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

Before Helica could finish speaking, she suddenly felt as if a huge boulder was pressing down on her, and she stumbled, almost falling to the ground.

What happened? I wasn't injured except for taking a bullet with my fist.

Could the bullet be poisoned? That's completely unrealistic!

Or... have I been attacked again?

That's impossible. Helica knows her physical condition very well. Right now, her physical strength is enough to go head-to-head with a wand, and ordinary attacks can't hurt her.

Thump, thump.

Two thuds sounded behind Helica.

"Sakura! Mizuno!"

Herika turned around with difficulty, only to see her two companions lying on the ground behind her.

"It's so heavy...it's so uncomfortable! I feel like I can't breathe!" Sakura Hanako gritted her teeth and tried to get up from the ground using all four limbs, but an invisible force pressed her back down.

Mizuno Yu's situation is much better than Sakura Hanako's, but her fighting style is mainly ranged, so the degree to which magic enhances her body is not very high.

"Ugh..." Mizuno Yu struggled to sit up from the ground and called out the true name of the wand: "Art...Themis!"

However, what Mizuno Yu is activating this time is not the release of her true name, but the final form of a magical girl.

This is a smart choice, Helica thought. Divine liberation is the complete liberation of a magical girl. Although it consumes more magic power, it also strengthens the body to a greater extent.

Under such intense pressure, they couldn't move freely, let alone fight, so the liberation of the gods was indeed the right thing to do.

"Ok?"

With a surprised exclamation, Mizuno Yui, having activated her divine liberation, collapsed to the ground, as if the pressure she was under had become even greater.

This is impossible!

Unless an enemy is secretly observing, they will increase their efforts against Mizuno Yu when they notice that Mizuno Yu has activated her divine release.

Helica crouched down, supporting herself on her knees, and looked around, but found no trace of the enemy.

Most of the reporters who rushed into the school out of curiosity have now realized the danger and retreated. Students and teachers have also chosen to take refuge among the departing crowd. No one would be foolish enough to approach the magical girls' battlefield.

Where did this attack come from? Why was it so powerful that even the gods themselves, who had been freed from their constraints, could hardly withstand it?

As if she could see right through what Tenrai Herika was thinking, Mizuno Yu gritted her teeth and spoke with difficulty.

"Hurry... release the gods, release them! Hurry! Trust me!"

"What are you saying?" Helica gritted her teeth, trying hard to straighten her body, but she was still unable to straighten her back.

"This attack... doesn't cause us any real harm, it just makes it difficult for our bodies to move, and that's it. So, listen to me, first release the divine liberation!"

As Mizuno Yu spoke, she first released her divine liberation. Then, her body swayed a few times and fell directly to the ground. Immediately, she spread out her arms and legs and lay on the ground in a starfish position, panting heavily.

It seems that she is under less pressure than before after being released from divine liberation; otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to stretch her arms and legs so easily and smoothly.

Helica thought this to herself, and she felt that it couldn't be her imagination.

Mizuno Yu wouldn't harm herself.

As Helica thought this, she clenched her fists, and her magical armor faded back to its previous golden color.

A miraculous thing happened: the pressure on me suddenly lessened considerably. Although it was still very difficult to move around, it wasn't as unbearable as before.

"Mizuno-senpai, what's going on?" Sakura Hanako couldn't help but ask.

"That pressure doesn't come from outside, but from within ourselves. I can feel the difference by constantly training my body in various ways."

Mizuno Yu raised her head slightly and answered.

"This strange attack is specifically targeting magical girls, and the stronger the magical girl is... let me correct that, the stronger the magical power emanating from the magical girl, the stronger the effect. If I'm not mistaken, as long as we deactivate our transformation, we will be almost unaffected."

As Mizuno Yu spoke, she glanced at the students who were quickly crossing the playground nearby, her relaxed pace seemingly unaffected by anything.

However, now is not the time for the three of them to undo their transformations; they do not want to reveal their true identities so soon.

“Even if what you said is correct, what’s the use of this thing?” Helica asked, adjusting her breathing.

“Of course there is,” Mizuno Yu replied. “Of all of us, whose magic is the strongest?”

Chapter Ninety-Seven: Xi, Can We Reconcile?

