Mu Xi’s icy gaze pierced through the thin black veil, fixed intently on the unconscious Magical Girl—Lily of the Valley—cradled in Huang Xi’s arms.
As the pure white magical ceremonial dress on her body dispersed like shattered starlight, revealing the dust-stained ordinary school uniform underneath, that pale and familiar face was finally exposed without anything to hide it from Mu Xi’s eyes.
Xiao Rou!?
It felt like an invisible sledgehammer had struck her hard!
Beneath the veil, Mu Xi’s red eyes, usually as calm and silent as the abyss, suddenly rippled with a violent storm!
An uncontrollable tremor flashed across her pupils, and the cold mask she wore was instantly torn open with a crack.
That Magical Girl Lily of the Valley who had thrown herself in harm’s way again and again to shield her “Ordinary Citizen Sister”…
That near-stubborn protectiveness—so it wasn’t merely the duty of a Magical Girl or a simple sense of justice…
It was actually… born from the primal, unstoppable care between blood relatives!
The massive shock and a belated, bittersweet warmth instantly swept away the ice wall in her heart.
Mu Xi’s figure, ghost-like, flashed in front of the sole remaining, tottering golden barrier.
She hovered in mid-air, separated only by that thin veil of light, greedily and complicatedly gazing at the peaceful sleeping face of Mu Yurou nestled in Huang Xi’s arms.
The girl’s tightly furrowed brow still hadn’t completely relaxed even in her dreams, but her breathing had stabilized.
“You… Senior, who are you?”
Huang Xi’s voice carried the weakness of surviving disaster and a deep, heartfelt gratitude, her gaze darting between Mu Xi’s mysterious figure and Mu Yurou in her arms.
Mu Xi finally shifted her gaze from her younger sister’s face and looked at Huang Xi.
Her voice, coming through the veil, was low and carried an echo as if from a distant time and space, so cold that there was not the slightest trace of emotion:
“…It doesn’t matter.”
She paused, as if considering her words, then spoke a line like a tombstone’s inscription:
“If I have to say… I’m a ghost returned from hell.”
Her eyes swept over Huang Xi’s exhausted arms that still tightly protected Mu Yurou.
There was a barely detectable fluctuation in her voice:
“Protect her.”
Immediately after, her tone turned steely, an undeniable order:
“From here on, leave it to me.”
Mu Xi’s gaze, as sharp as the finest blade, instantly sliced through the broken shield, stabbing fiercely toward the smoke-filled ruins below!
BOOM!!!
Accompanied by the deafening crash of flying rubble and a roar overflowing with rage, the colossal Abyssal Beast was struggling up from the pit left by the collision!
On its head, the horrific wound left by the Pink-purple Starlight Longsword was surging with dark-purple flesh, writhing and knitting itself together at a terrifying speed visible to the naked eye!
A new layer of chitin armor, growing as quickly as black crystal, sealed up the wound in an instant, even gleaming brighter than before!
The massive jaws opened again, sticky saliva dripping down with a corrosive sizzle.
In its compound eyes, a scarlet light locked fiercely onto Mu Xi floating above, filled with seething hatred and the desire for destruction!
“Heh… Huu…”
A long, cold breath slipped from beneath Mu Xi’s veil, as if suppressing something, or perhaps announcing the beginning of the end.
Her right hand closed as if gripping an invisible object.
In her palm, deep shadow magic gathered and compressed madly like a boiling nebula!
Buzz—!
A Star Radiance Longsword, even longer, its blade wrapped in dense black-purple starlight and radiating a chilling wave of destruction, instantly formed in her hand!
Where the sword pointed, even the air seemed to freeze and twist under the force!
Swoosh—!!!
Without any warning!
Mu Xi’s figure vanished from her spot in an instant!
Leaving only the shrill whine of air being torn!
Her speed exceeded the limits of the human eye, like a bullet fired from hell, cloaked in endless deathly silence, and with thunderous force shot straight at the colossal beast that had just stood up!
First slash!
The blade, black as lightning, tore through the smoke!
Its target: the monster’s massive torso armored in thick chitin!
Screeech—!!!
An ear-splitting metallic grind exploded in the air!
That impenetrable chitin armor was split wide open under the corrosion of black-purple starlight, as if a hot knife were slicing through butter!
Foul, dark-purple fluid spurted out like a high-pressure jet!
Second slash!
The blade did not pause, plunging straight in!
Its target: the writhing, reeking core organs beneath the split!
Splat—!!!
The black-purple starlight exploded inside the beast!
