"But I saw you shoot at the audience with my own eyes, just because someone threw a bottle of mineral water..." Yao said weakly.
"It was a bottle of mineral water filled with vodka, and the cap wasn't even screwed on properly. It sullied my sacred nun's habit." Felia emphasized.
"But wasn't the result still the same? I saw those people get blown to pieces by you..."
"That was because you ran too fast and didn't see the end. I am Peaceful Felia. My bullets have never wrongly killed a single person." Felia smiled faintly and pulled the trigger with magic. Dense bullets immediately shot toward the audience below at a terrifying speed. Their velocity was so fast that it seemed like a metallic storm had swept through the hall, making Li Xuan secretly shudder. Good thing he hadn't infiltrated the place himself.
"Don't look!" Yao hurriedly pounced over and covered Black Cat's eyes, while she herself could not help peeking at the bloody spectacle.
Felia's weapons were formed from magic, and naturally, the bullets loaded into them were magical constructs as well. Their power far exceeded ordinary machine-gun rounds. Often, a single shot would send someone flying away like dust blown by the wind.
Yao looked at the blood-pool hell before her and nearly threw up. She turned to Saroye, only to find her still wearing the same blank expression. She had even begun playing a low, somber accompaniment on her bass.
"One psychopath, one homicidal maniac!" Yao glared hatefully at their backs. Once this job is over, I'm quitting the band and cutting ties with both of them completely—Black Cat too. I absolutely can't let such a cute child be led astray by them!
"That's enough. There isn't a single intact person left below the stage," Saroye said loudly, patting Felia on the shoulder.
"Thanks. The barrels were overheating anyway." Only then did Felia stop firing, blowing on the smoking muzzles.
"Sorry, Yao. This is your first time seeing something so exciting since joining the team, isn't it? Get some rest. There's still work to do later, and I doubt this will end so easily." Felia put down her machine gun and smiled as she extended a hand toward Yao.
"Drop the fake smile. Let me tell you—I'm quitting King's Edict!" Yao snapped furiously at Felia.
"Huh? Why so suddenly? Did something happen?" Felia asked in confusion.
"It's my own problem." Yao shot Saroye another glare, as if demanding to know why she was so cold-blooded.
Li Xuan, watching from outside, was equally stunned. Seriously? You really sprayed the audience with bullets? Back then, delinquent Jotaro couldn't tell who the enemy was either, but he only Ora Ora'd everyone once; you delinquent nun can't tell where the monsters are, so you just mow down the entire audience? The student has surpassed the master. No wonder you have tire shoulders and Araki lines—your art style is completely different from everyone else's, hey!
Just as Li Xuan was ranting internally, the pool of blood below the stage seemed to stir. A few minutes later, the shattered audience members began restoring themselves as though the footage were playing in reverse. Even the bloodstains on the floor returned to their bodies.
"What... is going on?" Yao stared wide-eyed at the unharmed crowd below, then at the bullet holes everywhere, and could not help doubting her own eyes.
"Black Cat, count them."
"Four hundred and forty-three people. All restored. No one missing," Black Cat said calmly.
"That's troublesome. So there weren't any monsters disguised as humans among them?" Felia frowned.
"Seems so—Yao, let them leave," Saroye said.
"No, can someone tell me what just happened? Healing magic? That stuff doesn't work on dead people, does it?" Yao removed the barrier sealing the exits, yet she still could not understand what had happened.
"Felia is a believer of Orthodoxy, so her gun can only fire peaceful bullets. Only monsters struck by them will be harmed. If other living beings are unfortunately caught in the crossfire, then the 'world' automatically turns the fact that they were hit into a dream. To them, it is like having a nightmare. You joined recently, so it's normal that you didn't know," Saroye explained.
"I see. Why didn't you tell me earlier? I thought Felia was some happy-go-lucky serial killer this whole time!" Yao let out a long breath.
"You always have a sour face and speak like you're covered in thorns. Who could explain things to you properly?" Felia glanced at Yao, then turned and stuffed another candy ball into Black Cat's mouth.
