“Useless nonsense.”
The Giant Shark King spoke reasonably, “We sharks don’t recognize our fathers.”
With that, it pointed at Jiang Lingwei from afar.
“Why aren’t you attacking?”
The giant shark’s teeth bared.
“You’re already getting closer to me, but I can’t sense any intention to attack… Are you planning to run away?”
Jiang Lingwei stopped. She was already at a dangerous distance.
No matter what the Giant Shark King’s real purpose for saying this was, she couldn’t get any closer, not to the point where she could be ambushed.
Jiang Lingwei didn’t have that kind of confidence—confidence that she could dodge any attack.
“That’s not it.”
The Giant Shark King raised its head and muttered to itself,
“If you’re not trying to escape, but you’re also not starting the fight right away, then… could it be? You don’t have enough power to defeat me right now? You’re not confident?”
Jiang Lingwei, still wearing her mask, remained silent, but the enemy had guessed her thoughts, and inevitably, her emotions wavered for just an instant.
She was using Yunxia’s magic power now, which was limited to begin with, and besides, she wasn’t used to it.
If she didn’t grow stronger, she truly couldn’t be sure of victory.
“Ha! I knew it!”
The Giant Shark King shouted,
“I can feel it!”
“?!”
After so many battles, Jiang Lingwei was confident that she never showed any flaw on the surface. But she hadn’t realized: sharks, with their naturally keen sense of smell, had an organ in their head called the “Lorenzini ampullae,” which allowed them to sense the electric fields emitted by surrounding creatures to help them hunt.
And with a shark’s head, the Giant Shark King pushed this ability to the extreme, making it even more sensitive to subtle changes in an enemy’s magic power.
That tiny fluctuation in her magic, caused by her shifting emotions, had actually exposed a weakness.
“Ah.”
In the next second, the Giant Shark King, having detected her opening, was already towering before her!
“Swoosh!”
A giant fist came rushing in with the sound of wind, and Jiang Lingwei could only hastily swing her kunai to block.
“Scr—rrrch!”
Fist met blade—and the blade lost in the end.
Jiang Lingwei was knocked flying, sliding more than ten meters before finally coming to a stop. And as soon as she stopped, she had to immediately get back up.
Because the enemy wouldn’t give her any time to breathe.
The next attack came right after!
“Ya ya ya! Shark Overlord Fist!”
“Bang! Bang! Boom!”
Jiang Lingwei could only do her best to defend.
Defend… and defend again…
(This won’t do.)
Under the relentless barrage, Jiang Lingwei began to think desperately.
(Think! Quickly think! How exactly does Sister Yunxia fight?!)
(What kind of ‘heart’ do I need to wield this power?!)
“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
The Giant Shark King sensed the ever-weakening strength of the petite magical girl, and it only grew more excited.
“Come on! You want to defeat me, huh?! Trash! Useless! Magical girl! You’re going to get everyone you want to save killed, I’ll eat them right in front of you, kekekeke… ah!”
Just as it was shouting arrogantly, the Giant Shark King suddenly let out a cry of pain, quickly withdrew its arm, and retreated three meters.
“Drip.”
A deep wound was visible on its wrist, black blood gushing out endlessly, almost forming a small river.
If that attack had gone any deeper, the Giant Shark King might’ve had to say goodbye to its hand—forever, this time.
The light magic didn’t linger, but it had already destroyed any hope of the wound regenerating soon.
But… how could this be? The Giant Shark King was both shocked and furious—how had that magical girl suddenly managed to wound it?
“Shhh…”
It was mist—endless mist pouring out from the magical girl’s position.
What made the Giant Shark King even more unsettled was that it could see the magical girl through the fog, but not just her alone.
Behind this girl who had seemingly appeared from nowhere, within that thin mist, there were several blurry figures, each holding a different magic weapon, silently watching it.
One, closest to the magical girl and clearest in form, wore a spirit suit very similar to hers and held a similar magic weapon, plus an extra, oddly-shaped scythe.
Jiang Yao saw this scene too. She was just about to reach for the sand revolver, but her eyes were caught for a split second by the indistinct figures behind Aurora.
After that, she turned her head.
“Eh? Where did Senior Sand Revolver go?”
(Haunted?)
On the other side, an absurd thought rose in the Giant Shark King’s mind.
“Gah… who cares what you’re pretending to be?!”
Having made up its mind, the Giant Shark King tried to use dark magic to dispel the thick mist around it, while charging toward the magical girl. Jiang Lingwei said nothing.
She only gripped the kunai tightly, then swung her arm—
“Ya!”
The Giant Shark King’s entire left fist was cut off, crashing to the ground with a heavy “bang.”
“Now I fully understand.”
Standing before the Giant Shark King, clutching its wrist, Jiang Lingwei looked up at its seven-meter-tall body and spoke slowly,
“If I don’t completely wipe out trash like you all—”
“You’ll just keep coming for us.”
“Either for me, or the people I cherish, or the ones I love, you always keep me from living a peaceful life.”
“So I’ve decided.”
“Once I…”
Her whole body’s light magic erupted, showing an unprecedented—aggressiveness that even Aurora never had!
“Destroy! Every! Last! One! Of! You! Dark garbage!”
“Only then can I retire!”
Kill!
As the mist churned, the figures behind Jiang Lingwei vanished as if they’d never existed, and she drove the [Light] forward with a vicious thrust. “What?!”
Facing an attack too fast for the eye to follow, the Giant Shark King only had time to try blocking once.
“Schrrr—”
A sound of flesh being pierced rang out—its heart was run through!
