And these weapons have now arrived on this planet, clashing with humanity.
How many monsters will attack next time? Monice didn’t know.
She only knew that before then, they had to gather more intelligence on these monsters.
“Alright!” Xia Mo nodded, leaping down from the Floating Cannon.
The four barrels of the Floating Cannon aimed at the controlled monster, releasing dazzling beams of light.
Under the impact of the purple radiance, the monster emitted a piercing screech. Its shell developed countless fine cracks under the barrage of magic cannon fire.
After a full thirty seconds, its carapace was finally shattered by the blasts.
Once the shell was broken, the remaining parts of the monster were quickly evaporated and purified by the cannon fire, leaving only a few black shards of Royal-class Monster’s Core falling from where the monster had been.
After firing that shot, Xia Mo’s face turned pale. The half-minute-long bombardment had consumed most of her Magic Power.
“Such strong defense…” She clutched her chest, gasping for breath, her expression heavy.
She thought her cannon barrage was already a standard-level finisher among Initial Bloom-class Magical Girls.
But to expend so much Magic Power to defeat a controlled Demon King? If the Demon King hadn’t been controlled, she would have been utterly powerless against it.
Though three Demon Kings were taken down, the atmosphere on the scene didn’t lighten at all.
Feiqin stopped playing and collected the Royal-class Monster’s Cores from the three Demon Kings.
Then, with a complicated look, she told Monice, “I’ll report this to Headquarters. Your data should be accurate.”
These three Demon King Nightmare Power shards were of lower quality compared to the one previously bitten, meaning these three Demon Kings were weaker than the initial one.
But even these weaker three would be quite troublesome to handle without Luo Shuangyue—an Initial Bloom-class Magical Girl far stronger than the average—helping out.
Xia Mo had to work extremely hard just to kill one. Feiqin’s offensive capabilities were limited.
If Luo Shuangyue were replaced by an ordinary Initial Bloom-class Magical Girl, this battle would be extremely difficult.
What troubled Feiqin even more was the hidden information behind these three identical Demon Kings.
In the vast, boundless universe, there were probably things beyond human imagination!
One shard…
Click!
Two shards…
The pale purple gem gradually stabilized but still trembled slightly.
After adding two smaller fragments of Demon King Magic Power, the gem finally steadied completely.
“Is it done?” Luo Shuangyue, who had been sitting nearby like a father waiting for his child’s birth, quickly stood up and cast her gaze toward the center of the laboratory.
A pale purple, beautiful gem floated in midair, radiating a splendid glow. Just by looking at it, Luo Shuangyue felt that this time it was truly complete.
“Really beautiful… much prettier than yours.” Monice nodded slightly and took the chance to tease Luo Shuangyue.
“What’s wrong with Phantom Scythe’s gem? It has charm, you know!”
“Looks like a villain, unlike hers that looks like a good person at first glance.”
“Judging people by appearances isn’t right, boss!”
Feiqin, who had been watching nearby, was annoyed by their bickering. She cleared her throat heavily, signaling Luo Shuangyue and Monice to quiet down.
“Absorb it. Headquarters is very eager for the results of this experiment.”
After reporting her encounter in Xinghai City to Headquarters, Feiqin had received orders from the Magic Department Headquarters to fully assist Monice’s Spirit Weapon research. As long as Monice’s requests weren’t excessive, they were to be fulfilled.
It seemed that the monster attacks originating from outer space had pushed the Magic Department’s nerves to their limits.
“Understood.”
Xia Mo gathered her Floating Cannon around her, then lightly waved toward the purple gem. It slowly floated toward her.
Reaching out to hold the gem, Xia Mo felt a warm and friendly aura emanating from it. Ye Lin was also eagerly anticipating the upcoming fusion.
“Alright, I’m starting!”
Pointing the gem at her weapon, Xia Mo slammed it heavily onto the Floating Cannon.
The moment the gem touched the Floating Cannon, it dissolved into countless purple sparkles that merged into the weapon.
Immediately, Xia Mo’s weapon began to transform dazzlingly.
Numerous new structures appeared out of nowhere.
The four barrels of the Floating Cannon connected head to tail like the combining robots from cartoons, transforming into a Mechanical Serpent.
On top of the serpent’s head, beams of purple light converged into a petite figure wearing a purple dress—it was Ye Lin’s form, the one Luo Shuangyue had seen earlier.
“Success?” Ye Lin looked down at her hands, clenched them tightly twice, then turned to the crowd around her.
“Why are you so big?”
“Because you shrank.” Luo Shuangyue’s mouth twitched slightly. It seemed Spirit Weapons were always this compact.
Along with the size shrinking, Ye Lin’s appearance became much cuter. Before, she had a mysterious and striking non-human beauty. Now, she looked like an adorable collectible figure.
