Even if you're a corrupted magical girl, you still have to try to redeem yourself.

If it gets exposed, it might be a kind of relief.

But what to do next? Yuuki Yukino didn't have time to think about it.

But if Helica decides to take action, he can't possibly lose.

“You didn’t understand, did you? Then let me explain it to you.” Helica turned her face away, seemingly avoiding Yuuki Yukino’s expression.

Do you remember the first time we met?

Yuuki Yui hadn't forgotten that if she hadn't known beforehand about Herlica's stubborn and arrogant personality, and hadn't been scolded for trying to help someone out of a predicament, she would have definitely given Herlica a good scolding.

“Yes.” Yuuki Yui nodded.

"When we first met, I was really happy when you came to my rescue and when you had lunch with me in the storage room. I was so happy that even I couldn't stand myself, but someone would speak up for me and be willing to stay with me."

Herlica's pupils flickered, as if she were recalling the beautiful, innocent times she spent with Yuuki Yuuki in the past.

Back then, there were no magical girls, and there weren't as many messy things as there are now. They were just friends.

But was that wonderful time, which was so beautiful for me, the same for the pink-haired girl in front of me?

Helica had no idea, and she didn't want to know.

"I only found out later that around the same time, you also started to get to know Mizuno Yu, chatting with her in the archery club after school and watching her train. Coincidentally, that was also the time when your little follower, Inuyama Tomoe, transferred schools. I also know that, apart from Inuyama Tomoe, you only got to know the two of us."

When Helica said those words, she already had an answer in her heart that she didn't want to accept.

It was that answer, those strange associations, that made it impossible for her to stay focused and enjoy the school trip all morning.

The troubles that had finally been put to the back of her mind were brought up again when Yuuki Eri was attacked once more, and the attacks were even more intense than before.

"Lin Jiezi, who always secretly watches us, lives next door to you. You, who should have nothing to do with magical girls, always get involved in the conflicts with them. It all started from that day, the day you were attacked by Miyashita Mia."

"When you were attacked by Miyashita Mia, you should have known that Mizuno Yu and I were both magical girls until that time."

"But you've already become friends with us before Mizuno Yu and I even knew each other's identities. Isn't that a coincidence?"

"So, how did you manage to find the two of us so precisely before that?"

Whether it's Mizuno Yu or Helica, they would have noticed this if they paid a little attention.

At that time, Yuuki Yuuki had only recently fallen into darkness. Not only had she not accepted her fallen identity, but she also lacked the power to match it, and her plans were full of flaws.

Yuuki Yui did not intend to answer Helica's question, nor did she need to. At a time when she was already under suspicion, saying more would only lead to more trouble.

Moreover, Helica had no intention of letting herself continue listing the past events.

"Yes, attacks, more than once. You've been attacked by magical girls more than once. Once, your good friend Nishio Reki helped you out. You're always getting attacked, at least that's what Mizuno Yu and I think."

"I told you, didn't I? When we took you home, we noticed that the pink tentacle woman and the silver-haired musketeer woman were near your house, more than once."

"Even the only time I stayed overnight at your house, I encountered that musketeer girl. The corrupted magical girl who appears near your house didn't come directly to your door. Is that a coincidence?"

"And also, at the top of the Moon Sea Tower, you appeared there without our knowledge. Miyashita Mia and my Tsukimi-senpai, you were the last people to see them. Only you know what happened to them. We only learned about their fates from you."

"Ah, right, I almost forgot about it. Your childhood friend Nishio Reki was there back then."

"Later, you were targeted by other magical girls, right? Mizuno Yu and I desperately helped you escape, just like today, but then the magical girl who attacked you sided with the pink tentacle girl."

"That's right, the magical girl who attacked you sided with the pink tentacle woman and helped her defeat the corrupted magical girl who ruined the festival, but you just happened to be absent that day."

"And on the train too, how could the winged magical girl who was defeated back then, and the guy who colluded with her, know you?"

The rambling and illogical statements were simply a retelling of what the person had experienced.

Yuuki Yukino already knew perfectly well what Helica meant.

"And today, how many more things are you hiding from us? What exactly is your relationship with those magical girls?"

Yuuki Yukino remained silent.

"Aren't you going to say something?"

Herlica frowned, her wavering eyes looking as if she might burst into tears at any moment.

"Why don't you refute me? Say that what I said is all just wishful thinking, that you have nothing to do with those magical girls, and that you just got caught up in the trouble."

"You watched the stars with me, listened to my stories of the past, and all the tenderness you showed me made me fall hopelessly in love with you. Was it all just a lie?"

"You in the end..."

The massive tremor interrupted Helica's words.

Was it an earthquake?

