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

"Even though you can't remember, that's how you imprisoned those powers in Eden! How does it feel to be imprisoned yourself this time?"

The girl was still struggling, but Nishio Reki's body seemed to have a strange suction force, and no matter how hard she tried, she could not pull her hand away even a little.

"And here's some good news for you? Your target was wrong from the start! I only tainted myself with a tiny bit of her magic. The power you wanted to reclaim has already fallen into the hands of the one who should possess it!"

The girl's pupils widened, and for the first time, anger appeared on her normally expressionless face.

"Don't worry, you just went ahead of me. Just look forward to our reunion! You old, immortal monster!"

The battered and bruised Nishio Reki clenched his fists tightly, the veins on the back of his hands bulging, as if he wanted to tear the girl's body apart with his own physical strength.

This is impossible!

No one can tear a magical girl's body apart in this way; this is common knowledge, regardless of whether one understands magical girls or not.

But another version of myself did it.

The girl's arm, which was being held tightly by Nishio Reki, suddenly shattered, turning into scattered fragments like a porcelain doll that had been thrown to the ground.

The cracks started spreading from the girl's broken arm and then crawled all over her body, just like Rupert's Tear whose tail had been pinched. In an instant, the girl disappeared without a trace.

But what burst forth from the girl's body was not something as terrifying as flesh and bones, but countless points of magical light, like fireflies.

Even someone like Nishio Reki, who couldn't see magic, could clearly see the points of light flying out of the girl's body, scattering and fleeing like exploding fireworks.

But the fleeing specks of light seemed to be drawn by something, rushing toward Nishio Reki's body, which was protecting his bloodied wounds.

In the blink of an eye, those bizarre scenes completely disappeared, and the black-haired girl kneeling on the ground could no longer maintain her transformation, returning to her original form amidst the shattering light.

All was silent, except for the girl lying on the ground, clutching her wounded abdomen and breathing heavily, which proved that everything Nishio Reki had just seen was real.

Nishio Reki was stunned for a while before he came to his senses and ran straight to the other version of himself who was lying on the ground, and held her in his arms.

"Are you alright? I'll call a doctor right away. It's okay! It's alright! We can talk about it later."

"Cough... Pfft, cough cough... Don't worry, my other self, I'm fine. Just leave me alone." The girl who had collapsed managed a weak smile: "But, I'm sorry for causing you so much trouble."

"This is not the time to talk about this! What 'sorry'? Who apologizes to themselves?!" Nishio Reki took out his phone and began dialing a number with trembling hands.

"No, no need. It's not that I'm giving up on myself, but... I can't bring danger to any more places." The girl who had fallen to the ground covered the screen of Nishio Reki's phone with her blood-stained palm, interrupting him abruptly.

"Also, I'm not apologizing to you now, but to you in the future, and to Xiaoyuan who can no longer hear my voice. This time, there really is no other way."

"What? What are you saying? I don't understand a word of it."

"It's okay if you don't understand. Just forget what I said and forget what happened today."

Even if you say that, how could you possibly forget it so easily?

As he lay on the ground, Nishio Ryū gritted his teeth, squeezing out syllable after syllable from between his teeth.

"Cough, cough, well then... give this to Xiaoyuan... give it to her, let her know... let her know what she should do in the future, what she should be careful about in the future, the ending she may not be able to overcome, and... the fact that I failed to save her from this cycle of despair as promised."

As the battered and bruised Nishio Reki spoke, he painfully reached into his pocket and pulled out a small ring woven from red thread.

The ring dispersed amidst the faint black magic and slowly disappeared into Nishio Reki's body.

But with a violent cough from the girl, the red thread ring that had been undone returned to its original shape, causing her to collapse once again in Nishio Reki's arms.

"If you're going to do something like this, then do it yourself! If it's my responsibility, then I'll go see Xiaoyuan in person and tell her all this in person!"

The battered and bruised Nishio Reki sighed, "No, this is absolutely not enough. I came back from the future, and I have witnessed one desperate cycle after another, so I know that I must never let anything inside me get close to Yui again."

