"It's just a smokescreen!"
Just as the magical girl Shallow Shadow was stunned by the sight of a single magical girl forming an army,
The leader's voice reached her ears, finally bringing Shallow Shadow back to her senses.
The leaders of the Great Forest Realm had been communicating with her privately so that they could exchange intelligence at crucial moments.
For example, the sneak attack just now.
The covert communication technology, unique to the Great Forest Realm, is far more concealed than that of the Land of Mirrors; it is absolutely undetectable to those within the Mirror Space.
She took a deep breath and looked at the group of magical girls.
A slight frenzy ran through him. "These are all magical girls at the Full Blossom Stage!"
"That's the biggest flaw!"
The leader's words calmed her down. "Think carefully, Shallow Shadow, the strongest magical girl in our Great Forest Realm, calm down and think about it! How could anyone create so many Full Blossom- level clones so quickly in one go!"
Shallow Shadow finally calmed down.
That's right, this situation is highly unlikely.
While using magic to dodge and neutralize the attacks coming from all directions, she began to think along with the leader's words.
Upon closer reflection, it was clear that the initial individual New Sprout possessed an exceptionally high level of precision in controlling the New Sprout's magical power.
Such precise control is impossible without daily use of New Sprout -level magic.
For example, after she herself ascends to the Full Blossom, once a while has passed, it becomes quite difficult for her to control the magic of the New Sprout.
Even if the opponent is incredibly powerful, they wouldn't be able to control the magic power of a nascent New Sprout with such precision—to be on par with my Peak Full Blossom, and even to move freely within my Masterpiece.
With this level of control precision, do you think you're Shion?
"Calm down, then find the flaw! One of these magical girls must be real, and the others must be fake! If we find the real one, we win!"
That's right, calm down, as long as we find the real one, we've won.
As long as we find the real one...
He unleashed his eighth Masterpiece once again, this time disregarding the battle with Si Motu and pouring all his magical power into it.
The thunder that instantly filled the entire isolated space left no gaps, but permeated every corner of the space.
There's nowhere left to hide!
The phantom couldn't withstand his full-force attack, so he cleared out all the illusions in one go!
"Let's see where you can hide..."
The confident, triumphant smile and the pronouncement were all frozen in place when he looked up.
The sky was filled with magical girls, yet not a single one was destroyed by its own thunder!
Each one unleashed magical power comparable to Full Blossom, and their control remained flawless. The lightning surrounding these magical girls was, in fact, manipulated by them.
She even turned her lightning into a lightning spear.
This means that she not only has strong control over her own magic, but also an extraordinary ability to control the unfamiliar magic of others—in short, her understanding of magic has reached its essence...
Most importantly, every magical girl in the sky did it!
Some people even grabbed two lightning spears, one on each side, and nearly a thousand of them were turned around and aimed at her.
"Didn't you say there was only one real one?! Where's the fake one?! I can't see it at all!"
With nowhere to hide, the Shallow Shadow roared inwardly, her defenses crumbling!
The leader who was being criticized was speechless for a moment.
I feel a little wronged.
Is this my fault?
Normally, if someone were to suddenly split into so many Full Blossom magical girls, one would assume it's an illusion, right?
I was just making a general assumption; if she doesn't follow the rules, that's not my fault, is it?
It's like watching a magic show. When you see someone being cut open, you're bound to wonder what kind of mechanism or illusion was used.
You tell me it really was cut in half and then glued back together!
It's not magic, it's sorcery!
Who the hell would have thought of that?
I was just thinking about how to find the real ones, but now... now I need to figure out how many of them are fake!
The leader stood in the conference room, gazing at the laughter that was as dense as thunder, and for a moment felt a chill run through him.
The countless magical girls all spoke in unison:
"If you can prove my ultimate skill, then your death will have been worthwhile."
This move is called: Three Thousand Lightning Movement!
Lightning spears rained down like raindrops!
The constantly churning and splashing mud obscured the view, and as the ground continued to crack open into abysses, the sky in that isolated space also began to shatter.
After all, as a temporary independent space for combat, it was not very stable. Under such a large-scale explosion, the entire space was quickly destroyed!
It was completely dispersed and disappeared by the spatial turbulence.
The entire conference room fell into a deathly silence.
The battle scene was no longer visible on screen, so everyone—including Shui Shengquan —looked at Si Motu.
Si Motu himself is very strong, that much is true, everyone knows it, and everyone is mentally prepared for it.
Even if Si Motu went up and defeated Shallow Shadow, no one would be surprised; they would probably just think, "As expected."
However, Si Motu simply grabbed one of his subordinates at random—perhaps a student, or perhaps just a regular subordinate.
A magical girl willing to submit to Si Motu easily defeated Shallow Shadow, and clearly had spare strength, not using her full power.
