Ran Jiuyi Is More Restrained Than She Looks

On Ran Jiuyi’s side, after a rapid dash, she finally reached her destination: an abandoned factory on the outskirts of the city.

The site stretched for miles, filled with dilapidated workshops decades old—decaying, yet still standing. The excessive pollution from years of industrial waste had stripped the area of all vitality; even the homeless refused to settle here. But today, this wasteland welcomed a long-overdue surge of human presence.

As Jiuyi came to a halt atop one of the factory buildings, Jiang Yunshu arrived hot on her heels, shouting, “Given up on running? Surrender quietly!”

Jiuyi spread her arms toward Yunshu, smiling. “There’s no need to run anymore. This is exactly where I wanted to be—a very fine battlefield.”

“No pesky bystanders, no inconvenient buildings to worry about breaking. We can let loose and have ourselves a proper contest.”

Yunshu showed no fear. In her eyes, aside from her decent looks, Jiuyi was no different from the “mobs” she handled daily. “Hmph. Then prepare for a crushing defeat!”

The words had barely left her mouth when Yunshu lunged forward. A pink beam of light shot from her palm toward Jiuyi. As the fastest of the three magical girls, Yunshu had absolute confidence in her speed; she was certain Jiuyi wouldn’t have time to react.

Unfortunately, Yunshu was mistaken.

With a slight tilt of her body, Jiuyi effortlessly evaded the blast. She raised her right hand high and swung a heavy backhand punch downward. The distance was already too close for Yunshu to dodge; she could only cross her arms to hard-block the strike.

Since she didn’t know the extent of Yunshu’s abilities—and because the girl wasn’t truly her enemy—Jiuyi didn’t put her full strength into the blow, using less than half as a probe. Even so, it was a massive impact.

The hardened concrete beneath their feet splintered into a web of cracks. Yunshu felt a powerful shockwave surge through her entire body. No longer daring to underestimate her opponent, she scrambled backward. Although she looked unharmed on the surface, her body was beginning to go numb, her strength failing her.

There was no doubt about it: she could only take one more hit. If Jiuyi landed another, she was finished.

Jiuyi had no intention of giving Yunshu a breather. She stepped forward, throwing another punch straight for the girl’s face. But as a flurry of cherry-blossom petals drifted past, the Yunshu in front of her vanished into thin air. Before she knew it, Jiuyi was surrounded by countless floating petals.

Experience told Jiuyi this was a sensory-type illusion. These petals were likely the medium for the ability or defined its range of influence.

Several pink beams shot out from the petals. Jiuyi’s body instinctively moved to dodge, but at the last moment, her mind overrode her reflexes and forced her to stop, letting the beams hit her head-on.

The attack ended, and Jiuyi was completely unscathed.

Just as she suspected, the beams were illusions designed to force her to dodge, confirming her next position so the real follow-up attack would hit its mark.

“That move just now wasn’t bad,” Jiuyi praised. “Against anyone else, it probably would have worked. But unfortunately for you, you met me.”

“Moreover, you’ve let me see the weakness of your power. When you use Mana within this illusion, the space around you produces a subtle ripple.”

With that, Jiuyi glanced behind her. Even if Yunshu’s illusion rippled, an ordinary person would never be able to pinpoint her location. But for someone like Jiuyi, who lived in a state of constant combat, her senses, awareness, and intuition were hyper-developed. She didn’t miss a single scrap of information.

To Yunshu’s horror, Jiuyi charged straight at her. Maintaining the illusion prevented Yunshu from moving quickly or launching an effective counter. She could only watch as Jiuyi’s hand reached for her.

“Got you.” The solid sensation in her palm told Jiuyi she had the girl by the throat. “Now, your fight is over. For the record—you failed.”

She delivered a sharp chop to Yunshu’s neck, knocking her out instantly.

By the time Bai He’an arrived, all she saw was her unconscious teammate being tossed aside like trash.

“You bastard!!” Rage consumed He’an instantly. She summoned six floating bits and gripped two large-caliber autocannons in her hands. “You’re going to pay for this! I, the Magical Girl ‘Wings of Light,’ promise you—I am going to beat you half to death!”

