An hour earlier.
As Magical Girl Grey Moon and Zhou Huanan were cultivating their budding relationship in a small suburban park, Grey Moon’s obedience points steadily climbed. The imprint of her submission to Zhou Huanan was deepening, progressing to its next stage.
Suddenly, Magical Girl Violet materialized in the heart of the city.
She appeared wearing a twisted metal half-mask, her clothes tattered and torn. Barefoot, she walked upon the concrete road, her broken black stockings clinging to her feet.
A passing bus, unable to swerve in time, crashed into her.
This was the beginning of everything.
****
“What’s going on?”
Yellow hazard lights flashed erratically.
Bystanders on the sidewalks began to take notice, and drivers on the road pulled their vehicles to a stop, craning their necks to see.
A collective expression of confusion and bewilderment settled upon their faces.
The front of the bus was caved in, as if it had collided with a utility pole. Yet, the wide street offered no such obstruction.
Gradually, a crowd gathered, spontaneously converging around the bus to assist the trapped citizens.
Meanwhile, directly across the street from the incident.
A large bank, seemingly operating as usual, was in the midst of a silent robbery carried out by Banjao combatants. One of the team members, hearing the commotion, peeked through the Venetian blinds and was stunned by the sight outside.
As they began to deliberate whether to continue and how to proceed, their leader, a Captain, immediately declared they would call for backup from their base.
The radio rescue code was successfully transmitted, and a collective sigh of relief swept through the Banjao combatants inside the bank.
But then, at that very moment.
They heard it: a chilling, sinister chuckle echoing from the ceiling above.
Instantly, every combatant gripped their weapons, their expressions taut with extreme tension, as they stared at Magical Girl Violet, who had abruptly appeared mid-air within the bank.
The Magical Girl before them was clearly not normal.
Any person with sight could discern it.
Whether it was the jarring, grotesque metal mask covering half her face, or the tattered, seemingly poorly stored and decaying ceremonial dress she wore, everything about her screamed aberration.
Despite being a Magical Girl born of love and justice, Violet now stood with disheveled hair, her eyes fixed on the Banjao combatants with a dangerously unsettling gaze.
“Banjao… they all must be killed.” The girl’s voice was hollow and terrifying, like that of a phantom.
“Wait!”
The Banjao Captain, leading his team, immediately raised his hands in surrender, asserting that they only sought wealth, not lives.
Yet, Violet offered no opportunity for capitulation.
With a mere flick of her small hand in the air.
Countless Banjao combatants clutched at their throats, letting out agonized gasps as they fell backward. The numerous hostages, bound and prone on the bank floor, were so terrified that tears streamed down their faces. Had their mouths not been taped shut by the Banjao earlier, many citizens would have surely screamed.
Soon after.
The grey-clad combatants lay sprawled on the ground. Gradually, even their spasms ceased, and they drew their last breaths.
Magical Girl Violet observed the Captain, who was still struggling, curious as to why he persisted. She reached out and removed his hood.
Beneath it was the face of a middle-aged man with greying hair. He seemed about to utter something, but the instant his hood was removed, his skin began to wrinkle at a visible rate, turning aged and brown. His hair fell out, his eyes bulged, and he rapidly transformed into a shriveled husk.
Violet released her grip, and only a skeletal frame remained, collapsing onto the floor.
Silence.
A suffocating silence descended upon the bank.
The countless hostages lying on the ground stared at this Magical Girl, genuinely believing that the Banjao combatants had been the more reassuring presence.
However, after slaughtering the Banjao combatants, Magical Girl Violet remained standing in the bank, showing no intention of leaving.
If she had merely stood still, like a statue, the others, though terrified, might have found it somewhat tolerable.
But Violet’s body—her neck, shoulders, and thigh bones—would occasionally twist and contort with unnerving clicks, as if she were a ghost from a horror film.
This unsettling spectacle was amplified by her current attire and the bodies littering the floor.
From her lips, an eerie mumble softly escaped.
“Banjao? They must be killed.”
In the pin-drop silent hall, a faint whimper could be heard.
It came from a little girl cradled in her mother’s arms, terrified by the Magical Girl before them.
Violet heard it, her brows furrowing in displeasure.
This caused the numerous bound hostages lying on the floor to feel their lives were in grave peril, their trembling intensifying. The sound was like a mournful dirge, leading everyone in the hall towards the underworld.
