Senior

Accompanying Lao Lin for support were two of Violet Lightning’s companions.

“…The teaching squad got a two-for-nothing loss. Well, now the Second Ring has completely lost face.”

After a brief scan of the scene, the magical girl with aqua-blue short hair and wearing a Bavarian-style long skirt—Frostail—let out a long sigh.

“I reckon at this rate, today we lose to a C-rank, tomorrow a D-rank, and in the end, when there’s nothing left to lose, the Second Ring should probably disband.”

“Sigh, nothing to say, we’ve lost all face.”

“…Captain, if we dilly-dally any longer, Senpai Violet Lightning is going to stop breathing, you know?”

Beside her, the magical girl with round-framed glasses and long, deep chestnut hair tied into two strands behind her—Heron—spoke up to remind her.

The two walked over to the wall of flesh that was trapping Violet Lightning. A flash of blue and white light crossed, and a longbow and a one-handed sword and shield quickly cleared away all the Ragmen from the left and right.

“Wuwu… Captain, you’re finally here to save me?”

Seeing the light of day again, Violet Lightning scrambled up from the ground, looking like she was about to burrow into Frostail’s arms.

“Don’t come over here! You idiot, you stink!”

Frostail stretched out her arm, using the round shield equipped on it to block the lunging Violet Lightning, an expression of disgust written plainly on her face.

“Heron…”

After being rejected, Violet Lightning turned her gaze to her junior.

Heron squinted, a smile on her face as she looked at Violet Lightning.

However, contrary to her gentle and kind smile, a magic arrow had already formed in her hand.

“Senpai Violet Lightning, could you please not come over?”

Heron nocked the arrow on her longbow.

“…Because you really stink.”

“Wuwu…”

…

Witnessing this series of farcical events, Lao Lin sighed helplessly. It couldn’t tell if these three had a good relationship or a bad one.

Dragging its fat body, it waddled over to Raging Flame.

It gently tapped Raging Flame’s Soul Gem, undoing her transformation.

“It must be uncomfortable staying in that form, right? Is it much better now?” Lao Lin asked, its voice very gentle.

“Yes, thank you.”

“Let’s go, get in the car. I’ll take you home to rest.”

After undoing her transformation, the injuries You Xi had sustained also disappeared. However, what followed was an indescribably huge sense of fatigue.

She really wanted to just fall asleep, but the last bit of her will reminded her that there were still things she had to do.

Apologize to Senpai Violet Lightning, and that little blue girl…

Thinking of this, she looked in the direction where the girl was standing.

The girl was still standing more than ten meters away. For some reason, she didn’t come over to greet everyone, nor did she leave.

She just stood there with her back to everyone, silent and lost in thought.

The night sky cleared, and the dark clouds dispersed.

The moonlight after the storm seemed particularly bright.

Through the broken roof of the factory, a pale white light lay between You Xi and the girl, dividing the factory into two worlds.

On one side, there was her, Lao Lin, and the three magical girls from the Second Ring who were chattering and arguing non-stop.

On the other side, there was only that little blue girl.

She was like a dream bubble that should have been fleeting, only fixed in this moment because it was captured by the beautiful moonlight.

You Xi didn’t walk over, the words of thanks stuck in her throat.

She was afraid that her presumption would shatter that moment of eternity.

“…Hey. I said, stop messing around, you two, look over there!”

At this moment, the three who had been fooling around also focused their gazes on Tidal.

“A ma- magic wand?! For real?!” Violet Lightning exclaimed.

“No doubt, that’s the real deal,” Heron beside her pushed up her glasses, her expression grave. “Not a soul weapon with a similar appearance, but a real magic wand.”

“Holy… it’s really a ‘Grand Senpai’!”

As she spoke, Frostail hurriedly put away her own weapon and urged the other two:

“Idiots! Hurry up and put away your weapons! Don’t you know you’re being very rude?”

The two knew their captain was hot-tempered, but it was rare to see her this anxious. They immediately complied, quickly storing their weapons in their Soul Gems.

“Shangjing City, Second Ring Jurisdiction, Magical Girl Squad, certification number: 13106.”

The three stood at attention like soldiers, their expressions serious and earnest, a world apart from the lax, giggling atmosphere just now.

“Captain Frostail.”

“Violet Lightning.”

“Heron.”

“Thank you, Grand Senpai, for coming to support us. Thank you very much!”

“—?”

At this point, Heron glanced at Captain Frostail with a questioning look, as if to say, “Is that it?”

Frostail’s face immediately flushed red. A few seconds later, she squeezed out a few more words through her teeth.

“Great- greatly honored!”

Then, the three of them bowed deeply to Tidal’s back at the same time.

“…?”

You Xi was startled by this sudden formation. She carefully approached the three of them.

“Vi- Violet Lightning Senpai, is that little girl someone amazing?”

“Wh- what? Little girl!? You should call her ‘Grand Senpai’!!!” Violet Lightning glared at her.

“…Also, don’t call me Senpai in front of Grand Senpai! It makes me look so embarrassing.” As she spoke, her face had already turned red.

The soul weapons used by magical girls could be roughly divided into two generations.

Like You Xi’s greatsword, Violet Lightning’s spear, including Frostail’s sword and shield, and Heron’s longbow, these were all second-generation soul weapons.

After signing a contract with a ‘Connector’ like Lao Lin, an envoy from the Magic Kingdom, the second-generation magic protocol would create the most suitable weapon in appearance and ability for the magical girls based on the contractor’s soul form.

However, before the second-generation magic protocol came into being, the first generation was not so advanced.

At that time, all magical girls uniformly used magic wands, with only variations in decoration and color from person to person.

“…So. As long as they use a magic wand, they are a magical girl from the first generation. For them, we must address them with respect as ‘Grand Senpai,’ understand?” Violet Lightning said.

“Then, how long ago was the first generation of magical girls?”

Grand Senpai… how grand was this “grand”?

You Xi looked at the petite girl not far away, who was barely over 1.4 meters tall, and felt a sense of doubt.

“The second-generation magic protocol has been in use for a full twenty years now… so, do you understand?” Violet Lightning’s voice trembled slightly.

It was a very simple math problem. The high school student You Xi instantly understood the meaning behind Senpai Violet Lightning’s words. Then, a huge shock left her speechless.

The second-generation magic protocol, the one she was using now, had been in use for twenty years.

That meant, up to this very moment, the first generation, who wielded magic wands, had been fighting as magical girls for at least twenty years.

…This little blue girl’s seniority as a magical girl alone was greater than the seniority of the four of them as human beings.

This was the real-life equivalent of having crossed more bridges than having walked roads.

‘What does more than twenty years even mean?’

You Xi thought to herself, she had just become a magical girl a few days ago and had already almost died once.

Then, this blue “Grand Senpai” before her, in her long twenty-plus years, how many battles had she experienced? How many times had she crossed the line between life and death? And how many times had she silently protected and saved this world?

…Respect.

Apart from admiration, You Xi had no other thoughts.

At this moment, the Grand Senpai’s height was still that tall, but she only dared to look up.

Old soldiers never die, they just fade away.

The line of soldiers standing at attention had changed from three to four.