Scorching Flame gritted her teeth, refusing to respond.
The girl’s eyes were already filled with killing intent. ‘I will definitely kill this damn Mist-person,’ she swore in her heart.
However, faced with Scorching Flame’s fury, which had almost condensed into a physical weight, the Mist-person remained completely indifferent.
It smiled and raised the Lantern in its hand.
“Don’t be so excited. I specifically prepared a gift for you to celebrate our reunion after such a long time.”
The creature chuckled. “You should cherish her properly.”
With that, the Mist-person began to shake the Lantern as if it were trying to retrieve something from within.
Scorching Flame watched its movements, and a sudden jolt of alarm struck her heart.
She immediately charged forward with her shield, intending to stop the creature from taking out that “treasure.”
But even with her speed, her lack of extraordinary power meant she could not cause any trouble for the Mist-person.
Thus, when Scorching Flame reached the Mist-person’s side with her shield raised, it simply watched her with a smile, making no move to defend itself.
That close distance—only one or two meters away—was like an insurmountable abyss for the current Scorching Flame.
“Are you that impatient for your new gift? Fine, then I shall satisfy you.”
The Mist-person chuckled. It gripped the Lantern with its right hand and then suddenly pulled to the right.
In the next second, the figure of the girl who had appeared in her memories—the one who had saved her life—appeared clearly before Scorching Flame.
Then, in the blink of an eye, that vivid figure of the girl in white was enveloped by a mass of black mist.
Under Scorching Flame’s watchful gaze, the Mist-person gripped its Scythe and slashed toward the black mist surrounding the girl.
As the blade fell, black starlight scattered from the mist, slowly drifting outward.
Scorching Flame’s heart tightened at the sight. She immediately retreated and flew toward the starlight, reaching out to grasp the dissipating glow.
However, when her hands touched the black starlight, the specks of light seemed to possess a mind of their own and dodged her.
No matter how fast Scorching Flame moved, she could not catch them.
By the time it had all dissipated, she had failed to catch even a single grain of starlight.
“…Why?” Scorching Flame looked at her hands, which had caught nothing, and lowered her eyes.
She slowly addressed the Mist-person standing not far away.
As if it had heard a joke, the Mist-person’s lips curled upward. “There is no ‘why.’ It is simply because this is the command of the Night Lord.”
“…I see.”
“That’s right. The reason is just that simple.”
The Mist-person nodded with satisfaction and bowed to Scorching Flame, reaching out to point toward the place where the black starlight had vanished.
Following its guidance, Scorching Flame saw a sphere of black light forming where the starlight had dissipated.
It expanded, throbbed, and stretched outward like a bleeding heart.
Within a few breaths, a Monster with a humanoid body—but containing a powerful and abnormal Magic Power Source—was born from that sphere of light.
The Monster scanned its surroundings and let out a deafening roar toward the sky.
Then, in an instant, it appeared before Scorching Flame, swinging its right hand down like a Claw.
Clang!
Scorching Flame raised her shield to block the strike. She then exerted force through her right arm, knocking the Monster back into the distance.
Seeing this, the Mist-person burst into laughter, its voice filled with blatant mockery.
“As a Magic Girl, are you actually going to show mercy to a Monster? That doesn’t look like you at all. Fine, let me give you a few more reasons to act.”
“Go, my dear Soul.”
The Mist-person shook the Lantern, manipulating a mass of black mist to fly into the Monster’s body.
After a moment of silence, the humanoid Monster’s eyes became clear. It spoke softly, its voice carrying the same tenderness Scorching Flame remembered.
“Run… don’t worry about me…”
“Run…”
Scorching Flame did not reply. She watched as the humanoid Monster spoke while flying toward her, her lips feeling incredibly dry.
She raised her shield and blocked another attack, a sharp pang of pain echoing in her heart.
The Mist-person laughed maniacally, swinging the Lantern to pull out more and more Souls.
It wrapped them in mist and used the Scythe to turn them into black starlight.
In the various open spaces around the hospital, spheres of black light began to throb with life, as if they were gestating new existences.
Suddenly, a muffled roll of thunder echoed from the sky.
*Boom!!!*
The moment the new Monsters successfully hatched, a bone-chilling rain began to fall without warning.
Scorching Flame raised her great shield and used all her strength to slam into the humanoid Monster, knocking it down to the ground.
She wanted to temporarily strip it of its ability to move.
She did not want to kill this humanoid Monster.
Even though she understood that the being before her was no longer the girl who had saved her—even though she knew the girl had turned into a Monster—she still did not want to kill her.
This was one of the few proofs that the girl had ever existed in this world. Scorching Flame did not want to snatch away what little remained of her existence.
However, when Scorching Flame finally pinned the humanoid Monster to the ground and used all her strength to ensure it had no ability to resist—ensuring it would take at least half an hour before it could threaten the lives of other citizens—a clear question suddenly reached her ears.
“Why… was the one who survived… an empty shell like you?”
“The one who had things worth protecting… was clearly me…”
“Dad… Pandora… and the people who were willing to support me… I’m sorry… I’ve let you down.”
Scorching Flame froze. She felt something slide from the corner of her eye, falling to the ground and mixing with the concrete debris.
The girl pursed her lips and stood up, her small, red figure appearing exceptionally bright in the heavy rain.
‘Yes, why is that?’
If the girl had just left her to die back then—if she had let someone like her, who had no ideals, no dreams, and no grand goals, die at the hands of a Monster—how much better would that have been?
If that had happened, she wouldn’t have to recklessly use the Magical Outfit left behind by her savior just to repay the debt of her life.
She wouldn’t have to foolishly pay such a high price to protect those citizens.
She didn’t want to keep this one-sided promise.
She just wanted to be like her roommate, Xu Wenxing, and be an ordinary University student who didn’t have to worry about these supernatural events.
But why was she the one who survived?
“…I’m sorry.”
She whispered an apology, her hesitation vanishing. She raised her shield high and smashed it directly toward the humanoid Monster’s head.
With a single strike, the humanoid Monster’s body turned into black dust, disappearing from the world forever.
“Yes! That’s it! That is the true Magical Girl Scorching Flame! Wonderful!”
“With this, no existence can threaten your identity or status anymore!”
“Come! Kill these Shadow Beasts around you, and then strike a deal with me to ensure you can forever enjoy being adored by—”
The Mist-person’s words stopped halfway. It suddenly froze.
It saw the Red-Haired Girl in the distance holding a White Card, which she then pressed against her body.
An orange-red light dispelled the surrounding rain, evaporating massive amounts of white steam.
A warm and dazzling fire scorched the girl’s body, completely enveloping her figure within the flames.
“TRANSFORMATION.”
From within that brilliant fire, the Mist-person heard the Red-Haired Girl’s calm and resolute voice.