A Desperate Rescue

Despite being swept into the water, Amber’s consciousness remained remarkably clear.

Drawing upon the last vestiges of her magic, she did not succumb to panic, but instead swam diligently to Bai Muxue’s side, pressing the young girl’s body tightly against her own.

As the two continued their descent, Amber, still enveloped in a faint, ethereal glow, vigorously propelled her legs, desperately attempting to generate magical fluctuations that might lift their bodies to the surface.

However, just as she fought to ascend, clutching Bai Muxue tightly, an immense suction force from the depths suddenly gripped her legs, completely sapping her strength to struggle.

‘Damn it all… Could there possibly be a whirlpool lurking beneath us!?’

Amber, feeling her strength wane, cursed silently within her heart.

‘It was already utterly bizarre for a seabed tunnel to be flooded with such a deluge of water; now, to discover a whirlpool beneath the surface? What kind of cruel jest was this!?’

A sudden, chilling realization struck Amber: Bai Muxue’s earlier misgivings had been entirely correct.

Despite having vanquished the calamity beast, this place remained saturated with an unsettling, unnatural aura!

Yet, Amber no longer possessed the luxury of mind to dwell on such thoughts.

As her strength steadily abandoned her, she perceived herself and the unconscious Bai Muxue in her embrace sinking inexorably deeper, her vision gradually consumed by darkness, her body, now beyond her command, utterly submerged in the frigid depths.

She felt as though she were adrift within the tunnel, carried by the water’s ebb and flow, yet a strange sensation of being suspended in mid-air permeated her.

Instinctively, she reached out, but there was nothing around her to grasp onto.

The relentless downward pull showed no signs of abating.

Amber felt as if her entire being were suspended in an endless void, utterly devoid of any purchase or opportunity to exert strength.

‘What lay at the bottom? Why had this innocuous children’s attraction transformed into a genuine underwater tunnel? Were they being targeted? Or, had that calamity beast somehow survived?’

Amber had no answers, but a chilling certainty settled upon her: she was about to die.

When she had first signed the contract, pledging herself as a magical girl, Amber had, in truth, already braced herself for the inevitable.

To perish at the hands of a calamity beast or a 怪人 (TL Note: A common term in Japanese media referring to monstrous villains or supernatural beings, often translated as ‘monster’ or ‘villain’)—at least it would be a death in service of protecting the world, a testament to her vibrant spirit, a fitting end.

Yet, she had never once envisioned her demise would come by being slowly, suffocatingly drowned alive.

What an utterly humiliating and ignominious end.

‘A magical girl who drowned… The sheer thought of it. Her peers would undoubtedly mock her mercilessly, laughing until their jaws ached.’

With immense effort, Amber managed to turn her head.

Though her entire body was utterly bereft of strength and her mind felt heavy with stupor, she still refused to loosen her right arm, which remained tightly clasped around Bai Muxue.

Yet, the young girl cradled in her embrace had already sealed her eyes shut, her condition utterly unknown.

‘What a tragic pity for Xiaoxue… I had promised to protect her, to see her safely home.’

‘How devastated her family would be, surely? To lose such a charming and sensible daughter.’

“Truth be told, Xiaoxue, you are truly adorable; precisely the type this young lady finds herself drawn to…”

“Such a genuine pity… If only, if only our paths hadn’t crossed in such a dreadful place, this young lady would have absolutely asked you on a date, determined to win your heart…”

Amber’s mind began to drift into a hazy reverie, her thoughts spiraling uncontrollably as she recalled numerous past memories: her childhood, her stern mother, the trepidation of her very first transformation into battle.

Yet, for some inexplicable reason, at this precise moment, her thoughts centered most profoundly on the precocious young girl nestled in her arms.

A faint, fleeting smile touched the corner of her lips.

She held Bai Muxue even tighter, feeling the utter lack of warmth emanating from her body, and a strange sense of resignation suddenly settled deep within her heart.

