Magical Girls Exposed!

"This guy actually ignored me!"

"All right, all right, Xiaoxia." Yu Muqiu tried to calm her. "Xiao Bai is right. Our top priority is to get the ordinary people out before the Demons take shape."

Though they did not know why these people had been drawn into the barrier and guided into forming Demons and Nightmare Seeds, as long as they teleported everyone away, this crisis would naturally be resolved.

With Xiao Bai taking the lead, the other magical girls began moving as well, running all over the lantern festival within the barrier and sending people out one after another.

However, they had evacuated less than half the bystanders when another change occurred inside the barrier.

The Demons that had yet to fully take shape suddenly formed at tremendous speed. From within the black mist nurturing them, countless vines shot toward the four magical girls rescuing people like Chains!

"!!!"

Xiao Bai reacted first. Chains surged from the void behind her, and countless Chains tangled and collided with the incoming vines in midair, trying to keep them at bay.

Yu Muqiu was the next to react.

With a wave of her wand, pink light formed into flying blades around her, slicing apart all the incoming vines.

Chen Xiaoxia and Xiao Chun also cast their respective magic at the same time after Yu Muqiu released hers.

Chen Xiaoxia swung her greatsword and chopped all the vines to pieces. Then she flicked the blade aside, raised it one-handed, and pointed it at the shadow in the sky.

"Couldn't hold yourself back anymore? Then show yourself already! What kind of skill is hiding behind the scenes and controlling Demons!"

Chen Xiaoxia truly was the simplest-minded of the three.

The moment she realized the person behind the scenes had finally made a move, she directly launched a taunting attack at them. It was only because Chen Xiaoxia had never trained on online forums that her aggression was not completely maxed out right now.

Perhaps unable to endure Chen Xiaoxia's taunts, or perhaps because she stood out too much, the vines in the sky seemed to find their target in an instant. Most of them swarmed toward Chen Xiaoxia!

"Perfect!"

Facing the vines filling the sky, Chen Xiaoxia stomped hard on the ground. As the earth cracked beneath her, she herself shot toward the vines.

"Take this!! Blade Storm!"

Chen Xiaoxia shouted, borrowing the name of a skill from who knew what game. She spun through the air, and the blade of her greatsword truly became like a violent gale, shredding the incoming vines to pieces.

Fragments of vine rained from the sky like a shower of green rain.

Xiao Bai stared at the falling vine fragments. Her pupils suddenly shrank, and she shouted at Chen Xiaoxia.

"Blue idiot! Stop fighting!! Look under your feet!!!"

"Huh?"

The blue idiot froze for a moment before immediately turning to look below her.

Then the blue idiot cried out, "What is this?!!!"

The vines that had fallen to the ground took root before Chen Xiaoxia's eyes, growing once more into even larger and sturdier vines!

These vines altered the environment within the Magic Barrier, turning the entire barrier into a rainforest-like expanse of green.

Worse still, the enormous number of vines was tangling toward the four magical girls!

"This is cheating, this is cheating! Why can the cut-off fragments grow back?! Even that Sixth-Level Demon last time didn't have such powerful abilities!"

A Sixth-Level Demon was a Demon containing six Nightmare Seeds within its body.

That was the official ranking system.

One Nightmare Seed represented one level. Thus, the Speed Demon was Level Three, the Fish Monster Demon was Level Four, and the Demon that likely served as the final boss of the first season, containing six Nightmare Seeds, was Level Six.

And though the Sixth-Level Demon they had faced last time had been powerful, it had not possessed such an unreasonable ability.

The fragments of an attack that had already been cut apart could actually take root and become new attacks. That clearly exceeded the limits of a Sixth-Level Demon!

Could this newly born Demon actually possess strength above Level Seven?

That was obviously not normal!

"W-what do we do?! My Light Magic isn't working either!"

There were too many vines. Even if Yu Muqiu used Light Magic to form slashing attacks, she would only cause more vines to grow. There was no way to clear them all away.

As for using a Magic Cannon, it was not impossible, but Yu Muqiu could only fire a high-output Magic Cannon three times now.

There were also still quite a few ordinary people who had not escaped. A Magic Cannon could easily hurt them by mistake, leaving Yu Muqiu heavily constrained and unwilling to use overly powerful attacks.

Xiao Bai's mind raced as she swept her gaze over the surroundings.

There were too many vines. Unless they used a large-scale attack, there would only be more and more of them.

Then they could not resolve this crisis through battle.

The purpose! She needed to figure out the mastermind's purpose!

Since the mastermind had created such a huge scene, they clearly were not merely showing off their strength. They definitely had their own objective!

So what was that person's objective?

Xiao Bai thought as her gaze darted around.

Until...

She saw a mass of vines dragging Nino away from below, where she had been watching the show, and instantly understood everything.

Nino!!

The mastermind's target was Nino!

Chains vs. Vines

Nino was a magical creature from another world. She did not know much magic herself, and most of what she could do was support-oriented.

In the first episode of the first season, when Yu Muqiu had just become a magical girl and did not yet know how to set up a Magic Barrier, Nino had been the one to create the barrier.

Though Fang Ming initially always equated Nino with Kyubey, Nino was actually more like Yuno's role in Magia.

And unlike Yuno, Nino's true body looked like this. She had no human form and was, strictly speaking, female. That was why Fang Ming stopped targeting Nino as much afterward.

