The Meaning of Resolve

The sudden appearance of the Monster left everyone present frozen for a moment.

The next instant, everyone screamed and tried to flee.

Listening to the cries and wails of the crowd around him, the man in the trench coat spread his arms and laughed wildly.

"Ha ha ha, cry, run! The wails of mortals are the nourishment of the stage!"

The mindless Monster let out a roar and charged into the crowd. It reached out with its huge hand and randomly grabbed one unlucky victim.

A pitiful young man was lifted into the air like a chick in the Monster's one hand. With the slightest squeeze, he would be splattered everywhere like burst ketchup.

The sight sent fear through the surrounding passersby.

Yet after grabbing someone, the Monster did not act immediately. It simply stood there, as though waiting for further orders.

In the distance, Zhou Mo, who had slipped away before the Monster appeared, hid behind a trash can and peeked out to observe the scene ahead. Seeing the Monster seize a passerby, he frowned.

"Hiss, why hasn't that magical girl made a move yet?"

After thinking for a moment, she turned to the person behind her and said:

"An Xia... Huh? Where did she go?"

When she turned around, she found that the girl who had been behind her was already gone.

...As expected of a senior from the club. She sure had plenty of experience running away.

Just then, someone suddenly pointed at the magical girl still standing there and shouted:

"Huh, isn't there a magical girl here?"

The panicked crowd finally realized it after hearing those words.

"Yeah, with a magical girl here, what are we afraid of?"

"Magical girl! Hurry! Take down that ugly Monster!"

Realizing Shan Que was there, the passersby were no longer quite as afraid. As they fled, they shouted at Shan Que.

Hearing herself being called, Shan Que snapped out of her stunned state and suddenly remembered that she was a magical girl now.

At that moment, the man in the trench coat before her suddenly pointed at the Monster and spoke in an exaggerated tone:

"Look, a precious life is about to be ravaged by the Monster. As a magical girl, what will you do?"

Shan Que looked at the Monster's towering, twisted figure ahead, her slightly parted lips trembling.

"I..."

She hesitated, never daring to step forward.

Because she happened to be at the scene, the Magical Girl System on her phone had automatically accepted the assignment, leaving the Monster extermination here to her.

But she had only signed the contract and become a magical girl two days ago. Asking someone who had been an ordinary person just days before to fight such a terrifying Monster was simply impossible for her.

It was clearly only her first day performing on the streets. She was merely doing what every new magical girl did, so why had a Monster suddenly appeared? She was far too unlucky.

Shan Que was panicking. She could already imagine the Monster wreaking havoc before her eyes while she, as a magical girl, failed to stop it, and then being condemned by everyone online afterward.

If she did not step forward and fight, perhaps her career as a magical girl would end here.

"Hm? You don't intend to act? You are a magical girl, right?"

The man in the trench coat looked at Shan Que with his narrowed eyes and tilted his head, pretending to ask curiously.

Seeing the magical girl before him wanting to reach out but not daring to go forward, the man raised a hand. The Monster in the distance roared, swung the passerby it was holding through the air, and the person in its grasp immediately felt the world spinning.

The surrounding crowd also noticed something was wrong. That magical girl still had not stopped the Monster before her, so they shouted again:

"Hm? What is she doing? Someone is about to die! Why hasn't she done anything yet?"

The passerby's screams in midair and everyone's doubts made Shan Que's heartbeat race.

She took a step forward and opened her mouth to stop Monster.

"N-No!"

After hesitating for a moment, she closed her eyes and rushed at Monster in one reckless burst.

Such a thoughtless move naturally posed no threat to Monster.

The moment she charged at Monster, Monster sent her flying with a slap. She crashed to the ground, unable to get back up.

It hurts... This should be enough already, right? I can't win anyway...

Shan Que lay on the ground with her eyes tightly shut, too afraid to face what would happen next.

"Looks like it needs a trigger."

The man spread his hands and muttered indifferently.

Then, in a flat tone, he ordered Monster:

"Do it."

With the order given, Monster raised one hand high, about to smash the passerby in its grip into a meat patty.

"Hey! You Monster over there!"

A furious shout suddenly came from the crowd. Monster paused and tilted its head to look over.

Zhou Mo stepped out of the crowd and pointed at Monster as she cursed it out.

"You little bastard, got the guts to fight me?"

Monster stood still for a moment after hearing that, then released its prey.

"Where did this fool who isn't afraid of death come from?"

The man in the trench coat frowned, displeased by the outsider who had barged in from nowhere.

He had been about to shatter a magical girl's spirit and move on to the next step. An interfering variable in the experiment was hardly ideal.

So he pointed at Zhou Mo and gave Monster an order.

"Move your—"

"ROAR!!"

Before the man could finish, Monster suddenly roared and charged straight at Zhou Mo, disregarding his order.

"Hand..."

The man in the trench coat lowered his hand and scratched his hair.

No, shouldn't it wait for my command before moving? Since when had it become so proactive?

Monster charged ferociously at Zhou Mo. Everyone around them scattered in panic, but Zhou Mo remained completely calm. Just as it was about to ram her, she sidestepped and avoided its charge.

Monster seemed not to expect the ordinary person before it to evade its attack. Unable to stop itself, it crashed directly into the wall of a building by the street, knocking down a corner of it.

While Monster was still dazed, Zhou Mo grabbed a sharp stone from the ground and stabbed it into Monster's back.

Ordinarily, an ordinary person's strength could not harm a monster like this.

But when Zhou Mo stabbed Monster's back, she successfully pierced its skin.

The needle-like pain immediately snapped Monster awake. It roared and raised its hand to strike behind itself.

But Zhou Mo had already retreated, easily dodging the attack.

An ordinary person was actually running rings around such a terrifying Monster. The sight left not only the distant passersby dumbfounded, but also the man in the trench coat.

He scratched his head fiercely, pulling several strands of hair loose, unable to understand what he was seeing.

"What the hell are you doing? Kill her already!"

The man in the trench coat cursed at Monster from the side, hopping in place with frustration.

He had only chosen someone at random, but if his Monster was humiliated by an ordinary person, those people would laugh at him for an entire year if they found out.

Among everyone present, Shan Que was the most shaken.

Her eyes widened as she stared blankly at Zhou Mo, who was doing everything she could to keep Monster occupied.

The other girl was clearly just an ordinary person. One hit from Monster could kill her, yet she could still step forward at such a critical moment.

The girl before her had far more courage than she did.

"Don't give up!"

The boy's voice suddenly rang out, and Shan Que's body jolted.

"You're a magical girl, aren't you?!"

Hearing the words "magical girl" shouted by the girl, she fell silent for a moment, then slowly climbed to her feet with her eyes tightly shut.

Magical girl Shan Que opened her eyes, a faint glimmer flashing through her dark yellow pupils.

"I won't be afraid anymore."