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

"My relationship with Xiaoyuan is much better than yours with her!"

Helica was speechless, and could only return to the topic they had started discussing.

"Alright! You want to tell me that many things in this dream are unreliable, and that Kuroba Reincarnation can still appear even if she is defeated, because Kuroba Reincarnation might be an important part of this dream, and she can't be defeated by us, right?"

Baqi put the flowers back in the flower box and arranged them in a nice way: "Yes, that's it."

"Why don't you just say so directly? Why go through all this trouble?" Helica gave her a disdainful look.

"I was just worried you wouldn't understand."

"What's so hard to understand?"

"Can't you think about it more? You yourself said that Kuroba's reincarnation is a very important part of this dream, so in your opinion, in front of whom should her rampage or exit take place? Or to put it another way, in your opinion, who is watching this magic show?"

“Who else? Nishio Reki!” Helica answered immediately.

Helica spoke the answer first, then met Baki's approving and gratified gaze.

"Wait, are you saying that Kuroba Reise can only be defeated in front of Nishio Reki?"

Once her mind was opened, more ideas flooded into Helica's head.

"That... Miyashita Mia, was defeated by us right before Nishio Reki's eyes. Your two juniors were also defeated before Nishio Reki's eyes. Seishine's whereabouts are unknown, but Yuuki Yukina rescued Nishio Reki. Kuroba Reincarnation can only be defeated in front of Nishio Reki?"

Herika frowned: "Even if she is the master of the dream, if I kill Kuroba Reincarnation in front of her, will Kuroba Reincarnation really be killed?"

"Can you do it?" Baki shook her head, denying Helica's claim.

"Why can't I do it? Even you can defeat her; she's just a copy of someone in a dream." Helica curled her lip.

"Then why didn't you do it at the shrine?" Baqi shook her head even more, but her tone was persuasive.

“It’s all thanks to my strength…” Helica remained as outspoken as ever, but this time she didn’t finish her sentence.

"You mean, in front of this dreaming guy, Nishio Reki... everything will unfold according to Nishio Reki's wishes? Doesn't that mean we're bound to reach the most tragic end, that Nishio Reki's dream is truly unsolvable?"

“Yes, but not entirely.” This time, Baqi shook her fingers instead of her head: “We’ve been in this dream for so long and tried so many methods, but we’ve both overlooked something very important.”

Herlica's brows furrowed tightly, her face filled with a bewildered expression.

"Ugh! You're so stupid!" Baqi clenched her fist, veins bulging. "Can't you think about this properly? Nishio Reki can't use the magical girl's power in his dream, and Yui can't use the Goddess of Union in her dream either, which means these things don't actually exist!"

“Well, and then?” Helica asked.

"I forget when Nishio Reki said that, but Nishio Reki did say: 'Nishio Reki will never fall into darkness,' and she said it to Yui. She said it so confidently, which is to convey a message! She is not a magical girl at all!"

“Well, I can guess that to some extent, and then what?” Helica asked.

"Before attacking us magical girls, Sumireko Yumehara also targets ordinary people. In the past, we judged that the more magic power we consumed, the more likely we were to be attacked by Sumireko Yumehara. I think that was correct, but not entirely."

"If it's just based on magic power, why were the first few cases all ordinary people? Do ordinary people consume magic power?"

"So I think that Sumireko Yumehara was learning, learning how to distinguish between ordinary people and magical girls, learning how to force people into dreams... In the end, she could only let ordinary people into dreams, and could not directly affect us who could manipulate magic, so she was able to throw us directly into Nishio Reki's dream, because that was the only thing she could do."

"And in this dream, there are a few things we haven't been able to answer, right?" Baki counted them off on her fingers, one by one, for Helica:

"Why do I sometimes do things that even I can't understand? Why can't you unleash your full power in front of Nishio Reki? And why has Kuroba Reisen never been completely defeated?"

"Also, why can Xiaoyuan use the power of the God of Fate even though she doesn't have that ring?!"