‘Fine then, if death is to come, let it. At worst, I shall simply begin anew in the next life…’

Amber’s consciousness grew increasingly dim, the last vestiges of light on her form quietly flickering out as her transformation silently 解除 (TL Note: A common term in the magical girl genre, referring to the act of reverting from a transformed state back to normal).

It felt as though she, too, was about to close her eyes, just like Bai Muxue.

Yet, precisely as her breath teetered on the brink of cessation, a soft sigh from a young girl drifted into her ears.

“Ah…”

This gentle sound, a blend of a soft laugh and a resigned sigh, resonated with startling clarity in the silent depths.

Amber, her senses slowly returning, carefully opened her eyes, only to perceive, not far off in the water, the indistinct silhouette of a young girl clad in a black dress.

Through the hazy distortion of the water, the girl appeared utterly impervious to the currents, gracefully lifting her skirt’s hem in a slight, respectful bow towards Amber.

‘Eh? A girl? Here, beneath the water?’

Amber snapped abruptly back to reality.

Yet, when she blinked her eyes open once more and gazed around, there was nothing but endless, surging water in every direction.

The ethereal silhouette of the girl had vanished entirely.

‘Could it have been merely a hallucination…?’

The instant this thought flickered through Amber’s mind, she suddenly perceived the previously tumultuous currents growing significantly gentler.

The powerful suction from the depths had vanished, and at the very edge of her vision, a faint, almost imperceptible glimmer of light seemed to pierce through the gloom.

‘Was that… an entrance? Or the very exit they had just plunged through?’

Regardless of where that distant light might lead, it undeniably ignited a flicker of hope within Amber, who had moments ago resigned herself to despair.

‘Yes! How could this young lady possibly perish in such a mundane place! How could she allow Xiaoxue to die alongside her here!’

‘Dates, and all those other things! These are achievements meant for this lifetime, why postpone them until the next?’

The young girl gritted her teeth, feeling an unexpected surge of renewed strength course through her previously enervated body.

With newfound determination, she struggled to pull Bai Muxue towards the source of that beckoning light.

It proved to be a small aperture, and the gently flowing currents soon propelled them both through it—much like waves depositing weary travelers upon a shore.

Amber had no idea what lay beyond this opening, yet she struggled valiantly, clawing her way out.

Splashing furiously!

Water sprayed wildly as Amber, exerting every ounce of her remaining strength, dragged Bai Muxue’s unconscious form from the water.

She tumbled several times, still clutching the young girl, until they came to a rest: Bai Muxue atop her, Amber pinned firmly beneath.

Thankfully, the young girl’s slender frame spared the already utterly exhausted Amber from further injury.

With a weary grunt, she managed to gently push Bai Muxue’s weight off her, before collapsing onto the ground, utterly spent.

Bai Muxue, however, remained utterly insensible, plunged into a deep coma.

Even when Amber pushed her away, her body offered not the slightest reaction.

Damp strands of hair clung to her forehead, her fingers were tinged purple and curled limply, and her flat chest and abdomen lay still, utterly devoid of any rise or fall.

Her breathing had ceased.

“Xiaoxue? Xiaoxue!?? ”

“It’s alright! This young lady, *cough, cough*, this young lady is right here… You will be fine!”

Amber struggled to her feet, paying no heed to her current untransformed state.

She immediately bent over Bai Muxue, her gaze falling upon the young girl’s pale, bloodless lips, which only served to lend a fragile, almost broken beauty to her already delicate features.

QGazing at the delicate, beautiful face so agonizingly close, Amber bit down hard on her lower lip.

A blush instantly bloomed across her pretty cheeks as she averted her gaze, a wave of acute embarrassment washing over her.

“Tsk… To think this young lady would have to surrender her first…”

After what appeared to be an intense internal deliberation, Amber turned back, her eyes now burning with a resolute, unwavering light.

“You had better awaken quickly and take responsibility for this… or else this young lady will absolutely never forgive you!”

Without a moment’s further hesitation, she pinched Bai Muxue’s delicate nose, then lowered her head directly, gently covering the young girl’s cold lips with her own.