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

“No, I don’t want to,” the girl replied.

"If I gave you unparalleled power, your fists could defeat ten hungry wolves, your arms could lift ten elephants, and your weapons could sweep away ten nations, would you need it?" the light asked.

“No, I don’t want to,” the girl replied.

"I will grant you omniscience and omnipotence. Ancient gods will whisper to you, the future will unfold before you, and all the rules of the world will be in your grasp. Do you desire it?" the light asked.

“No, I don’t want to,” the girl replied.

“Girl, you’ve rejected all of this, so what is it that you want?” the light asked.

The girl replied, “Supreme beauty cannot buy peace, boundless wealth cannot buy health, infinite power should not take everything away, and infinite wisdom should not belong to me alone. I want the wheat in the fields to be full again, I want the terrifying beasts to no longer invade, I want the sick to be healthy, and I want everyone’s wishes to be fulfilled. Can you give me what I want?”

Then the light said, "Your heart is so kind. I will fulfill my promise and become your strength, giving you the ability to fulfill the wishes of others."

The girl returned to the village, carrying an empty basket and her newly acquired power.

When the village chief saw her covered in mud and her torn skirt, he couldn't help but shed tears: "Poor child, why are you so late? Come in and have a bowl of hot vegetable soup."

But the girl refused: "No, please gather everyone together, I have something to say to everyone."

So the hunter put down his pitchfork, the farmer put down his hoe, the doctor put down his medicine box, and the village woman put down her rice spoon. Everyone gathered around the girl to listen to her recount her experiences.

The girl said, "I have the power to help you fulfill your wishes. Tell me quickly, what kind of wishes do you want to have fulfilled?"

The hunter said, "I hope we won't have to suffer from the beast plague." So the rampant wild animals disappeared.

The doctor said, "I hope we are healthy." And so the plague stopped.

The farmer said, "I hope no one will feel hungry." And so, the fields grew plump ears of wheat.

The village woman said, "I hope we won't feel cold." So the dilapidated house could then be used to shelter from the wind and rain.

With the girl's power, the villagers lived happily ever after, and the small village never suffered any more disasters.

Congratulations! Congratulations!

What's so great about that?!

Yuuki Yuki only wanted to hear Gen Ken Mashiro tell her the long-buried truth, rather than this superficial story, which leaned more towards Western fairy tales than her own country's.

Even though she knew what Mashiro Gon was talking about.

Even though she knew that the information contained in those words seemed to be more than what she knew about that period of history.

A young girl unexpectedly encounters a mysterious being and gains the power to help others fulfill their wishes. With this power, she saves an ordinary little village from disaster.

That girl was the original magical girl, not some messenger from heaven, nor a god, just an ordinary girl like those in a village.

Her ability to help people fulfill their wishes undoubtedly refers to her ability to grant magical girls power.

What was the entity that the girl came into contact with? Yuuki Yukino had no idea.

Yuuki Yukino asked, "And then?"

"And then?" Genki Mashiro's fingers tapped across the tangled mass of tentacles like a rhythmic beat, black magic flowing continuously from his fingertips. "And then, the story ends. Isn't that a happy ending, a cause for celebration?"

"If the story is really just a simple fairy tale as you describe, then why are we standing here now?" Yuuki Yuuki retorted.

"Was Cinderella and the prince happy after their marriage? Did anyone cry for the Little Mermaid after she turned into sea foam? What kind of life will the Ugly Duckling face after becoming a swan? No one will care about these things because they are 'boring,' aren't they?"

"Whether it's boring or just a whitewash that hides the unknown past is for the audience to judge, but your story is clearly not finished, is it?"

"Yes, not yet, it's not the exciting part yet." Genken Mashiro clapped his hands briefly.

The girl became the guardian of the village, and the people worshipped her as a goddess, obeying her commands and praying to her.

To commemorate the girl's greatness, this nameless little village was finally given a name, named after her surname.

