Kyubey: We Are Doing This for the Universe

Mitakihara City, deep within the Witch's barrier in an abandoned hospital.

"Finale (Tiro Finale)—!!!"

With Mami Tomoe's supremely confident and dazzling cry, the enormous magical musket unleashed a blinding burst of flame.

With a thunderous boom! The Snack Witch, which looked like an adorable stuffed toy, was blasted into fragments that rained down helplessly to the ground beneath the overwhelming firepower.

"It worked!"

Madoka Kaname and Sayaka Miki, hiding below, let out excited cheers. To them, this upperclassman who fought as though she were dancing was simply an omnipotent champion of justice.

In midair, Mami Tomoe landed with utmost grace, turning to give her two juniors a beautiful smile that was both gentle and reassuring.

Then, disaster struck!

"Crack, crack, crack..."

The broken stuffed toy lying on the ground suddenly made an incredibly eerie cracking sound.

Then, before everyone's eyes, an enormous black caterpillar monster burst from that tiny shell, covered in terrifying red blotches and sporting a bottomless maw!

The monster moved so fast it defied all physical common sense!

It opened its unfathomably deep, bloody maw and viciously bit down directly at Mami Tomoe's head, while she was still in midair and had no time to evade!

"Mami—!!!"

Madoka and Sayaka's smiles froze on their faces, turning into terrified screams.

Looking at the abyssal mouth inches away, Mami Tomoe's pupils shrank to pinpoints.

"Am I... going to die here...?"

"You think you can bite off a girl's head right in front of me?"

Buzzz—!!!!!

A dazzling crimson pillar of light erupted without warning from outside the barrier, tearing through the walls of this space with violent force!

"Rumble—!!!!!"

At the instant the Witch's jaws were less than three centimeters from Mami Tomoe's head!

That crimson pillar connecting heaven and earth crashed down!

Within the light, the fleeting silhouette of a red-and-silver Light Giant flashed into view.

"Screee—!!!"

The Snack Witch that had traumatized countless people slowly dissolved beneath Ultraman Gaia's light!

A violent shockwave swept through the entire area, instantly clearing away every trace of the Witch's residue.

The light slowly faded.

Amid the dust filling the air, Lin Xiao had already returned to human form. Standing firmly at the edge of the crater the Witch had smashed into the ground, he steadily caught Mami Tomoe as she fell from the air, holding her in a princess carry.

The entire barrier fell into deathly silence.

Mami Tomoe's mind was blank after narrowly escaping death. She stared dumbly at the handsome face so close to hers, even forgetting to breathe.

Looking at the terrified blonde upperclassman in his arms, Lin Xiao's lips curled into an amused yet incredibly reassuring smile.

"What are you spacing out for? You almost became the headless upperclassman."

"...Huh?"

Hearing that bizarre yet painfully accurate jab, Mami Tomoe finally snapped back to her senses, and her cheeks instantly flushed scarlet.

"Mami!!!"

Not far away, Madoka and Sayaka finally recovered from their overwhelming terror. Crying as they ran over frantically, they crowded around her with concern written all over their faces.

"Thank goodness... you're okay, Mami! That monster suddenly burst out... We thought you..." Madoka sobbed so hard she could barely catch her breath.

Lin Xiao gentlemanly set Mami Tomoe back on the ground.

Clasping her still-trembling hands, Mami Tomoe looked at Lin Xiao and gave him a deep, grateful bow. "Thank you... thank you for saving me! If you hadn't appeared when you did, I would have..."

Just as this touching reunion unfolded.

A mechanical voice devoid of emotion abruptly interrupted everyone.

"Who exactly are you?"

Everyone turned their heads.

The white alien creature Kyubey was wagging its fluffy tail, its red eyes fixed firmly on Lin Xiao.

"In my observation network, no life-form like you, one that so completely violates the law of conservation of energy, exists on Earth. Your intervention has severely disrupted the causal destiny of magical girls."

Looking at this white-furred beast lying on the ground and spouting lofty theories.

Lin Xiao turned around, shielding Madoka, Mami Tomoe, and the others behind him as his gaze instantly turned ice-cold.

"Me?"

Lin Xiao looked down at Kyubey. "I'm here to change the shitty fate people like you have imposed on them."

Kyubey tilted its head, seemingly unable to understand such human emotion, and retorted in a matter-of-fact tone:

"Change fate? You are destroying the universe. Everything the Incubator Clan does is to slow the universe's entropy increase and prevent it from reaching heat death."

"Though it is cruel for magical girls, converting their emotions into energy is a righteous cause for the universe."

Hearing Kyubey's icy "theory," Madoka and Mami Tomoe behind him both looked utterly confused and stunned. Entropy increase? Energy conversion?

Lin Xiao, however, was thoroughly amused by Kyubey's high-handed rhetoric.

"For the universe?"

Lin Xiao walked step by step toward Kyubey. The pressure of the earth surrounding him pressed down on the alien creature like something tangible, making its body instinctively crack under the unbearable strain.

"Using the despair and tears of underage girls to fill your so-called cosmic energy deficit?"

Lin Xiao's voice grew colder and colder:

"If a universe needs to turn these kind girls into monsters, drain their souls, and squeeze out their despair just to keep limping along..."

"Then that damned universe doesn't deserve to be saved at all!"

"Kyubey, don't give me that righteous-cause crap. I know there's a massive Incubator network behind you."

"Now go back and call for help. Bring out everything you've got."

"Bring me all your so-called weapons, Witch's Night—every last one of them! I'll be waiting right here!"

Looking at the young man before it, arrogant and imposing like a demon god, a powerful flicker of calculation error and danger finally passed through the depths of Kyubey's eternally placid eyes.

It even gave up on continuing to tempt Madoka. Its body slowly turned into a phantom where it stood, preparing to urgently retreat from this exceptionally dangerous barrier.

Before vanishing completely, Kyubey left behind one final ice-cold warning:

"One who defies the laws of the universe, you... will regret this."