The familiar yet strange grey space and the familiar yet strange ink-black monsters lay before them.
But this time, Luo Shuangyue did not feel the fear or helplessness she once had.
She had undergone a complete transformation.
To her, these monsters were nothing more than a group of small fry that could be dealt with easily; they were no longer an obstacle.
With a casual wave of her hand, she sent a blade of black Demonic Energy forward, shattering a monster into fragments.
Luo Shuangyue turned her head toward Xia Mo and said, “These guys don’t seem that hard to handle.”
Compared to the Demons in the real-world, the black monsters here appeared much more fragile and less aggressive.
They seemed to lack intelligence, wandering aimlessly across the Wasteland all day long.
They had no clear destination.
Even if Luo Shuangyue crushed one monster right in front of another, the second one wouldn’t react. It was as if there were no connection between them at all.
“Don’t be careless. If they were really that easy to deal with, how could Senior White Night have been stuck here for so long?” Xia Mo observed their surroundings cautiously, not sharing Luo Shuangyue’s optimism.
She was well aware of her own strength, and she was equally aware of Senior White Night’s power.
How could the monsters that had kept White Night here for so long be as weak as they appeared? Their current ease was likely because all the truly powerful monsters were centered around White Night.
“We should be a bit more confident at a time like this. Still, we’ve been walking for so long — why does it feel like we haven’t made any progress?” Luo Shuangyue grumbled, looking down at the sword-shaped charm hanging from her arm.
After returning to this world, the charm in her hand had begun to glow.
It used its light to draw a faint path through the murky grey space.
Luo Shuangyue found the meaning easy to understand; her Mother’s sword was surely guiding her to find her.
And so, they had followed the guidance of the charm, walking for an unknown amount of time.
The scenery remained a monotonous loop, making it feel as though the guidance was a lie.
“Perhaps we should ask: have we actually moved forward at all?”
“Huh?”
“Look at this patch of Black Soil. I remember we encountered it not too long ago. The shape and size are exactly the same.” Xia Mo frowned, pointing at a distinct black mark on the ground.
This patch of Black Soil had once been the “bed” of a black monster.
That monster had been slapped into fragments by Luo Shuangyue a short while ago, but the trace it left behind remained in this world.
It was this repeatedly appearing mark that gave Xia Mo a strange feeling. She felt as though they were walking in place.
No, that wasn’t quite right. It was more like they had entered a loop.
No matter which direction they traveled, they would eventually return to the starting point.
“You mean we’ve been caught in a trap?” Luo Shuangyue quickly checked her status.
She didn’t find any signs of mental magic affecting her.
In fact, she currently possessed a resistance to mental-type magic that was practically a cheat.
As a Collection of Malice, she was almost immune to any mental magic, so this couldn’t be an illusion.
“Maybe it’s not a trap, but just the nature of this Containment Space,” Xia Mo said, shaking her head.
She didn’t feel any magic affecting her either.
When a Full Bloom-Class Magical Girl and a Collection of Malice whose strength surpassed the Full Bloom Class reached the same conclusion, it was enough to prove that this had nothing to do with magic.
No one could pull a trick like that under their noses, not even powerhouses like White Night or the Holy Sovereign, who stood at the top of their respective worlds.
“If it’s not a trap, then it must be an issue with the world itself. We might be like two ants walking on a Mobius Strip. If we don’t jump out of this framework, we’ll be spinning in circles forever.”
If it wasn’t someone else’s doing, the only explanation for why they kept returning to the same spot was the unique nature of this space.
It was like walking in one direction on the Mother Star; you would eventually come back to where you started.
To break this cycle, they had to carve out a brand-new direction.
“The charm is pointing this way, which means Mom is definitely in that direction. Let’s be a little more forceful about it.”
“Are you planning to…?”
“Dad can tear open a Spatial Channel with his bare hands. I should be able to do something similar if I use a few tricks.” Luo Shuangyue nodded.
Since the normal method wasn’t working, she would have to resort to a bold move.
“Uh… Shuangyue, a Spatial Channel isn’t something you can just tear open and be done with.”
Xia Mo whispered a warning that Spatial Channels weren’t that simple.
Stepping into an unstable Spatial Channel was no different from suicide.
The chaotic spatial currents flying inside could easily shred any foolhardy person who dared to enter.
Not even a Full Bloom-Class Magical Girl could survive in there for long.
She and Luo Shuangyue did have ways to resist spatial turbulence for a short time, but an unstable channel also meant an uncertain exit.
Who knew if such a reckless move would end up putting them even further away from White Night?