"Time has its own unique laws; it does not degenerate into absolute chaos and disorder. Instead, time is subject to a special constraint, which fixes the inevitable forward movement of time, causing all things within it to be reorganized from infinity to finite. However, the fixed forward movement of time is not an absolute fundamental law; it is actually a result of the existence of a certain 'being' in our world. Because time flows forward for this 'being,' time therefore flows forward."

"To give a simple example, suppose this world is just a game, and that 'existence' is the server of this world. Then this server can access a save file at any point in time, and use that save file to generate a new, parallel world."

"However, a game can only have one save file open at a time, and it's impossible for several save files to be progressing in parallel. Therefore, all timelines will converge at one point, which is the timeline in which this 'existence' is currently located. So parallel worlds actually exist, but they also don't exist. In other words, reality is unique."

"We, who are experiencing this unique reality, will have a future that depends on the future we choose. This may be happening all the time, bringing infinite possibilities to the future. However, we are all human beings living in the present. But this also proves the so-called corrective power of the world, the so-called inevitable fate. Dreams do not exist."

"From our subjective perspective, we can never realize that the different choices we make here have led to different changes compared to other timelines; we simply think of it as the inevitable daily experience we go through. However, this is wrong."

"Because we are not that 'existence,' none of us can interfere with the passage of time. From our personal perspective, there is no turning back in a person's life, and all choices can only be made once. Even if we know what the future will bring, we can only try our best to make that future development closer to what we already know, or make it more difficult to get closer."

"But if we grasp that 'existence,' then we can create entirely new futures and possibilities."

"Saying we have control is perhaps too arrogant. All we can do is put ourselves and that 'existence' at the same point in time, start running at the same time, and see who can reach the desired outcome first."

“I call that ‘existence’ the anchor of time. All time exists because of its existence. Now that ‘existence’, that anchor of time, is imprisoned within my body.”

"The purpose of this time anchor is to reclaim something from Xiaoyuan and make the broken laws whole again."

"Ah, never mind, it's always an anchor point. Calling it 'existence' sounds a bit too strange. It actually has some other names that will help you understand it faster."

"For example, she once existed as Rise Tsukimi."

"For example, she is the origin of magical girls, the original magical girl that almost no one knows about."

Chapter 76 Please, My Other Self

"That girl is the anchor point on the timeline. Anyone with the ability can pick her up and put her down. Only where she exists does that timeline exist or have meaning."

Nishio Reki, who claimed to have traveled from the future back to the present, spoke with difficulty, coughing violently from time to time because he choked on his breath.

She spoke for a long time, but Nishio Reki, who was holding her tightly, ultimately chose to listen quietly and accept it.

If it's something you want to say, then just say it; if it's something you absolutely have to tell yourself now, then no matter how bizarre it is, try to accept it.

“Right now, she’s right here, inside me.” Finally, the dying black-haired girl gently touched her chest: “And what she wants is with Xiaoyuan, so we absolutely cannot let her meet Xiaoyuan.”

"Next, I will give you all the relevant memories I have, and you will pass them on to Xiaoyuan. I will find a place far away from where no one can find me, and carry this burden until I can no longer bear it."

There's still too little that Nishio Reki can understand.

But she grasped a very important piece of information—her other self decided to leave alone, bearing everything on her own.

So, Nishio Reki couldn't help but ask a question.

"Then... what will happen if you can't hold on?"

“The original magical girl will return again and steal Yui’s future.” The bitterness on the other Nishio Reki’s lips intensified: “Even if she doesn’t return, Yui’s future is still hanging by a thread, and that’s why I’ve gone through countless cycles, just to find the perfect way to save Yui and Tsukimi City.”

"Xiaoyuan and Yuehai City... can I only choose one?" Nishio Reki suddenly understood the bitterness on the corner of his other self's mouth.

If she had to choose, she would lean towards Xiaoyuan's happiness.

But Xiao Yuan would definitely want to choose the entire Yuehai City; otherwise, even if Xiao Yuan stayed alone, she would never be happy.

From the very beginning, this was not a choice, because one had to achieve the best of both worlds.

