Hiss!
A purple blade flashed out of the void and struck the body of the Resentful Spirit Demon King with a heavy blow.
The soulburning flame made the Resentful Spirit Demon King shriek in agony; the piercing cry of hundreds of overlapping voices instantly made Luo Shuangyue feel a terrifying pain in her ears.
Even her own magic power rioted in that moment, spikes bursting outward, desperately trying to impale a non-existent assailant.
But this was only the wailing of the Demon King in pain. No matter how the spikes stabbed, they couldn’t reach the true culprit.
Three Full Bloom-Class Magical Girls had already appeared in the sky.
They had been hiding there from the start, silently waiting for the Resentful Spirit Demon King to fall into their trap.
And as they predicted, the Resentful Spirit Demon King—who lacked anything resembling a brain—charged forward without a second thought, stepping straight into the Magic Department’s snare.
A transparent barrier rapidly rose, cutting the battlefield off from the outside completely.
It was also to ensure that, after defeating the Resentful Spirit Demon King, there would be no loose ends left behind.
In this situation, even a Demon King should realize it had been tricked and try to break out.
But the Resentful Spirit Demon King was different.
It was something of an oddball.
It had a bit of a brain, but not much.
To put it bluntly, right now it could only fit the idea of eating in its head.
Trapped inside a barrier? Surrounded by Magical Girls? Those attacks hurt a lot?
Whatever!
None of it matters!
I just want to eat. I just want to fill my belly.
As for what to do after I’m full, that can wait until I’ve eaten.
The Resentful Spirit Demon King was like a rampaging wild boar, madly charging at the line formed by the three Full Bloom-Class Magical Girls.
But even a complete Royal-Class demon couldn’t break through the defense of three Full Bloom-Class Magical Girls, let alone an incomplete form like this.
After several failed attempts that only left it more injured, the hunger-addled mind of the Resentful Spirit Demon King finally cooled a bit. It realized that if it kept this up, it might not get to eat.
There were three opponents—more than itself—so it couldn’t break through.
So what if it just split into four? Three could hold off the opponents, and the last one could go eat, right?
For other demons, this was extremely difficult. Even if they could create clones, those clones wouldn’t be very strong.
And demons generally disliked dividing their power and consciousness.
Creating a couple of small clones was tolerable, but splitting themselves into two or three equally powerful pieces? They would never do it.
But the Resentful Spirit Demon King was different. It was a stitched-together monster from the start, so splitting itself wasn’t a big deal.
That was its greatest difference from other Royal-Class demons.
Because it wasn’t really an “it,” but rather, a “they”!
The black mist rippled, quickly dividing into three large and one small part.
The three larger portions charged at the Full Bloom-Class Magical Girls, while the smaller one lunged straight for Luo Shuangyue.
This move caught the Full Bloom-Class Magical Girls completely off guard—they never expected the demon to pull such a trick.
How could it split itself into four pieces? How would they recombine later?
…Well, for a strange Demon King like the Resentful Spirit Demon King, maybe recombining wasn’t that hard either.
The three large clones were weaker than the Full Bloom-Class Magical Girls, and as soon as they clashed, the magical girls pushed them back hard.
But the Resentful Spirit Demon King never intended to win that fight. It only had one goal—to eat.
Three clones held up three Full Bloom-Class Magical Girls, while the small clone went to feast. How simple.
Right, since the food was here, it could withdraw its power from elsewhere, too, and focus on eating this meal!
So, the Magical Girls fighting undead demons all over Jidong City quickly discovered their opponents were vanishing one by one, with all the black mist converging on Jingan Palace.
The demons gathered at Jingan Palace, and naturally, the Magical Girls gave chase.
Before long, a terrifying army of demons and nearly all of Jidong City’s Magical Girls had assembled outside the palace’s barrier.
The scale of this battle far exceeded the last siege against a Royal-Class demon.
Luo Shuangyue had no idea what was happening outside.
She only knew that the Royal-Class demon hadn’t lied—this Resentful Spirit Demon King really was a glutton!
To eat her, it split itself into four, sending three parts to hold off the Full Bloom-Class Magical Girls and keeping one for her.
“I’ll do my best to hold it off, you run!” Xia Mo raised both hands toward the Resentful Spirit Demon King, the four Floating Cannons behind her spraying deep purple magic power beams.
Her attack had some effect, slowing the Resentful Spirit Demon King down a bit—but only just a bit.
Later, her magic artillery blasts were practically being drunk by the Demon King like juice.
“It has high resistance to pure energy attacks—it can even convert them into its own power!” Luo Shuangyue shouted to Xia Mo as she saw that familiar purple in the black mist.
This opponent had a close combat advantage; long-range magic barrages without special properties would only play into its hands.
The awkward part was, Xia Mo specialized in pure magic bombardment.
Her whole fighting style was artillery—using Magic Artillery to blast her opponents to death. But against the Resentful Spirit Demon King, this tactic was completely suppressed.
“And running is useless! We’re trapped in this barrier! This clone isn’t that strong, we might actually be able to beat it!” Luo Shuangyue gripped her Scythe, thinking that they still had a chance.
After splitting off three clones strong enough to occupy the Full Bloom-Class Magical Girls, the last clone wasn’t particularly powerful—about on par with Scarlet Feather Flame Princess.
It was still stronger than Luo Shuangyue and Xia Mo, but the two of them together could hold it off just fine.
It was a race—would the Resentful Spirit Demon King defeat Luo Shuangyue and Xia Mo first, or would the battle among the Full Bloom-Class Magical Girls end in their favor?
As long as one Full Bloom-Class Magical Girl could lend a hand, the Resentful Spirit Demon King’s clone wouldn’t be able to cause any more trouble here.
“Good! Even if I have to use my cannon as a club, I won’t let it hurt you!” Xia Mo nodded firmly.
