Black Ash Dawn (4k)

Wonderland is an ability that magical girls can only master after reaching the Blossom Rank.

As a true outward manifestation of the soul's will and power, it has an inextricable relationship with Magic Armament.

In Sparrow's imagination, as a magical girl who had once reached the Blossom Rank Blossoming, Cornflower undoubtedly and rightfully possessed this ability.

Having already demonstrated her ability to suppress her when she wasn't using her Wonderland, Cornflower had no reason not to unleash her own Wonderland under these circumstances.

This undoubtedly confirmed a rumor she had heard: during the defense of "Garden," Cornflower overused her power, damaging her Heart Gem, and ultimately chose to retire after fighting for another year. As for where she retired, it was the city she had once been stationed in— Fangting City.

Such rumors seem dubious at first glance: damage to the Heart Gem should be a near-crippling injury for a magical girl. If the damage to her Mana Source is too severe, she might even become mentally disabled. How could she possibly retire unscathed?

However, if you follow this logic, you'll find that the rumor has some merit.

Because everyone knows that Cornflower's teammate, Sakura, who is also Lifetime Magical Girl and the "Strong Flower" (a type of Japanese card game), has also been active in Fangting City. If Cornflower must be living in seclusion somewhere in the Material Realm, Fangting City is undoubtedly the most likely place.

Now, every rumor that Sparrow knew about was gradually being confirmed, leading her to believe that perhaps the last point—that the Cornflower's Heart Gem was damaged—was also true!

Upon arriving in Fangting City, Sparrow's original purpose, besides gathering some information, was to make a deal with those madmen who called themselves the Black Ash Dawn.

She had learned before coming that a squad of Palace Guard from the Black Ash Dawn had arrived in Fangting City and planned to stay there for some time.

The Black Ash Dawn is a strange organization that began operating in the Material Realm about ten years ago. Most of its members are human mages from the Material Realm, with a few being otherworldly beings who have come from the Kingdom or Interrealm. They have gathered together, refusing to acknowledge the rule of the current Royal Court of the Magic Kingdom, while secretly researching the power of the Aberrant Beast.

In order to achieve their goal of rebelling against the Royal Court, their actions were utterly shameless: massacring and even abusing civilians, carrying out terrorist attacks on urban public facilities and even the municipal government, and privately selling various prohibited items were commonplace. They committed all sorts of evil deeds.

Their rampant behavior naturally attracted the vigorous crackdown by the Investigation Institute, but like rats that cannot be eradicated, batches are caught only to be replaced by new ones, spreading all over the world and committing crimes on the move.

As a magical girl herself, she prides herself on having a pure and upright power system and has always looked down on these freaks. However, she has to admit that, apart from the magical girls who are still in office, these lunatics possess the most rare magical materials in the Material Realm.

If she were still in office, she naturally wouldn't need to resort to such shady channels to obtain materials. However, having defected from the Kingdom for many years and joined Claw Mark, she has had to seriously consider the issue of her daily research expenses.

Upon arriving in Fangting City and gathering some local intelligence, she suddenly remembered a rumor she had heard before.

This city is where the "Cornflower" retreated.

Two years ago, Sakura, the Strong Flower magical girl in the Kingdom, died for unknown reasons. This event caused a great shock among many magical girls in the Magic Side, and even a small group of people—who were also Sakura's fans—went to Fangting City to investigate.

These newcomers turned Fangting City upside down, slaughtering all the Aberrant Beast in the surrounding Fangting City. They also approached Sakura's teammates and husband to inquire about the situation, but received no useful information.

Among them, some people believed the rumors that Cornflower was living in seclusion in Fangting City and wanted to hold her accountable for Sakura's death.

But no matter how hard they searched, no one could find the Cornflower.

It's as if the rumors are just rumors, some people's unrealistic imaginations.

