Evil Organization and the Abyssal Core

Without a word, the pink-and-white Magical Girl flashed in front of the Monster with her wand raised and kicked it squarely.

"Tsk, that was fast."

Seeing the Magical Girl arrive as reinforcements, the man in the trench coat frowned.

A dark glint flashed through his hand again as he manually controlled the Monster, making it raise both arms to block Xia Ya's kick.

Bang!

The immense force sent the three-meter-tall Monster flying several meters backward, its feet scraping two deep grooves into the ground.

Seeing the Monster kicked back, the man narrowed his eyes and calmed down.

"This kind of strength... a Magical Girl with over a hundred thousand followers?"

After pondering for a moment, he lowered the hand controlling the Monster, crossed his arms, and walked aside to watch.

Once the forced control was removed, the Monster's eyes returned to their originally clever look, and its expression became lively again.

But before it could figure out what was happening, it saw a foot growing larger and larger in its vision before it slammed brutally into its face.

"Awwooo~"

Xia Ya's kick landed squarely on the Monster's face, sending its entire body reeling backward. Bright red blood burst from its nostrils, drawing two arcs through the air.

That kick instantly snapped it awake. Clutching its nose, it struggled to get back up.

It had barely sat up when it looked up and saw several pink spheres of light floating around the girl's wand.

While it was getting up, Xia Ya had already condensed several magical light bullets and fired them one after another at the Monster's head.

Violent explosions mixed with twisted screams. The poor Monster was pinned down before it could rise, its head enduring a relentless bombardment of light bullets.

Shan Que, kneeling on the ground, watched the scene in a daze. Xia Ya's skilled handling of the Monster left her somewhat stunned.

"So this is a Magical Girl?"

Shan Que opened her mouth, not knowing what to say.

In her past impression, a Magical Girl's battles should have been gorgeous and dreamlike. She should have made all kinds of elegant, cute movements in the air and easily defeated Monsters.

But what she had actually seen was the pink Magical Girl opening with two kicks that knocked the Monster down, then taking advantage of its lack of reaction to gather magic that required some time to cast before launching an uninterrupted, precise bombardment.

From a practical standpoint, it was undeniably efficient.

After suffering the ceaseless bombardment, the Monster collapsed onto the ground, barely breathing.

Then Xia Ya tapped the ground lightly with her wand, and a circular, intricate magic array appeared beneath the Monster.

As Xia Ya poured magic into it, the magic array shone with dazzling radiance. A pillar of light shot into the sky from its center, engulfing the Monster completely.

To onlookers, the Monster's body slowly broke apart within the pillar of light before finally turning into motes of light and vanishing.

The battle was over. Xia Ya let out a soft breath and put away her wand.

At that moment, Har, the pink fairy, slowly floated down from above her head. Looking over the wrecked surroundings, it waved a hand, and pink light restored the damaged street.

Spreading its hands, it offered its assessment.

"Sigh, the battle ended too quickly, there weren't enough spectators, and there was too little emotional buildup, so the stage couldn't appear. If I had to score it, out of a hundred, I could only give you..."

"Twenty points."

Xia Ya ignored Har's rambling and walked straight over to Shan Que, extending her hand.

"Are you okay? Can you still stand?"

"Ah, yes."

Shan Que answered softly, taking Xia Ya's outstretched hand and getting to her feet.

She bowed to Xia Ya in thanks. "Thank you for saving me, Senior. If it hadn't been for you, I might have..."

Clap, clap, clap.

A round of applause sounded as the man in the trench coat slowly approached.

"Not bad. Clean and decisive."

Even after the Monster was destroyed, the man did not flee. Instead, he walked up to the two Magical Girls.

Xia Ya's expression instantly turned grim. She summoned her wand and pointed it at him.

"You're a Monster too?"

Faced with Xia Ya's readiness to attack at any moment, the man dramatically raised both hands in surrender.

"Oh, don't misunderstand. I'm merely an ordinary person without any power."

Xia Ya frowned at that. Raising her wand, she condensed a light bullet and said coldly,

"I've never heard of an ordinary person being able to control a Monster."

"You bastard, you're from the [organization], aren't you?"

At that moment, the pink fairy jumped out beside them, pointed at the man, and revealed his true identity.

"Heh."

The man did not deny it. Instead, he bowed to the two Magical Girls.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Kels, from [Abyss Nest]—in other words, a member of the so-called evil organization."

Whoosh!

The sound of something slicing through the air rang out. Without another word, Xia Ya fired a light bullet at the man.

However, just as the light bullet was about to strike him, his figure vanished from the spot. The next second, he appeared atop a streetlamp by the roadside.

Standing on the streetlamp, the man looked down at Shan Que.

"Though you did defeat the Monster, someone innocent ultimately lost their life."

Hearing those words, Shan Que trembled all over and silently lowered her head.

Xia Ya raised her hand and fired another light bullet. The man vanished once more.

"Until we meet again, Magical Girls."

The man's voice echoed above their heads, and then he disappeared without a trace.

Once everything had calmed down, Xia Ya lowered her wand, her brows tightly furrowed.

The mysterious man gave her a strange feeling. He was different from the Monsters she had encountered before, yet he still carried a dense Abyssal aura.

"A higher-level Monster, or..."

