Beneath the Pillar of Light

In the heart of Fangting City, beneath a purplish-black light curtain, the magical girls' battle had been raging for a long time, reaching a fever pitch.

A gigantic, cocoon-shaped mass of flesh Hover within the light screen, with a massive, Aberrant Beast head protruding from its top, continuously spewing purplish-black magical breath towards the surrounding ground.

This magic is so corrosive that it corrodes the surface of buildings upon contact, leaving the city center in ruins and unrecognizable from its former prosperity.

The only saving grace was that on the night of the Full Moon Festival, there weren't many people gathered in the downtown commercial area. The few people who did gather fled after sensing something was wrong, and not many people were affected.

Above the scorched earth of the city, pale blue, Hibiscus Purple, and pale green magic were intertwined with the Aberrant Beast.

"Xiao Lu, this Aberrant Beast is on a completely different level from your previous opponents. It's an enemy you've never encountered before, and its evolutionary level should have reached the Pupa Stage!"

Leaning on Lin Xiaolu's shoulder, Moko raised his voice despite the wind pressure:

"The Pupa Stage is different from the ordinary Aberrant Beast we usually encounter. Their bodies have a structure called Pupa Shell. If the magic output cannot exceed its tolerance limit, then it will never be possible to harm it!"

"You also know about the Aberrant Beast?" Lin Xiaolu narrowly escaped a purplish-black magical force, but showed no sign of tension on her face.

"Now you're questioning this instead?" Moko raised his voice.

"No, how should I put it, it just feels... a bit unexpected?"

"This is not the time to waste time on this nonsense! If this continues, even if you exhaust all your magic, you still won't be able to harm it!"

"Okay, okay, I know, I know!"

As Lin Xiaolu flew at high speed through the air, she shouted back, "Just smash its shell, right? Just like that annoying old man we met at the orphanage!"

"This guy is much stronger than that savage thug!" Moko.

"Who cares? We're a completely different company now than we were before! We've carefully considered all the relevant plans!"

Lin Xiaolu raised her hand and gestured to Xia Liang, "Xia Liang!"

"I know!"

As Lin Xiaolu called out and Xia Liang responded, several mirrors shimmered and rotated, surrounding the Aberrant Beast in the center. Different colored magic from the hands of the three magical girls converged on the mirrors, and after a brief rotation, focused on the head of the Aberrant Beast.

"Bai Jingxuan!"

"OK!"

The magical girl with a green ponytail opened her arms, and the small box she had been holding suddenly opened. A light and lively melody began to play, making the already strong flow of magic power being transmitted to the mirror even more surging.

This is Bai Jingxuan's Magic Armament, named Heavenly Tone.

Its ability is to play different pieces of music through the resonance of magic, and the differences in rhythm, melody and timbre of the music will have different effects on the surrounding things.

Because the awakening and development period is still short, Bai Jingxuan has only developed two uses for it: Limb Activation and Magic Activation.

The former can accelerate the body's self-healing and recovery abilities, and can also consume a certain amount of energy to improve a person's athletic ability; the latter, just like what she is doing now, uses the most unadorned method to drive the Magic Armament to play music, which can activate magic power and make it more active and restless.

That is why she was able to make the magic power that was originally gathered on the surface of Xia Liang's Magic Armament mirror become even more turbulent.

A week ago, under the joint guidance of Hong Siyu and Xia Liang, Bai Jingxuan completed the Bud Rank ability blossoming and obtained her own Magic Armament.

At the time, she neither understood the power of her Magic Armament nor mastered how to use Magic Armament, so she kept it to herself and didn't tell Larkspur.

Her original plan was to wait until Larkspur returned before telling her about it in person, to surprise Larkspur and get her to praise her.

Everyone else guessed Bai Jingxuan's little scheme, so they deliberately didn't expose it and unanimously refrained from mentioning it to Larkspur.

However, no one expected that before Larkspur could return, the power of this Magic Armament would be used on the battlefield first.

A surge of Mana Beam erupted from Xia Liang's Magic Armament armor, light blue, Hibiscus Purple, and light green magic coalescing together and blasting towards the distant Aberrant Beast.

The torrent of magic arrived in an instant, concentrating at a single point and exploding with a deafening roar at the head of the Aberrant Beast. Initially, the surface of the Aberrant Beast's body was covered with some kind of skin-like structure that wrinkled and layered, blocking the impact of the magic. But soon, this structure was broken through by the combined attack of the three, and then suddenly split into a huge gap.

