Chapter 403
"The older brother who played the Dream Weaver Rabbit, you're such a nice person."
"... Would you like a gift bag?"
"Yes, do you have a bag in the shape of Yin Qing Bao?"
"We're out of these, but we still have Tang Liuli's."
Pei Xiaotong wasn't too disappointed; she nodded and said:
"A cat? That's quite cute, thank you!"
The little girl took the collaboration merchandise from Beelzebub. She tugged at her collar, feeling the heat that could easily cause heatstroke, and the sweat beading on her forehead. She thought the employees wearing the Dream Weaver Rabbit doll must be sweltering.
Thinking of this, Pei Xiaotong simply shoved a cup of iced lemon tea into the other person's arms, took a flyer, and hurriedly said goodbye to meet up with Ling Bao, completely unaware that her idol was in this milk tea shop.
Inside the store,
Chu Yuanqing turned to look at Beelzebub thoughtfully. She had sensed something for a moment, but that strange feeling, like some memories, had been corrected by the Sea of Truth all at once, leaving only a subtle taste in her chest.
For some inexplicable reason, her attention was drawn to the stranger Dream Weaver Rabbit doll. The light, like that of a lighthouse obscured by thick fog and storms on the beach, appeared and disappeared intermittently, sometimes surfacing in her mind, sometimes fading from her memory.
Beelzebub's body stiffened, and it tried its best to remain calm, like a mortal face to face with a demon, not daring to breathe. Even its hideous and terrifying shell was carefully covered with a mimicry layer, imitating human skin and posture.
At this moment, the Beast of Love, accustomed to imitating and incorporating human emotions, chooses to actively abandon all control and understanding of feelings, transforming itself into the lowest of the low, regaining a deathly stillness that remains unmoved even when the sky falls.
Beelzebub's disguise was perfect. This apostle was able to house all his calamity and power in the deep dimension directly under [Amor], and he himself inherited the extreme authority of original sin. He was an alternative conceptual species, and it was impossible to find him by relying solely on the perception of calamity.
As expected, Chu Yuanqing only glanced at it a few times before moving on. Even after buying the milk tea and leaving with the group of Little Idol, she didn't look at it again, seemingly unaware of her true identity.
Half an hour later,
The shattered pupils of the Beast of Love wriggled and recovered, the flesh within them pulsating, black threads like earthworms rotating, emanating a few strands of dark red light. It diligently "worked," relying on the massive flow of people, continuing to plant the seeds for the "Holy Communion."
But this time, the flickering red light, upon touching the other's fingertips, mysteriously lingered and solidified, disintegrating under some incredible force.
"Gluttony, Beelzebub."
In a daze, my thoughts froze.
The passerby's mask shattered, revealing their true appearance.
The girl looked down at him, her beautiful pupils magnified infinitely in Beelzebub's mind, their deep and tranquil emerald light seeming to bring eternal peace.
-- Soul Manipulation.
The condensed Magic Element, like a corrosive poison, forcibly penetrated the tangled outer layer of soul and remains, peeling back the layers to reveal its deeper essence, injecting a weight that would lead to destruction, and turning vision pitch black.
--[Mask].
Tang Liuli's slender, pale fingertips brushed across the doll's head. The doll costume, along with the flesh and blood inside, was pulverized by the expanding spikes, distorted by reality, and replaced by a pure vacuum.
Where Beelzebub was, apart from the unfinished merchandise and flyers, there was only a cup of completely melted lemon tea.
"It's really in the way."
The girl frowned slightly. This doll contained only a tiny clone, and eliminating it would be a drop in the ocean. She sighed inwardly, withdrew her Magic Element, and left the milk tea shop.
Xie Qingxuan looked at the person walking towards her, and took the initiative to restrain the [Titan's Authority], returning the other person's presence to normal. In front of her was Qing Bao sitting in a wheelchair, and beside her was Kiriwake Yayoi.
"Is it resolved?"