Since she couldn’t use her usual Magic Artillery, she’d just smash the Demon King’s head in with her cannon!
“Let me eat, let me eat!”
The Resentful Spirit Demon King was a demon obsessed with eating.
That was reflected in battle—every attack was some sort of mouth.
Those three clones up above used normal attacks, but here, with Luo Shuangyue and Xia Mo, it only wanted to bite her.
Even when its mouth clamped down on Luo Shuangyue’s scythe, splitting its own lips open on the blade, it showed no reaction—just kept trying to bite and tear into her.
Watching so many drooling mouths rushing toward her, Luo Shuangyue couldn’t help but feel nauseated.
Her magic power, reacting subconsciously to her disgust, erupted from her body as jet-black spikes.
But without deliberate control, those spikes were just snacks for the Resentful Spirit Demon King.
Crunch!
A wolf-like mouth bit through several spikes and, after chewing for a bit, the Resentful Spirit Demon King exclaimed in delight.
“Delicious!”
Luo Shuangyue hurriedly swept her scythe, trying to drive it back, but the Resentful Spirit Demon King wasn’t a creature bound by common sense—it didn’t dodge or evade.
The blade sank deep into its misty form, as if stuck in a swamp, unable to move.
The Resentful Spirit Demon King didn’t howl in pain at all—just a little scythe, it didn’t even care.
Hunger—that was its only concern!
“I feel like this thing isn’t a normal close combat monster either.” Facing dozens of huge mouths, Luo Shuangyue performed an intricate dance, where any misstep would end with her being devoured by the Demon King.
Duang!
At the critical moment, Xia Mo finally charged in with her cannon to the rescue.
A powerful impact knocked the Resentful Spirit Demon King askew, and Luo Shuangyue finally wrenched her weapon free.
She’d still come out a little worse for wear in that first exchange.
“What’s the big idea, making a monster like this? Aren’t they worried about losing their own position?” Luo Shuangyue muttered under her breath.
Complaining about the culprit wouldn’t solve anything. Standard ranged Magic Artillery and close-range attacks barely hurt the Resentful Spirit Demon King—so what would?
She looked up to see how the Full Bloom-Class Magical Girls were suppressing it and got an idea.
Two of the Full Bloom-Class Magical Girls relied solely on their raw power to overwhelm the Resentful Spirit Demon King, preventing it from absorbing their magic power.
That obviously wouldn’t work on her side—Xia Mo’s output wasn’t that high.
But the greatest advantage belonged to the Soul Summoner Princess, who used her magic power’s special effect on consciousness.
A slash of purple fire could make the Resentful Spirit Demon King howl.
Maybe she could try fighting like the Soul Summoner Princess?
Luo Shuangyue’s magic power had the Death Attribute—maybe that could hurt the Resentful Spirit Demon King.
With that thought, Luo Shuangyue channeled magic power into her scythe. Once the blade was shrouded in a grayish darkness, she slashed at the Demon King again.
Hiss!
The Resentful Spirit Demon King, just like before, didn’t dodge—swallowing Luo Shuangyue’s scythe whole.
“Weird taste, but delicious!” The Resentful Spirit Demon King sounded delighted. Its other mouths didn’t wait around, launching a fierce assault on Luo Shuangyue.
The food inside was delicious, but it was so hungry—it wanted to eat faster.
Luo Shuangyue saw a faint layer of gray mist appear on the Resentful Spirit Demon King.
That was her Withering Magic, and its life force seemed to weaken with its presence.
It worked!
If the Resentful Spirit Demon King would just stand still and absorb her magic, Luo Shuangyue felt she could poison it to death with Withering Magic.
But the problem was, the Resentful Spirit Demon King was too greedy—if she didn’t let go of her scythe, she couldn’t avoid being devoured by all those mouths.
Before she could overstuff the Demon King, she’d be torn apart and eaten first.
With no other choice, she signaled Xia Mo to swing her cannon and bail her out again.
“It works, but I don’t know how to make it absorb enough magic power to die.” If her test hadn’t worked at all, Luo Shuangyue wouldn’t be this frustrated.
But her magic power was effective, and she now saw a way to kill the Resentful Spirit Demon King.
Only one problem remained: how could she make it obediently stand still and eat her magic power?
“If you fire your Magic Artillery, the shockwave will block it, and it’ll absorb the magic power inside.” Xia Mo thought it wasn’t a problem—just bombard the demon, like before.
For ordinary Magical Girls, that really wasn’t an issue.
But Luo Shuangyue was different. She… wasn’t really good at firing Magic Artillery.
“I can’t do it!” Luo Shuangyue said awkwardly.
Her ultimate move was turning into a swarm of butterflies to shred her enemies, not blasting them with artillery.
She could try, but the consumption and power wouldn’t be worth it.
She might not even kill the Resentful Spirit Demon King.
“How can you not know how?” Xia Mo almost blurted out, ‘Then how did you act all high and mighty training us as Bai Ye—’ “My fighting style isn’t Magic Artillery! Your family’s cat can’t use Magic Artillery either!” Luo Shuangyue retorted loudly.
Yes, among the three Magical Girls of Xinghai City, Siam couldn’t use Magic Artillery.
That example left Xia Mo speechless. Come to think of it, maybe it did make sense that Luo Shuangyue couldn’t fire Magic Artillery?
So now what should they do about the Resentful Spirit Demon King? Just run around dodging?
“There must be a way, there has to be… Right! You can fire the Magic Artillery in my place!” After a three-second brainstorm, Luo Shuangyue slapped her palm in realization.
She wasn’t good at Magic Artillery, but Xia Mo was. Her weapon was made for it.
So all she had to do was channel her magic power into Xia Mo’s body and let Xia Mo fire the cannon for her!