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

Who is Yuuki Yukino?

Helika immediately agreed.

Yuuki Yukino is the pink-haired girl in front of her, the culprit behind everything.

They are the ones she must defeat.

The third mark appeared on the girl's skin.

"Isn't it clear to me? My dear little golden hedgehog." Yuuki Yuuki clapped her hands lightly, showing no sincerity whatsoever, but rather as if she were teasing a pet.

Then, Yuuki Yukino beckoned with her finger.

"Continue?"

"Keep going!"

Helica charged forward.

Then, Helica found that the scenery around her had changed.

The moment she stepped onto solid ground, she was no longer surrounded by honesty beneath ruins, but by the dark purple seabed.

Tentacles tore through the solid ground beneath his feet, twisting and emerging from the ground to block his way.

Tentacles, intertwined like tree roots, clung to Yuuki Yuuki, gradually outlining something that Helica could immediately recognize as a shape.

Is it a chair?

It is the throne.

Yuuki Yuuki sat down lightly, supported by a throne made of tentacles, and surrounded by even more tentacles, slowly rising into the sky.

Yuki Yuki in mid-air served as a landmark, making it easy for Herika to discern her direction.

However, getting close to Yuuki Enishi is quite difficult.

There were just too many tentacles, so many that Helica had to distract herself every few steps and burn them to ashes with the electric arcs wrapped around her body.

The city was still the Moonsea City that Helica knew so well, only someone had changed it.

The culprit was undoubtedly the pink-haired girl in front of them, Yuuki Yukino, who sat upright on the tentacle throne in the center, with her legs crossed and chin propped up, controlling the tentacles to attack her with her waving fingers.

All Helica can do now is keep bombarding the area with the red lightning around her, getting closer and closer to the enormous throne.

Until she had arrived in front of Yuuki Yuki.

"Aaaah—" Herika roared, as if this would increase her power several times over.

Helica leaped up, clasped her hands together above her head, and slammed them down towards Yuuki Yuki.

The surging lightning swept over the throne beneath Yuuki Yukino, completely engulfing the enormous throne.

However, Yuuki Yuuki's figure could no longer be seen in the dissipating red lightning.

Where did you go?

Helica frowned and looked around at her surroundings.

"Ugh."

A sigh came from Helica's ear.

Just like when Yuuki Yuki appeared out of nowhere next to her before, Helica had no idea how the other party had done it.

She doesn't need to understand it to retaliate.

Helica whirled around and slammed her elbow, crackling with electricity, toward the direction of the sound.

But Yuuki Yuuki appearing behind Helica must have been prepared in advance.

boom.

The arm covered in purple patches precisely blocked Helica's attack path, intercepting it.

Her attack didn't falter after missing her first strike; she immediately bent her leg and kicked out at Yuuki Yuki's abdomen.

Another bang.

This time, what blocked Helica's kick was Yuuki Yukino's raised ankle, curled up in front of her.

Step back, throw a punch, step forward, lift your leg.

Despite being two magical girls, they are now engaged in a brutal, close-quarters combat session.

What surprised Herica, and what excited her, was that Yuuki Yuki, whom she had just been completely unable to resist, was now being fought to a standstill by Herica.

Even under her powerful offensive, Yuuki Yukino retreated at one point, trying to avoid her sharp edge.

It's possible, as long as I have the power I currently possess!

Finally, Yuuki Yuki, who had been repeatedly suppressed in close combat, stopped continuing this disadvantageous war.

Finding an opportunity, Yuuki used the force of Helica's powerful kick to send her flying backward.

Want to escape?

Having finally gained the power to fulfill her wishes, Helica absolutely could not give Yuuki Yuuki such an opportunity.

Without hesitation, Helica strode forward and chased after the rising Yuuki Eri.

When she looked up, she saw the starry sky.

Behind Yuuki Yuuki, specks of purple starlight filled the sky, shimmering amidst the pitch-black clouds.

Those weren't stars, but magic wands, like venomous snakes poised to strike, pointing directly at him.

They're just a bunch of wands; I can easily dispel them with my current power.

As Helica thought about it, her hands seemed to be holding a basketball in mid-air, constantly bringing them together.

Between her hands, a dark red ball of lightning was steadily solidifying.

The ball of lightning attracted the surrounding hot lightning, which raged across the entire land. The lightning, which should have been high above, began to emerge from the darkness and spread across the entire land beneath their feet.

Thunder rumbled and lightning flashed across the land. A dark red electric net spread out from the center of the lightning Helica, causing the earth and rocks on the ground to fly up.

The bright red ball of electricity gradually twisted and turned into an even stranger shape.

A brand new wand shape that should belong to her.

The final mark began to appear on the girl's hand.

With my current strength, I can definitely do it!

Helica looked up at the sky, squeezing her hands together to shape the wand in her hands.

Is that all?

A voice was asking Helica.

That was my own voice.

It was the voice that had asked itself before whether it wanted revenge.

"Ah! Of course!"

Helica answered.

"But……"

"No buts! With this power, I can avenge my senior! Then! I can! I can make her, that bastard, mine, mine forever..."

Herlica raised her head high, looking up at Yuuki Yuuki and the starry sky behind her filled with wands.

Both the starry sky and the girl beneath it will become his possessions.

Then, I will be able to be under that starry sky once again.

Then, I will be able to be under that starry sky once again...

Helica suddenly hesitated.

What was I trying to do under that starry sky?

Helica remembered someone saying something like this.

"What I truly cherish is not the starry sky itself, but the beautiful moments that happened under it, and the person who gazed at the stars with me under it."

Who said that?

Helica couldn't remember.

When was that said?

Helica couldn't remember either.

She only remembered that starry sky; it was her treasure.

She only remembers the thrill of sharing her treasures with someone precious, and the emotion of holding hands.

What she wants to remember is the beauty that happened under that starry sky, and the people who looked up at the stars with her.

Ah, yes, that's what I said myself.

It was something he said to Yuuki Yukino.

So, what am I doing?

Blinded by revenge and consumed by desire, they would rather plunge into darkness than not get everything they crave.

That can't be right! This absolutely can't be right!

She is a magical girl, and she must fulfill the duties that a magical girl should perform.

Magical girls are the greatest heroes—never despairing, never succumbing to darkness, and getting back up no matter how many times they're knocked down!

Even though she is a disqualified magical girl, even though she doesn't believe in anything about magical girls, even though she keeps messing things up.

Even someone like this...

Even someone like me! I still want to be that kind of hero!

"Ughhhhhh—"

Herlica suddenly opened her arms wide, and the dark red lightning ball, which had been squeezed to its limit and seemed ready to solidify into a brand new wand in the next second, shattered due to the imbalance of power.

The immense magical power contained within the lightning orb sent Helica flying. She rolled several times across the rubble-strewn ground.