Chapter 452
Because today she would be able to take the exam, become a real Magical Girls, and fight alongside the seniors who appeared in the Sky Screen, Reiko was excited all night long and only managed to drift off to sleep at the crack of dawn.
Fortunately, Magical Girls are much, much healthier than ordinary people; otherwise, the fact that she was staying up all night could have affected Reiko's condition.
"Alright, now that everyone's here, let's begin." In the center of the examination hall, Aurora, who was in charge of conducting the practical assessment, cleared her throat and addressed the Magical Girls.
Not far behind Aurora, Fang Ming and Stella watched and took notes.
Without further ado, the Magical Girls followed the order of 'Wind, Bird, Flower, Moon', with Kazama Reiko being the first to appear and conduct a practical test.
"Ahem! Reiko Kazama Reiko, the Magical Girls from the Eastern Ocean District! Prepare for the exam!"
Standing in front of Aurora, Reiko introduced herself in a loud voice, then took out her phone, placed it in front of her, and began her Magical Girl Transformation.
A flash of orange light, and without the long transformation time in the Sky Screen, just a blink of an eye, Kazama Reiko in her Magical Girl Form appeared before everyone.
On her orange hair, there were hair clips on both sides that looked like the D-pad of a game controller.
Her upper body was covered by a tight-fitting orange leather jacket with a zipper in the middle, and a dark orange scarf was wrapped around her neck.
The two ends of the scarf were very long, and they fluttered behind Reiko as she ran.
Her lower body was covered by a short skirt that just reached her knees, and underneath the skirt were bubble stockings with white and orange stripes.
A pair of orange, round-toed shoes with cute bows encased Kazama Reiko's feet.
Of course, the most eye-catching thing is Kazama Reiko's Magical Armament.
It was a magic disc similar to a card drawer, with a ejector at the bottom and a square-shaped card slot at the top.
After the magic disc appeared, Kazama Reiko took out a card from the pop-up device below and stuck it on the square-shaped card slot.
After Kazama Reiko finished doing all this, Fang Ming was standing some distance away, spoke softly:
Let's begin.
Bang!!
As Fang Ming finished speaking, Aurora transformed into a red figure and rushed towards Kazama Reiko, who was directly opposite her.
Although Kazama Reiko was nervous, her hands moved quickly.
She placed the card in the slot, pressed it down hard, and shouted:
"My turn! Speed Card!!"
Buzz--!
Orange light rippled across the disc, and tiny glimmers of light fell upon Kazama Reiko.
At the same moment that shimmering light appeared, Kazama Reiko moved.
With her feet firmly planted on the ground, she sped away like a cat launched into the air!
Aurora, who is now at Middle Rank strength, was unable to keep up with Kazama Reiko, who is only at Lower Rank- level, in terms of speed!
Although Aurora suppressed her strength, even at the same level, with Aurora Passion: Eruption, she should be able to catch up with Kazama Reiko.
But in reality, the two were evenly matched in speed, and in fact... Kazama Reiko was a step faster!
"Oh, so this is Kazama's magic. It's quite interesting." Stella was seeing the magic of the Magical Girls from the Eastern Ocean District for the first time, and seeing that Kazama Reiko's speed was about the same as Aurora's, she couldn't help but exclaim.
Fang Ming nodded slightly and explained to Stella:
"Reiko's magic is 'Card-Drawing Magic'. After transforming, Reiko will have a special deck of cards in her hand."
"The deck consists of twenty cards: three Weapon Cards, six Status Cards, six Magic Cards, three special Ultimate Technique Card, and two Blank Copy Cards."
"In each round of card drawing, one card will be randomly drawn for Reiko to use. Each card can be used for three minutes. Of course, you can end the round early and start the next round of card drawing."
"After all the cards are drawn, there will be a ten-second shuffle... Well, how should I put it, it's a spell that relies heavily on luck..."
Reiko's magic is undoubtedly the most complex and luck-dependent of all Magical Girls' magic today.
Among all the cards, the three Weapon Card correspond to ranged, melee, and defense respectively, and are considered basic cards. Reiko needs to draw Weapon Card to have basic combat abilities.