Luo Shuangyue summoned Phantom Scythe and held her by the collar, placing her beside Ye Lin. She noticed that even among Spirit Weapons, there were height differences.
Phantom Scythe was obviously smaller than Ye Lin.
As a kindred spirit in every sense, Phantom Scythe showed great curiosity.
Her behavior? She opened her mouth, trying to bite Ye Lin.
This startled Ye Lin enough to dodge instantly into the mechanical serpent beneath her feet.
She sensed an instinctive enemy vibe from Phantom Scythe. When Phantom Scythe opened her mouth, the sensation intensified.
If she didn’t run, she would really be eaten! Her intuition warned her sharply.
“That’s a friend; you can’t eat her!” Luo Shuangyue quickly pulled Phantom Scythe back. This little glutton seemed hopeless—always thinking of taking a bite of everything.
“Friend?” Phantom Scythe didn’t understand the concept yet.
But since Luo Shuangyue said friends couldn’t be eaten, friends must not be eaten. Though friends smelled delicious, she guessed.
Luo Shuangyue hurriedly stuffed Phantom Scythe back into her body, not wanting the little one to cause any more earth-shattering chaos. She awkwardly explained to the others:
“Kids don’t understand yet; please forgive her.”
Her Phantom Scythe was completely different from Ye Lin. Ye Lin had a clear consciousness from the start, while Phantom Scythe was a true newborn.
This little one still needed time for education.
Once Phantom Scythe was back inside, Ye Lin cautiously peeked her head out of the mechanical serpent and, looking terrified, told Luo Shuangyue, “I really think she wanted to eat me.”
“Yes. This child doesn’t know what lying means.” Luo Shuangyue nodded. Phantom Scythe was pure to an almost terrifying degree.
She couldn’t lie. When she opened her mouth with an innocent smile, intending to bite something, she genuinely wanted to eat it.
As for the form of the target… Phantom Scythe didn’t care at all. She didn’t understand what those forms meant.
A humanoid being or a bizarre monster made no difference in her eyes.
“Ahem, enough of that. Ye Lin, can you turn my Floating Cannon back to its original form?” Xia Mo interrupted their conversation, asking a more pressing question.
Ye Lin had transformed Xia Mo’s Floating Cannon into a Mechanical Serpent. Could it change back?
Xia Mo didn’t want to switch classes and become a Summoner-type Magical Girl like Long Wen.
“Of course. Not only can I revert it, but I can also change it into other forms.” Ye Lin nodded firmly.
She leapt off the serpent’s head, clapped her palm on it, and the serpent disassembled, reverting to Xia Mo’s four-barrel Floating Cannon.
Compared to the basic version from earlier, the new Floating Cannon now had a shell resembling snake scales, with a multicolored sheen that gave off an eerie and dangerous aura.
“I’m not sure why I can make your weapon change like this. Maybe it’s because of those Demon King Magic Power fragments.” Ye Lin said as she manipulated Xia Mo’s Floating Cannon to transform again.
This time, the Floating Cannon didn’t combine but turned into the shape of the monster that had launched the sneak attack on Xinghai City—a triangular flying craft.
“In this form, your Floating Cannon gains speed, but the control difficulty increases greatly.”
“There’s also a form for close combat, but Magic Power consumption rises.”
Ye Lin controlled Xia Mo’s Floating Cannon to shift into various shapes—flying in the sky, running on the ground, even transforming into a cool motorcycle.
“By the way, if you want the classic Magical Girl magic staff, I can make that too.” Ye Lin waved her hand. The motorcycle instantly disassembled into four differently styled magic staffs.
“This thing… is amazing.” Luo Shuangyue clapped twice. She suddenly felt Ye Lin was quite useful as a Spirit Weapon, able to bring out so many tricks from a simple four-barrel cannon.
Her Phantom Scythe was different—besides being gluttonous, all it did was eat. It consumed her Magic Power and the enemy’s, caring about nothing but eating.
Look at Ye Lin… sigh.
What a difference!
“Let’s test the combat power increase.” Monice’s expression was somewhat surprised but she naturally activated the Void Domain to test the combat boost Xia Mo received from acquiring Ye Lin.
The results came quickly. Xia Mo’s increase wasn’t as high as Luo Shuangyue’s.
Compared to a direct increase in destructive power, Ye Lin’s boost was more indirect.
Controlling four barrels simultaneously was exhausting for Xia Mo. She usually concentrated all four on a single target.
But with Ye Lin assisting, her attack style diversified.
She could control two barrels herself while Ye Lin handled the other two, effectively dividing and overwhelming enemies.
In fact, Ye Lin, as the Spirit Weapon, was better at operating the Floating Cannon than her owner.
