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

The magical girl's calf muscles suddenly tensed, her toes digging deep into the snow, and the burst of power propelled her forward.

The girl swept past Yuuki Yuki at an incredible speed.

Thump.

Then, the girl's body flew back at an even faster speed.

A twisted hand made of tentacles, like a wing, was attached to Yuuki Yuuki's back. It was this hand that slapped the magical girl back like a volleyball.

The lance plunged deep into the ground, kicking up a cloud of snow and gravel. The kneeling girl gripped the lance handle tightly with both hands, using the recoil to steady herself.

The girl raised her head, her eyes, peeking out from beneath her disheveled long hair, filled with disbelief.

"you……!"

Yuuki Yukina raised her head slightly, and the giant hand made of tentacles behind her burst open out of thin air like a punctured balloon.

The magical girl understood; Yuuki Yuuki's meaning had been crystal clear from the very beginning.

Sorry, this road is closed.

Chapter Nineteen: The Fierce Pink Devil Girl Scares People Again

The galloping lance struck Yuuki Enishi's shoulder with perfect accuracy.

But Yuuki Eri remained rooted to the spot, not moving an inch.

The girl, gripping her lance and exerting force, roared as she stomped her feet against the ground, trying with all her might to drive the lance deeper.

But the harder she tried, the more she realized that everything she was doing was completely futile.

At the point where the spear tip met Yuuki Enishi's shoulder, several tentacles, as thin as hair, were clinging to it, wrestling with the lance.

Although the few tentacles seemed insignificant, the magic they contained was far beyond what the girl could imagine.

No matter how hard the girl tried, even if she used all her muscles and magic, she still couldn't budge Yuuki Yuki in the slightest.

"Is it necessary, sister?" Yuuki Yuen frowned and slowly raised her hand.

What seemed like a casual action by Yuuki Yuki appeared to the girl as a mountain moving. Even though Yuuki Yuki was shorter than the girl, she now saw him as an insurmountable cliff.

Yuki Yukino, of course, had no idea what the girl was thinking. Even if she did, she would only say, "I'm not absolutely certain, but I'm actually quite capable."

The girl's pupils, which had shrunk considerably, reflected the image of Yuuki Yukino placing her hand on her lance.

The instant Yuuki Yuuki's palm touched the wand, countless veins seemed to burst forth from the lance.

The owner of the lance knew better than anyone that those weren't blood vessels, but tendrils of magic that made his wand appear as if it had been infected with some kind of plague, instantly covered in purple lines.

The tentacles clinging to the lance swelled up and sank deep into it.

The girl stared wide-eyed in disbelief, unable to believe that what she was seeing was reality.

The lance, tightened by the tentacles, made a crisp cracking sound. The once indestructible weapon was now like a shattered ceramic bowl, covered with shocking cracks.

The tentacles tightened along with Yuuki Yuki's hand, crushing the girl's wand to pieces.

But all Yuuki Enishi did was crush the lance; she didn't do anything else.

It was just crushed?

It is rare for a wand to be shattered. Apart from Yuuki Yuuki's fictional wand, only Helica's warhammer was ever destroyed by unparalleled power.

The girl was completely taken aback by this, and her hand holding half of the lance trembled, forcing her to take several steps back.

She seemed to want to throw away her lance, but her unruly hand made her grip it even tighter, so much so that the girl tried to shake it off several times without success.

Yuuki Yukino, however, acted as if she had merely crushed a cookie, shaking off the crumbs from her hand and clenching her fist, which the girl stared intently at as she lowered it.

This unknown and weak magical girl is really strange.

He wanted to attack Minato Nana, but he didn't intend to attack her directly. He knew his own strength, yet he desperately wanted to surpass himself and catch up with Minato Nana and her group, who had already left some distance.

The other party wasn't a corrupted magical girl, so they probably wouldn't launch an indiscriminate attack. Otherwise, they would have already changed direction instead of staring intently behind them.

The people weren't standing very close together. Besides Minato Nana, it's possible that Nishio Reki, who was standing next to Minato Nana, was her target.

However, Yuuki Yuki didn't think that such a weak magical girl would target Nishio Reki, who had once single-handedly defended against Utsuki Mashiro, and she didn't think that she was qualified to target Nishio Reki.

So why is it Minato Nana?

Even if she has a grudge against Minato Nana, she has plenty of opportunities to deal with her.

So why come at this particular time of year instead of earlier or later?

When Yuuki Yuki tried to think about something, she found her mind completely blank.

It was as if something was obscuring my thoughts, making it impossible for me to continue thinking.

I was attacked?

