The Past, The Wrong Path

On the elevated highway in the dead of night, blurring car shapes whizzed past.

In the driver's seat, Lin Yun's brows were tightly locked. Even with him stepping on the gas pedal and charging forward at full speed, it still took nearly 20 minutes to rush from home to the vicinity of the Wetland Park. Moreover, for him right now, every passing second of time was a torment.

Yet, throughout this journey of anxious suffering, he managed to pick up some long-set-aside knowledge from the chaotic thoughts in his mind and sort out a few things.

Why on earth did he become a Magical Girl?

This was a proposition once firmly memorized in his heart, only to be brought up by him again 19 years later. Gazing outside the car under the dim streetlights, some equally distant memories began to surface. And that, in fact, was a matter from 22 years ago.

Actually, he was somewhat surprised that he could still faintly recall it; it was an after-school evening.

"Can I go fight?"

On a street dyed by the setting sun, Lin Yun, still a boy, asked the rabbit-like fairy thus.

The fairy, who claimed to be a Seeder, told him:

"How could that be possible, you're a boy! Only girls can possibly possess the talent to become a Magical Girl, and besides, this is a one-in-a-million constitution!"

"Why won't a boy do?"

"I said already, a mag--i--cal--girl, she's a girl, a girl! So only girls can be Magical Girls!"

"Then I won't be a Magical Girl; Magical Boy, Magical Big Brother, Magical Superman, or whatever is fine too. I want magical power as well!"

While the boy shouted this sentence full of momentum, amid the buildings not far away, a fierce battle was unfolding.

His childhood friend, Anya, was also a Magical Girl, fighting against a ferocious Aberrant Beast.

However, unlike the several battles he had witnessed in the past, this time the Aberrant Beast was not only massive in size, but two of them had appeared simultaneously, and Anya clearly showed signs of struggling to stand alone when facing multiple high-intensity enemies.

Without a doubt, she was at a disadvantage.

Watching Anya desperately holding on under the hands of the Aberrant Beasts, having already been struck by the Aberrant Beasts' attacks several times during the ordeal, her battle situation was precarious. Lin Yun could not help but raise his volume again, shouting at the rabbit-shaped fairy: "Can't you see! Anya is in danger! Isn't she the Magical Girl you chose?!"

"Ugh... Really, it's very difficult for me too."

The rabbit-shaped fairy's face was full of worry: "I'm very worried about Anya, that's true, but magic is a power that only girls can possess. Aside from becoming a Magical Girl, there's no other choice. Those things you mentioned simply don't exist."

"Magical Boy, Magical Big Brother, Magical Superman, or whatever—if possible, I'd want to help you too, but it can't be done. I can only make people possess the power of a Magical Girl..."

"Let me try!"

"Huh?"

"Let me try whether I can actually become a Magical Girl!"

"Are you out of your mind, fellow? I already said it has to be a girl!"

"Give it a try!"

"How on earth are you supposed to try a thing like this?"

"Tell me the method to turn into a Magical Girl, I'll do it!"

"Seriously... you're driving me crazy with fear."

Faced with the boy's tough and persistent attitude, plus the fact that Anya in the distance was indeed plunged into crisis, the fairy had no choice but to say helplessly: "Then I'll let you give up. This is what you asked for, to give it a try."

It extended a paw to the fluff on its waist, and after a period of rummaging, fished out a completely round, crystal-clear gemstone from among the fur.

The size of this gemstone was a full quarter of its body, and the scene of it suddenly pulling it out looked very strange, but neither the human nor the fairy facing each other cared about such trivial matters anymore.

"This thing is called a Heart Seed, which is the seed of a Magical Girl's power."

The fairy said solemnly: "Hold it, press it to your chest, feel its presence, and use your heart to establish a connection. If it reacts, it means you have the talent to become a Magical Girl; otherwise, you have no hope whatsoever."

"Heart Seed..."

Gazing at the gemstone in the fairy's paw, the boy whispered the name of this object.

How could he not know that what he was saying was unreasonable? Since the other party had already said that only girls could become Magical Girls, there must be some reason behind it.

However, he had no choice now, because the situation was so urgent to this extent. As an ordinary person wanting to save Anya, no matter how impossible the thing was, he had to give it a fight.

Taking this gemstone-like object, Lin Yun immediately gripped it tightly in his hand and pressed it toward his heart.