This is far more intimidating to others than if Si Motu were to take action himself.
If it were just Si Motu alone, they could still find a way to avoid him or seal him away. Although it would be difficult, it wasn't impossible.
Now, Si Motu has proven that he is not only exceptionally strong.
He even has a subordinate who can single-handedly command an army...
This is not good news for any of the Old World.
With such a powerful alliance between them and the prince of the Mirror Kingdom, the old world will truly become a domain dominated by this couple from the Mirror Kingdom...
Just as everyone fell silent, only the White Fox remained, asking blankly, "Sir, is this what a challenge against a level above your own is like? It's not quite the same as in the book..."
But Si Motu's voice was indifferent, "How is skipping a level by going down a level not skipping a level?"
"If you get promoted and then have to challenge enemies stronger than yourself, wouldn't that be a waste of the promotion? Promotion is for downward compatibility, fighting against lower-level opponents, and challenging your past self. Essentially, it's a training exercise to quickly improve your skills, a bonus opportunity."
The White Fox nodded cautiously and wrote down the contents.
"Remember, don't just study by rote. That will only make you a bookworm. You should learn more from your Super White Fox," Si Motu added. "When the time comes, ask her for a set of the Platinum Edition 'Five Years of Tomatoes, Three Years of Potatoes' practice questions to work on."
The White Fox was stunned. "Sir, do I still need to do the questions?"
Si Motu snorted coldly, "If you don't do practice problems, how will you know you're learned? If you don't do practice problems, how will you know how to use the word 'luck'? If you don't do practice problems, how can you reach the level of a scholar Cuttlefish? If you don't do practice problems, your vast knowledge is nothing more than a single page of a book!"
"When I was your age, I never backed down or avoided learning. Only by reading ten thousand books can one become a match for ten thousand!"
The White Fox's pen trembled suddenly.
When Blue Flower shattered the void, dragging the Shallow Shadow had already deactivated her transformation, she waved her hand arrogantly, as if responding to her fans, and even blew a kiss towards the sect leader's position.
"Boss, Super White Fox has lived up to its mission!"
However, in response to Blue Flower's overtures, Jiang Si coldly asked, "Why did the first Magic Puppet lose?"
Blue Flower immediately broke out in a cold sweat, "This, this, this, the White Fox did it on purpose, meow..."
"Go back and practice some more."
"No, boss, I really can't take it anymore..."
Seeing that the sect leader was too lazy to pay attention to her, Blue Flower cried for a long time but found it was useless.
Enraged, she grabbed Shallow Shadow's face and slapped her several times.
Of course, she couldn't go to the sect leader and say that the other party had used underhanded tactics, which was why her New Sprout Magic Puppet had failed—in the Azure Cloud Sect, a loss is a loss, there are no excuses, there aren't that many underhanded tactics in battle, and no one will stop you from using your puppet.
However, it's true that she didn't pay attention. The New Sprout Magic Puppet was originally designed to play dumb to fool others, but unexpectedly, she actually ended up playing the fool herself...
The final remedial measures also failed completely; they didn't move the sect leader, and now I can't play the game again...
The leader of the Great Forest Realm, seeing Shallow Shadow in Blue Flower's hand, his face swollen from being slapped so many times, finally couldn't sit still any longer and said, "That's enough, isn't it? We, the Great Forest Realm, have lost. We concede. Return Shallow Shadow to us, and we'll leave immediately..."
When did I say you could leave?
Jiang Si adjusted her mask. "You didn't think the challenge was free, did you?"
Blue Flower snorted, and the more than nine hundred Magic Puppet that had disappeared reappeared from all directions of the conference room.
They walked toward the people of the Old World.
Everyone's face was ashen, Shui Shengquan's was especially grim. " Si Motu, this meeting is to discuss countermeasures against Shion..."
"Is that so?" Si Motu sneered. "I thought it was a denunciation meeting targeting me."
As they spoke, apart from the Great Forest Realm, the other three Old World that had Full Bloom quotas also dispatched their own guards.
All of them were magical girls at the peak of their Peak Full Blossom; three gray-white magical girls stood in front, ready for battle.
However, the Blue Flower Magic Puppet had already moved on.
Excuse me, meow.
Before anyone could see anything clearly, the three gray-white magical girls simultaneously deactivated their transformations and instantly slammed into the wall!
Four Blue Flower figurines each grabbed a member of the Old World and lifted them up.
These were the four members of the Old World who secured the Full Bloom quota from the Prince.
Even Shui Shengquan didn't dare to speak this time.
" The Prince is still quite young, with white hair and a childlike demeanor. He lacks thoughtfulness and his actions are typical of a three-foot-tall child. The allocation of Full Bloom spots this time is somewhat unfair to you."