Tang Liuli shook her head:
"Not entirely. The Sea Capital in danger. You should have gone. [The Titan's Authority] might have a way to capture its existence and annihilate the complete Beelzebub."
"Now... I don't know how far its mark has spread."
Beelzebub, the Beast of Love representing gluttony, is one of the strongest apostles under [Amor]. His authority is closely related to gluttony, and in addition to arousing the gluttonous desires of all beings, he also possesses many terrifying abilities.
The most chilling ability is what the other party calls "Holy Communion." As long as the mark of gluttony is spread, it can turn people into food at any time and eat them alive.
Simply put, it can materialize a cup of lemon tea and a box of fried rice from hundreds of thousands of miles away. As long as you drink or eat them, the person who has been implanted with the gluttony mark will be eaten alive in an instant, which is quite bizarre and terrifying.
This is still a "refined" approach, involving certain rule enhancements. When Beelzebub is truly hungry, he can increase his authority output and directly chew on the void to devour his prey.
The others couldn't remember clearly, but Tang Liuli, who had reincarnated thousands of times and witnessed the same methods of the Disaster God and the Apostles countless times, had a considerable amount of information about Beelzebub in her mind.
And that is why,
As Tang Liuli entered Nanjing Street, she observed from the perspective of Soul Manipulation and saw the deep red in the souls of some people. She immediately remembered that this was Beelzebub's mark of gluttony and searched for the true form of the other party while strolling through the street.
Finally, near the milk tea shop that collaborated with <Flashdance>, they found more than a dozen people with the gluttony mark, thus narrowing down the approximate area.
Beelzebub's disguise was excellent; even Soul Manipulation couldn't see through its true nature. The souls of Calamity Beasts and humans are naturally completely different, yet the other party had meticulously woven a layer of clothing using human soul remains, leaving almost no flaws.
However, even with the strategy of observing multiple targets simultaneously and waiting for them to come to them, the opponent still revealed their weakness the moment the Gluttony Mark was applied.
Xie Qingxuan denied it:
"It's difficult. It's not a bishop who was hastily patched up and doesn't even know how to use his power, but an apostle who has mastered Gluttony, who can sense power that is also on the conceptual side, and whose existence is even more difficult to shake or capture."
Tang Liuli is the most suitable person to deal with the Gluttony clone. Her Soul Manipulation comes with strong control and can even try to read memories and search information, which are things that her own blessing cannot easily do.
"In short, its clone has no memories, is highly vigilant, and is probably in very poor condition, similar to a [Calamity Species] in its early stages of hatching. It dares not and is unable to launch 'Holy Communion' on a large scale."
Tang Liuli analyzed:
"Furthermore, Beelzebub's constant presence at stores collaborating with Flashdance seems far too purposeful."
"I suspect it's not simply hunting, but rather trying to devour a large number of Flashdance fans at a crucial moment. This is probably directly related to the Public Performance two days later."
That's easy to guess; otherwise, there's no way to explain why a dignified apostle would sit in a bubble tea shop all day shouting "Bling Bling Dream Weaver Rabbit."
Kiriwake Yayoi heavy-hearted; for the current world, an apostle of a Disaster God was still far beyond her reach.
Moreover, this was only because Chu Yuanqing suppressed it quickly; otherwise, it's unimaginable how many more complete and powerful apostles could have escaped.
The Pure White Witch sat in a wheelchair, her eyes lowered in apparent weariness. Her half-closed golden eyes emitted shimmering light, and the [Quicksilver Blood] within her flowed slowly, each strand of her Magic Element heavy as a thousand pounds, difficult to use.
Beelzebub, she didn't remember.
In my memory, while the power of concepts may be limited, the Light of the Soul can be extinguished.
Furthermore, if Gungnir were used again, it should be able to kill [Calamity Wish], similar to how the causal chain of fate locks in the light.
Unfortunately, after awakening [The Eternal Intertwined Destinies], she could have directly woven her spells without the aid of a stage, just like the Spiral Magic Sword, condensing an eternal spear that could lock in cause and effect.
