Chapter 140: Skirmish
Xia Mo’s smile was pure and friendly, but the characters she uttered from her small mouth were so cold and merciless.
“Can it really be corrected?”
“Shuangyue, you should know that girls and boys are different. If it doesn’t work once, we can try a few more times,” Xia Mo replied, gently fiddling with her fingers as if she were a soldier sharpening her weapon before battle.
Luo Shuangyue shivered. She wasn’t completely ignorant about this kind of thing; she felt she understood the deeper meaning behind Xia Mo’s gesture.
Those fingers were indeed weapons!
“That doesn’t seem right,” Luo Shuangyue said, her gaze wandering.
“We are lovers, so isn’t it only natural to do these things?”
Luo Shuangyue retreated once again. Xia Mo’s reasoning was so flawless that she couldn’t find a single point to refute it.
Being lovers, it’s perfectly normal to engage in intimate acts.
They had already done almost everything except for that final step, and now Luo Shuangyue felt scared and wanted to refuse; it wasn’t that simple.
Xia Mo, this big tiger, had already set her sights on her!
Just as the atmosphere between them began to descend into an awkward state tinged with a hint of pink, a call from not far away rescued Luo Shuangyue from this dreadful situation.
Finally, it was her turn. Yay, liberation!
Luo Shuangyue excitedly stood up and walked towards the sound of the call. No matter what she was about to face next, it had to be better than this awkward scenario…
Maybe?
Then, Luo Shuangyue entered a makeshift examination tent and encountered someone she did not wish to see.
“You two… here to cause trouble?” Miss Akabane Enji, draped in a white coat that did not match her temperament, looked at Xia Mo and Luo Shuangyue with a strange expression.
She had also been working at the lunar base, so she naturally recognized the identities of these two.
Thus, her first thought was how these two were bored enough to come here to stir up trouble.
As for why Akabane Enji was here… she was after all the eldest daughter of the Soul Guide and had been nurtured and taught by the Soul Guide for so many years, surely she learned some of the Soul Guide’s techniques.
Therefore, it was not an issue for her to cosplay as a psychiatrist.
“No, we just came to get treated, give her a check-up!” Xia Mo forcefully pushed Luo Shuangyue onto the patient’s position, stating earnestly.
Akabane Enji chuckled twice; she could tell that these two were here for fun. Since that was the case, she would loosen up a bit.
“Alright, let’s hear your problem.” She rested her chin on her hand, her demeanor becoming more professional.
At that moment, she really did resemble a capable doctor.
Xia Mo seriously explained the problems she and Luo Shuangyue were facing. After finishing, she earnestly pleaded with Akabane Enji.
“Doctor Enji, can my little Yue be saved? You must help her!”
Well, this statement immediately elevated the previously serious discussion back to the level of a joke.
Akabane Enji began to doubt whether she had misunderstood Xia Mo. Could it be that Luo Shuangyue truly lacked the self-awareness of her identity?
Yet, after Xia Mo’s second sentence, Akabane Enji was certain that Xia Mo was absolutely lying.
“It’s simple, you can completely shatter the remnants of her manly pride with an irrefutable method,” Akabane Enji suggested while waving her fists enthusiastically, offering a solution that sounded very familiar to Luo Shuangyue.
“If you want a tutorial, I can give you one.”
There’s a tutorial?!
Luo Shuangyue’s eyes widened; Akabane Enji, why are you acting so strangely?
Realizing she was being stared at by Luo Shuangyue, Akabane Enji felt the need to explain herself, or her image might take a hit.
“Don’t look at me like that; this method is actually quite effective. Many transformed girls who can’t accept reality can use this method to quickly understand it, but the conditions for implementing this method are a bit high…”
Yes, it requires a sincere girlfriend capable of doing such things, which is a demand that’s almost sky-high.
Such a high requirement also brings a similarly high success rate; no matter how tough a transformed girl may be, once subjected to this, she would inevitably accept the reality that she has become a girl.
So Akabane Enji wasn’t just kidding around; this was indeed a very normal treatment plan.
However, this treatment plan is akin to a last resort; she wouldn’t use it unless absolutely necessary. But given the relationship between the two in front of her, Akabane Enji understood and immediately went for the big move.
As for that so-called tutorial, it wasn’t something she made up on a whim but borrowed from some experienced magical girls.
Akabane Enji herself didn’t understand these things; she was a very naive girl, as innocent as a block of wood, which caused some of her friends quite a bit of trouble.
“I sent you both the link; just go check it out.” Pulling out her phone, Akabane Enji sent them a link and waved her hand impatiently, “Hurry up and leave; I’m busy here!”
