"Targeting... complete. Circuit... normal. Magic power... sufficient."
A faint, murmuring voice echoed from the mountaintop. The petite Black Cat Fairy crouched atop a towering stone pillar, repeatedly feeling along the patterns carved into its surface with her claws, as if confirming something.
Her tail swayed, and light flickered in her slit pupils, making her seem remarkably sentient. Black magic particles drifted around her, rendering her already inconspicuous body even harder to detect.
"...It's more or less finished."
In the end, she reached that conclusion.
The ritual meant to destroy the City Barrier Network was ready. For her, what came next would be far easier than all the preparation. She only needed to draw upon external magic power and shatter the barrier directly overhead.
As a Fairy who had absolutely no need to abide by human morality, she felt no psychological burden over the disaster that "shattering the barrier" might cause.
She glanced toward the distant mountainside. Red-black magic power still flashed against fluorescent blue and orange-yellow light, and strange noises occasionally carried over. She nodded, unconsciously remarking, "Yuan talks like she wants to back out, but she doesn't cut corners when it comes to work."
"Well then, since she's held out for so long already, I should hurry up and finish my own job."
Lowering her head, she stared at the patterns on the stone pillar and murmured, though it was unclear who she was speaking to, "...If you want to hate me, then hate me. I'm a bad Fairy anyway."
As she spoke, the magic power around her began to fluctuate unnaturally.
At that very moment, before she could formally activate the ritual, a pale flame streaked straight past her side.
—"Stop right there!"
"Meow!"
The sudden attack and shout startled Semi. Without even bothering about the few singed