Isn’t that a bit too bold?
“I discovered this Teleportation Gate outside Neptune Orbit. At the time, there was already a pretty sizable Magic Army gathered outside the gate. I threw a Singularity at them and wiped them all out,” Singularity recounted her impressive feat in a remarkably calm tone.
After annihilating the Magic Army, she stared at the Teleportation Gate they’d been guarding and thought for a couple of seconds.
Figured this thing might be useful, so she just tore off half the gate with her bare hands and brought it here.
As for the other half, she sent it off to the underworld together with the Magic Army.
“I figured you all might be interested in this thing, so I brought it back.”
The Blooming-Rank Magical Girls in the conference room let out a round of complaints.
Almost every Magical Girl present in this meeting room held some official post at Headquarters, and now that Singularity had dragged in something this huge, it was them who would have to suffer for it.
Luo Shuangyue didn’t really care about all these roundabout details behind the scenes.
The moment she saw the Teleportation Gate, a bold idea popped into her head.
This thing looks like it’s made from Demons.
If I eat it, could I maybe learn how to make a Teleportation Gate myself?
Thinking that, Luo Shuangyue immediately raised her hand. “I want to study this Teleportation Gate!”
Fifteen minutes later, Luo Shuangyue staggered out from the ocean of Magic Power, dizzy from Singularity’s Gravitational Capture.
It wasn’t that it had taken her fifteen minutes to get here—it was that the senior Full Bloom-Class Magical Girls spent all that time arguing.
Only after their debate was settled did they finally approve her request.
And as for getting here, it had taken Luo Shuangyue less than a second.
In fact, if Singularity hadn’t fished her out midway, she probably would’ve overshot her destination.
“This thing is huge.” Only after standing in front of the Demon Teleportation Gate did Luo Shuangyue truly realize how gigantic it was.
Its size was measured in kilometers. Standing before it, Luo Shuangyue felt like an ant.
This Teleportation Gate had no hint of technological flair; its construction material was a horrifying, pitch-black mass of flesh and blood, with countless eyes and grotesque limbs sprouting from its surface.
It looked as if countless Demons had been crudely fused together.
It was hard to imagine that something like this could enable long-distance teleportation for Demons.
It didn’t make any sense.
But these days, science didn’t have much use anyway, so Luo Shuangyue could accept the existence of such a thing.
While Luo Shuangyue was sizing up the colossal structure before her, Phantom Scythe had already grown impatient and leapt out of her body.
The little one sensed the scent of delicious food; her instincts told her she’d finally get a good meal today.
Black mist at her back transformed into various utensils—knives, forks, and more.
If Luo Shuangyue wasn’t restraining her with Magic Power around her waist, this little one would’ve already pounced to feast.
“This Teleportation Gate is made from countless General-level and King-class Magic Beasts. In terms of sheer scale, it’s not much different from a Royal-Class Magic Beast.” Seeing Phantom Scythe itching to go, Singularity couldn’t help but laugh.
But before the little one started eating, she still explained the basics of the Teleportation Gate to Luo Shuangyue.
Ninety percent of the gate was made from General-class Magic Creatures; the remaining ten percent, which were the important parts, consisted of King-class Magic Beasts.
So many Demons fused together meant their combined magic energy far exceeded what an ordinary King-class Magic Beast could possibly have.
Of course, compared to a Royal-Class Magic Beast whose magic energy had undergone a qualitative transformation, it still didn’t measure up. But if things like this started appearing en masse on the battlefield, Magical Girls would absolutely be in for a hard fight.
After all, even a Full Bloom-Class Magical Girl would need a couple of strikes to kill one of these things.
If she didn’t kill it, she’d have to keep striking until she did.
If a Royal-Class Magic Beast had an army of hundreds of thousands of these, wouldn’t the Magical Girls be done for?
Singularity pondered—at best, she could slap a few hundred of these Demons to death at a time.
But if the enemy used sheer numbers to overwhelm her, things could get pretty serious.
“The outermost layer of flesh isn’t much use. Those parts just draw in Magic Power and keep the Teleportation Gate running.”