Si Motu sat in his chair, watching the four members of the Old World who had been grabbed by Blue Flower and had their heads slammed onto the table, unable to move.
"Hand over Full Bloom spots, and I'll allocate them accordingly."
" Si Motu! You're crowing like a rooster at dawn!!" The leader of the Great Forest Realm grinned maliciously, raising his head abruptly. "This alliance belongs to the Prince! You dare to act so wildly before you've even ridden on the Prince's head! Do you think we'll submit..."
Bang!
A clean and decisive punch.
The leader of the Great Forest Realm was smashed under the conference table, his head exploding open.
The White Fox walked to the side, tore off her sleeve, and wiped the blood and filth from the man's hands.
Jiang Si ignored her and simply took the Miracle Seed from the corpse of the leader of the Great Forest Realm.
It possesses Full Bloom position that replicates the Miracle Seed of Iris. Although it is currently blank, once the power is filled, it will be able to do the same thing as the Miracle Seed of Iris.
Then she looked at the others.
"Next."
The Central Region of the Land of Mirrors.
When the Prince emerged from the bath, his clothes clung tightly to his body, almost revealing the color of his flesh.
She hadn't changed her clothes when she came in, and now her clothes were all wet and sticking to her body, which was naturally a bit uncomfortable.
Stepping out of the bath, the sound of water was incredibly clear, even a little ear-piercing. The sensation of squeezing water through her shoes felt like stepping on soft, fluffy bubbles, making her feel as if she were floating on cotton.
Halfway there, I arrived at my bedroom.
Her bedroom wasn't very feminine; it was almost completely bare: a bed, a table, a stool, a huge mirror, and nothing else.
It's like a giant prison.
She looked at herself in the mirror, her clothes and body soaked through, water dripping down her temples and sleeves.
It felt a little unfamiliar.
So she sat on the stool, gently pulling at her already soaked over-the-knee socks, pressing them against her skin. When she took them off, it felt like peeling them off, and her hands and feet felt strangely uncoordinated. She even had to struggle to pull the socks out from between her toes.
My body felt strange; when I touched my feet, I felt a sensation that didn't belong to me.
[Reminder: Your fiancé is planning to redistribute the full quota of Full Bloom. Your Prince, please handle this... Wait, your brain signals are malfunctioning... Magical influence... Remove...]
The system voice in his ears began to become muffled, and the Prince shook his head, feeling somewhat dizzy.
She remembered that she had encountered a magical girl from the Azure Cloud Sect before, and then she escaped.
Then, she entered the medical pod of the Land of Mirrors to treat her brain. The other party's ability had affected her brain, and since she had no magic, she could only use technology to eliminate the influence.
In fact, in retrospect, it wasn't a serious problem; it only strengthened his dependence on Si Motu, led him to share intelligence with Si Motu, and ultimately resulted in the annulment of the engagement.
Although she didn't know why the Azure Cloud Sect was so insistent on her annulment of the engagement, her relationship with Si Motu was far more than just a marriage contract; their feelings for each other...
"My daughter."
Suddenly, the reflection in the mirror began to speak.
She revealed a kind and gentle smile, a smile she would never normally show.
"Well done, my darling. You've worked so hard all this time."
"From this day forward, you are no longer the Prince of the Land of Mirrors, but Land of Mirrors king."
Then the Prince realized that he was not on the other side of the mirror.
It's inside the mirror.
She looked at the smile on that unfamiliar version of herself, and then slowly removed all her soaked clothes, changing her into new, gorgeous attire.
Those were magnificent clothes, the Mirror King's attire.
The platinum-gold trailing gown, along with the crown she always carried, made her appear regal and elegant, completely different from her usual self.
Or perhaps there were originally two people.
"Because, from this day forward, I am you, and we are the Mirror King."
[System enters silence.]
The Land of Mirrors, which had been silent all along, seemed to come alive.
Alice, the installations, and the silent machines everywhere cheered together!
It was as if welcoming the king's return.
Only the main system remains silent.
The Prince, trapped in the mirror, stared at his mother who had taken over his body, and shook his head desperately, trying to clear his mind.
My memory is always hazy, as if I've forgotten something important.
"You are my last resort, my child."
The Mirror King sat before the mirror, gazing at his youthful, exquisite, and beautiful face, a satisfied smile spreading across his face. "I've known for a long time that the Land of Mirrors will most likely lose the battle against the New World. Those little things aren't so simple. Just like the technologies they gave us back then, their world must have an even stronger power."
"So I had you with a man from the New World, child. You are a hybrid of the Old World and New World. When all the people of the Land of Mirrors were sealed away, you were able to escape because of your New World bloodline. You are the only Land of Mirrors citizen who could possibly survive and live in the New World."
"But you're so stupid, my child."
