“两 of you look a little unfamiliar. This little sister’s aura… oh, she’s here looking for Kanata, isn’t she?” Scarlet Feather Flame Princess’s gaze settled on Luo Shuangyue.
After a few seconds, an expression of sudden understanding crossed her face.
Her magic power surged restlessly, showing signs of being out of control.
It was only natural for someone in this state to seek out the Soul Summoner Princess.
Unfortunately, the Soul Summoner Princess did not like meeting strangers.
Even if juniors came knocking for help, it depended entirely on her mood.
If she was in a good mood, she’d offer treatment; if not, she’d give them the cold shoulder.
“The visitor is a guest, after all. Why not come with me to the Magic Department in Extreme East City for a visit?” Scarlet Feather Flame Princess extended an invitation.
Of course, neither Luo Shuangyue nor Xia Mo would accept that invitation.
They had come specifically to find the Soul Summoner Princess.
How could they be diverted midway by Scarlet Feather Flame Princess, who didn’t have a good relationship with her?
Even if they were going to visit the Magic Department in Extreme East City, it would have to wait until Luo Shuangyue’s body was healed.
“Such a pity,” Scarlet Feather Flame Princess said regretfully after being refused.
She waved at Luo Shuangyue and Xia Mo as well as Yuan, then pushed off with her feet and transformed into a great fireball that shot into the sky.
She really didn’t bother pretending even a little…
“That one… Sorry for letting you two witness such a farce. Please, come inside and rest for a moment,” Yuan snorted in displeasure upon seeing Scarlet Feather Flame Princess leave so brazenly.
But thinking of the two very polite guests waiting outside, her mood improved considerably.
Compared to Scarlet Feather Flame Princess, these two were the epitome of beauty, the top tier among guests.
It would be too rude to keep them waiting outside. Better to invite them in and treat them properly.
After being invited inside the shrine, Luo Shuangyue curiously glanced around; it was her first time entering such a place.
What is this? What’s that? And that? She remained in an excited, exploratory state throughout.
Xia Mo was not quite as excited. She observed the shrine’s scenery like an ordinary girl, occasionally covering her mouth to softly sigh in amazement.
Inside the shrine were many girls dressed in miko outfits similar to Yuan’s, but their robes were slightly less finely made, perhaps hinting that their status was lower than Yuan’s.
As they moved forward inside the shrine, Yuan explained its background to Luo Shuangyue and Xia Mo.
This place was called Jingan Palace, and the first generation head priestess was none other than the Soul Summoner Princess: Kanroji Kanata.
In Extreme East City, Jingan Palace was considered a cooperative faction of the Magic Department.
They often helped the Magic Department deal with tricky issues.
Due to the Soul Summoner Princess’s habit of taking in children left homeless by Demon disasters, the shrine actually housed quite a few Magical Girls.
After all, more than half of the girls who became Magical Girls were this kind.
Scarlet Feather Flame Princess was one such girl once taken in by the Soul Summoner Princess, even the eldest sister among all in the shrine.
But several years ago, after obtaining her Magical Girl powers, Scarlet Feather Flame Princess chose to leave Jingan Palace and join the Magic Department.
This deeply disappointed Yuan, who had always regarded Scarlet Feather Flame Princess as a role model and now saw her as a traitor.
In Yuan’s eyes, Scarlet Feather Flame Princess had left Jingan Palace for the perks offered by the Magic Department!
“But Master says everyone has their own aspirations. Scarlet Feather Flame Princess hasn’t wronged her.
If you ask me, Master is just too kind-hearted,” Yuan muttered softly while pouring tea for Luo Shuangyue and Xia Mo.
She felt she was the only one holding a grudge against Scarlet Feather Flame Princess’s departure, and it made her feel uncomfortable.
“The Magic Department’s material conditions are indeed better, but they also have plenty of work. It’s more like you get out what you put in,” Luo Shuangyue scratched her head and spoke fairly.
When Demon disasters break out, isn’t it always the Magic Department that steps up first? It’s not a problem for the Magic Department’s Magical Girls to enjoy better treatment.
And Jingan Palace didn’t seem like the type to actively handle Demon disasters.
If Scarlet Feather Flame Princess was a warm-hearted girl who couldn’t sit still, going to the Magic Department to fight monsters made sense.