To save one person, I would not hesitate to save an irredeemable city—I would definitely do that.

And the other person's answer proved that their guess was correct.

“That’s right. Based on past experience, we can only choose one.” Another Nishio Reki said, “But I firmly believe that this is not absolute. There must be a path that can save everyone and lead to another future.”

silence.

A long silence brewed among the girls.

Nishio Reki didn't know what his scarred self was going to do, while the other Nishio Reki remained completely still, his chest heaving more and more, as if he was still trying to hold on.

"Time is running out, I'll... give it to you now..."

Finally, the injured Nishio Reki struggled to sit up from her own embrace, and the red thread ring she held in her palm began to ring again.

The red thread flowed slowly down her abdomen, as if the blonde girl had just been searching inside her. The red thread also stirred slowly within Nishio Reki's body.

"What are you doing!" Just looking at this scene that defied common sense, Nishio Reki's brows furrowed uncontrollably. She couldn't empathize with her other self, but the cold sweat seeping from her other self's forehead was enough to show that this behavior made her feel extremely painful.

"It's nothing, it's nothing..." The other Nishio Reki curled up on the ground in pain, his moving lips uttering a reply that sounded more like he was talking to himself. If the two of them weren't so close, no one would have heard him.

"I can do it, I can do it. This kind of thing... this kind of painful thing... Xiaoyuan has done it before, I can do it, I definitely can do it."

The girl muttered to herself, the veins on the back of her hands bulging, making her fair palms look so shocking. Her clenched teeth made a grinding sound, and beads of sweat dripped onto the ground as if a bucket of water had been poured over her face.

All Nishio Reki could do was hug his other self, gently pat her back to comfort her, and feel the intense trembling of his other self.

“I can do it, I have to do it, I… I have to leave something for Xiaoyuan…”

Another Nishio Riku roared, pulling the red thread toward his body.

Even with her body curled up in a ball, Nishio Reki could see something shimmering being forcibly pulled out from the body of another version of herself.

Just like a piece taken out of a perfectly fitted three-dimensional block, whatever it is, it must be one of the parts that make up the girl.

The light gradually expanded, and the eyes of the other Nishio Reki became increasingly vacant. In Nishio Reki's view, the other self was only holding on by sheer willpower.

But there was nothing she could do, not for Xiaoyuan, not for the girl who was sealed inside another version of herself, and not for the other version of herself who was now in so much pain. Nishio Reki could do nothing.

This was the first time she had felt so powerless. Apart from holding that tormented version of herself and constantly comforting her, Nishio Reki couldn't imagine what use she could be.

The light intensified, becoming so powerful that Nishio Reki suspected that another version of himself had taken a sun from his body.

"Get out of the way!"

Nishio Reki, who was tightly embracing his other self, was suddenly pushed away with great force.

Knowing nothing about magical girls, the past, or what is happening now, Nishio Reki has no idea whether this is a normal situation.

But soon, after being pushed away and rolling several times on the ground, Nishio Reki knew that this development was definitely not normal.

The swaying red thread transformed back into its original ring shape, silently rolling to one side.

However, the thing that emerged from the other self was not restored as a result.

The dazzling light was not a single entity, but rather clusters of light points that flew out.

The points of light converged in front of another version of himself, forming an arm, a shoulder, and the upper body of a young girl.

"what……"

The girl, who had half-emerged from Nishio Reki's body, took a deep breath, her heavy breathing clearly audible even to Nishio Reki, who was several meters away.

Upon hearing this sound, Nishio Reki's hair stood on end, and his back was soaked with cold sweat.

On this summer night, she felt a chill.

That girl is!

She is the original magical girl who was just imprisoned in her body by another Nisio Reki, and whom she calls the Anchor Point!

I thought what followed would be a sad farewell, but is it really far from over?!

"To achieve the most perfect ending, you have to bear the corresponding price. You are not prepared to bear this price, but I am different. I have already proven once with my own life that I am willing to sacrifice myself for my perfection."

As the original magical girl spoke, her body slowly crawled out of Nishio Reki's "shell" like a hermit crab.