Normally, Nino was barely any more noticeable than a background character.

She explained the origins of Demons and magical beasts, and the difference between Nightmare Barriers and Magic Barriers.

Or she identified a Demon's weakness at critical moments.

She was a completely support-oriented character.

So why did the mastermind want to capture Nino?

Fang Ming, in his Xiao Bai state, thought about it seriously. He could only think of two reasons.

One was that Nino came from another world, and someone wanted to study a creature from another world.

The other... was the twenty-four Nightmare Seeds Nino kept!

Nightmare Seeds were extremely dangerous. Simply existing in reality, they could activate the deepest desires in other people's hearts and turn their dreams into nightmares when they slept at night, thereby forming Demons.

So if they did not want Demons to appear, the only option was to store these Nightmare Seeds in a special space.

Nino's true form was that of a calico cat, and there was an orange-yellow heart-shaped marking on her chest.

That marking looked completely unremarkable. One might not even notice it without looking closely, especially since it was on her chest.

But in reality, it was a storage space Nino possessed naturally.

The Nightmare Seeds were stored in the heart-shaped space on her chest!

If the mastermind truly wanted Nino's Nightmare Seeds... then once that person succeeded, the magical girls might have to face a fusion of all twenty-four Nightmare Seeds!

According to the official settings, that would be a Level Twenty-Four Demon!

It had taken Fang Ming and the magical girls working together to defeat even a Sixth-Level Demon. A Level Twenty-Four Demon... perhaps no one would be able to stop it.

Having considered all this in an instant, Xiao Bai quickly made her decision.

After realizing Nino had been dragged away by the vines, Xiao Bai dropped from the sky without a word. Her scythe spun beside her, turning countless vines into fragments without caring whether they would keep growing.

The vines seemed to sense Xiao Bai's intention. They formed more thick, long vines and smashed them down at her!

"Heh, you want to use this kind of magic against me?"

As the soft vines were about to fall onto her, Xiao Bai gave a disdainful smile. Then she waved her right hand, and endless Chains shot out from behind her, striking the tips of the vines with perfect precision!

What Xiao Bai was best at was Chain Magic. By comparison, her use of Severing Magic was far weaker.

Her favorite attack was also forging Chains in the void and firing them out like the Treasury of the King, much like a certain golden Friend.

And Chains themselves were inherently flexible. At certain times, they were even more flexible than vines!

Using vines against Xiao Bai was no different from using Chains against Xiao Bai.

You're actually using my magic against me?.jpg

The only thing limiting Xiao Bai was probably her magical power.

But the vines themselves were not sturdy, so Xiao Bai did not need to expend much magical power reinforcing her Chains.

Right now, she only needed quantity, not quality!

Clang, clang, clang—

The collision points between Chains and vines actually produced sounds like metal striking metal.

The commotion also alerted the magical girls who were handling the vines and protecting the other bystanders.

Only then did the magical girls realize something was wrong.

"Nino!! Nino's been taken away!!!"

Yu Muqiu cried out.

Xiao Chun also froze abruptly. As though she had thought of something, she raised her longbow immediately without saying a word.

The longbow grew larger. Xiao Chun drew it, and an emerald-green Arrow appeared upon its string.

Twang!

She released the string, and the emerald-green Arrow shot out. It instantly became a gigantic Arrow in midair and flew toward the tightly packed mass of vines!

Boom!!!

The green Arrow struck the vines, creating an effect like an explosion.

Vast magical power spread outward in a circle, destroying all the vines. Nino, who had been tightly wrapped in the vines and unable even to speak, was sent flying by the magical shockwave!

Xiao Bai reacted swiftly. The moment Nino was flung away, she stepped onto Chains that suddenly appeared beneath her feet, rapidly closed the distance, and caught Nino in her arms.

Then Xiao Bai called to Yu Muqiu.

"Xiao Qiu! The Demon has fully formed!! Now's the time!!!"

The vine magic seemed endless, and its power had increased severalfold, indicating that the Demon itself had entered its complete state.

Before a Demon fully formed, it was merely a gathering of illusory desires, and attacks of any nature were ineffective against it.

That was why Xiao Bai and the others could only choose to move people away first.

But now that the Demon had formed, although it had become immensely powerful, it had lost the trait of being impossible to affect.

In other words, its invincibility during transformation had ended, and its health bar had appeared!

Now was the time to attack!

"Okay!!"

Yu Muqiu had no resistance whatsoever to Xiao Bai's command.

She immediately flew into the sky. A magic circle of pink light formed beneath her feet, and the Magic Cannon she had once used against Xiao Bai appeared inside the Convergence Rings again, its gathered power aimed directly at the Demon in the sky!

"Angel—Impact Cannon!!"

Boom!!!

The immense blast was like a sword splitting open the heavens. With the trajectory of the cannon fire as its boundary, it divided the sky in two.

The pink blast annihilated the Demon and shot farther into the distance. It even shattered the Magic Barrier, revealing a gap.

When the light faded, the Demon had vanished without a trace.

Not even a Nightmare Seed remained behind.

After all, this Demon had only just formed. Its Nightmare Seeds had not fully taken shape either; calling it an underage Demon would not be inaccurate.

Yu Muqiu's blast had been rather like using a cannon to kill a mosquito.