A Dazzling Entrance

Saturday, 6 p.m., Central Commercial Street.

The streetlights flickered on as crowds streamed past.

No one noticed two wisps of gray-black mist silently creeping into the busiest street in the city through a sewer opening and a mall ventilation duct.

Then, in the same second—

Boom!

Boom!

Two muffled blasts, one at each end of the street.

At the east entrance, a wolf-shaped Fallen Beast emerged from the mist. Its shoulders stood over two meters high, and its claws raked four white gouges into the asphalt.

At the west entrance, a giant ape-like Fallen Beast beat its chest. Its roar set the shop windows humming, and a casual swipe smashed a bus stop sign into scrap metal.

"A Fallen Beast!"

"Two! There are two of them!"

Screams erupted, and the entire commercial street descended into chaos.

The crowd surged wildly between the two entrances, like ants spilling from a disturbed nest.

In the Association's command room, alarms shrieked.

"Confirmed! Two Fallen Beasts, both second-tier! They're on Central Commercial Street, advancing from east and west!" Lin Guo's voice cracked.

"They're closing in from both sides." Old Wei's face was grim. "They mean to trap everyone in the middle."

"Someone's directing them. Someone let those two beasts loose."

Just then, a silver point of light appeared on the monitoring screen, approaching rapidly from the north of the city.

"It's Knight!" Lin Guo shouted. "She was nearby! Estimated time to contact: forty seconds!"

Old Wei stared hard at the screen.

Forty seconds.

A silver streak slammed down in the middle of the commercial street.

"Magical Girl Knight, reporting in!"

"Everyone! Get into the malls! Get into the shops! Don't stay on the street!"

At the sight of that silver figure, the crowd's cries began to subside. People started evacuating into the buildings on either side in an orderly fashion.

But Knight had no attention to spare for them.

The wolf-shaped Fallen Beast to the east and the giant ape to the west both fixed their murky eyes on her.

One in front, one behind.

"Two against one..." Knight held her sword across her body and drew a deep breath. "Come on."

The battle erupted in an instant.

It was Magical Girl Knight's first fight against two Fallen Beasts at once.

And countless civilians who had yet to escape were streaming the fight live through their phones for the entire internet to see.

[Knight versus two! Get to the front page, quick!]

[Oh my god, there really are two. When has anything like this ever happened in our city?]

[You can do it, Lady Knight!!]

In the Association's command room, Lin Guo clutched her clipboard and watched the drone feed, her palms slick with sweat.

On-screen, Knight's sword moved so fast it became a silver web, precisely deflecting every lunge from the wolf-shaped Fallen Beast.

But whenever she tried to follow up, the giant ape behind her hurled whatever it could grab—a trash can, an advertising sign, a shared bicycle—straight at her.

One tied her down; the other kept her at bay.

They worked together too well to be wild beasts.

"These things are coordinating..." Old Wei's knuckles whitened. "Fallen Beasts don't even recognize their own kind... Especially low-tier ones with almost no intelligence... Someone's commanding them."

Within minutes, a wolf claw caught Knight's left shoulder, tearing a gash in her silver armor. Then an advertising sign thrown by the ape sent her flying into a shop window, shattering half of it.

She dropped to one knee, braced herself on her sword, and gasped for breath.

She could still hold out against two.

But for how long? The beasts weren't trying to finish her off. They kept wearing her down, like two moving walls pinning her to the middle of the street.

If she couldn't find a way to break through, she would run out of strength. Then it would all be over.

[Oh no, Knight looks hurt...]

[Where's the Association? Where are the reinforcements?!]

[The nearest stationed magical girl is in the next province. It'll take her two hours to get here. What do we do...]

The livestream comments were frantic.

In the command room, Old Wei slammed a fist on the table. "The rapid response team needs another ten minutes to reach the scene... Of all days, this had to happen while they were servicing their equipment..."

Just then.

The public sentiment monitor in front of Lin Guo began flashing wildly.

"Wei! An unidentified magical energy signature! Extremely strong! It's approaching the commercial street at high speed! Its power, its power—"

She stared at the reading, her voice rising sharply.

