Encirclement Hunt

Kite remained silent, meeting Margaret's gaze.

She didn't ask any more questions, but just smiled meaningfully, then raised the wine glass in her hand, brought it to her lips, and drank the strangely colored liquid in one gulp.

Then, she put down her glass, smacked her lips, seemingly savoring the taste, and said with slight disdain, "It's awful. It's like mixing soy sauce into liquor and then adding water at the end. And there's no aftertaste at all; it feels like the liquor disappears after going down my throat, leaving not a single trace of flavor."

Although she said it tasted awful, when she saw the empty glass slowly refilled with the same liquid as before, she picked up the glass again and drank it all in one gulp.

This time, the expression on her face had changed from blatant disgust to understanding. She swirled the empty wine glass in her hand and added, "Bad wine."

"I have received your feedback. I am very sorry that I was unable to provide you with a drink that satisfied you."

Standing opposite her, Margaret nodded readily, as if she were truly a bartender. "This was my negligence. Would you be willing to give me another chance to slightly adjust the drink in your hand?"

"Oh? You even offer to help with readjusting it? Then I'll gladly accept your offer and ask you for help."

Yuan paused for a moment, then smiled as if she genuinely agreed, placing her glass on the bar. "Personally, I'd like it to be a bit stronger and more stimulating, and preferably without too many other flavors..."

But halfway through her sentence, she abruptly changed the subject, putting down her wine glass and turning cold. "... Do you think I would say that?"

Her question instantly tensed the previously relaxed atmosphere. The already quiet Wonderland was now filled only with scattered whispers and the still-melodious music. But even the music couldn't alleviate the chill; it only made the situation more awkward.

In this atmosphere, when confronted with questions, Margaret simply maintained an elegant and proper smile and did not answer.

Seeing that the other party remained silent, Yuan was not annoyed, but continued to mutter to herself, "I am not worried at all about whether there is poison in the wine, because my internal organs are full of 'qi', which can help me isolate what I drink at any time. Poisons are useless against me."

"But just now, to verify my hypothesis, I used my breath to envelop the wine in that glass and swallowed it, only to discover something very interesting—the wine didn't actually enter my stomach; it just slid through my mouth and then disappeared."

"And after they disappeared, my glass was refilled. In other words, this so-called 'endless wine' was only ever one glass from beginning to end."

"This is quite interesting. A cup of wine that remains unchanged from beginning to end, and yet everyone happens to have one, all created by the influence of your Wonderland..."

Raising her glass once more, letting the warm yellow light shine through the liquid inside, Yuan watched as the shimmering light was shattered by the ripples, and said with certainty, "This glass of wine is probably not just a simple symbol, but directly corresponds to my True Form, isn't it?"

Margaret remained unfazed. "Perhaps this is just me bluffing?"

"What's this talk of bluffing? I've pondered countless times what my True Form and magic should look like once I'm no longer in this physical body. And after seeing this glass of wine, I knew: it is the answer. This is what my True Form nature should be."

Yuan simply shook her head. "And if it is my True Form, then will the changes in this drink cause corresponding changes in me? Can you tell me the answer, bartender?"

"A brilliant deduction. I can tell you, your guesses are very close to the truth."

Margaret's hand gently brushed across the table, opening beside Iris's wine glass. "Unfortunately, it's already a bit too late to draw this conclusion now."

The bar area fell silent for a moment.

"You said 'too late,' what does that mean...?" After understanding the other person's words, Yuan's eyes widened slightly, but before she could finish speaking, she felt an uncontrollable emotion erupt from the depths of her heart.

Sadness, pain, regret, frustration... countless bitter emotions suddenly filled her mind, almost completely scattering her thoughts.

Overwhelmed by grief, she instinctively clutched her chest, feeling as if her heart had been ripped out, the pain leaving her only with suffocation and numbness.

Along with this emotion came a change in the cocktail in front of her.

Unbeknownst to anyone, a touch of dark blue had quietly seeped into the distinct layers of black and red wine, spreading rapidly throughout the glass like drops of ink mixed with water.

For humans, emotional experiences often have a reverse effect on physical actions. For Yuan at this moment, the extreme sadness was like a spell that froze her in place, making her unable to move.

"--Let's get started." The bartender, who had been standing behind the counter, withdrew his hand and announced this.

The next moment, this small world, which resembled a tavern, was suddenly illuminated with magical lights of various colors.

