“Boom!!”
Flames were raging, spreading wildly.
The world that should have been shrouded in darkness was devoured by this blinding red.
In just an instant, the vehicles and streetlights on the road were all consumed by the blaze.
And at the very center of this inferno, a woman knelt on the ground, her expression twisted in agony.
This unnatural fire, which ignored all combustibles and clung to everything it touched, was spreading from her body.
“Why.”
“Why… why are you targeting me like this…”
I’ve worked so hard, diligently at my job, working overtime every day.
For months, I haven’t been late even once, always trying to please my superiors.
But why… why was I still optimized out…
“If you agree to this contract, you can resign, and we’ll settle your salary for this month. But if you dare to ask for more, the company won’t mind dragging you into a lawsuit for a few years.”
“The company knows your difficulties, so just sign it. Otherwise, you’ll have a hard time finding your next job.”
But isn’t severance pay something I deserve!!
Mother is seriously ill and needs money for medicine.
My own body is breaking down from all these late nights and overtime.
How could I possibly have the energy to fight with the company’s legal department for years…
A life like this is just like a candle… Once it burns out, it’s thrown away.
After all, to others, a cheap candle can simply be replaced with a new one.
Tears filled her eyes, blurring her vision, and the red and blue flashing lights became a hazy image.
It was the police…
Of course. She had already become a monster, so it wouldn’t be long before they arrested her.
No, not yet…
Mother is still waiting for me in the hospital…
I need money, I need money, I need money!
The woman’s gaze slowly shifted from the crowd in front of her to the Bank at the side of the street.
She slowly stood up and stepped toward it, the scorching flames around her moving with her.
“Stop!”
At that moment, a young police officer blocked her path.
“Miss, please calm down!”
Calm down…?
But all she felt was unbearable heat and suffocation.
Even the tears at the corner of her eyes quickly evaporated in the fire.
“Stay calm, we still have a way to save you! If you keep going forward, that’s the real dead end!”
“…But I’m already at a dead end…”
As the distance closed, the flames nearly licked the police officer’s face.
The scorching heat made it almost impossible for her to breathe.
Her colleagues and superiors were urging her to retreat over the radio… but she still didn’t back down.
She’d only been on the job for a few months, but she’d already seen too many people walk down this road of no return.
She didn’t want… she didn’t want to see another girl lose her life!
“Please, Officer… Please go away, or else…”
“Or else…”
“I’m sorry!”
The flames were no longer restrained by their master, turning into a terrifying demon and surging toward the police officer like a tidal wave.
Even a single touch would reduce this brave officer to ashes.
“Magia Reconstruct.”
“Embrace of the Styx · Sigh.”
A cool voice echoed from behind, and that desperate inferno was suddenly blocked by a bone-chilling force… Like a towering wall, it kept the terrifying heat at bay.
“If you’re okay, then hurry and get out of here.”
The police officer’s legs had already given out, and she collapsed to the ground… Not everyone can remain calm when staring death in the face.
Just one second more, and she would have been swallowed by those flames, turned to ashes.
Fear and panic—unavoidable.
“You… you’re…”
The girl before her had long silver-white hair and wore a gorgeous white dress.
Her aura was so cold and pure, she seemed like a celestial being.
But despite her beauty and holiness, the fear she inspired was no less than that of the woman who had become a monster.
Just one look at her sent chills down the spine, as if standing in a cold, desolate graveyard.
“You’re… Higanbana…”
The strongest, and most terrifying, magical girl in Jiangnan City.
Unlike the cheerful, sunny disposition of other magical girls, Higanbana exuded an overwhelming darkness… Walking amidst mountains of corpses and seas of blood, trailed by countless unspeakable wraiths, with even rumors of her torturing her enemies.
Luo Shiyun glanced sideways, her holy golden eyes sweeping over the policewoman for just a moment before ignoring her entirely.
Let’s wrap this up quickly.
She still wanted to get home and sleep with her wife.
“Magical girl…”
“Don’t stop me, don’t stop me again! What have I done wrong? I haven’t done anything wrong! Why are you treating me like this!!”
The woman’s mind was in chaos, even her primal survival instincts had vanished, and she unleashed the flames at Luo Shiyun.
But the girl just walked forward, her expression indifferent.
She reached into the void and drew a slender floral sword, then casually flicked it at the sky… In an instant, the overwhelming flames that nearly engulfed the entire street vanished, shrinking back around the woman.
“!!”
The elegant crystal heels struck the asphalt, the sound ringing out like the bells of hell.
The woman looked up, wanting to resist, but the sword had already pierced her chest.
As the sword was pulled out, the monster’s body stiffened and collapsed to the ground.
Finished in one blow.
…
After magical girls and powerful monsters transform, their appearances are often obscured by some strange force of rules.
Although there’s no real change, no one can recognize them.
It’s like a kind of collective cognitive dissonance.
“Sis Yi!”
“Vita!”
The pink-haired loli bounced into Yijinmo’s arms.
“So, so, how was it? Was that high school miss pretty enough? Did she take good care of you, Sis Yi?”
“What nonsense are you spouting! There’s nothing but innocence between Miss Luo and me!”
“Ah.”
“…Why do you look so disappointed!”
Because of the monster’s appearance, the bar had to be evacuated in a hurry.
In the chaos, Miss Luo had gotten separated from Yijinmo and disappeared.
“Eh, so Sis Yi, you couldn’t even keep an eye on your cash cow.”
“She’s her own person, why should I be expected to keep her in check.”
“Fine, fine, let’s not talk about this.”
Dragging Yijinmo to sit down beside her, Vita snuggled up familiarly in the girl’s arms. “There’s another one of our kind out there. Don’t you have any thoughts, Sis Yi?”
“…What do you expect me to think? You know, I haven’t been a monster for years now. I’ve gone straight.”
Wasn’t it you in chapter one who was shouting about making a comeback…
“Besides, with my strength now, I wouldn’t be much help even if I wanted to.”
Before retiring, she was a bona fide lv.5 powerhouse, a rarity even in the entire East Continent.
Now, she’d be lucky to be lv.3.
“Eh, if I remember right, Vita, you’re already half-step lv.5, aren’t you?”
“Hehe, that’s right.”
Vita became a monster a little later than Yijinmo, and her strength was never as monstrous as Yijinmo’s had been—just about above average.
But her tentacle attacks were notoriously tricky, enough to make magical girls shudder.
And Vita never stopped training, so now she was on the verge of a breakthrough.
“So, Vita, aren’t you going?”
“If Sis Yi isn’t going, then I’m not interested either.”
“But I’ll tell you a secret—the reason for her fall might not be so simple.”
Vita raised her hand to her mouth, pretending to be mysterious. “When she transformed, I felt a strange power appear…”
“Crackle!!”
“Wah!”
A sudden jolt of electricity startled Vita, the pink-haired dumpling almost tumbling to the floor.
Blue-violet arcs of electricity shot from Yijinmo and sank into the ground.
Her crimson eyes stared fixedly at the white figure outside the window.
Bathed in the glow of the flames, her nemesis’s silhouette was so clear.
“Higanbana—!!”
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I wonder if she’ll be able to realize her true identity or will she have the cognitive abilities of Doofenschmirtz.