Hundred Forces Become Weapons

Gladiolus did not immediately accept Purple Diamond's invitation.

The other party's words were truly appalling; the idea of betraying Kingdom sounded incredibly absurd. Even if Gladiolus was completely oblivious to worldly affairs, she still found it highly improbable.

Besides, she was, after all, a Flower Card magical girl with a job. As long as she honestly went to the Material Realm to kill a few more high-level Aberrant Beast, or went to the Interrealm to fight the Resistance Army and earn some merits, there was theoretically a possibility that she could retain her identity. Although this possibility was not high, it was enough for her to refuse to go crazy with the other party.

If one agrees to the Purple Diamond's offer and chooses to betray the Kingdom, even if it's to follow a Gem Scepter, the outcome will likely be a near-certain death. Neither the Garden, the Royal Court, nor the remaining four Gem Scepter will tolerate a traitor within the Kingdom; the consequences would be far more severe than forced retirement.

Gladiolus cherishes her life because she has not yet completed her exploration of martial arts and does not want to risk her life.

However, Gladiolus was also very determined. If she were to retire now and lose her magic, she would probably never be able to continue perfecting her martial arts in this lifetime.

Purple Diamond noticed her hesitation and conflict, so she said, "If your reason can't make a decision for you, then let's fight. I won't use the power of the Gem Scepter, only my abilities as a magical girl. If you win, I'll unconditionally assist your research; if I win, you'll come with me."

"Boss, do you really think I have a chance of winning?" Gladiolus thought the other person was joking.

"If your 'martial arts' can't even defeat me without using my powers, then staying in this Kingdom is just a waste of your time. Why don't you come with me to explore new possibilities?"

Purple Diamond smiled gently and said, "Don't you want to give it a try? Take me, the 'pinnacle magical girl,' as your opponent and see just how far your martial arts can go?"

Gladiolus was persuaded by her.

She accepted his terms, and the two engaged in a private showdown.

Purple Diamond kept her promise and did not use her powers. However, Purple Diamond did not completely keep her promise, because she used some magical girl powers that did not belong to the "traditional sense"—the magic of some kind of Aberrant Beast.

It was this Aberrant Beast that became the final piece of the scales, allowing her to defeat the Gladiolus who had used all her abilities.

However, Purple Diamond did not directly coerce Gladiolus into joining him; instead, he took her to greet some people.

Those were magical girls, like Gladiolus herself, facing the risk of forced retirement.

These magical girls either lack combat ability or are injured True Form disabled in battle. Most of them are ordinary people who are unable to perform difficult combat missions and have little research ability.

In this Kingdom, there are not many magical girls like this, but there are also quite a few.

Some of them are unwilling to give up the eternal youth of magical girls, some are unwilling to give up the power of magic, but there are also many who simply want to remain magical girls.

Every magical girl, at least when she is chosen, has a pure and kind heart, and even as time wears on them, many still retain this original intention.

Perhaps there was a bit of personal motive involved, but they simply wanted to continue being magical girls and contribute their own strength to the world.

They also feel fear and apprehension about "betraying their Kingdom," but they are willing to take risks for their beliefs.

After that, Gladiolus became a kite.

She followed Purple Diamond and participated in planning and executing a large-scale defection, taking these magical girls, who were either injured or lacked combat power, away from the Kingdom.

She witnessed the Purple Diamond, who had left the Kingdom, change its name to "White Wolf," and gather all the escaped magical girls together, calling themselves "Claw Mark," claiming they would build a home for everyone.

She merged with the magic of the Aberrant Beast, and after years of secluded training, her research on "qi" and "momentum" made further progress, thus rising to become one of the top cadres in Claw Mark.

Everything seemed to be going as the White Wolf had promised. Even while using the magic of the Aberrant Beast, Claw Mark still maintained certain principles of conduct and did not degenerate into the Aberrant Beast in human skin like the Black Ash Dawn. Moreover, since the goal was to establish a "homeland," Claw Mark would naturally accept more refugees from the Kingdom.

Whether facing forced retirement or simply dissatisfied with the Kingdom system, as long as they share similar interests, they can become members of Claw Mark.

