A fierce battle raged for a long time.
Her blood energy surged, scattering piles of stone as Lina braced her blood spear against the ground, enveloped in a swirling mix of blood mist and gunpowder smoke. Looking up, she watched the colossal dragon sweep across the sky, a sense of difficulty immediately washing over her.
It was a black dragon, nearly a thousand meters in length, its massive wings unfurling to conjure hurricanes with each beat, dark crimson flames flickering between its scales. Perched atop its head was an Advanced Magical Girl, who commanded the summoned beast, directing the black dragon to unleash its fiery breath and roar with imposing draconic might.
Meanwhile, on another front, clouds roiled amidst the thunderous clamor of heavenly lightning. An Advanced Magical Girl, clutching a lightning core, unleashed bolts of purple electricity that struck the ground and burst forth, streaking directly towards Lina. So potent was the strike that it could even obliterate the blood mist surrounding her.
Yet another Advanced Magical Girl, a healing specialist codenamed ‘Gentle Radiance,’ moved among the fallen. With a touch of her fingers to a wounded soldier’s neck, blood that had been frozen by Lina’s spear began to flow anew. The injured swiftly regained consciousness, snatched up their wands, and rejoined the fray, unleashing elemental magic to further ‘block’ Lina’s movements.
Lina’s attack frequency, however, had noticeably slowed. Her usual ‘blood harvesting tactic’ — sustaining herself through combat — was failing; her blood loss now exceeded her replenishment. The sheer volume of elemental magic barraging her was overwhelming. Initially, she could dispel the attacks with her blood energy, but gradually, the onslaught intensified, with an endless tide of Magical Girls. No matter how formidable her blood energy, it had its limits.
****
A moment later, a dragon tail swept towards her. Lina instinctively raised her spear to block, but the disparity in power was immense; this was a dragon, a dominant ruler among all races. Even as a summoned entity, it held a clear advantage over the Blood Clan.
Her blood spear shattered instantly, and Lina was once again sent flying, crashing into the city wall. The roar of collapsing bricks and stone was punctuated by the sharp crack of breaking bones.
Just then, heavenly lightning struck. She struggled to raise a blood shield, but the impact sent blood gushing from all seven of her orifices, and the blood mist that had been protecting her from the elemental magic dissipated. Within the swirling dust, Lina seized the opportune moment to retrieve the ‘token of goodwill’ gifted by Ling Qinghe—a blood vial. Fortunately, the vial was sturdy and had not been vaporized by the lightning. Unable to replenish her blood from the Magical Girls, she would have to drink her own blood to restore her state.
****
At the same time, on the snow-covered ground, a biting north wind whipped up snowflakes, sweeping across the scorched earth. Ling Cheyin fled through a sea of people, hopelessly outnumbered. The sheer weight of numbers was an insurmountable tactic. Even if the little witch possessed a magic whip capable of dispersing magical energy, she couldn’t withstand such overwhelming numbers. Moreover, she had been marked with a ‘distinctive color,’ her location constantly exposed. This was the doing of the Desert South Fortress’s tower beacon, which shone as bright as day.
****
Soon, a thunderous grinding of gears echoed from deep within the Desert South Fortress, and the entire snowfield began to tremble. ‘Had the attack protocols been activated?’ This war fortress was equipped with an array of magic-guided weapons developed by the Magical Girl Association. Thousands of colossal cannons rose from the fortress, piercing through the clouds, accompanied by gun emplacements and countless ammunition racks. The essence of a magical barrage was a ‘resource’ exchange, or rather, a fierce competition of firepower to see which side was more formidable.
The next moment, a deluge of bullets, cannon shells, energy beams, and fireworks assailed the little witch, while missiles, trailing fiery plumes, tore through the clouds. They were… swathes of ‘steel meteors.’ In desperation, Ling Cheyin had no choice but to produce her Dark Ring. A hundred-meter-class Overlord Turtle burst from the earth. She intended to use this mimic beast as a meat shield. Its carapace opened into a massive maw, swallowing an entire volley of cannon fire. However, the magic-guided weapons’ firepower was too concentrated; the turtle shell’s gaping mouth quickly became riddled with cracks, sending shattered stone and fragments flying.
