“Gaaaooo!!!”
At the crack of dawn, a piercing dragon’s roar shattered the silence of the Sea of Flowers.
Xia Mo, still lost in her sweet dreams, was so startled by the roar that she leaped straight up from Luo Shuangyue’s lap, resulting in an unexpectedly intimate forehead-to-forehead collision with the girl who had been gazing down at her sleeping face.
Bang!
Luo Shuangyue, clutching her forehead, toppled to the ground.
Dazed from the powerful impact, Xia Mo lay there seeing stars for two seconds before hurrying to get up and help Luo Shuangyue.
“Shuangyue, are you alright? I’m sorry, I didn’t see you lowering your head just now…”
Xia Mo’s voice was urgent, her forehead flushed red—even though she was the one who’d been hurt more severely.
“It’s fine, I’m just a bit dazed.” Luo Shuangyue quickly shook her head.
There wasn’t anything important in her head anyway, so a knock like that wouldn’t do much damage.
But Xia Mo—she’d taken the brunt of the blow; it must’ve hurt quite a bit.
“It must hurt for you, though.” Luo Shuangyue looked at the red mark on Xia Mo’s forehead, feeling a bit distressed, yet not knowing what she could do.
There were no medicinal herbs here, and she couldn’t use healing magic either.
What was she supposed to do?
“It doesn’t hurt, really.” The girl’s eyes shimmered with unshed tears as she tried to sound tough.
If only she could hold back those tears, her words would have been a bit more convincing.
Meanwhile, the real culprit behind all this didn’t seem interested in apologizing in the slightest—she was still shouting and howling at the morning sky.
If this were human society, the police uncle would have come to invite this girl for some “tea” by now.
Yelling so loudly in the early morning—doesn’t she know what “disturbing the peace” means?!
“I’ll go make her quiet down.”
Xia Mo wiped away the traces of moisture at the corners of her eyes and pulled out a purple gem from her chest, which had regained some of its luster.
After a whole night of rapid repair, she could finally transform—and could do some proper things after transforming, too.
“Transform!”
A violet light burst forth from Xia Mo’s body.
Entering her Rosemary state, Xia Mo smiled and summoned her Magic Artillery, lifting one of its cannons as she headed toward the Dragon Girl.
“Wait, wait! Teacher Xia, don’t stoop to the kid’s level—using a cannon is way overboard!” Luo Shuangyue hurriedly lunged and grabbed Xia Mo’s hand, her instincts telling her that Xia Mo was a little too fired up right now.
The method she planned to use to quiet the Dragon Girl probably wasn’t going to be a rational discussion, but a physical one.
The commotion finally drew the Dragon Girl’s attention—she stopped her racket, turned, and stared in surprise at the now-transformed Xia Mo, letting out a startled cry.
“You look totally different now!”
A faint light flickered in Xia Mo’s violet eyes—she finally understood what the Dragon Girl was saying.
“Come here, I’ll give you a buff.” Xia Mo sighed, beckoning to the Dragon Girl.
Her words were understood, and the Dragon Girl’s eyes lit up in anticipation at this long-awaited exchange.
Without hesitation, she ran up to Xia Mo, watching her with great interest to see what kind of buff she would get.
Xia Mo’s Magic Artillery shrank rapidly, like a magic trick, until it was the size of a pen.
She gestured for the Dragon Girl to lower her head, then began drawing on her forehead with the pen.
A few minutes later, a simple Magic Circle had taken shape on the girl’s forehead.
“This is a magic that lets two people who don’t speak the same language communicate smoothly. It was researched by a senior a long time ago.”
After finishing the Magic Circle on the Dragon Girl, Xia Mo patted her own thigh, signaling for Luo Shuangyue to obediently come over for her turn.
Casting a glance at the Dragon Girl—who seemed ready to prod the Magic Circle on her head with her claw—Xia Mo quickly warned, “Don’t touch it! The Magic Circle is fragile, and I don’t have enough Magic Power left to draw another one for you.”
At those words, the Dragon Girl’s restless hand immediately dropped.
This little one was fairly obedient, after all.
Soon, Xia Mo left the same Magic Circle on Luo Shuangyue’s forehead, allowing them all to communicate with each other now.