Though a dark creature, a pierced heart wasn’t instant death for the Giant Shark King. It counterattacked at once, its other huge hand slapping down heavily.
“Idiot!” (Fool*)
“I’ve killed dogs of your level more times than I can count!”
Jiang Lingwei pressed the kunai, slicing upward.
Another spray of black blood gushed out, drenching her.
“Hahaha.”
She laughed instead.
Getting splattered by enemy blood, or even filthier things, was a common occurrence. It’s just that as a long-range support, she’d had fewer chances than the others to experience it.
“Come on! Die for me!”
That murderous intent, that anger and bloodlust, and the shadow of death she hadn’t felt in years, even made the Giant Shark King a little afraid.
Is this still a magical girl? She looked like someone who’d killed countless beings! What kind of magical girl is this?! The Giant Shark King desperately defended while shouting,
“P-Please, can’t we work this out?! I—I swear I’ll never come back to Hanhai City again! I can even give you intel on other people!”
“This is Canghai City, you idiot!”
“What?! That bastard! It told me… I—I’ve been tricked!”
“Die!”
Jiang Lingwei had finally understood what Yunxia’s heart was.
Because, as she fought on, releasing her magic again and again, she saw Yunxia’s memories, heard her words, and felt her heart.
【No…】
【Maybe I’m not the strongest, but—I absolutely won’t let anyone die because of me.
【What should I do? How can I protect everyone?】
【There’s only one way—Kill!】
Only by holding the desire to protect everyone, by never giving in and refusing to fall, only with this intent to kill, could Jiang Lingwei bring Yunxia’s magic to its peak!
“Magical girl! Damn it, if you won’t appreciate mercy, then I’ll explode with you!”
The Giant Shark King howled, flinging Jiang Lingwei away, and with all its strength and its last, toughest right fist, forcefully pressed down on Jiang Lingwei.
“Huff….”
They were deadlocked. Yet, if you looked closer, Jiang Lingwei had little magic left in reserve, but she wasn’t exhausted—instead, she was more energetic than ever!
It was the fighting spirit of someone who’d finally figured out her own heart.
As for the Giant Shark King? It was gasping for breath, blood pouring everywhere, the old internal injuries left by Jiang Yao’s attacks now erupting within it.
Its desperate strike hadn’t finished Jiang Lingwei, and now it was trapped in a stalemate.
Its death was now certain.
Barring accidents, in just over ten seconds, Jiang Lingwei would break through its dark magic and shatter it completely.
But just then—
“Boom… Boom…”
It was the bell, the sound of noon’s bell ringing.
This bell tower was built over a hundred years ago by foreigners who came here. After years and government repairs, it had become a small city landmark.
Every noon, this big seaside bell would chime, letting citizens know the precise time.
Today, unlike the past, it didn’t need people to operate it; even if all the citizens had taken shelter, this electronically-controlled clock tower still rang out on time with mechanical precision.
And then, the world changed.
“Ah ah ah~”
It was as if someone’s voice was singing, or whistling. Everything but the sea—the beach, the roadside steps, and more—all turned into a desert.
Look closely and you could see cacti growing, and far in the distance, the shadow of an old town from a bygone era. A tumbleweed rolled in from who knows where.
It was as if everyone here had traveled a hundred years into the past, to the American West.
(A Domain?!)
Still locked with the Giant Shark King, Jiang Lingwei was shocked.
Her own magic couldn’t sustain a Domain like this, and this scene was totally different from the Domains of any magical girls she knew.
Then, whose was it?
(Could it be…?)
In that instant, she and the Giant Shark King seemed to think of the same thing. One person, one monster—both turned their heads slightly.
“Step, step.”
Boots thudded against the ground, and there on the sand stood none other than the supposedly downed magical girl, [Sand Revolver]!
Now, she looked completely uninjured.
No, not quite—because even without using magic, Jiang Lingwei could see the trail of blood at the corner of Sand Revolver’s mouth.
“Damn…!”
The Giant Shark King grew anxious, the output of its dark magic surging up another notch, doubling the pressure on Jiang Lingwei. Now it wasn’t even hoping to suppress her—it just wanted to escape.
At the same time, it still had the presence of mind to fire a dark magic orb toward Sand Revolver.
“Hehehe.”
Sand Revolver simply laughed, tilted her body slightly, and dodged the attack.
Her cowboy hat tipped up, and the look on her face was nothing but absolute confidence—with a touch of pride.
Because of the shockwave from her Domain, a beam of sunlight broke through the clouds above, shining right on her.
Bathed in sunlight, Sand Revolver was now a completely different person from just moments ago.
She gripped the handle of her gun with assurance.
“Plop.”
A tumbleweed rolled past between her, the Giant Shark King, and Jiang Lingwei.
“Noon has come.”
Smiling as she said these four words, Sand Revolver quietly took a deep breath, her eyes fixed straight on the Giant Shark King’s head.
“Bang!”
Draw—fire—in less than a second. The Giant Shark King, with almost no dark magic left to defend itself, had its head shot clean through by the magic bullet.
And with that, all the yellow sand, cacti, and everything else vanished in an instant. The clouds above closed up, and the beam of sunlight disappeared.
And Sand Revolver?
“I… I… ah!”
All her pride and confidence were instantly replaced by terror and timidity.
Her hand shook, she couldn’t even hold her magic weapon anymore. The exquisite magic revolver slipped from her fingers and fell onto the beach, kicking up a cloud of dust.
As for its owner, she hugged her head and crouched down, trembling all over—whether from pain or fear, no one could tell.