****
From atop the high walls, firepower rained down from the heavens. Lina had nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. Suddenly, without warning, the beacon atop the Desert South Fortress’s tower flickered out. In that instant, ‘daylight’ abruptly reverted to night. Concurrently, all magic-guided weapons of the Desert South Fortress ceased their automatic offensive and defensive operations. Their hum abruptly stopped, and the red lights of the automatic attack systems completely dimmed. Manual operation would now require the deployment of personnel.
****
Within the Inner World, Xia Naxin observed the already dissolved thousand-meter-class core magical energy reactor. Golden limewater hissed and bubbled on the prism’s surface. ‘This stuff works wonders. With this, the Desert South Fortress is effectively powerless, as if the electricity has been cut.’
Not long after, a clone of Xia Naxin arrived, dragging the weakened soul body of Gu Yueqingtang to her. Their minds were linked, rendering words unnecessary.
The main body of Xia Naxin stepped forward, placing her hands on Gu Yueqingtang’s temples, and threads of soul energy, like spider silk, seeped into her sea of consciousness. She was preparing to ‘brainwash’ Gu Yueqingtang! This was an alternative form of mental control—forcibly inserting a personality. The principle was simple: Xia Naxin would split off a small portion of her soul, an act that was inconsequential to her. This fragmented soul would become Gu Yueqingtang’s primary personality, but it would deliberately remain dormant. Instead, it would allow Gu Yueqingtang, relegated to a secondary personality, to leave peacefully, ‘forgetting’ everything that had transpired here.
“From today onward, you will forget everything that happened here…” Xia Naxin’s whisper mingled with a soul-echo. “But when I need it, the primary personality… will awaken.”
****
A moment later, Xia Naxin began to prepare for her return to reality. Inside the mental link chamber, Gu Yueqingtang sat up abruptly, gasping for breath, tearing at the sensory devices on her body. This action caused a stir of concern among the surrounding girls, yet when confronted with the staff’s worried inquiries, Gu Yueqingtang merely seemed disoriented. Her memories… stopped at the moment she was shattered by cannon fire, completely unaware of the secret, hidden danger implanted deep within her consciousness by her ‘master.’
****
The snowy landscape was scarred with devastation. After enduring four rounds of artillery bombardment, the pristine snowfield lay shattered, pockmarked with scorched craters. The little witch, trembling, crawled out from beneath the Overlord Turtle’s riddled shell, her face caked with dust and blood. Looking around, she saw a host of intermediate and advanced Magical Girls closing in, forming a tight encirclement. Judging by their formation, they intended to capture her alive.
However, Ling Cheyin remained calm. She believed that her sister’s magical energy phantom was surely watching from the shadows, ready to rescue her at any moment. Sure enough, several dark phantoms of the Arch-Witch Ling Qinghe’s magical energy rose from the ground. Seeing the approaching magical capture net, the phantoms desperately threw themselves forward to block it, buying Ling Cheyin time to escape. But the problem was, she was surrounded. How could she possibly escape?
****
In the nick of time, Xia Naxin’s figure emerged from the dust. The soul-vibrating waves emanating from her body twisted the air. The moment her palm pressed down, a large number of Magical Girls’ wands simultaneously exploded. They clutched their heads and fell to their knees, their souls rattled, blood gushing from their nostrils to bloom like ‘red plum blossoms’ on the snow. Yet, the attack wasn’t fatal; the damage was simply too distributed among so many people. Xia Naxin couldn’t instantly dispatch such a vast crowd in a single encounter.
Xia Naxin grabbed Ling Cheyin’s wrist and turned to flee. But at that moment, a cold gleam sliced through the night sky—a longsword flying down from above.
“Where do you think you’re going?” A cool, clear female voice, imbued with sword intent, reached them.
Upon hearing it, Xia Naxin recognized the voice. ‘This voice… it’s familiar. Wait, isn’t that the one from the TV reports?’
High above the clouds, the Advanced Magical Girl Lingguang Yixian stood upon a sword beam, her longsword humming. Le Feiying flicked her wrist, and sword energy crisscrossed, carving dozens of bottomless ravines into the snowy ground, the attacks whistling towards the two of them.
