The Power of Emotion

On the other side of the battlefield.

Xia Ya was dealing with one Monster, while Molis was responsible for two.

It sounded manageable, but all three Monsters were Shallow Tier.

After nearly a month of training, Xia Ya's strength had improved tremendously. She could now take on weaker Shallow Tier opponents.

These three Monsters had likely been controlled by the Witch. They possessed little intelligence and fought like zombies with Shallow Tier strength.

As a result, Xia Ya was having a relatively easy time fighting one Monster.

Molis, however, was having a harder time.

She held her spear before her, constantly fending off the two Monsters' full-force attacks as she was forced steadily backward.

One of the Monsters was fairly ordinary, but the other, which looked like a middle-aged man, could knock Molis back several meters with a single punch.

"What is up with this guy's strength?"

She felt rather frustrated. In terms of raw strength alone, this Monster was no weaker than the big-brother Monster from that night.

As she defended herself, she considered her next move.

The first option was to stall until Xia Ya defeated her Monster, then join Molis in eliminating the remaining two before supporting Norei.

The second was to finish things quickly here, then immediately go support Norei.

She glanced toward the battlefield where the Witch and Norei were fighting and immediately chose to end things quickly.

She could hold on, but it seemed Norei could not.

Holding an enormous chainsaw in one hand, the Witch laughed maniacally as she swung it wildly at the space ahead. The heavy chainsaw seemed as light as paper in her grip, leaving countless afterimages in its wake.

Against such chaotic attacks, Norei could only defend passively. Every time the chainsaw collided with her gunblade, the recoil made both her hands go numb.

Norei was completely outmatched by the Witch in strength.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Norei took several steps back, aimed her gun at the Witch, and fired several rapid shots.

Bullets formed from magic power shot forward. The Witch casually swung her chainsaw a few times, blocking only one or two. The remaining bullets struck her simultaneously, instantly breaking through her defenses.

Norei raised her brows. She had actually hit her. It seemed the opponent really did fight without any skill, relying solely on absurd brute strength.

With that thought, Norei raised her gunblade again, intending to suppress her from range.

However, just as she prepared to aim, the Witch in her sight suddenly flashed forward. In the next instant, the Witch was right in front of her.

"Where are you looking?"

Guno's voice suddenly rang out.

Norei's eyes widened instinctively. The Witch's face was now inches from hers.

She was too fast. Before Norei could defend herself, the Witch had already raised her chainsaw high and swung it straight at her.

A tremendous roar rang out beside Norei's ear as the chainsaw smashed into her protective barrier. The barrier lasted only two seconds before the constantly grinding sawblade shattered it.

The sawblade struck the girl's shoulder, spraying blood into the air.

Norei gritted her teeth through the pain and struggled free with all her strength.

But before she could even catch her breath, the Witch's twisted smiling face pressed close again, her chainsaw raised as she sought to repeat the attack.

With no other choice, Norei held her gunblade horizontally before herself. The chainsaw came down with tremendous force, sending her body flying backward uncontrollably before she crashed heavily onto the concrete floor.

The Witch's actions were like a hunting cat toying with a mouse trapped in a corner.

The Witch approached Norei with slow, catlike steps.

"Please, entertain me some more."

The Witch maintained her inhuman smile, though madness lurked within her sweet voice.

In the distance, Molis watched the girl being chased around by the Witch. Why did she seem kind of weak?

She sighed softly as her magical outfit gradually began turning red.

No matter how much magic power she had left, she could only end this quickly now.

The middle-aged Monster and the other Monster reached for the girl before them at the same time. Yet before they could touch her, a terrifying wave of scorching heat crashed into them and knocked them back.

Molis stood where she was, her arms slightly bent. Red-and-Bai gloves covered her hands, while the gemstone on her chest, which had once glowed pale blue, had turned a fiery crimson.

Magical Girl Molis's Crimson Lotus Form had returned.

"Hm?"

Sensing the sudden eruption of immense power, Guno, who had been chasing Norei around for fun, abruptly turned her head toward the crimson Magical Girl in the distance.

"Ah... so she has an ability like that."

Curious, she watched Molis for a while before turning her gaze back to Norei.

She would finish playing with this one first, then go find her.

The two repelled Monsters showed little reaction upon seeing Molis in Red Form and simply charged at her again.

When the middle-aged Monster attacked once more, Molis raised her palm and directly caught its fist.

Then she clenched her other hand into a fist and threw a straight punch at the other unidentified Monster.

Her Xiao Qiao fist struck the Monster's chest. In an instant, its chest visibly caved in, and its whole body flew backward with both feet leaving the ground, as though it had been hit by the Hundred-Ton King.

Boom!

The Monster slammed into the wall behind it, smashing a human-shaped hole through it. It did not move again for a long time.

"..."

The middle-aged Monster whose fist she held glanced back at its companion, then turned to look at the girl before it. It was as though it had suddenly regained its senses, its expression becoming noticeably more vivid.

But that lucidity was ultimately an illusion. It roared, intending to send the girl flying again.

Before it could move, Molis drove an elbow into its abdomen, burying her entire elbow deeply inside.

The Monster doubled over, its mouth opening uncontrollably.

While the Monster was staggered, red light flared from Molis's fist. She unleashed a full-power punch straight at its face.

Unable to block it, the Monster saw its entire vision swallowed by red light. In the next moment, an intense sensation of weightlessness struck it, and its entire body was engulfed in a pillar of flame.

The middle-aged Monster was blasted toward the ceiling by the incoming pillar of fire, its head smashing through the ceiling overhead as it briefly cosplayed a teru teru bozu.

Having finished all that, Molis clapped her hands together, breathing somewhat heavily.

To guarantee victory in one blow, she had used a major move immediately. She only hoped her remaining magic power would be enough.

But just as she was about to head toward the Witch's battlefield in the distance, the Monsters' voices appeared in her mind once more.

This time, however, they were no longer clear words, but a chaotic murmur.

"Why? Why? Why? Despair, why? Despair despair despair..."

"Ugh!"

Countless jumbled noises flooded into her mind at once. She instinctively clutched her head, dropping to one knee with a muffled groan.

A powerful emotion inexplicably surged up within the girl's heart.

Emotional energy called despair.