.”
“And at that time, the Demon Emperor you encountered was the perfect nourishment, so it took the initiative to seize that nourishment for you.”
After that, Luo Shuangyue knew what happened.
The seniors interrupted the Butterfly of Netherworld’s feeding process, so it could only bring back part of the Demon Emperor’s energy—and she ended up in her current sorry state thanks to that energy’s influence.
So, there was no conspiracy, no one trying to possess her—everything the butterfly did was for her own good?
Wait, then what about the consciousness in my head, the one fighting me for control—what’s that supposed to be?
“You mean that? That’s hard to say.” Phantom Thorn scratched her head.
“I only half-understand your evolution myself, but I figure that consciousness was supposed to merge with you. But because the butterfly didn’t bring enough energy, the two of you broke out of the cocoon before merging.”
Merge into one? With that thing whose whole brain is about eating—even wanting to eat Xia Mo?
Luo Shuangyue, who had just started to think the butterfly was a misunderstood good guy, suddenly wanted to go back in time and slap herself from a few lines ago.
If the butterfly’s goal had really succeeded, would the her who emerged from the Black Cocoon really still be her?
Would she be Luo Shuangyue—or the Butterfly Monarch with Luo Shuangyue’s memories?