Magical Girls Exposed!

A melodious voice flowed from the Songstress's mouth, but this time, there were no notes.

It was sound waves—endless sonic blasts that shattered the Chains in their path and hurtled toward Xiao Bai.

Xiao Bai's body was struck by the sound waves. Her eyes went blank for an instant, and her movements stalled for a moment.

But the next second, accompanied by the loss of some memory, she regained her senses and charged at the Songstress Demon with even greater speed and strength!

"Let's see how much knowledge you still have left to burn!"

The Songstress Witch did not believe Xiao Bai possessed infinite knowledge. For knowledge to be acknowledged by magic power and converted into magic power, it had to meet a certain threshold.

It had to reach a "professional" level before magic power would acknowledge it.

Burning ordinary knowledge alone could not increase magic power at all.

The Songstress Witch did not believe Xiao Bai had that much knowledge. She had to have a limit!

The victor this time would definitely be her!

Xiao Bai said nothing.

Just as she had said before, she could not be bothered wasting words on the Songstress Demon. At this moment, Xiao Bai's eyes were filled with a desire for victory.

Today, only one of her and the Songstress Witch was destined to survive!

The battle within the barrier had reached a fever pitch. Yu Muqiu rescued Xiao Chun and Xiaoxia from beneath the rubble and notes, then looked up at the sky.

The battle between Xiao Bai and the Songstress Witch had already surpassed the limits of their current understanding. Yu Muqiu stared blankly at the battlefield overhead, dazed.

"...Xiao Bai... really is stronger than us."

"Tch, we can't get involved at all..."

Chen Xiaoxia looked unwillingly toward the sky.

Only someone who had fought the Songstress Witch could understand how powerful she was. With Chen Xiaoxia's current strength, the only way to inflict effective damage on the Songstress Witch was to concentrate all her power into a single point!

She had only one chance—a single chance to go all out!

After that, Chen Xiaoxia's magic power would be exhausted, and she would no longer have the strength to fight for quite some time.

Not just her—Yu Muqiu and Xiao Chun were the same.

Their power was still far too weak compared to mid-ranking Demons. This was not something that could be improved in a short time.

That was right...

At least not in the short term.

Yu Muqiu stood in a corner. Though she should have been the protagonist, she was now watching the sky like a mere bystander.

But that was not even the hardest thing for them to accept. What they truly could not accept was that, seeing she could not deal with Xiao Bai anytime soon, the Songstress Witch actually turned her gaze toward them!

Perhaps realizing that if this continued, even if she won, she would likely win at a terrible cost, the Songstress Witch immediately came up with a new tactic while fighting Xiao Bai.

She focused her attention on Yu Muqiu and the other two, then suddenly unleashed sound waves from her mouth powerful enough to shatter ordinary people, spraying them toward the three girls!

Clatter—

The sound of Chains rang out behind the three of them. Chains extending from the void linked them together and dragged them away from where they stood.

The sound waves smashed the ground where they had been standing, shattered the rubble beneath their feet, and flew deeper into the void.

Xiao Bai saved the three at the critical moment, but that instant of distraction gave the Witch an opening!

"Ah~~~~"

Even fiercer, faster, more powerful sound waves rushed toward Xiao Bai's back from another direction.

In the distance, notes had somehow gathered together, forming two clones made entirely of notes.

The attack just now had been unleashed by those two clones at once!

"Puh—!"

The sound waves struck her body head-on, shaking both her body and internal organs. Xiao Bai's figure stiffened in midair, and the light seemed to vanish from her eyes in an instant.

Seeing her chance, the Songstress Witch opened her mouth again. Together with the two clones beside her, she was about to shatter Xiao Bai completely!

"Xiao Bai!!!!!"

Yu Muqiu, bound by Chains, cried out at the top of her lungs.

Xiao Bai's words from the past echoed in her ears.

—You're all completely unqualified.

They were not qualified magical girls. To Xiao Bai, they were nothing but burdens.

If they had not appeared, if Xiao Bai had not been distracted trying to save them, she would never have ended up in this situation.

Was Xiao Bai going to die?

Were they going to die too?

Was this the end...?

Confusion and haze flashed through Yu Muqiu's eyes. In that daze, she seemed to hear a voice.

—Xiao Qiu, don't give up.

What?

Some images seemed to flash before her eyes. A scene buried deep in her memories surfaced in Yu Muqiu's mind.

She remembered the past.]

Power Surge and Second Form (Please Subscribe!)

(Damn that Songstress Demon, that was way too underhanded!)

(It has clones too?! And a second phase?! How is this BOSS playable without nerfs?!)

(It's here! The classic flashback scene!)

(As everyone knows, flashbacks don't take up real time. Xiao Qiu has entered a flashback now, so just wait for her to power up and turn things around!)

(The classic flashback scene!)

Xiao Qiu in the sky had entered a state of recollection.

But Xiao Qiu on the ground had already covered her cheeks.

