(So that means the Demons have already begun invading our world!)
The comments were still discussing the Demons, just like the officers in caps.
Only then did Fang Ming truly breathe a sigh of relief.
It seemed he really had not been exposed—at least, not yet.
Glancing sideways at the officers beside him, Fang Ming saw that their attention, like his, was fixed on the Sky Screen rather than on him. Only then did he feel safe enough to continue watching the story above.
["Y-You can talk?!"
Chen Xiaoxia had clearly been startled by the Demon speaking. She remembered Nino saying that the Demons who had destroyed their hometown were intelligent creatures capable of speech!
"Heh, is that really the only thing you care about? Whatever. I can't be bothered wasting words on you."
The Demon did not want to waste words on Chen Xiaoxia. After making his intentions clear, the horned Demon assumed a running stance before suddenly charging at her!
The Demon was incredibly fast. Now that he was charging head-on, he was even faster than when he had sent Yu Muqiu flying earlier!
He became a streak—a black streak—and arrived before Chen Xiaoxia in the blink of an eye. Just as she raised the longsword in her hand, he drove a kick into her waist and abdomen!
Bang!
Chen Xiaoxia was sent flying again. Her body soared uncontrollably into the sky, but in the next second, the Demon appeared behind her flight path once more!
Bang! Bang, bang!
As though they were passing a ball back and forth, the Demon kicked Chen Xiaoxia around in the sky like a football.
In the end, Chen Xiaoxia, covered in wounds, was smashed into the ground and could not get back up for a long while.
Fortunately, she was a combat-type Magical Girl, and physical enhancement was one of her spells. That was the only reason she could withstand so many blows from the Demon. Otherwise, even if she had not died, she would have been severely injured by now!
"What's wrong, what's wrong, Magical Girl? Protector of this world! Is this all you've got? You can't even keep up with my speed!"
The Demon laughed wildly in the sky. His laughter was exceptionally grating and exceptionally infuriating.
Chen Xiaoxia forced herself to stand. Gasping for breath, she stared at the Demon in the sky, her fists clenched tight.
This Demon... does it only have speed?
Despite being beaten around like a football by the Demon, Chen Xiaoxia was not discouraged. In a short time, she had noticed the Demon's strengths and weaknesses.
This Demon's magic was probably centered on speed. He was incredibly fast, almost faster than the speed of sound.
But compared to the other Demons, his strength was much weaker.
This was a Demon specialized in speed.
So... as long as they found a way to seal away his speed, they had a chance of winning!]
(Xiaoxia seems to have figured out this Demon's weakness.)
(But what can she do even if she has? He's way too fast!)
(Damn Demon! How dare it beat cute Xiao Xia into such a state! Go die!)
(Going by the timeline, did this happen three months ago? Since Xiao Xia and the others are still alive now, that Demon must be dead, right...)
(That's true, but who knows what happened in between...)
Three months ago, Yu Muqiu and the others had been Magical Girls for less than two months. They were still inexperienced, so when faced with this speed-focused Demon, they could only remain on the defensive.
Fang Ming recalled what had happened back then and compared it with some of the details on the Sky Screen.
If he remembered correctly, the third Magical Girl, Murong Xiaochun, would appear next and help Chen Xiaoxia fight the Demon.
But because the Demon was too fast, none of their attacks could affect him.
Then Yu Muqiu would crawl out of the ruins, and the three of them would attack the Demon together. Then... at the crucial moment when everyone was about to lose, Fang Ming, transformed into a Magical Girl, would appear and use the magic he had just mastered to defeat the Demon.
And the events on the Sky Screen unfolded exactly as Fang Ming remembered.
[As Chen Xiaoxia considered how to deal with the Demon, the Demon prepared to deliver a finishing blow. But at that moment, a speck of green light appeared on the horizon.
The green light flashed like a star before scattering into countless points of light in the sky.
Upon closer inspection, those points of light were arrows made of green energy. The rain of arrows filled the entire sky before raining down upon the Demon!
"Xiao Chun!"
Chen Xiaoxia quickly realized that this was an attack from the third Magical Girl, Murong Xiaochun. Delighted, she looked toward the source of the attack.
On top of a distant high-rise stood a girl in a green dress, wearing a green floral circlet. Like a fairy from the forest, she held a longbow made from tree branches, posed as though drawing an arrow.
This was the third Magical Girl's magic. Her weapon was a bow, and her magic was these arrows.
Yet the rain of arrows filling the sky did not harm the Demon at all.
At the Demon's extreme speed, every arrow merely grazed past him. Not a single one struck its target. Instead, Xiao Chun had exposed her position by firing, allowing the Demon to notice her presence.
"There's another one? Hehe... perfect..."
Upon seeing Xiao Chun, the Demon pulled an even uglier smile across his already hideous face.
He took up his running stance again. With a bang that tore through the air, he crossed more than a thousand meters in just two seconds and arrived before Xiao Chun!
The moment Xiao Chun noticed his starting stance, she sensed danger.
Green magic power shone around her. Xiao Chun leaped from the high-rise, intending to evade the Demon's attack, but the Demon was simply too fast. In an instant, he caught up to her.
"Xiao Chun! Watch out!!"
"Die!"
The Demon formed his right hand into a blade and thrust it toward Xiao Chun, intending to pierce through her body.