But now, we can only leave it to the Countermeasures Bureau to solve.
The Green Eyed Cat crouched down and stroked Qing Bao's hair, comforting her:
"I've already told Dream Weaver Rabbit, let's have a little faith in the Magical Girl of this era."
"Although everyone hasn't had time to grow up yet, many people in the Countermeasures Bureau have Destined Magic that is far more outrageous than normal blessings. There must be a way to solve this."
Kiriwake Yayoi also offered a soft word of comfort, knowing how cruel and powerless it must have been for Chu Yuanqing, who had once been able to vanquish the Disaster God.
Chu Yuanqing remained silent, her slender hands gripping the flyer tightly, but her knuckles couldn't even turn white from the pressure. With the slightest effort, the flyer trembled involuntarily, causing it to slip from her grasp and drift away in the strong wind.
The flyer for "Flash Dance," which listed the addresses of Third Performance, tumbled a few times in mid-air before falling silently, like a withered leaf, not too far from the wheelchair.
Book 1: 376. Prophecy; Fortunately, it wasn't you I forgot. (5K)
The next day.
Led by Chu Wangshu, Tang Liuli, Xie Qingxuan, and Kiriwake Yayoi Astrid into the Sea of Stars and returned to the Violet Academy in the Ideal Country. They began to use the time ratio to rearrange and train the Public Performance music for the performance the day after tomorrow.
Information about Beelzebub, the Beast of Love and the Apostle of Gluttony, was reported during the day, drawing great attention from the Countermeasures Bureau and prompting discussion within the Supreme Council.
With the authority granted, Astrid dispatched two Captain-Class and five fully-developed magical girls to the Sea Capital from four recently suppressed and temporarily less risky forbidden zones: [Magical Girl], [King of Salt], [Ymir], Sea Capital [Amaterasu].
According to the extensive intelligence shared by Tang Liuli, the personnel recruited were all carefully selected, a group of elites who mastered Mortal Realm Barrier, possessed high reconnaissance capabilities, and had Destined Magic comparable to conceptual abilities.
The Captain-Class dispatched were:
Iris, the Dragon Witch.
Ji Qianju, the Relief Witch World.
The Sound String Witch · Xie Qingyu.
Here, Iris's abilities are simple and clear: just think of her as a legendary dragon in human form. If she sacrifices her life to activate [Great Full Bloom], she can even further awaken the magic that transforms all beings into dragons and forcibly seize and control them.
Ji Qianju, also known as Golden Lamp, was recently promoted in Ideal Country and is the lowest- Captain-Class. Her performance in suppressing the [Amor] restricted area was also unsatisfactory.
However, this does not mean that the opponent is weak.
Golden Lamp are revered as sacred flowers in India and used to decorate temples. Their Flower Language includes the happiness of hope and the pain of parting. In legend, they are the flower that announced the Virgin Mary's pregnancy and also have the meaning of salvation.
Ji Qianju's Destined Magic is called [Prophecy of Relief]. She can randomly predict the future three times a day, and can also predict the outcome of a specific event once.
At the same time, the prophetic information can be replaced with [the Fruit of Relief]. Depending on the value of the prophecy, those who eat the fruit will receive a powerful healing effect close to resurrection, as well as various random luck bonuses.
Before Iris was cured by Chu Yuanqing, the Countermeasures Bureau had always pinned its hopes on this Relief Witch arriving at [Full Bloom] and then trying to use magic to create a miracle that reversed the degeneration.
In addition, [Fruit of Relief] can also be used in direct combat, where it can form a damage skill similar to a vampire vine, while greatly reducing the enemy's luck.
As for the specific degree of misfortune, it can range from a minor misfortune that causes Calamity Beasts to fall flat on its face to a major Calamity Beasts that causes it to drown, giving it a somewhat manipulative feel to fate.
Furthermore, even if the prophetic poems are consumed, they will still be recorded. When the Magic Domain is expanded, the poems will be used to build a golden temple, which will have a very strong protective effect.