Yuuki Yukino's eyes suddenly sharpened, causing the girl over there to tremble violently.

No, the other party can't do that.

Neither my strength nor my courage should allow the other party to launch an attack of this magnitude.

So, where does this strange feeling come from?

In just a few seconds, Yuuki Yuki got the only answer.

This is an attack from the original magical girl.

Calling it an attack is not quite accurate; a more precise description is that it is a self-defense measure, and every magical girl has it.

Cognitive masking is a passive ability used to protect a magical girl's identity from being directly discovered.

This is exactly what's working for me right now.

Is it because he possesses Nyarlathotep's abilities that he is able to realize that cognitive masking is in effect?

Forget about it, cognitive masking suddenly took effect, proving that my thinking was correct.

Although Yuuki Yukino's mind is currently blank and she is completely unable to think about any more information related to the other party, this is not a problem for her at all.

"Nyarlathotep".

Real name: Liberation.

However, Yuuki Yuuki's true name release was not used on that magical girl, but on herself.

The floating grimoire was snapped shut by Yuuki Yuki, and the book was placed against the brow of Yuuki Yuki as she slowly closed her eyes.

A deep purple magical power flowed into Yuuki Yukino's body, and her mind immediately became clear.

Cognitive barriers are also part of the rules of the original magical girls.

But rules can't bind Nyarlathotep, nor can they bind Yuuki Yuuki.

"Oh—" Yuuki Yui's eyes narrowed, and when she looked at the other person again, her eyes had changed: "I see."

The girl trembled even more violently and almost instinctively took two steps back.

The infamous pink demon unleashed its true name right before its eyes, a power it couldn't control. Then, after doing something unknown, it revealed an evil gaze and uttered these simple yet obscure and profound words.

The fact that the girl didn't collapse to the ground is already a testament to her perseverance.

We're doomed! We're doomed!

All I wanted to do was run out and vent my anger, to scare that awful guy a little, but how did this happen?!

We're doomed! We're doomed!

I'm going to end up here!

The pink demon will use its tentacles to do this and that, and then make a mess of things, turning it into a chaotic mess.

But, but I've never even kissed him on the lips!

We're doomed! We're totally doomed!

Yuuki Yui slowly put down the grimoire, then released her grip on it. The grimoire, like a little bird that had come to life, fluttered its pages and floated beside Yuuki Yui's hand.

Yuuki Yui knew nothing about the girl, but that didn't stop the two of them from having just met.

Before the show started, Minato Nana took the group to the first live house and even had a fight with Shirogane Rei.

At the time, most people's attention was on Minato Nana and Shirogane Rei, but almost no one noticed the shop assistant who had talked to Minato Nana at length before seeing Shirogane Rei and wouldn't let her in.

Not paying much attention doesn't mean having no impression at all. After the cognitive cloud was dispelled, Yuuki Yuuki immediately recognized that the magical girl in front of her and the shop assistant were the same person.

Doesn't that make it even more intriguing?

Yuuki Yui has never liked to think of others in the worst possible light, unless the other person is a corrupted magical girl whose original thoughts have been interfered with by the Black Magic Mark.

The magical girl staring at him in terror, her legs trembling uncontrollably, was not the corrupted magical girl.

Moreover, neither her appearance nor her holding back against Minato Nana seemed like someone like Kuroba Kisei.

Just because Minato Nana and Shirogane Rei had a fight in the store, this employee ran out to stand up for the boss.

Perhaps things aren't that simple?

Regardless of whether any other magical girl besides Helica could do something as childish as seeking revenge, even if the other party did do it, their insistence on pushing their limits when facing me goes beyond mere immaturity and impulsiveness.

Yuuki Yui was still thinking about whether she should say something like "I want to talk to you" to try and get more information out of the other person.

But who am I? A pink demon, an S-rank notorious elite randomly generated in Moonsea City. It would be strange to talk to him, right?

Therefore, those previous speculations were only Yuuki Yukino's own conjecture.

Since there was no way to verify it, and it was not good to reveal his true identity, he could only keep his thoughts to himself for the time being.

Or should we just let her go?

Although it's a bit of a lapse in commitment, let's just do it this way.

"Tsk."

The magical girl, trembling and struggling to stand upright, heard the pink demon click its tongue and then walk towards her.

The pink demon walked slowly, but each step felt like it was stepping on the girl's heart, making her heart beat faster and faster, and the sound of her heartbeat grew louder and louder.

I can't breathe.

How could it possess such terrifying magic, as if it were about to crush me?

Although there was no pain, the pressure alone made the girl feel dizzy.