Xia Naxin abruptly halted, her hood flapping wildly from the air currents stirred by the sword energy, and even her mask was shattered, revealing her face. As a psychic and soul-type practitioner, she was inherently unskilled in direct combat; the Inner World was her true ‘domain.’ Xia Naxin could have escaped alone, but what about the little witch? She was, after all, Ling Qinghe’s biological sister, and Xia Naxin… couldn’t bear to abandon her. Besides, she still needed to use Ling Qinghe’s influence to ‘clear the name’ of her girlfriend, Zhennu Yibai.
Since things had come to this, Xia Naxin could only steel herself for a fight. She attempted to use her telekinesis to intercept the sword energy, but failed; the sword energy was simply too sharp and fierce! Therefore, Xia Naxin had no choice but to snatch the magic whip from the little witch’s hand, who was frozen in fright and confusion. With her stronger magical power, she could unleash the whip’s greater potential. The prerequisite was that the little witch, in her conscious mind, had to lend the magic whip to Xia Naxin. Otherwise, Xia Naxin wouldn’t be able to use it.
Whip shadows danced wildly as Xia Naxin struggled to disperse a dozen streaks of sword energy with the magic whip, narrowly escaping disaster. Amidst the flying debris, she dragged Ling Cheyin back in disarray, only to see Le Feiying approaching on her sword. Xia Naxin couldn’t understand why Lingguang Yixian wasn’t properly guarding Xianghua City, but instead came to stir up trouble at the southern border.
Lingguang Yixian attacked. There was no time to consider much else; Xia Naxin could only meet her in battle. However, her opponent’s sword techniques were varied, and her sword light flowed like a tide. Xia Naxin was, after all, not skilled in close combat and didn’t really know how to use a whip. Her whip techniques gradually became erratic.
Le Feiying seized an opening, her longsword arcing, and with two sharp ‘snaps,’ the magic whip broke into three pieces. This also caused the little witch to passively revert from her transformed state. The magic whip, in turn, transformed back into a leg ring, coiling around Ling Cheyin’s thigh. She realized that she wouldn’t be able to transform again for a while.
Now, Xia Naxin was unarmed. Although she possessed psychic power, it had no effect whatsoever on Lingguang Yixian.
“Surrender now.” Le Feiying’s longsword pointed directly at Xia Naxin’s throat.
“Dream on.” Xia Naxin snorted in anger. With no other option, she first used her telekinesis to create an invisible barrier, blocking half the air. Grabbing Ling Cheyin’s hand once more, she transformed into a streak of light and fled.
Le Feiying watched their disheveled escape, but didn’t immediately give chase. She let out a cold chuckle: “They’re quite clever, after all. If they hadn’t run, I wouldn’t have been able to keep up the act much longer…”
****
In the shadows, Ling Qinghe’s magical energy phantom silently observed the battlefield. The reason she had urgently summoned Lingguang Yixian was to expedite the coordinated internal and external response. Now, the ‘internal’ part was complete; only the ‘external coordination’ remained. The magical energy phantom, her fingers clutching a communicator hidden in her sleeve, scanned the crippled Desert South Fortress tower. Now, all that remained was to wait for the witch forces outside the walls to launch their full assault.
Yet, beyond the high walls, an unusual silence reigned. The Witch Association, which should have responded, showed no activity. ‘The witches outside must sense what’s happening inside, so why are they delaying their move?’ It seemed Le Feiying would have to intensify her ‘pursuit.’ Ling Qinghe refused to believe the witches outside wouldn’t grow anxious. If the inside agents were captured, it would signify that the plan was largely a failure. After all, inside the Desert South Fortress, workers were rushing to make repairs, and a backup magical energy reactor would eventually be installed.
“Hmph, honestly, those youngsters outside the walls are completely unreliable.” Ling Qinghe gazed at the crippled Desert South Fortress tower, a plan forming in her mind. The magical energy phantom transformed into a wisp of black smoke and vanished into the ground. She would personally go to the Desert South Fortress, to deliver a decisive blow that would undermine the enemy’s strength in this disadvantageous situation.