No, that wasn't an earthquake. No one was hurt by the tremor, and many people didn't even feel it.

But that was a sight more terrifying than an earthquake.

That was the vibration of magic.

In the heart of Rainbow City, on streets covered in paint, many pedestrians were commenting on the graffiti that had just been applied that day.

"This thing was left behind by a magical girl, right?"

"Hmm, this looks really ominous."

"Wait, did this thing move?"

"Just now, it felt like something vibrated?"

The passerby looked down at the ground beneath his feet.

At some point, her sneakers became covered in graffiti colors.

It's raining.

Red rain, blue rain, yellow rain, rain flowing upstream.

The scene before me seemed to have been liquefied, like an oil painting, like the outline of a comic, like an abstract geometric composition, all rising into the sky.

It was as if the entire city was being baptized, and everything was thrown into the embrace of the sky.

The colors everywhere swept past the crowds and shop windows, then solidified again in the air without leaving a trace.

"Ugh, ah, ahh..."

Taiki Taiga rolled on the ground in agony, clutching the black magic markings on his body as if he were being burned, feeling his magic power being forcibly extracted from his body.

Ono Kogure was in a similar situation. She was huddled in a corner, clenching her teeth, staring blankly ahead with her bloodshot eyes filled with tears, her nails digging into her arms.

"My magic... has been drained, it hurts so much..."

At the same moment, in every corner of Rainbow Leaf City, girls collapsed out of thin air, clutching their bodies and wailing in pain as they stared at the chaotic colors in the sky.

At the same moment, a huge magical pattern composed of vibrant colors stretched across the entire sky of Rainbow Leaf City.

Is that a painting?

Someone asked.

But no one answered her question.

Those who could answer her questions were either unable to stand or were deeply shocked.

Those are black magic runes.

As if branded onto this city where magical girls shouldn't exist, the black magic runes signify its inevitable fall as well.

The unaffected magical girls seemed to see a giant hand holding the entire Rainbow Leaf City in its grasp.

“This madman…” Even Inuyama Tomoe, who was standing next to Lin Jiezi, couldn’t help but clench her teeth as she stared at the terrifying scene in mid-air.

To attract attention? To draw her out? Only then did Yuuki Yuki realize that what Grimm's Mashiro was trying to do was not so simple and naive.

The things that Mashiro Gorgen did during the day were absolutely outrageous.

In front of all the magical girls who might come to Rainbow Leaf City, and all the citizens of Rainbow Leaf City, a giant black magic rune was set up in the center of Rainbow Leaf City.

Whether she would appear or whether the other magical girls would stop her, these things were completely unimportant to Mashiro Urouge.

Genken Mashiro is also pure to the extreme.

She needed to set such a huge trap, so she did, and that's all.

Such a blatant setup can hardly be called a trap; anyone who touches it even slightly will know what it is.

The only thing to blame is that, in order to avoid being discovered, they didn't personally go and check it.

But now, it's all too late.

With his demonic armor tattered and soaked in blood, obscuring the other patchwork colors on it, Genki Mashiro stretched out his paintbrush and limped toward Nishio Reki, who stood atop the city wall, holding a halberd in one hand and looking down at him.

The black cheongsam was stained with various jarring colors, and the blood on his forehead blurred half of his vision. His disheveled black hair swayed in the wind. Nishio Reki's current situation was no less dire.

"Originally, this was just an insurance policy, and I never thought it would actually come in handy."

"Perhaps this is what I prepared especially for you?"

With her hand trembling uncontrollably from her injury, Mashiro Gorgen picked up her paintbrush.

Chapter Ninety-Six Goodnight

This is an opportunity, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Genken Mashiro firmly believed this.

How much time do I have left as a magical girl? Two years? One year? Or even less?

Even though Mashiro Gorgen hasn't started to feel powerless yet, she knows that she doesn't have much time left.

No matter how much she struggles, she is a slave to fate. Even if she escapes here, she cannot break free from the shackles of being a magical girl.

But she still had things she had to do.

It wasn't until Yuuki Yuki appeared that she saw a ray of light.

Even if this light may not belong to her, and may be a form of self-comfort before reaching the end, in the end it is still endless emptiness.

But she could not allow that light to slip through her fingers.

Therefore, she took a huge gamble.

Moreover, the magic wand in the black-haired girl's hand told Gen Ken Mashiro that she had made the right bet.

However, the obstacles she encountered on her way to grasp that ray of light were more difficult to overcome than she had imagined.

Under the control of Xu Yan Zhenbai, the various colored blocks flew freely according to her will, like unreachable birds, like butterflies fluttering and playing. No matter what they resembled, they all had the same final destination.