The three-colored Mana Beam pierced through the gap in its skin and struck the Aberrant Beast's head squarely.

"Awoooooo!"

A deafening roar echoed through the city center. The Aberrant Beast, writhing in pain within its cocoon, emitted cries of incomprehensible meaning. Then, it increased the frequency of its attacks, once again unleashing a corrosive magical breath upon the magical girls.

The three new magical girls, or rather, the three new generation magical girls, were already prepared. They dodged the moment the Aberrant Beast unleashed its breath, and the Aberrant Beast's attack had no effect whatsoever.

"It's a success!"

Seeing that the attack had achieved, or even exceeded, its effect, Xia Liang couldn't help but clench her fist and cheer softly.

"So this is all there is to the Pupa Stage!"

Lin Xiaolu stepped back to her side, a smug look on her face. "As long as we can break through the defense the first time, we'll definitely be able to break through the second time. Wearing this big guy down will be no problem at all!"

"It has absolutely nothing to do with you, right?"

Moko n't help but pour cold water on her enthusiasm. "It's clearly the Magic Armament of the other two people that's working, so how can a species-level being spout nonsense here?"

"Huh? Fairy can't even keep up with flying speed and can only cling to others has the right to talk about me?"

Lin Xiaolu glared at it, annoyed. "The progress of ability Blossoming doesn't tell the whole story, okay? My magic power has been increasing non-stop these past few months, and it's definitely much stronger than the average seed-level!"

"That's still at the seed level..."

Moko muttered something under his breath, but did not refute Lin Xiaolu's statement.

Because what Lin Xiaolu said was true. In these past few months, although she had never reached the limit of her ability to Blossoming, her magical power had never stopped growing.

At first, her magical power was comparable to that of a typical Seed-level being, but with her growth, especially after the battle at the orphanage, it has now reached a level far exceeding Seed-level.

If Lin Xiaolu hadn't yet failed to complete the Blossoming and obtain her own Magic Armament, no one would have thought she was merely a Seed-level character.

"You two, stop bickering now."

Xia Liang chuckled helplessly, then reactivated his Magic Armament: "Let's focus on taking down this big guy, shall we?"

"... That's true."

Lin Xiaolu, who had originally wanted to argue with Moko, immediately abandoned her desire to debate. Looking at the increasingly frenzied Aberrant Beast not far away, she gripped her wand tightly again. "The battle isn't won yet, it's a bit too early to start celebrating."

Bai Jingxuan, who was standing to the side, did not say a word, but silently released her magic and played the music box.

The battle resumed.

Compared to lower-level Aberrant Beast, the biggest advantage of Pupa Stage Aberrant Beast lies in having their own Nest and naturally highly defensive Pupa Shell.

This pupa, for some unknown reason, appeared alone in the city center, without any Nest space of its own. This also means that there are no eggs or caterpillars around for it to command, significantly weakening its combat capabilities.

The magical girls found a way to break through the Aberrant Beast's defenses, which was equivalent to finding the key to defeating it, enough to neutralize all of the Aberrant Beast's advantages in terms of evolutionary level. As a result, the battle inevitably took a one-sided turn.

Led by Xia Liang, with Bai Jingxuan providing amplification and Lin Xiaolu providing magic power, the three worked together to launch Mana Beam through the transformation of their Magic Armament —the impact was so powerful that it could no longer be called Mana Beam, but rather a barrage of artillery fire.

The relentless bombardment forced the pupae in the air to retreat step by step, emitting continuous howls and shrieks, their wounds multiplying, and their movements becoming increasingly weak.

Clearly, it couldn't hold on much longer.

"Moko! Take my phone!"

After firing another round of shelling, Lin Xiaolu pulled her phone from the pocket of her apron and handed it to Moko: "After we take care of this big guy, remember to take a picture and show it to Larkspur!"

"... Aren't you a little too excited?"

Moko took the phone with a hint of helplessness. "Trying to handle the battle so lightly, be careful you Inspector and get criticized instead."

"Larkspur wouldn't do that," Lin Xiaolu said noncommittally.

"I think we should tell the junior about the whole story later?"

Xia Liang suggested from the side, "Although we rashly challenged the Aberrant Beast at the Pupa Stage and even won due to the advantage of timing and location, she'll still be worried when she finds out, right?"

"It's better not to scare the teacher," Bai Jingxuan added softly.

"Hmm... that makes sense."

