Six silver-white bullets shot out from the revolver, homing in on Sapphire’s head as if equipped with automatic tracking.
Accompanied by the gunshot, the Suit Man’s figure vanished from where he stood, disappearing to an unknown location.
“Huff.”
Seeing this oddly familiar scene, Sapphire sighed and proactively used her Ability, slowing down everything around her.
Back when Blazing Flame came to save her, she also used a lethal object to attract her attention, then teleported directly in front of her and gave her that punch.
‘That move was beautiful—it exploited the inertia of my thinking to set a trap, luring me into lowering my guard.’
‘If I hadn’t been defeated by Blazing Flame back then, I probably wouldn’t be a match for this move.’
But sorry—to deal with all kinds of situations I might face in the future, I’ve considered every possible way I could fail, just to buy a little more time.
So this move…
“Go to hell, Sapphire.”
…is useless against me!
Hearing the Suit Man’s voice ring out from her right side, Sapphire instantly activated her Ability, raised her Magic Staff, and fired at his body.
Even though the silver-white bullets successfully struck her, she easily dodged the straight punch hidden beneath the surface.
BOOM!
A gorgeous blue beam engulfed the Suit Man, and an astonishing torrent of Magic Power kept expanding from within, seemingly annihilating him completely.
But after several seconds passed without hearing the Suit Man’s pained scream, Sapphire quickly retreated, not clinging to the second Magic Cannon she had yet to fire.
Soon, the smoke and dust dispersed, and a figure slowly emerged from the debris of the light cannon.
It was indeed that Suit Man.
He raised an eyebrow slightly, a trace of surprise in his eyes at Sapphire’s earlier actions.
“A very clever judgment. Knowing you’re lacking in speed, you chose to take damage rather than suffer a fatal blow.”
“You overcame the instinctive fear of your body, maintaining extremely high rationality throughout the battle.”
“You are outstanding, little one.”
The Suit Man praised. “No wonder you’re the most experienced Magic Girl in City A.”
Sapphire said nothing, simply using her Magic Power to expel the six bullets embedded in her left arm.
Blood gushed from her left arm, seeping downward like a faucet that had been turned on.
She lightly swung her left arm, confirming that her hand was only a little numb and would not affect the rest of the fight.
Then Sapphire let out a soft breath, gazed calmly at the Suit Man, and began charging her Magic Cannon once more.
She refused to have any exchange with this damned Shadow Beast.
Even though it was praising her and showing goodwill, she wouldn’t bother acknowledging it.
All Shadow Beasts must die—that had been her greatest wish ever since she became a Magic Girl.
“Still not willing to give up?”
The Suit Man shook his head. “Even though it’s not a fatal wound, if it happens a few more times, you won’t be able to withstand the next attacks, right?”
BOOM!
A tiny Magic Cannon suddenly burst from the Magic Staff, aimed straight at the Suit Man’s heart.
But he did not dodge at all. Instead, he raised his right hand, grabbed the tiny Magic Cannon, then dyed his entire arm black and crushed it with a single squeeze.
Seeing that Sapphire was still not giving up, the Suit Man casually grabbed again with his left hand.
This time, what appeared in his hand was a silver-white submachine gun that could be held with one hand.
He calmly looked at Sapphire, pointing the pitch-black muzzle at her.
Then, without hesitation, he pulled the trigger and unleashed a torrent of bullets.
Dozens of bullets were once again imbued with automatic tracking, accurately curving to chase Sapphire’s head.
Sapphire initially thought he was trying the same trick again and prepared to use her Magic Power to set a Trap around her, just like before.
But for some reason, just as she was about to unleash her Magic Power, her heart suddenly pounded violently—as if her body’s instinct had sensed a risk she hadn’t anticipated.
‘This is…’
After a brief weighing of pros and cons, Sapphire temporarily chose to forgo activating her Ability and instead decided to tough out these dozens of bullets that might injure her.
The Suit Man’s body vanished from the spot once more, and she still couldn’t perceive where he had gone.
Sapphire did not grow anxious. She waited patiently, waiting for the moment he would appear.
In the few seconds of that wait, the bullets had already reached Sapphire and were flying toward her head.
She was about to raise her left hand to catch the bullets again when she was astonished to discover that the sunlight around her had completely disappeared.
It seemed something had blocked the Sun, completely obscuring her location.
She looked up and saw a giant boulder hurtling down from the sky, heading straight for where she stood.
The sense of crisis in her heart peaked at that moment.
Sapphire understood that with her physical strength, she absolutely could not withstand the impact of that boulder—reinforced with Magic Power and moving at high speed.
Without hesitation, Sapphire immediately used her Ability to slow down the boulder.
Then, her body flew out like a kite with a broken string.
THUD!
At some point, the Suit Man had silently appeared beside Sapphire and successfully struck her body with his fist.
The immense impact instantly threw Sapphire off balance, sending her flying forward hundreds of meters before the mountain stopped her.
Dust billowed as Sapphire was smashed into the mountain and buried by the rolling boulders above.
The Suit Man adjusted his glasses, looking calmly at Sapphire—who was now beyond visibility, alive or dead—and said flatly:
“Foolish. You really thought I would use the same move to deal with someone like you?”
“Since I know I can’t catch a wild rabbit with my bare hands, of course I’ll set a Trap and wait for the rabbit to run into it itself.”
“Truth and falsehood mixed together—how long will your rationality save you?”
After muttering these sarcastic words to himself, the Suit Man calmly walked toward Sapphire’s location, intending to personally confirm her state.
If she wasn’t dead, he’d add another punch and send her to hell.
If she was dead, then he could consider inviting the strong who obeyed him to hold a feast at the Jiulong Hotel, to share this rare delicacy of the world with them.
‘Speaking of which, I’ve never tasted a Magic Girl before. I wonder what they taste like.’
‘I once wanted to try 009, but her troublesome Ability held me back completely, and ultimately I had to admit defeat and fell into a dead end.’
‘As for those weak Magic Girls, I’m not interested in them. Besides, 003 forbids me from hunting weak Magic Girls—says it would affect the Night Lord’s arrangements.’
‘Tch, so many rules. How annoying.’
‘But there’s no helping it—since 003 and 009 are both stronger than me, I have no choice but to follow their orders.’
As he thought, the Suit Man walked toward where Sapphire lay, already looking forward to dinner.
He licked his lips, revealing a cruel smile.
“…Finally… Finally, you’ve shown me an opening.”
“Go to hell, you damned Executioner.”
But the moment his hand touched the pile of rubble, a faint voice suddenly came from behind him.
Then, a massive beam of light roared in from all directions, completely engulfing his body.