At least, Luo Shuangyue wasn’t willing.
And now, these King-class Magic Beasts clearly didn’t possess the unique kind of magic power only Magical Girls had, so to Phantom Scythe, they were nothing but a buffet.
Crunch, crunch—yet another Demon was entangled by Phantom Scythe’s tendrils of black mist and swallowed whole, accompanied by chilling chewing noises.
Luo Shuangyue felt her own strength increase yet again.
When it comes to fighting Demons, it really is best to let an expert like Phantom Scythe handle it.
Watching her artifact spirit slaughter enemies left and right, Luo Shuangyue suddenly felt a bit embarrassed as the supposed master.
In just a short time, Phantom Scythe had devoured three Demons under the focused fire of the monsters, while Luo Shuangyue was still busy scraping away at another Demon as if giving it a massage.
“This really makes me feel useless. I’m supposed to be a warrior, not a Summoner-type Magical Girl!” She swung her blade forcefully, completely shattering the Demon in front of her, then summoned her Butterflies to devour its remaining pieces.
In this battle, not a single bit that could be recovered should be wasted—any waste at all could ultimately lead to failure.
The Butterflies absorbed the Demon’s remains and flew back to Luo Shuangyue, helping her recover the magic power she had just expended, and making the black aura around her deepen.
A somewhat strange sensation rose from deep within her. She felt… hungry.
She wanted to devour everything before her.
If she could eat these things, then she would… what would she do?
Luo Shuangyue’s thoughts suddenly cut off for a moment.
She felt as if she’d just remembered something extremely important, but no matter how she tried, she couldn’t recall it.
“Weird, forget it. Let’s finish off these guys first!”
“This is…” Raising her head to the pitch-black sky, Phantom Thorn’s pupils shrank to needle-thin slits.
That huge butterfly that had always stayed above, the one Luo Shuangyue treated as part of the fixed scenery, began to move.
It opened its eyes and flapped its wings, as if it wanted to soar out of this cramped sky.
But just as it was about to move, Phantom Thorn saw a glint of white light flash across the butterfly’s two antennae. Then, the suddenly energetic Butterfly seemed to have its Soul sucked out and instantly fell still again.
“Something’s wrong. What’s happening outside?” The first thing Phantom Thorn thought was that Luo Shuangyue must be causing chaos outside again.
It couldn’t possibly be that the big Butterfly was just stretching its wings after standing still for so long, right?
But now that neither Phantom Scythe nor Luo Shuangyue were inside the consciousness space, she had no way to communicate with the outside world at all.
What was she supposed to do?
On the battlefield of the Demon Emperor and the Full Bloom-Class Magical Girls, the Demon Emperor—who was being fiercely suppressed—also noticed the strange changes happening on another battlefield.
Its opponents’ strength far exceeded expectations.
Already wounded, facing so many Magical Girls made it impossible to achieve victory quickly.
These opponents didn’t even have the power to step into the starry sky, so why did they possess such extraordinary might?
The Demon Emperor couldn’t comprehend it.
Was it simply that elves were too weak, making it feel like it was stronger than it really was?
If these enemies had been facing the elves, the collapse would probably have come no slower than if it faced them itself.
At this moment, the Demon Emperor had completely set aside any thoughts of underestimating the enemy.
It knew very clearly that it now stood on the same level as these opponents.
It could hesitate no longer. It was time to play its trump card.
Szzz!
A powerful surge of magic burst from its body, forcing back the surrounding Magical Girls a few steps, and shattering all the ranged attacks hurled at it.
But this burst was not aimed at the Magical Girls besieging it; instead, it was directed at the enemies on the other side, those fighting its Near-guard Legion.
Even from far away, this overwhelming wave of magic dealt a severe blow to the Initial Bloom-class Magical Girls.
The Demons, on the other hand, were completely unaffected.
Taking advantage of the Magical Girls’ temporary disarray, they counterattacked at once and quickly tightened their formation.
Several Magical Girls were struck by the Demons’ counterattack and lost the ability to fight on the spot, and for the others, it was too late to stop the Demons’ next move.
In that wave, Phantom Scythe suffered the worst—her form was almost shattered by the magic shockwave. But for her, being torn to pieces was nothing new.
As long as Luo Shuangyue’s “Core” wasn’t destroyed, she could reconstitute herself no matter how badly broken.
The only problem was that reassembling took time.
For now, she could only watch as the Demons clustered into a massive group, and then… began to fuse.
“Do all these guys come with a Fusion function or something?” Staring at the distant mass of merging Demons, Luo Shuangyue’s heart skipped a beat.
Her instincts told her that the fused Demon would be far more terrifying than the scattered ones.
These monsters were all part of a single Demon legion.
Their forms and demonic energy were nearly identical, so when they united, the power they could unleash might not be any weaker than that of an ordinary Royal-Class Magic Beast.
“Its aura is rising. This thing’s strength has already touched the threshold of Royal-Class…”
While Luo Shuangyue was still pondering how to deal with it, the other Magical Girls had already launched an attack on the fusing Demon.
Magic Artillery struck the monster again and again, cracking its black armor, but this kind of damage wasn’t nearly enough to stop the Fusion.
A destructive energy began to surge within the Demon’s body, and a pure black demonic aura leaked from its fractured shell, forming a new outer layer.
When the next barrage of Magic Artillery struck, they didn’t leave so much as a scratch on this fresh armor.
Its defense had grown even stronger.