Faced with the threat, Jiuyi showed no fear. She even had the leisure to look He’an up and down.

“Hmm… You look exactly like the white-haired mecha-girl a 2D-otaku would dream about. The only downside is your chest and butt are a bit on the small side.”

“Though I suppose plenty of people are into that. You must be pretty popular, huh?”

He’an’s answer was a storm of shells and beams. The combined fire from the floating bits and the hand-held cannons blanketed Jiuyi’s position.

But not a single shot hit. Jiuyi had bolted the moment the triggers were pulled. Using the factory layout to her advantage, she darted through blind spots and maneuvered through the ruins, closing the distance while weaving through the hail of fire.

Realizing her attacks were missing, He’an immediately changed tactics. The thrusters on her back roared to life, suspending her high in the air. She switched the bits from full-salvo to staggered fire, minimizing the gaps between shots. Her twin cannons remained silent, waiting for the perfect moment to lock onto Jiuyi.

The new strategy was effective. With the increased fire frequency, Jiuyi narrowly avoided several near-misses. Furthermore, under He’an’s continuous suppression, the factory buildings serving as Jiuyi’s cover were being systematically leveled.

He’an was confident. With her firepower, it wouldn’t be long before Jiuyi ran out of places to hide.

What she failed to notice, however, was that the distance between them had been cut by more than half. Jiuyi was now within striking range.

Without hesitation, Jiuyi seized a gap in the firing pattern. She lunged upward toward the girl in the sky. In a panic, He’an tried to reorient her fire, but Jiuyi was too fast. Only a third of the bits managed to lock on and fire.

But the cannons, which had been silent for so long, finally found their opening. They unleashed a full salvo directly at Jiuyi. In mid-air, Jiuyi had no room to dodge; she had to take the full force of the blast.

He’an had total confidence in her firepower. No one could take that head-on and remain unharmed.

Today, however, that confidence was about to meet its end.

Jiuyi burst through the smoke of the explosion. Although her combat suit was shredded and she was covered in blood, she had sustained no lethal injuries. And now, she was right in front of He’an. At this distance, the cannons were useless.

Another hand-chop, and He’an fell unconscious.

Spitting out a mouthful of smoke she’d inhaled, Jiuyi turned around. The city’s final magical girl had finally arrived.

Is the magical girl team in this city playing ‘Calabash Brothers’? Jiuyi wondered. Why do they keep coming one by one to get picked off?

Yi Ziling stared at the scene, her face a mask of disbelief. In her mind, her two teammates were powerful and reliable, yet they had both been defeated in mere minutes. The enemy before her didn’t even seem heavily damaged—even her breathing was steady.

Sensing Ziling’s terror, Jiuyi teased, “Your two friends are down. You want to keep going? If you strip off your clothes and dance for me now, I might consider letting you go.”

“N-No!” Though she was trembling violently, Ziling gave a firm answer. “I am the Magical Girl of Justice, ‘Soft Cotton Candy.’ I won’t believe a villain like you, and I won’t surrender!”

“Hah. Why do you magical girls always love announcing your names? Is it some weird tradition?”

Jiuyi laughed heartlessly. “Fine. Since you refused, the fight is on. ‘Cotton Candy,’ huh? Sounds soft and sweet—fits you perfectly, the way you’re shaking like jelly. Hahahaha…”

“D-Don’t underestimate me!” Ziling mustered her courage. “Take this! Hardening Gel!”

Massive amounts of blue gel erupted from Ziling’s hands, surging toward Jiuyi. Not knowing the gel’s properties, Jiuyi chose to evade immediately as a precaution.

It was the right choice. Upon hitting Jiuyi’s former position, the gel hardened at a visible speed. Jiuyi casually tossed a pebble at the hardened mass; the stone shattered instantly upon contact, leaving only a few faint scratches on the gel.

It seemed the gel’s hardness after setting was incredibly high. Had she been caught, she likely would have been trapped for good.

However, Ziling’s attack also revealed its weakness: the gel was far too slow. It had no hope of hitting Jiuyi.

Ziling realized this too. A straightforward attack would never land. she desperately needed a strategy to trap the woman before her.