Trap

“Haaaah!”

Wielding a greatsword as tall as herself, Magical Girl Raging Flame turned herself into a cannonball, charging straight towards the enemy.

However, in the next second, she tasted the bitter fruit of her recklessness and thoughtlessness.

“—!?”

‘It… it won’t cut?’

The flame-wreathed giant blade only slightly sliced open the skin of the Aberration—Greatarm—before coming to a halt.

Even worse, when Raging Flame tried to pull out her weapon to temporarily retreat, she found that Greatarm’s cut, purplish-blue skin had already slowly healed, swallowing the embedded blade along with it.

No matter how she pulled, her weapon was like the legendary sword in the stone, firmly stuck in that absurdly thick arm, not moving an inch.

‘This is bad! It’s a trap!’

By the time she realized this, Greatarm’s other arm was already swinging violently towards her.

Disarmed, Raging Flame had no way to block and could only instinctively raise her arms to protect her most vital part, her head.

“—Bang!”

After a loud noise, she was sent flying into the air like a rubber ball.

Just as she thought she was about to fall hard to the ground, a hand steadily caught her.

“Xiao Flame, being too eager for success is a major taboo in battle.”

Magical Girl Violet Lightning, a veteran magical girl belonging to Shangjing City’s Second Ring.

She wielded a long spear imbued with the power of thunder, and her fighting style was clean and efficient.

Because she was particularly friendly, Lao Lin had temporarily borrowed her to train Raging Flame.

“I remember you weren’t this impatient the last two times. What, did something happen in reality that affected your state of mind?”

Magical girls referred to things that happened in their mortal state as “things in reality,” which seemed to be a conventional way of speaking.

“I- I’m sorry, Senpai.”

Raging Flame bowed her head deeply.

Indeed, Raging Flame’s state of mind was a bit off.

A few days ago, after talking with Bai Mian on the phone, the feeling of helplessness at being unable to do anything about her friend’s predicament had been troubling her, making it difficult for her to calm down.

Because of this, she was eager to throw herself into something, eager to achieve some results, to neutralize and get rid of this feeling of powerlessness.

As a result, during the battle with the Aberration, this eagerness for quick success had put her in a predicament, backfiring on her.

‘…In the end, I still can’t do anything, can I?’

Thinking of this, Raging Flame bit her lip in frustration, on the verge of tears.

“Haha, no need to apologize.”

Seemingly seeing through her junior’s troubles, Violet Lightning smiled brightly and said:

“A C-rank Aberration isn’t something you can deal with right now anyway. Remember not to lose heart.”

“Yes, understood.”

“Also, a piece of advice from your senior,” Violet Lightning said.

“You must remember, no matter what happens in reality, don’t bring your emotions into your battles.”

While Violet Lightning was giving her lesson, without anyone noticing, Greatarm had quietly circled around to their blind spot.

“If you feel like, ‘Ugh, this is bad, my condition is terrible today,’ then the best thing to do is to withdraw from the battle, then undo your transformation, turn off your phone, go home, and sleep soundly. Also—”

“—Roar roar roar roar roar roar roar!“

At this moment, the ambushing Greatarm’s figure swelled, its two-meter-plus body like a small mountain, casting a terrifying shadow over the two petite girls.

“I said—”

Violet Lightning clicked her tongue.

“I’m currently lecturing my cute junior, could you please…”

Violet Lightning’s eyes changed.

The killing intent and madness that flowed out in that instant made Raging Flame, who was standing beside her, feel a chill in her heart.

“—be quiet?”

—Crackle!

Following the trajectory of the spear blade, a purple electric current shot up from below, tearing through the air, piercing the void, and finally disappearing deep into the clouds.

As smooth and satisfying as a hot knife through butter, the great arm that Raging Flame couldn’t budge no matter what was thus easily severed by Violet Lightning, thrown into the air, and finally crashed heavily to the ground.

“—Roar roar roar roar roar roar roar roar!“

Losing an arm, Greatarm roared in pain.

Knowing the vast difference in strength, it immediately turned and fled towards a nearby abandoned factory.

“So, so strong…”

‘Is this what a full-fledged magical girl is like?’

A few days ago, Raging Flame was still smug about defeating Bubble Person. Now, thinking about it, she felt nothing but shame.

“That guy’s arm has been tempered to be harder than metal, and it has super strong self-healing abilities. Attacking that area would have little effect.”

“But look—”

Violet Lightning poked the severed arm lying on the ground with the tip of her spear.

“The connection between the shoulder and the arm is still very weak, isn’t it?”

