Defamation Crisis

At the same time Molly was tossing and turning all night.

A thousand meters beneath A City.

Inside the Traitor Organization's base.

The atmosphere was grave.

Under the dim lights, over a dozen monsters of different shapes stood around a massive display screen.

Looping on the screen was footage of Molly taking on a hundred enemies alone at the Jiba Property Complex.

Silver sword light flashed as the Black Defectors fell like wheat before a scythe.

In the footage, the girl moved with razor-sharp precision, her gaze icy, making the monsters before the screen tense up.

"That Yin-Soul bastard is finished."

A monster covered in scales spoke first:

"Even his soul was shredded. Even the Doctor's resurrection pool can't fish out the remnants of his soul."

As soon as he said that, the surrounding monsters erupted into commotion.

The Yin-Soul Monster was not among the strongest in their group, but he was certainly no weakling.

Yet someone that vicious had been reduced to nothing by that magical girl. How could they not be alarmed?

"Damn Magical Girl Pale!"

"We have to nip her in the bud! That brat is growing too fast!"

"She can already join forces with Golden Yellow to take down Yin-Soul. Give her a little more time, and she'll probably be even harder to deal with than Magical Girl Golden Yellow!"

"That's right!"

Quite a few monsters agreed.

Among monsters like them, Golden Yellow's name was practically synonymous with nightmare.

That woman's light magic naturally suppressed dark creatures like them. Several carefully planned operations had been ruined by her.

And now, another Pale had emerged, with close-combat abilities so absurdly powerful they defied reason.

With two top-tier magical girls working together, their days ahead would only become more difficult!

"But how do we deal with them?"

"Golden Yellow alone is already enough of a headache. Now there's another one. If we fight head-on, we'll probably lose more than half our people."

Those words struck at everyone's sore spot.

Trying to force it would be suicide.

For a moment, the base fell into dead silence. Only the sound of flashing sword light from the display screen echoed through the empty room.

Just then, a monster whose figure resembled Molly's moved among the crowd.

He slowly stepped forward as the skin all over his body began to writhe and transform.

His slightly gaunt cheeks became refined and sculpted. Long silver hair flowed down from the top of his head, while his black robe turned into that distinctive silver-white magical outfit.

In the blink of an eye, he had become an exact copy of Magical Girl Pale!

"I have a way."

The Mimic Demon Person spoke, even his voice perfectly imitating Molly's:

"I can take her form and wreak havoc in the streets—burn, kill, loot, commit every evil imaginable."

"Then humanity will see her as an evil witch and rise up against her."

"Without the public's support, she'll be like a rootless duckweed. It'll be much easier to deal with her then."

At those words, the eyes of many monsters lit up.

"That's a good idea!"

"Brilliant! Let the humans kill each other while we reap the benefits!"

Voices of agreement rose one after another, and a smug smile appeared on the Mimic Demon Person's face.

But at that moment, a cold voice shattered everyone's excitement.

"Too crude."

The one who spoke was the monster standing at the very front.

He wore a black trench coat and a fanged mask that concealed his features. He was the leader of this group of monsters.

The leader's voice held not a trace of warmth:

"Petty acts of destruction alone are nowhere near enough to completely ruin her reputation."

"Humans are forgetful. As long as she does a few good deeds afterward, she can easily clear her name."

"What we need is a flawless catastrophe!"

"One large enough to devastate A City and make everyone hate Magical Girl Pale to the bone!"

"For example, take her form and hijack a large passenger jet, then crash it into A City's tallest building..."

"Or hijack a large cruise ship and livestream the torture and murder of its passengers one by one at sea."

"Then, even if she had a mouth all over her body, she wouldn't be able to explain herself."

"After all... framing someone is the easiest way to destroy them!"

"The masses are often blind!"

"Even if Magical Girl Golden Yellow wants to protect her, she'll have to weigh the public's fury!"

"Remember, make it clean and efficient. Don't leave behind a single flaw."

"Understood!" The Mimic Demon Person nodded heavily, a hint of fanaticism flashing through his eyes.

The other monsters also revealed excited expressions. As they watched Molly's figure on the screen, their eyes brimmed with malice.

A massive conspiracy against Magical Girl Pale was quietly brewing.

A sleepless night.

Early the next morning, when dawn had only just begun to break.

Molly sat up in bed.

The spot beside her was already empty, though the blanket still held the faint floral scent of her younger sister.

"Good thing my self-control was strong enough that I didn't make any moves."

Molly secretly congratulated herself:

"Otherwise, I really wouldn't know how to face her."

Muttering to herself, she got out of bed, and her gaze accidentally swept over her wrist.

There, she wore that sky-blue bracelet...

Her Transformation Device.

She did not know whether it was an illusion, but Molly vaguely saw an extremely faint blue light flash across the bracelet.

The bracelet seemed to have come alive, slowly drawing something in.

She focused and looked carefully, but the blue light disappeared again.

The bracelet was still as ordinary as ever. Its warm, smooth touch rested against her wrist, with nothing unusual about it.

"I probably didn't sleep well last night. My eyes must be playing tricks on me."

Molly rubbed her eyes and gave a self-mocking smile:

"Too much has happened lately. I've become overly sensitive and suspicious."

Even now, Molly found the origins of this bracelet somewhat unbelievable.

She still remembered that when she had first crossed into this world, she found a bead covered in cracks in a secluded alley.

At the time, she had merely thought the bead looked pretty and wanted to pick it up for a closer look.

But the bead flew up on its own. Amid flickering light, it transformed into this bracelet, slipped directly onto her wrist, and turned her into a magical girl.

She had tried countless times to remove it, but no matter what she did, the bracelet would not budge.

Only later did she understand that it was a magical girl's Transformation Device.

But what kind of story was hidden behind this Transformation Device?

Who had made it?

And why had it fallen into that alley?

Those questions remained unanswered to this day.

Perhaps the bracelet's origins concealed a tremendous secret.

A secret closely tied to this world, which had been invaded by Monster Demons.

"Ahem... My chuunibyou is acting up again."

Molly awkwardly pulled herself out of her narrator fantasy, then heard a knock at the door.

Knock, knock, knock...