"What matters most to a magical girl?"
The girl suddenly asked a question.
Keke struggled to her feet and looked at the girl's icy face, answering cautiously, "It's faith. A heart that never gives up hope, no matter when-that's the source of a magical girl's miracles."
"Why aren't you transforming?"
Her tone wasn't actually very stern; it even held a faintly dismissive indifference. Yet Jiang Keke felt like a poor student called on by the teacher in class, under immense pressure.
All she could do was stammer, "I-I can't..."
She had already tried countless times, but had never succeeded once.
Ever since receiving the seed, she had worked hard to find information about magical girls.
No magical girl had ever encountered a situation like hers. All magical girls would transform on their own upon receiving their seeds, after which a companion fairy would help them, providing the most basic knowledge about magical girls.
And help them defeat the Calamity Beast before them.
"The seed is empty."
She opened her palm and showed the seed to the purple magical girl, noticing that the other girl seemed to freeze for a moment too.
Her heart immediately eased.
So it wasn't that she was too stupid. With the seed completely empty, there really was nothing she could do...
The Calamity Beast that had been knocked down took flight again.
Keke raised her head and watched the Calamity Beast in the sky let out another shriek.
Yet the purple magical girl didn't even look back, only staring at her seed.
She urged her, "Transform."
"I told you, I can't..."
"Transform."
This time, her tone carried a measure of sternness, leaving no room for argument.
An ominous aura surged from the Calamity Beast high above as it swooped down.
"The Calamity Beast's coming!"
"Transform!"
Under the relentless urging, Jiang Keke finally gave up resisting and closed her eyes, clutching her magic seed tightly.
She shouted, "Transform!"
Purple flames came surging toward her in an instant!
The searing flames made Jiang Keke think she was going to die, but she soon discovered that they weren't hot at all.
They were even very warm. The flames wrapped around her entire body, and she could clearly feel their touch against her skin, a smoothness like silk. When that silky sensation spread over her whole body, she finally felt an immense power.
A scorching magic staff fell into her hand, and her fiery-red skirt swayed like waves of flame.
She stared blankly at the scalding staff in her hand. The entire wand was crystal clear, with flames dancing joyfully inside.
The restless power left her somewhat unsettled.
Then she raised her head and discovered that the Calamity Beast descending from the sky hadn't crashed down.
The purple magical girl hadn't even turned her head, merely shifting sideways slightly and extending a hand.
Layers upon layers of petals piled up in her hand, forcibly stopping the enormous, plummeting Calamity Beast.
The girl, who paid the Calamity Beast no mind whatsoever, only looked at the transformed Jiang Keke. A hint of gratification seemed to have entered her icy gaze.
But she still only gave a quiet huff, her tone remaining cold and hard. "Didn't you do just fine?"
Although her tone seemed somewhat unfriendly, Jiang Keke only felt happy that she had praised her.
She even relaxed a little.
It seemed that, deep down, she was terribly afraid of disappointing her.
"It's all thanks to you, senior..."
The other girl was far too short, probably even a little shorter than her. Her height wouldn't have stood out even among elementary schoolers.
Calling her "senior" felt strange, but she didn't know what else to call her.
"Where's your companion fairy? Or rather, your Incubator?"
"Huh? Eh?" Jiang Keke felt around her body. "N-no, there isn't one."
Every magical girl was supposed to have an Incubator accompanying her when she came into being, but only after being reminded did Jiang Keke realize that no Incubator had appeared after her transformation.
"Never mind. It doesn't matter if you don't have one."
The Calamity Beast opened its enormous mouth, saliva dripping between its sharp teeth as it gnawed at the purple magical barrier blooming from her hand.
"I'll teach you."
The instant the purple magical barrier shattered, flecks of light scattered like sparks. The girl met the shower of magical starlight, stamping her rear foot against the ground. With a thunderous tremor, purple magic gushed from beneath her feet, almost covering the school's entire rooftop!
"Concentrate your magic."
Then she pivoted at the hips, her whole body drawn taut as a bow. Her purple hair streamed out, seeming to turn into dancing flames of light as well.
As the Calamity Beast roared and plummeted like an unstoppable meteor!
It met an elbow strike that looked somewhat soft and slow.
Bang!
The instant they made contact, the Calamity Beast was sent flying like a cannonball!
After it smashed into the dormitory building opposite them, the purple magic erupted. The shock wave kicked up an enormous cloud of dust, and even Jiang Keke, standing behind the purple magical girl, staggered and nearly fell.