It is called the lunar maria.

The girl was both great and gentle, and she accepted all people's prayers without hesitation.

“My neighbor’s wheat field is growing even better than mine. I hope all the wheat seedlings in her field die!”

Some people said this, and the girl was puzzled, but she still fulfilled her wish and learned what jealousy was.

"There's this annoying guy who's been pursuing me all the time. Who am I to ever say yes to her? I hope she falls off a cliff and never sees her again!"

Some people said this, and the girl was puzzled, but she still fulfilled her wish and learned what arrogance was.

“I’ve liked that girl for a long time. No, I don’t need to marry her. I just want to have one night of pleasure with her. I want her to come to my bed naked.”

Some people said this, and the girl was puzzled, but she still fulfilled her wish and learned what lust was.

"That bastard! How dare she provoke me! I'll make her suffer! I want you to give me the power of revenge; I want to tear her throat apart with my own hands!"

Some people said this, and the girl was puzzled, but she still fulfilled her wish and learned what rage was.

People prayed, hoping to obtain endless treasures, to cut off the heads of their enemies, to enjoy the pleasures of sex, and to enslave the apathetic fools.

The girl listened to their increasingly frantic desires, responded numbly to them, and let those desires grow ever larger.

The malice of people was like a black river, flowing into the girl's body along with their desires, staining the pure and innocent girl with a dark color.

And so, the first darkness was born.

After that, a city is about to be destroyed, a story is about to end, a history is about to begin, and a young girl is about to embark on a journey that belongs only to her.

What happened afterward is largely unknown.

……

Before leaving, the girl found another girl.

"Little Saint, you are my friend, and the only one who has never asked me for anything. But I ask you for a favor. After I leave, do not let anyone covet this power. You must guide the remaining people for me. Can my future, the future of Moon Sea, be entrusted to your hands?"

Thousands of years ago, she reached out her scarred hand and grasped the hand of the only girl she could trust.

The girl, known as Little Saint, shook her head violently: "No! Absolutely not! I don't have your power, and I can't be everyone's salvation. I... I'm just an ordinary person, an ordinary person who can't do anything. The future needs you, and everyone can only find happiness in the paradise you create."

“Ah, yes, Paradise, just like the name of my wand, it seems that as long as one is in Paradise, one can rightfully obtain everything.” She turned her head back, looking at the scorched earth behind her:

"But after experiencing all this, I have realized that there is no paradise without shadows. When people can easily obtain all the power they want, their desires will expand without limit, eventually dominating their hearts and creating the tragedy we see today."

“Poverty, disease, disaster, hunger... When people lose these common enemies, they begin an endless struggle, eventually bringing back those calamities that have already left them. If they cannot accept this reality and learn from their suffering, such tragedies will repeat themselves.”

"Even the gods in people's hearts are not immune. They can also be driven mad by the filth born from darkness. Even I cannot kill that dark self. I can only let her power slumber. And the gods in people's hearts should die like this."

"People will lose their wings to fly to Paradise, and God will sleep forever in Paradise, never to answer any of their wishes again. From today onward, people should learn how to walk on their own two feet in this world again."

"But in return, I will not take away anyone's hope. I will give them the power to realize their own wishes. I want one pure and innocent girl after another to blossom for their own dreams."

As she spoke, she stroked the scarred earth with her pale hand. A pure white coffin grew from the soil, the bed she had prepared for her final rest.

"I will live with darkness forever, and I will give my life to prevent darkness from returning to the world. My story will also be buried by time along with me."

As she spoke, she stepped into her final resting place, letting the darkness obscure her vision.

She emptied her body, letting the suppressed darkness within her rage, yet she could never break free of this cage.

Her body grew lighter and lighter until it transformed into a burning ball of magic, falling into eternal slumber in a pure white coffin.

The girl, now in eternal slumber, knew that countless girls blessed by her would be born in the future, using their power to fulfill their different wishes and to help more people in need.

