Put on a Grand Show

A hundred meters above Xinghai City.

The night wind howled mournfully around the tower.

Magical Girl Ziwei held a dark-gold scythe, her long legs sheathed in black stockings planted firmly on the tip of Xinghai Tower's highest lightning rod.

Below her, a bustling city district was slowly being swallowed by red light.

The wind whipped her violet-gold hair, but her beautiful face showed none of the fear or solemnity a cataclysm should have inspired. She wore only the focused look of someone tallying the assets of the soon-to-be dead.

"Master, I must remind you of the facts once again."

Kabi's plump spirit form hovered close to Ziwei's shoulder, his beady black eyes fixed on the dark-gold scythe in her hand.

"High-grade Abyssal Cores dropped by ninth-rank D-class Monsters contain energy that has almost liquefied. If you fail to rein in that brute force when you strike, and the core's shell suffers even the tiniest bit of physical damage..."

Kabi extended two stubby fingers and made a chopping motion.

"Those picky old fossils in the Monster Hunting Bureau's recovery department won't hesitate to cut the purchase price in half!"

Ziwei said nothing.

Her fingers tightened silently around the scythe's long haft.

Cut in half.

A hundred and fifty thousand, gone!

That was absolutely unacceptable. She would rather use one fewer move than fail to carve the cores out of those two beasts whole, with the cleanest cuts possible.

"Mint has reached the designated position. I can channel magic power whenever you're ready."

Xia Ning's voice came through the communication Beacon in Ziwei's pocket, barely containing her excitement.

"Cherry's in position too!"

Lin Guoguo's breathless reply followed.

"The wind's really strong over here, big sister, but I'll hold the formation node! I won't let a drop of magic power escape!"

Ziwei raised a hand and pressed the Beacon by her ear.

"Keep your magic power dormant. Wait for my signal. The moment it comes, activate the Starlight Barrier."

In the cool, commanding voice that belonged to a Magical Girl, she delivered her final warning.

"No matter what you hear, do not leave your posts. Understood?"

"The wind is with you!"

"Cherry obeys!"

The two young girls, thoroughly caught up in their own grand ideas about her, cut the connection without another word.

Ziwei lowered her hand and looked up once more at the oppressive sky.

The "Red Tide" clouds above Xinghai City began to churn wildly.

The concentration of free-floating Deep Space Particles surged past the limit. The air turned thick and filled with the sharp smell of ozone.

Then came a deafening crack that seemed to tear the heavens apart.

At the center of the clouds, a massive spatial rift a thousand meters long burst open above the city's residents, ripping straight through the physical boundaries of reality.

A deep bloodred glow poured from the opening.

It was as though a bleeding giant eye had opened in the sky.

Then two roars erupted at once from deep within the rift, shaking the heavens.

A Monster with its entire skeleton exposed, black annihilation lightning coiling around every bone spur, thrust its vicious beak through first.

Ninth-rank D-class. Lord-Class. Bone Colossus Owl!

Beside it, something of terrifying size forced the torn space even wider.

A colossal creature as large as a small mountain range slowly squeezed its broad, chitin-armored back through the Rift, emitting a low, penetrating hum.

Ninth-rank D-class. Lord-Class. Deep-Space Giant Whale!

The two terrifying beings, each with a Magic Power Scale nearing the absolute limit of 2,000, began shoving and ramming each other at the mouth of the Rift as they fought over the passage into this world.

Even the faintest aftershock released as their immense bodies pressed together was enough.

Their terrifying pressure became a physical shockwave that slammed down toward the city from the Rift.

Crash—

Every glass curtain wall on the high-rises in the downtown shopping district shattered in the same second as the air pressure abruptly changed. Tens of thousands of panes burst apart.

Glass shards poured from the sky in a deadly downpour.

At last, the shrill air-raid sirens sounded, echoing through every district of Xinghai City.

"They're here! They're about to come through completely!"

Kabi shouted in Ziwei's ear, the light of his spirit form flashing red with fear.

Ziwei lowered her gaze slightly, the lace hem of her skirt billowing high behind her.

"And so is the money," she murmured.

Several hundred meters below.

Three heavy Psionic Weaponry helicopters bearing the Monster Hunting Bureau's black eagle insignia fought the violent air currents as they tried to approach the space directly beneath the Rift.

