Ability Test

City branch, third basement level, ability testing ground.

Chen Qianqian stood in the center of the testing ground, her palms slick with sweat.

"Relax." Knight gave her an encouraging look. "Think of it as a checkup."

Chen Qianqian looked at Knight, her expression a little strange.

Not long ago, she had been cheering for Knight from the audience. Now they were colleagues.

Old Wei sat down behind the recording desk at the edge of the field and opened a thick stack of forms.

"All right, first test: total Magic Power. Step into that ring and release all your Magic Power for three seconds."

Qianqian stepped into the ring as instructed and took a deep breath.

Transform, release—

Hum.

The light column on the detection ring shot upward, clearing the first tier without slowing. It surged halfway through the second before finally stopping.

Behind the recording desk, Old Wei's pen froze.

"...Firefly Rank."

"She just awakened, and she's already Firefly Rank?"

A chorus of sharp breaths rose from the sidelines.

Ranger hurried over to the detection ring and circled it twice, looking as if her entire understanding of life had been shaken.

"No, how is that fair? I've worked my ass off to get where I am, and I'm still only at the glow stage. She awakened yesterday and she's already Firefly Rank?!"

"The strength of a wish determines how high one rises upon awakening." Masked Heroine folded her arms, deep in thought. "It seems this child's wish carried a lot of weight."

"And don't forget, there's another monster right here in this city."

Masked Heroine did not name her, but everyone knew whom she meant.

"Second test: attack." Old Wei adjusted his clipboard. "That's a standard Magic Power shield target at the far end. Even an all-out strike from someone at Firefly Rank can only leave a mark on it. Hit it with your strongest attack."

Thousand Blades nodded and raised her hand.

A gleaming silver blade formed beside her and shot through the air—

Thnk.

A soft sound.

The blade lodged in the shield target. For a moment, the entire testing ground went quiet.

"Huh? It just stuck to—" Ranger broke off mid-sentence.

It had gone in?!

The shield that supposedly could only be marked by an all-out Firefly Rank strike had swallowed a full third of the blade's tip.

"It... penetrated?" Old Wei sprang to his feet and hurried to the target. He leaned in for a look, then scanned it with an instrument. His expression grew stranger by the second.

"It didn't punch through by brute force... The Magic Power along the edge has unusual properties. It's 'severing' the shield's Magic Power structure itself..." He looked up. "Kid, fire a few more! One after another!"

Thousand Blades fired five more as instructed.

Five blades, five soft impacts. Every one sank more than a third of the way into the shield.

"Firefly Rank Magic Power, yet an effect close to piercing a Lamp-Lighting Rank defense..." Old Wei muttered, his pen racing across the page. "An attack type specializing in penetration... Good grief."

The silver blades dissipated. Old Wei was about to take Thousand Blades to the next test when Knight called him back.

"Old Wei, the shield isn't repairing itself."

The shield was a testing tool powered by Magic Power from the Association, which was why it could withstand Firefly Rank attacks. With no shortage of Magic Power, it also had the ability to repair itself after taking damage.

But when Old Wei turned around, he found that the damage to the shield had not healed at all.

"...Old Wei." Masked Heroine's voice grew grave. "Is the shield broken?"

"No." Old Wei crouched and spent a long time scanning the cuts with his instrument. Then he slowly stood, his solemn expression barely concealing his excitement. "The damage Thousand Blades dealt to its Magic Power structure is persistent!"

"In plain language—"

"Wounds cut by her blades are hard to heal."

"Against regenerative Fallen Beasts, this kid's attacks are their natural enemy!"

The testing ground stayed quiet for a few seconds before erupting into chatter.

"Wait, wait." Ranger rushed up to Thousand Blades, her eyes wide. "You can pierce defenses and counter regeneration?! Then you could've taken care of that jellyfish monster all by yourself?!"

She meant the Fallen Beast Knight had faced in the park that day.

Old Wei was still recording everything in a frenzy.

"It's not just regenerative types she poses a serious threat to... She's a serious threat to all Fallen Beasts!"

By the time all the ability tests were finished, Celestial Star had returned to the branch.

The moment she opened the door, Ranger rushed over, chattering about how incredible Thousand Blades' ability was.

Off to the side, Thousand Blades rubbed her fingers together shyly.

Celestial Star gave them a look that said, That's all?

"Not bad."

"Not bad?"

Ranger stared at her as if she could not believe what she had heard.

"I'll admit your meteorite looks badass, but you have to be able to control it!"

Celestial Star adjusted her glasses.

"Everyone, I have the latest intelligence on Love."

The conference room fell silent at once.

Knight, Masked Heroine, Ranger, Old Wei—every gaze snapped toward her.

"Love's ability classification has been confirmed." Celestial Star opened her notebook and read each word carefully. "Omnipotent type."

"Omnipotent type... What's that?"

Ranger swallowed.

It sounds ridiculously powerful...

"She can sense love and draw power from it. How that power manifests depends on what she needs. She can attack, defend, or heal."

"In theory, if she's strong enough—"

Celestial Star adjusted her glasses.

"She can even stop time. Love told me that herself."

Pfft—

Masked Heroine sprayed a mouthful of water all over Old Wei's clipboard.

"Cough, cough... Stop time?!" Old Wei coughed as he tried to rescue his forms. "Does that even count as a magical girl anymore?! She can do whatever she wants—she's a wish-granting machine!"

"One-punch kills, curing terminal illnesses, refracting light to fill an entire underground space..." Masked Heroine folded her arms and nodded slowly. "Every battle record we couldn't explain before makes sense if she's an 'omnipotent type.'"

Knight finally had her answer, too. Her expression was complicated.

"Wait." Ranger raised her hand. "Where did you get this information? Didn't you say Love refused to see anyone?"

Every gaze in the conference room snapped back to Celestial Star's face.

Celestial Star did not flinch.

"A source. Confidential."

"What kind of source could get that much out of her—"

"Con-fi-den-tial."

Ranger tried to press further, but Masked Heroine reached out to stop her.

Masked Heroine studied Celestial Star for two seconds, then broke into a grin.

"All right. If Celestial Star won't say, we won't keep asking..."

"If Love is willing to let us know all this, doesn't that mean she's growing closer to us? That's a good thing!"

After the meeting, Celestial Star stayed in the conference room and leafed through Thousand Blades' freshly completed test report.

[Attack traits: defense penetration, wounds that are difficult to heal.]

"These abilities really are enviable."