By the time Sparrow arrived in the city, the initial excitement had already faded. Sakura's teammates and fans alike believed that the culprit had fled to another city to search for him. With the loss of several elite magical girls, Fangting City seemed to have entered a period of decline in Magic Side power, and the Magical Girl Squad stationed there was facing a shortage of capable successors.

Under these circumstances, Sparrow made contact with the local Black Ash Dawn squad.

She didn't know why these lunatics chose to stay in Fangting City, nor where they got their information. In any case, regarding the deal with Sparrow, they made a deal: that is, she had to take care of the current Magical Girl Squad in Fangting City on a specific day.

It would be best to kill these magical girls, but if that's not possible, they must at least be held back. The main target is a magical girl wearing a navy blue dress with long blue hair.

According to them, this magical girl has demonstrated the ability to use Spell Formula, at least at the Leaf Rank, far surpassing the other two rookie newbies. They absolutely must not let her disrupt their plans.

Sparrow had long since defected from the Kingdom and turned against her former comrades. She had no objection to killing the magical girl and naturally agreed to their request.

Then, she began observing the "Blue Magical Girl".

Initially, she waited near the scene where the Aberrant Beast had appeared to confirm what the target looked like.

Fearing that the other party might sense her magic and alert her, she always sent her accompanying Sparrow to observe from a distance. Later, based on the location where the Aberrant Beast appeared, combined with the time and direction of the blue magical girl's appearance, she had the Sparrow track her and deduce the other party's starting point.

To confirm the other party's route, she deliberately lured some Aberrant Beast to attack groups of people she had marked as suspicious. Then, during an attack on a light rail train, the blue magical girl actually appeared.

She was thus convinced that this blue magical girl's daily activities must take place in Luoming District of Fangting City.

As she continued her investigation, she not only gradually determined the location of the other party's usual activities—an office building—but also discovered that this blue magical girl seemed to have many similarities with the legendary "Cornflower."

Without telling anyone, she went and collected some photos from twenty years ago. Without even comparing them, she was able to confirm that the magical girl was Cornflower!

Thus, today's meticulously prepared battle came about.

Sparrow's plan was to defeat Cornflower here, preferably capture her alive. This would not only enhance her reputation but also likely bring her some profit: she remembered someone mentioning in the Claw Mark many years ago that they were very interested in this former legend.

When she used her Half-Beast Form, she even thought she was about to win.

She could pierce through the Cornflower's Magic Barrier, knock it down from the air, and attack its silken shell like a punching bag. However, as the battle dragged on, she discovered a serious problem: her opponent remained unharmed throughout.

Furthermore, due to the difference in the precision of her magical planning strategy, even though her magical power had been greatly depleted, Cornflower still hid in her Magic Armament shell and refused to show herself.

She realized that this couldn't go on.

Although it's hard to admit, if the Cornflower continues to maintain a defensive posture, then before its defenses can be completely shattered, its own magic power will surely be exhausted first.

She had to force the other party to expose themselves from their defenses.

"I don't really care, but are you really planning to stay hidden behind your shell forever?"

Then she spoke, waving her Magic Armament: "If you don't unfold the Wonderland soon, and keep delaying like this, your little companions might be in danger."

This statement was actually made up. In fact, she herself was curious about where those newbies were. But as the saying goes, all's fair in war; if simply fabricating a few words could disrupt the opponent's formation, then it was undoubtedly a very worthwhile strategy.

Her offhand provocation had an unexpected effect. As soon as she finished speaking, the Larkspur behind the Masterpiece froze.

Upon hearing Sparrow's words, she almost instantly recalled the missed phone call and the whereabouts that Xia Liang and Lin Xiaolu had reported not long ago.

They went to Dawnstar District to find Moko. Could there really be something wrong with that?

Although she knew it might be a verbal deception, she still spared some of her attention during the battle to sense her own Spell Formula. Then, she was shocked to discover that the positioning Spell Formula she had set up on Moko had failed.