"Word Spirit: Full-Scope Capture. Please leave the venue in an orderly fashion. Thank you for watching King's Edict's performance." After eating the candy, Black Cat got to work, swiftly evacuating all the ordinary people from the scene. Then she bowed toward the crowd's retreating backs as if taking a curtain call.
"Alright. While everyone's spirits are high, let's play the fourth piece." Felia returned to the drummer's position with satisfaction.
"The fourth piece? But we only prepared three songs. And the audience has already left..." Yao felt as if she could no longer keep up with Felia's rhythm.
"Just play by feel. This piece requires four magical girls with Grade A magic power and basic musical ability. They also need to have perfect coordination, or it won't work well. Do you know why I didn't get to work until now? I was waiting for the moment when we could understand one another." Felia smiled at Yao.
"That sounds less like performing and more like magic."
"It is performance, and it is magic. This quartet, Myriad-Tone Resonance, can forcibly trigger energy resonance and expose every hidden monster across an enormous area. Unless the monsters have already fled Clear Lotus City, the moment this piece begins, they will have no choice but to reveal themselves!"
After saying that, Felia raised her drumsticks and began a fierce performance. The other three started playing as well.
Under Felia's guidance, all four of their magical power poured into their instruments at once. Their coordinated performance triggered a powerful resonance.
The resonance expanded farther and farther until it quickly reached Li Xuan.
Li Xuan felt the Evil Energy inside him begin to stir, like boiling water unable to remain calm. This resonance targeted energy alone, leaving him nowhere to hide. In an instant, he was exposed within Yao's perception range.
"One... two, three... four, five, six. Six Grade B Evil Energy signatures in total, all near the live house. The enemy really came! Felia, you're amazing!" Yao swept her fingers across the strings, and when she looked at Felia again, there was noticeably more admiration in her eyes.
"Guns in hand, follow me! Kill monsters, earn bounties!" Felia charged ahead, carrying two heavy machine guns as she stormed out of the venue.
Before the magical girls who had just made peace with one another, Li Xuan seemed to have been pushed into a dead end.
Women Sing, Men Die
"Heh heh, do you really think you can find me?"
After a brief moment of panic, Li Xuan quickly recovered his meaningful smile. Felia's earlier fooling around had actually been preparation for such a map-wide cheat-level spell. That truly caught him by surprise.
However, his contingencies were thorough. An accident of this level remained entirely within acceptable limits.
"Don't you like sensing things? Then I'll let you sense your fill." Li Xuan smiled as he retreated into the distance. At the same time, he opened more than a dozen enormous portals in the air, unleashing the entire monster army that had been waiting in the Delusive Badlands.
"The magical reactions are increasing again! There are Grade D, Grade C... and a few Grade B too. My god, there are too many! It's already over a hundred... a thousand... ten thousand! No, there are far more than ten thousand!"
Yao's expression changed drastically as she sensed the explosive increase in monsters.
"No need to worry. Can even countless ants bite an elephant to death?" Felia said dismissively as she led the others outside. What greeted them was a boundless sea of monsters. Surging Evil Energy shot into the sky, dimming even the surrounding light.
"How many Grade A's?" Felia asked.
"None. Grade B... maybe ten or twenty? I'm certain most are Grade C to Grade D, and some are even fodder below Grade D. There may be hidden ones too... There are simply too many. I can't sense everything clearly." Yao looked anxiously at the monsters filling the sky. Her magic had no area-of-effect capability, so she was clearly struggling against enemies attacking in such numbers.
"It doesn't matter. The enemy army may be large, but they are a rabble. The question is, where exactly were so many monsters hiding? If I remember correctly, they appeared only after the quartet stopped playing, correct?" Felia said calmly.
"That's right. The quartet initially detected only six enemies. Every other monster appeared out of nowhere." Yao's eyes widened as though she had realized something.
"It's spatial magic, and extremely sophisticated spatial magic at that. Otherwise, it would be impossible to conceal so many monsters. The enemy's lair is highly likely to be a hidden independent space, perhaps even a semi-permanent space fragment," Felia concluded.
"You mean the enemy's base might be hidden in there?"
