Chapter 534
Swish--
A flash of silver light appeared, and just as the old man was about to question Avery, his head slid off his head and landed on the conference table covered with documents.
Thump.
The sound of his head hitting the table was dull. After a moment of stunned silence, the Aurora Society executives present panicked.
"Avery, what are you doing—"
Thump!
Another head rolled.
"... Wait... wait!! Avery, are you insane! Do you know the consequences of killing us! We control most of the Federation's funding, if we die—"
The older woman questioned Avery loudly.
But Avery raised his hand and put his finger to his lips, signaling her to be quiet.
Splash--
A silver-red chain suddenly flew out and wrapped around the old woman's mouth.
The mysterious being named Elena didn't kill her; instead, following Avery's instructions, she silenced her.
Thump thump thump--
Even as Elena subdued the elderly woman, her attacks continued unabated, and the heads of many Aurora Society present were severed from their bodies.
In the blink of an eye, the censored pink blood spread throughout the conference room, leaving only three living beings still breathing.
Avery, Elena, and the CEO of some unknown corporation standing before them.
Avery approached the controlled woman, and perhaps because of his own urge to speak, he didn't immediately take action, but instead controlled her and made her listen to him.
"I told you, you still don't understand the rules of the game."
"The world has changed, and it will change soon. When the end of the world comes, everything you have—money, power... will become useless."
"There is only one useful thing."
Da--Da--
Footsteps approached, and behind Avery, a girl dressed in a tight-fitting combat suit and holding a blood-red scythe walked slowly.
She did not reveal her appearance, but instead walked behind the woman in high heels, the blood-red blade of a scythe pressed against the woman's neck.
After the girl finished doing all this, Avery continued, "... That is power."
Swish--
The sickle fell, and the woman collapsed to the ground.
Avery looked at the elderly woman lying in pink blood, stood up, put his hands in his pockets, and continued softly:
"And those of you without extraordinary powers are destined to leave the stage... including me... Heh heh heh."
Avery spoke, he turned and walked towards the door of the conference room, saying to the girl in the bodysuit:
"Elena, let's go. We should go greet those lovely Magical Girls."
"... yes."
The girl named Elena responded coldly.
The camera then pans up and focuses on the girl's face.
Shockingly, the girl looked exactly like Xiao Bai!
[OP plays.]
(Huh???)
(Xiao Bai!? Wait, Xiao Bai, what are you doing here!?)
(Xiao Bai's... clone??)
(No way... Could Xiao Bai have left any genetic material outside? And even if he really is a clone, it should be his cousin...)
(Wait, why didn't this Xiao Bai character appear in the opening theme?)
(Look at what you're saying. The Information Demon and Avery have never appeared in One Piece. And One Piece has been deceiving people more than once or twice.)
(Now my only worry is, will Aurora be able to bring herself to kill this clone of Xiao Bai?)
(Don't worry, it probably won't happen...)
"Oh wow? A clone? A replica? Wait a minute, how did Avery create a clone that's almost identical to me without even touching me?"
Fang Ming was also quite surprised to see the clone Xiao Bai appear.
Even with cloning or replication, there should be some basic requirements, right?
You have neither Xiao Bai's genetic material nor have you personally seen Xiao Bai face -Xiao Bai to-face. How exactly did you create a clone of Xiao Bai?
Or has the Aurora Society's cutting-edge technology reached such an extreme that they can create Xiao Bai clone without even using genetic material?
Wait a minute, even though the technology used in real-life Aurora Society is questionable, it's not this bad!
When Fang Ming received the Aurora Society's 'legacy,' he thoroughly examined all the technologies inside and out. Therefore, he was quite certain that the real Aurora Society did not possess the same technology or capabilities as the one in the Sky Screen!
So this is what Avery will research in the next year?
That makes sense, Avery really is a talented person...
Unfortunately, they killed them too quickly back then.
Fang Ming felt a tiny bit of regret that he hadn't been able to save Avery's life in reality, but this regret only lasted for a short while.
Even if he had to choose again, he would probably still choose to attack Avery.
After all, while Avery was intelligent and talented, he lacked morals.
This is the kind of person who is talented but lacks virtue.
So Fang Ming felt a slight pang of regret, but then put the thought out of his mind.
Volume 5 Side Story Magic Mystery Season 2: Chapter 573 Magical Girls Operation
The Magical Girls are very fast.
Antarctica and the Eastern Ocean District are actually quite far apart, but given the Magical Girls' speed, even without flying at full speed, they arrived over Antarctica in three or four hours.
When everyone arrived at their destination, Aurora paused briefly before looking up at the sky.
