Mu Yurou soared into the sky, her heart pounding wildly in her chest.
She forced herself to calm down, her sharp gaze sweeping over the devastated Binfen District Ruins below.
Twisted steel bars jutted out from broken concrete, the charred remains of burning vehicles scattered in between, thick smoke hanging like an ominous curtain, veiling what had once been a bustling street.
Her eyes finally fixed on the massive creature below—a five-story-tall Abyssal Beast, its oily, chitinous carapace covered with bizarre markings.
Its enormous, ever-moving mandibles dripped foul, viscous saliva that sizzled with a corrosive sound as it hit the ground.
What made her shudder even more was the countless crimson dots glowing in its compound eyes, all of which were now locked tightly onto her white figure suspended in the sky.
A chilling killing intent, as real as needles, pierced through her Magic Barrier, sending a wave of cold throughout her body.
It’s targeted me as its primary threat!
Was it because I tried to block its attack just now?
“Yurou!”
A crisp, anxious call rang out at her side.
Mu Yurou snapped back to her senses, seeing her partner Huang Xi already flying to her side.
Countless tiny, soft golden particles—like dandelion seeds blown by the wind—were floating and swirling lightly around Huang Xi, forming a hazy yet tenacious field of light.
This was Huang Xi’s defensive magic.
“You didn’t need to come after me!”
Mu Yurou’s voice was sharp from nervousness; she didn’t even dare look back, eyes fixed on the Abyssal Beast below as it began gathering strength.
“Take my sister and leave! Get as far away as you can!”
Huang Xi didn’t reply immediately, instead letting out a gentle sigh, her tone carrying a deliberately casual air.
“Ai, you really are a sis-con.”
She tried to lighten the suffocating pressure with her usual teasing.
“Don’t joke around! I’m serious!”
Mu Yurou almost shouted, her voice quivering imperceptibly.
“This thing is too dangerous! You don’t have to die here with me! Go!”
She could feel the terrifying energy radiating from the beast surging even higher, making the air thick and oppressive.
The smile faded from Huang Xi’s face, replaced by a stubborn determination.
She said nothing more but suddenly reached out, warm and steady, to hold Mu Yurou’s hand—the one trembling from fear and gripping her Magic Staff so tightly.
Mu Yurou stiffened all over.
Huang Xi’s palm wasn’t wide, but it was incredibly warm and steady.
That warmth seeped through the thin gloves, like a gentle stream, piercing Mu Yurou’s taut nerves and icy fear, flowing up her arm, smoothing the wild thumping of her heart.
“I told you already,” Huang Xi’s voice was soft but carried an undeniable strength, ringing clearly in Mu Yurou’s ears.
“I’m with you.”
She turned to Mu Yurou and gave her a gentle, encouraging smile, eyes clear and unwavering, as if they weren’t standing at the edge of destruction but basking in the sun on a bright afternoon.
Feeling the reassuring warmth in her palm, Mu Yurou’s violently trembling heart miraculously began to settle, the chill in her fingers dissipating a little.
This silent support was more powerful than any brave declaration.
“How long can we hold out?”
Mu Yurou took a deep breath, forcing herself to focus on the battle at hand.
Her voice was still tense but no longer out of control.
Huang Xi manipulated the golden particles, weaving them into a denser barrier ahead.
“I don’t know. Twenty minutes? Ten minutes? Maybe less…”
Her voice grew heavy.
“Even an Abyssal-Class Magical Girl can’t take this thing down. Its defense and regeneration are just… monstrous.”
“The Seniors all failed…”
Mu Yurou’s eyes dimmed for a moment, recalling the massive magical flashes she’d seen earlier, now silent, leaving only the beast’s rampaging roars.
“I don’t know how they’re doing… I hope… they’re alright…”
That prayer seemed so pale before cruel reality.
“Why hasn’t Support from Other Cities arrived yet?”
“Communications are down. We can’t get through.”
Mu Yurou shook her head bitterly.
When the City Protective Shield broke, most of the Communication Nodes seemed to go down with it.
“It’s just us now…”
“ROARRRR!!!”
A deafening roar, filled with pure destructive hunger, suddenly tore apart their brief exchange!
The Abyssal Beast below moved!
