Pink

As expected, she had come.

A fluffy, swaying pink dress; white thigh-high stockings that vaguely revealed fair skin; incredibly intricate lace trimming at the seams, adorned with two beautiful pink gems. Layers upon layers of white petticoats looked especially lovely from below. Her slightly angry little face was adorable, and her equally pink eyes stared at the Witch without the slightest courtesy.

Though her short little wand weakened her imposing presence somewhat, and her pink hair hardly seemed intimidating. Still, standing before the dark Witch, she looked both sweet and valiant.

The two Magical Girls bound within the strands of hair looked at her with admiration.

At the sight of that pink figure, Fu You did not leave. With both hands in her pockets, she leaned against the wall and watched the battle between the Magical Girl and the Witch.

She was not surprised that Huali had come.

It would have been strange if Huali had not come.

But Huali was merely a healing-type Magical Girl. Facing a Witch directly, she did not stand much of a chance.

The strength of this Witch from out of town was unknown, but she was still a Witch. A rookie Magical Girl, and a healing-type one at that, could never be a Witch's opponent.

Even after binding two Magical Girls with her hair, the Witch still had more than enough remaining strands to tie up one more Huali.

Dark magic flowed through her hair and into the Magical Girls' bodies. The aura of corruption was not enough to immediately taint a Magical Girl, but it was entirely sufficient to rob one of her ability to fight.

The two Magical Girls struggled desperately within the hair. Black energy stained the gems on their outfits, covering them in a faint black mist. Occasionally, those gems would emit a flicker of light, only for the mist to suppress it again moments later.

Huali raised her hand, gathering two waves of pink healing light around the two Magical Girls. But even with her healing magic, she still could not help them escape their predicament.

"Another Magical Girl?" Rather than being afraid, the Witch appeared even more excited.

Her body did not move, but her long hair had already shot toward Huali.

The attack was simple, but incredibly fast.

This sort of body-manipulating magic was considered rudimentary among Witches. Perhaps it was because the Witch had not yet revealed her full strength?

Huali dodged the hair's sneak attack with a flash, her pink hair swaying from her rapid movement.

Huali was clever. While dodging the hair before her, she knew she also had to keep watch on the Witch's movements.

The Witch had more than just one strand of hair. The next strand should have attacked soon enough.

But when she turned her attention toward the Witch, the strand that had missed her had already curled into a hook behind her, trying to wrap around her body.

"Watch your back!"

The two Magical Girls beside her immediately cried out a warning.

With their warning, Huali did not know what was behind her, but she immediately leaped another step away from the hair and turned to look.

Yet even after jumping back, she still had not escaped the hair's range. The strand kept growing longer, and it was about to wrap around her.

Huali hurriedly leaped high into the air, barely avoiding the hair's grasp. But the Witch's next lock of hair was already coming at her.

Huali hurriedly twisted her body in midair. Moving through the air was nowhere near as easy as moving on the ground, and the hair barely grazed her body as it thrust past her.

Having dodged the thrust, Huali understood that this lock of hair would surely try to bind her like the previous one had.

She turned to watch that lock of hair, but she had not expected the strand that had failed to catch her earlier to keep moving instead of remaining where it was. It, too, came after her.

The two locks of hair were like two tentacles, trying to seize her from different directions. It was becoming impossible to evade them through body movements alone.

"Attack it!" Even the young Magical Girls could see the way to break through.

Battles could never be won by dodging alone. Fighting force with force was the true essence of combat.

But she was only a healing-type Magical Girl. Where would she get any offensive ability?

Just as the lower strand was about to wrap around her legs, she suddenly grabbed the hair beside her in midair. The strand was incredibly tough, more than enough for her to use as leverage.

With a flip, she landed atop the hair and sprinted along it toward the Witch.

The Witch had clearly not expected her to step on her hair. The hair suddenly lost its magic, and the once-tough strands instantly went limp. Having lost her footing, Huali stumbled and fell straight down. At that moment, the hair coiled into a ring and became incredibly hard again, trying to catch her as she fell through the air.

She hurriedly braced her wand against the hair, trying to use it as leverage to slip out again. But above her, another lock of hair was already striking.

She had only just squeezed partway through the opening when another lock of hair wrapped around her.

At the same time, a third and fourth lock of hair came at her.

As Huali watched the other two strands, her eyes filled with dullness.

Keeping track of two locks of hair at once was already her limit. Besides, she could barely deal with two of them as it was. Four?

In an instant, Huali was bound tightly by four locks of hair. Two bound her upper body, while the other two bound her thighs and ankles, leaving her completely unable to move.

"Senior!" The two Magical Girls had clearly not expected Huali to be captured so easily either, and they let out cries of despair.

Huali gritted her teeth. Though her gaze remained stubborn, her body had been bound so tightly that she no longer had the slightest ability to resist.

Black magic rose over her pink gems, and shadows gradually enveloped her body.

Her body, which had already failed to recover from the intense training the previous day, seemed especially fragile now. The pink was rapidly being tainted by black, and as her gems gradually dimmed, even her stubborn gaze became pale and weary.

A Magical Girl's magic was not merely the energy used to cast spells. It was also the core that protected her from corruption.

However, the gems on a Magical Girl's body were not her Magic Core.

A Magical Girl's outfit often had five or more gems. Only the gem on her chest was the true core. So long as the gem on her chest had not been completely soaked through by darkness, recovery was still possible.

Fu You shook her head slightly.

She did not blame Huali.

Tentacle Monsters were the natural enemies of Magical Girls. This hair-controlling Witch already possessed some of a Tentacle Monster's traits. Though she was not yet as nimble and unpredictable as a Tentacle Monster, she was still overwhelmingly powerful against these inexperienced Magical Girls.

"Senior!! Are you really not going to help?" Huali's voice came from the air. Bound tightly by the hair, she used all her strength to shout those words.