About Becoming a Magical Girl Chapter 24

Efnir rejected Ayse's request to act.

An "agent" who would not be attacked by Erosion Entities? For some reason, Efnir had a bad feeling about it. Two gigantic Erosion Entities appearing out of nowhere within five days, headquarters nearly half destroyed, and the stolen Beacon reappearing on Yukina... It felt as though something had been overlooked. If all of this was connected, then what clue linked everything together?

And why... Yukina? Efnir absolutely did not believe any of this was a coincidence.

"Miss Efnir... Have... new Erosion Entities appeared again?"

In her arms, Yukina looked at Efnir anxiously.

"Are you going to fight again?"

"I'm not sure yet."

Efnir held Yukina tightly.

"I'll get you out of here now. Hold on tight."

Efnir leaped straight down. Yukina cried out in fright, and the intense sensation of weightlessness made her close her eyes involuntarily. Then, the feeling abruptly stopped. Efnir's soft touch came from behind her. Using a "Stairway" formed with Order Force, Efnir carried Yukina toward the outside of the venue.

At the same time, Efnir shouted out her orders.

"Ayse! Canary! Stay in contact, keep an eye on the Whale, and observe the target's next move! I'll be there soon!"

The moment Efnir finished speaking, an urgent shout suddenly came through her earpiece.

"Efnir! I'm afraid there's no time!"

"The target is rapidly approaching Ayse!"

Shinomiyami Nami spoke quickly.

"She's too fast...!"

"Senior! Ayse is under attack!!"

"Damn... So she really came with bad intentions. Codename Canary! Prepare to engage!"

"The target's energy readings are changing... Strong energy readings detected—it's an energy attack!! Ayse! Canary! Evade!"

"Bzzzt—"

The earpiece connection was instantly cut off by piercing static. Efnir turned back and looked toward the end of her vision, where a silver-white flare shot into the sky like blazing fire.

Right afterward came a massive roar that swept toward her like a tidal wave.

"Ayse! Canary!!"

Efnir called out loudly, but there was only silence in her earpiece. After roughly two breaths, a fit of coughing suddenly came through.

"This is Ayse... Cough... This is... Can you hear me...?"

"Ayse?"

"Senior Efnir..."

Ayse's breathing was unsteady, like a withered leaf that could drift away at any moment.

"Are you two all right!? What's the situation?"

"I'm fine, just lightly injured. Canary is all right too, but... the target disappeared from sight. We can't find her..."

"Disappeared?"

"Yes, she vanished in the explosion... We can't detect any trace of her on our end..."

Efnir frowned slightly. Before she could press further, a streak of silver-white light appeared in her field of view.

Like a silver ribbon, it flew straight and swiftly toward Efnir from the site of the explosion, crossing nearly a third of the sports venue in the span of a single breath.

Efnir narrowed her eyes.

"Ayse... No need to look anymore. The target is already coming toward me."

"Toward you, Senior...?"

"This is Shinomiyami Nami! Efnir! Can you hear me?"

Shinomiyami Nami's anxious voice came through the earpiece, interrupting Efnir's conversation with Ayse.

"This is Efnir. I can hear you."

"Efnir! The target has been detected approaching you at extreme speed! Headquarters has issued a support order. Please intercept the target."

Efnir watched the rapidly approaching target without speaking.

"Senior Efnir, we'll help you!"

Canary and Ayse made the request at the same time through the earpiece.

"No. Stay there and follow my command. Since the target chose not to tangle with you, her objective was likely here from the very beginning. So... Ayse, Canary, I have other tasks for you."

"Senior Efnir..."

Efnir lowered her gaze to Yukina. Yukina clung tightly to her, staring uneasily at the black Floating Island in the distance, holding her breath.

"The people dispatched by command will be placed under Ayse's command! Your team will intercept the Whale."

"Understood!"

"Canary, you're faster, so I'll leave the other task to you. Go to the location I've marked immediately. There's a girl there, and you're responsible for protecting her as she evacuates the danger zone safely."

"Yes!"

"Time is of the essence! Move out!"

Efnir cut off the earpiece connection and swiftly scanned the venue structures below before jumping down.

She arrived at the open edge of the venue.

The venue's main structure was made of reinforced concrete, supplemented by heavy steel frames woven together for support. It was extremely solid and sturdy.

Efnir set Yukina down.

"Yukina, I have a task for you too."

"Miss Efnir..."

Yukina was not stupid. She had more or less guessed what Efnir was about to do. Looking at the girl a head shorter than herself, worry filled her eyes.

Yet even so, there was nothing she could do.

Efnir pressed her lips together and took a deep breath. She pulled out a button-sized metal object and brushed it lightly over Yukina's collar, where it adhered.

Her gaze fell upon Yukina's neck. It was pale as milk, with a small bright-red bloodstain in the middle.

