5 minutes ago.
Mu Xi and Mu Ming had just walked out of the warehouse when they felt a surge of powerful magic.
The two quickly headed to where the magic was erupting, and saw Mu Yurou and Huang Xi raising Starlight Judgment together, piercing it into the Grand Priest’s body.
The Tentacle Aggregate collapsed, losing all life.
“Wow, those two kids actually handled that.”
Mu Ming looked toward Huang Xi and Mu Yurou supporting each other in the distance.
“When did those two get so strong? That last attack was almost at Abyssal-class level.”
Mu Xi pondered.
A few weeks ago, Huang Xi and Mu Yurou were just at the beginning stage.
How did they grow so fast?
“Geez, the idealism of Magical Girls—if two people have a deep Bond, they can enhance each other’s strength. Not everyone is like you, waking up one day as Abyssal-class and insanely strong.”
Bond, huh.
In Mu Xi’s life, she’d never had any particularly deep Bonds.
Even her relationships with former teammates never went beyond good friends.
She gained power by learning from real battles and training hard.
“Hey, do you think if the two of us deepen our Bond, we’ll break through to Howling-class?”
“What’s the point of getting that strong?”
“Oh, come on, don’t worry about it. Let’s deepen our Bond~”
Mu Ming hugged Mu Xi, rubbing up against her affectionately.
“Why do you like hugging me so much?”
Mu Xi finally asked the question she’d always wondered about.
Witch.
A corrupted Magical Girl.
Once corrupted, their bodies undergo Beastification and a Demon Woman Personality appears to replace the original, with a massive power increase.
The Demon Woman Personality retains all the original’s memories but tends to be cruel and loves slaughter, usually targeting the people closest to the original first—family, friends, lovers.
Witches are extremely rare.
Only Abyssal-level Beings or Witches themselves can corrupt a Magical Girl, but the latter rarely do so.
There’s no known case of a Witch actively corrupting a Magical Girl.
This little one… what’s going on?
Her body has already turned into a Witch, but she hasn’t replaced me—instead, she just wants to get closer.
While Mu Ming and Mu Xi were sticking close together, the massive Tentacle Aggregate suddenly revived.
Mu Ming released Mu Xi and looked at the two figures barely standing after the battle.
“The little sisters are in danger, you’re their older sister, aren’t you going to help? I’d love to help, too, but unless you transform, I don’t have a physical form.”
Mu Ming floated up, leaned close to Mu Xi’s ear, and whispered softly, “Hurry and transform~”
“I don’t need you to tell me!”
Mu Xi quickly pulled out a Crystal exuding black energy.
“Transform…”
She spoke the word like a spell, black mist swirling around her.
Her purple dress turned into a vintage black gown radiating ominous energy.
Black stockings tightly wrapped her calves.
Beside her, Mu Ming’s pure white sailor uniform also shifted into a black dress matching Mu Xi’s.
With her physical form restored, Mu Ming stretched and then flew toward the two in the distance.
“I’ll go ahead~”
Mu Ming was the first to fly over.
Mu Xi really didn’t want to transform unless absolutely necessary.
She especially didn’t want to appear as Crystal Orchid in front of others.
Especially her own sister.
“Sigh~”
Mu Xi let out a soft sigh.
She’d been sighing a lot lately.
A pink-purple one-handed sword materialized in her hand.
Mu Xi looked at the tentacle lunging at the group, then at Mu Ming in the distance, who was eyeing her sideways.
She stood motionless.
Mu Ming was waiting for her to make the first move.
Mu Xi shot forward, pink-purple starlight flaring.
The tentacle was sliced in two, collapsing to the ground and dissolving into powder after a brief twitch.
The White-haired Witch turned her back to the group, facing the massive Tentacle Aggregate ahead.
Mu Yurou recognized Mu Xi as the Witch who had saved her that day.
White hair and red eyes—it was her!
“Are you Crystal Orchid Senior?”
Mu Yurou asked the question she’d always wanted to ask, staring at her savior.
How did she recognize me?
My whole aura is completely different from before.
How?
“I’m not…”
Mu Xi didn’t want to reveal her identity.
If the Magic Association discovered that the Magical Girl Crystal Orchid had become a Witch and appeared here, there would be big trouble.
“I knew it, you really are Crystal Orchid Senior! Thank you for saving us that day! To be honest, I’m your fan! You’re one of the reasons I became a Magic Saintess!”
Huang Xi was excited.
Her idol and savior, the legendary Magical Girl Crystal Orchid, was standing right in front of her!
“I said I’m not…”
Mu Xi pressed her hand to her forehead in exasperation.
“Your eyes—you’re both Witches. You have to admit that much.”
Mu Yurou remained cautious.
“Yes…”
Mu Xi admitted her Witch identity.
“If you’re a Witch, you used to be a Magical Girl, right? You’re Abyssal-class, with white hair. I only know one white-haired Abyssal-class Magical Girl—that’s Crystal Orchid Senior.”
Huang Xi’s deduction wasn’t wrong.
White-haired Abyssal-class Magical Girls were rare, let alone Witches.
“Can you stop speculating about me…”
Mu Xi was speechless again.
“Either way, you’re here to help us, right?”
“Yes.”
“Can I ask why? You’ve saved us twice now.”
“No.”
“Then who’s the black-haired one? She looks a lot like you—is she your sister?”
“…”
“Hey, Huang Xi…”
Mu Yurou nudged Huang Xi with her elbow.
As the conversation shifted toward her, Mu Ming smiled and approached the two, extending a hand.
“My name is Mu… Black Rose. Nice to meet you~”
Mu Ming greeted them warmly.
“Listen, that girl became quiet because of some incident. If you have questions, ask me.”
The two of them, of course, knew exactly what “incident” Mu Ming was referring to.
It was the rainy night five years ago when Crystal Orchid slaughtered her teammates.
“So who are you really? Why did you attack Poppy?”
“Me? I’m just a Magical Girl passing by.”
“A Witch, you mean?”
Huang Xi added.
Before the conversation could continue, the Grand Priest’s ignored roar echoed in the ears of all four.
“You! None of you will leave here alive! Offering chaos to the Father God is your blessing!”
The Tentacle Aggregate moved again.
Mu Ming used a tentacle to wrap up Mu Yurou and Huang Xi.
“Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing?”
Mu Yurou struggled.
“Ugh, tentacles are so gross!”
“You two are idiots, aren’t you? Look at you—you can barely stand. If the fight starts again and you get caught in it, I’ll have to split my attention…”
Mu Ming said.
“Can you not call me gross…”
Mu Ming whispered softly.
“I’ll take the two little sisters out first~”