She still thought Luo Shuangyue and Xia Mo were here just to have fun, so of course, she had no intention of treating them kindly.
After all, Luo Shuangyue wasn’t a transformed person but a bona fide magical girl. When Akabane Enji met Luo Shuangyue, Monise’s transformation tech was still in its early stages.
So there was no way Akabane Enji would believe what Xia Mo said was true. She simply couldn’t believe it!
Feeling utterly uncomfortable, Luo Shuangyue received Akabane Enji’s order to leave and immediately stood up, eager to head out of the tent.
She couldn’t stay here. If this were some unknown doctor, she could at least somewhat share her troubles with them.
But standing before her was Akabane Enji, a familiar acquaintance she wasn’t quite comfortable with; Luo Shuangyue had no face to divulge her worries.
So once she got the chance to escape, she naturally wanted to run away!
Luo Shuangyue hurriedly dashed out, while Xia Mo politely bid farewell to Akabane Enji and naturally thanked her for sharing some useful information.
This so-called tutorial was something she hadn’t encountered before.
“Thank you, Doctor Enji, for your help! If you manage to cure little Yue’s ailment, I’ll definitely make sure to give you a big banner,” Xia Mo said to Akabane Enji with a smile.
“Just don’t keep causing trouble. By the way, I didn’t expect you to have this side to you,” Akabane Enji rolled her eyes helplessly, “I thought you were just a very naive good girl.”
“Naive? Some things aren’t just simple and naive,” Xia Mo chuckled lightly, waved her hand at Akabane Enji, “I won’t disturb you for the next few days. Goodbye!”
……
In the boundless black starry sky, countless magical creatures surged out from an unstable spatial passage. After emerging from the passage, they did not assemble into a legion but instead changed their forms, morphing their bodies into parts of a vast structure.
The dark flesh transformed into a bridge in a realm that starlight could not reach, as all the magical creatures that arrived here offered everything to welcome their master’s descent.
To create a passage large enough for the Demon Lord to pass, the magical creatures used unprecedented resources to pave a safe route for their master. They only needed to wait a little longer, and they would witness the Demon Lord’s arrival.
At that time, the black legion from the depths of the starry sky would deliver the story of destruction to this unfamiliar and barren star domain.
……
The powerful fluctuations coming from the depths of the starry sky naturally attracted the attention of the magical girls, who quickly identified the incoming foe as a Demon Lord.
“What a strong fluctuation; a real big fish is coming!” Looking at the numbers on the screen that had turned nearly black, Cecilia’s expression became serious.
“To cause such ripples in the Ocean of Magical Power… this creature’s size is definitely abnormal,” Monise, who had been pulled in as an analyst, calculated in her mind and arrived at a rather unfavorable conclusion.
Indeed, the size of a magical creature does not directly represent combat power, but when the size reaches such a level, convincing oneself that the creature is weak becomes foolish.
With such a massive size, the attacks from the magical girls would be akin to pricking it with a needle.
“The battle plan needs to be scrapped and redone; how can it be this big?” The magical girl in charge of the battle plan anxiously grasped her hair. She had considered the scenario of facing a giant magical creature but never imagined that they would encounter one of this magnitude.
Bigger than the planet they stood on.
Among the magical girls currently, only Qidian, known for her destructive power, had the ability to completely annihilate a planet, and that was only if it was a defenseless planet that wouldn’t fight back.
An ordinary planet versus a Demon Lord as big as a planet—those are two different concepts.
“Qidian, can you take it down?”
“If you drain its magical energy and leave it half dead, I can take it down,” Qidian rolled her eyes.
She liked fighting, but she wasn’t foolish enough to misjudge her own strength.
A planet-sized Demon Lord was definitely not something a single magical girl could handle; clearly, it was at least an intermediate BOSS level creature that would require a joint effort.
“The original plan cannot be changed for now, but considering the enemy’s strength, we can’t let it descend here so easily!” Cecilia took a deep breath. Now was not the time for arguing or hesitation; with the enemy approaching, all they could do was prepare for battle.
“Based on the direction of the fluctuations, we can lock onto the location of the teleportation gateway. We must go destroy it. Even if we can’t stop its arrival entirely, at least it will pay a painful price.”
Other aspects of the battle plan were still up for debate, but no one objected to this initial plan.
After all, no one thought there was anything wrong with this plan; destroying the enemy’s teleportation exit was undoubtedly a beneficial action.
“The Demon Lord’s size is far too massive; it surely cannot traverse the starry sky as freely as its subordinates can. The tumultuous waves in the Ocean of Magical Power affect it much more than us,” Monise also nodded in agreement with Cecilia’s thoughts.
