On the outskirts of Summersea City, outside the Magical Barrier.
Xiaoxi stared at the two people before her, both draped in the robes of God’s Emissaries of the Divine Church, her mind clouded with uncertainty, though not a trace of it showed on her face.
She had long suspected that the Divine Summon Order still had remnants lurking in the shadows, but if the two who appeared before her now were “old friends,” she might not have felt such heaviness in her heart.
Yet these two were strangers, both strong, and clad in the mantle of the Divine Summon Order.
There was only one explanation—over the years, the Divine Summon Order had not just survived, but grown in secret, even choosing new Shenshi!
Coupled with the elusive Blood Moon Witch, Xiaoxi was deeply worried the Divine Summon Order was about to rise from the ashes.
For this reason, Xiaoxi did not immediately reveal herself or leap into battle. Instead, she quietly observed as Muxingge confronted the two.
She was quite curious about the current state of the Divine Summon Order.
After all, the two most dangerous Shenshi were right here; surely there wouldn’t be a more urgent crisis in Summersea City than these two, would there?
Secretly, Xiaoxi observed her surroundings, growing more and more shocked.
She had seen many convincing spatial fabrications before, but never one so flawless, so indistinguishable from the real world!
If an ordinary person were trapped here, they might never notice anything amiss.
What was this, The Truman Show? Who was this new Shenshi of the Divine Summon Order?
“Spatial magic?” Muxingge’s face was equally grim. “I still remember there was someone with this kind of skill among the Divine Summon Order’s Shenshi in the past.”
“We serve only to honor the Divine Lord. Shenshi is but an empty title…”
Unlike Qinghu, the ethereal girl was swathed head-to-toe in black robes, her voice deliberately mystifying—an authentic native of the Divine Summon Order.
These two new Shenshi were powerful. Muxingge asked herself honestly: with her Coordination attribute as an S-Class Magical Girl, facing two at once would be hard, but not impossible.
The real problem was that she wasn’t alone in here.
Without making it obvious, Muxingge glanced behind her.
Those few Magical Girls who had just been injured were one concern, but more pressing was the presence of Sirius, a D-Rank Magical Girl.
She couldn’t guarantee she could protect everyone if she had to fight two opponents at once!
Sirius, really! With this much commotion, it was obviously not a fight for a Magical Girl of her level, yet instead of staying far away, she even took the initiative to come closer!
The best course of action, clearly, was to first break through the barrier and get help.
Maybe Ali could lend a hand—if she saw the Divine Summon Order still recruiting, her face would definitely turn ugly!
The ethereal voice explained on its own: “No need to waste your strength, Lady Muxingge. This Mirror Space cannot be broken from the inside—have you ever seen a reflection break the mirror from within?”
Suddenly, Xiaoxi understood. The strange feeling she’d had from the start now made sense—everything here was a mirror image of the real world!
“Hey, why are you still yapping? So long-winded, what a bother!”
Qinghu was already cracking his knuckles impatiently, and launched a punch at Muxingge: “S-Class Magical Girl—should be enough to give me a good fight!”
“Qinghu, don’t underestimate Muxingge. Our mission is just to trap her here, don’t do anything unnecessary!”
“Get lost! Stop bossing me around. If she wasn’t strong, I wouldn’t even want to fight! This is so stifling—let me just beat her up and be done with it!”
“Ah…”
The ethereal voice sounded helpless. She had hoped to stall for more time with her words, but Qinghu’s refusal to listen had thrown their original plan into chaos.
Crack, crack, a sound like shattering glass echoed.
Suddenly, Muxingge and the other Shenshi vanished, Qinghu’s punch swiping at empty air.
Stunned for a moment, he couldn’t help but curse.
“Damn it! That wretched woman!”
Xiaoxi frowned. Something was off. It wasn’t that Muxingge disappeared—rather, the rest of them had been transported by the Shenshi into a new pocket space!
With no opponent, Qinghu naturally turned his attention to the remaining Magical Girls.
“Damn my luck! The Divine Summon Order promised me endless fights if I became a Shenshi, but now they’re stopping me at every turn. Frustrating!”
“No choice… Looks like I’ll just have to amuse myself with you lot…”
Qinghu’s gaze swept over the Magical Girls, especially Xiaoxi, whom he eyed with open disdain.
These little shrimps he could crush with one hand. He was annoyed, but a fight was better than nothing.
A few of the mid-level Magical Girls were on high alert.
Among them was one Xiaoxi had seen before in a small alley—Qingtenghua, who immediately stepped in front of Xiaoxi to shield her, whispering a warning.
“Sirius, just stay behind when things start. Whatever you do, don’t attack! This guy is not someone you can handle!”
Though Qingtenghua herself was scared, she felt she had to protect her junior.
She remembered that this Sirius was just a D-Rank Magical Girl, and wouldn’t survive a single blow from their foe!
