At the same time, on the other side.
Sapphire and Meteor, under the guidance of the Official Personnel, were making their way along the path stored in their memories, stopping and starting as they searched for possible suspects or tried to find the hidden firearms.
“Miss Sapphire, I remember that in my Dream, I entered a White Warehouse, and then I put the gun I was holding into the Storage Vault inside.”
The Official Personnel walking ahead, leading the way for the two girls, explained how he lost the gun while making constant gestures with his hands, as if trying to help them understand his situation.
But Sapphire simply nodded, then turned to look at the pitch-black street beside her and the almost deserted road. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.
Meteor followed behind Sapphire, listening to her directions and doing her best to look for anything unusual, but found nothing out of the ordinary.
“Although I don’t know if you can understand what I mean, the situation at the time was really strange,” the Official Personnel said. “I suddenly gained memories that didn’t belong to me, and I firmly believed them. I was manipulated like a puppet in my Dream.”
“…I understand. That really is a bizarre situation. The powers of a Shadow Beast are all sorts of strange—ordinary humans can’t handle their threats at all,” Sapphire replied offhandedly.
“Sigh, that’s why dealing with Shadow Beasts is left to you Magic Girls. There’s nothing people like us can do, we have to rely on you you you you you…”
The Official Personnel kept talking, then suddenly began to meaninglessly repeat the same words, like some malfunctioning robot.
Standing behind, Meteor scratched her head in confusion at the man’s sudden change in demeanor.
With a strange look, she glanced at Sapphire and asked, “What happened? Why is he repeating those weird things—did his brain suddenly get damaged?”
Sapphire said nothing, staring at the Official Personnel still muttering his strange words. She looked around at the deserted, dark street, deep in thought.
Just a few seconds later, Sapphire raised her hand and brought her Magic Staff crashing down onto the Official Personnel’s body.
“Sapphire! What are you doing! We can’t just hurt Official Personnel without reason—eh?”
Before Meteor could finish her exclamation, she saw the Official Personnel turn into black dust at the touch of Sapphire’s Magic Staff, the dust drifting away in the air.
As he quietly faded away, Meteor finally realized that she and Sapphire were now floating in the air, drifting aimlessly above, with no Official Personnel in sight.
“Wha—what’s going on?” Meteor asked in confusion.
“…This is bad. It seems we’ve been pulled into an Illusion by that Shadow Beast without even realizing it,” Sapphire sighed, voicing her guess to Meteor.
“Illusion?” Meteor asked in surprise.
“Yeah. We thought we were walking on the ground with the others, but in reality, we’d already been separated from the Official Personnel,” Sapphire explained. “Looks like this thing’s ability has evolved to the point where it can forcefully drag people into illusions now.”
“It hasn’t even been a week, has it? In just a week, it’s pushed its power this far. Even I think this is getting a bit troublesome…” Meteor muttered. “By the way, do you know how it got exposed?”
“No idea. But I have a feeling Blazing Flame found something important, which caused its Illusion to fail,” Sapphire answered honestly.
“So that’s it, Blazing Flame really helped us out…” Meteor nodded. “So what do we do now? Go back to find the Official Personnel who were searching with us, or search for the guns on our own?”
“Let’s look for the others. For some reason, I have a bad feeling,” Sapphire replied. “If it wanted to deal with us, it could have put us and the Official Personnel in the same Illusion. But instead, it deliberately separated us…”
Sapphire didn’t voice the dangerous thought in her mind, but Meteor, hearing this, couldn’t help but shiver.
If the enemy’s goal wasn’t them, the Magic Girls, then what was the real target?
Manipulate Official Personnel into sleepwalking and losing their guns, then forcefully separate them from the girls, leaving them drifting in the air.
This thing…
“Don’t think about it too much—let’s find the others first, Meteor,” Sapphire said, glancing back at the girl behind her.
“…Mm. I agree, let’s get moving first,” Meteor replied.
Following Sapphire’s words, Meteor temporarily set aside her worries and kept pace with Sapphire, searching for the missing Official Personnel.
Thanks to the trackers they exchanged before setting out, they were still able to confirm the others’ locations.
But strangely, why were all the Official Personnel gathered in one unmoving spot?
Could it be…
Just imagining what they might find, Sapphire’s heart tightened with worry.
She didn’t tell Meteor her own suspicion, only silently sped up, determined to reach their destination before something worse could happen.
Finally, after dozens of minutes, they arrived at the location indicated by the tracker.
But the place before their eyes looked all too familiar.
“Eh, isn’t this where we caught Jia Yi? Why are the Official Personnel here?” Meteor exclaimed in surprise as she looked at the White Warehouse ahead.
Sapphire said nothing and simply walked inside. The Magic Staff in her hand began to emit a deep blue glow.
She had a hunch that something dangerous was happening inside; otherwise, the enemy wouldn’t have chosen this place to act.
One step, two steps…
The two of them slowly walked into the White Warehouse in the Warehouse District of Seventy-Two Streets, following the familiar route in their memories, until they reached the main hall.
At the very center of the hall, they saw the missing Official Personnel standing together, guns in hand, pointing at a group of people tied to chairs, their mouths sealed shut.
The captives’ mouths were blocked, their faces filled with terror. They mumbled as if trying to say something, but couldn’t utter a word.
And behind the Official Personnel stood a mysterious figure, their gender indiscernible, their entire body shrouded in a cloak.
Watching the scene, the mysterious person nodded in satisfaction, as if pleased with what was about to happen.
As soon as Sapphire saw the scene before her, she immediately raised her Magic Staff and aimed it at the mysterious person, ready to strike first and kill them before anything could happen.
But the mysterious person, without even turning around, sensed Sapphire’s arrival and spoke calmly.
“Fire your Magic Cannon at me. Then all these Official Personnel who trust you and the innocent people here will die by your hand.”
“Trading dozens of ordinary lives for the death of a Shadow Beast—isn’t that worth it to you?”
“Magic Girl, Sapphire.”