Don't Give Up

"—How irritating!"

The final character turned into a musical note, and the final words came out like a chant. The instant her words fell, countless notes filled the sky once more, shattering the magic array in the air and pouring down upon the three Magical Girls like a curtain of rain.

Yu Muqiu was the first to react.

She immediately rushed in front of Xiao Bai and raised a shield of light for protection.

Chen Xiaoxia decisively enlarged the armament in her hand, turning it into something like a shield and holding it before herself.

As for Xiao Chun...

Just as she was about to evade and defend, she was directly struck by the Songstress Witch's magic.

"Let's deal with you first." At some point, the Songstress Witch had crossed several hundred meters and arrived beside Xiao Chun, who was sniping from afar.

In a team fight, take out the marksman and healer first. The Witch had somehow mastered this tactic without being taught.

Xiao Chun was both the marksman and the team's healer, so naturally the Witch targeted her first.

A flash of light appeared, and Xiao Chun's body was brutally pinned to the ground by musical notes. The massive notes were like mountains crushing down on her, trapping her beneath them and leaving her unable to move!

"Xiao Chun!!!"

Seeing Xiao Chun attacked first, Xiaoxia cried out in worry.

But before Chen Xiaoxia could react, the Songstress Witch's notes came again:

"You should worry about yourself, you annoying child."

As the Songstress Witch finished speaking, the notes struck.

The pleasant notes had now become deadly noise. They seemed to have been imbued with sharpness; countless notes swept past Chen Xiaoxia, leaving wounds across her body.

Chen Xiaoxia did everything she could to block them, but in the end, she was still swallowed by the notes.

Yu Muqiu was last.

Also under attack from the notes, she did not hold out for long. Her shield of light shattered beneath their onslaught.

Facing the incoming notes, Yu Muqiu closed her eyes, ready to endure the Pain.

But... the notes did not fall upon her.

"...Honestly."

A cool, helpless voice sounded beside Yu Muqiu's ear.

Yu Muqiu instantly opened her eyes and saw Xiao Bai standing before her.

She was held in Xiao Bai's arms. Most of the notes had fallen on Xiao Bai, blocked by Xiao Bai's chains.

Xiao Bai, who should have been protected behind Yu Muqiu, had instead become the shield protecting Yu Muqiu.

"...Xiao Bai?"

"Didn't I say this was my territory?"

Xiao Bai's tone still revealed no obvious emotion, but as Yu Muqiu looked at her, she could sense the concern and helplessness in her gaze, along with a hint of resolute determination, as though she had made up her mind about something.

"Xiao Bai, what are you going to do?" Yu Muqiu asked instinctively.

Xiao Bai set her on the ground, stood up, turned toward the distant Witch, and said:

"Of course, I'm going to do what I should do."

"...?"

"I kept hesitating and dragging things out, but in the end, I still had to do this. And I even got you hurt. I really am... utterly unqualified."

Xiao Bai muttered to herself, and Yu Muqiu could not understand what she meant.

Compared with Yu Muqiu and the others, the Songstress Witch seemed much more wary of Xiao Bai. Seeing her stand up, she did not attack immediately, instead watching Xiao Bai with interest.

"Even now, you still refuse to accept us?" the Songstress Witch asked.

It was a question Yu Muqiu could not understand.

Xiao Bai stood before Yu Muqiu with her back to her, like a solid wall blocking all the wind and rain coming from ahead.

Xiao Bai silently took out a Nightmare Seed, clenched it in her right hand against her chest, raised her head, and stared resolutely at the Songstress Witch.

"Enough nonsense, Demon. Today... only one of us is leaving here alive!"

Boom!!!

The pure black aura of the Nightmare Seed erupted instantly. Starting from Xiao Bai's fist, an even more immense surge of magic power was released.

Just as before, memory phantoms visible only to the audience appeared behind Xiao Bai.

Within those phantoms was a blurred figure. That figure was either bent over a desk studying, chatting with someone in a kitchen, or conducting some sort of experiment in a room...

The scenes and the blurred figure appeared, but then those memories shattered into fragments and merged into Xiao Bai's body.

At first, the Songstress Witch could not understand what she was seeing. But when the final memory fragment fell onto Xiao Bai, she finally understood what was happening.

"Using knowledge and memories as nourishment to strengthen yourself...?! Have you gone mad?!"

Even the Songstress Witch was shocked by Xiao Bai's actions.

Xiao Bai smiled. For the first time ever, she smiled in front of others. But it was not a peaceful smile—it carried the bloodthirsty battle-lust of a berserker.

"I don't know whether I'm mad or not, but... you're dead today!!"

Boom!!

A black aura shot into the sky. Xiao Bai turned into a streak of black light in midair and charged straight at the Witch!]

Don't Give Up (Please Subscribe!)

"What... does using knowledge and memories as nourishment mean?"

Chen Xiaoxia had originally planned to head to the Investigation Department, but after seeing the Sky Screen begin Episode Eleven, she stayed behind and turned to look at Nino.

A rare look of shock and disbelief appeared on the calico kitten's face. She hesitated to speak, licked her lips, and was about to say something, but ultimately closed her mouth again.

Chen Xiaoxia looked at Nino in confusion. "Say something already."