While the two were talking, Greatarm’s severed arm had slowly decomposed into magic particles and disappeared. All that was left was Raging Flame’s greatsword, which had been stuck in the arm, and an irregularly shaped white crystal.

Among all the active magical girls in Shangjing City’s five major rings, Violet Lightning’s speed and precision were outstanding. With that last attack, she could have actually pierced Greatarm’s head and ended the battle early.

The reason she intentionally missed was simply to demonstrate the combat technique and awareness of “observing & exploiting weaknesses” to her junior.

“…My god, it’s this heavy?”

Violet Lightning tried to pick up Raging Flame’s greatsword to return it to her, but was surprised to find that she couldn’t do it with one hand. Even with both hands, she could only barely lift it.

“I can’t believe you can fight while wielding this thing. I think you’re the real Greatarm, aren’t you?” Violet Lightning said in surprise.

“Sen- Senpai…”

Raging Flame’s face turned red in a “swoosh.”

“Alright, no more joking.”

Violet Lightning retracted her long spear into her Soul Gem, her gaze turning towards the abandoned factory where Greatarm had hidden, and then she looked up at the sky.

The once clear sky had darkened at some point.

The dark clouds were getting lower and lower, a sign of approaching bad weather.

“Let’s finish that guy off and hurry home.”

****

“Xiao You, are you listening to me?”

Feeling a couple of pats on his shoulder, You Dong snapped out of his daze.

“Oh, it’s Lao Jin. Sorry, I was just thinking about something.”

“You’ve been acting strange these past few days. What, did you argue with your ‘precious baby’ again?”

“Precious baby” referred to You Xi. Everyone in the company knew that You Dong was a “doting daughter-maniac,” so they had given You Xi this teasing nickname.

“Let me tell you, girls at this age are just like that. The fact that you two can still argue is pretty good,” Lao Jin sat down next to You Dong, activating his “life senior” mode.

“When my daughter was in high school, I wonder if we even spoke ten sentences to each other in a year. This situation gets much better after she goes to college and there’s some distance between you two. Now that my daughter is working, she even knows to ask about my well-being and buy me clothes to wear.”

“So don’t push too hard, give the kid and yourself some space, and everything will slowly get better.”

“Thanks, Lao Jin, I’m fine.”

As he said this, You Dong felt his right eyelid twitch violently.

Since after lunch, a sense of foreboding had been looming over him, causing him to lose focus and be unable to concentrate on work at all.

Was it just because he was overly worried, or was something bad really going to happen?

You Dong turned his gaze out the window.

The sunny sky at noon had become overcast with dark clouds at some point. This abnormal weather change further intensified his unease.

‘…What is You Xi doing right now?’

Since they had talked in the living room that day, the two had not communicated at all, not even making eye contact once.

In the past when this happened, it was usually You Xi deliberately avoiding him, but now the situation was the opposite.

Right now, You Dong didn’t dare to face his niece.

Because, for him, until he found a suitable way to interact with her, facing You Xi, or rather, Magical Girl Raging Flame, was a form of torturing his own heart.

In the past, he believed that in front of his niece, his position was always that of a “guide” and “protector.”

But now, Lao Lin had told him:

“You have no right to deny her conviction.”

You Xi had told him:

“It’s precisely because the adults do nothing that the children have to fight.”

‘…So, what exactly should I do?’

Every time he thought about this question, You Dong would feel his thoughts scatter. His whole person was as if in a thick fog, with cliffs on all sides, unable to take another step.

“…See, there it is again.”

You Dong’s thoughts were once again pulled back to reality by Lao Jin.

“To be honest, I think you should take some annual leave and go home to rest.”

Lao Huang cast a worried glance at You Dong.

“I’m fine, really. Just a bit tired recently, hiss—”

The sudden twitch came again.

You Dong opened his mouth, pinched the bridge of his nose, and tried to relax his facial muscles as much as possible.

“You look a little pale, you know?”

“I just didn’t sleep well last night. By the way, what did you come to find me for?” You Dong asked.

“Hmm, that’s right. Let’s get this sorted out quickly so I don’t have to bother you. You still remember the internal structure of Furnace No. 3, right? I heard from Lao Huang that you dismantled it last year. How about this, you just draw a simple diagram for me, and I’ll use it as a reference.”

“Oh, I did dismantle it before.”

You Dong took out a notebook and pulled a 2B pencil from the pen holder on the desk.

“First, you go in and there’s a row of fans.”

“Then there’s the first circuit’s heater, around this position.”

He brought the pencil tip to the paper, but as soon as he applied force, the pencil lead snapped with a “smack,” flying off to who knows where.

Outside the window, a faint rumble of thunder could be heard.