Holy Eternal College, Great Cathedral.

Saint Shion's expression was somewhat unfriendly. She had originally thought that the power she had gained should be enough to scare away these arrogant magical girls who dared to stand in her way and try to stop her.

However, Yuuki Yuki showed no fear and instead launched a direct attack on herself, forcing Seishine to use a portion of her power to counterattack Yuuki Yuki and the others.

Yuuki Yui held her neck with her hand, moving her stiff joints. She brushed the dust off her body with her wide sleeves and stood up again behind Seishin. Although she was still not in good condition, she was not completely suppressed as Seishin had thought.

Before Saint Shion, Nishio Reki, holding a halberd in one hand, stood in the middle of the wide walkway between two rows of benches—the only way Saint Shion could leave this great cathedral.

Why is this happening?

Koumari, Hyakki Senyu, and Inuyama Tomoe were mostly unable to move under that pressure, so why was this black-haired magical girl, whom they didn't know very well, able to stand in front of them as if nothing had happened?

Why is it that on my path to success, everyone seems to be getting in my way?

"I see. Once you understand the principle, it's not a big deal."

Yuuki Yukino wiggled her fingers a few times and immediately deactivated her transformation.

Saint Shiyin was startled.

This guy?!

Don't panic. Maybe Yuuki Yuki just got lucky. Yes, maybe Yuuki Yuki was in so much pain that she couldn't maintain the transformation. Although it doesn't seem like it, what if it is?

No one can immediately pinpoint the problem.

"It's easy to say. In my opinion, you're just about to give up, aren't you?" Sheng Shiyin was still bluffing.

"The magic of the original magical girl... that is, the essence of the cycle that constitutes the dream world, exists in every corner of Moonsea City. Everyone has been to Rainbow Leaf City, and everyone can feel the lack of magic in Rainbow Leaf City."

Yuuki Yukino stretched her body a few more times and began her narration on her own, which only made Seishin even more flustered.

Dreamland, what is that?

"I thought the location of the original magical girl was the only condition for maintaining this force field, but that's not the case. In fact, it's the opposite. The original magic that entered Lin Jiezi's body is only a small part. The real majority of the magic is always here."

As Yuuki Yukino spoke, she raised her finger, pointing her index finger to the ceiling, or perhaps to the more distant sky.

"Most of her power is in Moonsea City, at this Holy Ancient Academy. (Dad, Martial Spirit)"

"Xiaoyuan? What does this mean? Could it be that the guy we went to so much trouble to stop was just the tip of the iceberg of the power of the primordial magical girl?" Baqi asked in surprise.

"It might not be accurate to say it's just the tip of the iceberg, but it is indeed only a part of the power of the original magical girl... Ah, just a part of it has suppressed us like that. I really don't know how Urobuchi Mashiro wants to kill her. Ah, I'm getting off topic."

Yuuki Yukino shrugged and then got back to the main topic.

"The basis for the existence of magical girls is a force field centered on St. Yuu Academy, radiating to the entire Moonsea City. Just imagine it as a sphere with this place as the center. Within this range, magic is the most suitable for the survival of magical girls."

"And what if we molded this force field to the size of a football field?" Yuuki Yui tilted her head, looking mysteriously at Seishin's head, which was covered in cold sweat: "Although it sounds big, it's much smaller than the entire Moonsea City, right?"

Saint Shiyin remained silent, but the wavering in her eyes had reached its peak.

"The answer is simple, based on the simplest physical principle: when the total mass remains the same but the volume is greatly reduced, the density will increase greatly. But since magic has no physical form, it doesn't really matter if we talk about concentration."

"If the density of water increases significantly, aquatic life will be unable to survive; if the oxygen content in the air suddenly increases several times, it will be highly toxic to ordinary people; similarly, for us magical girls who are constantly interacting with our surroundings, if the concentration of magic is too high, our bodies will be overwhelmed."

"Actually, the principle is quite simple. Just like how people sweat when they're hot and shiver when they're cold, magical girls also have a mechanism to control their magical power balance after transforming. It's this mechanism that attacks us. The stronger the transformation, the more magical power is released, and the stronger the backlash will be. However, in most cases, it doesn't matter, but now it's a very rare case."