“I’ll go,” Qidian immediately volunteered.
“Of course, we need you, but this time you can’t go alone; you will team up with Mercury and Cang Kong.”
“Understood!”
……
“That guy is coming,” Luo Shuangyue sighed lightly while standing on the hotel room balcony, gazing at the sky.
Today was the last day of her three-day vacation.
Just now, she had received messages from both the Magic Department and Monise, both conveying the same information that a major battle was imminent.
This battle would determine the fate of the whole world.
The Magic Department had decided to unleash all its power, leaving only transformed people and new-level magical girls for basic defense on the ground; all other magical girls capable of fighting in the sky would need to go up to battle the magical creatures.
Previously, the Magic Department would not have managed to deploy so many magical girls, as the world was far from stable, and mid-level magical creatures were not uncommon. If all the magical girls left, no one would be left to deal with those creatures.
But now, the transformed individuals can replace magical girls to handle those weaker magical creatures, and the likelihood of a royal-class magical creature emerging is low. Even if one does appear, it is not unmanageable with the cooperation of several high-level transformed individuals.
As for royal-class… if a royal-class magical creature were to suddenly pop out on the mother planet at this time, then the world would truly be facing destruction. It would be like fate turning against humanity.
“Do you think the seniors’ interruption plan can succeed?” Xia Mo, who had also received the same message, was sitting in her room, enveloped in a heavy shadow.
At this moment, she felt a tinge of confusion.
She was worried and frightened.
“It’s hard to say, but based on my guess, it should succeed at least partially,” Luo Shuangyue didn’t respond optimistically, asserting that the Blooming Level seniors could definitely stop that royal-class magical creature.
Deep down, she knew the enemy was not a mindless fool; since that being dared to create such a stir while teleporting here, it must be fully prepared for interruption.
Moreover, even if their interruption plan succeeded, it would only slightly delay the arrival of the magical creature; before long, the Demon Lord would still appear before them.
And with the extra bit of time, humanity couldn’t achieve much.
Even if the magical creatures were delayed by a year, how much power could humanity muster in that year?
At best, maybe a couple more Blooming Level magical girls, but in such a grand battle, a couple of newly upgraded Blooming Level magical girls would not hold any decisive advantage.
“But don’t worry, that guy will definitely not harm the land beneath my feet!” Luo Shuangyue revealed a confident smile.
Because that ultimate trump card had yet to be revealed.
In fact, Luo Shuangyue was not afraid of that Demon Lord at all because she held a card capable of reversing any situation.
Bai Ye, the power left to her by her mother, was powerful enough to eliminate any magical creature.
Once she unveiled this trump card, as long as her opponent had not transcended the level of a Demon Lord, she would undoubtedly secure victory.
“You know, her power is far greater than we can imagine,” Luo Shuangyue clenched her fists; with her rising strength, her acceptance of Bai Ye’s power was also gradually increasing.
Compared to the previous time limit of only a few minutes, now she could maintain Bai Ye’s combat form for a full ten minutes!
Of course, fully unleashing the ultimate move would shorten the combat time, but that should be a minor issue.
“Let’s hope the situation doesn’t escalate to that point; I’m a bit concerned…” Xia Mo walked up behind Luo Shuangyue, hugging her with a gentle voice.
Gently patting the back of Xia Mo’s hands resting on her chest, Luo Shuangyue softly replied, “There’s no need to think too much; we will definitely win!”
“Mhm.”
……
“Indeed, this place is completely different from those we dealt with before!”
“It can actually withstand our attacks; has quantity indeed reached quality?”
Standing before the colossal teleportation portal, the three Blooming Level magical girls looked helplessly at the door that fully occupied their field of vision. At this moment, they truly realized how immense a change size could bring about.
The magical creatures that comprised the portal could not be counted, their magical power unified by a single consciousness, ready to unleash equal destruction upon anyone daring to invade this place.
These magical creatures were already dead; they had become part of this gigantic portal.
And their power was now manipulated by the Demon Lord, fiercely fighting against the approaching magical girls.
“Its battle experience is quite lacking; find an opportunity to get close and attack!”
The instant they engaged, the three Blooming Level magical girls acutely sensed this Demon Lord’s weakness.
Their opponent had very insufficient battle experience.
Perhaps they had fought too many trivial battles, or perhaps the power they descended with was insufficient for more intricate maneuvers. Whatever the reason, their interference was soon bypassed by the magical girls.
As a shining silver magical cannon shattered the portal’s surface defenses, leaving a mercury-like scar on the portal’s body, the magical girls’ relaxed attitudes swiftly turned tense again.
