“I just… happened to be passing by. Don’t mind the details. Let’s deal with the demon beast first.”
Even Feng Ling didn’t believe her own words, but since things had come to this, she had no choice but to transform.
After all, she couldn’t just stand by and watch Lian Ge get riddled with holes.
As for how to explain later, how to come up with an excuse, how to keep her identity a secret—those were worries for after she saved Lian Ge.
Feng Ling turned around, facing the demon beast, and assumed a battle stance.
Her light cyan skirt fluttered slightly in the night breeze, and the bells at her ankles let out crisp, clear chimes, unusually loud in the silent alley.
Even though she put on a confident posture, Feng Ling didn’t actually have much confidence.
Lian Ge, as the team captain, was already the strongest combatant in their group.
Even taking elemental disadvantage into account, that was enough to show how troublesome this demon beast was.
Feng Ling tried to take a step forward.
The demon beast reacted instantly, and several water droplets emerged from its transparent surface, paused briefly in midair, then shot toward her with a whoosh.
Feng Ling barely managed to track the trajectory of the water droplet rays using her magical girl’s magic power perception.
She tilted her head and lifted her leg.
One ray grazed past her ear, and another passed beneath her knee.
Both attacks flew within a hair’s breadth of her skin—a moment later and they would have left holes in her body.
The concept bestowed upon Feng Ling was “Wind.”
Speed was her forte, so theoretically she should have been able to dodge easily.
But she couldn’t keep up with her own reaction speed.
Even facing such attacks, she only narrowly avoided them.
Still, for Feng Ling, that counted as a win.
“What, I’m actually pretty strong.”
Although Feng Ling had been watching the battle earlier, she had been observing with the eyes of an ordinary person.
The battle speed she saw and the actual combat speed were completely different.
She had thought she’d at least get a few scratches.
Fortunately, when she actually started fighting, she found that her reaction speed could barely keep up with the demon beast’s attack rhythm.
She breathed a sigh of relief—at least she wouldn’t be turned into a sieve in one volley.
“In that case…”
Feng Ling nodded thoughtfully, having made up her mind.
Lian Ge sat up from the ground, clutching her side.
Seeing that expression, she assumed Feng Ling was about to devise a strategy.
Then Feng Ling announced her strategy.
“Then I won’t have to worry about being caught while running away.”
“Huh?”
Before Lian Ge could finish uttering the questioning syllable, a gust of cyan wind wrapped around her body, lifting her gently into the air.
The next second, Lian Ge was yanked into Feng Ling’s arms.
Several water droplet rays struck where they had just been standing, leaving countless punctures.
Feng Ling hugged her tightly and dashed madly away from the demon beast, the bells at her ankles jingling all the way.
“Why did you just run away?!”
Lian Ge, held in Feng Ling’s arms, only realized what had happened after they had already covered some distance.
“Running away may be shameful, but it’s still better than losing, right?”
Feng Ling sprinted for her life while glancing back at the demon beast’s position.
A few more water droplets shot from behind, grazing past her side.
One of them tore through her skirt, leaving a long, narrow slit.
“I can barely handle two drops. If you sent dozens or hundreds at me like you did to her, I’d be dead on the spot, okay?”
“O-okay…”
After all, she was just Feng Ling.
Asking her to deal with a demon beast that even Lian Ge couldn’t handle was too much.
“What are you still standing there for? Hurry up and call the Association.”
Feng Ling complained in annoyance.
“I’m calling, I’m calling…”
Lian Ge fumbled for her phone from her pocket and dialed the Association’s emergency number.
But just as the two were about to exit the demon beast’s attack range, a strange cracking sound came from behind.
Feng Ling turned her head.
The transparent demon beast tensed its body, compressed itself like a slime, and then leaped high into the air, arcing over both of them at a speed far greater than their running pace.
It even predicted Feng Ling’s speed.
It sailed over their heads and landed in front of them, blocking their escape.
Feng Ling immediately stomped down, skidding across the ground before she could stop her momentum.
Now she was only a few meters away from the demon beast.
She tried to turn and run the other way, but several water droplets had already risen silently before her, all aiming squarely at Feng Ling.
At this distance, she wouldn’t even have time to react before being pierced through.
The droplets accelerated to their limit in an instant, shooting toward Feng Ling.
Just as the water droplet rays were about to hit her, Lian Ge squeezed out the last trace of her magic power and forcibly spread it outward.
Lian Ge’s magic power was so thin it was almost invisible, but it stubbornly latched onto every moving water molecule in the vicinity.
The demon beast, which had tensed to charge; the already fired water droplet rays; and the nearby droplets floating in the air ready to strike—all of it was frozen in place.
“Feng Ling, don’t worry about me. Run away on your own… I can’t hold on anymore… Go now, while you still can…”
Lian Ge’s arms trembled, and her lips had completely lost their color.
“Sigh…”
Feng Ling looked down at her, then made up her mind.
Lian Ge felt Feng Ling’s arms loosen.
‘She’s going to run after all…’
Lian Ge said to herself.
That was fine.
With her dead weight out of the way, Feng Ling should be able to escape.
Lian Ge wasn’t afraid, just a little regretful.
According to Qia Bi, the moment a magical girl’s physical body died, the Star Crystal would shatter to protect the magical girl, teleporting her true self to the Association so she wouldn’t die along with it.
But once the Star Crystal shattered, she would never be able to transform into a magical girl again.
‘…Just a moment ago, I was arguing heatedly with brother Jiang Zhu about the Magical Girl Ideal, and now I’m about to lose my identity as a magical girl forever… How… ironic.’
Thinking this, Lian Ge closed her eyes, waiting for her body to fall to the ground.
But her body didn’t fall.
Instead, a warm wind lifted her and held her in the air.
Lian Ge snapped her eyes open.
Not only had Feng Ling not run away, but she was already closing in on the demon beast.
Lian Ge couldn’t understand Feng Ling’s motive.
That Feng Ling, who only ever wanted money, who saw her as a thorn in her side, why was she charging in?
Lian Ge opened her mouth to call her name, but no sound came from her throat.
All she could do was watch helplessly as Feng Ling rushed up to the demon beast in an instant, reached out her right hand, and pressed her palm directly against its translucent surface.
At that moment, Lian Ge’s last bit of magic power was exhausted.
The binding on the demon beast was about to break.
Those water droplets would ruthlessly pierce them both.
The two magical girls would disappear from this world forever.
Goodbye, magical girl.