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

Even if he can't defeat her right now, he's already at this point, so turning around and running away shouldn't be too difficult.

But Nishio Reki will certainly not run away.

More importantly, Xiaoyuan's safety is paramount.

Let's retreat with Xiaoyuan first, then tell the others about the situation here, and we can discuss it further.

Nishio Reki already knew what was going on, and he used his armored arms to protect himself.

Even if there were a few more sudden tentacle attacks like the one just now, Nishio Reki was confident he could withstand them all.

But what if these so-called several times grow exponentially?

In the hollows, on the ruins, on the playground, between the buildings, on the entire ground, everywhere that could be seen was submerged in darkness deeper than the night.

Everything within sight is a tentacle.

Everything in sight was a nun.

They were born from tentacles, born from darkness, embracing each other, rubbing against each other, overlapping each other.

It looks like a dense swarm of insects.

Although this metaphor usually appears in various chuunibyou (adolescent delusions of grandeur) works, it only comes up when the villain is being arrogant towards ordinary people.

But Nishio Reki truly believes this—in a different sense.

Before he could even react, Nishio Reki was completely engulfed by the waves born of darkness, interspersed with yellow, white, and black.

The wand swept out again, and nuns and tentacles fell like wheat being harvested.

But after a few times, Nishio Reki could no longer cut.

Tentacles and nuns' hands covered his arms, ankles, and joints, making it extremely difficult to even bend over, as if he had truly sunk into a lump of mud.

Many tentacles squeezed into the gaps in the armor, prying at Nishio Reki's last protection like prying open a seashell.

The nuns scratched at the metal braces, and a series of sharp, piercing sounds echoed in Nishio Reki's ears.

There was still no trace of the enemy, nor of Xiaoyuan.

I have already used two large-scale attacks in a row, and I have also consumed a lot of magic power in the conflict with Yuuki Enishi. Now the magic power in my body is like a stream that is about to dry up, and it is really difficult to support another extravagance.

With such a huge commotion already caused, why is there still no support?

……

Saint Eternal Academy, outside.

The pitch-black tentacles had enveloped the entire academy, resembling a seedbed that was producing something unknown. Even from a distance, one could hear sounds that were instinctively unsettling, like the churning of intestines.

In the pitch black, the occasional flashes of lightning and moonlight were the only unusual colors.

But those unusual colors left very little trace on the entire stage, only occasionally flashing by like a fleeting moment before being swallowed up by more darkness.

"No! I can't get in!"

Herica's warhammer thundered, constantly sweeping away all obstacles in sight, but her speed was slightly slower than the tentacles' recovery speed. After a series of actions, she not only failed to penetrate the heart of the territory, but was also forced back quite a bit.

"What... what kind of power is this? Why is there such a powerful corrupted magical girl, yet we know nothing about her? Moonsea City... Moonsea City has never had such a terrifying enemy before, has it?"

Sakura Hanako no longer cared about her image, her mouth agape in astonishment as she thrust the long needle-like spear in her arms forward, forcing back the tentacles that approached her.

“As far as I know, there haven’t been any in recent years.” Mizuno Yuya said solemnly, advancing while dodging the tentacles’ attacks on his Moon Bow, continuously firing pale moonlight arrows at the swarm of tentacles to help Helica clear the threats ahead.

But the void left by her moonlight after it entered the dark jungle is being repaired at a visible speed.

"If you're scared, you can go back! Even I can't guarantee we'll be alright today." Helica pouted and turned to look at Sakura Hanako.

Sakura Hanako shook her head violently, as if she wanted to fling it off.

"But, but Yuuki-senpai must be inside! We're already under so much pressure just being on the outer circle, what must Yuuki-senpai be like inside?! No! We can't give up!"

As Sakura Hanako spoke, various colored liquids sprayed from the tip of the syringe, transforming into streams of magic that merged into Mizuno Yu and Tenrai Herika, who were constantly reducing the tentacles.

With Sakura Hanako's enhancement, the girls immediately felt less pressure and were able to clear the tentacles faster.

However, it was only a little faster; compared to the massive, constantly self-repairing tentacles, what they could actually do was still negligible.

“It’s still not working. These tentacles are too ferocious.” Mizuno Yu said in a deep voice, holding a thin sword made of ice crystals in her hand, cutting the threats that her shots had failed to reach.

The fact that Mizuno Yu was forced to resort to close-quarters combat shows just how critical the situation is.

"Stop talking nonsense! Where's that thing of yours? Hurry up and use it! Forget it! I'm not counting on you anymore!"

Helica snarled fiercely, and the golden lightning gradually faded, turning into a silvery-white light similar to moonlight, its imposing aura diminishing considerably.

But the power contained within the silvery-white lightning is even more ferocious.

The gods are liberated.

As Helica activated her divine liberation, she shot out like a lightning serpent, heading straight into the dense forest of tentacles.

Helica was now like an eraser moving across a piece of paper covered in doodles; as she moved forward, everything around her seemed to melt away like snow.

A huge opening was suddenly torn open in front of the barrier formed by the tentacles, and the huge circular hole that suddenly appeared in the dark barrier looked spectacular.

But on the sticky cut surface of the tentacles, something tiny seemed to be wriggling. Black matter, like the numerous bubbles that appear on the surface of boiling water, surged up, and several even thinner tentacles emerged from it, lunging towards Herika.

When the tentacles come into contact with the lightning around Helica, they are instantly swallowed up by the lightning, leaving not even a trace of ash.

But as one tentacle was born and another was shattered by lightning, countless tentacles repeatedly emerged from the broken ends and were then severed by lightning, forming a massive, web-like structure around Helica's body, much like the ever-split branches of a tree.