The first to attack the kite were Larkspur, who had regained her mobility after a short rest, and Hong Siyu, who had been by her side.

The current situation is precisely why she had Margaret use Flourishing Bloom.

Margaret's "Flourishing Bloom, Passion on Tap," as an advancement of Passion, grants her the ability to precisely manipulate the liquid magic within the glass, a manipulation akin to mixing a cocktail.

By infusing various emotions into her wine glass, Margaret can transcend her own emotional state and effortlessly customize the magical effects within.

She can combine healing and protective effects to create the best positive effects, much like concocting a potion; she can also combine various attack effects of different natures, such as fire and lightning, to create even more ferocious attacks.

More importantly, this act of "mixing drinks" is not limited to one's own glass.

Combined with her own Wonderland, Asō Madoka can project everyone's True Form into a cocktail, and use this opportunity to manipulate the drinks in other people's glasses.

When the "alcohol" changes, the True Form of each person also changes accordingly. Moreover, it has no bearing on whether the other person has drunk the alcohol or not; it directly affects their True Form. This is what makes Asō Madoka's ability truly terrifying.

Just now, she had "mixed" the wine in Yuan's glass, which in turn affected her emotions, causing her to fall into a deep sadness from which she could not extricate herself.

This effect doesn't last long, and the more magical power the target possesses, the shorter its duration. However, in the ever-changing battlefield, even a fleeting moment can be enough to determine victory or defeat.

The silk threads in the Larkspur' hands transformed into dagger-shaped Masterpiece, arriving in front of the kite almost simultaneously with Hong Siyu's Spell Formula. Even at this moment, the kite still did not make a move.

Only when her body was about to be struck did she finally blink, regaining a sliver of herself from the almost uncontrollable negative emotions.

With a slight tightening of her grip on the wine glass, she subtly shifted her body, and at the same time, the "qi" within her body circulated, moving along a certain trajectory to protect her vital organs in the shortest possible time.

Then, a surge of magical power erupted from his body, and the powerful impact blocked both the dagger thrown by the Larkspur and the Spell Formula by Hong Siyu.

After narrowly thwarting this attack, she tried to calm the emotions still swirling in her mind, only to find that she didn't have the chance, as the next attack was already underway.

The bartender, standing behind the bar, tilted his glass slightly and splashed the liquid in it towards her.

The liquid detached from the glass, each drop seemingly following the most precise instructions, spreading out as far as possible like an open net. This net of liquid descended from the sky, directly enveloping the kite's position.

Yuan had to react in a very short time, but the emotions in her mind became a huge burden, making her reaction slow and numb. So, almost at the last moment before the liquid touched her body, she suddenly accelerated and escaped from the area covered by the liquid at the same terrifying speed as before.

Then she realized that she still hadn't become safe.

Because when she forced her body to accelerate and escape at top speed, something else was already waiting for her on the surrounding paths.

--Those were fine, almost invisible, fluorescent blue threads, as dense as Spiderweb, connecting every direction around her.

Without a doubt, this was the work of the Larkspur.

These threads are numerous, but their strength is not actually very high, because what the Larkspur need most is to ensure its coverage area, so that no matter which direction the kite flees, there will be threads blocking its way.

Under normal circumstances, these silk threads don't pose much of a threat to the kite because they aren't very strong. They can be easily broken by simply smashing them with your body, let alone using weapons. Given the kite's speed after Flourishing Bloom, it can even cut through these silk threads while advancing.

However, the kite couldn't do that at that moment.

Because she had forced herself to accelerate in her haste, she hadn't anticipated so many threads ahead of her. And even if these threads weren't very strong, colliding with them at such high speed—

--It's no different from being slashed.

This is precisely what Iris had been avoiding, and it is also the goal that Larkspur and the others have decided to achieve.

She couldn't let them succeed.

So she tried to channel her energy once more, hoping to use it to fight against the magical threads. After all, channeling energy within the body is just a matter of a thought, much faster than directing her body to make a move.

If she successfully uses her qi, she should be able to soften the magical threads in front of her, thus preventing her from getting hurt by bumping into them...

... or so?

The kite's thoughts stalled once again.

Because she discovered she couldn't use her own breath.

After a brief pause, there was a sudden realization, a sense of relief.

Yes, that's exactly what she'd been wary of from the very beginning – this very ability of the other party!

