My ex-girlfriend is a magical girl junior?

[Task triggered]

[Assist Yin Xue and Liu Li in defeating the Erosion-level Void Beast]

[If a magical girl dies, or if the host kills a Void Beast, the mission will be considered a failure.]

The cold, mechanical voice echoed in her mind, forcibly suppressing Xing Shuang's urge to send a beam of light to evaporate the erosion-level void beast.

She narrowed her eyes, sensing the deeper meaning hidden in the system's words—this system, which claimed to cultivate its host into an "excellent senior," seemed to be earnestly fulfilling its responsibilities.

"I said..." She shook her head forcefully, deliberately making her tone sarcastic, "Isn't your system incredibly unprofessional? There are penalties for failing a mission, but no rewards for success. Who would accept such a one-sided agreement?"

She suddenly lowered her voice, her tone tentative: "Actually, you're just a mutated contracted elf in disguise, aren't you? If you confess now, I might let bygones be bygones."

Please focus on your current task and do not attempt to spy on this system.

"Ah~" She deliberately dragged out the tone, then felt disgusted by her own coquettish tone and quickly cleared her throat. "If there's no reward, I think it's easier to just use a light cannon to take care of that virtual beast."

As she spoke, Xing Shuang kept her gaze fixed on the two figures engaged in fierce combat at the other end of the mall, and her senses covered the entire Void Bubble to prevent any accidents from happening.

The next instant, her pupils contracted slightly, and her figure suddenly transformed into a streak of light and flew into the distance. When she reappeared, she was already blocking a slumped citizen, kicking away the attacking phantom beast, and then followed up with a beam of magic.

"Are you alright?" The Void Beast's body exploded into dust in mid-air. Xing Shuang turned around and reached out, only to find that the other party had already frantically gotten up on his own.

And only then did the system's warning arrive, belatedly:

[Failure to complete the mission will result in a forced transformation as punishment.]

The system's cold, hard response made Xing Shuang snort softly. "Anyway..." She turned her face away, unconsciously tapping the ground lightly with her toes, "I'm already in punishment mode."

Suddenly realizing that her tone was too girlish, she immediately straightened her face and added, "So this kind of threat won't work on me."

A silence lingered in the air for several seconds.

Successfully completing the mission will temporarily remove the transformation state, and the penalty period will be extended accordingly.

"Really?!" Xing Shuang's eyes lit up instantly, and a bright smile bloomed on her face. This expression made her look like a happy girl, until she suddenly realized that she had lost her composure, and hurriedly suppressed her smile, pretending to cough a few times.

Originally, she just wanted to use this opportunity to test the system, but she didn't expect to gain something unexpected. If she could temporarily return to her original state, she wouldn't have to worry about her family finding out, and she could go to school normally tomorrow.

The time elapsed after the penalty is lifted will be counted as 1.2 times the penalty duration.

"Ten minutes to revert to my original form... that means I have to be a magical girl for an extra twelve minutes..." She quickly did the mental calculations, unconsciously twirling a strand of long hair around her finger. "...Deal, I'll be practicing in my transformed state tonight anyway."

Please take immediate action.

"I understand." She nodded slightly. "But before that, there's something more important to do." Her gaze swept over the figures locked in combat in the distance. "Yin Xue and the others can still hold on, but these ordinary people..."

A magical barrier suddenly unfolded, sending the citizens around her out of the mortal realm. After taking a deep breath, she used her magic to lock onto all those trapped.

Immediately afterwards, Xing Shuang's figure transformed into a streak of light, moving at a speed too fast for the naked eye to follow. She flew swiftly through the void bubble, sending out one ordinary person after another who was trapped inside.

The Void Beasts that tried to stop Starfrost couldn't even pinpoint her location, and any Void Beast in her path would instantly explode into dust if it was even slightly touched.

When her figure solidified again, there were no humans left in the entire illusory bubble except for the three magical girls.

"Haa..." Xing Shuang, kneeling on one knee, gasped for breath, beads of sweat sliding down her cheeks and soaking the snow-white silk ribbon around her neck.

Even with her vast magical reserves, such a high-intensity rescue was too much of a drain, but it was all worth it—they could now proceed without any worries.

Looking at the roaring, erosion-level void beast in the distance, she wiped the sweat from her brow, a battle-ready smile curving her lips: "In order to return to normalcy... I have no choice but to ask you to leave the stage."

......