"...Why is even the flashback being shown? This is so embarrassing!"

"So what did you think of back then?"

Xiaoxia asked curiously.

At the time, they had only felt that Yu Muqiu had suddenly spaced out for a moment. After that brief lapse, she had abruptly erupted with a powerful force they could not understand.

Then came the part where the four of them joined forces to defeat the Songstress Witch.

Chen Xiaoxia had asked Yu Muqiu what had happened, but Yu Muqiu could not explain it herself. She just said something like, "This happened, then that happened, and then power suddenly came rushing up"...

Honestly, Chen Xiaoxia had not understood what she meant at all back then!

She still did not understand now!

But now she at least knew that Yu Muqiu really had thought of something back then.

In that brief instant, she had thought of a crucial link.

"...Just watch it yourselves. Don't ask me!"

Yu Muqiu covered her cheeks, yet the redness seemed to show even through the backs of her hands. It was obvious she was embarrassed to the extreme.

There had been nothing particularly embarrassing about that memory itself, but having her private memories displayed on the Sky Screen was still unbearably embarrassing for Yu Muqiu.

She did not want to talk anymore.

Chen Xiaoxia and the others looked toward the Sky Screen again. At this moment, Yu Muqiu on the Sky Screen had also entered her memories.

[It was a pitch-black night, with dim yellow room lighting.

The light used to see through the darkness without being too bright illuminated the living room.

Yu Muqiu rubbed her eyes as she came out of the bedroom, then saw Fang Ming standing before the refrigerator, about to grab something to eat.

This had happened a few days earlier, on the night after she and Xiao Chun had talked things out.

"Brother Fang Ming?"

"Sorry, did I wake you?"

Fang Ming, who seemed to have just finished playing games, smiled as he asked Xiao Qiu.

Xiao Qiu shook her head at Fang Ming. "I just came out to use the bathroom."

"I see. Then go ahead."

As Fang Ming spoke, he took a cola and some snacks, sat beside the dining table, and picked up his phone as if looking at something.

Xiao Qiu sleepily went to the bathroom. When she came out and was about to return to her room, she suddenly heard Fang Ming ask:

"Nothing's happened recently, right?"

"...What do you mean, Brother Fang Ming?"

"The time you snuck out." Fang Ming sighed and said to Yu Muqiu, "I know you and Xiaoxia are both good girls. You wouldn't do something like sneaking off, but... lately, you've often been leaving my sight. Honestly, I'm worried about you."

"..."

"And after you came back from the aquarium, you were clearly not quite yourself. You seem a little better now, but... what are you worried about?"

Fang Ming had keenly noticed the worry and confusion in Yu Muqiu's heart.

It seemed that Xiao Chun's conversation with Yu Muqiu had not changed Yu Muqiu's mindset.

Yu Muqiu looked up at Fang Ming, then finally lowered her head in silence. After thinking for a while, she chose to sit across from Fang Ming and softly said:

"...I... I don't know. I'm just... just a little confused."

"Do you mind telling me about it?"

"..."

"Looks like these are maidenly worries you can't tell me about."

Fang Ming smiled, got up, took some milk from the refrigerator, poured it into a cup, and put it in the microwave.

Once the milk had warmed, Fang Ming handed it to Yu Muqiu before saying:

"If there's something you can't tell me, then you don't have to. Just tell me what you can, and I'll try to understand."

Yu Muqiu accepted the milk, her hands touching the cup as she felt its warmth.

The warmth from it made her feel warm as well, and her mood relaxed considerably. After organizing her thoughts, she asked Fang Ming:

"Brother Fang Ming, have you ever wanted to do something, only for someone to stop you and say you couldn't?"

Hearing Xiao Qiu's words, Fang Ming gave her a deep look.

That gaze seemed to contain countless emotions, but he did not press her for details. He merely sat across from Yu Muqiu and asked:

"That depends on what it is."

"For example?"

"For example, if I wanted to study and someone tried to stop me, I'd definitely scold that person. But if I were playing games and something important happened during that time, then if someone stopped me, I'd seriously consider it."

Fang Ming explained, then finally concluded:

"What you do and how you do it depends on whether what you're doing is right. If you believe you're right, then don't care about anyone else's opinion. Just be yourself."

But after saying that, Fang Ming added, "Xiao Qiu, do you think what you're doing now is right? Do you think the person trying to stop you is wrong?"

"...I... I don't know, so... that's why I can't figure it out."

Yu Muqiu continued turning the cup in her hands, speaking softly.

Fang Ming seemed to be looking at her. The reason it only seemed that way was because only Fang Ming's torso and mouth were visible in the scene; his expression and gaze were outside the frame.

Then his mouth moved slightly. As if he had made some decision, he first sighed helplessly, hesitated for a while, and only then said to Yu Muqiu:

"You don't have to think about things you can't figure out, but... if you believe what you're doing is right, then just remember one thing."

"What?"