“What actually matters are those black threads that look like worms—they act like wires and chips in electrical devices, and are the most crucial.” Singularity pointed at a few Black Threads pinned motionless by gravity as she explained.
“If you want to eat, start with those.”
With that, she lifted the Gravitational Capture on the Black Threads.
The moment they regained their freedom, the Black Threads started thrashing wildly, and the whole Teleportation Gate began to stir.
But the awakening was quickly interrupted by Singularity. With a bizarre distortion, the entire Teleportation Gate quieted down once again.
Luo Shuangyue released her hold on Phantom Scythe, letting the little one hunt for food herself, while she unleashed a swarm of Butterflies to start devouring the exposed Black Threads.
Very quickly, Luo Shuangyue realized a serious problem.
The Teleportation Gate was simply too enormous.
The Black Threads, though they seemed like only a small part of the gate, were actually as thick as skyscrapers.
Her tiny Butterflies nibbled away at the Black Threads with all their might, but after several minutes, they’d only chewed off the outer skin.
Phantom Scythe ran into the same issue, but she was full of clever eating tricks.
She simply transformed into a state of black mist, expanding herself to the same size as the Black Threads, and began swallowing them in huge gulps.
This form consumed Magic Power at an incredible rate.
Usually, if Phantom Scythe pulled a stunt like this, she’d drain Luo Shuangyue’s Magic Power dry in minutes. But this time was different.
What Phantom Scythe ate was being directly converted into her own Magic Power, supporting her massive size.
It was a wasteful way to eat, but neither Luo Shuangyue nor Phantom Scythe cared about how much Magic Power this Demon Teleportation Gate could give them—they cared about the information contained within that Magic Power.
As long as they could learn how the Teleportation Gate was constructed, even if eating it didn’t improve their strength, it would be totally worth it for Luo Shuangyue.
“Not good… too much Magic Power—I can’t use it all…” Before long, Luo Shuangyue felt a swelling sensation inside her; it meant her body had reached its maximum Magic Power capacity. If she ate any more, she’d explode.
And she hadn’t even eaten one percent of the Teleportation Gate yet.
♥
This feast seemed a bit too extravagant, too nourishing for her current self.
Talk about a—happy problem.
“Can’t eat any more?” Singularity stroked her chin, muttering to herself.
“Why not try using up all your Magic Power?”
Since her belly was already full, just dump everything out, like the pool manager in elementary school math problems—let the water out as you fill it, keep the Magic Power in dynamic balance.
“I’ll give it a try.”
Any other Magical Girl, faced with this, would have to give up—Magic Power absorbed couldn’t be directly used.
And if you used up all your own Magic Power, then refilled your body with undigested Magic Power, you’d end up with a stomachache.
But Luo Shuangyue was different.
Her ability to absorb Magic Power was incredibly strong—what she swallowed would almost instantly become her own strength.
According to Phantom Thorn, it was all thanks to that Butterfly of Netherworld—anything that went into its mouth could instantly be converted into Luo Shuangyue’s power.
So Luo Shuangyue didn’t need to worry about eating herself sick; she just had to use up all the excess Magic Power that had nowhere to go.
“With such a rich feast, feels like I could do so, so many things.”
Boom! Boom! Boom!
In the dark realm of consciousness, Phantom Thorn watched pieces of ring-shaped debris fall from the sky, an odd expression on her face.
These fragments crashed down like meteors, leaving countless large and small craters in the Forest Park she’d painstakingly built.
Did that one have any idea how long it had taken her to painstakingly siphon power just to build this nice, relaxing park for herself?!
A giant black hashtag popped out on Phantom Thorn’s forehead.
Speak of the devil, and she appears.
Just as Phantom Thorn was thinking of dragging Luo Shuangyue here for questioning once she fell asleep, a frantic, girlish cry rang out from the sky.
“Waaah! It’s so high—why can’t I fly anymore?!”
The next moment, the silver-haired, silver-eyed girl fell from the sky in an extremely ungraceful pose, smashing the little round table in front of Phantom Thorn, the one set with tea and pastries, to pieces.
