“Sister, are you really up to this? How can you not even take down a Small Karami like this? Are you really a Magical Girl who specializes in hunting Witches?”
After effortlessly defeating the Electric Hajimi that Scarlet Moon had struggled against with all her might, Mahiru tilted his head with an air of ease, looking at Scarlet Moon as she sat on the ground staring blankly at him.
It was as if taking down that giant Hajimi was as simple as a walk in the park.
Scarlet Moon was also stunned. She remained speechless for a long time, able only to stare at Mahiru in a daze.
However, she didn’t know that Mahiru was only appearing at ease on the surface.
His small chest was still heaving rapidly.
After all, climbing up to a rooftop over thirty floors high in one go was no easy feat.
Five minutes ago, seeing Xiaoye suddenly activate her Transformation Mode, turning into a valiant, pink-haired Magical Girl and jumping out the window without a word, Mahiru couldn’t help but panic.
He wasn’t worried about being handcuffed to the leg of a low table by Xiaoye and being unable to move; he was worried about the fact that Xiaoye had turned into a Magical Girl.
‘What could possibly require Xiaoye to transform into a Magical Girl to handle?’
Connecting it to the mysterious flashes of lightning on the rooftop of the building across from them, Mahiru guessed that something extraordinary must be happening there.
It was highly likely that a Witch was causing trouble.
There was no way Mahiru could feel at ease letting Xiaoye handle something like that on her own!
Although that girl constantly claimed she would take him down and was an unruly, willful sister who never showed her brother any respect, he absolutely had to protect his only relative if an emergency occurred.
He couldn’t let Xiaoye take such a risk by herself!
But as mentioned before, his hands were tightly handcuffed to the table leg in a completely defenseless posture.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t break free from the restraints.
After struggling for a long time without success, Mahiru couldn’t help but lean against the edge of the low table and sigh.
“Should I think of another way?”
Just as Mahiru was about to give up his struggle, the low table behind him suddenly slid back a few centimeters.
Caught off guard, his body leaned back, and his head nearly slammed into the corner of the table.
“Eh?” After stabilizing himself, Mahiru finally noticed the obvious solution he had overlooked.
‘Although I can’t break out of the handcuffs, I can slide them off the table leg! If I do that, won’t I be free to move?’
Realizing this, Mahiru curled his body and crawled under the table.
He then adjusted his position and kicked the low table away, causing the handcuffs to slide off the leg automatically.
Finally free from his restraints, Mahiru couldn’t help but perform a kip-up and leap from the ground.
“Yes!”
But now was not the time for celebration.
Mahiru hurriedly ran to the window and looked toward the building opposite.
Countless flashes of lightning flickered incessantly on the rooftop, crackling like firecrackers.
Although it was quite a distance away, Mahiru could still vaguely see Scarlet Moon’s figure moving rapidly through the flashes of electricity.
Although Scarlet Moon seemed to have the upper hand, as the saying goes, “a conceited army is bound to lose.”
In manga, it often happens that one moment the hero has the opponent seeing their life flash before their eyes, and the next moment they’re apologizing for not making the enemy use their full strength.
Who could guarantee that Scarlet Moon wouldn’t suddenly suffer a setback and fall from the rooftop?
Panicking, Mahiru rushed out of the house.
He even forgot to put on shoes, running all the way downstairs barefoot, through the passage, into the opposite building, and sprinting up the stairs.
After reaching the rooftop out of breath, a surge of regret welled up from the bottom of Mahiru’s heart.
‘Why didn’t I take the elevator?’
But he didn’t have time to think about that now.
Upon reaching the rooftop, he looked up and saw that Xiaoye had indeed been careless and was about to be struck by lightning until she was fried to a crisp.
It was as if the lightning overhead had dealt a Nine of Spades; a death omen loomed over her, and disaster was about to strike!
Seeing his Magical Girl sister about to meet her end, Mahiru didn’t even think.
He hurriedly raised his right hand toward Scarlet Moon and cast a shield over her.
Of course, it was just a subconscious gesture.
Although he had become a Witch, he still hadn’t figured out how to actually use magic.
To his surprise, even though he clearly didn’t know how to use magic, a Water Shield suddenly appeared around Scarlet Moon, blocking all the lightning strikes.
Even though this Water Shield was exactly the effect he wanted to achieve.
‘Eh? Do I have Manifestation of Speech?’
With the intention of testing his theory, Mahiru clenched his fist.
Just as he expected, the Water Shield, which had absorbed all the lightning, spat it back out.
It reflected toward the giant Hajimi like ten thousand arrows, instantly blasting it with enough electricity to leave it charred and crispy.
The aroma of roasted meat wafted for 700 li, smelling even better than a barbecue at Yiling.
‘Could using magic really be this simple?’
At that thought, Mahiru couldn’t help but feel a bit smug.
He proceeded to act cool in front of Xiaoye with an air of complete composure.
“Sister, are you really up to this?”
When Scarlet Moon turned her head and saw that it was Mahiru who had saved her, she revealed an expression of pure shock.
For half a minute, she couldn’t utter a single word.
“Hey, hey! Xiaoye, why have you gone dumb? Is it really that unbelievable that your brother saved you?”
Prodded by Mahiru, Scarlet Moon finally voiced the confusion in her heart.
“Brother, how… how did you even get here? Weren’t you handcuffed to…”
Before she could finish, Scarlet Moon noticed that the two handcuffs were still hanging from Mahiru’s slender wrists like bracelets.
“Your method of handcuffing people is pathetic. I broke free in a couple of moves. Next time you handcuff someone, remember to attach them to something sturdy that won’t just slide off!”
Mahiru spoke smugly as he walked toward Scarlet Moon with his dirty, bare feet, reaching out a small hand to pull her up.
“Hehe, you should believe that I’m actually your brother Mahiru now! If I were some evil Witch who had devoured your brother’s memories and disguised myself as him, I wouldn’t have gone out of my way to save you just now. Wouldn’t it be more enjoyable to just watch you get fried to a crisp by that lightning?”
Hearing Mahiru’s words, Scarlet Moon, who had been about to take his hand, paused.
A sour look crossed her face. Being saved by a Witch—the mortal enemy of Magical Girls—was a truly humiliating experience!
‘Dammit! If it weren’t for the fact that my level is so low, I wouldn’t have been unable to take down a mob for so long and nearly get killed by it, only to be laughed at by my brother.’
‘If only I could gain experience quickly and promote to the strongest S-rank Magical Girl…’
‘Eh? Leveling up quickly?’
Scarlet Moon suddenly seemed to come up with a wicked idea.
Her expression instantly shifted from a distressed squash to a beaming sunflower.
“Hey, Brother, could you do me a small favor?”