Frustrated!

Under the sickly white glow of the streetlights, blue eyes met red.

Without warning, Tidal moved faster than she ever had in her life.

She raised her magic wand and launched an attack of her own—initiating combat without hesitation.

A high-energy beam tore through the void, hurtling straight toward Heilou’s face.

Heilou clearly hadn’t expected this. She faltered, losing the smug confidence that had lingered just moments earlier. Surprise flickered across her expression.

She didn’t ask for the other’s name. No pre-battle courtesies.

An attack aimed directly at the head within one second—this was perhaps only the second time since becoming a magical girl that Tidal had truly intended to kill.

As for why she’d launched such a sudden assault, the reason was actually very simple.

In Tidal’s eyes, the black-clad girl before her was the literal embodiment of “evil.”

Like the classic clash between good and evil, light and darkness, hero and demon king seen in fiction.

From the moment their gazes locked, she had known—only death could decide their fate.

So even without knowing the other’s name, even if this act seemed underhanded, Tidal trusted her instincts and judgment. In that instant, she chose ambush over honor.

Yet the beam vanished just before reaching Heilou’s forehead, as if swallowed or canceled by some unseen force.

Then, a single black feather drifted slowly down from the point of impact—like the remnant of dissipated magic.

“Hmm… I don’t get it,” Heilou said. “Is this how you say hello?”

“If I hadn’t already set up a defense beforehand…”

She let out a wry smile.

“That would’ve been pretty harsh.”

‘It’s not really her style,’ she murmured.

“My apologies,” Tidal replied, face unchanged.
“I suppose I’m just a dirty adult.”

Just as expected, the opponent wouldn’t be taken down so easily. If that were the case, better to try and pry some information from her first. With that thought, she lowered her weapon.

“You’re truly impressive, adult…”

Heilou said this with a faint trace of admiration—something almost like envy in her eyes.

“Who are you? What do you want?” Tidal asked bluntly.
“And what did you mean by calling me ‘Flower’s Heir’ just now?”

“Didn’t your Connector tell you about that?” Heilou feigned surprise. Then, as if recalling something, she suddenly laughed.

“How deceitful. After all these years, a liar remains a liar. Some things never change.”

Tidal carefully weighed Heilou’s words, searching for anything she could understand or accept.

What did “liar” mean? Was Lao Lin hiding something from her?

Of course, there was no guarantee the girl before her was telling the truth. But deep down, Tidal already knew—Lao Lin had many secrets she hadn’t shared.

Still, unlike You Xi or Bai Mian, those sensitive teenage girls, she wasn’t naive enough to believe people should always be open and honest with each other.

Compared to children, adults were creatures who lived with lies every day. Sometimes deception served as the lubricant that kept relationships and daily life running smoothly.

So despite her doubts, she didn’t press further. She simply decided that if an opportunity arose later, she would ask—but only after the current chaos had passed.

“Come to think of it, I haven’t introduced myself yet.”

Heilou gently lifted the hem of her skirt and gave Tidal a graceful bow.

“My name is Heilou. As you can see, I am also a magical girl.”

Even though the girl claimed to be a fellow magical girl, Tidal felt not a shred of trust.

Her sharp gaze remained fixed on Heilou—both to guard against her and to pressure her into explaining herself.

“I’ve long wished to meet you, indeed…”

Heilou began, then abruptly shifted her attention toward the unconscious Bai Mian nearby.

“Oh? Are you here to steal the mana crystal too?” Tidal raised an eyebrow. Seems the A-rank aberration’s mana crystal was unexpectedly popular.

“No, I don’t need something like that,” Heilou shook her head.

“Oh? Then what are you here for?”

“That might be a bit beyond me… but it could still help me,” she murmured.

“Help you? What does that mean?”

Tidal frowned, puzzled by Heilou’s cryptic words.

“Hehe…”

Heilou responded with a soft laugh instead of an answer.

“Our fates will cross paths again, sooner or later. But not today. Now…”

“I doubt you’ll just calmly tell me the truth anyway.”

Tidal suddenly cut in, interrupting her.

“So I’ll beat it out of you until you do.” She narrowed her eyes and raised her magic wand once more.

If the opponent insisted on speaking in riddles, then only one path remained—battle.

“Fine by me.”

Heilou nodded, her calm face betraying a hint of excitement beneath.

“After all… I’ve missed those days too, senior…”

She began to spin the handle of her umbrella. The black canopy rotated silently, like a night spirit dancing in the dark.

No witnesses needed. No rules or restrictions. The battle began in that instant.

Tidal knew clearly—this wasn’t a regulated magical girl duel governed by mutual agreement. This was a true fight to the death.

Therefore, she held nothing back. She opened fire with rapid bursts of magic beams, each carrying the same power that had shattered Ban’s weapon earlier.

Yet this barrage achieved nothing. Just like the first sneak attack, every beam vanished the moment it neared Heilou, nullified and reduced to drifting black feathers falling slowly to the ground.

“…So standard output won’t work?”

Accepting this fact, Tidal began recharging.

For ordinary people, manipulating and channeling magic might be unimaginable. But for a magical girl, it was as natural as breathing.

In Tidal’s mind, charging her wand was like loading bullets into a gun.

Earlier, prioritizing speed and rate of fire, she had loaded 9mm rounds. The result was clear—standard ammunition was useless against Heilou. So now, she chose to “switch.”

Higher muzzle velocity. Greater penetration. But at the cost of longer preparation time. Slowly, she loaded 12.7mm heavy machine gun rounds into the chamber.

At the same time, Heilou made her move.