Its huge, armored body erupted with terrifying speed, launching upwards like a battering ram, trailing a nauseating wind and foul spray as it shot straight for the two suspended in midair!
Its gaping maw, bristling with fangs and flying saliva, looked like the entrance to hell itself—ready to swallow them whole!
“It’s coming!”
Mu Yurou’s pupils shrank; all her magic surged up in an instant!
With a shout, Huang Xi unleashed the countless white light particles swirling around her!
BZZZZ—!
Golden radiance flared!
Tens of thousands of pure white light points whipped into a storm, rushing at high speed toward the oncoming beast.
They no longer floated gently but spun, gathering, condensing—
BOOOM—!!!
Like a comet slamming into a planet!
The beast’s monstrous head crashed into the blazing white shield!
The indescribable roar shook heaven and earth!
Shockwaves exploded out in rings from the impact point!
The ruins below suffered yet more devastation; fragile remnants of buildings collapsed like toppled blocks, sending dust billowing skyward!
CRACK…SSSS…
The sound of shattering set their teeth on edge!
The seemingly indestructible [Dandelion Shield], under the beast’s devastating assault, lasted less than two seconds!
Web-like cracks instantly spread across the shield’s surface!
Countless light particles composing the barrier wailed under the immense pressure, bursting and fading!
The shield’s glow dimmed rapidly!
“Urgh!”
Huang Xi grunted, her face instantly pale.
Her body trembled violently, a trickle of blood at the corner of her mouth.
Maintaining such a powerful defensive magic only to have it shattered brought massive backlash.
The white light particles around her dimmed and scattered.
“Huang Xi!”
Mu Yurou cried out, her heart tightening in pain.
“Don’t mind me! Attack it! The connection between its eyes and mouth may be a weak point!”
Huang Xi gritted her teeth, enduring the agony of magical backlash as she pushed her magic again.
The remaining white particles didn’t try to re-form the shield.
Instead, like a swarm of nimble golden bees, some quickly flew to Mu Yurou, forming a thin shield of white light around her, while the rest shot toward the dazed head of the beast, trying to disrupt its senses.
“Understood!”
Determination blazed in Mu Yurou’s eyes.
She gripped her exquisite Magic Staff entwined with pure white lily-of-the-valley blossoms—the Lily of the Valley Staff.
Pure white light erupted from her, the staff’s lily-of-the-valley bud seeming to come alive, petals unfolding in layers, emitting a clear, bell-like hum that swept away the beast’s psychic pressure.
“Bloom, Lily of the Valley! Spear of Purification!”
Mu Yurou shouted, pouring all her magic into the staff!
BZZZZ—!!!
Blinding pink-white light shot skyward!
The dainty Lily of the Valley Staff transformed before her eyes!
Infused with life, it rapidly lengthened and reshaped!
The lilies on it became flowing light patterns along the shaft, the bud at its tip condensing into a razor-sharp, purifying, pink-white star!
When the light faded, what Mu Yurou gripped was a spear over two meters long, swirling with pink-white Starlight, radiating both purity and lethal sharpness—the Starlight Spear!
Where its tip pointed, the air seemed to twist and purify under its immense power!
In that moment, Mu Yurou’s aura soared!
She was Lily of the Valley Magical Girl, the defender of this city! She would protect her sister!
“ROAR!”
The Abyssal Beast shook its head, disoriented by Huang Xi’s barrage, its eyes once more locking onto Mu Yurou and the threatening Starlight Spear in her hands.
With a furious bellow, its massive form adjusted again, armored forelimbs raised like battering rams, slicing through the air.
***
At the same time, elsewhere.
Mu Xi leaned against a cracked, tottering wall, gray dust falling on the frayed hem of her clothes.
She looked up, her gaze piercing the drifting smoke and ash, fixed on the two tiny yet fiercely battling figures high in the sky.
The violent clash of magic flickered like the last sparks of dying stars against the gloomy sky.
She watched that white figure dodge the beast’s deadly claws again and again, watched the golden light persist and reform through each onslaught.
Her long-stilled heart was like a pond disturbed by a stone, sending out ripples of complex emotion.
It had been so, so long since she risked her life to protect someone.