"Exactly. That also explains the sudden appearance of so many monsters in Flower River City, and why the Church has never been able to find the culprit's true body." As Felia spoke, she skillfully pulled two heavy machine guns from beneath her skirt.
"Black Cat and I will deal with the monsters. Yao and Saroye, go deep into the battlefield and search for traces of spatial fluctuations. You two must not separate, and don't stray too far from us either!"
As soon as Felia finished speaking, she opened fire into the air. Monsters struck by the bullets turned into ash in swathes.
Seeing this, Li Xuan, who had been observing from behind the scenes, could not help marveling at Felia's analytical ability. She had only just arrived and possessed very little information, yet through brilliant reasoning, she had nearly guessed the truth.
This woman could not be allowed to live!
Li Xuan immediately directed the monsters to scatter, intending to dilute Felia's firepower with a loose formation.
However, Black Cat's next words rendered his command nearly meaningless.
"Word Spirit: Full-Scope Capture. Hold your positions. Maximum capture count reached: 9999. Ah, my magic is draining so fast, Felia, hurry up~"
The moment Black Cat spoke, more than half of Li Xuan's monster army lost the ability to move. They could only remain in place and let Felia gun them down. Meanwhile, Saroye and Yao had already charged into the horde like unstoppable warriors, searching for his trail.
"Is this what Grade A is like? Isn't this way too ridiculous? She hard-controlled ten thousand monsters with one sentence?!" Though shocked, Li Xuan still directed the remaining several thousand mobile monsters to attack and disrupt Felia. Yet their attacks seemed like nothing to her. Even when they occasionally inflicted minor wounds, she healed them swiftly with magic.
As for Black Cat, she had crawled directly beneath Felia's skirt and hidden herself completely, not exposing so much as a sliver of her body. Naturally, the monsters' attacks could not reach her.
At that moment, the first group of magical girls under Li Xuan made their move.
"Grand Magic: Calamity Blaze!"
"Judgment!"
Tan Xiang and Wu Yan, two magical girls with immense burst power, struck in succession. Both possessed Grade B magic power, and both had drunk Wine of Ecstasy that enhanced magical power. Together, the surging waves of flame were too much for even Felia to ignore.
"Cat!" Felia only had time to shout, but Black Cat beneath her skirt seemed to already understand what she meant.
"Pupil Transformation!" Black Cat crawled out from beneath the skirt and glanced in the direction from which the flames were rushing. Her round pupils suddenly narrowed into vertical slits like those of a feline under bright light.
At the same time, the flames unleashed by the pair suddenly seemed to freeze, directly transforming into hard stone blocks. Though they continued flying forward, they had lost their original scorching heat.
"Nicely done!" Felia turned around and pulled out a twenty-four-barrel rocket launcher, bombarding the incoming stone blocks.
The blocks were blown to pieces in an instant and could no longer threaten Felia. Though their magic had been unbelievable, the two attackers had still successfully caused Black Cat's Word Spirit restraint to fail briefly, allowing Li Xuan to disperse the monster formation considerably.
"Everyone, be careful. I'm increasing firepower!" Seeing the monster formation scatter, Felia became somewhat anxious. She pulled out two enlarged, reinforced Vulcan rotary Gatling guns from beneath her skirt and poured fire into the monster army at an even more terrifying rate.
"There are two humanoid monsters near Felia! I remember the Oracle Machine's intelligence saying that the main culprit this time is humanoid!" Yao, deep within the battlefield, sensed Tan Xiang and Wu Yan's attack and immediately prepared to return to support Felia.
However, at that moment, she suddenly felt a sharp headache, as though she had suffered a mental attack. Judging from the signal's strength, the attacker seemed to be nearby.
"Little brat, aren't you being a little hasty?" Li Xuan appeared before Yao with a smile. The attack just now had been caused by his Mind Interference. Although it could not deal substantial damage to Yao, it was enough to halt her movements.
"A talking monster? Then you're the main culprit, right? Wahahaha, the greatest credit this time is falling right into my lap!" Yao excitedly swung up her long blade and assumed an extremely low stance, seemingly ready to kill Li Xuan in one strike.