"It's off the charts!"

Above the commercial street, the sky suddenly grew brighter.

"A meteor?"

Knight noticed a streak of light flying in from the horizon.

No, wait. It wasn't a meteor...

"You're in quite a state..."

"But your courage in refusing to retreat deserves praise."

A pink-and-white dress, flowing violet patterns, and waist-length pink hair fluttering in the night wind.

The streak stopped above the commercial street, and a pink-haired girl came into view.

Through countless cameras, the eyes of the entire city fell on her.

Inside the shops along the street, trapped civilians forgot their fear and pressed themselves against the glass. The livestream comments went blank for a full three seconds, then flooded the screen.

[?????]

[Pink!! She's pink!!]

[The legendary one! One-Punch Girl! Pure Love Warrior!!]

[My mom asked why I'm watching this on my knees]

Love surveyed the scene: the injured Knight, the two Fallen Beasts poised to attack, the ravaged street, and the frightened eyes watching from behind the glass.

She drew a quiet breath.

Then, in the loudest, most solemn, most ringing voice of her life, she announced her name to the world:

"I am Magical Girl Love!"

"The Pure Love Warrior, guardian of love and all things beautiful!"

"Good evening, everyone!"

"I'm terribly sorry the love in this city has been frightened."

"Now, please leave this to me. I only need one minute."

The wolf-shaped Fallen Beast could hold back no longer. It sprang into the air as a black blur.

Love didn't even turn her head.

Still smiling, she gave a light wave behind her.

The powerful gust became a blade, whipping up a gale with a deafening crash.

In a single exchange, the wolf-shaped Fallen Beast was split in two, and a deep trench opened in the ground beneath it.

"Love! Watch the damage!"

Knight's warning made Love realize she might have caused a little too much destruction herself.

Still, two second-tier Fallen Beasts were nothing she couldn't handle.

She turned to the giant ape.

The giant ape froze.

Its murky eyes shifted toward the smiling pink figure. For a long moment, it did not move.

Then it turned and ran.

"Oh, dear."

Love blinked, and her figure blurred.

No one saw her move. All they saw was a pink streak cross the street. The next second, she stood directly in front of the giant ape, wearing the same bright smile, with the same soft pink fist raised.

"You can't run away."

"You hurt everyone's love. You need to apologize properly."

"Rising Dragon!"

Bang.

The giant ape never got launched into the air. Instead, it burst into a cloud of blood that drifted slowly downward, without a single drop touching Love.

The commercial street fell deathly silent.

One minute.

She had said one minute, and she had meant it.

In midair, Love dusted off her hands as though brushing away a little dirt. She floated down before Knight, tilted her head to examine the wound on her shoulder, and held out a hand.

"Good to see you again, Miss Knight."

Warm light flowed from her palm into Knight's shoulder. Beneath the cracked silver armor, the wound visibly healed.

"You..." Knight looked up at her, too overwhelmed to say another word.

"You fought beautifully," Love said with a smile. "You held the whole street by yourself and protected everyone. You really are this city's Knight."

Then she abruptly turned toward the countless phone cameras lining the street, cupped her hands around her mouth, and shouted with all her might:

"Every-one!"

"Miss Knight's concert starts next month!"

"Make sure you all go see it!!"

"Let Knight feel everyone's love!"

After shouting, she made a heart at the cameras. A flash of white light, and she vanished without a trace.

I can't stay here another second!

After shouting all that, Love felt unbearably embarrassed.

Damn magical instinct! I didn't even have time to stop myself!

Love was gone in a flash, leaving only glittering motes of light over the street and a dumbstruck Knight.

And an internet that had erupted completely.

[I should've known hardly any magical girls are normal. Who'd have thought a cute pink magical girl would be a close-combat fighter? One adorable punch and she turned a Fallen Beast into a spray of blood]

[What a contrast...]

No one noticed.

On the rooftop of a building across from the commercial street, two figures in black combat suits stood behind an observation device, recording every frame of data from that one minute.

"Can't measure her power output."

"That's fine." The other person licked their lips, a feverish gleam in their eyes. "The Master will be interested."