The spinning black canopy suddenly scattered into countless floating feathers, leaving behind only a silver steel frame—the bare skeleton of the umbrella.

Upon closer inspection, the hovering mass wasn’t mere mist, but clusters of tightly packed black feathers.

“—Kouga.”

At Heilou’s command, the fog seemed to awaken, surging toward Tidal.

Unsure of the ability’s nature, Tidal didn’t attempt to tank it. Instead, she shot vertically upward, aiming to evade the attack entirely.

But the fog pursued relentlessly, tracing her ascent with matching speed.

“…Damn, persistent.”

Tidal twisted through the air with dazzling maneuvers. Behind her, the whirlwind of black feathers clung like a starving wolf refusing to let go.

Keeping one eye on Heilou below, she accelerated to shake off the pursuit. After several evasive moves, her wand finally completed its charge.

“…!”

In midair, Tidal sharply turned and fired a beam at the approaching fog.

Blue energy erupted from the colorless crystal—a fierce azure hurricane that instantly shattered and dispersed the mass of black feathers.

Before Tidal could even catch her breath, however, the scattered feathers began to reassemble, shifting rapidly into new forms.

“—Shikigami: Hagunin!”

At Heilou’s chant, the feathers coalesced into a humanoid figure. This “Hagunin” stood ten meters tall, clad in armor and wielding a blade—an imposing warrior.

“…!”

Despite its massive size, the shikigami moved with surprising agility.

Before Tidal could fully react, it swung its long blade down at her in a devastating arc.

“—Slash!”

Just as she had severed the mysterious tentacles earlier, Tidal summoned a blade anchored by the colorless crystal, meeting the giant’s strike head-on.

Light clashed against feather—her blade cleanly severed the opponent’s.

Yet the ease of the cut filled Tidal with unease, not relief.

As expected, within a single breath, the shikigami’s weapon regenerated completely.

No need to guess now—the entire being, composed of black feathers, was effectively immortal.

No matter which part she cut, it would be meaningless unless…

Tidal glanced toward Heilou in the distance.

Capture the leader first!

She immediately changed tactics, abandoning the shikigami and diving straight toward the controller.

But for Heilou, who had controlled the battlefield from the start, this shift in focus was anticipated.

“—Prison Bird.”

The steel umbrella frame in her hand twisted and warped, forming a metallic net.

Tidal, diving headfirst, flew right into it like a moth into flame—trapped instantly.

The net closed around her, reshaping into a cage suspended in midair.

True to its name, Tidal was now a blue songbird caged.

Heilou tilted her head up, gazing at the trapped magical girl. Her expression and posture resembled someone admiring a beloved pet.

‘—Damn.’

Inside the cage, Tidal tried to gather magic for a counterattack. But the moment the thought arose, the cage reacted as if reading her mind, sprouting multiple metal bands that bound her tightly in place, immobilizing her completely.

Meanwhile, the colossal shikigami approached silently.

It reached out and cradled the birdcage in its hands—like a god gripping a mortal’s throat.

Defeat. Utter and complete defeat. Tidal could only despair inwardly.

Buzzzzzzzz…

A high-pitched vibration filled the air.

Only now, at such close range, did Tidal realize—each black feather composing the shikigami had razor-sharp edges.

Essentially, they were thousands of glinting blades.

And each blade vibrated at an extremely high frequency—the source of the endless, grating noise resonating through the air.

If she were struck by this… just imagining it sent chills down Tidal’s spine.

But as a prisoner, she was utterly helpless, left only to endure the terror of impending torture—thousands of cuts, one after another.

Perhaps she would remain frozen, trapped in a lonely tower, overwhelmed by relentless attacks, battered and broken… This outcome had been inevitable from the start.

“…So this is how you’ve always used your predecessor’s power?”

Seeing Tidal’s helpless, doomed expression, Heilou let out a soft sigh.

There was no victor’s joy in her voice—only emptiness and dissatisfaction, as if the fight had ended too soon.

“Well, I suppose it can’t be helped. After all, the opponents you’ve faced until now were all ones you could beat with brute strength alone…”

Tidal said nothing. Though she strained to find a way out, the ceaseless, maddening noise gnawed at her nerves without mercy.

‘…What should I do?’

She clenched her teeth. Her mind was blank, no ideas coming.

A thin layer of sweat formed on her forehead.

“Ah, well… I can’t blame you entirely.”

Suddenly, Heilou began walking.

She approached the unconscious Bai Mian, lifting her effortlessly with one hand.

Then, Heilou floated up to the birdcage, looking down at the defeated enemy with a condescending gaze.

“Mr. Menglimo, I’ll be taking her. Hehe… No objections, Flower’s Heir?”

For Tidal, bound and powerless, this rhetorical question was nothing more than a veiled humiliation.

“…Well then, that’s enough for today.”

With Heilou’s closing declaration, the shikigami dissolved.

The mass of black feathers returned to their master, assembling into a pair of enormous black wings behind her.

Under the cold moonlight, the fallen angel’s wings shimmered with silvery hues.

As if striving to reach the moon above, the twisted, jagged wing bones stretched skyward, the dark wings spreading wide enough to blot out the heavens.

In Tidal’s vision, the night sky vanished. The stars and moon were swallowed whole.

So evil. Yet so… sacred.

Tidal’s throat went dry. She couldn’t utter a single word.

“…Next time we meet, I hope to see a stronger you.”

With those final words, Heilou’s form faded naturally into the darkness.

Only a faint, ethereal laughter remained—mocking Tidal’s lingering resentment, vanishing into the void.