While indeed, the Demon Lord’s interference was ineffective, their attacks didn’t pose significant damage to this portal either.
If what they faced was a sci-fi animated series’ teleportation portal, perhaps that one shot would trigger some chain reaction and obliterate the entire portal.
But reality was not a cartoon. After being hit by the magical girl’s cannon, the portal immediately discarded the parts that had been turned into mercury, cutting them away.
This opening was filled in the next second by other magical creatures pouring out from the portal, the impact on the portal merely causing it to wobble slightly.
The cannon’s power wasn’t enough!
“My magic can target regeneration abilities, but these creatures are not regenerative!” The magical girl who fired the mercury cannon cried out in frustration as she retracted her weapon.
The magical creatures she touched would continuously transform into mercury. This transformation effectively countered the magical creatures’ strong regenerative capabilities, which was why she was chosen for the assault on the portal.
If the portal had a powerful regenerative ability, her power would have exerted a significant effect.
But the Magic Department only guessed half right—the portal indeed possessed a strong self-repair ability, but this ability was not susceptible to suppression.
The portal would directly cast off the dead portions and replace them with new magical creatures.
Since the portal was composed solely of individual magical creatures, it didn’t fear attacks aimed at regenerating abilities at all.
“I’ll give it a try…” Seeing the failure of the mercury attempt, another magical girl immediately utilized her skills.
“Rending Void Blade!”
A pitch-black blade was swung forth, and against this blade, everything the Demon Lord did to block lost its efficacy.
Before long, this blade pierced into the portal, utterly destroying everything it touched.
But it wasn’t enough.
The blade could indeed deal damage to the portal, but the problem remained the same as before.
The portal was just too massive; such a small amount of damage couldn’t reach its core.
Seemingly realizing this, the Demon Lord’s consciousness provocatively lifted the protection over the grand door, as if enticing the magical girls to attack.
‘You think you can break this big door? Do you have the ability?’
Just as this Demon Lord was not adept at fighting humans, the magical girls were also not particularly skilled at attacking such a large entity.
When engaged in combat, they often had to control their power, developing their skills toward precision, never imagining that one day they would have to confront such a massive creature.
A creature larger than a planet; their finishing moves would seriously feel like merely scratching an itch.
A hundred-meter magical cannon might look impressive, but the magical girls would never make their cannons nearly that large in their usual battles.
But to the portal in front of them, that was about as effective as a slightly thicker needle.
While the portal couldn’t withstand the needle’s prick, what difference would it make if they managed to prick it? You make one hole, I’ll fill it in, and we’ll see who collapses first.
Moreover, time was not on the side of the magical girls.
The true body of the Demon Lord was rapidly approaching; what they faced now was merely a teleportation portal that couldn’t even put up a fight.
If they couldn’t destroy this door before the Demon Lord arrived, they would have no chance of victory once the Demon Lord’s true form descended.
“Qidian, it looks like it’s up to you,” the two magical girls sighed, ultimately having to place their hopes on Qidian.
In the moment of taking on this crucial responsibility, Qidian completely shed her previously laid-back demeanor; she extended her hands, dark, deep magical energy coalescing in her palms into a pitch-black dot.
Qidian only knew one spell, but for her, that spell was already enough.
“I need some time; you protect me,” she stated firmly this time. To unleash the ability strong enough to destroy a planet, Qidian needed to go all out, which meant she required the protection of her two companions.
Releasing a spell that could annihilate a planet was a significant consumption for her, taking away at least half of her magical energy, and this attack certainly couldn’t be released casually.
During the spell’s charging phase was when Qidian was most vulnerable, thus the need for two magical girls to accompany her.
Their power was certainly impressive, but the Magic Department didn’t expect them to be able to deal much effective damage to such a massive foe.
As for holding the situation, that was more than enough, but if both of them faltered at this juncture, then Qidian had no choice but to go all out.
At this moment, the tasks of the two Blooming Level magical girls shifted to protecting Qidian, ensuring her spell wasn’t interrupted by the magical creatures.
As long as Qidian could release this spell, everything would be alright!
After all, the ‘Qidian’ unleashed at full power could obliterate an entire planet!
Once Qidian entered a charging state, the Demon Lord, previously appearing as if it could simply wait and be hit, suddenly realized something was amiss.
If the earlier attacks from the two magical girls could be compared to a needle’s prick, then the attack currently charging was more like a large iron beam.
If it couldn’t stop this spell from charging up, the portal would definitely be destroyed!
The true form of the Demon Lord was already very close to this star domain, and the consciousness overseeing the portal grew progressively “smarter” as the true body approached.
