Magical Girls Exposed! Chapter 13

"Tut, tut, tut."

"Come on, you two. Isn't it just Xiao Chun meeting Brother Fang Ming? What's so interesting about that?"

Yu Muqiu couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. From her perspective, Fang Ming had simply met with Xiao Chun to discuss matters concerning the Magical Girl Website.

It was work. There didn't seem to be anything worth paying attention to.

But while Yu Muqiu thought that way, Chen Xiaoxia did not.

She wagged a finger at Yu Muqiu and said:

"Xiao Qiu, you're too naive. If she was only there to meet Brother Fang Ming, why would she hide it?"

"This..."

"Obviously!" Chen Xiaoxia concluded. "Xiao Chun and Brother Fang Ming must have been discussing something bad, which was why they had to be so sneaky! Who would've thought that good little Xiao Chun had a naughty side too?"

"Yeah, yeah... Huh?" Nino nodded along instinctively, only to freeze when she heard Chen Xiaoxia's conclusion.

Was... was that really it?

Wasn't it because Xiao Chun liked Fang Ming, so she had secretly come to see him?

Had I guessed wrong?

Nino had initially thought Chen Xiaoxia was the one who had guessed wrong, but seeing how certain Chen Xiaoxia looked, she couldn't help beginning to doubt herself.

Could it be... that I really had guessed wrong?

Nino was still questioning her whole life.

Then, all at once, the phones on Yu Muqiu, Chen Xiaoxia, and Murong Xiaochun, who was still in the room, rang simultaneously.

The phones they carried were specially prepared by the Federation for private communication.

These phones normally wouldn't ring. In other words, if they did ring, it meant something major had happened!

That was why all three of them answered at almost the same time.

And at the same time, they received the same piece of news.

"What?! Demons have appeared in downtown Spring City?! That's impossible!"

Chen Xiaoxia cried out in alarm.

She had completely forgotten that she had followed Murong Xiaochun there. Her shout was loud enough for Xiao Chun and Fang Ming in the room to hear clearly.

But at a time like this, no one was going to care about Chen Xiaoxia secretly following someone.

Everyone's attention was drawn to the urgent voices on the phone.

After a month, Demons had appeared in Spring City once more.

And before this, Nino hadn't sensed a thing.

Toy Bear and the Ambush

"Raaawr—!"

In a commercial district somewhere in downtown Spring City, a giant bear nearly three meters tall charged wildly through a mall.

The giant bear was entirely brown, covered in dense patterns of stitched thread. One of its ears was missing a corner, with stuffing faintly visible inside.

That was right, this giant bear was a toy bear.

A toy bear that stood a full three meters tall!

Any object became intimidating once it grew to three meters tall, let alone a giant bear with considerable strength. With one sweep of its toy paw, the surrounding buildings and decorations were effortlessly knocked down like stacked blocks.

The crowd around the giant toy bear scattered in panic, while the bear seemed to have fixed its sights on some target and chased furiously in one direction.

On a second-floor platform not far from the giant bear, a woman dressed in office attire reported the situation over her phone.

"The Demon codenamed 'Toy Bear' seems to be chasing someone. There haven't been any casualties yet, but if this keeps up, we can't be sure... Xiao Qiu, hurry over!"

"I'm here!"

The woman had barely finished speaking when Yu Muqiu's voice sounded both through the phone and from outside it.

Then Yu Muqiu appeared in the air as a streak of pink light. Pink radiance formed wings behind her, allowing her to hover in midair. The moment she arrived, she swung her wand and cast magic at Toy Bear.

"Light Shackles!"

Several streams of pink light took on the form of chains, attempting to bind the distant Demon.

At first glance, those chains looked rather similar to the magic Xiao Bai used, but in truth, they were merely manifestations created by Yu Muqiu's Light Magic.

Yu Muqiu's Light Magic was magic that controlled light.

She could transform the light formed from her own magic power into all kinds of shapes, condensing it into various solid forms.

She could also fire light outward and unleash tremendously powerful blasts.

Compared to Xiaoxia and Xiao Chun, Yu Muqiu's Light Magic was incredibly versatile. Calling it all-purpose wouldn't be an exaggeration.

Take the current situation, for example. The wings formed from Light Magic allowed Yu Muqiu to fly, while the chains formed from Light Magic could bind Toy Bear in place.

After all, she was the "protagonist." It was only natural that the magic she possessed would be highly adaptable.

Yu Muqiu had just arrived when Chen Xiaoxia and Murong Xiaochun followed close behind.

The blue magical girl turned into a meteor falling from the sky, smashing through the mall's ceiling. Gripping a greatsword taller than she was, she brought it crashing down onto the giant bear's head!

"Take this!"

Chen Xiaoxia hadn't given her move any particular name. Her fighting style was simple: she relied on her overwhelming strength and physical abilities to fight head-on.

But precisely because of that, she was the magical girl with the purest offensive power among the three.