Helica stammered, "This, this—why did I die?"

"This is just my intuition, and I can't guarantee it's correct, but when I asked myself these questions, when you just said why Kuroba Reincarnation is like a respawning monster, I thought of this possibility."

“In the past, we were able to change our nightmares because we entered the dream together with Yumehara, but this time we were forcibly dragged in by Yumehara Sumireko, so we may have more restrictions imposed on us by Yumehara Sumireko.”

"If Sumireko Yumehara were here, she would definitely accelerate the process of this nightmare in various ways instead of dragging it out. Besides, Sumireko Yumehara would never attack ordinary people, or put them into a complete slumber, which is the very dangerous place I saw."

"I'm more inclined to believe that Sumireko Yumehara just wants us to be temporarily trapped in this dream so that we don't get in her way."

"So I guess Sumireko Yumehara isn't here right now."

"No, that's not really important. What's important is that Sumireko Yumehara, who appears in every dream, isn't here."

"Is the Kaname who can use the power of the Goddess of Marriage really the Kaname we know? The Kaname who has already fallen into darkness, even if she is influenced by dreams again, shouldn't be able to use different powers?"

This time, Inuyama Tomoe paused for a long time.

"If Sumireko Yumehara and Yuri aren't here, then where could they be?"

……

"I hate you! I hate you! I hate you! You're such an annoying person! I don't want to be your friend!"

Dressed like a giant teddy bear, Sumireko Yumehara stomped her feet in a cute but fierce manner, pointing at Enishi Yuuki with her chubby, padded paws in her pajamas.

"Well, well, well, I never intended to be friends with you anyway." Yuuki Yui turned her head, and the tentacles surrounding her hissed warningly like giant pythons.

This wasn't a dream; not only my consciousness, but my entire body was sucked into the crack that Sumireko Yumehara had torn open.

It's somewhat similar to, yet different from, the ability that Mashiro Urobuchi had when she imprisoned Reki Nishio in a strange space.

So where did I end up? Is this still Moonsea City?

Yuuki Yukino looked around and thought that the surrounding buildings were questionable, let alone whether they belonged to Tsukimi City or even the rest of the country.

Yuuki Yukino turned back to Yumehara Sumireko, her expression growing increasingly serious: "So, where are my friends?"

“Your friends! I'll still be friends with them! But not you! Only you! And that guy! And that guy! You guys are no good!”

Surprisingly, Yuuki Yukino gave a very serious answer.

"I can feel it! That awful magic emanating from you!" Sumireko Yumehara waved her arms even harder. "Dreamscape! We absolutely cannot let a dangerous creature like you leave!"

Chapter 169 Bad Guys!

It's unclear exactly how long ago this happened, but it was a little earlier than now.

On the Moon Sea Tower.

Sumireko Yumehara's voice abruptly interrupted the group of girls who were discussing their next steps.

"Since you're so curious, why don't you come in and take a look?"

Hearing this voice, which she absolutely did not want to hear, in real life, Yuuki Yukino suddenly tensed up.

In the past few dreams, Sumireko Yumehara only opposed herself in the dream, and never openly allowed her true self to appear in front of Enishi Yuuki.

If it were just Sumireko Yumehara who was getting impatient because she couldn't put Helica into a deep sleep, that would be the best possible outcome for Yuuki Yuki and her group. Impatience often leads to mistakes in haste and creates opportunities for the opponent.

If... Sumireko Yumehara is absolutely certain that she can end this protracted battle that has lasted for weeks, that would be the worst news.

However, Sumireko Yumehara is as naive as a child, yet sometimes she is also quite cunning, making it impossible for Yuuki Yui to judge her true nature.

"Where!"

Upon hearing Yumehara Sumireko's voice, Inuyama Tomoe, who had actually fought Yumehara Sumireko before, immediately jumped up from the ground and looked around warily.

Yuki En also wants to ask this question: Where exactly did Yumehara Sumireko say those words?

