Support Squad

The next morning, outside the gates of the Local City Branch of the Association.

A black official car pulled up smoothly.

The car door opened, and a pair of long boots stepped out first, followed by a pair of straight, long legs, and finally, a youthful and radiant beautiful girl appeared before the gates of the Association Branch.

Magical Girl Masked Heroine—Ben Xiangmeng.

Firefly Rank.

She was originally an international student from Neon, a tributary state of Huaxia, but unexpectedly became a magical girl during her studies and ended up staying.

The support sent by the Headquarters had arrived.

Wow— She tilted her head, looked at the familiar branch building, and dragged out her voice with emotion. Three years without coming back, this building is still just as run-down.

Stepping out from behind her were two noticeably much younger girls.

The one on the left had two revolvers tucked into her belt, wore a short cape, and sported neat, cropped hair (resembling Fuji Kiseki). As soon as she got out of the car, she looked all around, radiating an irrepressible excitement.

Magical Girl Ranger, Glow Rank.

The one on the right was holding a stack of information booklets larger than her face, with her long hair neatly tied at the back and a pair of round glasses perched on the bridge of her nose. She almost tripped over her own hem as she got out. (Refer to Pela)

Magical Girl Celestial Star, Glow Rank.

"Ranger, Celestial Star," Masked Heroine turned around to call out. "We've arrived. This is what I told you about, my old hometown."

"Is this the city the senior used to be stationed in!" Ranger's eyes shone like searchlights. "I heard the happiness index of citizens here is in the top ten nationwide!"

"The data says the annual Fallen Beast incidents here are only in the single digits, making it a standard 'model leisure jurisdiction'..." Celestial Star hugged her folders and pushed up her glasses, adding quietly, "However, the numbers for the past half month are very abnormal."

"That's why the Headquarters sent us here, then."

Masked Heroine smiled and took the lead in walking through the gates.

Inside the branch conference room, the atmosphere was warm to the point of being uncanny.

"Masked Heroine-senpai!!"

Lin Guo rushed up first, so excited that her recording tablet flew out of her hand. "I—I'm your fan! Your feat of soloing a Third-Order Fallen Beast on North City Bridge back then is required reading for all new Field Operations Department hires!"

"Oh? That case study is still around?" Masked Heroine raised an eyebrow, then immediately gave a thumbs-up. "Good taste! But to correct you, that guy was at Second-Order peak and hadn't finished evolving yet. If it had truly evolved into a Third-Order, I would've had to call for backup."

Yes, although still at Firefly Rank, Masked Heroine had already stepped one foot into the realm of Lamp-Burning.

Old Wei laughed and scolded from the side, "You brat, you've been gone for three years, and the first thing you say when you get back is complaining about the building being run-down."

"Just speaking the truth, though. How on earth did you hear that?" Masked Heroine bumped fists with him, her gaze sweeping across the conference room before finally landing on the silver figure in the corner.

Knight stood straight, her expression somewhat reserved.

"Masked... senpai."

She naturally knew of Masked Heroine.

Three years ago, the resident magical girl of this city was Masked Heroine.

Later, the city's public order was too good while places with talent shortages were numerous, so Masked Heroine was transferred by an order from the Headquarters to a jurisdiction that needed her more.

When Knight took over as the resident, she had even read through a full three cabinets of jurisdiction notes left behind by her.

One could say that half of Knight's confidence in guarding this city was given by this unseen senior.

"Yo." Masked Heroine walked up to her, looked her up and down, then suddenly grinned and gave a thumbs-up. "You must be Knight! I saw that battle in Commercial Street; you held out two-on-one for ten minutes. Well done!"

"I'm Masked Heroine, you're Knight—we're a perfect match now!"

The thumb was bright and prominent.

Knight froze.

She had anticipated many kinds of openings—polite, scrutinizing, or even a senior's guidance to a junior—but she never expected such a pure, straightforward thumbs-up without any impurities.

"I..." She felt a bit at a loss. "In that battle, I was eventually—"

"Ambushed by two trained Fallen Beasts, injured, and failed to hold the street, but there were zero civilian casualties, and you didn't take a single step back from start to finish." Masked Heroine interrupted her, her thumb still raised. "If it were me here three years ago, I wouldn't necessarily have done better than you. That's the truth, not politeness."