With her "Enhancement" magic, she could strengthen anything in her hands and turn anything she held into a greatsword.

She could even enhance her own body.

The enhanced greatsword slammed down onto the giant bear's head.

But the blade ultimately sank into the giant bear's soft body!

Its soft body actually dispersed most of Chen Xiaoxia's attack. In the end, not only did she fail to split the giant bear in half with one strike, she also gave it an opening.

A fluffy toy paw swept in from the side. It shattered the chains binding it and struck Chen Xiaoxia squarely.

Bang!!

Crash!!

Chen Xiaoxia was sent flying into a nearby shop. She smashed the store apart and buried herself in the wreckage.

Fortunately, as the only combat-focused magical girl among the three, such an attack couldn't hurt Chen Xiaoxia at all.

She merely rubbed the spot that had been hit with a pained expression and lay amid the ruins, saying:

"Ow, ow, ow... Huh? It doesn't really hurt that much?"

Compared to where she had been struck, her back hurt more from crashing into the shop.

Chen Xiaoxia looked at Toy Bear's fluffy paw and suddenly understood.

Though Toy Bear looked enormous, it was ultimately still just a toy. Aside from its great force, that attack itself hadn't been particularly damaging.

If Chen Xiaoxia had landed on a pile of cotton, she probably wouldn't have felt any pain at all.

This Toy Bear... seemed different from the previous Demons.

"Raaawr—!!"

After swatting Chen Xiaoxia away, Toy Bear let out an angry roar at the magical girls, as if it knew they were trying to stop it.

Just as Yu Muqiu thought Toy Bear would charge at her, it opened its mouth. Brown energy, the same color as its body, gathered within.

"Not good, it's a Magic Cannon! Xiao Qiu, get out of the way!"

Nino, watching from afar, warned Yu Muqiu.

But even without Nino telling her, Yu Muqiu knew she couldn't take that attack head-on.

However, when she looked behind her and saw the spectators still gathered on the seventh floor, some even holding up their phones to record, Yu Muqiu suppressed the urge to dodge.

She couldn't dodge!

Otherwise, the people behind her would be hit by the Magic Cannon!

With that thought, Yu Muqiu swung her wand, and a pink shield of light appeared before her.

Shield of Hope!

This was Yu Muqiu's defensive move.

But in the end, Toy Bear's Magic Cannon did not strike Yu Muqiu, because Xiao Chun, who had been providing support from afar, finally made her move!

Green light transformed into four streaks in the air. In the blink of an eye, the four streaks formed a long Arrow that pierced into one side of Toy Bear and emerged from the other.

The momentum from that powerful force sent the giant bear toppling sideways, its mouth aimed directly at the transparent glass ceiling overhead.

Boom!!!

The Magic Cannon erupted from the giant bear's mouth at that moment.

It pierced through the ceiling, melted the glass above, and shot toward the sky.

After firing, the thick Magic Cannon quickly narrowed and dissipated.

When they looked back at the giant bear, it had completely lost its power after firing that shot. Whether it was because its magic power had run out or because of Xiao Chun's Arrow, no one knew.

Its body shrank from a giant bear several meters tall into a small toy bear only a little over ten centimeters high.

Only after confirming that the little toy bear would not move again did the three magical girls gather around it.

Chen Xiaoxia grabbed the doll, shook it, and frowned. "This... doesn't seem to be a Demon? There's no Nightmare Seed at all."

At her words, everyone turned to look at Nino, who had also run over.

Nino nimbly climbed onto Chen Xiaoxia, then sniffed the doll.

Whatever she smelled made her cat-like pupils tremble, and she cried out:

"This is... magic power?! This isn't a Demon, it's magic!!"

"?!"

The three magical girls, as well as the official personnel who had arrived to clean up the scene, were all shocked.

Not a Demon, but magic?

Everyone knew that only magical girls could use magic, and the three magical girls present clearly could not have been behind this.

Then the origin of this magical doll...

"Achoo!"

Xiao Bai, who had also come to the mall and had already transformed into a magical girl, naturally heard the discussion among the three magical girls.

When she heard that the toy bear had been created by magic, the corner of Xiao Bai's mouth twitched.

What? A magical doll?

Was she about to become the scapegoat?

At present, aside from the three magical girls, Xiao Bai was the only magical girl still out there. With a toy bear formed from magic suddenly appearing, Xiao Bai was unquestionably the prime suspect.

Though Xiao Bai believed this was likely the opening of the second season of Magical Girl Xiao Qiu.

But the first season on the Sky Screen hadn't even finished airing yet!

At one episode a week, if Xiao Bai wanted to clear her name, who knew how long she would have to wait!

"Damn..."

Thinking of that, Xiao Bai's expression darkened.

It wasn't only because she had somehow been saddled with a huge blame. It was also because the official personnel had somehow already arrived on the rooftop where she stood.

Looking at the officials who had suddenly appeared, along with the helicopters flying overhead.

Xiao Bai felt like she had been surrounded.

Episode Six, One Day Later