As if a tiny bomb had gone off within its body!
With a muffled boom, shattered tissue fragments and mucus sprayed from the wound!
Just as Mu Xi’s wrist twisted, ready to cleave down a third time with her destruction-wreathed longsword and end this monster once and for all—
ROAR—!!!
The Abyssal Beast unleashed a howl of pain and fury like never before!
Its gigantic body arched violently, and the heavy armored back suddenly split with two massive cracks!
Buzz—!!!
Two pairs of enormous membrane wings, as if forged from metal, edges sharp and inscribed with intricate patterns, burst from the openings!
The wings beat at a staggering rate, stirring a furious storm of air!
Boom!
At that critical moment, the beast’s massive body, leveraging the explosive power of its wings, blasted skyward!
It narrowly dodged the third slash that would have sliced it in two!
“Tsk.”
A barely audible grunt sounded from under Mu Xi’s veil.
Huang Xi, still cradling the unconscious Mu Yurou, watched the intense aerial chase nervously.
That mysterious Senior’s lightning-fast, ruthless, and precise combat style… that overwhelming pressure erupting in desperate crisis…
This figure… this feeling… Why does it seem… so familiar?
A name long ago marked as Forbidden by the Magic Association and sealed in the historical archives drifted up like a ghost from the depths of Huang Xi’s mind…
Crystal Orchid… that legendary… Abyssal Predecessor who slaughtered all her own squad… and ultimately fell, becoming a witch?!
Rip—!!!
Just as Huang Xi’s mind reeled in shock!
Another sudden change!
A figure, faster than teleportation, pure black, appeared above the beast that had just soared into the air, utterly without warning!
It was Mu Ming!
A pure, almost childlike look of excitement—like discovering a new toy—was plastered across her face, her eyes sparkling with dangerous red light.
“Got you! Big bug!”
In her hand was a sword even more twisted in shape, its edges serrated like a saw and oozing sticky darkness.
No fancy technique, only pure speed and strength!
She dove like a meteor, the Dark Serrated Blade in her hand raised high, bringing with it a screech that split the air as she aimed for the base of the monster’s rapidly vibrating, metal-sheened wings—
And hacked down, mercilessly!!!
Splat—
CRACK—!!!
A tooth-grinding mix of slicing and bone-shattering noise echoed!
Like a hot knife cleaving through solidified butter!
Those powerful metal wings supporting the monster’s massive body were brutally severed from the base by this forceful blow!!!
“Yahoo—!”
Mu Ming let out a delighted shriek, flipping nimbly in the air and landing atop the remains of a still-standing building.
The fourth slash—shatter its wings!
Without their support, the Abyssal Beast let out a howl of despair and pain.
Its colossal form, like a stricken fighter jet, trailed shrieking wind and spurting viscous fluids as it—
Plummeted, inescapably, toward the earth!!!
BOOM—!!!
The ground moaned dully once more!
Dust erupted like a tsunami, engulfing the pit where the beast crashed!
The black-haired girl stood atop the broken ruins, giggling, her laughter echoing over the dead silence of the wasteland—a mix of chilling innocence and cruelty.
She curiously shook the darkness-forged blade in her hand, still stained with the beast’s sticky fluid.
“So this… is what it feels like to cut down an enemy?”
She tilted her head, looking down at the smoky pit below, as if savoring the experience.
“Hehehe…”
Her laughter grew louder, tinged with a madness bordering on delirium.
“Hehehe, hahahahaha—!”
She spread her arms wide and shouted boldly into the depths of the dust:
“Let me have even more fun, little bug—!”
Mu Xi hovered quietly in the air some distance away, her red eyes behind the veil calm and cold, merely watching the not-so-distant blackened figure caught up in “game” euphoria, spouting chuunibyou declarations.
The giant beast lay at the bottom of the pit, pinned beneath its broken wings and its own massive weight, unable to escape for the moment.
Dark purple blood flowed in rivulets from its severed wings and huge wounds, soaking the ruins below.
But its tenacious life force was still at work; at the edges of the broken wounds, flesh buds were writhing and intertwining at a rate visible to the naked eye, attempting to repair the terrible injuries.
Mu Xi’s gaze briefly met Mu Ming’s atop the ruins.
No words were needed; a cold, mutual understanding born from shared origins was instantly reached.
For an enemy that had lost its mobility and could only writhe on the ground…
The most thorough “end” the two of them could offer…
There was only one—
Reduce it completely, leaving no chance of regeneration…
Into minced meat.