"Senpai..."

"Alright, alright, the emotional segment ends here." Masked Heroine withdrew her thumb and changed tone abruptly. "Come on, meet my two deadweights—"

"Who's a deadweight?!"

Ranger jumped on the spot, then immediately hurried over to Knight, enthusiastically extending her hand. "Hello, Knight-senpai! My name is Ranger! I specialize in shooting and tracking! Please take care of me!"

"My ability is Absolute Evasion, similar to Phasing. When evading, I won't take any damage at all."

Knight's eyes widened all at once.

Then, Ranger scratched the back of her head.

"But well... my attack methods aren't great, so I mainly play the role of harassing the enemy and making it hard for them to concentrate."

"H-Hello."

Knight was stunned for a moment before reacting, reaching out to shake hands with Ranger.

"Celestial Star." The girl holding the folder also walked over and gave a small bow. "Good at analysis and intelligence sorting."

"My ability... can't really be used at any time."

Masked Heroine slapped Celestial Star on the shoulder.

"This kid's ability is to summon meteors, but she can't control it herself right now."

A m-meteor?

"Senior, can you not always expose my shortcomings?"

Celestial Star pushed up her glasses, evidently somewhat helpless.

Knight looked at the two juniors, her gaze carrying a hint of envy.

Because she hadn't even awakened her own exclusive ability yet, even now!

Her promotion to Firefly was purely because her control over magic power had reached the required level, and her magic power was sufficient.

After the introductions, the real business began.

The projection screen lit up, and Old Wei summarized the recent cases: four incidents, two trained Fallen Beasts, signs of activity from the Liberation Faction, and—

The final image frozen on the screen was a video.

A pink figure stepped down through the light, one minute, two punches.

The meeting room fell silent.

Ranger dropped her jaw. "Th-This is Love? The one on the trending searches?"

"Mhm." Old Wei nodded. "The third task Headquarters gave you is her."

"Interesting."

Masked Heroine crossed her arms, staring at the frozen pink figure on the screen, and suddenly let out a laugh.

"I've checked all the registered files in the Association," she said. "Combat-type Magical Girls aren't unprecedented in history, but they all channeled magic power into their fists to amplify them. There's no record of someone like her—who purely uses the 'fist' as a form in itself as a weapon."

"And did you guys notice?" She pointed at the frame where Love was throwing a punch. "Her expression was smiling when she threw that punch. Not battle frenzy, but genuine, heartfelt happiness. It's as though..."

She paused.

"It's as though she isn't fighting, but doing something extremely joyful."

In the meeting room, no one took up the conversation.

Everyone present had actually faintly sensed this detail.

"Let's digest the intelligence up to here for now." Masked Heroine clapped her hands and stood up. "There's no point in constantly investigating our own people."

"What we need to do right now is still to deter the rats hiding in the shadows. My suggestion is to do a group patrol and directly display our strength."

Knight looked somewhat worried.

"But won't this allow the enemy to learn our intelligence directly?"

Masked Heroine waved a hand.

"Our intelligence couldn't possibly be protected for long anyway. Maybe after one attack, or two, all of us will be completely exposed, so we might as well not hide."

"I know you're worried about our abilities being studied and then targeted, and that kind of concern isn't wrong."

The biggest problem in our city was actually the lack of manpower.

Knight's combat capability was completely fine.

Therefore, this time when Masked Heroine came, she intended to arrange the four Magical Girls currently in our city, including herself, in the four directions of our city.

That way, once a situation arose, they could react quickly.

If things went south, the speed at which the others rushed over to support would also be very fast.

As for being targeted... Magical Girls should have gotten used to that long ago.

"Ranger, Celestial Star!"

"Here!" "Present!"

"Let's move out!"

As her voice fell, she abruptly struck a pose.

Her right hand crossed in front of her chest, her left hand held high above her head, her feet spread slightly apart left and right, and the emblem at her waist suddenly lit up.

The expressions on Ranger's and Celestial Star's faces changed instantly.

"Trans—form—!"

"Hah!"

A black flash swept past, mask, cape, and Regalia instantly merging together.

Ranger and Celestial Star simultaneously covered their faces.

They just knew it would turn out like this.