“Whew, looks like I’ll need a few days of rest to recover to my best state. Even just casting two spells now makes my body feel like it’s at its limit…”
After casting the spells, Xia Mo immediately exited her transformed state.
Maintaining her transformation also consumed Magic Power, and she couldn’t afford to waste it on unnecessary things now.
As for why she didn’t give herself the same Magic Circle…
First, there was no need; second, the magic a Magical Girl casts on herself would be refreshed once she exits her transformation.
You want to put a Rosemary buff on Xia Mo? What’s the point?
That’s how it worked.
The magic she’d just used was officially called “Pouring Out the Heart”—basically, a pretty cheat-level communication spell.
Anyone with this magic on their forehead would uncontrollably express their true feelings, and those feelings, as fluctuations of spiritual power, could be understood by all—though not necessarily completely understood.
It wasn’t as effective as understanding each other’s words directly, but it was the best Xia Mo could manage in this situation.
Understanding a bit was better than not understanding at all.
“Hello~” Since Xia Mo didn’t have the magic on her forehead, the job of communicating with the Dragon Girl fell to Luo Shuangyue.
“My name is Luo Shuangyue. What’s yours?”
This kind of simple greeting was easy to convey through heartfelt expression, and the Dragon Girl easily grasped Luo Shuangyue’s meaning.
“I’m not well. I am Taya, and I’ve come to a strange place,” the Dragon Girl rattled off.
Her phrasing was odd, but it was at least the start of real communication.
“Taya?” Luo Shuangyue repeated the awkward-sounding name, mimicking Taya’s intonation.
“Mm-hmm, that’s the name Holy Sovereign gave me.” The Dragon Girl nodded happily.
But at the mention of another name in her words, Luo Shuangyue’s expression turned serious.
Holy Sovereign? She wasn’t sure if the translation of Taya’s true feelings was accurate, but one thing was clear—Taya revered this Holy Sovereign deeply.
Just like how Magical Girls worshipped Bai Ye?
“Who is Holy Sovereign?”
“Holy Sovereign is Holy Sovereign—the greatest Holy Sovereign!” Well, that conversation was going nowhere.
Luo Shuangyue sighed and facepalmed.
It wasn’t that Taya was uncooperative—she just didn’t have the capacity, even with Xia Mo’s magic, to explain such a complicated concept.
Forget the Holy Sovereign for now—better to ask about the Grey Wasteland where they’d met before.
“The place where we met before—what is it?” “There? That’s the Deadland!”
The Deadland—so that was the name Taya used for the grey wasteland.
It was inhabited by things fundamentally incompatible with living creatures—beings impossible to communicate with, yet ones that had an irreversibly enormous impact on this world.
“Magic Power is fading. The world used to be beautiful, but now it’s slowly dying.” Taya looked at the purplish flowers in the distance, stained with flecks of black, and a strange emotion flashed through her eyes.
In the past, there had been no such thing as the Deadland, and the beings in this world had no need to communicate with one another.
Each creature was born with its own territory, where it could do as it pleased, and the territories were vast—so vast that one could live a lifetime without ever meeting a neighbor.
Only a very small number of inherently restless beings would ever leave their lands to roam this vast world, becoming lonely wanderers.
But all of that changed many years ago, after a disaster of unknown cause—something called the Black Calamity appeared in this world.
Creatures tainted by blackness would die in agony, their bodies grotesquely twisted into terrifying monsters.
And with the advent of the Black Calamity, the world’s Magic Power began to drop rapidly—as if someone had suddenly pulled the plug on a swimming pool.
“No one wants to be turned into a monster by the Black Calamity, so the Holy Sovereign gathered everyone together to hide in the Sanctuary.” Taya went on explaining.
This Sea of Flowers had already been tainted by the Black Calamity.
The moment a being discovered black corruption in its territory, it would abandon that land and leave immediately.
So the owner here had probably already left long ago.
“Holy Sovereign found the Deadland. She said all the dead had gone there, but the people there aren’t the ones we used to know anymore.”
“Black Soil has the power to resist the Black Calamity. We need to go into the Deadland and secretly dig out the Black Soil.” Taya explained her purpose for entering the Deadland: her target was the black mud beneath the feet of those black monsters.
