“The person you wanted, cough… I’ve brought them to you.”
Chen Xin coughed several times, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
It hurt—so much. Her entire body felt as if it had been run over by a steamroller. Even standing was a struggle.
But it didn’t matter, because her wish was about to come true.
“The thing I want.” Chen Xin threw the unclaimed Transformation Crystal to Rose, then drew her gun and aimed it at her. “Give it to me now.”
The bullets in her gun were loaded with rounds capable of killing magical girls—and Rose was one of them. Although the bullets had been given to her by Rose, they weren’t just a threat to Lu Yuan and the others; they were also a threat to Rose herself.
“Oh my… why the rush?” Rose took the Transformation Crystal and laughed, waving her hand dismissively. “Well, you didn’t do things very cleanly—you even brought Su Li along as a tail…”
“But it’s not bad. I won’t go back on my word.”
***
Rose held the unclaimed Transformation Crystal under the sunlight. The refracted light was dazzling.
“So beautiful,” she murmured.
Suddenly, a thin black tentacle appeared behind her. Su Li instinctively raised her Scythe, ready to engage, but moments later she realized the tentacle wasn’t targeting her—it was targeting Rose herself.
Rose’s mouth opened wide, and the tentacle slowly slipped inside her gaping mouth. The tip of the tentacle split like a snake’s tongue, trembling in the air.
With an eerie squelching sound, the tentacle extended deeper and deeper.
“Glug… glurp…”
A noticeable bulge appeared at Rose’s neck. The foreign object moved down her esophagus. With every inch it traveled, the whites of her eyes rolled upward, revealing frightening bloodshot veins. Her stomach convulsed violently, and her uniform fabric was pushed into a grotesque shape.
“Ah~ Found it~” Though her mouth was stuffed, Rose’s voice came out as if unaffected. Her body twisted like a broken puppet.
The tentacle suddenly stiffened and was pulled out from her stomach in one swift motion!
“Ugh—”
A crystal emitting a pure pink light was slowly lifted by the tentacle. Its surface was smeared with digestive fluids and blood, but the light inside remained pure and immaculate.
“Oh… if only I hadn’t hidden it so deep…” Rose chuckled, wiping the drool from the corner of her mouth.
The tentacle swung the crystal in the air, drawing out long, thin threads that still connected it.
“Disgusting…”
Both Su Li and Chen Xin said the same word in unison upon seeing this.
***
Rose took the crystal, now covered in stomach acid, from the tentacle’s grasp and placed it on top of the unclaimed Transformation Crystal. Then she crushed it violently!
“Snap!”
Pink fragments scattered across the unclaimed crystal, turning it a soft rose color.
“All set.” Rose casually tossed the red Transformation Crystal to Chen Xin. “As long as your daughter activates this crystal with her own hands, she’ll be able to transform. At the same time, her illness will be cured.”
Chen Xin cherished the crystal as if it were a treasure.
This was the thing that could save her daughter’s life.
She cast a final glance at Lu Yuan, who was still entangled in Rose’s tentacles, then stumbled toward her motorcycle. The roar of the engine drowned out everything as she disappeared quickly down the dusty path.
***
“What exactly did you give her?!” Su Li angrily raised her Scythe toward Rose.
“Medicine? What else could it be?” Rose gave a meaningful smile. “What’s wrong? You couldn’t give her this, but I can. Are you jealous?”
“That crystal was taken from another magical girl!” Su Li shouted.
“So what if it was taken? I have three more crystals like that.” Rose licked her lips, looking down at the unconscious Lu Yuan wrapped in tentacles. “Trading that pink crystal for Lu Yuan’s? I think it’s a fair deal.”
“I’m not like you magical girls, trapped by these worldly morals,” Rose said. “I have the power to snatch other magical girls’ abilities to get stronger. Why wouldn’t I?”
“I’ve already devoured three magical girls’ crystals. With four abilities now, I’ll only get stronger. And you, Su Li, just keep being stuck in your ways.”
***
“You?!”
Su Li couldn’t hold back anymore, her white hair flowing wildly as if blown by wind.
“Crack—”
Starting from her toes, a pale icy line spread like lightning. Everything in its path—the weeds—froze into ice sculptures in an instant. Stones shattered into powder in the freezing temperatures. Within a radius of five meters, even the ground moaned under the strain and cracked open.
Rose’s tentacle hadn’t yet been retracted and was suddenly frozen in midair. Black skin bloomed with frost. With a sharp, teeth-grinding crack, it snapped apart.
Each magical girl’s ability is fixed the moment she forms a contract with her crystal. Each one awakens a single, unchanging power. This means their position in the pyramid of strength is locked from that moment.
