The New Club Member

An abandoned warehouse

The scrawny man crouched in the warehouse room where they had once hidden. Now, he was the only one left.

"Big Bro... was killed by a Magical Girl because of me... Sob... But I still love Magical Girls so much."

Her body trembled nonstop as black mist poured from all over her body.

Her extreme love for Magical Girls before becoming a Monster collided with the hatred born from Big Bro's death at the hands of Magical Girls, pushing her mind and body to the brink of collapse.

After curling up in the room for a long time, she finally reached a conclusion.

"I want revenge. I want to punish those Magical Girls, then turn them into the forms I love."

The man's eyes were filled with determination, but then she deflated again.

"I can't even beat enemies Big Bro couldn't defeat. How am I supposed to win?"

She had only been the weakest among them, while those two Magical Girls had defeated three opponents alone and taken down Big Bro in a one-on-one fight. No matter how she looked at it, rushing in herself would just be throwing her life away.

Just as she was at a complete loss, the door was suddenly opened from outside.

The man immediately became alert and hurriedly scrambled to her feet.

"Who's there?"

When the door opened fully, a person dressed in black stood in the doorway.

The man was startled again upon seeing the visitor. She immediately lowered her head, her body trembling slightly.

"M-My lord, I didn't expect it to be you. Please forgive my offense."

Before the man could finish, the person in black raised a hand to stop her. Then, they walked in, glanced around the room, and said:

"You're the only one here?"

Hearing the question, the scrawny man dropped to her knees with a thud and said in a trembling voice:

"W-Waaah, my lord, Big Bro and the others were all eliminated by Magical Girls. I was the only one who escaped..."

The person in black merely nodded softly, showing little reaction, then changed the subject.

"Come to think of it, I came here tonight because I suddenly sensed something a moment ago."

The scrawny man looked up at them in confusion.

The black-clad figure looked down at her as well, their eyes devoid of any emotion.

"I smelled despair."

"W-What do you mean?"

The scrawny man stared blankly at the person in black and asked in confusion.

The person in black did not answer. They simply pulled a pitch-black lump of flesh from their pocket, still pulsing without pause.

The instant she saw the object in their hand, the scrawny man froze, her vacant eyes fixed on it.

After taking out the black flesh orb, the black-clad figure's previously expressionless face suddenly twisted into an extreme grimace, and they let out an excited, crazed laugh.

"Heh heh heh. I never expected your aptitude to surpass even your Big Bro's. Is it because you have tasted loneliness? Whatever. Either way, I must make good use of such excellent material."

They slowly approached and pressed the Abyssal Core against the scrawny man's chest.

"Do you want revenge? Then come! Accept it, and you will gain power far beyond what you had before!"

The instant the Abyssal Core touched the man, she suddenly let out an inhuman scream. Black aura continuously leaked from her body, so dense it flowed through the air like spilled ink.

The man's screams and the black-clad figure's sinister laughter echoed through the room as something terrifying began to brew.

"Ring ring ring!"

Bang!

Early that morning, Zhou Mo smashed her alarm clock with one punch and staggered out of bed like a zombie.

She let out a deep yawn, the dark circles beneath her eyes growing heavier.

Rabi had pinned her down and made her stream all night. The good news was that she had exhausted herself so thoroughly that she had not actually streamed until seven in the morning.

The bad news was that she had only gone to sleep at five, and after lying down for two hours, the alarm had dragged her awake again.

"Damn it, I got played by capitalism again."

Muttering curses under her breath, Zhou Mo climbed out of bed and began another day of life as a corporate slave.

"Yo!"

While she was washing up in front of the mirror, a white cat suddenly poked its head out from beside her, nearly scaring her heart into stopping.

"Rabi, what are you doing? Ow!"

She shot Rabi a resentful glance.

Rabi merely sat elegantly atop the sink, its tail swishing back and forth.

"What are you doing?"

"As you can see, I'm washing up, then going to school."