At that life-or-death moment, countless pink lights emerged from beneath the rubble. They formed a thick pink Light Cannon that reached the Demon faster than he could move and struck him in an instant!
"What do you think... you're doing to my friend!!!"
Yu Muqiu rose from beneath the rubble. She held a wand in her hand, and though she looked disheveled, an aura erupted from her that made even the Demon tremble in fear.]
"No wonder she's the protagonist..."
Seeing this, Fang Ming could not help sighing inwardly.
Back then, he had been fully focused on pouring proficiency into his "magic power" attribute, so he had not seen Yu Muqiu's outburst.
Now that he saw this scene through the Sky Screen, Fang Ming realized that Yu Muqiu was the chosen one of this world.
This sort of scene where someone temporarily powered up and displayed greater strength than before really was as classic as it got.
But unfortunately, Yu Muqiu's outburst was only temporary. These Magical Girls currently had no way to deal with something moving at high speed.
At the end of the day, they were just ordinary people. They had no experience fighting others in their daily lives. When facing enemies far stronger than themselves, they either defeated them through temporary power-ups and sudden realizations.
Or... they relied on outside help.
And now that even Yu Muqiu's power-up was useless, they could only rely on outside help.
On top of that, Fang Ming's transformed appearance had appeared in the opening. It was only reasonable for Fang Ming to guess that he would be the one to save them next.
And the timing of his appearance should be right at the end of the episode.
After all, the episode had already been playing for twenty minutes. If he did not appear soon, it would be over.
[In the blink of an eye.
That was not quite the right way to put it. In any case, Yu Muqiu's outburst did not change the situation. Against the Demon's speed, neither Yu Muqiu's Light Magic, Chen Xiaoxia's greatsword, nor Xiao Chun's arrows could touch him in the slightest.
Among all martial arts under heaven, only speed is unbeatable. The same principle applied to magic.
When you were fast, even if you were weak, you could slowly wear someone to death. Not to mention, this Demon was not weak at all.
So Yu Muqiu and the other two were bound to lose.
"Hahahaha! I thought Magical Girls would be stronger than this, but this is all you amount to! Once I kill you, this world will be mine! I will become the king of this world!!"
The Demon stood before the battered Yu Muqiu and the other two, laughing arrogantly.
Yet the three girls did not give up. They exchanged glances, already prepared to fight the Demon to the death.
But just as the three of them were about to make their final stand against the Demon, a cold, mocking voice sounded behind him:
"Oh? Is that so?"
!?!!!!
At that voice, both the Demon and Yu Muqiu's group were startled.
The Demon's eyes widened. He had never expected someone to approach him without making a sound.
Almost instinctively, the Demon tried to turn and flee, but in the next moment, he discovered that his hands and feet had somehow been bound by chains.
He had nowhere left to run!
"W-Who is it!?"
The Demon shouted in shock and fury, but the person who had spoken had no intention of answering him.
A sharp flash of blade-light passed before his eyes, and the world spun around him. Amid that spinning sky and earth, he saw the figure standing behind him.
Silver hair, crimson eyes, a black trench coat, knee-high leather boots, and a long-handled scythe in hand. The chains behind the scythe extended into the void, completely binding the Demon's body.
A Magical Girl!
A Magical Girl just like Yu Muqiu and the others!
And the fourth Magical Girl in this world!
The scene froze there, with Yu Muqiu and the other two staring at the fourth Magical Girl in astonishment.
Then...
It cut to the ED.]
(Ge—ia—)
(You cut it off there?! You cut it off there!!?)
(Who taught you to end it like that?!?! Production team, come out and die!!)
(The anime doesn't have a production team, dude...)
(Ge—ia—!!!!)
(Sigh, now we have to wait another seven years...)
As the scene cut to the ED, the comments began howling in anguish.
The heart Fang Ming had been holding deep inside finally dropped heavily back into place.
Thank goodness, thank goodness!
He had not been exposed in this episode yet!
Even if the next episode began focusing on him, Fang Ming would still have at least a week to work with!
He could use that week to figure out an escape route!
Having spent the entire episode on edge, Fang Ming finally had the leisure to appreciate the ED above.
Like the OP, the ED was in an anime style.
Its presentation was also almost the same.
At the beginning of the ED, Yu Muqiu walked alone from the left side of the screen toward the right. Then, accompanied by gentle, soothing music, Nino, the tiny calico cat, walked beside her.
In the ending sequence of the first episode, Yu Muqiu had been alone from beginning to end.
But by the second episode, after Chen Xiaoxia had joined, Yu Muqiu had Chen Xiaoxia by her side, playfully fooling around with her from time to time.
By the third episode, Murong Xiaochun had joined them as well, watching them gently from the roadside before joining the group.
This was the fourth episode, and Fang Ming was rather curious whether he would appear in the ED.
The earlier scenes were the same as in the previous three episodes. Even when the ED reached its midpoint, Fang Ming's Magical Girl form did not appear.
Only at the end, when the music approached its conclusion and Yu Muqiu stopped walking, did Fang Ming finally see himself on the screen.
In the previous three episodes, there had been a Swing swaying where the scene froze after Yu Muqiu stopped.
There was no one else on the Swing. Yu Muqiu and the others simply watched the empty spot upon it.
Before you continue