Time rewound to when Si An and Rose had just arrived in Tongmen City.
The streets of Tongmen City could be considered bustling, yet Rose did not take Si An to show her around her hometown. Instead, she was searching for something on the streets.
After all, she was not a tour guide.
***
In the blink of an eye, the two arrived at the entrance of an underground billiard hall, filled with dust and a damp, musty smell.
Si An pinched her nose with two fingers, while pointing with the other hand at the dim, dilapidated entrance below, her face full of disgust and disbelief as she glanced at Rose beside her.
“Hey, hey, I came all the way out to Tongmen, this kind of backwater place, and you bring me to this… uh, nostalgic garbage dump? Weren’t we supposed to have fun?”
“Before having fun, we need to find a pawn.” Rose rolled her eyes at Si An.
“Didn’t you tell me you had a buried landmine that hadn’t exploded yet? Why do we need to find one again?”
“That’s different.”
Without even looking at Si An, Rose’s eyes scanned the passersby on the street, finally locking onto a few young men and women dressed like street thugs, casually staggering toward the billiard hall entrance.
Especially the female leader.
She wore a torn denim jacket, her hair dyed in multiple colors, and had a toothpick hanging from her mouth — the perfect image of a low-level hoodlum.
“Your fun needs pawns, and pawns often hide in garbage heaps,” Rose said coldly.
She keenly sensed the restlessness and hostility deep within the female youth’s gaze.
This spirit of dissatisfaction with the current order, a craving for power with nowhere to vent — that was her best prey.
“Should I take control of their minds?” Si An asked eagerly.
“No need.” Rose stopped her, “I have my own method.”
Silently, she followed the gang of thugs down the stairs. Si An pouted but still followed with interest. At the very least, she found this street-side drama quite entertaining.
***
Inside the billiard hall, the lighting was even dimmer.
“Damn it, what bad luck, this lousy place doesn’t even have a decent venue.” The female youth named A Li impatiently jabbed the floor with a billiard cue, complaining to her underlings. “Those damn Magical Girls, if they didn’t loiter around all day interfering with everything, would I have to hide out in a dump like this?”
Her disgust for Magical Girls was etched all over her face. A Li saw them as hypocrites and nuisances who not only stole all the attention but also cut off many of their revenue streams.
***
“Tap tap tap.”
The sharp sound of Rose’s high heels.
The arrival of Rose and Si An immediately drew the attention of the gang.
Their aura was out of place here, especially Rose’s cold, aloof temperament and the fun-loving vibe emanating from Si An, making the thugs instinctively sense danger. They nervously stood up.
A Li, who was about to play billiards, turned sharply, placing her cue horizontally in front of her and shouted fiercely, “Hey! Who are you? Wrong place, huh? This isn’t your spot!”
Si An laughed lightly, stepping forward two paces, her gaze ignoring the nervous thugs and landing directly on A Li.
“Wrong place? No~ We’re here just for you. Heard you have some issues with our lovely Magical Girls?”
Her tone was playful, like sharing a secret with a friend.
A Li was momentarily stunned, then seemed to be poked in a sore spot, her face flushed with anger. “None of your business! What the hell do you want?”
“Us? We’re the ones who can give you a chance.” This time it was Rose who spoke, her voice low yet instantly suppressing all the noise in the hall. “We can let you vent all those opinions and grievances.”
***
“What do you mean? Want to resist the Magical Girls? Do you really think we can do that?” A Li pointed her billiard cue at Rose’s Transformation Crystal on her wrist. “Get lost! You’re a Magical Girl, right? I see your Transformation Crystal!”
“I’m not a Magical Girl.”
“Yeah, right!”
Rose was speechless. With these lowlifes, the best way was to make them experience what she could give them.
No more empty talk. Rose slowly raised her hand, and her shadow began writhing like a living creature as a sticky Mimetic Disaster emerged from it.
The thugs screamed in terror, retreating quickly. A Li’s face turned deathly pale in an instant.
“W-what the hell is that?!”
“This is ‘power.’” Rose’s voice was like a demon’s whisper, “Enough to make you stop hiding and challenge the forces you despise.”
Staring at the disgusting mass, A Li’s eyes filled with fear.
“You… you’re crazy! I don’t want to touch that thing!”
“Oh?” Rose snapped her fingers.
Suddenly, one of A Li’s underlings was yanked down by a shadowy tentacle, dragged into the darkness.
“Ahhh!”
After a brief, sharp scream, the underling fell silent.
Dead… dead?!
“You killed him?!” A Li trembled all over in fear. “Aren’t you a Magical Girl?!”
“I told you, I’m not one anymore. Can you speak human language?”
Rose sighed.
The rest of the thugs were so terrified they fled in all directions, not even caring about their leader.
***
A Li stood alone, stiff and drenched in cold sweat, looking at the encroaching black disaster and the two inscrutable women before her. Terror finally consumed her completely.
“Choose.” Rose’s voice was cold and merciless. “Wear it, gain power, or… become like him — food for my pets.”
“You… you want to attach that to me?!” A Li’s voice trembled, full of resistance.
“It’s the price of gaining power and the way to prove your worth.”
Rose’s tone brooked no argument. “Or do you want to die?”
It was a blatant threat.
A Li stared at the nauseating black substance, then at the murderous woman before her. In the end, she bit her lip.
“Fine! I’ll do it! But you have to promise me, it’ll really let me teach those bastards a lesson!”
“Of course~” Si An chuckled, “We’ll give you your targets~”
Rose said no more and just flicked her finger.
The Mimetic Disaster, like a trained hunting dog, lunged fiercely at A Li.
“Ah—!” A Li screamed in terror, instinctively trying to dodge, but it was too late.
The black slime instantly engulfed her, as if swallowing her alive. She struggled inside the black substance, but to no avail.
Seconds later, the struggling stopped.
The black slime, as if alive, perfectly molded itself to A Li’s body, forming a sleek, bio-organic jet-black armor.
The armor covered her entirely, with sharp protrusions at the joints. Her fingers became razor-sharp claws, and her face was hidden beneath a smooth red V-shaped mask.
She looked like a Dark Style Sexy Magical Girl straight from the abyss — a true Disaster Knight.
***
“Feels… amazing…” A Li’s voice, now deeper under the mask, was full of wonder and a newfound sense of power. She flexed her fingers, and the claws seemed sharp enough to tear through the air effortlessly.
“Not bad…” Rose couldn’t help but applaud.
She had given A Li the power of the Mimetic Disaster because intelligent disasters could immediately upgrade a disaster’s rank. She was running low on high-level disasters and needed more firepower to make up for the gap against Su Li and her team.
“Oh, by the way, your original name was too ugly. No need to say it anymore.”
Rose added, “Let me think… From now on, you’ll be called…
‘Disaster Knight.’”