Luo You… no, better call her Herrera now.
She raised her hand and pointed at the humanoid monster.
“You recognize me, and you know the name Felicia… You used to be human, didn’t you?”
“—!”
“That look on your face says I nailed it. How rare. A human merging with a dimensional beast… and you even seem to have retained dominance. Just how many years has it been? What in the world happened over at the Border Sea while I wasn’t looking?”
Whoosh!
The humanoid monster kicked off the ground without warning and vanished at a speed too fast for the naked eye.
It wasn’t attacking—it was fleeing with everything it had.
Only an idiot would dream of going toe-to-toe with that woman.
Even among dragon-class threats, none would be fool enough to try.
They say no one can face a dragon-level dimensional beast alone—but this woman might be the exception.
“So timid,” Herrera muttered as she watched the humanoid grow smaller in the distance, making no move to pursue.
“U-Um, you’re not going after it?”
Luo Zining asked hesitantly from behind.
She had seen the fear in that thing’s eyes.
That meant this girl must hold an overwhelming advantage.
If there was a chance to kill the monster, now was perfect.
“Heehee…”
Herrera turned and stepped up to Luo Zining, asking in a teasing tone, “You okay, little kawaii magical girl?”
“Uh—eh?!”
Luo Zining’s cheeks flushed red in an instant, and her already weakened body grew even softer, her knees nearly buckling.
N-No way!
Just hearing her voice made me feel like this…?!
Seeing the reaction, Herrera reached out and lightly brushed her cheek in a flirtatious gesture.
“What’s your name?”
“Lo—no! I-I’m Little Red Riding Hood!”
The silky touch of Herrera’s gloved hand made Luo Zining lean back, flustered and red-faced.
She whispered, “A-A-And you are…?”
“You heard that thing earlier, didn’t you? I’m Herrera.”
Herrera… Doesn’t sound like a local name. Why does it sound so familiar?
“Senior Herrera, are you a magical girl?”
“That’s a good question,” Herrera said with a gentle smile.
“I’m not. But I do really like magical girls. Especially ones like you.”
Wha—?!
T-Too much! She’s way too smooth!
Luo Zining’s brain overloaded, steam practically rising from her head.
“Stay here for now. I’ll come find you later.”
“Mm!”
Whereas the humanoid relied on sheer physical prowess for explosive speed, Herrera’s movement was utterly bizarre—like a train gliding along an electromagnetic rail.
Her acceleration defied logic, leaving behind a lingering pink afterimage.
What the hell!
What the hell what the hell!!
Why did it have to be her?!
She vanished for years—why now, why me?!
The humanoid’s thoughts were in chaos as it ran wildly, directionless.
“You won’t get away.”
In the middle of its desperate dash, a ripple of pink energy bloomed in its vision—and there she was.
Herrera stood calmly fifty meters ahead.
That speed!
The humanoid grit its teeth so hard it almost cracked them.
There was no slowing down, no dodging.
It lowered its posture and charged even faster.
It knew—when facing Herrera, even the thought of retreat meant giving up every chance of survival.
I’ll crush you!
“Determination is admirable,” Herrera said softly, pink light swirling around her and morphing into a vibrant orange.
“But without friendship or bonds, what does a desperate gamble mean in the face of overwhelming strength?”
“Samsara of the Three Worlds.”
The orange radiance unfurled ahead like a golden road, sweeping the humanoid monster into its glow.
Herrera extended her right hand and closed her fingers slightly.
In that moment, the monster’s gathered kinetic energy dissipated.
It was drawn into the endless sea of light, its body suspended as though trapped in amber.
Sssssss-BOOM!
Herrera’s hand pulled back.
The orange light surged inward, dragging the immobilized creature with it.
In the blink of an eye, the girl in her vibrant outfit moved with ghostly speed and struck out with a punch.
Release—reel back—strike.
Three seamless movements flowed as one, unleashing power that no small girl’s fist should’ve possessed.
Her blow struck the nearly 800-kilogram monster with an earsplitting boom, launching it hundreds of meters into the air.
The impact even left a crater over two meters deep beneath them.
One hit, and half its life was gone.
Herrera casually picked up a bent steel rebar nearby.
She ran her fingers along it like straightening a straw—then her glow shifted from orange back to pink.
“Pink was the last color I awakened—seven years ago. I haven’t used it since, so I haven’t fully explored what it can do. Guess I’ll test it on you.”
To her, pink represented ultimate speed—like the pink comet that once tore across the sky decades ago, a memory etched into her heart.
“Ultimate speed shouldn’t only enhance me. It should work on other objects too…”
Herrera gripped the rebar and aimed at the monster still plummeting from the sky.
Whoosh!
The pink streak shot upward, leaving only a faint blur even in slowed time.
Too fast to see—too fast to react.
The steel bar pierced the humanoid clean through.
Its body began unraveling from the point of impact, as though the molecular bonds that held it together had dissolved.
Within seconds, it vanished into the wind, and the steel bar, unable to withstand the air resistance of such speed, ignited and disintegrated midair.
“Oops, guess I overdid it… Wait, no, I didn’t even use enough power to fully disintegrate it. How did it just die like that?”
If she’d used her custom weapon Null Coral, she might understand.
But this was just a steel bar.
Her first thought was that the monster might be faking it—but the feedback from her hit told her otherwise.
The only conclusion she could draw was that this twisted fusion of human and dimensional beast had some inherent weakness.
She didn’t spare a single moment to mourn its instant death, nor even glance around for leftover traces.
Herrera immediately returned to Little Red Riding Hood.
Today’s the day to unlock a new CG!
……………
At that moment, a panicked voice came through Luo Zining’s earpiece.
“Little Red! Little Red! Report! What’s your status?!”
Zhao Xin’s voice on the other end was nearly screaming.
Just now, she had lost all signals from the other magical girls—except for Luo Zining.
She even suspected that several girls might’ve been wiped out by the humanoid monster in less than ten seconds.
“Mm? I’m fine! A nice big sister saved me…”
Zhao Xin urgently deployed drones to the scene.
“You said someone saved you? Who? Do you know who it was?”
“I dunno… She said she wasn’t a magical girl. Oh, and she said her name was Herrera!”
Luo Zining recalled Herrera’s appearance and added, “She’s really pretty, dressed kind of strange, and wears a mask… Huh?”
Only now did she realize—the two magical girls who had been checking on Yueyuezi moments ago were now collapsed on the ground.
What… just happened?
“LiiiReeeed~”
Luo Zining turned.
Herrera stood behind her, hands clasped behind her back, leaning slightly forward with a cheerful smile.
But because her eyes were hidden behind the mask, that warm, gentle smile radiated not comfort—but the cold, bone-deep horror of an approaching catastrophe.
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