After noticing the pink dot of light twinkling in the sky, Aurora felt a little relieved, and then said to the Magical Girls of the Eastern Ocean District:
"I already told you how to connect to the Magic Network on the way here. If you encounter any problems you can't handle, use the Magic Network to escape immediately. No matter what, your lives are the most important thing, understand?"
"Learn!"
The Magical Girls answered one after another.
From a magical perspective, one can see the magical power emanating from the Magical Girls, which is subtly connected to the Magic Network that permeates the entire world.
These are the achievements of Xiao Qiu and her team over the past year.
The Magic Network, which initially covered only the Central Continent District and Americas District, was expanded to a global scale.
As long as they are within the range of the magic network, Magical Girls can use the Magic Network to quickly restore their magic power and use even more powerful magic.
Furthermore, through the continuous absorption of the Power of Hope throughout the year, it is possible to forcibly raise the total magical power of a Magical Girls by an entire rank!
It was precisely because of the existence of the Magic Network that Aurora initially had the idea of going to 'challenge' the Aurora Society alone.
After all, when necessary, she can even unleash the power of Upper Rank- ranking individual.
"The Magic Network... the predecessor who created the Magic Network was truly amazing..."
Kanon felt the power growing within her body after connecting to the Magic Network and couldn't help but sigh in amazement.
Aurora and Luna remained silent.
Initially, the purpose of the Magic Network was to allow Youyou to cast the magic of setting up the 'Despair Barrier'. It was only after Youyou failed that Xiao Bai asked her to change the nature of the Magic Network, which gradually evolved into the Magic Network that covers the world.
So, to be honest, Youyou is indeed very impressive...
In terms of being an idiot...
However, Aurora didn't explain the history of the Magic Network to the Magical Girls, since it wasn't important.
Once Aurora was sure the Magical Girls were ready, she took out her phone and asked Kelly:
Where is the headquarters of the Aurora Society?
"Roughly in this direction..."
Kelly appeared as a virtual image next to Aurora, pointing in a direction.
The Magical Girls acted immediately, and soon they discovered the massive base hidden beneath the ice.
"Something feels... off..."
Luna used her magic to probe the seemingly empty surface of the ice below. After discovering that none of the weapons and equipment hidden beneath were responding, Luna looked at Aurora with concern:
"... We... didn't conceal... our whereabouts, but... the Aurora Society seems... unresponsive?"
"The network has completely dropped." After sensing the situation, Kelly warned Aurora, "Be careful later, I also feel something's wrong."
It's too quiet.
The Magical Girls made no attempt to conceal their magical aura throughout their journey.
If the Aurora Society a way of detecting magic, then they would be able to see the Magical Girls rushing towards their location at full speed via satellite.
Even if the Aurora Society knew very well that they were no match for the Magical Girls on their own, they should at least have shown some reaction.
After all, only a minority of people truly know the powers of Magical Girls.
Most ordinary people rely more on modern firepower.
There are quite a few modern firearms hidden beneath the ice, including missiles, anti-aircraft guns, and automatic sentry machine guns...
If they all were to attack the Magical Girls in unison, it would inevitably cause some trouble for the Magical Girls in the Eastern Ocean District.
But... nowadays, all these defensive measures have fallen silent.
It was eerily quiet.
"Let's go in and take a look."
Aurora hesitated for a moment before making a decision.
No matter what tricks the Aurora Society up to, they've already come all this way, and they can't just turn back because of this little thing.
We should at least go inside the Aurora Society headquarters and take a look first.
Whether they had prepared a grand gift for them, or whether they knew they were coming and had all slipped away beforehand, the answer would be clear once they went inside.
"Then... I'll do it..."
Luna walked up to Aurora, flew into the sky, took out her Magical Armament, and transformed it into a hand cannon.
The Aurora Society base is heavily guarded; the main gate leading to the lower levels alone has several layers of security.
Normally, Kelly should have hacked into the Aurora Society's internal network to open a portal for the Magical Girls, allowing them to enter.
But Kelly can't sense the Aurora Society's internal network now, so the only way to get in is through brute force.
Go in!
Luna's attacks are best suited for clearing a path for Magical Girls.
She aimed the converted hand cannon at the elevator leading directly to the underground base, sensed it, locked onto it with magic, and poured azure magic into the hand cannon.
A few seconds later--
Boom!!
A beam of azure magical light descended from above, piercing straight through the elevator shaft that led to the underground base.
Luna's control over her magic was precise; she only destroyed the various facilities along the way and did not reach the deeper interior of the base.
She opened a passage leading underground, Magical Girls followed the passage into the underground base, arriving at the true headquarters of the Aurora Society.
Then--
They saw a pile of 'corpses' on the ground.