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

"To want to, or not to want to."

"Now, Koyomi is a magical girl."

"Then I'll leave it to you. Please, Xiao Li, whom I've always protected, carry the last hope in Pandora's box and protect me this once more."

Even though her other self had agreed, even though she had done enough, even though she had fought to the very last moment.

But she herself, who had sworn to inherit the will of another version of herself, had to watch helplessly as Yuuki Yuki pulled the power that never belonged to her back from her body.

But I, this useless self who has taken on an excessively heavy burden, have no choice but to let it slip away quietly through my fingers, along with my hopes.

I... I guess I'm still not good enough.

Nishio Reki sniffed, his nose stinging, trying to hold back his tears of grievance.

I'm still under the threat of another Yuuki Yuki. Even if I can't change the situation, I shouldn't be ashamed to cry like this.

But the more Nishio Reki thought about it, the more tears welled up in his eyes, and the more he felt that his heart was being tormented by endless self-blame.

They were like sharp thorns, piercing the softest part of Nishio Kotsuki's heart, but they wouldn't kill him. However, Nishio Kotsuki knew that if something happened, he might have to live with this pain for the rest of his life.

It hurts so much, it really hurts.

Unable to contain the emotions surging in his chest any longer, Nishio Reki burst into tears.

She cried as if all sounds from the outside world had stopped, as if her own heartbeat was about to stop.

How much time has passed? A few seconds? A few minutes? Or even longer?

But when Nishio Reki heard Yuuki Yukino whispering these words in his ear, her voice gentle and indulgent, like the sun slowly rising behind the girl, Nishio Reki felt a strange sense of peace for no reason.

"Xiao Li, you've already tried your best."

Ah, that's Yuuki Yuuki's voice, the familiar voice of my little Yuuki.

The Xiaoyuan of my memory and the Xiaoyuan of today are overlapping before my eyes.

Nishio Reki didn't know what had caused Yuuki Yukino to change so much. Perhaps it was the power that flowed into her body, perhaps it was because of his crying, or perhaps it was something else entirely.

However, she felt as if the Xiaoyuan she knew had returned.

She trembled, choked back tears, and called out the other person's name.

"Xiao Yuan..."

"Yes, I'm here." Yuuki Yuki said softly, slowly separating from Nishio Reki. She gently released the hand that was tightly holding Nishio Reki's wrist, then moved it to Nishio Reki's cheek and used her fingers to wipe away the tears from the corner of Nishio Reki's eyes.

Nishio Reki sniffed again; she was now speechless.

"It's okay, it's okay."

Yuuki comforted her, gently patting Nishio Reki's back, slowly untying the coffin she was carrying and setting it aside, then holding Nishio Reki tightly in her arms.

"It's alright now, Xiao Li. You've done everything you asked me to do."

"Did I...did I do it?"

"Of course, Xiao Li did a great job. You protected me well and fought for me until this moment."

Yuuki gently gathered Nishio Reki's hair and helped her stand up again by supporting her shoulders.

"So, leave the rest to me, okay?"

Nishio Reki took a deep sniff and nodded even more vigorously.

Yuuki Yukino gave a gentle smile and slowly lowered her hand that had been stroking Nishio Reki's back.

Then, the hand reached further back.

Nishio Reki heard the sound of something breaking.

When she turned her head, she saw Yuuki Yuki's fingers piercing into the coffin behind her, the one that sealed the culprit of that night, and even the entire city.

Yuuki Yukina smiled, just as Nishio Reki remembered, but did things that Yuuki Yukina would never do.

Is she really still the same person?

Nishio Reki's escalating emotions felt like falling into a multi-layered ice cellar; she couldn't stop Yuuki Yuki, nor did she have the power to stop her.

Yuuki Yukino hooked her finger, her nail carving five pale dents into the pure white surface.

She could only hear the mournful sound of silk being torn between Yuuki Emi's fingers as the coffin lid snapped shut, and watch as cracks, like shattered ice, spread across her entire body along the coffin.

She saw it again, saw the splintering wood chips suspended in mid-air like startled white butterflies, refracting tiny phosphorescent lights in the rising morning light.

Seeing Yuuki Yukino's slender, fair hands, it was as if she were holding someone by the throat, firmly grasping that ball of magic in her hand.

Chapter 243 The Dark Clouds Rising Before Dawn

Lin Jiezi stared blankly at the scene unfolding before her, completely at a loss.

Should I run away? Should I keep watching? Should I stop them?

Countless questions arose in Lin Jiezi's mind, only to be dispelled one by one. In the end, Lin Jiezi simply stood there, letting time pass by.

She is not good at communicating with others, nor is she good at guessing what other people are thinking, let alone expressing her own thoughts.

When she needs to make a decision on her own, it becomes incredibly difficult every time.

So she could only watch as everything unfolded before her eyes.

She saw Yuuki Yukino's hand pull something out of the coffin amidst the flying wood chips.

It seemed to be a human shape, or perhaps a strange color; Lin Jiezi couldn't quite pinpoint its exact form.

But Lin Jiezi still remembered, and could never forget, how she had grabbed this thing, how she had used all her strength to hold it down with Yuki Eri, and how the others had carried her to stuff this force into the coffin.

That's it, the source of all the tragedy, the root of all evil that Lin Jiezi and Yuki Enishi could hardly stop even with their best efforts.

But now it's being held by Yuuki Yuki like this, as if it's being choked.