"The device that Xiao Li set up near her home to prevent other magical girls from detecting the magic power inside is basically the same thing, isn't it?"

Nishio Reki naturally picked up where Yuuki left off: "Ah, that's right, but that thing was actually created because of Yuuki's past discovery. It's very useful for evading the pursuit of magical girls like you and Koumori who are very sensitive to magic."

"Ah, as expected of me, a beautiful girl who combines intelligence and beauty." Yuuki Yui narcissistically fiddled with the ring on her hand a few times: "So, Miss Seishion, do you have any other tricks up your sleeve?"

"Even if you manage to break through my attack, so what! With just a few of you—a few magical girls who are either powerless to resist or forced to fight under the pressure of magic—what can you possibly do?"

Saint Shiyin's face darkened, and pale flames began to ignite from her feet, engulfing her entire body in an instant.

Transformation also means that the opponent is ready for battle.

Yuuki Yui launched a surprise attack on Seishin earlier in order to defeat her in one blow before she could transform. Even though she cracked the secret of Seishin's power, the failure of that attack was undeniable.

In the end, will we still have to go to war with Saint Siyin?

Yuuki Yukino's heart sank, and then she saw the signal that Koreshi had given her with his eyes.

That's right, we haven't reached that stage yet.

I still have some bargaining chips to use.

“You’ve got two things wrong.” Nishio Reki’s halberd flicked out a spear pattern as black as ink, its dark magic spreading across the empty air: “First, I have never lost the ability to resist.”

"Secondly," Nishio Reki said, his halberd landing steadily on the ground. "They didn't have it either."

The dark magic spread outwards in all directions along the cracked tip of the halberd, and the dark city wall formed a new arena within the entire inner wall of the Great Cathedral.

The pressure on the other three corrupted magical girls eased simultaneously, and they gripped their wands tighter, their eyes fixed on Saint Shion.

"This is impossible! She actually used her own power to neutralize such a powerful magic field?!" Saint Shion stared wide-eyed in astonishment, completely unable to believe that such a bizarre thing had actually happened before her eyes.

"There are many things you wouldn't expect!" Nishio Kore chuckled. "Just how much effort do you think Nishio Kore put in to achieve that perfect ending?"

"I still remember what you did to Mori, and I don't like you either, but thank you this time."

"I don't mind getting beaten up by you. I benefited a lot from that battle. But you were actually saving me from Sheng Shiyin, right? If that's the case, we should settle this score with Sheng Shiyin."

"Ah, that's right! Although I don't have much affection for you, I will still acknowledge your feelings for Xiaoyuan!" Inuyama Tomoe shouldered the gun blade, revealing her sharp little fangs.

"Well, that's how it is." Yuuki Yui tilted her head. "But actually, we don't intend to fight you at all. Fighting us now would only result in mutual destruction. Even if you went to face Utsugi Mashiro, you wouldn't be able to defeat her. Why don't we have a good chat and tell each other what exactly happened between you two?"

Saint Shion hesitated, and the hand holding the huge scythe trembled violently.

There is a play.

“There’s nothing that can’t be discussed openly. I’m also very curious about Mashiro’s true motives, and I don’t agree with her idea of ​​physically eliminating all magical girls. Maybe we can reach a consensus, and perhaps I can even lend you a hand?”

Yuuki Yukari continued speaking, still in her untransformed state. From the moment she saw Nishio Reki standing there unharmed, and from the moment she realized the truth behind this attack, she had already anticipated that such a scene might occur.

His untransformed self was an open gesture of goodwill towards Seishin, and also a reassurance to put Seishin at ease.

Even now, Yuuki Yuki doesn't want to start a war. Besides needing to save her magic to deal with Kuroba's reincarnation, she also can't let Koyomi hold out for too long on her own.

That's right, Nishio Reki is currently using her magic to forcefully create an unaffected area within the force field, but she can't hold on for long.

More importantly, Yuuki Eri did not want the aftermath of the battle to affect unrelated people in the vicinity. Although many people should have evacuated from St. Yuuki Academy by now, once the war started, the scope of the impact could very likely extend to those who did not have time to evacuate, and might even extend beyond the entire St. Yuuki Academy.