At the very least, it understood that it couldn’t sit idly and endure attacks; it needed to take the initiative to disrupt the enemy’s charging spell.
It had recognized that the enemy it faced this time was not the frail elves it had encountered before; these little creatures truly possessed the capability to pose a threat.
Yet within the Demon Lord’s heart, there was no fear or retreat; nothing existed to strike fear into her!
The magical army surrounding the teleportation portal charged toward the three magical girls under her command. Countless pitch-black magical cannons swept across the starry sky, crashing towards the three tiny lights like a tidal wave of darkness.
But just as its earlier defenses could not withstand the magical girls’ counter-attacks, only a small portion of these magical creatures, many only of warrior class, were incapable of breaking through the magical girls’ defensive spells.
Indeed, they were repelled by the magical girls’ return attacks.
The Magic Department meticulously selected the magical girls assigned to protect Qidian; each was a seasoned Blooming Level magical girl, and their ability to eliminate foes was exceptional.
In previous battles against magical creatures, the Magic Department had already learned that these cosmic beings often employed simplistic attack strategies, heavily relying on collisions and magical cannons.
The two magical girls by Qidian’s side both possessed capabilities designed for dealing with magical cannons.
The mercury magical girl wielded a shapeless sphere of mercury as her weapon. She lightly waved her right hand, which carried the mercury ball, creating a curved mercury shield that spanned across the starry sky.
The magical cannons unleashed by the magical creatures struck this shield without producing even a ripple, instead rebounding back toward their original attackers.
However, the rebounding shots were wildly inaccurate, mostly shooting aimlessly. Even if they struck some unfortunate magical creatures, it merely resulted in a minor jolt.
Using one’s weapon against their own, these magical creatures evidently had an aversion to pain; their darts could not penetrate their own defenses.
After all, the enemies they had previously faced didn’t require such sharp weapons, so the Demon Lord didn’t see any need to continue attacking in that direction.
At this moment, it appeared that fortifying defenses had indeed proven to be effective.
For at least its army wouldn’t suffer substantial losses due to the backlash.
The other magical girl brutalized the space around her, returning the incoming magical cannons through the fragmented space beneath her feet.
If she could approach the portal, perhaps her strength could shatter it entirely.
However, that risk was too high; it was better to stay back and allow Qidian to use safer methods to destroy the portal.
“How long, Qidian?”
“Ten more minutes!”
“Alright.”
Recognizing that ranged attacks could not pose a threat to their enemies, the magical creatures shrieked and charged at the three magical girls.
The dark waves crashed toward the tiny reef as if they were about to smash this small rock into pieces.
But was it really that simple?
“Even a multitude of lowly minions is useless,” the mercury transformed into a longbow, the silver magical girl pulled back the bowstring, shooting an arrow toward the dark ocean before her, “All of you shall become my servitude!”
In the next second, the silver arrow struck a warrior-class magical creature, completely transforming it into a mass of mercury.
The following second, that magical creature’s body exploded, sending a flurry of mercury spikes flying toward the surrounding magical creatures, turning them into the same form as the recently vanquished warrior-class creature.
Then, what unfolded was a re-enactment of the earlier scene.
In an instant, silver spread across the dark expanse rapidly.
Cutting down, mercury was in its element.
But such efficient harvesting came at a high cost of magical energy.
“Cough, this is draining so much…” A trace of helplessness flickered in the mercury girl’s eyes. This was the first time she had used this spell on such a large group, and even though transforming a low-level magical creature wasn’t costly, the accumulation of numbers quickly sent her magical energy into a rapid depletion state.
Was the human wave tactic effective against Blooming Level magical girls?
Reality had provided the answer: it was effective, but not overly so.
While indeed, it was possible to exhaust a Blooming Level magical girl’s magic through a numbers game, the lives needed were not something any ordinary force could afford.
Moreover, the mercury spell was not a free-for-all; it required ongoing magical energy to maintain transformations, which was precisely why she found herself in a situation of rapid energy loss.
However, her companions were not in the same boat. The rending void blade unleashed by the space girl was a free casting spell; it didn’t consume her magic after being released.
The keen edge of the space blade was something the magical creatures could not withstand; any magical creature that came into contact with it would be ground to dust, losing any regenerative ability forever.
With the combined efforts of the mercury and rending void, ten minutes passed swiftly, and the magical army hadn’t managed to approach Qidian even a step.
They had successfully halted what seemed like an unstoppable tide.
And now, it was time for Qidian’s performance.
“Let everything be destroyed within the singularity!” Raising the seemingly ordinary dark dot that resembled a typical ‘singularity’, Qidian sighed lightly.
Then she gently tossed the singularity towards the grand door.