After the simple test, Monice pulled Luo Shuangyue out to have her spar with Xia Mo.
“No summoning Phantom Scythe. Everything else allowed.”
To avoid the match being too one-sided, Monice banned Luo Shuangyue’s Phantom Scythe.
Once the fight began, Luo Shuangyue immediately felt that Xia Mo had transformed completely.
The previously somewhat clumsy four-barrel Floating Cannon now seemed truly alive, causing her great trouble.
She tried several times to close in using Butterfly Transformation, but Xia Mo always reacted in time to keep her at bay.
Ye Lin controlled two barrels that turned into flying serpents, frequently harassing Luo Shuangyue, making her rather annoyed.
These attacks might not cause huge damage to monsters, but for Magical Girls, whose physical defense was much weaker than monsters’, they were not to be ignored.
Magical Girls were glass cannons by definition—getting hit once by an equal-level attack usually caused heavy injuries.
Now Xia Mo’s fighting style was like an internal warfare phantom god. Each barrel’s attack power was enough to threaten Initial Bloom-class Magical Girls.
Before, when Xia Mo controlled all four barrels alone, it lacked spirit and fluidity.
Now, the four barrels were incredibly agile—so agile it felt almost sickening.
“Stop, stop. Without Phantom Scythe, I can’t win at all.” After several failed attempts to break through, Luo Shuangyue decisively gave up.
Though the outcome was still uncertain if the fight continued, she didn’t want to endure the miserable experience of fighting four barrels alone.
With Phantom Scythe’s help, Luo Shuangyue was confident she could finish Xia Mo in under a minute.
Phantom Scythe’s favorite opponents were the radiant cannons.
Light cannons without strong special powers were like snacks for Phantom Scythe.
She could absorb the energy inside the cannons and convert it into attacks to throw back.
Perfect for dealing with Magical Girls like Xia Mo.
Unfortunately, Monice had forbidden it.
“Making Dark Moth struggle like that means your practical combat ability has improved by leaps and bounds.” Monice rolled her eyes at Luo Shuangyue’s half-hearted surrender.
But continuing the fight was pointless now. Not fighting was no big deal.
Xia Mo had already shown combat power completely different from before. With Ye Lin’s assistance, her practical ability felt like it had ascended.
Previously, Xia Mo was essentially a stationary turret.
Now, she could switch between forms at will and split her combat power to strike multiple targets.
This was undeniably a huge enhancement.
The weapon transformations were an unexpected bonus with vast development potential.
“I wonder if the Magic Department will be satisfied with this upgrade?” After recording the data, Monice looked toward Feiqin, who had been silently watching.
Feiqin snorted coldly, seemingly ignoring Monice’s gaze, and walked straight over to Xia Mo, patting her shoulder.
“Good results.”
The grudges between her and Monice weren’t going to be resolved with just a few cooperative missions. Neither party wanted to reconcile.
Feiqin tolerating Monice was purely because this Spirit Weapon experiment was vital for the Magic Department.
The department urgently needed any method to strengthen Magical Girls.
“I’ll report the results to Headquarters. In the coming days, people from Headquarters might come to verify the accuracy. Be prepared.”
With that, Feiqin left the laboratory with a stern expression.
Once Feiqin’s figure disappeared beyond the door, Monice let out a mocking chuckle, “Hypocrite.”
“I feel like she’s just putting the bigger picture first…” Luo Shuangyue murmured softly.
Monice’s personality was truly difficult. Feiqin’s restraint in not clashing with Monice earned Luo Shuangyue’s respect.
Yet after Feiqin left, Monice still called her hypocritical. That was a bit much.
“Think what you want. My goal has always been clear. She’s not the only one who dislikes me.” Monice shrugged.
“The Spirit Weapon research isn’t my concern anymore. Next, I want to focus on that cyborg.”
“How long have you been studying him? Still no results? He must be almost roasted by now.”
“I already know how the modification is done, but there’s one problem: how to preserve the consciousness intact during the modification.”
Monice aimed for safe, powerful, and reliable cyborgs—not crazed ones who might defect to the monsters at any moment.
This topic piqued Ye Lin’s interest. As she tried to shape Xia Mo’s weapons into more forms, she pondered for a moment before saying to Monice:
“Demonic Energy naturally carries a strong destructive desire. If you use Demonic Energy to modify a human body, the modified person will inevitably be affected by that desire.”
“Just like Magical Girls who absorb a monster’s Royal-class Monster’s Core—they can’t control the destructive urge within.”
Monice nodded. This was exactly her dilemma.
“Even Magical Girls can’t absorb Royal-class Monster’s Core…”
“Huh?”
Previously, Magical Girls couldn’t absorb Royal-class Monster’s Core. But now, it’s different!
Magical Girls can absorb Royal-class Monster’s Core!