"Aircraft One has eyes on the target! It's the Bone Colossus Owl!"

The pilot's voice cracked over the squadron's communication channel.

"Its lightning storm is generating too much magnetic interference! All our instruments are down. We'll have to aim manually!"

"Aircraft Two, Aircraft Three, stay close! Ignore the whale. Bring down the one with wings first!"

"Thunderclap Formation missiles ready! Fire everything!"

At the pilot's hoarse shout, more than a dozen heavy antiaircraft missiles etched with magic-conducting arrays for extraordinary Breathing Methods streaked off the helicopter mounts, long trails of flame behind them as they hurtled toward the two Lords in the clouds.

But the industrial and supernatural marvels the Monster Hunting Bureau took such pride in were pitifully weak before these two living calamities.

The missiles had not even covered half the distance.

The Bone Colossus Owl suddenly turned its enormous head. Two beams of deep-purple lightning burst from its hollow eye sockets.

The violent abyssal magnetic field surrounding it expanded without warning.

Crackle—

A visible web of raging electricity swept across the incoming missiles.

It never had to touch them.

The precision fuses inside more than a dozen Thunderclap Missiles overloaded on the spot, tearing them apart hundreds of meters before they reached the Monster.

Huge fireballs bloomed beneath the clouds.

The magnetic storm's aftershock kept going and slammed into all three heavy gunships.

The helicopters did not even have time to take evasive action.

Lightning melted their rotors and burned out every onboard electronic system.

The three steel giants, built at a cost of hundreds of millions of Federal Coins, lost all power in an instant. Trailing long plumes of black smoke, they spun toward the ravaged ground.

"Bail out! Everyone, bail out!"

Only faint static and screams remained on the communication channel.

The heart of Xinghai City's shopping district.

Scarface Captain, in charge of the ground cordon, stood firm in the middle of the street with dozens of special-operations elites.

The pressure wave had shattered his tactical goggles long ago. Under the red flashes of the air-raid alarms, the scar on his right cheek looked especially fierce.

"Everyone, listen up!"

He drew the heavy Psionic Weaponry Ship-Splitting Blade from his back and drove it into the asphalt, burying more than half the blade.

"Defensive formation! Hold the Thunderclap Protective Formation!"

"We cannot let the falling wreckage or the shockwave reach the civilian shelters behind us!"

Dozens of special-operations agents drew their blades in unison.

They activated the Thunderclap Breathing Technique they had practiced for over a decade, driving the magic-power Star Rings within them to their limits.

Dozens of pale-blue barriers rose from the ground and wove together above their heads into a vast hemispherical dome.

Scarface Captain was a nine-star Star Mark powerhouse.

His Magic Power Scale had reached an impressive 1,800, making him the dome's strongest foundation.

But before the two mountain-sized Lords above them, whose Magic Power Scales approached 2,000, strength like his...

Meant nothing.

In the sky, the Deep-Space Giant Whale finally forced most of its body through the opening.

Apparently displeased by the cramped space, it heaved its enormous body through the clouds.

Even that careless turn sent a crushing wave of air toward the ground, carrying overwhelming physical force.

The moment the wave struck the Thunderclap Protective Formation—

Crack—

A sharp shattering sound rang in every agent's ears.

The Star Ring magic power they had spent decades cultivating was like a match trying to light the night in a gale.

It failed to hold for even half a second. The pale-blue light went out completely.

The defensive formation collapsed.

Dozens of elite agents coughed up blood and flew backward, unable to control their bodies.

The hard asphalt road could not withstand the downward force. The ground caved in.

A terrifying crater more than a hundred meters across was smashed into the center of the shopping district.

Broken water pipes sent jets spraying more than ten meters high, while underground cables spat blinding sparks.

Dust filled the air.

Agony swept through Scarface Captain's body. Several of his bones had broken.

With the last of his strength, he gripped the hilt of the Ship-Splitting Blade embedded in the ground. Half-kneeling at the crater's edge, he refused to fall.

Above him.

The Bone Colossus Owl beat its skeletal wings. A bolt of destructive lightning thicker than a barrel had locked onto their position and was plunging straight down with an ear-splitting roar.

Scarface Captain lifted his head. His blood-covered face showed no surrender.

As he watched the lightning descend, he tightened his grip on the hilt. He would rather die than yield!