"You have accomplices?" Her gaze began to harden.

"Accomplices? Forget it, I'm not an accomplice of those lunatics and freaks."

The Sparrow chuckled dismissively, continuing its provocation, "But you're right, your little companions aren't here. They're probably fighting a bunch of vicious bastards, aren't they? Do you really think they can win without your help?"

Putting aside her earlier offhand remarks, this statement is actually not a lie.

Although she didn't know what the Black Ash Dawn group was looking for, she knew that once they found it, a bloody and brutal blood sacrifice would be inevitable, given their habits. And if the other rookies from Fangting City were to encounter them during this process, they would most likely be in grave danger.

"If you unleash your Wonderland power now, you might be able to defeat me and go support them, you know?"

Feeling that her words had indeed elicited a smile, she began to embellish the situation, trying to further stir up the other person's emotions. "Of course, this is the best-case scenario. If things develop too quickly on the other side, these seedlings you've painstakingly nurtured might already be dead, who knows?"

Then, whether it was an illusion or not, the surrounding air seemed to suddenly freeze.

Immediately afterwards, it felt as if the air pressure had dropped, making it difficult to breathe.

"Indeed, it's about time to end this."

Her taut fingers gradually relaxed, and the Masterpiece shield that had been gathered in front of her disintegrated back into a network of magical threads. Larkspur had thus abandoned all defense.

She shook her stiff hands, her somewhat indifferent gaze focusing on the Sparrow:

"We probably won't be able to find out their origins; the strange black magic seems to be a characteristic of the entire organization; the Half-Beast Form seems to be a special state related to the Aberrant Beast; the purplish-black magic gem has a changed base color of its Mana Source... It seems that's all we have."

As she muttered to herself, the azure magic that had been weakening around her gradually faded away, like a flame losing its heat.

"Oh? You actually came out like that? It seems that even after retiring for so many years, you still have some courage."

The sudden calmness displayed by the Larkspur struck Sparrow as odd, though she couldn't pinpoint the source of this inexplicable unease. Satisfied with the success of her provocation, she raised her voice, "But bluffing won't work. I can sense that your current total magic power isn't even as strong as a typical 'Blossom Rank'!"

"Yes, you're right," Larkspur suddenly admitted calmly.

"Huh? What's right?" This frank attitude surprised Sparrow. "Are you out of your mind?"

"As you said, I'm in a very bad state right now."

As if discussing something unrelated to herself, Larkspur spoke calmly, "Due to a combination of reasons, I must admit that I am not as strong as I was at my peak."

"Are you admitting defeat by bringing this up now?"

A sudden unease gripped her, a feeling she couldn't quite grasp, but Sparrow couldn't understand where this unease came from. "Telling me you can't unleash the Wonderland, that you can't defeat me, is it to plead for mercy?"

"No, I just want to clarify one thing."

Her long hair rose from behind her head without wind, and the soft strands danced in the air. A rustling sound arose, and the magical threads around the Larkspur rippled along with it, drawing soft waves as if chasing the traces of the wind.

Looking at the figure not far away, half of which was shrouded in dark magic, she spoke calmly and naturally, as if stating something perfectly natural:

"I don't need Wonderland to beat you."

The next moment, the azure magic erupted once more, but this time, it was completely different from before. Her magic no longer took on a regular shape, but rather overflowed and spread outwards, so powerful that it was blinding.

If the magic previously displayed by the Larkspur was merely a trickle, it has now surged like a mighty river, flowing endlessly and majestically.

The Larkspur raised its head, and its eyes sparkled with a deep blue light. The Heart Gem at its neck seemed to be filled with magic, becoming incredibly bright.

She stretched out one hand, and even her fingernails seemed to be painted with fluorescent nail polish, shimmering with a deep blue light.

"That's enough, let's finish this quickly."

It's still two chapters combined, and the update will be at 11 PM, which is roughly the same as the noon update.