"Little brat, are you really going to repay kindness with ingratitude? You sang my lyrics, yet you want to kill your benefactor?" Li Xuan laughed.
"Benefactor? Lyrics?" Yao froze for a moment, seemingly unable to connect the two.
"If I show you this, you should remember, right?" Li Xuan said, tossing a filthy striped sock and a soaked uniform shoe at Yao's feet.
"You're that weird old man?! No, your face shouldn't be this handsome, should it? Did I see wrong?" Yao stared at Li Xuan in shock, and her expression immediately changed.
"That isn't important. What's important is—your foot service was really enthusiastic. Tsk, tsk, tsk. If your teammates learned that you exchanged that kind of service for those lyrics, I wonder what they would think?" Li Xuan grinned maliciously.
"Stop talking!" Embarrassed and enraged, Yao's long blade rang out as her self-created magic, Single-Stroke Slash, activated.
Li Xuan's body split in half at once. Wearing an expression of utter disbelief, he fell to the ground, with only half his body left crawling forward.
Seeing Li Xuan killed, Yao immediately began humming Flower of Hope in excitement. Amid the beautiful song, Li Xuan stretched one finger forward before permanently ceasing to breathe.
Flesh Seal
"Trashy old man~ Your lyrics really were pretty good, but you're just too disgusting!" Yao smugly looked behind her. The cheap grin on her face had not yet faded when she discovered that the Li Xuan she had just cut in two had already turned into slime scattered across the ground.
"A mimic monster. Amazing, isn't it? Since it can instantly replicate the appearance of whatever it mimics perfectly, I named it Instant Mimicry. Still, little brat, one slash from you costs me a thousand milliliters of Fallen Blood. That really hurts." The real Li Xuan laughed wildly amid the surrounding monsters.
At this point, she could only make him shut up forever!
Yao ground her teeth in hatred. She could no longer think about anything else. All she wanted was to cut that creepy old man in two and bury her dark history forever.
Yet Li Xuan gave her no opportunity to approach. He retreated directly under the monsters' protection. Without another word, Yao raised her blade and chased after him. Saroye hurriedly shouted, "Yao! We can't go too far!"
But Yao was now consumed by humiliation and fury, unable to listen to a single word of advice. She only carved a bloody path through the monsters with her blade, charging straight toward Li Xuan.
Saroye could only follow helplessly. However, just then, the second group of magical girls under Li Xuan made their move.
"Gravity Vortex: Quartet!"
"O foam, vanish into the light!"
With the two chants, four enormous gravity vortices appeared beneath Saroye's feet. Rings made of foam also appeared around her wrists, ankles, and neck. These rings were connected to the ground by foam and looked incredibly fragile, yet they were exceptionally tough. Coupled with the sharply increased gravity around her, they pressed Saroye down until she could barely move.
The ones who attacked were naturally Qi Mo and Tang Xi, two Grade B magical girls of the Sealing Type. They had drunk wine that enhanced magical effects, pushing the control abilities of Sealing Type magic to their limit. Tang Xi's quadruple casting in particular was a powerful spell that instantly drained her magic power.
But that was not all. While Saroye was so restricted that even raising her hand was difficult, Xu Rou suddenly descended from the sky. She had drunk a potion that enhanced strength, and now she swung a gigantic axe, bringing Clear Lotus City Guillotine down upon Saroye's head.
"You're really troublesome... No time to worry about that—Tyrant!" Saroye shouted. Every strand of her hair stood on end, and the veins beneath her skin swelled until they were clearly visible. Her once fairly pale skin instantly turned faint red, as though capillaries across her entire body were bleeding.
As this magic activated, Qi Mo and Tang Xi's control seemed to lose its effect. Saroye raised one forearm and easily blocked Xu Rou's fully charged blow, even sending her flying back with the recoil.
"How did she block that?" Qi Mo gasped, but she soon noticed that Saroye held a metal crutch in each hand. Since they were not especially conspicuous, everyone had assumed until then that she had been fighting barehanded.