She did not dwell on it. Just as she was about to ask Har what kind of organization Abyss Nest was, she suddenly heard a faint slurping sound beside her.

Turning her head, Xia Ya saw Shan Que secretly wiping away tears, the tip of her nose slightly red.

"Um, what's wrong? Are you hurt anywhere?"

She paused before asking softly.

That question made the other girl burst into tears, her voice beginning to tremble.

"Waaah... I'm so useless. I couldn't even protect a boy. Maybe... maybe I really shouldn't be a Magical Girl."

"This..."

Faced with the girl's sudden crying, Xia Ya was at a loss. She had no experience comforting newcomers and did not know what to say.

Just as she did not know what to do, footsteps suddenly sounded.

She immediately turned toward them on guard and saw someone unexpected.

"Wow, Magical Girls really are amazing. Haha."

Zhou Mo walked out of the shop, scratching his head as he awkwardly spoke to the two of them.

"Zhou... You, who are you? Why are you in a place like this?"

Xia Ya nearly let his name slip. She hurriedly questioned him in the tone one would use toward a stranger.

"Well, I..."

"Ah! You're not dead!"

A girl's cry rang out.

Upon hearing Zhou Mo's voice, Shan Que immediately looked over.

Seeing Zhou Mo standing there completely unharmed, the girl's face instantly lit up with delight. Ignoring the tear tracks on her face, she quickly rushed over and examined him from head to toe without blinking, as if checking him for injuries.

"What happened?"

Xia Ya walked over as well and asked curiously.

"Ah, it was like this..."

Seeing the senior Magical Girl question her, Shan Que recounted how Zhou Mo had stepped forward earlier, only to be sent flying by the Monster and crash into the shop.

After hearing the story, Xia Ya's eyes widened. She looked at Zhou Mo with dissatisfaction and a hint of confusion.

This guy had been so reckless. Hadn't she told him to stay away from the scene? Yet he had dared to provoke a Monster alone.

But...

"Were you hurt when the Monster hit you?"

With concern in her voice, Xia Ya cautiously asked.

Noticing Xia Ya's scrutinizing gaze, Zhou Mo pretended to recall what had happened.

"Well, I'm not too sure either. When I got hit, everything went black. When I opened my eyes, I found a pale yellow light screen around me. Maybe a Magical Girl protected me."

A pale yellow light screen?

The only thing related to yellow at the scene was Shan Que, the Magical Girl.

As everyone knew, the color of a Magical Girl's magic was related to her own color scheme.

Xia Ya and Zhou Mo both looked at Shan Que. Her eyes were full of confusion as she raised a finger and pointed at herself.

"Huh? Me?"

Why did she not remember using magic?

"A Magical Girl's power comes from emotion. Maybe it was an instinctive reaction in a moment of urgency."

After thinking for a moment, Xia Ya explained.

Without giving Shan Que time to overthink it, Zhou Mo immediately thanked her.

"Thank you for protecting me, Miss Shan Que!"

"I-I-I..."

The girl panicked at those words of thanks, flustered and unable to form a complete sentence.

Then she lowered her head and said softly,

"I-It's good that you're okay."

After saying that, she did not continue. Her cheeks had turned a little red.

Har floated over from the side and took over the conversation.

"Well, it's good that you're fine, boy. If there's nothing else, you can leave now."

Xia Ya shot Har a sidelong glance without saying anything, but her meaning was obvious.

Under the girl's stare, the pink fairy guiltily drifted away.

--

After successfully leaving the scene, Zhou Mo walked down the street, whose order had been restored, and lowered his head in thought.

The reason he had suddenly stepped out afterward was because of something Rabi had said.

"Though it was only slight contact, that Magical Girl is in danger."

While the battle outside was still ongoing, Rabi had said this inside the shop.

"What do you mean?"

Zhou Mo frowned as he asked.

"[Abyssal Core] is the name of the black lump of flesh in that person's hand."

Rabi's expression remained calm as it explained. "The evil organization [Abyss Nest] created this thing through some method. Its only purpose is to forcibly link people to the Abyss, thereby transforming them into Monsters. That long-armed Monster was forcibly transformed. Unlike naturally awakened Monsters, this kind of Monster possesses only violent emotions and no so-called obsession."

"Huh? That dangerous?"

Zhou Mo was startled. Forced transformation—did that not mean they could mass-produce Monsters?

"However, it does not work on Magical Girls. Generally speaking."

"Generally speaking?"

Zhou Mo caught that detail and continued questioning.

Rabi explained again.

"Magical Girls possess Pure Hearts. They can isolate objects carrying an Abyssal aura, allowing Magical Girls to resist the Abyss's corruption.

"However, if a Magical Girl's heart wavers and she fundamentally begins to doubt herself, her Pure Heart will become clouded. At that point, being invaded by the Abyss would be extremely dangerous."

It paused there for a moment, raised its head, and slowly said, "That would be a disaster even more terrifying than a Monster."

Therefore, to stabilize the girl's mental state, Zhou Mo had stepped out and shown that he was alive, while also making Shan Que believe that she had successfully protected someone as a Magical Girl.

Sigh, he really was far too kind.

As Zhou Mo walked, a familiar girl suddenly approached from ahead.

"Huh, An Xia? Where did you go just now?"