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

She wasn't playing the emotional card; she was speaking from the heart, and Yuuki Yuki's father, Takeru, could sense that.

Because Yuuki Yukino thought the same way. Whether everyone was a magical girl or not didn't matter. She just wanted to spend some meaningful time with the other members of Nijisanji.

However, since everyone is a magical girl, this is a pipe dream.

"Sure." Yuuki Yuki had lost count of how many times she had sighed tonight.

"Really? Then, Yuuki-senpai, what happened to Mizuno-senpai and Tenrai-senpai during their school trip to Nijiha City? What happened there? Is there anything I can do to help them?" Sakura Hanako's emotions became visibly excited.

"Before answering your question, let me correct a misconception of yours." Yuuki Yui pursed her lips and swallowed hard, swallowing the saliva that welled up in her throat.

"Everyone in Nijisanji is a magical girl."

Chapter Twelve: The Primordial Girl

cheated!

For an entire night, all the magical girls, including Yuuki Yuuki, were completely fooled by that woman.

Taking into account every tiny possibility, placing her pieces at every strategic juncture, even with an overwhelming advantage in strength, that woman was still paving the way for her potential defeat.

Even Yuuki Yukino herself unintentionally became a backup plan paved by that woman to achieve her goals.

Even now, when everything seems to have settled and Yuuki Yuki's side has won a great victory, that woman's plan is still proceeding in an orderly manner.

What that woman showed was nothing more than the tip of the iceberg compared to her true purpose.

She deceived everyone.

Just like her magic wand named after the god of lies, she successfully fooled everyone.

Moreover, even the true name of the wand she unleashed was a lie.

The paintbrush she threw, piercing Lin Jiezi's chest, was like a silver key that opened the ultimate door, revealing a corner of the truth to the ignorant girls.

From the moment the paintbrush was thrown to its precise strike on Hayashi Mustard, who had suddenly intruded among the magical girls, only a brief instant elapsed.

Time seemed to freeze at that moment, capturing the unique expressions on everyone's faces.

These things happened so suddenly that everyone could only watch helplessly as the paintbrush pierced Lin Jiezi's chest with perfect accuracy.

Lin Jiezi didn't even manage a groan. With a look of surprise on her face as she was hit, her entire body leaned back from the force of the sneak attack.

Her long, milk tea-colored hair became disheveled as she fell, and her glasses flew off her nose as she flew away from the girl's eyes. Lin Jiezi's outstretched hand seemed to be trying to grab something—perhaps the hope of life?

But in the end, her hands could only grasp at empty air.

As the girl fell, the dark magic patterns that swirled in the sky, resembling a dome that pressed down on people and made it hard to breathe, silently expanded.

The expanding black magic patterns, like dreamy, colorful soap bubbles, shimmered with a faint halo of color, completely losing their original shape as they split and merged.

But those bubbles all share the same goal.

As if guided by some force, just like rewinding a video of blowing bubbles, countless bubbles gathered and merged into the paintbrush that had sunk into Lin Jiezi's chest.

That paintbrush was like the spout of a funnel, through which all the chilling power was poured into Lin Jiezi's body.

Before anyone else even realized what had happened, it was all over.

The sound of the girl's soft body falling into the puddle after the rain, even the sound of the glasses shattering on the ground, were so clear in the silence.

This sound was like a spark, making the already chaotic situation even more chaotic.

Mizuno Yu's arrow was already pressed against the head of the culprit—Gen Ken Mashiro. Even the usually composed Mizuno Yu gritted her teeth and revealed an extremely ugly expression.

Mizuno Yu's teeth sank deep into her lips. Even she needed the pain to stay awake and try to control herself from impulsively opening a hole in the head of the untransformed Gen Urobuchi Mashiro.

"Lin Jiezi! Lin Bashan, Lin Jiu, Ling Qi Jiu Wu Ba Lin Meng @Jiezi, how are you?!"

Herlica, who was closest to Lin Jiezi, immediately knelt down beside Lin Jiezi, supporting Lin Jiezi's shoulder with one hand so that the fallen Lin Jiezi could rest her head on her knees.

Faced with the wand embedded deep in Lin Jiezi's chest, Helica reached out several times but didn't dare to pull it out.

In the end, all Herika could do was watch helplessly as the girl, who had been perfectly fine just hours before, now had her lips visibly turning pale, her eyes unfocused, and her pupils slowly dilating.

"No, don't scare me! What should we do? An ambulance? Yes! An ambulance!"

"That woman..."

Even though Inuyama Tomoe and Hayashi Keiko weren't familiar with each other, she was familiar with Urouge Mashiro's power. She didn't need to guess what would happen to an ordinary person whose chest was pierced by Urouge Mashiro.

Of those present, Ba Qi was relatively calm.

This wasn't just a fit of impotent rage on Mashiro's part; she had come prepared.

Among those who knew nothing about the situation, only she was pondering the purpose of Genki Mashiro's second layer.

That is, why Masashiro Gakuen did this.

Yuuki Enishi knows the answer to this question.

Because Nishio Reki had told him that Hayashi Mustard was the "one" from which everything originated, the embodiment of the beginning of the history of magical girls.

Although Yuuki Yukari couldn't see anything amiss, even now that Hayashi Keiko had been hit, all she saw was an ordinary girl being attacked by a corrupted magical girl, her life hanging by a thread.