Yuki looked around, but apart from the neon lights of the city below and the car headlights that appeared as tiny dots in her eyes, she did not see Sumireko Yumehara.

And what about the top of the head?

Yuuki Yukina raised her head as she pondered this.

However, it was pitch black overhead. At the highest point in Moonsea City, all she could see was that crescent moon, which was still incredibly distant.

"We must not have misheard, right?" Helica, with her feet more than half a step apart, gradually lowered her center of gravity, fully prepared to charge out as soon as she found the enemy.

“It’s unlikely that all four of them misheard.” Nishio Reki answered Helica’s question with a statement, but her expression was not as calm as her tone. A trace of anxiety was hanging on Nishio Reki’s face and did not leave for a long time.

The other girls were also searching for Sumireko Yumehara with Yuuki Yuki, but Yuuki Yuki could tell from their expressions that she wasn't the only one who had found nothing.

Actually, there's no need to keep searching.

The moment Nishio Reki finished speaking, a crisp cracking sound, impossible for anyone to ignore, emanated from beneath the girls' feet, which spoke volumes.

Yuuki Yui watched helplessly as the solid ground beneath her feet cracked like ice that had been struck, with countless cracks spreading outwards like a spider web.

The vibrations transmitted from the soles of her shoes made Yuuki Enishi clearly feel the earth trembling.

Yuuki En feels like she's walking on a glass walkway in some tourist attraction, except she's certain this "glass walkway" will shatter.

Is it a glass walkway?

It looks more like a huge slab of ice about to crack on a glacier, which will soon fall apart.

Yuuki Yukino's brows furrowed more and more, and the fragments beneath her feet now seemed more like a kaleidoscope to her.

The cracked fragments shifted slightly, reflecting the top of the tower and the magical girl standing on it, and they also reflected each other.

Just stepping on it made Yuuki Yuki feel dizzy and disoriented, as if the world was spinning around her.

We can't stay here any longer; we have to leave before it completely collapses.

"Take off."

Yuuki Yui immediately issued orders to the other magical girls, and the grimoire, which had already been summoned by Yuuki Yui, came to her feet.

The pages of the grimoire rustled open in the wind, and the crystal-encrusted cover and back cover were raised to the same level. Yuuki Yuuki stepped out and landed steadily on the grimoire.

Several tentacles wrapped around the waists of the other girls, pulling them upwards with a powerful boost, allowing them to fly up more quickly and avoid the shattering space.

Not only Yuuki Yuuki, but every magical girl felt that her reaction was not slow, but compared to the shattered tower platform beneath their feet, they seemed to be a step slower.

The entire platform at the top of the tower seemed to be frozen in place, and then, like a stained-glass window in a church being shattered, it completely crumbled into small, colorful fragments.

Yumehara Sumireko's magic, which was initially completely undetectable to Yuuki Enishi, is now erupting around them like a swamp.

It wasn't the top of the Moonsea Tower that was shattered, but the space depicting the entire top of the tower—a huge void appeared out of thin air.

The shattered space was not merely a crack; from the edge of the void, the fragments of space, like toppled dominoes, triggered a chain reaction, making the void grow larger and larger.

The shattering of space was not horizontal, but rather like a hunting dog that had its eyes on its prey, spreading outwards and chasing after the magical girls who had taken to the air.

The traces of spatial shattering followed the rising magical girls, leaving a series of unique marks in the air above Moonsea City, resembling hot iron balls rolling across ice.

"Speed ​​up! Don't let it pull you in!" Helica shouted, glancing back at the darkness spreading like ink spots beneath her feet.

After her true name was released, golden lightning coursed across her body, causing Helica's speed to increase dramatically, and in the blink of an eye, she had pulled far ahead of the others.

The spatial rift continued to widen, and even at the fastest speed a magical girl could achieve, it was still slightly inferior to the space that was constantly being weathered and turned into powder.

At this moment, Yuuki Yuki felt that she was already very fast, but it was still not enough.

She felt like a butterfly caught in a child's carelessly swung insect net, falling into boundless darkness.