She could no longer hear the girl's cries outside.

"No! No! I will remember, I will always remember, and I will tell your story to more people. They will remember what you did for others, they will remember your purest side, they will remember that you once existed in this world. Because you are my only friend, the god in our hearts who will never die."

The girl, now in a deep slumber, was unaware that in the distant future, the girl to whom she had entrusted everything fulfilled the promise she had never heard with her own life.

The girl who had blessed everything established a church, wrote flawed doctrines, gathered believers from all over the world, and told the story of her, who no longer existed in this world, to more people.

She became the first saint.

Later, many things happened, and we went through countless trials and tribulations.

Magical girls were born, and dark forces sprouted from the bodies of these magical girls who had lost their sense of self. They fought, fell, some rose again, and some did not.

The bewildered girl struggled desperately in the wind and rain with her own strength, the strength of a girl who had already fallen into a deep sleep.

They modified doctrines to cover up the history of depravity, used primordial power to create a vessel to contain that power, and established an organization on the basis of the church specifically to deal with darkness...

Did the girl have any ulterior motives? Perhaps she did?

The girl simply didn't want that person's story to be forgotten; she simply didn't want the hell she had witnessed to reappear; she simply wanted to use her own hands to create a future for humanity.

Despite countless trials and tribulations, the church has survived.

What is "saint", what is a nun, what is the primordial, what is a wish... their original meanings have gradually been forgotten and solidified into one symbol after another.

All they remember is that the evil symbol of the corrupted magical girls, born out of nowhere, is the idea that saints throughout history should use their own bodies as vessels.

Thus, in the far future, thousands of years after its doctrines and purpose of existence had been forgotten, the nameless church came to an end.

Chapter 216 Destruction

"Mother! Why did the Church seize the power of the Primordial Darkness? Isn't our duty to seal it away? But... why did you do that!"

Standing in the very center of the cathedral, the Holy Prayer roared, her eyes burning as she stared intently at the Holy Priest in his bishop's robes standing behind the platform. Her teeth were grinding together, but even this could not quell the anger in her heart.

The surroundings were deathly silent. To prevent any unnecessary incidents, Mashiro Gorgen had already evacuated any unrelated people.

To be precise, everyone except Seiji has been evacuated. Now, apart from Seiji standing here, the bishop confronting her, and Utsugi Mashiro standing outside the door, there is no one left.

Therefore, the saint was able to unleash all his anger.

Just now, Saint Prayer witnessed and personally experienced that a large part of the mixed magic power existing in the Grand Cathedral was the power of the Dark Ones.

Just as Genki Mashiro said, the church, which has always taken it upon itself to maintain harmony and seal the power of the primordial darkness, has actually fallen to this state.

The calamity did not begin with his own mother, the priest who raised him, but has been so for thousands of years.

So, who should she vent her anger on? Her own mother? The bishop fulfilling a distorted duty? Or the church she once believed she should give everything for, even knowing her mother had strayed from the right path, and still wanted to correct it herself?

Saint Qi had never felt so powerless before; it was as if the whole world had betrayed her.

At this point, perhaps the better choice would be to listen to your mother, pretend you know nothing, and let the church continue.

But Shengqi was unwilling to accept this; she was unwilling to accept that her mother, who had told her to experience everything and to know everything for herself, had become her adversary.

No, it's more accurate to say that I have become the adversary of the entire church.

Just then, the priest on the platform spoke.

"Xiao Qi, everything the church has done is for justice. Who has been protecting Moonsea City all this time? Who has contributed the most to the various cases involving magical girls? Who has been guarding the secrets of magical girls and resisting the darkness generation after generation? Is it those innocent magical girls? No, it's us! Only we can do it! When you stand in front of me and ask me these questions, didn't you think about these things?"

Saint Prayer clenched his fist and took a few steps forward, but his fist could neither strike Saint Si's face nor land on himself, and in the end, he could only swing it helplessly into the air.