Dusk Calamity Annihilation

"Master!"

"A D-Rank Lord Monster has breached the Cross-Sea Defense Line. The entire defense force has collapsed. It will reach the city and tear it apart in three minutes!"

Su Bai stopped chewing.

"Where?"

Kabi waved a stubby hand, and a holographic disaster map spread across the hall.

East of Xinghai City, at the Cross-Sea Heavy Industry Base.

The red number marking the Rift Energy Level stood at 3,100 and was still climbing.

"Two minutes ago, the energy level shot from 800 past 3,000."

"The first-tier D-Rank Lord Monster scheduled to arrive next week, the Rift-Splitting Dreadbeast, tore through the World Membrane early."

3,100 on the scale.

That was the threshold for a Four-Star Enforcer by human standards. Monsters had formidable bodies. At the same rank, even a full squad of Four-Star Enforcers would have to pay in blood to bring one down.

The feed switched to the scene.

Driving rain.

Two Three-Star Enforcers, covered in blood, fell from the sky into the churning sea. Whether they lived or died was unknown.

More than a dozen translucent Spatial Wind Blades slashed across one another, severing the kilometer-long sea bridge into several sections. Steel and concrete crashed into the water.

Through the rain, the massive creature's silhouette stretched a hundred meters. Wherever its wings swept, they carved black rifts through the air.

Armored vehicles lay overturned across the base perimeter. On the public channel, the dispatcher's voice had gone shrill.

Toward the city, alarms wailed through the rain, each one more desperate than the last.

"Where are the bureau's heavy hitters?"

"All Night Watchers-level fighters are on rotation in the neighboring city. It'll take them at least forty minutes to get here."

"Forty minutes is enough for it to plow through the city twice."

Su Bai watched the feed for two seconds.

"Kabi."

"Here!"

"I just bought two houses in Xinghai City."

"...Huh?"

"If the city's gone, how far do you think property prices will fall?"

"Master, how can you still be thinking about property prices at a time like this?" Kabi bounced in outrage, then suddenly caught on. "Wait, I've got good news!"

Kabi flew a circle around Su Bai, glowing all over.

"Master, the Companion Magic Book has finished absorbing energy. Use Magic Book Training on it!"

Su Bai tossed his unfinished fried chicken back into the box and chuckled.

"All right."

"We'll try it out on that thing."

He stood, grabbed two pieces of fried chicken, and stuffed them into his mouth, rolling his wrists as he chewed.

The house-wide magic-shielding coating blocked everything completely. If he transformed at home, nothing outside would detect it.

The chant he had written himself, mortifying as it was, rang through the empty hall.

Purple-gold light swallowed everything.

Rain hammered the steel frame atop a heavy-industry crane tower as the wind howled.

A tall figure in purple-gold Magical Armor stood in midair, the Dark-Gold Scythe weightless in her hand.

Ziwei lowered her gaze to the colossal creature tearing through factory buildings in the distance.

A book hovered quietly before her chest, glowing purple, Starshine shimmering across its cover.

Her Companion Magic Book.

Every Magical Girl had one. Powered by magic, it contained spells, finishing moves, and ultimate arts.

All the residual energy from the battles Kabi had swallowed lately had gone into the book. Tonight, it had finally stored enough to turn another page.

Whoosh—

The Companion Magic Book flipped its pages on its own and stopped.

A newly unlocked spell—[First-Ring Magic Technique]—appeared as lines of text lit up.

"Master, this page has an offensive magic technique. You'll love the power!"

"I'd better." Ziwei raised a hand and touched the page. "Last time, Golden Cemetery was only Basic Attack Magic, and it still cost me plenty of magic."

Her eyes had barely reached the text. Before she could finish the first line—

Kabi's voice cracked.

"Master, the Rift-Splitting Dreadbeast has torn into a core reactor! It's at..."

"...Reactor Three! The one by the sea on the east side!"

"Master, it ripped open the outer shell! The Fusion Reactor Core is sealed inside!"

Deep in the rain, the alloy casing of Reactor Three Core had peeled back, leaving a gash more than ten meters wide.

Warning lights blinked through the downpour. Red light spilled across the pooled water and reached the foot of the crane tower.

The Rift-Splitting Dreadbeast's hundred-meter body coiled above the reactor. With its bony wings half-folded, it lowered its head and tore into the second protective layer.

Half-meter-thick alloy plating crunched between its jaws, fragments spilling from the corners of its mouth.

It threw back its head and let out a piercing shriek.

The sound drowned out the thunder. Water pooled on the ground leaped up in a layer of white mist.

In the distance, the shattered sea bridge lay in the waves. Fallen steelwork churned with seawater into a huge whirlpool. The wreckage of an armored vehicle spun twice and vanished.

"What happens if the core blows?" Ziwei asked.

"Fusion Runaway. The shock wave will flatten the eastern shore first, then radioactive dust will ride the seasonal winds into the city."

Kabi's stubby hands trembled.

"Conservatively, most of Xinghai City will be uninhabitable."

"My two estates are right by the river."

"Yes! Right downwind!"

"Then it dies here today."

"Master, how are you going to fight it? Its bone armor is twenty percent tougher than that giant whale's!"

"The Companion Magic Book just turned a page." Ziwei looked down. "I'll use that."

The dispatcher sounded close to tears on the public channel.

"All combat units, report casualties! Team Two? Is anyone left in Team Two?"

"...Team Three here. Five of us can still move."

"In the sky! Radar's picked up a High-Energy Signature approaching the crane tower!"

"Wait, that light..."

"It's Ziwei! The Magical Girl Ziwei is here!"

The channel went silent for a second, then erupted.

"What's she doing here? That's a lord at 3,100 on the scale!"

"Shut up! All of you! Watch what she does!"

Atop the crane tower, Ziwei kept her eyes lowered.

Before her chest, the Companion Magic Book rustled through its pages and stopped on the newly unlocked one.

Purple-gold patterns spread across the paper, lighting up the text line by line.

[First-Ring Magic Technique — Dusk Calamity Annihilation (Twilight Doom)]

[Imbue the blade's edge with magic and forge a single line of sharpness. All things touched by its edge enter twilight.]

[Note: Lock onto the target's energy node. Charge for three breaths.]

"What is this flowery nonsense?"

"The Companion Magic Book generates its own descriptions. Just go with it!" Kabi clung to the page. "Focus on the important part, Master: all things enter twilight!"

"A target struck by the blade will have its energy locked inside its body by a force field. None of it can escape!"

"Locked inside?"

"Yes! Even if it tries to self-destruct, the explosion will be trapped inside its own shell!"

"Was this skill made for today?"

"The page unlocks at random. You just got lucky, Master."

"No." Ziwei raised her eyes. "It got unlucky."

She paused, then pointed at the last line.

"And what does 'charge for three breaths' mean? I have to stand still for three seconds in the middle of a fight?"

"Three breaths is fast! Other Magical Girls have to chant for half a minute to use a finishing move, and they have to pose too!"

"That's because they're bad at it."

Her gaze pierced the rain and settled on the third segment of the beast's back.

A dim blue glow pulsed there with each breath.

A lord at 3,100 on the Magic Power Scale was the equivalent of a human Four-Star Enforcer. Its body was formidable. At the same rank, even a full Enforcer squad would have to pay in blood to bring it down.