Of course, once these soils left the Deadland, they turned into a lump of dim energy—no longer resembling the mud of that world.
“Well, Mother’s magic really did send us to another world.” Luo Shuangyue rubbed her forehead and sighed.
Even a fool could tell from Taya’s explanation that they were no longer in their own world.
But it wasn’t like there were no connections between the two worlds—after all, the Shadow in the Deadland looked exactly like Luo Shuangyue’s Mother.
And her Mother certainly wasn’t from this world. She’d definitely been human before becoming a Magical Girl.
“So… the Deadland is a bridge that connects our world and Taya’s world.”
Luo Shuangyue drew two circles on the ground, then connected them with a line.
“Taya, do you know what the white Magic Circles and the white Shadows that hunt black monsters are in the Deadland?”
“…Don’t know. They weren’t there before—only started appearing recently.” Taya shook her head; she didn’t get to think often, and her thoughts always stayed pretty superficial.
“They help chase away the black things, so they’re good.”
That’s all she had to say.
“Looks like we’re not going to get anything more from her…” Luo Shuangyue scratched her head.
This otherworldly Dragon Girl seemed just a bit too naive.
Still, that naivety had made it easy to learn the basics of this world, but as for deeper information, there was nothing she could do.
If she wanted to know more, or find a way home, perhaps she’d have to go to the Sanctuary Taya mentioned and ask the Holy Sovereign herself.
“Taya, we want to go to the Sanctuary and meet Holy Sovereign. Is that alright?”
“Of course! The Sanctuary welcomes everyone.” Taya nodded excitedly, not for a moment suspecting Luo Shuangyue might be a bad person with ulterior motives.
But after her excitement faded, the little Dragon Girl became dejected again.
“But I don’t know how to get back.”
She’d never been to this purple Sea of Flowers before, and had no idea how to find the Sanctuary from here.
Though the Sanctuary welcomed everyone, it couldn’t possibly travel thousands of miles to fetch three lost children, could it?
“Um… let me ask—how big is your world, exactly?” “No idea!”
“Then how did you get to the Sanctuary before?”
“…Hmm, it was a Butterfly of Netherworld that woke me up while I was sleeping, told me about the Sanctuary, and let me choose whether to go or not.”
Taya tapped her chin with her claw, trying hard to recall something from long ago.
Her memory wasn’t great, but she could vaguely remember that day.
“I don’t know how long I flew, but eventually, I just flew my way to the Sanctuary.”
“Flew?” Luo Shuangyue looked at Taya, who didn’t have the slightest feature suggesting she could fly—seems this girl was hiding her true abilities.
But flying who knows how long to reach the Sanctuary… This world might be even bigger than she’d imagined.
“Hmph, I’m very impressive, you know! Very few can explore the Deadland alone.”
This didn’t sound like empty boasting, and Luo Shuangyue didn’t doubt Taya’s strength—just from her appearance, she could tell this child’s power wasn’t to be underestimated.
After all, she was a girl with all the features of a dragon—and dragons were supposed to be a symbol of overwhelming combat power, right?
“Oh, Taya, you’re amazing….”
Just as Luo Shuangyue was about to chime in with some polite praise, Xia Mo, who’d been listening quietly, suddenly poked her in the waist.
“What is it?” Luo Shuangyue quickly shut her mouth and looked at Xia Mo.
She didn’t think Xia Mo was jealous over the compliments.
This sudden interruption must be for something important.
“Something’s wrong. The black spots on those flowers are suddenly getting more numerous and bigger.” Xia Mo pointed at the wilted Sea of Flowers in the distance, quietly reminding her.
Maybe because this field of flowers reminded Xia Mo of her own traits as a Magical Girl, she’d always paid special attention to it.
And it was exactly this attentiveness that made her notice the change.
More and more flowers were being tainted by black…
“Hey, Taya, can I ask you something?” “What is it?”
“If the flowers around us suddenly get covered in lots of black spots, what does that usually mean?”
“Oh, that means the Black Calamity is breaking out. These polluted flowers will soon turn into terrifying black monsters… Eh!”
Taya’s neck twisted stiffly as she turned her gaze to where Luo Shuangyue was looking.
Blackness was spreading rapidly through the purple Sea of Flowers, infecting the entire field at an alarming rate.