“I know that. I never said I was going to tear space apart with my bare hands. My Dad is just used to doing it that way, but I don’t have that kind of… aggressive habit.” Luo Shuangyue held up one finger, and a sliver of Starlight appeared at her fingertip.
“I’m still better at solving problems the human way.”
Her Dad was like a primitive man raised in a savage era; his methods were too crude and relied too much on brute force.
They weren’t suitable for Luo Shuangyue to emulate.
As a former Human and Magical Girl, Luo Shuangyue felt that using a Magic Circle to open a channel was more realistic and much safer.
As it happened, she actually had the specific Magic Power needed for this kind of work.
“Is that that child’s Magic Power?” Xia Mo thought for a few seconds before remembering who the Magic Power at Luo Shuangyue’s fingertip belonged to.
“Yes, her Magic Power is particularly suited for this,” Luo Shuangyue replied with a nod.
Yi’s Starlight Magic wasn’t suited for combat, but the Humans’ Teleportation Gates had been powered by that very Magic Power. Using it to open a Spatial Channel wide enough for two people shouldn’t be difficult.
“Anyway, I’ll give it a try.”
As she converted a portion of the Demonic Energy in her body into Starlight Magic Power, Luo Shuangyue was surprised to find that she didn’t suffer any backlash. She had been prepared for her hands to feel like they were burning.
“Whatever, I’ll use this magic to find the way first.”
Her dark red eyes were veiled with a layer of Starlight. The world before Luo Shuangyue’s eyes gradually became abstract — a truly marvelous perspective, as if she were standing on high ground overlooking a massive oil painting.
From this perspective, Luo Shuangyue looked at the sword-shaped charm on her chest again.
Sure enough, the direction of the white light pointing from the charm had changed. It wasn’t pointing toward a basic direction within the space, but toward a direction that could only be seen after breaking out of the rules.
This direction pointed outside of this space.
“I see. No wonder we couldn’t find the way before…”
Luo Shuangyue used her finger as a pen, quickly using the Starlight Magic Power as raw material to draw the Teleportation Magic Circle she had tinkered with before.
This Magic Circle, which not long ago had required her to complete it in stages, was now finished in just a few minutes.
As the small channel diffusing Starlight appeared, Luo Shuangyue turned back to Xia Mo with a proud expression.
It was as if she were showing off and asking, ‘Am I not amazing?’
“Let’s go!”
“Are you sure nothing will go wrong?” Xia Mo felt it was better to be cautious.
“Trust me. Besides, we don’t have any other way to travel across space right now.” Luo Shuangyue shrugged, looking innocent as she indicated this was the only Space-type Magic she knew.
After all, this category of magic wasn’t something an Initial Bloom-Class Magical Girl could touch.
Even among those in the Full Bloom Class, those who mastered spatial abilities were a minority.
Luo Shuangyue had been thrown here before she reached Full Bloom; the only spatial magic she had mastered was the Starlight Teleportation Gate she had figured out herself.
Aside from this spell, she had nothing else to offer.
As for Xia Mo, there was even less to say.
She was a more traditional Magical Girl who tried to use conviction to solve difficult problems.
If conviction failed, she would just throw up her hands and give up.
Obviously, the problem they were facing wasn’t something that could be solved with conviction.
It was like a complex math problem; if you didn’t know how to solve it, no amount of conviction would help.
“Fair point… If I had known, I would have studied Space-type Magic a bit more,” Xia Mo grumbled with some regret.
“No one could have predicted this would happen. Just go with the flow.”
Luo Shuangyue had already reached the edge of the Starlight channel.
She peered inside and found that the stability of Starlight Magic within space was indeed reliable.
Stepping inside, she glanced at the magic walls that looked like the Starry Sky and waved for Xia Mo to hurry in.
Once Xia Mo entered the channel, Luo Shuangyue began to extend the channel bit by bit, hoping she would soon reach the other world.
Why didn’t she just extend the channel directly from the entrance?
It was because Luo Shuangyue didn’t know exactly where her destination was; she only knew that this was the right direction.
Therefore, she needed to grope her way forward at the very front of the channel so she could react immediately upon encountering another world.
“Huh?”
Soon, Luo Shuangyue felt her channel sink into something viscous.
A slight resistance came from the front of the channel, making Luo Shuangyue realize she might have touched what she was looking for.
With a slight push to overcome the resistance, Luo Shuangyue used her Starlight Magic to build another Grand Gate of light.
Then, she poked her head out.
It was still the familiar grey Wasteland, but this time, the grey Wasteland seemed… vibrant.
As far as the eye could see, there were black monsters.
Some even had terrifyingly massive builds.
When Luo Shuangyue looked at them, she felt an inexplicable sense of trepidation.