"Then release it all in one burst."
The magic around her slowly dissipated. The aloof magical girl turned her head toward the dumbstruck newcomer. "This is magic. The power of magical girls."
"What magic was that?"
"Magic Eight Extremes Collapse."
Jiang Keke was rather confused. She couldn't see what had been magical about that blow.
But since her senior said so, she must have her reasons.
Surely she wouldn't lie to her.
In the distance, the Calamity Beast that Magic Eight Extremes Collapse had smashed into the dormitory building still had eyes filled with ferocity. Even with a hole torn through its body, and the lingering purple magic restraining it, it showed no sign of fearing pain.
It still let out piercing shrieks, trying to charge over.
"Any living creature feels pain and fear, but Calamity Beasts are different. They have no sense of pain, and they don't feel fear."
The petite senior's tone was indifferent, but she explained patiently. "So just keep attacking until you destroy them completely. Don't entertain any wishful thinking or mercy. Do as I just did and deal it the finishing blow."
"Yes, teacher."
"...Just call me Shion."
"All right, Teacher Shion."
"Never mind."
Jiang Keke closed her eyes and took a deep breath, concentrating and sensing the surging magic inside her wand.
As her thoughts connected with the wand, the formerly restless magic obediently followed her direction.
She aimed her wand at the struggling Calamity Beast and released all her magic in one go.
A crimson pillar of light surged from the wand like a raging torrent, roaring as it engulfed the bat Calamity Beast!
Jiang Keke didn't dare relax, only pouring out magic without pause, until Shion placed a hand on her wand and stopped the flow. "Well done. Relax. Ease off."
Drained of strength at once, Jiang Keke plopped onto the ground, panting heavily.
Looking up, she saw that the entire upper half of the dormitory building had disappeared, and the bat Calamity Beast inside was nowhere to be seen either.
Only a pitch-black seed remained.
A Grief Seed, the necessary cause of a Calamity Beast's birth. People's grief gathered into a seed, which sprouted and grew, turning into a Calamity Beast.
To magical girls, it was something poisonous, and they would generally destroy it outright.
Yet Jiang Keke saw Shion take out something resembling a badge and draw the Grief Seed into it.
She had never seen a magical girl collect Grief Seeds.
"That's the basic procedure. Generally speaking, Calamity Beasts only appear alone. When you encounter one, just do everything you can to destroy it. But your magic is particularly outstanding. Once you're certain it's destroyed, there's no need to keep expending magic."
After adding that, she rose and took flight without lingering at all. "That will be all for today. I have other matters to deal with."
"Teacher Shion, I still don't know how to contact you! Teacher Shion!"
Jiang Keke ran after her for a few steps, then found herself short of breath.
She discovered that she couldn't fly and could only watch helplessly as that graceful figure rapidly disappeared.
Staring blankly after the purple magical girl's departing figure, she felt an emptiness in her heart for a time.
The students and teachers around her, who had been knocked unconscious by the Calamity Beast's shock waves, gradually woke up. For safety's sake, the security guards were still having the teachers and students evacuate the school in an orderly fashion.
Someone called out to her. Jiang Keke looked down and saw her homeroom teacher.
Still feeling a sense of loss, she was about to go downstairs when she saw a pink beam of light streak across the sky from afar.
It quickly landed above the dormitory building. Another magical girl.
She was probably looking for the Calamity Beast. After failing to find it, she flew up again, her gaze finally landing on Jiang Keke. She gave a surprised "Huh?" and then descended.
"A new magical girl?"
The speaker was a pink magical girl. Her pretty pink hair was tied into twin tails with blue bow hair ties. She gave a light hop as she landed, and the butterfly wings formed from ribbons fluttered along with her.
Traces of blood still lingered on her pretty face. She even coughed as she landed, and seemed to be injured.
Tilting her head slightly, she examined Jiang Keke curiously with pink eyes, carrying a hint of worldliness.
"Hello. I'm Yinlian, magical girl number 0721 of the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau, and captain of the BH City Magical Girl Combat Team. I'll be conducting an investigation and asking questions about you and the anomalous emergence of a Calamity Beast on campus. Would you cooperate?"
Her voice was like drops falling from a laboratory pipette, neither loud nor soft, steady and clear. Every syllable was precise and distinct, without a single unnecessary ripple, like the sound of precision gears meshing as they turned.
Rather than a magical girl, she seemed more like a soldier.