Overall, Ji Qianju is an extremely excellent support character. She can heal, tank, predict the future, and even increase luck. However, [Amor]'s authority is too overpowered. Not only can it bypass the Golden Temple, but it can also directly turn all her teammates against her. Naturally, she plays very frustratingly.
Xie Qingyu needs little introduction. Her being called the Sound String Witch and being able to play various debuff notes on the guitar are somewhat related, but not significantly.
The real reason is that, since the Captain-Class all need to come up with a prefix for their names, Xiaoyu, who is terrible at naming things, confidently filled in "Rock Witch" on the report. However, she was stopped in time by Violet and the other teammates and forced to change it to this.
These three Captain-Class, along with five Magical Girl each with their own unique talents, temporarily formed the Sea Capital Guard, a force even more impressive than the one stationed in a single restricted area.
Sea Capital Ring Road
Inside the quaint coffee shop, eight Magical Girl gathered.
After a brief exchange and council meeting, the non- Captain-Class Magical Girl went off to carry out their missions, leaving only the three captains on site.
Ji Qianju took off her hat, revealing her golden hair, the ends of which were dyed a gradient of yellow-brown. Her eyes, previously concealed by the technique, returned to their bright yellow color.
The girl's outfit was a sexy idol style, showing off her slender waist, fair and delicate skin, and beautiful lines next to her vertical navel, making it impossible to tell the terrible state she had been in yesterday when she was almost pierced.
She glanced at Iris, who was sitting opposite her staring at the strawberry parfait, and said with a smile:
"Let me introduce myself. Ji Qianju, from Great Xia. We've been friends before."
Iris's gray hair has natural curls, and it looks great even when tied into a single ponytail. She's wearing a youthful and cute stage outfit, looking like she just came off the stage, her sculpted and youthful face still covered in makeup.
"Iris Atlante, other information is available."
"I know you, Sister Ji. Can Iris eat the parfait now? It's almost melted."
"Certainly."
Ji Qianju isn't a devil; she wouldn't deprive a child of their right to eat ice cream.
Xie Qingyu sat next to her. She ordered a chocolate sundae, and at Little Butterfly's urging, she also ordered a deluxe ice cream cone. She looked up and smiled.
"Golden Lamp, it's been a long time."
Magical Girl also have their own circles. The Countermeasures Bureau's app has a dedicated chat section and group chat area, which is managed in real time by Super AI. Their interactions are not limited to teams or nationalities.
Although the app warns against revealing their real identities, it's only natural for Xie Qingyu and Ji Qianju, who share the same nationality, are both well-known idols, and occasionally collaborate on missions, to expose each other's true identities.
Ji Qianju had no intention of reminiscing; her expression was serious as she spoke softly:
"Xiaoyu, I didn't say this in front of everyone, but one of the three prophetic poems today is related to you."
As the words faded, the pitch-black night enveloped the café, and words, like falling stars, intertwined and formed verses in a magical tapestry.
This flower has lost its fragrance.
It's like your kiss, it once breathed on me.
[Those vibrant colors have faded, no longer shining upon you, the only you...]
Its title is "Ode to a Withered Violet".
Xie Qingyu fell silent. This was Shelley's poem, also an expression of the "Prophecy of Relief." The Little Butterfly next to her was happily rolling around in the ice cream cone. Upon hearing this, it looked up in a daze and immediately ate its ice cream even faster.
The girl lowered her eyes to look at the Lantern Fairy, a helpless and sorrowful smile on her face, and murmured to herself:
"Does this mean I'll have to pay at least the price of [Great Full Bloom], or even [Sange] in Sea Capital?"
A single [Great Full Bloom] represents the sacrifice of the Lantern Fairy.
The second [Great Full Bloom] represents the future of the sacrificed Witch, a permanent and constant potential.
Then comes the burning of everything, the sacrifice of everything, unleashing the Magical Girl's strongest and most miraculous state ever—[Sange].
Violet encouraged them: