On the eve of this world-renowned wedding, the residence of Empress Qi Yue’an, a symbol of the Demon Lord of the Dawn Star Palace’s authority, was anything but its usual quiet self.
The air was thick with surging demonic energy.
Negotiations between the two sides had now completely broken down, and Qi Yue and Qi Yue’an now directly confronted Xiyin and her three companions.
Xiyin had already charged forward without a word.
A star-shimmering spear and a sky full of scattered musical notes were assaulting them, giving Qi Yue no chance to speak further.
“Oh, Xiyin, are you truly that impatient?”
“Charging in before the plot has even fully unfolded.”
She spoke with a calm expression, as if the fierce assault before her did not exist.
“Nonetheless, this works out well.”
“Allow me to teach you the proper use and principles of a Magical Girl’s power.”
Qi Yue offered a mysterious smile, then closed her eyes.
Purple flames of jealousy surged forth, coalescing into a golden rapier, embedded with a soul gem.
A wave of magic, formed by her power, instantly swept through the surroundings.
She opened her eyes, and her silver pupils had grown serious.
The intensely burning flames of jealousy adorned her luxurious attire, making it appear like divine armor.
“First rule: never interrupt a Magical Girl’s transformation.”
Countless fireballs, coalesced from jealousy, precisely intercepted the musical notes that had formed a sky-wide barrage.
Then, with impossible speed, she sidestepped the spear’s thrust and effortlessly flicked it away.
“‘…What?'”
From Xiyin’s perspective, the opponent’s transformation had taken only an instant.
Then, using the flash of the transformation, she had conjured hundreds of jealousy fireballs from a distance, precisely incinerating the note-shaped projectiles, and had even managed to speak and dodge simultaneously.
Disarmed, Xiyin felt a sense of dread.
However, her opponent did not strike with another sword blow.
Instead, she approached from behind and whispered into Xiyin’s ear, her breath like orchids:
“Second rule: it is foolish to charge in recklessly without understanding your opponent’s true strength, and without coordinating with your teammates.”
After speaking, she delivered a kick.
Xiyin was directly kicked back to the position from which she had initially charged.
She quickly rolled to absorb the force, then regained her footing, only to see a colossal sword, dozens of meters long and wreathed in surging flames of jealousy, descending vertically.
“Quick, get out of the way! Let me handle this!”
Bai Jin charged out at that very moment.
The colossal sword, suspended in the air, transformed into a massive golden shield.
The formidable basic attributes of the Pride lineage were displayed to their fullest extent in that instant.
The aftershocks of the collision ravaged the courtyard’s decorations, and the rising dust obscured the false sky of the Dawn Star Palace.
“Don’t be afraid, everyone, I can block it!”
Her hands felt numb, but she still successfully withstood the blow.
However, the purple flames of jealousy did not dissipate.
Instead, they shattered into countless tiny fragments, transforming into a glowing smokescreen in an utterly unscientific manner.
“Bai Jin, be careful!”
Xiyin felt something was wrong.
The smoke obscured Qi Yue’s movements, and she seemed to lurk within it like a ghost.
Moreover, the jealousy flames, shattered into points of light, still possessed a soul-burning property.
Having accidentally inhaled a small amount, Xiyin immediately felt her consciousness blur, and her sense of direction became disoriented.
“Bai Zhi! Quickly dispel this mist and find her location!”
She called out to Bai Zhi, who had already distanced herself, preparing to seize an opportunity.
Bai Zhi nodded.
An arrow, imbued with dispersed wind pressure, flew forth, instantly dispelling the mist.
However, Qi Yue’s figure was nowhere to be found within it.
Instead, Bai Zhi felt a chill down her spine.
“Third rule: always be aware of the enemy’s position, and protect your ranged damage dealers.”
Qi Yue had appeared behind Bai Zhi at some unknown point.
The colossal sword, which had previously expanded to dozens of meters, had now shrunk to the size of a dagger.
With extremely fierce and agile movements, it stabbed out from behind.
However, it deviated by a few centimeters, merely grazing her waist.
The next moment, a sharp arrow, tearing through the air, shot from behind.
She had no choice but to sidestep.
“‘Oh?'”
Qi Yue glanced behind her with interest.
At that very moment, “Bai Zhi’s” figure suddenly shifted.
Her black hair turned silver, and a small rapier, imbued with pitch-black light and purple jealousy flames, appeared in her hand.
‘Clang—’
The golden dagger and the pitch-black rapier collided, and she barely managed to block the fatal blow.
She then moved to create distance.
However, Ling Ru’s attack did not stop there.
She quickly threw it again, and the rapier transformed into a throwing knife with beautiful aerodynamic lines in mid-air.
Two types of magic, capable of affecting the mind, subtly suppressed Qi Yue’s jealousy flames as they flew directly towards her.
Meanwhile, Bai Zhi also seized the opportunity.
Concentrating a large amount of magic into a single strike, she fired a crimson arrow, predicting where Qi Yue would dodge.
It tore through the sky, imbued with a power impossible for an ordinary first-tier Magical Girl, piercing through layers of jealousy flame barriers.
The last remaining direction was also blocked by Xiyin’s barrage of musical notes.
Bai Jin and Xiyin had also approached once more, brandishing their spear and colossal sword.
“Impressive. Now this is more like it.”
Even in such a desperate situation, the frivolous smile on Qi Yue’s face grew even brighter.
“However, fourth rule: never toy with fire in front of the Embodiment of Jealousy.”
She merely crooked a finger.
The throwing knives, mimicked and fused by Ling Ru, seemed to have their attached jealousy flames encounter their sovereign, instantly “betraying” their wielder.
The trajectory of the throwing knives subtly shifted, and two of them precisely struck the side of the crimson arrow!
‘Bang!’
The arrow’s trajectory was forcibly altered.
It grazed Qi Yue’s robes and slammed into a distant palace wall, triggering a violent explosion that sent debris flying.
Simultaneously, the golden dagger in Qi Yue’s hand once again extended into a standard longsword.
With movements as elegant as a dance, she spun and swung her sword.
The sword’s gleam precisely flicked away Xiyin’s spear tip, while her nimble footwork evaded the colossal sword.
Several clusters of dark jealousy flames ignited at the opportune moment, intercepting the most threatening musical note projectiles.
The other throwing knife, which she had manipulated and deflected, shot directly towards Bai Jin’s face as if guided by navigation, forcing Bai Jin to instantly recall her colossal shield to block.
‘Thud!’
The throwing knife, imbued with Chen Ling’s powerful penetrating force, actually pierced through three layers of defensive shields Bai Jin had hastily erected.
Its power exhausted, it finally stopped less than a centimeter from her glabella.
At this moment, the deflected crimson arrow had already detonated at the palace.
A terrifying shockwave, carrying debris, swept towards them, pushing Xiyin and Bai Jin, who had just attacked with full force and were now depleted, stumbling forward, nearly causing them to fall.
Qi Yue stood suspended in the air.
Her robes flapped fiercely in the blast’s shockwave, yet she remained completely unharmed.
She did not even glance back at the explosion and collapse behind her, as if they were merely a backdrop, dancing in celebration of her victory.
However, just as her posture was most relaxed, and her victor’s composure reached its peak—
Ling Ru, who should have looked disheartened from her missed attack, unexpectedly closed the distance between them with alarming speed.
The panic on her face instantly transformed into a look of resolute determination.
This was Chen Ling’s unique characteristic at play; she had subtly interfered with Qi Yue’s perception of distance beforehand.
Then, in the instant Qi Yue’s vigilance was at its lowest, Ling Ru burned all her magic.
She pushed Bai Zhi’s “unlimited instantaneous output” characteristic to its extreme, converting it entirely into Chen Ling’s “mental penetration” and Xiyin’s “magic proliferation” properties.
All her strength, all her resolve, condensed into the pitch-black rapier that had reappeared in her hand.
This terrifying strike, a synthesis of numerous characteristics, transcended the boundaries of levels, and was thrust out with extreme speed.
‘Thwack—!’
The dull sound of a sharp object piercing flesh echoed with striking clarity in the brief silence.
Qi Yue looked down, a hint of surprise on her face.
She gazed at the pitch-black rapier, fully embedded in her shoulder blade, nailing her fiercely to the ground from the air.
The pitch-black energy entwined around the blade fiercely clashed with the jealousy flames, hindering the wound’s healing.
This remarkably effective strike surpassed the sum of all previous blows.
“Cough, cough…”
She coughed up a mouthful of blood, yet she smiled, her eyes filled with awe and admiration.
“Truly… remarkable. This ‘cycle’ is truly special… to unexpectedly give birth to such a genius… I acknowledge it. Strength is indeed the reason for victory.”
Xiyin, Bai Zhi, and Bai Jin all breathed a sigh of relief, their strained nerves slightly relaxing.
They looked anxiously towards Qi Yue, contemplating how to reawaken Qi Yue’an.
However, just as they prepared to approach and check on her, Qi Yue, still pinned to the ground, spoke, her voice suddenly becoming ethereal and vast:
“Last rule: always remember… a Boss has a second phase.”
‘Boom—!’
An indescribable tremor erupted from her, with Ling Ru, being the closest, bearing the brunt and being violently thrown back.
Xiyin and Bai Jin were also pushed back repeatedly by this force.
In their horrified gazes, Qi Yue—no, Qi Yue’an’s aura had utterly transformed.
Her body, still impaled by the rapier, slowly began to float upwards.
The pitch-black rapier remained lodged in her abdomen, yet she made no move to address it.
Instead, she closed her eyes, spreading her arms in mid-air, like a martyred saint from myth, stepping into death for the sake of the world.
In their worried eyes, her aura seemed to have “died” in that instant.
However, death is also rebirth.
Her blood-stained, luxurious attire silently decomposed and reformed.
What finally emerged was an unprecedented ensemble—it retained Qi Yue’an’s signature black and white Gothic style, yet also incorporated Youguangyu’s solemnity, reminiscent of an ancient mythological Yama Judge.
In her left hand, the golden rapier still gleamed; in her right, she gripped an ancient, heavy Chinese sword, covered in unknown runes.
A more fervent and majestic crimson flame—the Judgement Fire from the “Prison Warden” destiny—rose from beneath her feet, coiling around both swords, illuminating her like an arbiter returned from purgatory.
Then, she slowly opened her eyes.
The light in them was no longer Qi Yue’s frivolousness and mockery, but a profound expression, tinged with pity and serenity.
“Xiyin, let me see your progress… and your resolve… this time around.”