Lin Xiaolu floated in mid-air for a moment, then raised her wand again. "Well then, let's discuss how to report later. For now, let's..."

She stopped mid-sentence.

Not only her, but Bai Jingxuan and Xia Liang beside her also suddenly stopped. The three of them turned their gazes to the ground not far away.

The purplish-black pillar of light in the center of the block emitted a blinding glow, which naturally cast shadows on objects in the air, making them appear infinitely elongated on the ground.

At that moment, without anyone noticing, a shadow suddenly appeared in front of the three of them.

It was an incredibly long and thin shadow, projected from the air. At first, it was very faint, but as it spread to the magical girl's feet, it turned into a deep, inky black.

Judging from its shape and outline, the shadow resembled an enormous moth.

At this moment, the owner of the shadow Hover silently in front of the Aberrant Beast. Its size was insignificant compared to the enormous Aberrant Beast, as small as an ant compared to an elephant. Yet the shadow beneath its feet almost covered an entire street in front of it, far exceeding the size of the Pupa Stage Aberrant Beast.

Surrounded by the shadowy figure beneath them, the magical girls felt an immense sense of oppression and danger. Without a doubt, everyone could sense that the newcomer was up to no good.

Just by facing the owner of the shadow from afar, Lin Xiaolu felt short of breath, the magic around her slowed down, her heartbeat quickened, and her body tensed up as if she had encountered a natural enemy.

She widened her eyes slightly, quickened her breathing, stared at the figure in the distance, and silently tightened her grip on the magic wand in her hand.

She felt an overwhelming sense of tension and oppression; in fact, she had experienced it more than once, so she could easily describe its essence: the premonition of death in the face of a deadly threat.

The owner of the shadow remained motionless, as if observing the magical girls in the distance, Hover without moving, like a statue.

After a brief standoff, the unknown entity flickered slightly.

When its figure flashed and reappeared, it was already less than a few meters away from the magical girls. This startled the magical girls who were already on high alert. Lin Xiaolu reacted as if by reflex, raising her hand and firing a magic bullet.

However, the magic bullet had no effect whatsoever; it couldn't even touch the mysterious figure in front of it, and inexplicably melted away just as it was about to get close.

The girls then saw the newcomer's face clearly—it was a man in black robes.

The other person had a slender and tall figure, completely covered by a black robe, making it impossible to discern any physical features. The magical girls present actually remembered that black robe—the last time they saw this style of clothing was on the man at the orphanage known as "Bing Chu Three."

"... Black Ash Dawn."

Lin Xiaolu read out the name she had heard back then.

The man in black robes before them was quite different from the man from that time.

The other party's black robe had more complex and delicate dark gold patterns on its surface. The image it formed was still eerie, but its outline could be clearly identified: it was a golden moth with outstretched wings.

The other person's black robe was topped with a tall hat, replacing the robe's hood. The long brim of the hat was pulled low, covering the face below and concealing the features.

You have truly exceeded my expectations.

The woman in black robes suddenly spoke, and a somewhat hoarse female voice came from under her hat. "To grow to this level in just five months, and even be able to suppress Pupa Stage Aberrant Beast, is extremely rare even among magical girls."

Her words seemed to be a compliment, but none of the magical girls thought she was praising them.

"... Who are you?"

As the first among them to regain her composure, Xia Liang reached out to stop the somewhat nervous Lin Xiaolu and spoke first, "Hiding your true identity, are you afraid to even reveal yourself when you're doing something bad?"

She was actually quite nervous, so her voice was a little hoarse. But even in this situation, she didn't forget to use reverse psychology, trying to extract information from the other person.

She had thought it through clearly: the mysterious man in black robes before her was probably an enemy that the three of them could not handle. If anything unexpected happened, they should at least find out the enemy's identity and spread the word.

"A subtle hint of something, what an adorable child."

Xia Liang's crude provocation obviously didn't fool the man in black, but the other party didn't seem angry at all. Instead, his tone carried a hint of amusement. "Very well, as supporters of the Lord, we have never bothered to hide our names."

She reached out, grabbed the hat on her head, and pulled it off sharply. A somewhat aged, elderly face appeared before them.

She was a blonde, somewhat elderly woman with a peaceful smile on her face.

"Nice to meet you, children of Fangting City. My name is Moss."

As she spoke, she bowed slightly, as if in a gesture of respect. "Or you could translate my name from the Western Region language and describe it in your Eastern Hua Prefecture's language, calling me Moth."