“Well, she’s still a traitor,” Yuan whispered, but quickly realized this was disrespectful and lightly slapped her own face to regain composure.
Stepping out of the dark mood, Yuan returned to her usual gentle and polite self, warmly entertaining the two guests.
But even as the sun passed the zenith, the Soul Summoner Princess had yet to return.
“Strange, Master shouldn’t be gone this long,” even Yuan was puzzled. Why was her master taking so long this time?
Could she have run into some particularly thorny problem?
The light outside grew dimmer. Luo Shuangyue turned to look out the window and saw that the sunlight was filtered by a kind of haze, dimmed and gray.
…the sun is darkening?!
What could affect the sun to make it darken?
Something was wrong. Definitely wrong!
“Rosemary, prepare for battle!” Luo Shuangyue slammed the table hard, grabbing the Butterfly Hairpin from thin air.
But she didn’t notice that the originally smooth edges of the hairpin had sprouted several sharp little thorns. When she gripped it, a sharp pain made her gasp sharply.
Opening her hand, she realized she might be the first Magical Girl to be injured by her own transformation tool.
“Eh? Battle?” Though Xia Mo was still a bit stunned, her body reacted faster than her mind.
A flash of purple light enveloped her as she entered transformation mode. The four Floating Cannons behind her morphed into shield shapes, surrounding her to prevent any sneak attacks.
Yuan was the slowest to react. Clearly the type of Magical Girl who hadn’t seen much real combat, her response speed was far behind Xia Mo and Luo Shuangyue.
Well, she was just an Initial Bloom-class Magical Girl. This performance was understandable.
Pinning the hairpin in her hair and transforming, Luo Shuangyue cautiously peeked out of the room.
Then she gave Yuan a strange look. “Hey, are the specialty Demons around here Grudge Spirits?”
Outside, a translucent Demon wrapped in black swirling energy was wandering about. Luo Shuangyue realized the dimming of light was caused by it.
But this Demon didn’t emit the usual monstrous aura, which was strange. This was the first time she’d encountered such a situation.
Yuan also peered outside and, upon seeing the Demon, displayed a look of disbelief.
“That’s impossible. Demons of this form shouldn’t exist.”
Normally, the Demons Jingan Palace encountered were just clumps of black energy, making it impossible to tell what they looked like when alive.
But this Demon clearly had a defined form, different from other Demon spirits.
Oddly, it showed no aggression. Since its appearance, it had just been wandering in place. Even when the three Magical Girls approached, it showed no reaction.
A large black-purple scythe slashed through its body, merely disturbing the magic energy forming its shape but provoking no other response.
This could only be described as eerie.
“How do you usually deal with Demon spirits? Why don’t you give it a try?” Luo Shuangyue looked to Yuan.
She wasn’t familiar with all this mystical stuff and figured the Jingan Palace girl who’d studied under the Soul Summoner Princess for years must have some technique.
Yuan held a slender magic staff that looked like a wooden stick wrapped with paper. Her expression grew serious staring at the strange Demon in the courtyard.
“I’ll do my best,” she said, raising the staff with both hands and casting a pure white beam at the soul-like Demon.
“Exorcism Strike!”
So your way of exorcising spirits is this hardcore? Luo Shuangyue nearly burst out laughing.
She had expected some ancient, complicated ritual, some meaningless dance, and after a long procedure, the Demon would ascend on its own.
Who would have guessed that Magical Girls in Extreme East City didn’t bother with all that fancy stuff and just smashed the Demon with a magic cannon first?
But it actually worked.
“It’s working!” Xia Mo’s eyes lit up.
The Demon, which had ignored Luo Shuangyue’s attack completely, suddenly melted like ice meeting boiling water.
Yuan quickly followed up with two more strikes, finally finishing off the Demon.
However, though the Demon was destroyed, the black energy lingering in the courtyard didn’t dissipate. It condensed into small whirlpools, slowly beginning to reform.
It probably wouldn’t be long before a new Demon of the same kind appeared here.
“Isn’t there any way to eradicate the root cause?” Luo Shuangyue frowned at the black energy.
“Usually, once the Demon spirit is purified, the surrounding magic energy disperses on its own for lack of a master. Why is this time different?” Yuan was unsure.