The six Status Cards are two cards each for 'Speed', 'Strength', and 'Recovery', and are more like icing on the cake.
All six Magic Cards are attack cards, and they are divided into six attributes: earth, water, fire, wind, light, and dark. The spell drawn is random when the corresponding attribute is drawn, but it is guaranteed that every Magic Card has attack power.
The three Ultimate Technique Cards are guaranteed to be powerful magic attacks.
These three cards will be based on Reiko's own maximum magical power and Reiko own understanding of magic, forming a powerful Magic Card.
Furthermore, these three Ultimate Technique Cards are not limited to any type of skill; they will form special magic according to Reiko's own wishes.
It could be an attack type or a repair type, and most spells are not reproducible. Even for Reiko, if she uses such a spell a second time after the first use, even if the effect is similar, there is a high probability that it will not be the same spell.
However, compared to the cards mentioned above, the most overpowered cards are undoubtedly the two Blank Copy Cards that were kept hidden away.
Because these two copy cards... can copy the complete state of any Magical Girls Reiko has ever seen!
In other words...
"Ah! I got it!! Blank Copy Card!! My copy target is... Senior Xiao Bai!!!"
Whoosh--!
With a flash of light, the orange Magical Girls's attire changed.
Although the overall tone is still mainly orange, the clothing style is closer to that of the transformed Xiao Bai.
A military uniform that doesn't belong to any region, a trench coat, long boots, a sickle in his hand, and chains flying behind him.
Aside from the different color and hair length, Kazama Reiko is practically a Xiao Bai copy of Shiro!
"Go! Chains!!"
Kazama Reiko, having completed her transformation, wielded her scythe, and the chains behind her split into several lines, like obedient soldiers, to block Aurora's path of advance.
Aurora's Magical Armament is her pair of gauntlets, which are adept at blunt force strikes. This chained blockade is quite effective against her, so Aurora has to temporarily stop and look for another way to break through Reiko's counterattack.
"Tsk tsk, this magic is quite powerful... in certain situations."
Stella watched with great interest and commented on Reiko's magic.
Fang Ming nodded slightly. "That's true. When she's lucky, Reiko should be able to become the strongest Magical Girls among those of the same rank, but... luck won't always be on her side."
"Furthermore, Reiko's magic has a flaw."
"What defect?"
"One is that the stronger the card, the shorter the duration she can maintain it; the other is that she can't use two cards at the same time, and when she switches cards... it takes time."
Fang Ming explained.
Stella began to understand.
Based on the two flaws Fang Ming mentioned, Reiko's 'Xiao Bai state' certainly won't last long.
When her 'Xiao Bai state' ends and she starts drawing and Card Swap again, that's when she'll be defeated!
Volume 5 Side Story <Magic Mystery> Season 2: Chapter 486 Trivial Matters Before the Side Story Begins
As Fang Ming had predicted, things turned out exactly as he had.
The Xiao Bai form was far too powerful for Kazama Reiko; even simulating the combat power of the Lower Rank form didn't last very long.
In less than a minute, Kazama Reiko reverted to her Xiao Bai form.
Although Kazama Reiko had prepared to draw and Card Swap before exiting her Xiao Bai form, Aurora, a veteran of countless battles, still managed to seize the opportunity during Reiko's card-drawing and find the weakness to deliver a fatal blow to Kazama Reiko!
Bang!!
The orange-haired girl's petite body was slammed mercilessly against the metal wall of the training ground by Aurora. Once Aurora was certain the girl couldn't get up again, Aurora said without changing her expression:
"Next."
"Uh... it looks like it hurts a lot..." Seeing her companion's miserable state, Tottori Shiori shrank her shoulders, but finally mustered up the courage to step forward.
She's next to face the test.
As usual, she took out her phone. The yellow phone, imbued with the Emotional Force, emitted a light of the same color as its body, enveloping Shiori.
As the light faded, Shiori, in her Magical Girl Form, appeared before everyone.
Shiori's Magical Girl Form is arguably the most 'revealing' of all of them.