Claw Mark gradually grew in both the Material Realm and Interrealm, and more and more magical girls joined its Claw Mark, reaching a peak of several hundred members.

The change began at that moment.

As the number of people increased, many different voices began to emerge within Claw Mark. At first, they might have just been noise, but at some point, this noise overwhelmed the original melody and became Claw Mark's new proposition.

--"Break down the dictatorship of the Kingdom and liberate more magical girls."

It's unclear when it started, but those magical girls who risked their lives to escape the Kingdom and build a new home became a minority, and their voices faded. The later magical girls, filled with less reverence and more resentment towards the Kingdom, began a direct confrontation with the Kingdom.

When the idea first gained consensus, this confrontation was very effective; Claw Mark even seized control of several cities from the Kingdom and showed a strong tendency to declare themselves king.

But Claw Mark, Claw Mark and already looking towards the future, forgot one thing—direct confrontation will result in bloodshed.

This trend came to an end about twelve years ago with a Kingdom crackdown.

This was no longer the warm and gentle civil war among colleagues as before; a gardener from the Garden descended upon the Material Realm with shears, turning all confidence into fear.

The magical girl with numerous Claw Mark lost her life in that siege, and many more survived but were arrested and taken back by the Kingdom.

Five out of ten of Claw Mark's officers were instantly Claw Mark. Apart from Crimson Yuan, who had been stationed at the base, the leader White Wolf, the deputy leader Black Cat, and two others who had just gone to the Interrealm, the other five officers all perished.

In reality, while the Gardener was powerful, she shouldn't have been able to inflict such severe damage on Claw Mark. The reason it turned into a massacre was quite simple—at that time, Claw Mark had already exhausted all her Flower Rank and could no longer use Flourishing Bloom.

Having left their Kingdom and changed allegiance, their magical powers have been tainted with the essence of Aberrant Beast. The ultimate form of magical girls has naturally become rootless and adrift. Although they are still magical girls, the power they can wield is limited to the realm of Wonderland. The power of Wonderland may be enough for ordinary enemies, but when faced with the gardener's shears, they are as powerless as infants.

This painful lesson led to another dramatic shift in Claw Mark's policies. The surviving magical girls, while inheriting their colleagues' will to die, began to become increasingly extreme.

At extremes, sinful fruits that should never have existed in the first place also came into being.

Using the magic of the Aberrant Beast as a foundation and the abilities of magical girls as a fulcrum, Claw Mark begins to explore a new path, attempting to use the magic of the Aberrant Beast to reach Flourishing Bloom once again.

After tireless efforts, their attempt paid off. They mastered a form that simulated Flourishing Bloom, allowing them to greatly enhance their abilities in a short period of time—a form called Beastheart Liberation, or Heart Unleashing for short.

Beastheart Liberation, as the name suggests, is like how members of Black Ash Dawn can use the Beast Viscera to transform into Aberrant Beast. Beastheart Liberation is about completely abandoning the magical girl's magic power, allowing the power of the Aberrant Beast to erode the entire body, and then using magic of a single base color to imitate Flourishing Bloom, thereby achieving an effect similar to Flourishing Bloom.

Of course, it's only a close Flourishing Bloom. Although the Beastheart Liberation and the original magical girl's Flourishing Bloom often have many similarities, they can also change due to the underlying nature of the Aberrant Beast.

For example, the kite, when it Flourishing Bloom, is called "Hundred Weapons Riding the Momentum," which is Flourishing Bloom that combines its own application of "momentum." After it transforms into a state of Heart Unleashing, its form becomes "Hundred Forces Become Weapons."

The original form of the Flourishing Bloom form is achieved through continuous battles. As long as one can gain a small advantage in the battle, one can accumulate a bit of "momentum". When the "momentum" accumulates to a critical point, it can be transformed into "great momentum", bringing the Gladiolus an overwhelming victory.

Although it doesn't produce immediate results, it's a perfect fit for Gladiolus, who has mastered martial arts and is quite adept at strategic maneuvering in duels. It allows her to gradually accumulate small advantages into an unstoppable victory.