She cautiously tried to purify the small whirlpools with the same beam that cleansed the Demon, but it had little effect.
A small black Butterfly flew out from Luo Shuangyue’s fingertip, swallowing a portion of the magic energy before returning to her.
Tasting the magic energy carefully, Luo Shuangyue could only conclude it was ordinary.
This magic energy was completely unclaimed.
Otherwise, it would carry a trace of its owner’s aura, which she could detect.
“These are unclaimed magic energies. This situation is really strange,” Luo Shuangyue scratched her head, utterly at a loss in unfamiliar Extreme East City.
Meanwhile, Xia Mo had already taken out her phone and started looking up information.
After Luo Shuangyue finished speaking, she immediately added, “It’s not just Jingan Palace. Other areas in Extreme East City are experiencing the same situation.”
The internal Magic Department forums in Extreme East City were nearly erupting. Too many strange phenomena had appeared, and the Magic Department was feeling overwhelmed.
“So far, more than ten abnormal locations have been identified, and they’re increasing as time goes on!”
“Has the Magic Department reached any conclusions? What’s going on?”
“No. These abnormalities have only just appeared recently… Scarlet Feather Flame Princess came to see the Soul Summoner Princess because of this!” Xia Mo suddenly connected the dots.
Why had Scarlet Feather Flame Princess come to Jingan Palace? It must have been because she discovered these soul-like Demons and wanted the Soul Summoner Princess to take a look.
But since the Soul Summoner Princess was absent and Yuan’s abilities were far below hers, it was better for Scarlet Feather Flame Princess to figure it out herself.
So the big question now was: where had the Soul Summoner Princess gone?
“Although these strange occurrences throughout Extreme East City have caused some panic, they haven’t brought about major harm,” Mysterious Dawn moved a stack of documents before Scarlet Feather Flame Princess and asked with a troubled expression, “What do you think is happening?”
Scarlet Feather Flame Princess lowered her head to read. “I don’t know. I just went looking for Kanata-senpai, but she wasn’t at Jingan Palace. We have to rely on ourselves for now.”
If anyone knew the truth in Extreme East City, it would be Kanroji Kanata.
But since leaving Jingan Palace late last night, Kanroji Kanata’s whereabouts were unknown.
Nearly twelve hours had passed. That was enough time for a Full Bloom-Class Magical Girl to fly around the world once. Trying to guess Kanata’s location was futile; Scarlet Feather Flame Princess was better off thinking for herself.
After all, she was Kanroji Kanata’s senior disciple. Though she had left the sect to join the Magic Department, she hadn’t forgotten the skills she learned.
“There must be a powerful mastermind behind this surge of Demon spirits. We have to find it and deal with it!” Scarlet Feather Flame Princess looked up at the white board covered with portraits, her eyes gleaming with thought.
“I suspect that Royal-Class Magic Beast had been plotting this very incident before it died. Though it’s dead now, its loyal followers are still carrying out its plan step by step.”
“Kanata-senpai was probably lured away by those people.”
To lure away a Full Bloom-Class Magical Girl? Mysterious Dawn’s pupils contracted. What kind of power would it take to pull that off?
Could a leaderless organization really do something like this?
If that Royal-Class Magic Beast were still alive, she wouldn’t rule it out. But it was already dead!
The strongest combat force in Extreme East City now was the Soul Summoner Princess. Who could keep her missing for twelve whole hours?!
“In any case, we can’t underestimate this. My suggestion is to immediately gather all Magical Girls in Extreme East City and enter First-Grade Combat Readiness!” Scarlet Feather Flame Princess said resolutely.
“Prepare for the worst. The opponent we face may be even more troublesome than that Royal-Class Magic Beast!”
“Stop right there! Don’t blame me if I don’t go easy on you!”
While Magical Girls across Extreme East City fretted over the strange phenomena plaguing the city, Mirror Farewell had no time for trivial matters.
She was still chasing a criminal.
After receiving the portrait Luo Shuangyue provided, she had painstakingly tracked the strange girl’s trail and found her movements were heading toward a certain high-tech company.
Could she be planning to silence someone? Mirror Farewell hurried her team to intercept.
This operation was, if anything, successful. She arrived just in time to stop the girl from killing her target and saved the victim.
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