Although it was wriggling and struggling, it could not escape Yuuki Enishi's fingers, which were as firm as iron clamps and as slender as green onions.

"Little...Little Yuan..."

Amidst the swirling wood chips, Nishio Reki's incredulous expression froze on his face, as if he were witnessing the end of the world, his eyes gradually dimming.

She was still calling out Yuuki Yuki's name, but she already knew in her heart that the person standing in front of her who had just shown her kindness was both Yuuki Yuki and not the Yuuki Yuki she knew.

Corrupted by dark magic, she possesses everything about Yuuki Yuuki, yet she seems to have become a completely different personality... This is the power of corruption.

But is the pollution of filth really so strong, so strong that it makes Yuuki Eri so unfamiliar?

As Nishio Reki pondered this, he watched as Yuuki Yukino responded to his greeting with an incredibly gentle and lovely smile.

However, Yuuki Yukino's actions were anything but gentle.

She grabbed the ball of magic and flung it away forcefully, sending it crashing to the ground like a lump of mud.

The magic that had briefly lost Yuuki Emi's control wriggled on its own, as if trying to escape, but before it could change any further, Yuuki Emi's hand had already slammed down heavily.

To accurately describe the scene, one would say that Yuuki Yukino slapped it with her palm, or rather, smashed it.

The originally solid mass of magic shattered into countless fragments under Yuuki Yuki's strike, unfolding a picture of the starry sky beside Nishio Reki.

Yuuki Enki abruptly clenched her five fingers together, and the magic power within them froze in mid-air, as if all life had been frozen in time.

Immediately afterwards, most of the magic, like bees returning to their hive or like fireworks being turned upside down, began to move towards Yuuki Yukari's palm, condensing into something new between her fingers.

Yes, most of them, but not all.

A few strands of special magic mixed in with that magic escaped Yuuki En's control, or perhaps Yuuki En didn't intend to include them.

A few strands of magic power, no longer under Yuuki Enishi's control, seemed to sense something and flew towards the distant horizon, while another strand landed in place and circled around Nishio Reki, like a small planet hovering around the sun.

The magical energy surrounding Nishio Reki gradually took shape. Although it looked somewhat dim, it took the form of a young girl.

The girl coughed as soon as her form was fully formed.

"Cough...cough!"

Nishio Reki was also briefly drawn to the magical energy, glancing around at his side.

It would have been better if he hadn't looked. When Nishio Reki saw the person clearly, he couldn't help but gasp in surprise.

"Sumireko Yumehara?"

At this moment, Sumireko Yumehara is no longer in the posture of a liberated god, but rather in the form of a little girl wearing a bear pajama, sitting limply on the ground, maintaining her existence with a body formed by magic, but she doesn't seem to be feeling very well.

"Ah...ah..." Sumireko Yumehara cried out softly, like a child issuing an unpleasant warning: "Yuki Yukino! Bad person! She's using Nyarlathotep's power to absorb the power of bad people into her own body!"

Yumehara Sumireko was very close to Yuuki Yuuki, so Yuuki Yuuki could hear her words clearly.

Yuuki Yuki turned her head slightly and cast her calm gaze at Yumehara Sumireko, which startled Sumireko so much that her shoulders trembled violently, and she scrambled to her feet and hid behind Nishio Reki.

After hiding behind Nishio Reki, Yumehara Sumireko seemed to finally have someone to rely on and dared to continue speaking.

Although this was actually a complaint against Nishio Reki.

"I... I helped suppress that magic... Yuuki Yukino promised to seal us all together! But! She did this! She let those bad guys escape! And she wants this worst power!"

Nishio Reki actually knew that to seal the primordial power, a vessel was needed, and Yumehara Sumireko, who had been immersed in the primordial magic, barely met this requirement. Although things might go wrong in the long run, it was sufficient for a temporary emergency.

Moreover, Sumireko Yumehara had also imprisoned the souls of Asahimi and Mashiro Urouge inside. With their nemesis eliminated, they should have had more time to discuss countermeasures—that's how it should have been.

But now, Yuuki Yukino, completely dominated by the corrupted magic, is actually actively trying to seize this power...

If Yuuki Yukino were to absorb all of these powers, the power she would unleash would be far greater than anything Nishio Reki had ever witnessed, and the damage it would cause would be unprecedented.

Moreover, if Nishio Reki wasn't mistaken, those few streams of magical energy that had just left were likely those of Asahi and Urobuchi Mashiro, who had actively sought to regain control of their bodies...

In any case, the situation has now reached its worst point.

It was even worse than when Mashiro Gakuen launched his plan.

The power flowed rapidly, condensing and absorbing in Yuuki Yuki's hands much faster than when Genji Mashiro slowly injected magic into Seishin's body.

“She…she stripped away all the impurities…Nyarlathotep, she could do it! Now she can accept those powers entirely on her own will…she…”

Nyarko's power is to change reality, and Yuuki Eri, who can use this power at will, is capable of doing so.

Now that there is enough filth, enough magic, and the power of primordial darkness, and no one to get in the way, and no need to worry about the cost of using magic, Yuuki Eri can certainly use her power at will, truly facilitating the fusion of these powers.

Nishio Reki turned his head and glanced at Yumehara Sumireko, who was tightly hugging his waist and trembling, and then at Hayashi Mustard, who was dumbfounded.

hateful!

Nishio Ryaku cursed inwardly.