Her sister had changed a lot.
Her hair, which used to be white just like her own, had been dyed a pitch-black color with a hint of dark red.
Those bright silver eyes had become deep and shadowed, now stained with an ominous, bloody hue.
If it weren’t for the fact that her voice and tone remained the same, Luo Shuangxing wouldn’t have been able to say for certain that the black-haired, red-eyed girl before her was her sister.
Furthermore, what did she mean by saying their world was about to explode?
Luo Shuangxing, who felt as if she had been struck by a high-speed boomerang she had thrown herself, took a deep breath and asked a question that came from the depths of her soul, “What exactly is going on?”
“To put it simply, I found Mother. She told me we only have over a month left to live. If we can’t find a way to solve the current problem within that time, everyone can hold hands and walk down the road to the Yellow Springs together.”
“Huh?”
“Stop ‘huh-ing.’ Time waits for no one. Take us back, quick.” Luo Shuangyue reached out and lightly flicked her sister’s forehead.
It didn’t matter if she didn’t understand; she just needed to serve as their vehicle.
“Your arrival is a huge help. Originally, Mother would have had to expend her own energy to send us back. Now, she can save her strength and hold on for a few more days…”
Luo Shuangxing, who had already crushed the card sealing the Recall Magic Circle, felt her heart skip a beat upon hearing those words.
‘Based on what my sister is saying, is Mother in a very bad state right now?’
Starlight flowed from Luo Shuangxing’s fingertips, gathering beneath the group to form a magic circle five meters in diameter.
To accommodate everyone, Monice and the others had intentionally designed the circle to be quite large.
“How is Mom?”
“She’s hanging in there. You don’t need to worry too much. If she’s gone, we’re all finished anyway.” At this moment, Luo Shuangyue seemed quite philosophical.
Everyone was a grasshopper on the same string; if things went south, they would all go down together.
Did it really matter who died first or last?
If everyone was going to die, what was the difference?
As they spoke, starlight covered their bodies.
A slight sensation of weightlessness followed, letting Luo Shuangyue know she was about to return to that familiar world.
Then, her eyes flickered to the side.
“Taya, why are you still here?!”
The little Dragon Girl, who was also covered in starlight, tilted her head.
None of them had told her to leave.
She hadn’t understood a single word of the conversation between Luo Shuangyue and Luo Shuangxing.
She had watched the sisters talk in a daze the entire time, and then things had turned into this.
By the time Luo Shuangyue realized someone was in the circle who shouldn’t be there, it was too late.
The Recall Magic Circle had fully activated. No one within the circle’s boundaries could leave.
“Ah!”
The starlight flared to its peak before instantly extinguishing, and the figures within vanished without a trace.
“The magic circle has been activated! Has the transport location been cleared?”
“It’s clear! The Starlight Magic is stable, and security is in place!”
“Good. I hope those children are alright.”
The exit for the Recall Magic Circle hadn’t been set on the Mother Star, but near the Lunar Base.
The space here was open enough that even if something went wrong with the teleportation, it wouldn’t affect any other areas.
Several Full Bloom-Class Magical Girls, led by Monice, were tensely surrounding the circle, waiting for Luo Shuangxing to appear.
The glow of the magic circle grew brighter and brighter until, finally, four figures appeared in the center.
Among them were Luo Shuangxing and Xia Mo, who looked the same as before, along with Luo Shuangyue, who had undergone a color palette swap, and… a very strange creature.
Luo Shuangyue saw her Guild Master and was about to wave a greeting when a strange sound erupted beside her.
She was promptly pushed aside by the rapidly expanding Taya.
“Huh?” She turned her head and saw that Taya had reverted from her Dragon Girl form back into a giant silver dragon.
Then, she sensed several fierce waves of Magic Power targeting Taya. The poor little dragon trembled, not knowing what to do.
Fortunately, Xia Mo and Luo Shuangyue quickly explained Taya’s situation. This prevented the little Dragon Girl, who had arrived by accident, from getting killed right then and there.
“The aura on your body is a bit strange… *Hiss*, it’s very much like a Demon, yet I don’t feel any repulsion toward you.” Monice was currently walking in circles around Luo Shuangyue. She knew what had happened to Luo Shuangyue previously, as she had been present when that incident occurred.
When she first saw Luo Shuangyue just now, the first thought that sprang into her mind was naturally one of repulsion; it was the instinctual reaction of a Magical Girl toward a Demon.
But now, it was a bit different. Luo Shuangyue did indeed have the aura of a Demon, but that loathsome scent had become very, very faint.
“That… might be because I’m on the same side as the Mentors again.” Luo Shuangyue scratched her head.
