What Do You Take Life For?

"Molis?"

Having just beaten the Monster to the ground, Xia Ya turned and saw Molis half-kneeling on the floor, clutching her head as though she were enduring some kind of pain.

She hurried over, helped her up, and asked anxiously.

"What's wrong? Are you hurt anywhere?"

But Molis did not answer. She merely frowned as an inexplicable torrent of chaotic emotions surged within her, as if she were truly experiencing the Monster's despair before its death.

The witch had also noticed what was happening over there. After seeing that all the Monsters she had brought had been defeated by two rookie Magical Girls, she once again revealed an evil smile.

Before her, Norei lay on the ground, covered in wounds of all sizes and utterly unable to resist.

Ignoring the fallen Norei, the witch carried her chainsaw and slowly walked toward Molis and the others. The chainsaw dragged along the ground, carving a shallow groove into the concrete.

Noticing the witch approaching, Xia Ya did not retreat. Supporting Molis with one hand, she gripped her magic wand with the other. Orbs of light formed one after another, then shot toward the witch in rapid succession.

"Volley Fire."

Facing the incoming light bullets, the witch did not dodge at all. She simply took the attack head-on with her body.

The light bullets struck the witch one after another, setting off an uninterrupted series of explosions.

Yet the very next moment, the witch stepped out from the smoke of the blasts, her scarlet eyes fixed directly on the confused Molis.

Judging from the lingering smoke on the witch's body, Xia Ya's attack had indeed had some effect. It was effective, but the witch did not even furrow her brow after being hit.

Just as Xia Ya raised her wand again, intending to continue her attack, the witch's figure flickered. The next instant, Xia Ya's vision was engulfed by a shadow.

Guno's smiling face was right before her, making Xia Ya's hand holding the wand tremble.

She took a deep breath, hurriedly shielded Molis behind her, and swung her wand without another word, intending to drive the other woman back.

Smack!

The witch raised a hand and caught the incoming wand. Then she looked at the wary Xia Ya and waved her hand.

"Don't be so tense. Just let me saw you up for a while. I finally ran into three Magical Girls, so let me rack up a bit more streaming time."

Looking at Guno's smiling, pretty face, Xia Ya felt the other woman loosen her grip. She quickly pulled back her weapon and retreated several steps, frowning as she said coldly,

"You... are all witches perverts who enjoy torturing your enemies?"

"Hehe~ Even if you praise me like that, I still won't hold back."

Guno chuckled, raised the chainsaw with both hands, and after a roar, the black chainsaw started up once more.

Who was praising you?

Xia Ya lightly bit her lower lip. Witches really were creatures that could not be reasoned with.

The request for Magical Girl support had been sent out again, but even the closest Magical Girl with hundreds of thousands of followers would need around ten minutes to get here.

She let out a soft sigh and decided to delay the other woman for as long as she could.

"So, the harder I fight back, the more you benefit, right?"

Hearing Xia Ya's question, Guno tilted her head, then nodded.

"That's right. Everyone in my livestream is a pervert who likes watching Magical Girls suffer, so I'll do my best to make sure you don't die too quickly."

"I'll still die?"

"You will. But if you cooperate nicely, you'll die a little later."

"..."

Xia Ya froze, gritting her teeth as her pink eyes stared fiercely at the witch.

"The Magical Girls before this, and everyone else... did you kill them all like this?"

As though she had not noticed Xia Ya's anger, Guno stood where she was, lightly tapping her chin with a finger as she answered in a relaxed tone.

"Mm, of course I didn't kill all of them. I'm still weak, after all. But I have killed a few Magical Girls."

At that, she suddenly grew excited, as though sharing something fun with Xia Ya.

"Hehe, you know, when the chainsaw slowly cuts through their delicate skin, and the sound of the saw mixes with their screams, with bodies and limbs flying everywhere... until the pain finally makes them undo their transformations and turn back into weak, pitiful ordinary girls, dying like that... don't you think it's fun?"

She blinked as though waiting for Xia Ya's agreement.

"Explosive Flash!"

While the witch had been chattering away, Xia Ya had already retreated several meters.

The moment the other woman finished speaking, Xia Ya could no longer endure it. She condensed countless explosive rays and fired them all at the witch.

But before the countless beams arcing through the air could reach the witch, her figure had already vanished. Immediately afterward, the witch appeared before Xia Ya again and grabbed the hand clutching her wand.

"Now, let's begin the delightful torture."

The witch raised her chainsaw high and brought it down toward Xia Ya.

Xia Ya's pupils contracted sharply, and she instinctively raised a hand to block it.

"Bzzzz!"

The chainsaw's deafening roar was right beside her, yet Xia Ya did not feel any pain.

Curiously, she turned her head and saw that the chainsaw was only an inch away from her, frozen in midair without coming down.

The reason was that another hand had seized the witch's hand, forcibly stopping her from pressing down.

Seeing that slender hand, Xia Ya quickly realized what had happened.

She immediately turned around and cried out in delight,

"Molis!"

The person who had stopped the witch was Molis.

She still covered one eye with one hand as she gripped the witch's wrist with the other, stepping out from behind Xia Ya.

Unlike Xia Ya's delight, Guno raised an eyebrow. She exerted a little force in an attempt to break free, only to discover in surprise that her hand was being tightly restrained and could not be pulled free.

"You're pretty interesting."

Guno looked at Molis. She had been drawn over by how Molis had instantly taken down the Monster earlier, but she had not expected her to be so strong.

"What, do you want me to kill you early?"

She stared at Molis as she spoke.

"Hiss, hold on. Stop talking for a moment and let me recover first."

Molis interrupted her, shaking her slightly dizzy head.

The noisy voices in her mind had finally disappeared, and only then did she regain a little clarity.

Though the voices had vanished, they had left behind fragments of the Monster's emotions within her. Those fragments allowed her to understand the pain and despair it had experienced when it died at the witch's hands.

An ordinary, lonely office worker had met another lonely girl drifting in a foreign place. Out of kindness, he took her in, and they spent a short but warm time together. Yet it had all been an illusion. On the one-week anniversary of their meeting, the lonely girl revealed her fangs, brutally killed him with a chainsaw, and transformed him into a Monster.

The Monster's lingering despair also affected her. Beyond that, a sudden fury rose within her.

Having recovered, Molis opened her eyes. One red and one blue eye locked fiercely onto the witch.

"You deceive people, harm them, and take pleasure in it. What do you take life for?"