Target

(Bai Ziye)

Accelerating with others was a rare experience for me. In order to keep the Bubble Membrane connected, Seluno and I had to maintain the minimum level of physical contact... that is, holding hands.

It was just holding hands, nothing to me, but Ceruno seemed a little... distracted?

Perhaps it was because of the "Bai Ziye," but in any case, he couldn't concentrate properly and almost tripped over the steel cables scattered all over the ground while accelerating.

Traps were everywhere, but they were all tripwires, not landmines that hadn't been planted yet.

It's almost certain that blowing up the mansion was just a way to lure its prey into its hunting grounds. This eccentric Monster, possibly a witch, possesses exceptional stealth abilities and is adept at ambushes and traps—practically a Vietnamese jungle guerrilla.

"Ceruno, I'll carry you on my back."

"... Huh?"

"Holding hands and walking is too slow, carrying you on my back allows me to run."

She bit her lower lip and nodded, then put her arms around my shoulders and leaned on mine as I squatted down.

She wasn't heavy, at least not to me right now. I could easily lift her by her legs and carry her on my back; I could even run and jump on her.

But...

Ceruno, it's huge.

Watching for traps along the way, I carried Ceruno and quickly approached the mansion.

The west side of the mansion had been destroyed by the explosion, but the east side remained structurally intact.

The heat here is incredible, and the air is thick with black smoke. Tropical rainforests are prone to getting out of control once they start a fire. If this continues, the entire vegetation of Nabu Island will be burned to ashes. Hopefully, one of the maids has the magic to put out the fire.

"Yezi!"

Ceruno shouted like this.

I reminded him, "Ceruno, he can't hear clearly when he's in accelerated mode."

"Oh..."

With the acceleration deactivated, the atmosphere became even more tense.

I put Ceruno back on the ground and reassured her, "Don't worry too much. At least Zara's magic is quite suitable for escaping in this situation."

UI-31's armor was not only sturdy, but also heat-resistant; even Miss Melissa's Flowing Fire Magic couldn't harm him.

So I'm not worried about him at all, but it's different with Ceruno.

"Yezi doesn't know magic, how is he going to escape...?"

"The mansion also has fourteen magical maids; they won't leave Bai Ziye unattended..."

"Aww!"

An untimely wolf howl rang out, and the Mechanical Werewolf burst out of the burning ruins, carrying Yin Wei in his arms. Although somewhat disheveled, he was unharmed, suggesting that UI-31 had likely rushed downstairs to rescue them the moment the accident occurred.

It's quite reliable.

"..."

Unfortunately, he looked up and we made eye contact.

"Huh? So the Werewolf really is on the island, and he even tried to kidnap Miss Yin Wei!"

Ceruno, standing to the side, raised her wand, ready to fight.

But the next second, a familiar crossbow bolt shot out from the shadows.

However, the trajectory of the arrow... was that of UI-31.

He was fast enough to dodge the arrows, but he was carrying Yin Wei, so he chose to rely on his armor to withstand the attack.

That wolf-like armor's defensive capabilities were even superior to Ceruno's bubble armor; even my flying kick at fifteen times the speed couldn't do much damage to him, so how could an ordinary crossbow bolt possibly harm him...?

Pfft

The black arrowhead easily pierced the Werewolf's abdominal armor, penetrating so deeply it looked as if it had pierced the flesh.

Unable to penetrate Ceruno's protective shield, yet easily piercing the Werewolf's armor, it was clearly some kind of specially designed arrow. The fact that it carried such a thing meant that this assassin's target... at least its primary target was UI-31.

Are they the anti-revolutionary forces?

"This is... internal strife?"

Ceruno was unaware of the situation with UI-31, but Sirius warned from the sky, "Ceruno ~ protect him with your bubble first. He has too many secrets; we can't let him be eliminated by the enemy here!"

"Huh? Protecting Monster?"

There was no follow-up attack as expected; they would fire a shot and then move to a different location each time. The assassins' counter-surveillance awareness was ridiculously high.

UI-31 gritted his teeth and pulled out the barbed crossbow bolt. Blood and muscle tissue were visible on the bolt, making it look like it was in excruciating pain, but the Werewolf didn't utter a sound.

That's a real tough guy.

Ceruno's protective membrane surfaced on its armor, but it had little effect on stopping the bleeding. Blood continued to seep from the shattered armor. I took out a strip of cloth from a shirt and threw it to Past. He hesitated for a moment, then removed the armor from his waist and began to bandage himself.

Those dark, well-defined six-pack abs... that's quite... enviable.

"I wonder how Yezi is doing... What about the other maids?"

Looking at the still-burning ruins of the mansion, Ceruno murmured to herself, then put on a new protective layer.

"Wait, what do you want to do?"

I reached out to stop her, and she replied, "I'll go inside to find Yezi... This is a heat-insulating protective film; I'll be fine even if I go into the fire."

"But if we do that, the body heat won't dissipate, right?"

"This is something we can tolerate..."

"Then let me go. I'm faster than you, and even if it collapses, it won't crush me."

Without even considering that if "Bai Ziye" were still in the mansion, they would already be very familiar with each other by now.

"... Then Miluno."

She obediently put a heat-insulating film on me, and for a moment, I could no longer feel the scorching heat of the fire.

I accelerated time, squeezed through the gap in UI-31, and rushed into the fire. But I wasn't looking for a non-existent "me." I was planning to exit from another part of the mansion and then transform back into Bai Ziye to Ceruno's mind at ease.

But to my surprise, the entire mansion wasn't completely burned down, and the maids, led by Melissa, were still... taking precautions?

Flames were burning outside, so Miss Sirius couldn't figure out what was going on, but the maids had indeed saved Sirius's study on the second floor of the east side.

An invisible firewall created by some kind of magic kept the flames out, but the oxygen in the room was still decreasing. Even in this critical situation, the maids continued to move documents and materials from the study. When some documents suddenly caught fire, a maid would use magic to extinguish them.

These seem to be very important things.

Perhaps I should bring Ceruno in too; her magic can keep these documents safe.

I rushed into the study to decelerate.

"The situation is critical, what are you still doing?"

Melissa glanced up at me, wiped her sweat, and continued organizing the documents.

She said, "It's dangerous here, Miss Miluno. Windsor's magic won't last long. Please leave."

"Of course I can tell whether it's dangerous or not, but aren't you in danger too?"

"These documents are very important to the young lady."

"To her, you are more important than these documents."

The fire was still burning. Although the study had a magical firewall, once the wooden structure underneath was completely destroyed, it was only a matter of time before the east side of the study collapsed.

"We'll be fine. We just wanted to protect something important to the young lady."

They are truly loyal; they really are...

"Then I'll help too. Besides, there's communication interference, so we need to let Sirius know what's going on here."

Sirius hovered above the mansion, but couldn't find a way to get in.

Melissa shook her head and declined my offer.

"Miss Miluno, we are not fourteen ordinary maids in front of you. We all possess magical powers. Although we don't directly fight Monster, we haven't neglected our training. If we can't even escape from a fire like this, it would be a disgrace to the name of magical girls."

Twelve years ago, these would have been two magical girl squads.

Since she had put it that way, I could only sigh and say, "I understand. I will pass on your situation to Sirius."

"Yes, please don't worry, Miss."

How can I feel at ease if I can't see them?