Magical Girl Ziwei

The violet-gold meteor made no deafening roar. When it landed, it sent up a thick ring of dust that shrouded the center of the battlefield.

The Monster Hunting Bureau agents who had closed their eyes and waited for death felt none of the pain they expected. The attack never came.

They opened their eyes in alarm and stared into the dust.

The dust slowly cleared.

A figure stood within it.

The Monster Hunting Bureau squad leader's pupils contracted to pinpoints.

It was a... woman.

No. She looked like something that had no place in this world.

She was tall, with long violet-gold hair that stirred in the night wind and firelight.

She wore no standard combat uniform, but an elaborately designed violet-gold magical outfit with a scandalous lack of fabric. Black silk traced her perfect figure, and the lines of her legs showed faintly in the darkness.

Her face betrayed little emotion. She looked cool and proud, while visible motes of dreamlike magical light drifted around her.

Most absurd of all, she held a Dark Gold Giant Scythe taller than she was, and one foot rested elegantly on a crimson tentacle of the F-rank Blood Curse Species Monster.

Her extravagant, straight-out-of-an-anime appearance clashed so sharply with the brutal battlefield of ruined walls and raging flames that the sight felt unreal.

On the outside, Su Bai maintained the aloof pose he had learned from anime. Inside, he was screaming.

Damn this magical outfit! There's barely any fabric! The night wind's freezing my bare legs!

And this hovering thing—he'd nearly lost control when he landed. Only the core strength he'd built through years of physical training had kept him from falling flat on his face in front of everyone!

"It's... an illusion!" The squad leader snapped to his senses and roared at his team. "Guard your minds! It's a mental attack! High-rank Monsters can unleash deadly illusions before they die!"

The agents caught on and bit the tips of their tongues, trying to use the pain to dispel the impossible sight before them.

How could a human monster hunter look like that? She had walked straight out of some fantasy comic!

That was right! How could there be a Magical Girl in the world of monster hunters?

"ROAR—!!!"

The F-rank Blood Curse Species monster bellowed in fury beneath her foot.

Its massive body rolled violently. Dozens of tentacles lashed the ground, whipping up powerful gusts and smashing a nearby abandoned apartment building that was already on the verge of collapse.

BOOM!

Chunks of reinforced concrete rained down in every direction.

"Ah!"

As the building collapsed, a short cry came from the edge of the rubble.

A girl in a Xinghai City Girls' High School uniform lay pinned beneath a heavy section of load-bearing wall. She struggled desperately, but could not move.

Deadly danger descended in an instant.

"Damn it!" The Demon Hunting Bureau squad leader's eyes went wide with desperation. He and his team had already exhausted their abyssal energy. All they could do was watch as the Blood Curse Species Monster swung its enormous tentacles, slick with corrosive mucus, down toward both the trapped girl and the "illusion" at the center of the battlefield!

The attack covered both targets.

Everyone there, including the girl pinned beneath the wall, instinctively fixed their eyes on the radiant Magical Girl.

They could practically see what would happen next.

She would chant a mysterious spell in a sweet voice, conjure a magnificent magic circle, and block the devastating blow with a holy shield.

That was how heroes made their entrance in every story.

But as Su Bai faced the two incoming attacks, he had only one thought.

Finish this fast, collect the money, and leave.

Fancy tricks? Not a chance.

The next instant, everyone watched something that shattered everything they thought they knew.

The Magical Girl they had taken for an "illusion" moved.

She chanted no spell and took no defensive stance.

Her figure vanished from where she stood.

When she reappeared, she was in the path of the tentacle hurtling toward the schoolgirl.

She gripped the massive Dark Gold Giant Scythe with both hands and, with a ferocity utterly at odds with her slender frame, slashed through the incoming tentacle toward the Monster itself.

SWISH—!

Violet-gold light coated the dark gold blade as it swept through a perfect arc.

The crimson tentacle, thicker than a barrel, and the impossibly hard skull of the Monster behind it were sliced clean through without the slightest resistance.

The cut was smooth and even, as if she had sliced through warm tofu rather than the Monster's tough shell.

The massive Monster froze for a second. Then its body split neatly in two and crashed to the ground.

Foul-smelling blood and entrails splattered everywhere.

True silence fell over the battlefield.

In that moment, everything the Monster Hunting Bureau agents thought they knew crumbled.

Could an illusion... do that much physical damage?!

Su Bai ignored the still-twitching Monster corpse. In a flash, he appeared before the trapped girl.

With one hand, he seized the section of load-bearing wall pinning her down. It weighed at least several tons.

Then, as the girl stared blankly, he tossed it a hundred meters away with a casual display of absurd magical strength.

"Thank... you..."

The schoolgirl had just been freed and was about to thank him.

But her mysterious savior turned away in a flash and, without looking back, walked to the Monster's corpse to collect the faintly glowing rank-two F-rank Abyssal Core.

Every movement was smooth and practiced, his purpose so obvious it was almost outrageous.

With his prize secured, Su Bai immediately wanted to leave.

Talk to the authorities? Absolutely not!

He had no intention of revealing that the Magical Girl was actually a boy.

Just as he was about to flee, the rescued girl called out behind him. Her voice was weak, but brimming with excitement and admiration.

"P-please... may I know your name, great guardian?"

The girl struggled to sit up. Fervor shone in her eyes as she reached out, as though she wanted to catch hold of that dazzling light before it vanished.

Magical Girl Ziwei stopped.

With her back to them, she did not turn around. In her cool, mature voice, she answered simply.

"Magical Girl Ziwei."

With that, she said no more.

Su Bai hesitated no longer. He became a brilliant violet-gold meteor that shot into the sky and vanished into the black night.

Amid the ruins, only the speechless Monster Hunting Bureau agents remained, stunned and questioning everything they knew—

Along with the girl who clutched the hem of her uniform and etched the name "Ziwei" deep into her heart.