Binding · Huali

Tied the tightest, her body had been severely deformed by the excessive pressure. Fat bulged on both sides of the bound areas, making the restrained parts appear especially slender.

When transformed into a magical girl, her body was astonishingly small and young.

Under such crushing pressure, her lungs often could not take in enough air. Even so, she still shouted with all her strength.

Her cry not only made Fu You pause slightly, but also drew the Witch's attention back to her.

The three magical girls were tied together by the Witch.

"Senior, what do we do?" The two younger magical girls both looked toward Huali, seeking help from the older girl.

But Huali was tied up as well. What could he do? He could only stare intently at Fu You.

"He's just a boy. Can he really save us?" a magical girl whispered.

Fu You met Huali's gaze, merely shook his head, then silently turned and went downstairs.

"Trying to run?" The Witch let out a soft laugh. Four strands of long hair shot toward Fu You from four different directions.

The space by the stairwell was extremely narrow. The four strands nearly covered the entire entrance.

Huali was already very agile, yet had still been easily subdued by the hair. An ordinary person would have had no room to escape beneath such attacks.

That was the logic of it, but Fu You suddenly lowered his body. Without even taking his hands out of his pockets, he swiftly crouched and made a textbook diving leap through the gap between two strands, without touching a single hair.

The strands pursued him again. He turned and made a small jump, evading their grasp.

With that dodge, he had already retreated to the first floor, vanishing from the three magical girls' sight.

The Witch could not see where Fu You was either, so she dragged the three magical girls toward the first floor.

By the time she reached the first floor, Fu You was nowhere to be seen.

A large number of fluttering black shadows began to emerge around her body.

Her Witch form fully revealed itself. More than five meters of long hair hung messily to the ground, scraping along the floor as she walked. Her pale face, lips, nose, and eyes were stained black to varying degrees, utterly devoid of the breath of life.

Her clothes had transformed into a school uniform dominated by withered yellow and black. Dust continually flaked from it, and patch after patch of the mottled uniform fell to the floor before vanishing in an instant, turning into black smoke that drifted away.

As the uniform peeled away, her bizarre black body, streaked with red muscular patterns, could vaguely be seen through the tears in the fabric.

She was no longer human at all.

Most Witches were creatures like this. Though they could disguise themselves in human form, their true bodies had long since mutated into things even more terrifying than Fierce Beasts.

By the time she reached the first floor, Fu You had already disappeared.

When the Witch's hair attempted to probe into the neighboring classroom for clues about Fu You, the class finally erupted into chaos.

Students in nearby classrooms had noticed the Witch earlier. Although the battle next door had not made much noise, it was enough to draw the attention of students who were not focused on class.

The teachers stopped teaching and told the students to stay in their classrooms, avoid making loud noises, keep away from the direction of the Fierce Beast, and not run outside for now. They were to avoid drawing the Fierce Beast's attention and let the magical girls fight first.

Only then did the Magical Girl Division issue a notice: all classes near Stairwell One were to quickly organize their students to evacuate and gather temporarily at Flag Plaza. Upon receiving the news, the teachers hurriedly had the students leave.

Fierce Beast disasters had not happened on campus for the first time. Even with a Witch already close to the school, order remained orderly. That was naturally thanks to the monthly disaster drills.

The Witch did not see Fu You, only a large number of fleeing students.

"Did he run?" The Witch was visibly agitated, her voice trembling unnaturally.

Her hair coiled toward those fleeing students, trying to seize them as hostages.

Magical girls could not possibly disregard ordinary people's lives. After all, protecting them was their mission.

Bang!

A gunshot exploded through the air.

The bullet accurately struck a strand of hair that was reaching for the students, blasting a sizable hole through it.

The severed hair turned into black mist and dispersed into the air.

The Witch looked up toward the high school building. Two magical girls stood atop a streetlamp not far away—

"Senior Huang Xing! Senior Green Yi!"

At the sight of them, Huali revealed a relieved expression.

They had saved him at the hospital before. He had not expected to meet them again here.

Huang Xing heard his voice and gave him a slight smile. The two flintlock pistols in her hands were swiftly cocked before she fired at the Witch's hair again.

The two bullets successfully freed the two younger magical girls. The hair binding them dissipated, and they hurriedly escaped.

Green Yi drew her bow and nocked an arrow, which struck Huali's body.

Yet the arrow did not pierce Huali. The instant it touched him, it vanished, transforming into a spreading green curtain that just happened to envelop him.

Huali felt the restraints around him rapidly loosen. The moment they disappeared entirely, he quickly leapt backward out of the curtain. The hair wrapped around him all fell to the ground as well.

"Where is he? How did he disappear?" Yet the Witch's gaze continued searching everywhere for Fu You. She paid no extra attention to the two newly arrived magical girls, nor to the three who had escaped.

The five magical girls gathered together, ready for battle.

The most urgent matter was not attacking the Witch, but ensuring the students could evacuate safely.

The plaza was hardly completely safe, but if the students had not safely withdrawn, the magical girls would have no way to launch an attack.

Magical girls' attacks could injure ordinary people as well.

With other magical girls beside him, Huali immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

He could step forward when needed, but aside from courage, he truly had no greater ability to fight a Witch. Still, he knew he was a magical girl. Even if he could not defeat the Witch, he still had to stand up.

Otherwise, the ones facing the Witch now would be ordinary people.

Sun Feiliu's words had suddenly made him realize that before Witches or murderers, magical girls were the true dam protecting humanity.

But where had Fu You gone?

As a senior... shouldn't he be stepping in now?

The hospital had been one thing, but this time, facing a Witch, was he still planning not to act?

Huali looked around but could not find Fu You.

Was it just because he did not want to work overtime?