Xiaoxi said nothing. It seemed the Shenshi had only separated them from Muxingge… A favor, really, since she couldn’t very well put Muxingge to sleep on the spot.
Of the Magical Girls present, two were strangers to Xiaoxi, and since there were so many eyes, she didn’t want to expose her identity.
Had it been as before, she would have been in a bind: with Muxingge fighting two at once, she’d have been damned if she helped and damned if she didn’t.
But now, with Muxingge gone, she had no such concerns.
Qinghu cracked his knuckles, eager to torment his prey—only to see his opponents drop one after another, each knocked out by the unassuming D-Rank Magical Girl.
Xiaoxi acted decisively, of course without harming any of them—just granting them a high-quality sleep.
As she looked up, she met Qinghu’s face twisted in contempt.
“Coward! Turning on your friends and surrendering at the first sign of danger? Someone like you can be a Magical Girl?”
Qinghu flashed a cruel smile. “I never said I’d let you go if you surrendered. Now that you’ve ruined my mood, you’re even less likely to live—better pray you last a few rounds!”
He stared eagerly at Xiaoxi, hoping to see fear, but instead, a star-like glimmer flashed from the girl before him.
“Tch, you sure talk a lot.”
Qinghu: “?”
Before he could react, Xiaoxi—or rather, the magical wand of Eternal Star—came hurtling toward his face. This move was one Xiaoxi had learned from Muxingge.
…
Not long after, Xiaoxi watched as Qinghu’s massive tiger-shaped magical beast body crashed to the ground and slowly reverted to human form.
She flexed her wrist—he’d put on a show, but hadn’t withstood more than a few punches.
As for this barrier, it wasn’t nearly as fearsome as that Shenshi made it out to be.
The air filled with the sound of crack, crack, as Xiaoxi, like an immortal emperor crushing the void in a xianxia novel, shattered the barrier from within by sheer force.
She looked around, but didn’t see Muxingge. It seemed this spatial result was an independent space cut off from the real world. Finding her would take some effort…
“Axing, Axing, can you hear me?”
Just as Xiaoxi stepped out of the barrier, preparing to help Muxingge, Miss L’s anxious voice crackled through her communicator.
Xiaoxi realized only now that the spatial pocket must have blocked all communication.
“The Blood Moon Witch has appeared on Southern Avenue! And the Third Divine Envoy is there! Also, the Blood Moon Witch, she…”
Miss L bit her lip, unable to finish her sentence.
Xiaoxi’s pupils contracted and she immediately flew toward the city, leaving Muxingge’s side behind—no matter what, nothing could go wrong there!
There was a reason for Miss L’s hesitation.
At that moment, on Southern Avenue, the street was already in ruins.
The shops on both sides were reduced to rubble.
Fortunately, no one was hurt—Miss L had sent out nearly all the remaining Magical Girls to protect and evacuate the civilians.
Ye Xinglan…or rather, the Blood Moon Witch, stood in the very center of the street.
She was covered in wounds, and beneath the rubble of a nearby shop was a pool of blood, with a tattered Shenshi robe sleeve protruding from the ruins.
The Third Divine Envoy truly was strong—stronger than those from the Great Chaos Era—but not stronger than Ye Xinglan.
After half the block was razed to the ground, Ye Xinglan, gritting her teeth against excruciating pain, finally took down her foe.
Even so, Ye Xinglan wasn’t sure if she’d actually killed the Third Divine Envoy.
If that person could feign death once, there might be a second time.
But right now, Ye Xinglan didn’t have the strength to check.
She had won, but it was a pyrrhic victory. Her body was on the verge of collapse.
Last night’s battle with Eternal Star had drained her, and today’s wounds were even more severe.
On top of that, she hadn’t absorbed enough magic power. Now, she was only a step away from losing control.
And with the Third Divine Envoy’s means of controlling her…
In fact, the Association had helped her break part of the Divine Summon Order’s control, at least preventing the Third Divine Envoy from manipulating her mind as before.
But the Order’s Punishment Mechanism seemed undiminished.
Even after defeating the Third Divine Envoy, that maddening headache still hadn’t completely faded.
Ye Xinglan panted heavily, her vision tinted with crimson. She could feel her reason hanging by the thinnest, most fragile thread.
This was why Miss L had hesitated to say more—Ye Xinglan could lose control at any moment from magic overexertion.
If that happened, she’d turn into a bloodthirsty monster, and half of Summersea City might be doomed!
It wasn’t that Miss L didn’t trust Xiaoxi—she just feared Xiaoxi would act impulsively at such a critical moment!
If the worst came to pass, the only way out might be to kill the Blood Moon Witch on the spot…
If Xiaoxi found out Ye Xinglan’s true identity at that moment, could she bring herself to do it?