When Qianling first woke up, aside from the nightmare, she noticed something else.
Her magic power had almost completely recovered to normal levels—a feat impossible given the usual rate of natural recovery.
She considered two possible reasons for this abnormal restoration of magic.
The first possibility was her own Magic Furnace Core.
In the original work’s setting, the puppet’s core was actually designed to imitate the principle by which Magical Girls use magic: it could convert strong emotions into magic power. Maybe, being near Yangmo allowed her to absorb magic this way.
However, she also had a doubt about this point.
My Magic Furnace Core could only digest negative emotions in the original story. Could my arrival have caused a change in its operating principle?
The second possibility was that “clack” sound.
If I remember right, I heard it when I was reincarnated as well. What exactly is that? I certainly don’t make any noise when I’m running.
Qianling thought, no matter which possibility it was, it would be necessary to investigate further.
But for now, the most important thing was to test her strength, to prepare for the next step.
What can I accomplish now that my magic has recovered?
To answer this, using a Bad Demon as a trial opponent was just perfect.
Besides, if her core could digest emotions into magic power, it should naturally be able to absorb external magic power as well.
To do this, all she needed was to kill a Bad Demon and absorb its residual magic—a win-win situation.
With these thoughts in mind, Qianling stood atop a utility pole, focusing intently to sense and sniff out the presence of a Bad Demon.
As a villainess specialized in stealth, her ability to sense magic was sharper than anyone else’s.
Unfortunately, even she could not detect any Bad Demons at this moment.
After dashing at high speed over the town and switching districts several times, she still couldn’t catch a single hint of suspicious magic.
Though Bad Demons usually hide their whereabouts, they always leave traces of magic behind when they appear. If there aren’t even any traces, it must mean none have appeared for a while.
How could this be, is my luck really that bad?
She grumbled in her heart.
I guess I’ll have to try lying in wait…
If she wanted to test her blade urgently, there was no other way.
Since there aren’t any now, she’d just go to a place where Bad Demons were likely to appear and wait. If that didn’t work, she could try something else.
In the end, she chose the subway station in this town.
It was the morning rush hour, so the station was packed with people—which meant waiting there for a Bad Demon to spawn was most efficient.
Qianling sat on a streetlamp near the subway entrance, watching the crowd hurrying below.
Among them were plenty of people with troubled faces, especially those in work attire.
If I were healthy, maybe one day I’d become like them, too.
She couldn’t help thinking of her past. Whether good or bad, there were still so many things she hadn’t experienced.
After a while, a disturbance suddenly broke out in the crowd.
A young man in a suit, after stepping onto the escalator, began to twitch his head. At first it was slight, but soon it became something no normal human could do.
His chin and neck twisted at an unnatural angle, and his head jerked so fast it left afterimages.
It’s here!
That was definitely abnormal, and Qianling also sensed a dark magical aura.
She immediately leapt down from the streetlamp, but there were still unsuspecting passersby following the suited man onto the escalator.
Seeing her way blocked, Qianling remained perfectly calm, dashing swiftly toward the stairway that ran parallel to the escalator.
Meanwhile, on the slowly descending escalator, the true form of the Bad Demon was already revealed.
The suited man’s head was still twitching, and from his neck grew a tentacle-like thing shrouded in shadow. At its bulging end were two mouths full of teeth—one of which was constantly spewing curses.
“Useless!…High and mighty! Someone like you!…Idiot!”
The mouth on its back just kept chewing at the air, making a “ka. ka. ka.” sound.
Its existence immediately triggered chaos around it—the narrow escalator space was filled with panicked cries.
Most people struggled desperately to get away, even shoving each other. Some were paralyzed by terror, unable to do anything at all.
For example, the woman behind the suited man, who collapsed on the escalator in fear. As she panicked helplessly, a second tentacle sprouted from the man’s neck.
“Help…someone save me!”
Her cries didn’t bring rescue—instead, they attracted the Bad Demon’s attention. The new tentacle slowly stretched its end toward her, swelling rapidly, its mouth opening wide.
Just as the mouth was about to enjoy its breakfast—
“Iron Brambles, change form.”
With this cold, emotionless statement, a flash of cold light swept by, followed by the figure of a petite girl in a maid outfit darting past.
Qianling leaped from wall to wall inside the escalator tunnel, zigzagging rapidly.
She skillfully avoided the bystanders while ensuring the Bad Demon was on her path. At some point, a silver short sword had appeared in Qianling’s hand. Using the momentum from her midair spin, she sliced both tentacles off in an instant, silencing the filthy curses at the same moment.
On her last step off the wall, she jumped as far down the tunnel as possible, flipped twice in midair, and landed in a half-kneeling pose at the bottom, sliding another half meter from inertia.
Only now did it become clear that the silver short sword wasn’t being held in her hand, but was instead protruding from a split in her palm. After a quick flick, she retracted the blade and casually patted the dust from her skirt with that hand.
The suited man didn’t catch up until a moment later, by which time all traces of the Bad Demon were gone from his neck.
He looked around blankly, then glanced down to see the two still-wriggling remains of the Bad Demon. Soon enough, he joined the panic-stricken crowd.
Qianling walked over and stomped on the remains, which instantly dissolved into a cloud of black mist and were absorbed through the split in her palm.
“Easy as pie.”
After causing such a scene, not even stealth magic could completely conceal Qianling’s presence.
But to ordinary people without magic, all they perceived was a blurry figure speaking in a flat tone.
So as soon as Qianling finished, she strode briskly out of the subway entrance.
Having enough magic power really is wonderful.
Climbing the stairs of the passageway, she replayed the earlier scene in her mind.
That kind of movement—she couldn’t have managed it at all when being hunted by Huangya.
And Iron Brambles—she could finally use more advanced techniques.
By changing its form to suit the situation, this time she’d turned the tip into a sword; next time, she wanted to try modifying the chain segment.
Lost in thought, she was caught off guard when discussion about her erupted among the people behind her.
“Who was that person who spoke just now?”
“Could it be…a Magical Girl was here?”
“It must be, a Magical Girl saved us!”
“I really wish she’d stayed so we could thank her…”
The title of Magical Girl is being given to me? I never imagined such a day would come.
Thinking such thoughts, the villainous doll lady couldn’t help but laugh.
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