Use your heart to establish a connection.

This was the key point he remembered, so he did not delay for even a moment, throwing himself into it body and soul.

He closed his eyes and gradually put everything else out of his mind. Meanwhile, the rabbit fairy not far away kept watching the Heart Seed in his hand with a full face of worry.

A few seconds passed, and the Heart Seed did not produce any changes.

Approaching a minute, the Heart Seed still had no reaction.

Just as the rabbit fairy's heartbeat gradually subsided, feeling that his failure could already be confirmed, the change happened.

At first it was just a very faint light, leaking out from between Lin Yun's fingers like fireflies, spot by spot. After that, it turned into clear, brilliant traces of light, transforming into streams of pure radiance.

Rising from between the boy's gradually unfolding hands was a pure white ball of light radiating holy brilliance. It rotated together with the gemstone-like Heart Seed, lifted into the air, and finally fused.

In an instant, the light bloomed.

The white light radiated in all directions from the surface of the Heart Seed, forming a halo of light that enveloped Lin Yun inside.

That still wasn't a particularly intense light, but like a bright moon hanging in the sky, it wasn't dazzling, yet it was enough to illuminate the dark night.

"This really... You... You brat actually succeeded? You really are a boy?"

An unprecedented fact shocked the rabbit fairy on the side to the point of losing color, and it even started babbling incoherently: "Could it be that you just look a bit like a boy, and you're just joking with me?"

Yet the boy in the light did not pay attention to its trash talk, instead raising his head and looking at the sprite before him with a firm gaze, firelight shining brilliantly in his pupils.

"Next, what should I do?"

--What should I do?

This sentence seemed to traverse time and space.

Because this was likewise the question the present Lin Yun needed to consider.

Beneath the night veil, in the silent and deserted Wetland Park parking lot, he casually threw his car away in some spot and ran along a small path toward the depths of the woods.

Actually, as for what to do, the answer was already there long ago. How similar his mood at this moment was to that dusk 22 years ago.

Perhaps many things had changed, but many more things had always remained. At least, this emotion of "I must rescue the important person" was identical.

With emotions like this, can his Flower of the Heart still form a connection with it?

Carrying a trace of doubt, he raised his hand.

--The Shard-Pattern Gem Flower in his hand was already radiating deep blue brilliance in all directions.

"...Sigh, there really is no helping you brat, but right now we can only treat a dead horse as a live one."

In a trance, he seemed to return once more to the sunset of that day.

After the rabbit fairy briefly expressed its shock, it quickly adjusted its mentality and began to instruct him rigidly:

"First of all, after establishing the connection with the Heart Seed, you should be able to sense mana—that is, the energy acting as the maintaining tie between you and the Heart Seed."

"Right now, what you need to do is use a simple flow of mana to activate it."

The boy nodded, closing his eyes again. While sensing, he summarized in his heart:

Step one, go catch the mana.

"Split your mana flow, connect your four limbs and forehead to the Heart Seed respectively, and then adjust them until they are mutually balanced."

Step two, split the mana, then balance it.

"Next is to construct the standard magical rune. Ah, if you don't know... look at my side, I'll demonstrate for you."

Step three, construct the standard magical rune.

"As for the last part, it's to think of a transformation chant to act as the initial startup switch. Although it's rarely used, don't think of anything too weird, though. It's better to be a bit cute, otherwise the Kingdom will inspect it and order it to be changed."

Step four, determine the transformation chant.

With all the steps complete, next was the time for transformation.

The boy in his memory and the middle-aged man at this moment seemed to overlap in an instant, existing here simultaneously.

However, this was an illusion after all.

The boy, harboring overflowing passion and hope with brand-new power, shouted a makeshift, embarrassing chant and set off toward the battlefield in the air in order to save the girl he cared about.

The middle-aged man whose passion had long since cooled was still here, all alone.

His pace paused slightly, and he shook his head, banishing the distracting thoughts in his mind, and once again strode forward quickly.

Light bloomed, and deep blue mana erupted in his hands in an instant, sweeping through the surroundings like turbulent currents, fluttering his hem and hair.

With no redundant movements and no redundant sounds, he raised his hand and pressed the Flower of the Heart against his chest. Then, he coldly spat out two words from his mouth:

"Transform."