Silver Snow floated in mid-air, and the emerald green barrier unfolded layer by layer like flower petals. The queen ant clumsily raised her head, and the sticky liquid she spewed was blocked by the barrier. Instead, it splashed onto the nearby egg cases, instantly corroding the translucent sacs with a sizzling sound.

"Liuli, it's got its attention!" Yin Xue shouted towards the distance, her voice echoing through the empty ruins of the shopping mall. "Over there—"

"Understood." The concise response was accompanied by action; a dark blue figure swooped down from the heights like a cannonball.

The glass-like ice blade slashed into the gaps in the queen ant's carapace, and dark purple slime splattered onto the combat suit, corroding it and producing hissing white smoke.

"Snap!"

The blade finally got stuck in the joint. She gripped the hilt tightly with both hands and pressed down with all her might, the power of frost spreading wildly along the wound.

The Queen Ant Beast let out a deafening roar, its massive body twisting violently. Liuli was thrown back and forth, sword and all, until her back shattered a supporting pillar before she came to a stop. She spat out a mouthful of blood, her vision distorted by the excruciating pain.

But the attack worked—the queen ant, having lost the support of one leg, moved noticeably slower, and when her two forelegs stepped onto the pre-arranged ice, she slipped instantly, crashing to the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust.

"It worked?"

Liuli landed breathlessly on the wreckage of the exhibition stand, only to see the ice melting at a visible rate. Worse still, the queen ant's convulsing abdomen suddenly contracted violently—

puff!puff!puff!

Three viscous egg sacs were suddenly ejected, hatching new ant-like phantom beasts in mid-air. These newborn individuals, their carapaces still glistening with mucus, already displayed their ferocious nature, hissing as they pounced on Liuli.

"Watch out!" Yin Xue's warning came from not far away.

Liuli spun around and slashed down the first one. Her ice blade then cleaved the head of the second one. But the third beast cunningly circled into her blind spot, its tail needle flashing coldly as it pierced her back. But suddenly, a verdant barrier enveloped her.

boom!

The moment the tail needle shattered the barrier, Yin Xue had already swooped down. She yanked Liu Li away, but was splashed with the splattered slime on her right arm, and her combat suit was instantly corroded with charred marks.

"Yin Xue!" Liu Li's pupils contracted sharply as she looked at the white smoke rising from her arm.

"It's alright, the combat suit protects me..." Yin Xue gritted her teeth and maintained a smile, but her trembling fingertips betrayed her true pain. Suddenly, her eyes widened. "Liuli, behind you!"

The queen ant had somehow stood up again, and her forelegs swept across like battering rams. The two hurriedly took off, but were still caught in the blast and crashed heavily onto the broken escalator.

As Liuli propped herself up, she saw a horrifying scene—the beast was tearing at its own abdominal carapace with its front claws, exposing the densely packed egg sacs inside.

"It's trying to force it to hatch..." Yin Xue tried to raise her wand, but the corrosive wound on her right arm made her movements hesitant. "I have to stop it..."

The ice blade of Liuli condensed again, but it was half the length of the previous one. She looked at Yinxue's scarred arm and suddenly remembered a rainy day when her parents had argued and spilled boiling water, which had scalded her forearm red. The stinging pain in her memory overlapped with the scene before her eyes.

"I was determined to protect her, but I'm still the one holding her back..."

Liuli gritted her teeth and suddenly leaped towards the ant queen. Her actions were so resolute that they were almost suicidal. Her ice blade was aimed directly at the exposed egg sac, completely ignoring the newborn virtual beasts attacking from both sides.

"At the very least, the hatchery must be destroyed—!"

As several newly born Void Beasts simultaneously pierced Liuli's body with their tail stings, the entire shopping mall was suddenly dyed pinkish-gold.

A beam of magical energy descended from the dome like divine punishment, precisely severing the queen ant's forelimbs as she tore at her abdomen. The shockwave from the explosion sent all the attacking phantom beasts flying, and Liuli's ice blade seized the opportunity to pierce deep into the egg sac.

puff-

Frost spread wildly along the wound, instantly freezing half of the egg sacs. The queen ant let out an unprecedented scream, and dark purple fluid gushed out from the cracks in her carapace.

Completely exhausted of her magic, Liuli slumped into the dust, looking up blankly. A petite pink figure appeared in her field of vision, so bright it was almost blinding.

At the same time, Yin Xue exclaimed in surprise, "Senior Xing Shuang?!"

"Excellent delaying tactics." Starfrost smiled and nodded, her magic wand shimmering with brilliant light. "Now, let's begin the second round."