Dusk Calamity Annihilation

"Master!"

"A D-Rank Lord Monster has breached the cross-sea defenses! The entire defense force has collapsed, and it will begin tearing through the city 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 straight from 800 past 3,000."

"The first-tier D-Rank Lord Monster, the Rift-Splitting Dreadbeast, was supposed to arrive next week. It tore through the barrier between worlds early."

Three thousand one hundred on the scale.

By human standards, that was the threshold for a Four-Star Enforcer. Monsters had powerful bodies; even at the same rank, a full squad of Four-Star Enforcers would have to pay with their lives to bring it down.

The image switched to the scene.

Pouring rain.

Two blood-soaked Three-Star Enforcers 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. The kilometer-long cross-sea bridge broke into several sections, sending steel and concrete crashing into the sea.

Through the rain, the massive creature's silhouette stretched a hundred meters. Wherever its wings swept, black gashes were plowed through the air.

Outside the base, armored vehicles from the defense force lay overturned everywhere. On the public channel, the dispatcher's voice had gone shrill.

Toward the city, alarms mingled with the rain, each wail more desperate than the last.

"Where are the bureau's heavy hitters?"

"The Night Watchers-level fighters are all on rotation in a 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 stared at the image for two seconds.

"Kabi."

"Here!"

"I just bought two houses in Xinghai City."

"...Huh?"

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

"Master, why are you worrying about property prices at a time like this?" Kabi hopped in agitation, then suddenly caught on. "Wait, there's good news!"

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

"Master, the 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 on that thing."

He stood, grabbed two more pieces of fried chicken and stuffed them into his mouth, then rolled his wrists as he spoke through the food.

The whole house was sealed tight with a magic-blocking coating. If he transformed at home, nothing outside would detect it.

The incantation he had written himself, so embarrassing it made him cringe, rang through the empty hall.

Purple-gold light swallowed everything.

Atop a heavy-industry crane tower battered by howling wind, raindrops snapped against the steel frame.

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

Ziwei lowered her eyes toward the behemoth tearing apart factory buildings in the distance.

A book flickering with violet light hovered quietly before her chest, starlight flowing across its cover.

Her Companion Magic Book.

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

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

Whoosh—

The Magic Book flipped its own pages and stopped.

Newly unlocked magic—[First-Ring Magic Technique]—appeared as lines of text lit up.

"Master, this page has an offensive technique! I guarantee you'll like its power!"

"It had better be." Ziwei raised a hand and touched the page. "Golden Cemetery was only Basic Attack Magic, and it still cost me plenty of magic."

Her eyes had barely reached the page when, before she could finish the first line—

Kabi's voice cracked.

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

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

"Master, it's ripped off the outer casing! The Fusion Reactor Core is sealed inside!"

Deep in the rain, the alloy shell of Reactor Three Core had peeled back, leaving a breach over ten meters wide.

Warning lights blinked through the downpour. Their red glow ran over the standing water all the way to the foot of the crane tower.

The Rift-Splitting Dreadbeast's hundred-meter body coiled above the reactor, its bony wings half-folded as it bent down to gnaw through 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 screech.

The sound drowned out the thunder and shook a layer of white mist from the puddles on the ground.

In the distance, the shattered cross-sea bridge lay in the waves. Its collapsed steel framework churned with seawater into a vast whirlpool; the wreck of an armored vehicle spun twice and vanished.

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

"Fusion Runaway. The shock wave will flatten the east bank first, then radioactive dust will ride the monsoon into the city."

Kabi's stubby hands trembled.

"By conservative estimate, more than half 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 from last time!"

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

Over the public channel, the dispatcher sounded close to tears.

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

"...This is Team Three. Five of us can still move."

"Up there! Radar's picking up a High-Energy Signature approaching the crane tower!"

"Wait, that light..."

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

The channel fell 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, shut up! Watch what she does!"

Atop the crane tower, Ziwei lowered her gaze.

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

Purple-gold patterns flowed across the paper as lines of text lit up.

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

[Infuse the blade's edge with magic and gather its power into a single line. All the blade touches enters twilight.]

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

"What is this flowery nonsense?"

"The Magic Book wrote the description itself. Just work with it!" Kabi clung to the page. "Focus on the important part, Master: all it touches enters twilight!"

"Once the blade strikes a target, its energy gets sealed inside by a force field. None of it can escape!"

"Sealed?"

"Yes! Even if it tries to blow itself up, the blast will be trapped inside its own shell!"

"Was this skill made for today?"

"The page turned at random. You're just lucky, Master."

"No." Ziwei looked up. "It's 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 and strike a pose just to use a finishing move!"

"Because they're weak."

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

A faint blue glow pulsed there with every breath.

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