“What I’m about to say next is extremely important. Mentors, can you arrange for me to meet with all the Full Bloom-Class seniors in the Magic Department?”
“You’ve finally made it back; don’t you want to rest?” Monice looked at the vastly changed Luo Shuangyue, guessing that she must have experienced many things during the time she was missing.
And now, having just returned home, Luo Shuangyue wanted to meet with every Full Bloom-Class member in the Magic Department.
What could be so urgent that she wouldn’t even take a moment to catch her breath?
“I can rest later, but some things cannot wait. I received a very, very important piece of news from my mother. I must tell the Mentors.”
“Alright, I’ll go arrange it now.”
An hour later, in a conference room at the Lunar Base, Luo Shuangyue recounted the news she had received in its entirety to the Magical Girls attending the meeting through various means.
“I think I heard White Night mention these things before, but that was a long time ago. I thought she was just being an alarmist…”
“The Great Chaos back then seemed to have been caused by this news. It took a lot of effort for us to suppress it…”
After listening to Luo Shuangyue’s narrative, the Full Bloom-Class Magical Girls began to whisper among themselves.
What surprised Luo Shuangyue was that these Great Mentors seemed to have heard about this matter more or less, but they hadn’t treated it as an truly imminent crisis.
In fact, for certain reasons, they had even suppressed the news.
‘I never heard anything about this…’ Monice, sitting next to Luo Shuangyue, had a grim expression. She truly knew nothing.
Even when White Night was her best friend, she had never mentioned these things to her.
“It was a long time ago. After White Night told us this news… it triggered a series of very unfortunate events. Therefore, we chose to block the information and prevent more people from knowing about it.”
The destruction of the world was simply too massive a concept.
For humans who hadn’t even overcome the Demon crisis yet, it was something they didn’t even have the luxury to contemplate.
Many years ago, several senior Magical Girls present had heard White Night speak of this.
They had indeed taken it seriously, but the results were unsatisfactory.
“We simply don’t have the ability to communicate with the world. If even White Night couldn’t do it, there is no way we can,” the Vice Minister of the Magic Department, codenamed Saint Angel, explained with a helpless expression.
“Furthermore, as our research deepened, that despair led a portion of the Magical Girls astray, nearly tearing apart the Magic Department when it had only just been established…”
It had been an internal struggle that could never see the light of day.
The final result was several Magical Girls dying at the hands of their own companions, their information completely erased by the Magic Department without leaving a trace.
It was precisely because of this tragedy that the Magical Girls who knew the truth chose to hide the news, keeping the despair from others.
In their view, overcoming the crisis in front of them was more important than wasting time on an unsolvable problem.
“Don’t look at me like that. You don’t know what it was like back then. Once news that only brings despair gets out, it will only lead to social unrest. We couldn’t afford to gamble!”
“But now there’s only over a month left. No, let’s just say one month.” Monice interrupted her old rival’s speech.
What could be done in one month?
It seemed like they could do nothing. Could they only sit here and wait for death to arrive?
At this moment, everyone seemed to experience the despair once felt by the Magical Girls who had known the truth.
They also understood why the Magic Department had ultimately suppressed the news.
If even they felt despair, wouldn’t everyone else feel it even more?
In the midst of despair, the destruction caused by human infighting would be far more terrifying than an invasion by Demons.
Many people would think: ‘Since we’re all going to die anyway, what’s wrong with indulging ourselves one last time before the end?’
Once that mindset began to spread, the Demons wouldn’t even need to invade; humans would collapse their own society themselves.
“This news cannot be leaked. I think you all know the consequences if it is.” The Vice Minister’s voice echoed in the silent conference room.
“I will immediately summon all Full Bloom-Class Magical Girls to the Magic Department. We will discuss the details of our next steps there.”
No one opposed the decision.
Cecilia’s meaning was clear: this news must not reach those who shouldn’t know it.
As the peak combat power of this world, the Full Bloom-Class Magical Girls had to know the truth now and gather at the Magic Department to brainstorm a solution.
Even if they couldn’t find one, it would save the Magic Department the effort of calling people one by one when it came time to face the monster army.
“For the public reason, let’s say we’ve detected a wave of monsters of an unprecedented scale coming soon. It’s not like we’re lying anyway,” another Full Bloom-Class Magical Girl from the Magic Department added.
“Agreed.”
“I have no objection.”
“Seconded.”
The group quickly reached an agreement, and the meeting came to a close.
The next time they met would be in person at the Magic Department.
Before that, however, Monice had already approached Luo Shuangyue to begin asking for every possible detail.