The Mirror King let out a long sigh, "From beginning to end, you have never satisfied me. Compared to your brothers and sisters, you are more dull, slow, and insensitive to emotions. You are almost flawed. Therefore, although you are the only one in the Land of Mirrors who may survive, you are definitely not the one who can restore the kingdom."
"I've set up a final safeguard in the medical pod. Whether you're here to become Alice, gain power, or recover from injury, as long as you lie in the medical pod, one day I will appear, take over your body, and restore the Land of Mirrors..."
His groggy mind finally began to clear up some of his memories. In the mirror, the still soaking wet Prince awkwardly raised his head and finally saw his magnificent and noble self clearly.
Or rather, her mother.
"Look at you, how pathetic you are," the woman sighed. "You have none of the magnanimity, strategy, or temperament of a king. You have nothing but that insignificant ambition. The Land of Mirrors will never rise again in your hands."
"You Return to Truth are long-winded." The Prince adjusted the mirror in front of him, revealing a disdainful sneer.
Regardless, the Prince maintained her arrogance.
The Mirror King outside paused slightly, seemingly somewhat surprised.
Have you obtained all the permissions?
Mirror King fiddled with the system interface, tilting his head slightly. "I thought you had some backup plan. All the permissions are in my hands..."
"What about this one?"
A red button was pressed.
The Mirror King's pupils contracted slightly; it wasn't the original self-destruct system of the Land of Mirrors...
Was this added to the Prince's roster recently?
The Land of Mirrors's devices, which had been fully revived, all their machines and systems were now flashing red light.
The main system also started flashing.
[WARNING, WARNING: System enters self-destruct mode. Self-destruct mode countdown: 50 seconds.]
[Forty-nine seconds.]
The King of Mirrors's previously flippant expression finally turned serious. "Do you know what you're doing?"
"If you don't return my body, I'll destroy the entire Land of Mirrors."
"You think you can threaten me? As long as I To Live, the Land of Mirrors will not perish..."
As she spoke, she saw the Prince in the mirror smash the mirror with his fist!
In the shattered mirror, the Prince reached out a bloodied hand, but only managed to grasp one of the shards.
Then the Mirror King discovered that his own body had involuntarily grasped a shard of mirror.
"When did I ever say you could live? My mother."
A shard of mirror suddenly pierced his temple, splattering blood. Both the Prince inside the mirror and the Mirror King outside knelt down simultaneously.
The Mirror King trembled violently as he struggled to lift his head. In the shattered glass, several disheveled reflections of himself were seen.
His face was contorted in pain, covered in blood, and even showed signs of fear and confusion.
Do you really know what you're doing?
"Either return the body, or we die together, and the Land of Mirrors disappears from history forever."
You have no reason to take such a risk.
"Because I didn't take any risks."
The Prince gave a cold smile, revealing a deep-seated pride and contempt as he looked at his mother.
"Look at yourself now, Mother. You are utterly hideous. It is your hands that have brought about the destruction of the Land of Mirrors."
Once back inside her body outside the mirror, her mother's consciousness data also returned to the mirror, staring intently at her.
The Prince casually removed the shard of mirror from his temple, and the self-destruct mechanisms of all systems ceased.
Then a robot brought her gauze and medicine to bandage her wound.
"From the very beginning, it was a complete victory for me, my mother."
"You can't bear to leave the Land of Mirrors, and you can't bear to leave yourself."
The Prince used his blood-stained fingers to apply lipstick to his own lips, then gently smeared it on his mother's lips in the mirror. "And I," he said, "Can give up anything."
"You're a madman," Mirror King murmured. "I underestimated you, Yitaen."
"Thank you for your recognition, but unfortunately, you made me think too highly of you."
Mirror King scoffed, "If it were the old you, you would never have done this. What happened?"
He smiled, then used the main system's permissions to lock the mirror, forever imprisoning his mother's last data.
The Prince, having bandaged his wound, got up and went outside.
The Land of Mirrors, now revived, still possesses the true authority belonging to the Mirror King.
Everything has arrived.
She picked up her crown and sat on the throne.
To give myself a final crowning.
[Congratulations: You are now entitled to be emperor!]
Sitting quietly on his throne, the Prince merely gazed indifferently at everything beneath the Land of Mirrors, at the transparent glass artifacts.
All those machines, Alice, including those devices that had never obeyed her commands, started up at that moment.
The Land of Mirrors, long dormant, is finally beginning its true revival!
Gently licking the bright red of his lips with the tip of his tongue, the Prince, recalling his mother's last question, tilted his head, propped his head and crown with his right hand, and smiled faintly:
"Why go to this point...?"
"We can't let him marry an old woman, can we?"
"If I can't produce a dowry befitting my status, I'm afraid I won't be able to hold my head up in front of him, after all, the first child will take my surname..."