"There's nothing to say." Xiao Chun suddenly spoke. Her voice was low and her tone solemn. "You can tell from the literal meaning that Xiao Bai, back then..."

"...turned her own memories and the knowledge she had learned into power to increase her magic."

Yu Muqiu added.

She covered her mouth in disbelief, tears gathering in her eyes as she forcibly held them back.

She had realized at the time that Xiao Bai's final method of increasing her magic power was definitely abnormal. But Yu Muqiu had not thought too much about it then, since Xiao Bai had not seemed to be hurt afterward.

Yet now, watching from an observer's perspective, Yu Muqiu finally understood what Xiao Bai had sacrificed back then.

Though Chen Xiaoxia could be scatterbrained, she was not stupid. After the two of them pointed it out, she understood the meaning of those words as well.

But Chen Xiaoxia still held onto a bit of hope.

"Even... even if that's true, maybe... maybe Xiao Bai has a way to recover her memories and knowledge...? Maybe it's not as bad as we think..."

"Xiaoxia." Xiao Chun suddenly asked, "Can something you've eaten and digested be taken back out of your stomach?"

"..."

Xiao Chun's analogy was somewhat... crude.

But it was indeed easy to understand.

Once something had been eaten, apart from natural metabolism, the only way to take it back out was to "cut open the stomach" and remove it.

But doing that... no normal person could survive.

So the cost was already obvious.

Knowledge and memories that had vanished could not be recovered unless one died.

"That idiot!!" Having understood this, Chen Xiaoxia could not stop herself from cursing. "She always calls me an idiot! Yet she did something this stupid herself! Isn't that even stupider than me?! Next time I see her, I'll scold her to death! Idiot, idiot, idiot!"

"..."

No one paid attention to Chen Xiaoxia's outburst. The moods of the Magical Girls and Nino were all heavy.

They had originally thought the ending was perfect, a happy HE ending for everyone.

But now—

(Damn! I knew there would be angst!)

(Xiao Bai!! No, Xiao Bai!!!)

(Xiao Bai is so much stronger than Xiao Qiu and the others, so how many memories and how much knowledge has she used up so far?)

(No! I refuse to believe it!)

(Hmm... if that's really the case, does that mean Xiao Bai's mental age is actually younger than Xiao Qiu and the others?)

Fang Ming, who was also watching the scenes on the Sky Screen and the scrolling comments, slowly had a question mark appear above his head.

He... he had no idea he was apparently this great.

Using knowledge to strengthen himself and memories to increase his magic power—if even Fang Ming, who knew the truth, was nearly moved to tears by himself!

But he was not that great!

An ordinary Level 2 skill only took a month to relearn.

A Level 3 skill took around a year.

And that was while Fang Ming was learning other skills during that time. If he focused on just one skill and spent twelve hours a day improving it without stopping, it would only take a week to learn a skill and raise it to LV2.

Getting it to LV3 would take less than half a year.

Only magic power improved slowly. Otherwise, ordinary skills could be raised very quickly.

Fang Ming had indeed paid a price, but it was nowhere near as great as they imagined.

How had the Sky Screen's performance made him seem so noble?

"...Don't start causing trouble!"

Seeing the Sky Screen about to shape Xiao Bai into a tragic character, alarm bells blared in Fang Ming's heart.

Earlier, he had felt that the Sky Screen was on his side. But now, he could not shake the feeling that it was brewing something big...

[The battle began again.

This time, it was a battle between the Songstress Witch and Xiao Bai.

Compared to the three Magical Girls, who shattered at the slightest touch, Xiao Bai truly deserved the Songstress Witch's attention. After her power increased, she was actually evenly matched with the Songstress Witch!

The Songstress Witch did not dare underestimate Xiao Bai. She fired countless musical notes toward her, while Xiao Bai lashed back with chains.

Notes and chains collided once again, playing a unique symphony across the battlefield.

The Songstress Witch stared at Xiao Bai and demanded loudly:

"You paid such a great price just to protect three Magical Girls who are destined to die. Is it worth it?!"

"I can't be bothered talking to you. Die!"

In her berserk state, Xiao Bai's face held a little more bloodthirsty fighting spirit.

The scythe swung in her hands, and the ground around them began to shake. An even larger scythe emerged from the void, turning the entire Nightmare Barrier into a world of scythes and chains!

This was a projection of Xiao Bai's Magical Armament!

With her strength further increased, she could actually reach this level, transforming the entire Nightmare Barrier into her own Magic Barrier!

The rising scythes crisscrossed through the sky. The enormous scythes turned the entire world into a prison made of scythes.

Chains connected the scythes together. Even the amusement park ruins within the Nightmare Barrier were Severed by the scythes, only to swiftly reconnect with the chains.

Xiao Bai gripped her Magical Armament with both hands. With only a light swing, the scythe in her hands burst forth with a sharp, cold gleam. Wherever that edge passed, every musical note was destroyed!

"Then... just like them, go regret it in hell!"

After her initial shock, the Songstress Witch came to her senses.

She no longer held back, nor could she. Xiao Bai had just sacrificed a great deal of memories and knowledge, turning them into power equivalent to a Mid-Tier Demon. Their strength was now equal. If she tried to hold back any longer, she might very well die at Xiao Bai's hands!

"Ah~~~~"