So long that her passion and resolve were nearly frozen solid by guilt.
Yet that Magical Girl Lily of the Valley, a stranger, was willing to risk her life against the Abyssal Beast just to let Mu Xi, an “ordinary citizen,” escape.
“Sigh…”
A soft sigh slipped from Mu Xi’s lips, heavy with unspoken emotion and an almost imperceptible… stirring.
She forced herself to look away, turning toward the school in the far distance, shrouded in smoke.
At least… at least she’d managed to lure the monster away from the School.
Little Rou… should be safe, right?
Now, all that’s left…
Mu Xi’s eyes suddenly sharpened, icy and knife-like, stabbing up at the rampaging beast.
Was to kill that thing—completely.
She hesitated no more, clenching the now-warm Diamond Crystal in her palm.
As if sensing its master’s resolve, dormant for five years, the seemingly ordinary crystal burst into deep, mysterious light!
A surge of profound, refined, and ominous power—hers alone—spread out from her in an instant!
“Transformation…”
Her whisper was like a spell.
In a flash, Shadow Magic, thick as ink, poured from the crystal!
Like living black ribbons, it wrapped and wound around Mu Xi’s slender frame!
Light flowed, fabric formed!
Her worn clothes were replaced by pure black Magic Attire, enveloping her from head to toe.
It was a complicated, elegant black dress, its hem drinking in all the light, standing out starkly against the ruins.
Black stockings hugged her long legs, stretching into the equally dark, sharp-heeled shoes.
Lastly, a gauzy black veil, thin as cicada wings and faintly misty, slipped over her face, leaving only eyes that gleamed with strange crimson in the shadows.
When the light faded, Mu Xi looked down at her appearance—completely different from the starlit battle dress of hope and purity she’d worn five years ago.
Her magic was no longer pure, but as dark and deep as the abyss.
Magical Girl Crystal Orchid had transformed again after five years.
She no longer looked righteous, but like a dangerous witch from the deepest black forests of old legend.
A mixed feeling of self-mockery and chill unfamiliarity swept over her.
“Hahahahahahaha! I finally get to bask in the sunlight!”
A voice much like her own, but shrill and brimming with wild joy, suddenly rang out!
It didn’t come from the outside, but from the seething, warped shadows at her feet!
Like boiling tar, the shadows bulged upward!
Suddenly, a foot—encased in black stockings and an identical black heel—stepped greedily out of the shadowy “swamp!”
Then the other foot.
A figure with her exact build and face clumsily yet excitedly pulled herself up from the darkness!
Her black hair hung in wild disarray, her crimson eyes gleaming with childlike wonder and delight.
She clambered out completely, not caring that her elegant black dress was stained with dust and grit.
She steadied herself, drawing in great lungfuls of smoky, destruction-laced air, chest heaving as if she wanted to swallow the world.
“Ah—!” She even let out a satisfied sigh.
Just like a little girl, eight years old, finally freed after too long locked in a dark room.
She looked around curiously, taking in the ruined landscape, the firelight and shattered buildings reflecting in her red eyes—a face flushed with innocent excitement.
Mu Xi stood silently behind the black-haired girl, a cold spectator, watching her childish antics.
“Disaster-Class Broodmother, you have a body now?”
Mu Xi’s cold voice was like a stone dropped into a still pond.
The black-haired girl’s body jerked, as if she’d only just realized someone was behind her.
She spun around.
Her face, identical to Mu Xi’s, instantly shed its childish innocence, replaced by a smile both cunning and extremely dangerous, the curve of her lips inhumanly eerie.
“That’s right~”
The black-haired girl’s voice was syrupy sweet, stretched out deliberately.
“I can be seen and touched now~ And…”
She tilted her head, crimson gaze fixed on Mu Xi’s veiled face, her smile deepening.
“I have a name.”
“You’re Mu Xi…”
She took a step forward, high heels clicking on the rubble.
“…Then, I’ll be called Mu Ming.”
She stretched out her gloved hand to Mu Xi with ceremonial slowness, as if declaring something.
“Nice to meet you, my other self…”
“…Heeheehee.”
Mu Ming’s laughter echoed over the ruins, carrying a strange, intimate eeriness.