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a petite blue-haired girl standing expressionlessly in mid-air, on a magic net woven from fluorescent blue threads. Countless threads were wrapped around all ten of her fingers, forming a dense encirclement around the kite.

More importantly, there was the girl behind him who had silently opened a huge library, and the tiny, almost ethereal scissors in her hand.

The instant the silk thread touched the kite's body, she used it as a medium to temporarily sever the concept of "qi" from the other person.

Thus, the prey is caught in the net.

Driven by gunfire and weapons, the dark beast frantically stumbled into the trap the hunters had prepared long ago.

The dark red cocktail in the glass seemed to have been spilled, disappearing in an instant in a layer the width of a finger.

Magic flew into the sky like ashes, and the black mist surrounding her body visibly shrank in an instant. The kite's body was bound and restrained by heavy threads, and after swaying a few times, it was firmly tied up in mid-air.

Previously, the kite had relied on its speed to evade attacks and had not suffered much damage, but it finally revealed its biggest weakness.

Of course, the battle is not over yet.

Even if the kite is bound in a certain position, these silk threads, which are not very strong to begin with, are practically useless. For the kite, as long as she can recover from that emotion, breaking free from these silk threads is just a matter of a moment.

But she still didn't get a chance to "recover".

Beneath the layers of silk binding her were a group of magical girls, each wielding their Magic Armament, their Spell Formula and magic bullets ready to be unleashed.

The remaining six magical girls gathered here, ready to deliver the most crucial blow to her.

Whether it actually causes damage is not important, because Larkspur had already given instructions. "Just hit it."

Gazing at the various colored magical lights, the kite in the center of the net stared blankly, then grinned, revealing an extremely joyful smile.

"Great teamwork!"

A furious shout, emanating from the depths of their being, was unleashed along with the magic in the girls' hands.

All the magic power within her body was mobilized at this moment. Even without "qi," the remaining momentum infinitely amplified her power, once again overwhelming the shimmering light.

As she shouted, she used her willpower to suppress all her negative emotions, and then brandished her weapon.

She accepts being at a disadvantage, but she will never accept losing the whole game because of one disadvantage.

No matter what, she had to break free of the silk net covering her body and avoid the upcoming attacks.

Her speed was pushed to the limit, all the mist turned into afterimages, and countless weapons were thrust out from the afterimages' hands, as if they were thrust out from her own hands.

Fast, incredibly fast, the kite's figure merged with the numerous afterimages within the weapon in that instant, and these countless overlapping figures almost simultaneously swung their weapons at the Heavenly Net.

"Snap!"

It was a deafening roar like a sudden storm, a surge like a raging torrent. In an instant, it was as if a hundred, a thousand cuts had been made, sweeping away the surrounding netting and even the roof of the bar with boundless power, severing everything in its path.

The once tightly woven blue threads all turned into countless fragments, and fluorescent blue magic particles scattered like starlight across the sky. The once pitch-black night was revealed above the broken roof, and this night, adorned with the magic of the stars, became as enchanting as a galaxy.

Bathed in the starlight formed by magic, Iris, holding a knife, breathed slightly, looked down towards the direction of the Larkspur, and then revealed a dashing smile.

The Larkspur did not respond with an expression.

She simply waved her hand, dispersing the broken threads that were wrapped around her fingers, returned the illusory scissors to Hong Siyu, and gently combed her slightly messy hair.

Then, he gently waved his hand behind the kite.

Only then did Yuan realize that she seemed to have missed something.

She looked back and saw six different colored magical trails rising from beneath her feet, stretching relentlessly towards the distant mountain peak.

Without a doubt, from beginning to end, those young magical girls never intended to confront her head-on.

The magical fluctuations they released, their dashes in their own directions—they weren't for a coordinated attack, but rather... for flight.

While Yuri was still clearing away the netting to avoid the attacks, the magical girls had already circled around her and headed towards the mountaintop.

"... How did you know it was that way?" Yuan turned around and asked Larkspur with a hint of helplessness.

To this question, Larkspur simply raised his hand, revealing his wide sleeve, within which lay a purplish-black crystal that shimmered faintly with an eerie light.

At a glance, Yuan recognized it as one of the goals she had been pursuing on this journey— the Beast Source.

"I've borrowed it back temporarily because it involves the magic of the Aberrant Beast and can be used as a detector."

Larkspur gathered her sleeves, blinked, and gave the answer as if it were the most natural thing in the world.