"Control doesn't work. Her magic seems to grant continuous immunity to control! Look at her—the Gravity Vortex isn't affecting her at all!" Tang Xi anxiously pointed at Saroye, whose veins still bulged. Her frightened expression made Qi Mo fear that her next words would be something like, "Let's surrender!"
"If we can't control her, we'll smash her to pieces directly!" Xu Rou, who had just been sent flying, seemed not to have suffered much damage. She had simultaneously drunk two Wines of Ecstasy, one enhancing berserk power and the other physical ability. Her mind was now in an extreme state of excitement. Ignoring the massive gap between them, she charged at Saroye with her huge axe and hacked down.
Facing Xu Rou's mighty attack, Saroye did not dodge. Instead, she met the blow head-on with the crutch in her left hand, then stepped in and struck Xu Rou in the abdomen with the other.
"Puh—" Xu Rou took the heavy blow to the stomach and immediately spat blood. Though she was not sent flying, the damage from this strike was clearly far worse than before.
"Xiao Rou!" Qi Mo rushed forward, wanting to use a defensive barrier to stall Saroye and save Xu Rou. Yet such a basic magical barrier could not obstruct Saroye in the slightest. With only a light touch, Saroye shattered Qi Mo's barrier like glass, then struck Qi Mo to her knees with one blow of her crutch. Qi Mo clutched her stomach, unable to straighten up.
"Secret Art: Flesh Seal!" At the crucial moment, Tang Xi actually rushed forward. From behind, she restrained Saroye in a rear naked choke, wrapping her legs around Saroye's arm so that she could not exert force properly. At the same time, Tang Xi used magic to seal her own body, indirectly sealing Saroye as well. By using herself as a living layer of flesh, she prevented Saroye's Tyrant magic, which granted super armor, from taking effect.
"You're really troublesome!" Saroye struggled fiercely. Although Tang Xi had been strengthened by both Demonfall and enhancement wine, she was still far weaker than a Grade A. Her creative Flesh Seal lasted only a few seconds before Saroye violently broke free and knocked her flying aside with a crutch.
Fortunately, Qi Mo had already endured the intense pain through the power of love and saved Xu Rou. The surrounding monsters swarmed in to entangle Saroye, allowing the three badly wounded magical girls to retreat safely.
Ordinary monsters were far weaker than the combined force of three Grade B magical girls. Saroye took only a few seconds to break free, but the time lost back and forth had already widened the distance between her and Yao.
"Weird old man! Stop running! Let me cut you once! I promise, just once!" Yao waved her long blade as she relentlessly chased Li Xuan. Li Xuan had already drunk Wine of Ecstasy that enhanced speed. While running desperately, he continuously summoned monsters to obstruct Yao.
Though these monsters were all worthless fodder that died in one slash, they still slowed Yao's pursuit enough to maintain a distance where she could not catch Li Xuan, yet could steadily pull farther away from Saroye.
"Damn it, just a little more... Is the distance still not enough?" Yao clutched the Yao-shaped wooden piece in her left hand, wishing she could immediately immobilize Li Xuan and cut him down. Yet he constantly maintained enough distance that her puppet technique could not reach him.
"Just as I thought, those thread tricks are magic that can only be used at close range. As long as I stay far enough away, there's nothing you can do, right? Trashy little brat~" Li Xuan laughed, imitating Yao's tone.
"Don't get so smug! Second Cry: Cross Slash!" Yao loved mocking others to gain a sense of superiority, but she could not stand being mocked herself. She instantly flew into a rage, put away the wooden piece, drew her short blade, and slashed in a cross. The monsters blocking her path were immediately cut apart, and she closed a huge stretch of distance at once.
"What was that? You're nothing special after all!" Seeing that she had successfully narrowed the distance, Yao's smile returned. But before she could celebrate for long, Li Xuan released a cloud of wine mist directly in front of her.
"Oh no, it's wine mist with a petrification effect!" Yao was startled as she felt her limbs begin to stiffen. Fortunately, she possessed Sealing Type abilities and used a single barrier to dispel the mist before resuming pursuit. However, this inevitably allowed Li Xuan to widen the distance once more.
The Ultimate Tactical Switcheroo
Before you continue