This inevitably reminded her of some things from a long time ago.

On the day she transmigrated, the day she became a corrupted magical girl, there was a loud noise outside the window and a girl collapsed to the ground.

For some reason, she just thought of it, even though the girl was now standing safely in front of her.

Perhaps the person standing in front of you is no longer the same person you saw back then.

Now, that girl made the most incomprehensible reaction.

"Get away from her! Hurry! Don't stand there! Thunder Helica! Let go! Get away from Lin Jiezi!"

Yuuki Yui had never seen Nishio Reki look so flustered. When it came to magical girl matters, Nishio Reki had always been the calmest and most reliable person.

It makes her show this kind of expression.

This made Yuuki Yukino think of some things again.

Some of the riddles that she used to hate, the riddles that Nishio Reki always repeated, "cannot be told."

Herlica, whose mind was blank, almost did it on her own when she heard Nishio Reki's words.

But the absurdity of the order made Helica hesitate slightly.

"What are you talking about? She is..."

I said let go!

Helica was rudely interrupted by Nishio Reki before she could finish speaking.

Nishio Reki wasn't just talking; with a flick of her wrist, she hurled the wand adorned with a black, five-clawed dragon, aiming it directly at Helica.

Calling it an attack might not be accurate; Herika could easily dodge such a simple and brutal tactic.

Helica did indeed dodge, rolling twice on the ground to the side, causing Nishio Reki's wand to merely stick into the ground.

But this strike was taken with utmost seriousness.

Nishio Reki achieved his goal, and Helica had to temporarily put down Hayashi Mustard from her lap in order to dodge.

"What's wrong with you?!" Helica shouted, her voice cracking with rage.

The next second, all of Helica's anger vanished as the bizarre scene before her eyes appeared.

Lin Jiezi, who was lying on the ground and seemed to have lost all life, twitched.

Especially after Nishio Reki shouted "Let go," everyone's attention was drawn to Hayashi Keko lying on the ground, and that obvious commotion came into the view of everyone around.

Lin Jiezi's eyes remained wide open, her eyeballs rolling erratically like glass marbles spinning in their sockets, her already dilated pupils suddenly shrinking to the size of a normal person's.

They saw the girl's rain-soaked fingers twitch, her knuckles twisting unnaturally, as she suddenly gripped the magic wand to her chest.

The instant Lin Jiezi touched the wand, her hands, face, and the small patch of her stomach peeking out from under her clothes—all visible skin—were covered with black magic markings symbolizing corruption.

Enveloped in those magical patterns, Lin Jiezi resembled a shattered porcelain doll, as if she might break apart at any moment.

Lin Jiezi gripped her hand even tighter, and the protruding lines on the back of her hand made it hard to tell whether they were exposed veins or the black demonic patterns that covered her body.

But it was clearly visible to the naked eye that Mashiro Urouge was slowly pulling out the wand that she had thrown out.

As Lin Jiezi pulled the paintbrush out of her body, her upper body was also suspended in mid-air in an abnormal posture.

If a magic wand were to pierce a body, every magical girl present would endure the pain and pull it out; there would be nothing special about that.

But whether they can withstand the intense and pure symbolic power of impurity that comes with the wands is unknown.

More importantly, throughout the entire process, there was no sign of any magical power emanating from Lin Jiezi.

Click, click.

As the paintbrush was removed from Lin Jiezi's body, the black demonic patterns that were already densely covered with her body like a spider web became covered with extremely fine cracks.

Then, the black magic patterns covering Lin Jiezi's entire body, along with the magic wand that she had suddenly pulled from her chest, were crushed to pieces.

Or rather, it shattered on its own when it left Lin Jiezi's body.

"W-What's going on?!"

Helica Tenrai, who was just about to pounce on Lin Jiezi and hug her, took a few steps back this time without Nishio Reki's reminder.

Nishio Reki never uses negative words to evaluate a person so directly; at least, in Yuuki Yuuki's memory, there has never been such a precedent.

But seeing the scene before him, Nishio Reki couldn't help but curse and start tearing at Yi's umbrella.

"Gen Ken Mashiro, you're a madman."

"Thank you for the compliment." Genken Mashiro glanced up at the Moonlight Arrow pressed against his head, then reached out and used the back of his hand to move the arrow away.

Still in shock, Mizuno Yu didn't react for a moment. Instead of restraining Genki Mashiro again, she slowly loosened the bowstring in her hand.

"Now we're all in the same boat, everyone."

As she continued speaking, Genken Mashiro stood up from the ground. Having just experienced a series of battles, her body was swaying slightly, and she stumbled a few times as she stood up due to her unstable center of gravity.

Having regained his balance, Kōken raised his chin and pointed to Rin, who was slowly rising from the ground with an unnatural, stiff posture.

Lin Jiezi had now stood up completely, lowered her head slightly, and her eyes, which were no longer hidden behind thick glasses, reflected only Xu Yan Zhenshiro, who was standing opposite her and staring at her intently.

The rainwater that had gotten on her when she fell dripped from her hair and her soaked clothes, making her look extremely disheveled.

The way Kelin Jiezi behaved at this moment was completely different from her usual behavior, which seemed only strange to those who knew her well.

In Yuuki Enishi's eyes, Lin Jiezi seemed to overlap with those non-human creatures that inexplicably kept seeking her out.