A second black hashtag appeared on Phantom Thorn’s forehead.
Right now, she felt her rage could burn this hateful world to ash.
Then, a bizarre creature made entirely of black mist, several dozen meters tall, also plummeted from above.
Seeing her oldest Manor about to be smashed into a giant pit, Phantom Thorn’s fury finally exploded.
“You two idiots, go to hell!” Pitch-black Thorns surged from her shadow, grabbing the black mist monster and tearing it to shreds in a few swift moves.
“Waaah!” Phantom Scythe let out a terrified cry as she was yanked from the black mist.
She realized that the bad woman who’d taught her so many things was very angry now.
When Phantom Thorn got mad, she’d be in deep trouble!
In Phantom Scythe’s not-so-bright little mind, the most important thing was Luo Shuangyue; the second most important was eating; the third was never angering Phantom Thorn.
And when Phantom Thorn was mad, the second and third most important things swapped places.
“I’m sorry!” Phantom Scythe shouted her apology without a moment’s hesitation.
“What’s going on? Wasn’t I just eating outside…” Luo Shuangyue clutched her head and sat up, confusion on her face as she looked at Phantom Thorn.
In her last memory, she’d only eaten a small part of the Teleportation Gate; everything had been going so smoothly.
She’d turned all the excess Magic Power into her ultimate moves and Sealed them into Fake Sealing Cards.
Even if these cards couldn’t compare to the real thing, and their Magic Power cost meant they were barely useful, at least she’d put the surplus Magic Power to some use.
But as she ate and made cards, somehow, everything suddenly went black and she fell in here?
Pa!
A merciless hand chop landed hard on Luo Shuangyue’s head.
“Using magic costs not just Magic Power! Did you forget that casting magic also uses Mental Power?!”
“Huh? I ran out of Mental Power? But I don’t feel tired at all?” Luo Shuangyue’s eyes were blank.
Of course, she knew that casting magic required Mental Power, but just before falling in here, she’d felt totally energized, at her absolute peak.
So how had she run out of Mental Power?
“But you fell straight in here and lost all the strength you should’ve had—doesn’t that say it all?” Phantom Thorn shrugged.
She had no clue what had happened outside, but seeing Luo Shuangyue drop in like this was definitely a sign of Mental Power exhaustion.
As for the details—were they important? Not at all, thank you.
“And what exactly were you two doing? A bunch of junk just fell from the sky, Phantom Scythe turned into that monster…?” Phantom Thorn continued nagging Luo Shuangyue and Phantom Scythe like a worried mother.
“Eating yummy stuff!” This time, it was Phantom Scythe who answered Phantom Thorn’s question.
As she spoke, Phantom Scythe reached into her own head, fished out a wisp of black mist, and handed it to Phantom Thorn.
The bud at the tip of the Thorn opened, swallowing the mist.
Phantom Thorn went silent for a few seconds as she quickly reviewed Phantom Scythe’s memories.
In the consciousness space, communication was that simple and direct.
Now, Phantom Thorn knew where those falling fragments had come from—and why Phantom Scythe had ended up in that state.
“You two really are hopeless. If you’re not dead from eating, you just keep stuffing yourselves! Moderation, do you understand the meaning of moderation?!”
The Thorn took the shape of a hand chop and struck both Luo Shuangyue and Phantom Scythe hard on the head.
It didn’t really hurt, but Luo Shuangyue obediently lowered her head, looking a little embarrassed.
She felt like she’d caused Phantom Thorn quite a bit of trouble.
“I’ll be more careful next time!” she promised loudly.
Only after making her vow did she remember something even more important. “By the way, did the Butterfly of Netherworld extract the information about the Teleportation Gate from all that Magic Power?”
That was the most important thing right now!
This question made Phantom Thorn look troubled.
Usually, any information the Butterfly of Netherworld extracted from Demons would be stuffed straight into her mind.
But this time, things were different.
That information seemed to have materialized directly as fragments, turning her Forest Park into a lunar landscape.
“It should be extracted… but you might have to test your puzzle-solving skills.”
“Huh?!”