The kind citizens of C City had never witnessed such a scene. Many silently lost control of their bladders, and the pungent smell of urine in the air only heightened Violet’s displeasure, causing her body’s twitching frequency to increase. Just as she was on the verge of erupting.
No hero arrived to intervene.
Only the bank manager, steeling himself, stepped forward.
He was a man with small, round-rimmed glasses, lacking any discernible muscle, and appeared unreliable from every angle.
Everyone lying on the floor could see his legs trembling uncontrollably.
“Thank you so much, Magical Girl!”
[You drove away the evil Banjao and saved us!]
His loud praise for Magical Girl Violet perfectly masked the child’s soft sobs.
Violet’s lips gradually curved upward into a smile.
Everyone in the hall collectively exhaled in relief.
At that moment, the Banjao reinforcements Violet had been waiting for exited a black van outside, armed themselves, and rushed to the scene. These Banjao combatants, using their lives to lure Magical Girl Violet out of the bank, were seen as heroic by the people lying on the bank floor.
“It’s a Magical Girl!!!”
“Magical Girl Violet! She’s reappeared to eradicate the evil organization!”
As Violet appeared outside the bank, passersby were initially thrilled, gathering by the roadside to film with their phones. However, their excitement turned to horror as they witnessed Violet brutally slaughtering the Banjao combatants.
A group of high school students, just released from classes.
They screamed and fled in terror.
This piercing shriek drew the attention of hundreds of kind citizens, who were busy with the bus rescue, towards the bank. At this point, at least three to four hundred innocent civilians were in Violet’s immediate vicinity.
“They all must be killed—”
Just as Violet raised her hand, preparing to use her abilities on the innocent crowd, thousands of paper figures and paper cranes descended from the sky, radiating a vibrant green magical energy.
They dreamily wrapped around each citizen.
“Hm?”
Violet froze, bewildered. She had used her ability, yet it had no effect.
The next second.
Magical Girl Emerald descended from the sky, her expression tense. Her hands continuously scratched and clawed at the air as she shielded the citizens from Violet, then turned back to shout at the stunned people trapped in the bus.
“Run!!!”
“It’s Magical Girl Emerald!”
“Thank goodness! We’re saved—”
Inside the bank, everyone watched the heroic arrival of Magical Girl Emerald outside, tears welling in their eyes. They cheered and expressed their gratitude to the righteous Magical Girl.
Inside the bank, silence fell once more.
Magical Girl Emerald was relentlessly beaten, completely overwhelmed.
She had no chance to fight back.
Yet, she could not retreat, for behind her, injured people were still trapped in the bus, and even more brave individuals faced danger to rescue them.
To protect everyone, she could only choose to endure the onslaught here.
The situation was incredibly disadvantageous for a Magical Girl.
But despite these odds, Magical Girl Emerald managed to hold off Violet for a full hour.
For an entire hour.
She stood steadfast before the bus, unilaterally enduring the raging fury of Violet.
When the last elderly woman trapped in the bus was finally rescued, everyone inside the bank could no longer bear to watch Magical Girl Emerald.
Emerald, by this point, was utterly battered. Even with her constant self-healing, there was not a single unmarred spot on her body.
Still, she remained standing there, swaying precariously, on the verge of collapsing at any moment.
“Magical Girl Emerald has fallen! What are we going to do?”
Panic once again surged through the crowd inside the bank.
Just as the bank manager attempted to calm the agitated people, a little girl, holding her mother’s hand, bravely stepped forward to address everyone, telling them not to be afraid.
The girl, on the verge of tears, looked at them.
In her arms, she clutched a Magical Girl Grey Moon figurine, featuring the hero’s latest hairstyle. Though it was a small, inanimate toy, the mere sight of that familiar figure brought a wave of calm and reassurance to countless people.
“Magical Girl Grey Moon will come back to save everyone!”
The little girl inside the bank spoke in a sweet, childish voice, though her next words were accompanied by a touch of shyness.
“It’s just that my hero, she sometimes likes to be a little late.”
A ripple of laughter spread through the bank. The embarrassed little girl, her head bowed, was so endearing, and her words brought such profound relief to everyone present.
“Yes, that’s right.”
The people in the bank felt their tension ease, thinking to themselves.
‘Magical Girl Grey Moon, powerful as she is, just tends to be a bit late, but—’
The little girl, with an utterly confident tone, echoed their unspoken thoughts.
“But she will definitely come!”
“Magical Girl Grey Moon will definitely come!”