But there’s a forbidden method: forcibly seizing another magical girl’s crystal and consuming it to acquire their power, thereby strengthening oneself.
There are many ways to seize crystals—killing directly or corrupting the owner both work. Rose prefers the latter because it satisfies her control obsession more.
However, a magical girl whose crystal is stolen loses her Heart. She will never feel joy or sorrow again. This method is classified as a Lawful Behavior violation.
Rose laughed at Su Li’s fierce stance.
***
“So… you really are strong!” she covered her face with her hands. “If only I could devour you…”
Suddenly, she stopped.
“Ah… I can’t be a flirt,” Rose shook her head as if rejecting the thought. “Better to devour this little Black Cat first.”
Rose’s tentacle tightened. The unconscious Lu Yuan was suspended midair. Her slender neck looked especially fragile wrapped in the black tentacle.
Su Li stepped forward, ready to strike.
“Don’t move~” Rose spoke the cruelest words in the calmest tone. “One more step forward, and I’ll crush her pretty neck~”
Su Li’s Ice Domain suddenly froze midair. The cold stopped an inch from Rose’s foot. The freezing mist swirled around her, but dared not advance.
“Good girl~” Rose tilted her head. Another tentacle gently brushed Lu Yuan’s cheek. “I love watching righteous Envoys like you struggle so much.”
“Ethics and morality are just shackles for you,” she whispered.
Her tentacle lightly traced the Transformation Crystal on Lu Yuan’s chest. The unconscious girl’s face twisted in pain.
***
“Stop!” Su Li’s Scythe readied to strike, but she dared not move recklessly.
“Let’s play a game?” Rose snapped her fingers, and four tentacles suddenly sprouted from behind her. Each tip pressed against a vital point on Lu Yuan.
“For every time you attack me, I’ll randomly pierce one part of her.”
“You’re fast, but you’re probably not fast enough to sever all four tentacles at once.” Rose taunted.
Su Li was silent. Rose was right. Even with her supreme confidence in her speed, she couldn’t guarantee saving Lu Yuan instantly.
But she was Su Li—the captain of Tongmen City’s magical girls, the White Death God.
“I’ll count to three.” Su Li lowered her stance. “Either release her, or you die.”
“Oh…?” Rose looked curious.
“Three!”
Su Li vanished suddenly. Before Rose could react, a flash of white light severed three of the tentacles threatening Lu Yuan.
A sneak attack!
Though successful, at the same moment, the remaining tentacle stabbed viciously toward Lu Yuan’s heart.
“Pfft!”
Blood splattered—but it wasn’t Lu Yuan’s.
Su Li had somehow stepped in between. The tentacle pierced her left shoulder. The intense frost rapidly spread along the tentacle, threatening to engulf Rose.
Rose clicked her tongue and severed her own tentacle, stopping the frost from spreading.
“Madwoman!” Rose retreated several steps, her expression finally changing.
Fortunately, the tentacle strangling Lu Yuan’s neck hadn’t been cut. Rose cautiously shielded Lu Yuan behind her.
Su Li expressionless, pulled the tentacle out of her shoulder. The wound instantly froze, stopping the bleeding. “The key tentacle wasn’t cut…”
“Where’s your sense of honor, sneaking like that?” Rose mocked.
“Winning is the best tactic,” Su Li sneered.
***
Unconsciously, Rose had already backed to the cliff’s edge. Lu Yuan was suspended hundreds of meters above the raging sea below. Although this height wasn’t dangerous for a magical girl, Lu Yuan was unconscious, so anything could happen.
“You’re right—winning is all that matters.” Rose blew a kiss. “Say goodbye to your little Black Cat.”
The tentacle suddenly released its hold. Lu Yuan plummeted straight toward the sea.
Su Li’s pupils shrank. Without hesitation, she leapt off the cliff.
As she fell, Rose’s laughter echoed from above.
“You fell for it~”
Suddenly, the Lu Yuan who should have been falling dissolved into black mist.
Su Li plummeted toward the stormy waves. In the howling wind, she saw Rose standing at the cliff’s edge.
“Even someone as strong as you can’t fly, right, Su Li?” Rose said with a smile. “Just stay obediently in the water with nowhere to land, and watch me take Lu Yuan away.”
Rose waved, preparing to leave.
“Oh, right—assuming you’re still alive.”
What?!
Su Li twisted midair. She saw countless black tentacles rising from the ocean like demonic hands reaching out from the abyss, clawing at her off-balance form.
If it was just the tentacles, she might manage.
But more terrifyingly, beneath the dark waves, a massive Shark Calamity opened its jaws, waiting for its next meal.