Efnir looked away.

"This is a tracker. Do not take it off until I permit you to."

"Mm..."

"I'll send someone to protect you. Until then, don't move far from here."

Yukina nodded. Looking at Efnir, she chose her words carefully.

"Miss Efnir... Are you going to fight again?"

"Mm."

"I see..."

Understanding, Yukina lowered her gaze. Then she suddenly stepped forward and gently embraced Efnir.

"Please come back safely..."

"I will."

After saying that, Efnir took a step back, looked deeply at Yukina once more, and left.

Silver light flashed as a long spear condensed in her hand.

Efnir's gaze was sharp as she faced off against the girl standing less than twenty meters away.

The girl wore ordinary clothing and had chestnut-colored hair. At a glance, she was no different from any normal person.

"Oh, it's you."

The other girl spoke unhurriedly, giving Efnir a sly smile.

"We meet again, kind little girl."

Efnir said nothing.

She merely stared fixedly at the girl, coldness in her eyes—she knew the person before her. Six days ago, the day before headquarters was attacked, Efnir had received a deployment order and gone to the Beyond the Boundary region to assist a suburban town under attack by an A-rank Erosion Entity.

Efnir had gone together with Fifina.

The town had not been large, nor had it held many people. It had survived in the Beyond the Boundary region under the protection of a Boundary Stele and Xijing City. It was one of Xijing City's most important food-growing areas, supplying the city with vast quantities of crops. Because its area and population were limited, the organization had only assigned one agent to guard it.

By the time Efnir and Fifina arrived, the town had already been torn to pieces, and that agent had died in battle.

At that time, Efnir had encountered a pair of sisters driven into a desperate situation. She saved them at the critical moment, though her waist was pierced through by an attack in the process. Afterward, Efnir brought them back to Xijing City, where the Special Disaster Division settled them.

Efnir remembered those sisters. Their relationship had made her envious.

But Efnir had never expected to meet them again in this way. The "target" before her was the elder sister of that pair.

Efnir suddenly understood—why that sparsely populated town, despite having a certain scale, had been completely swallowed by an A-rank Erosion Disaster in such a short time. When she connected it with the disasters she had encountered over the past five days, a chilling possibility immediately surfaced in her mind—the disaster in that town had likely begun far earlier than the time headquarters had received its warning.

That town should have faced the exact same situation as headquarters' attack five days ago and today's Erosion Disaster: an unannounced Corruption attack, enemies descending without warning, and an enormous disaster that caught everyone off guard.

In other words, beginning with that town six days ago, all three large-scale Corruption attacks shared a similarity that sent chills down her spine. If the sisters Efnir had encountered in that town were the masterminds, then everything from the town's attack six days ago to what happened today must have been planned by them.

Everything fit together.

The town had been attacked, and Efnir had saved the sisters at the critical moment, only to be suddenly attacked from a hidden corner. Efnir had fallen into an Erosion Entity's ambush. Even then, she had sensed something subtly wrong—how could mindless Erosion Entities employ tactics like an "ambush"? Or had her injury merely been a coincidence?

Then, on the following day, Efnir had been recuperating from her injury and failed to reach headquarters immediately when it was attacked. Without her there, Qinglan and the others were defeated, Fengling Shiyin was critically injured, several Beacons were recovered and placed under headquarters' management, and headquarters lost a large amount of information in the disaster. Its warning system was also damaged, creating an opening for whoever later infiltrated the place and stole the Beacon.

Everything had been linked together, clearly planned from the start.

That included the girl before her being saved by Efnir and using that chance to enter Xijing City. That town had been a tool from the beginning, and so had Efnir.

At that thought, Efnir took a deep breath. The anger in her heart instead made her calmer than ever.

She raised her spear and pointed it directly at the girl, demanding an answer.

"Who exactly are you? You didn't come here just to say hello to me, did you?"

"No, don't misunderstand. I only came to correct a mistake in the plan. I never intended to greet you. You know, that hypocritical act of yours disgusts me so much I'm practically getting goosebumps."

The girl smiled viciously.

"Still, I can generously tell you..."

The girl raised her hand, her fingers curling slightly.

The world dimmed almost instantly. Flecks of light gathered in the girl's hand, forming a dazzling orb the size of a fist.

The girl laughed loudly.

"I am an Apostle, and I am the one who will kill you!"

With that, she swung her hand sharply. The sphere of light transformed into terrifying wind pressure and smashed down toward Efnir.

Suppression

The blinding sphere descended like a miniature sun, carrying extraordinary wind pressure.

"Efnir! Please be careful! That is the target's energy attack. Please evade! At the target—"

Bzzzt—

The earpiece disconnected, just as it had when Ayse was attacked.

Then the white light came crashing down. At the same moment, Efnir leaped backward, narrowly evading it.

The next sphere of light followed immediately after.