Herlica's momentum was weakening, and her speed was gradually decreasing. She was already unable to sustain this for long because she was using magic in a wasteful manner. In addition, these cumbersome tentacles were constantly reducing her magic power, and Herlica was becoming more and more exhausted.

The electric light around her is now dim and cold. (The fact that the light has faded considerably is the best example.)

A beam of light, as thick as a stone pillar in front of a school gate, brushed past Helica. As it moved forward, the beam split and split again, turning into a white barrage of bullets, like stars scattered by moonlight, severing the tendrils of the beam once more.

Herlica suddenly turned around and saw Mizuno Yu behind her, who was holding a thick, light arrow in her hands, looking at her from the Moon Bow.

"Go!"

Even Mizuno Yu, who was usually devoid of emotion, roared as she fired that arrow that swept everything away.

With Mizuno Yu's cover fire, Helica's pressure immediately eased considerably. She then channeled her magic to increase her speed, clearing away the obstacles in her path one by one.

Surrounded by the silvery stars, Helica felt as if she could already see the scenery at the end of the road.

Wait for me!

Helica screamed in her heart and tore open the last barrier.

Finally, after passing through the block that seemed to cover the entire entrance of the Holy Eternal Academy, Helica felt a sudden sense of openness before her.

A joyful expression slowly rose on her face; she could already see the dawn of victory.

Behind the bright and open school gate, she was greeted by hands.

It was a human wall, a literal human wall made up of nuns.

Before the happy expression on Helica's face had faded, she was pulled into the wall of nuns.

"What...what's going on?" Baqi looked at Helica beside her, then at Helica in the distance who had been swallowed up by the wall of people, her brows furrowing more and more.

"I...how should I know? Watching myself being swallowed by those disgusting things made me feel disgusted too! It's disgusting just to look at!"

Herlica screamed as if she were about to collapse, her glasses bulging as if they were about to fall out of their sockets.

“No, you’re right here, but what is that…?” Baqi took a deep breath and pointed to the wall of nuns huddled together. From there, one could hear the nuns’ noisy whispers, interspersed with a few familiar wails.

“Don’t ask me! I don’t know!” Helica’s teeth clenched tighter and tighter: “It feels like… I was kicked out of a game halfway through, and now I can only watch from here.”

"And it's something I absolutely don't want to see."

"So, you still can't transform?" Baqi asked again.

“No, I don’t know if it’s because that guy is over there, but I haven’t been able to sense any magic since just now.” Helica shook her head.

“I don’t think it has anything to do with that kind of thing, because… I’m the same way. I can’t feel the magic, I can’t transform, it’s like I’ve lost contact with this world.”

As she spoke, Baqi moved closer and waved her hand several times in front of the writhing black tentacles.

"You see, even if I do this, they won't attack me, or even..."

Baqi poked it again, but her hand passed right through the tentacle, as if she had touched a dark shadow.

"I can't even touch them."

"Tsk..." Hearing this, Helica also descended from the sky and tried to touch some of the tentacles with her hands, but the result was no different from that of Baki: "So, what exactly happened?"

"I don't know either. But we may have already reached that end."

Today, let's continue organizing the new storyline and outlining the chapters.

Chapter 210 Despair Itself

Helica Tenrai reached out her hand, just as Inuyama Tomoe had done, suppressing the discomfort churning within her, and slowly tried to touch the writhing, dark tentacles with her palm.

Just as Inuyama Tomoe had demonstrated to her, the hand didn't actually touch the tentacles; instead, it passed right through them, as if it had encountered a phantom.

Perhaps quite the opposite, Herika pondered, perhaps it wasn't these tentacles that truly became phantoms, but rather the two people who sensed an inexplicable repulsive force.

“I can’t touch it either.” Helica withdrew her hand and turned to look at Inuyama Tomoe, who was standing beside her with a solemn expression.

She noticed that Baki wasn't looking at her, but rather looking up at the two magical girls above them who were resisting the attacks of the tentacles.

These tentacles weren't particularly strong, as Helica could clearly see. The real problem wasn't their fighting strength, but rather their relentless, surging presence, like a never-ending tide. A slight misstep could result in being completely overwhelmed and unable to escape.

The chill released by Mizuno Yu had frozen the approaching tentacles solid, but the tentacles that surged up smashed the frozen parts into a shower of ice powder, and new black buds sprouted from the pale blue cross-section covered with a thin layer of ice.

The situation for Sakura Hanako is probably even worse. Although she can build thick wooden walls with the proliferating trees, the tentacles are like damp mud, always managing to squeeze into the seemingly impenetrable defense through unexpected gaps.

The situation is bad; anyone could see that.

Herlica's brows furrowed more and more, almost as if she were twisting the muscles in her face into a knot, and after a long while she asked Baqi for confirmation of her opinion: "Could this be Yuuki Yukina's doing? Has Yuuki Yukina gone berserk again?"

“Impossible,” Baqi said firmly.

“Why are you so sure?” Helica asked in return.

“First of all, these tentacles. Although they are somewhat similar to Xiaoyuan’s fighting style, their fighting styles are completely different.” Baqi poked at the tentacles again, but naturally, she couldn’t touch anything.

"Besides, Xiaoyuan's tentacles shouldn't look like this. Xiaoyuan's tentacles should be made of lines, purple, semi-transparent and fluorescent, and they shouldn't feel sticky. They're completely different from what we see now."

Baqi looked at Helika again, her eyes filled with disbelief: "You've spent so much time with Xiaoyuan and witnessed her rampage, yet you don't even know if Xiaoyuan is like this?"

"Uh!" Helica seemed to have been hit where it hurt, taking a half step back, covering her chest with both hands, and loudly protesting, "Isn't this in Nishio Reki's memories? Who knows if Yuuki Yukino will become... a little... different."