But it wasn’t just its defense that had improved.
On the Fusion Demon’s back, the demonic aura transformed into sharp spikes.
These spikes shot out like missiles, splitting into two waves—one aimed at the main force of the Magical Girls, and the other at Luo Shuangyue’s position.
Some of the Magic Missiles aimed at the main force were intercepted by a few Magical Girls using Magic Artillery, but most still made it through, forcing the Magical Girls to combine their strength and raise a joint Magic Power Barrier.
Black explosions burst again and again on the colorful barrier, causing the Magical Girls behind it to grit their teeth in distress.
If this went on much longer, they wouldn’t be able to hold out.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Luo Shuangyue alone was subjected to the same intensity of missile attacks as the main force.
Whether it was because Luo Shuangyue had left too strong an impression on the Demons earlier, this thing actually regarded her as important as the entire group.
But unlike the main force, Luo Shuangyue didn’t have the combined defensive power to tank these hits.
She could only use teleportation magic to flee her spot.
But Magic Missiles couldn’t be evaded just by running.
As soon as Luo Shuangyue teleported away, the missiles locked onto her new position and whirled around to chase her.
Phantom Scythe tried to help by blocking the attacks, but the missiles seemed to have intelligence, splitting into different waves to avoid her.
With the attack divided four ways, Phantom Scythe could only shield Luo Shuangyue from one of them.
If she tried to cover all four, her expanded form wouldn’t be strong enough to withstand the bombardment.
“Did this thing’s intelligence go up after Fusion?”
Looking at the fully fused Demon, Luo Shuangyue felt a headache coming on.
There was no doubt—this thing now possessed undisputed Royal-Class strength.
Even though its body contained countless tangled consciousnesses, even though its Royal-Class power came from burning itself out, none of that mattered to Luo Shuangyue.
Because right now, it was Royal-Class.
No matter how many flaws it had, it was still a Royal-Class Magic Beast.
The fused Demon was like a giant spiked ball.
Its movement speed might look slow, but the firepower it unleashed made it impossible for the Magical Girls to even lift their heads.
Magic Artillery and Magic Missiles bombarded their barrier, and in just a few minutes, the once radiant joint barrier was teetering on the edge of collapse.
And running from the barrier? That was even less of an option.
The Demon’s attacks were far too fast, and the missiles seemed almost sentient—anyone who ran would be chased to death, just like Luo Shuangyue on the other side.
Boom, boom, boom!
Luo Shuangyue slashed apart a Magic Missile that had closed in on her, but the explosion’s shockwave sent her flying hundreds of meters.
As she was blown back, more missiles were already streaking toward her.
“They’re like a swarm of mosquitoes. Tch.” Just as the missiles were about to hit her, her body dissolved into a cloud of Butterflies.
But the next instant, she didn’t reappear.
The Magic Missiles lost their target and hovered in confusion, not understanding why their quarry had vanished.
When that confusion was relayed to the Demon’s main consciousness, it instantly guessed where Luo Shuangyue was hiding.
Inside the Sea of Magic?
The Demon’s body quivered, and it sent out a shockwave that only affected the Sea of Magic.
Sure enough, within the Sea, it found a strange female figure.
And what’s more, that figure seemed to be charging straight toward it?
[Roar? She’s actually not running away, but coming at me?]
Perhaps because it had reached Royal-Class, the Demon’s main consciousness was starting to develop some vague emotions.
It was puzzled by Luo Shuangyue’s decision, but it wasn’t about to let her get close so easily.
Its attacks on the Magical Girls instantly ceased, all power drawn back to protect its main body. At the same time,
its body began to vibrate at a high frequency, stirring up a raging storm within the Sea of Magic, hoping to force Luo Shuangyue out.
If it were before, this might have worked well.
Once submerged in the Sea of Magic, both Demons and Magical Girls became fragile, easily forced out by any disturbance.
Normally, being hit by a deliberately raised wave would be enough to flush anyone out.
But Luo Shuangyue was different now.
With the Starlight Magic she’d received from Yi, her resistance to interference within the Sea of Magic had greatly increased.
Even as the Demon raged, she only felt slightly uncomfortable.
Its realm might have reached Royal-Class, but the means it wielded were still stuck at King-class.
All of this Demon’s attacks were only at the upper end of King-class power, relying on sheer numbers to suppress the Magical Girls.
But as for Luo Shuangyue, hidden in the Sea of Magic, it was far from easy for it to flush her out.
“But this isn’t a solution either. If I keep hiding here, it’ll just shift its focus back to Xia Mo’s side…”
Luo Shuangyue’s current predicament was awkward.
If she emerged, she’d instantly be hit by the Demon’s storm of attacks, and with her small frame, she’d never survive.
But if she stayed hidden, and the Demon started attacking her companions again, she’d be powerless to help.
What should she do?
The Demon’s offensive power might not be Royal-Class, but its defense was another story—even most Royal-Class Magic Beasts probably weren’t this tough.
Apart from her trump card, White Night, she didn’t seem to have any effective way to harm it.
Gazing at the distant mass of darkness, Luo Shuangyue fell into thought.
Was there a way to bypass that armor and strike at the Demon’s main body?
“Bypass… ah!” A bold idea sprang up in Luo Shuangyue’s mind. If she sent her attack through the Sea of Magic, wouldn’t that work?
If she set the trigger point for her attack to be inside the Demon’s body, she could bypass that ridiculously hard outer shell!
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