The upper body is covered by a crop top that resembles a sports bra, with a simple vest worn over it, the hem of which sways like a cape.
Her lower body consisted of shorts that reached below the knee, no socks, and only a pair of sandals made of ribbons.
Two daggers, each only the length of a forearm, hung on either side of his waist.
Upon seeing Shiori complete her transformation, Fang Ming explained to Stella:
"Shiori's magic is speed."
As he spoke, he looked down at the Magical Girls who had turned into a yellow afterimage and said softly, "She is most compatible with the Emotional Force that once possessed speed magic, so in terms of speed, Shiori is the fastest among those of the same rank."
Yellow lightning circled around Aurora, and she would always appear where Aurora couldn't see Aurora, launching a dagger attack.
But Aurora always reacts in advance and blocks Shiori's dagger with her metal gauntlets.
Ding ding ding ding--
Only the sound of metal clashing remained on the field. Aurora stood still, responding to all changes with unwavering composure. Although Shiori's attacks were dense, they failed to inflict any effective damage on Aurora.
"Their attack power doesn't seem very high," Stella remarked.
Fang Ming nodded slightly. "Among all Magical Girls, Shiori's attack power can only be considered below average, only slightly stronger than Dongdong and Luna. However, her extremely fast speed also brings extremely strong power. Shiori was unable to launch an effective attack on Aurora because Aurora reacted too quickly and blocked all the attacks."
If there were a ranking of strength attributes among Magical Girls...
The first tier undoubtedly consists of martial arts-type Magical Girls like Xiaoxia, Aurora, and Xiao Bai.
Aurora is the strongest among them, firmly holding the top spot.
Theoretically speaking, Aurora's strength attribute has virtually no upper limit, as long as Aurora wants to.
In the second tier are ranged Magical Girls like Xiao Qiu and Xiao Chun.
The third tier consists of Magical Girls like Dongdong and Luna, who rely on mechanical magic to fight.
Shiori's strength attribute barely places her at the tail end of the second tier; compared to Aurora in the first tier, she is far inferior.
However, Shiori's speed attribute is the highest among Magical Girls.
Under the same rank and magic power conditions, even the Xiao Bai that Fang Ming transformed into wouldn't be able to keep up with Tottori Shiori running at full speed.
However, although Shiori is fast, she has a similar weakness to Reiko.
Insufficient combat experience.
Facing Aurora, who had been Magical Girls for some time and had frequent sparring sessions with Xiao Bai, and was highly experienced in combat, she was no match for her.
Furthermore, Aurora herself had experienced the Speed Demon state and was quite familiar with Shiori's attack methods, so...
After a few rounds, Shiori found an opening in Aurora's attack.
Look up, throw a punch!
Just as Shiori was Speed Demon closing in on Aurora's out of sight, Aurora suddenly turned around and slammed a punch into Shiori's head!
Bang!!
This punch knocked Shiori out instantly. The girl with the yellow ponytail rolled her eyes and collapsed to the ground unconscious.
"Next."
Aurora remained expressionless and continued speaking.
Fang Ming nodded upon seeing this and said to Stella, "The following battles won't be very interesting. Neither Kanon nor Ayaka can possibly be a match for Aurora."
"Why?"
"Kanon's magic is [Healing], and her Magical Armament is a wand. Unlike Xiao Chun's magic, her magic has almost no offensive power. If it weren't for her Emotional Force that allows her to control water flow, it would be almost impossible for Kanon to fight the Demons."
"Ayaka's magic is defensive, Magical Armament is a heavy shield. He lacks mobility and is just a sitting duck against Aurora."
"They'll probably fall even faster than Reiko and Shiori."
Fang Ming made a judgment.
And just as Fang Ming said, Wu Huayin's magic was almost useless against Aurora, and she was defeated in less than a minute.
Ayaka's heavy shield did have good defensive capabilities, but she was not as agile as Aurora. Under Aurora's continuous attacks, who had both A-rank strength and speed, Ayaka lasted for one minute and eighteen seconds before being defeated.
In the end, Reiko surprisingly came in first place.