"Why are you still going to school at a time like this?"

"Oh? I never thought you'd care about people."

Zhou Mo looked up at Rabi in surprise. Had something that warm really come out of its mouth?

"Wouldn't it be better to make time for Magical Girl activities?"

"..."

The next moment, the faintly warm image of Rabi Zhou Mo had barely managed to build in her mind shattered into pieces.

Zhou Mo said nothing. After wiping her face, she headed for the door.

Rabi followed behind her and expertly leaped onto Zhou Mo's shoulder.

Walking down the morning streets, Zhou Mo glanced sideways at Rabi on her shoulder and spoke to it through their thoughts.

"Do you have another plan today? Let me make this clear first: at least leave me some time to catch up on sleep."

"Don't worry. I won't make you fight Monsters today."

"Really?"

Zhou Mo's eyes lit up as she cheered inwardly, Looks like I can finally get some proper sleep at school.

"Do you really go to school to study?"

Rabi took the opportunity to mock her.

"...And whose fault do you think that is?"

Rabi said no more.

After walking for a while, it spoke again.

"As for the plan you asked about last night, I've roughly investigated a few things."

Hearing that, Zhou Mo paused, then continued walking.

"You got results?"

"Yes."

Rabi answered.

"Really? What's the plan?"

"I don't know."

Zhou Mo stopped again upon hearing Rabi's reply.

"It feels like you're messing with me."

Rabi continued nonetheless.

"Although I don't know the exact plan, I have a rough idea of what level of people are behind it."

Zhou Mo continued walking as usual.

"Let's hear it."

"Well... forget it. You wouldn't understand even if I told you. It's beyond the level you can come into contact with anyway."

"?"

Zhou Mo suddenly felt an urge to love this cat to death.

"Anyway, it probably has something to do with the Nova Tournament. Keep an eye out when the time comes."

As Rabi spoke, it suddenly leaped from Zhou Mo's shoulder and nimbly hopped onto a nearby building.

Watching the direction in which Rabi disappeared, Zhou Mo was left full of question marks.

What exactly had that guy come for?

"Zhou Mo?"

A familiar voice sounded from behind her. Zhou Mo turned around.

An Xia walked toward her and greeted her softly.

"Good morning, Zhou Mo."

"Yeah, morning. What a coincidence, running into you on the street."

Zhou Mo replied with a smile and continued forward.

"Then... let's walk together."

"Okay."

An Xia nodded gently and followed her.

If they were talking about coincidence, it really was one.

Though the two were neighbors, Zhou Mo had never run into An Xia on the way to or from school. Today was the first time.

Once she got to the classroom, Zhou Mo collapsed onto her desk, and half the day passed just like that.

Rabi was actually pretty trustworthy. It had said it would let her rest, and it really had not sent her out to fight Monsters today.

After the uneventful day passed, Zhou Mo knocked on the clubroom door. When there was no response, she opened it and walked in without concern.

Seeing President Bai Yi still fighting away at the computer desk while Mo Li was still beside her, kneading something in her hands, Zhou Mo relaxed.

"Hi, Zhou Mo. Out for another stroll?"

Seeing her enter, Mo Li greeted her with a grin.

"I didn't have anything to do, so I came here to hang out for a bit."

"Well, now there is something to do."

"Huh?"

Zhou Mo had just sat down when she heard Mo Li say that.

She froze for a moment before asking, "What is it?"

Before Mo Li could continue, someone knocked on the door outside.

"Excuse me, is this the Omniscient Wish Society?"

The person outside asked.

"Yep. Just open the door and come in."

Mo Li called out toward the door.

Then the door opened, and a sweet-looking girl in a school uniform with naturally wavy short hair walked in.

She raised her head and looked over everyone in the room. Her gaze lingered on Zhou Mo for less than a second before she revealed a sweet smile and said:

"Hi, everyone. My name is Zhao Qiao, and I'm the new club member."