If the enemy goes all out from the start, Gladiolus only needs to withstand the onslaught, and in a long war of attrition, she will surely be able to accumulate enough strength to achieve victory. If the enemy chooses to hold back at the beginning, then once Gladiolus has accumulated enough momentum, even if she uses her true abilities, they will not be able to cause any further trouble.

This means that unless Gladiolus is defeated early in the battle, she will only grow stronger as the fight progresses, until she becomes invincible.

Such a steady and Flourishing Bloom can be described as the kingly way of development. However, after the Gladiolus turned into a kite, the transformation of its Heart Unleashing produced a completely different effect.

Larkspur has already experienced this effect firsthand.

She didn't know exactly what the "Beastheart Liberation" ability did, but that didn't stop her from having a direct feeling about it during battle.

That is—a despair-inducing power.

The kite's original Magic Armament, that mass of pitch-black liquid metal, changed shape with the Heart Unleashing, transforming into a black mist that enveloped the Fangting City Squad and Bai'an City Squad.

It was this mist that carried immense pressure, almost tangible, making it difficult for all the magical girls present to unleash their full power.

Larkspur and the other two were still able to use their Magic Armament thanks to their relatively solid magical foundation, but the performance of the other newcomers could only be described as pathetic. Even White Thistle, the most senior among them, could not use his Magic Armament and could only dodge awkwardly in the fog.

Yes, they even had to dodge, because the kites' attacks never stopped.

Although she was fighting against Larkspur others, and using her incredible speed to overpower three of them, the newcomers didn't get a chance to catch their breath. The shadow of the kite would occasionally appear in the black mist, attacking them with different weapons.

As Iris herself said, everyone only needs to "focus on the one in front of them." Because almost everyone has an Iris constantly attacking them.

"What's wrong? If you just keep defending, you'll never have a chance to win."

Retrieving a Tang sword from the black mist, Yuan casually slashed at Larkspur from the side. The sword passed right through the silk threads, nearly striking Larkspur's chest, but was blocked by Hong Siyu's Spell Formula.

She didn't stop what she was doing. The Tang sword that had been blocked by the Spell Formula merely deflected slightly, sending Hong Siyu and the Spell Formula flying back the way they came. Then, she continued to slash at the Larkspur in front of her.

During this process, she seemed to have made many movements, but in fact, she only flicked her knife for a moment. The whole process was so fast that no one could react in time, and they were already facing checkmate.

The blade that slashed at the Larkspur moved unimpeded, and the Spell Formula that rebounded from it struck Hong Siyu directly in the face.

At that critical moment, the Larkspur hooked its little finger.

Almost simultaneously, the silk threads she had prepared connected behind her and Hong Siyu, pulling them apart like marionettes, narrowly avoiding the kite's attack.

Dealing with a formidable enemy like Yuan, she had no choice but to be cautious and had to have backup plans at every turn during the battle.

In fact, this wasn't the first time she had used this method in this battle; she had previously used it several times to save three people from injury.

Because the silk threads are very concealed and don't require a large movement to exert force, one can use this trick to evade the opponent's attack even if one's own speed cannot keep up.

This time, however, just by pulling the silk thread, the Larkspur already had a bad feeling.

"The trajectory is too easy to predict."

A kite's voice came from behind her.

No one was surprised by this, not even Larkspur himself. He knew that the opponent couldn't have been unprepared for a move he had used several times before.

In fact, at this moment, there was another thread attached to her sleeve. If she could just pull it, she could change direction again in the air and fly away at an angle.

But what she still didn't expect was that Yuan stood on the bisector of the angle.

He positioned himself perfectly, in a position from which he could attack her immediately, regardless of whether she changed direction.

The direction in which the silk thread is pulled is fixed, and the speed propelled by magic is not that fast, so at this point, the Larkspur can no longer change course. The only thing she can think of is to reduce the force with which she pulls the thread so that she can stop accelerating and flying over.

"Senior!" She could hear Hong Siyu, startled exclamation, as well as the screams of the girls beside her.

But it was too late.

Sizzle.

The sound of tearing clothes accompanied by flashes of silver-blue light flew up as the Tang sword in the kite's hand pierced through the Larkspur's chest from front to back.