After Ye Wanqing struggled to straighten up, the Edma before her was vastly different from before.
Though her body remained petite, her limbs had completely transformed into dragon claws, a pair of sharp horns stood proudly on her forehead, and behind her trailed a powerful dragon tail nearly as large as her own body.
Golden, circular scales neatly covered her hands, feet, and tail, while her snow-white neck was left with a single, one-foot-long crescent-shaped inverted scale—that so-called untouchable reverse scale.
But what shook Ye Wanqing’s heart the most was Edma’s contemptuous, crimson-gold vertical pupils.
The majestic spirit within them gave an illusion, momentarily making her figure—no taller than one meter fifty—appear as a towering, colossal dragon.
At this moment, the phantom behind Edma no longer held any significance.
It had initially been created for bluffing and to help block the train.
Now that the purpose was fulfilled, there was no reason to waste a great deal of magical power maintaining it.
Edma gave a slight wave of her hand, and the dragon bowed down to lightly kiss the back of her hand, then shrank, curling up to perch atop Edma’s head, forming a dazzling golden crown.
Ye Wanqing, already unsteady, was now pressed down by the overwhelming pressure until she nearly dropped to one knee.
The magic beside her scattered, dissolving into nothingness.
Like a drowning bird, no matter how much it flapped its wings, it couldn’t break free from the weight of the deep water.
Wet wings were not like those of waterfowl…
But Ye Wanqing was a big yellow duck.
Tiny sparks of Fire Core leapt out bit by bit from her side, growing denser and more numerous until they fully covered her flank, blocking Edma’s sight and perception.
These flames, originally formless, now solidified into something almost tangible, like countless hands supporting every part of her body, slowly straightening her bent waist.
Since entering this magic-rich space, these barely visible Fire Cores had been accumulating and building, ready to solidify anywhere at a moment’s notice.
If the enemy here had been on her level, they might have lost the ability to resist unknowingly, their bodies seared by fierce blades of flame emerging from nowhere.
But Edma’s strength was overwhelmingly superior.
Cold sweat trickled down Ye Wanqing’s forehead as she realized in shock that her Fire Cores began resisting her commands when approaching Edma—preferring to extinguish rather than draw near and harm her, as if Edma were their true master.
Edma noticed these subtle changes as well.
She took a deep breath, and in the next moment, a deafening dragon roar echoed across the sky, stretching until it disappeared beyond the invisible horizon.
Ye Wanqing, standing dangerously close, was immediately swept up by the fierce wind, all her Fire Cores flickering out like dying candles in the gust, vanishing without a trace.
“Do you have any other tricks worth showing? Hurry up and use them. Don’t bore me,” Edma said coldly, dragging Ye Wanqing into the Dream World—the place where Motes had once defeated her, a place that had cost her quite a bit of effort.
She had no intention of coming here just to watch her opponent run out of options.
Hearing this, Ye Wanqing, who had already collapsed onto the ground, clenched her silver teeth.
The gap in strength was still too vast.
What options did she have left?
Tricks that could work even against a B-rank opponent?
If she abandoned her identity as a Magical Girl, there were still some, but now she had a better choice—because of Edma.
Ye Wanqing struggled to erect a Flame Barrier, breathing shallowly and rapidly, and pulled a pink Mouse Pager from her side.
Its appearance here was absurdly out of place, but like the button controlling nuclear launches on a president’s desk, though small and unassuming, it immediately grabbed Edma’s attention.
“What’s that?”
Edma narrowed her dragon eyes.
She sensed a considerable danger from it.
Although its magical power was minuscule, it carried a faint aura that seemed to want to surpass her.
Ridiculous.
She was the King Edma Dragon.
What could possibly ride on her head?
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
To be honest, as a Magical Girl, choosing to trust a Witch was quite laughable, but Irina had unwittingly won her trust, persuading her to board the train to G City and now summoning her with this pager.
Though they had only spent a few nights together in the Dream World, having seen some dazzling sights, Ye Wanqing felt as if she’d known Irina for a long time.
Just a single raised eyebrow was enough for her to guess Irina’s intentions.
It was this strange familiarity that dissolved Ye Wanqing’s initial wariness upon meeting Irina and gradually ensnared her.
Witches—the fallen Magical Girls who had descended into darkness—were even more dangerous than monsters.
They abandoned their façades, forsook their pure magic, and embraced their dark sides, acting recklessly and scorning all rules.
Monsters attacked humans; Magical Girls were merely pesky obstacles to them and usually not targeted deliberately.
But Witches were different.
They especially enjoyed toying with other Magical Girls, even assimilating them into their own kind.
Having once been Magical Girls themselves, they knew precisely how to manipulate their peers’ hearts.
Even without relying on magic, they could make a Magical Girl waver with a few words.
They often disguised themselves as innocent girls, casually approaching Magical Girls, then enticing them into “more thrilling than games” activities, slowly grasping their hearts…
This was also one reason Magical Girls couldn’t reveal their identities—being targeted by an unpredictable Witch could be a death sentence.
The above was actually from Su Mu’s fanfiction about Witches in Ye Wanqing’s story.
Coincidentally, reality was just as surreal—if not more so.
So when Ye Wanqing was wandering alone in the Three-layer Dream and was called out by Irina, who recognized her identity, she panicked intensely.
Yet Irina boldly admitted to being a Witch, something Ye Wanqing had never expected.
“Hey, don’t be nervous. I’m not the only Witch here. Sooner or later, someone will come for you anyway. Why not come have a drink with me first—I’m Irina. Nice to meet you.”
The girl wearing a Witch’s hat grabbed her hand without hesitation, speaking with a mischievous tone.
And it was this that gradually bewitched Ye Wanqing, leading her to follow Irina to see the Dreamswimming Fish and countless rare treasures.
Come to think of it, would those count as “more thrilling than games”?
Surely not!
Ye Wanqing suppressed her wandering thoughts and gently pressed the middle button on the pager.
Irina, save me!