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

“Mashiro Urouge is no longer a magical girl. If you have too much contact with her, you might reveal more information to her. Even if she doesn’t do anything right now, you should still be wary of her. I don’t recommend having too much contact with Mashiro Urouge.”

Of course, the core argument is not that Mashiro is dangerous, but that even if Mashiro is hiding something, it might just be that Yuuki Yui has no intention of cooperating with her.

If Mashiro Gorgen hadn't personally demonstrated the power that Yuuki Yuki had given her, Reki Nishio would never have guessed that Yuuki Yuki would do something so dangerous just to be on the safe side.

However, there were also things that Nishio Reki hadn't considered, and it was Inuyama Tomoe who filled in the gaps for her.

"While Xiaoyuan is working hard, she should also be buying us time. We can't just sit idly by any longer," Ba Qi said confidently, pressing her fist against the table.

"But how should we try?" Sakura Hanako asked.

"Although we do not possess the power of the Primordial Darkness, the primordial power is still on our side." Inuyama Tomoe conveyed her meaning to the others with just this one sentence.

The power of the primordial can cancel out the power of the primordial darkness. Lin Jiezi's empty shell can disrupt the magic power in Yuuki En's body. However, Yumehara Sumireko, who is tainted with the aura of the primordial, can also restrain Yuuki En in the dream realm. Lin Jiezi's physical body even destroyed the space torn open by Yog-Sothoth with Utsugi Mashiro.

If the primordial power is controllable, it's feasible to use it to suppress the primordial darkness within Yuuki Yuki's body, but what to do next is unknown.

At least there was a first step, wasn't there?

Lin Jiezi did indeed still possess the original power, but she was completely unable to use it or absorb it.

Mizuno Yu made this analogy: the primordial power is like a bullet; it certainly has considerable destructive power, but you can't do without that gun.

Saint Shiyin is that gun. Under normal circumstances, she can fire it. However, this gun is beyond their control. The turmoil Saint Shiyin caused during Christmas was the root cause of everyone's distrust of her.

So while the gun, Saint Shiyin, is functional, no one can control who the muzzle will point at.

Moreover, the Saint-Silver gun is already riddled with holes; whether it will accidentally discharge or explode is a problem.

Therefore, to avoid unnecessary trouble, they must never load bullets into the chamber.

Lin Jiezi's current situation is more like a container for bullets. She may have accidentally fired the bullet and hit the enemy in a moment of panic, but that was just good luck. After all, the container was blasted apart by the bullets that flew everywhere.

That being said, Lin Jiezi is someone with that potential. If handled properly, Lin Jiezi might become that controllable gun.

In fact, almost all magical girls before Lin Jiezi had tried to control the primordial power, but they couldn't even accept it like Lin Jiezi, let alone control it.

The primordial power is like a red-hot iron rod; it will hurt a lot if it hits someone, but only if someone can lift it.

Even magical girls can't do that, let alone a corrupted magical girl. Inuyama Tomoe's aura was completely disrupted after just a slight contact with harmless magic. If it weren't for Koumori helping her straighten out, Inuyama Tomoe might have gone berserk because of the black magic mark before Yuuki Yukino's troubles even began.

However, there is indeed a corrupted magical girl who can use a little bit of primordial power, but only a little bit.

Since Sumireko Yumehara had come into contact with the Primal, she didn't see it as a deadly poison like other fallen magical girls. In fact, her magic could even exert some of the Primal's magic to counteract the Primal Darkness, but controlling it was impossible for her.

So this responsibility eventually came full circle and landed on Lin Jiezi.

Incidentally, the reason why the Primal was so docile was that when it merged with the Primal Darkness, in order to make it stable enough, the consciousness of the Primal Power that had chased Nishio Arata countless times was erased.

That's right. Even if it can speak, even if it has the ability to think, and even if it can communicate, it is just a nascent consciousness.

As for the original magical girl, Rize Tsukimi's soul and consciousness, no one knows where they are.

Finally, this is how Baki summarized it.

"I think that while Xiaoyuan is fighting, she must also be buying time for us. She is not only hiding from us, but also from Lin Jiezi. We must take this opportunity to let Lin Jiezi try to master the original power."

Everyone also sought Lin Jiezi's opinion, but Lin Jiezi herself was not someone who knew how to refuse others. So everyone repeatedly told her how dangerous and difficult this matter was, and that Lin Jiezi should not be influenced by external forces and should make her own decision.

The others certainly didn't want Lin Jiezi to back down. Many would rather force her to master that power, but a magical girl's power is related to her heart. If Lin Jiezi herself is unwilling, no amount of coercion from others will help.

Fortunately, Lin Jiezi always agreed very seriously, and never changed her mind no matter how alarmist others were.

Lin Jiezi also wanted to help Yuki Yuki and do her part for everyone.

Because this is something only I can do.

The other magical girls were the same; helping Hayashi was the only thing they could do for Yuuki Yuuki, and it was also the only thing they could do right now.

It was precisely because of this situation that Nishio Reki found it even more difficult to reveal that Yuuki En had entrusted Mashiro Urobuchi with her power.

There is another extremely important reason that is causing considerable headaches for magical girls these days.

From the time they returned from St. Eternal Academy to the discussion of countermeasures, and then to the training of Lin Jiezi, Tian Lei Helika, who should have been closest to Lin Jiezi and was her classmate, never appeared.

Rather, it should be said that after returning from the Holy Ancient Academy, no one ever saw Helica the Thunder again.

The school's top students were nowhere to be found. The only people who knew exactly where Herika's house was were Yuuki Yuki and Nishio Reki, who had many memories. Nishio Reki also tried to go look for it, but it was Tenrai Herika's mother who opened the door.

Herika's mother knew of Nishio Reki's existence because Herika had told her mother about it many times after the band's performance at the Christmas party, so Nishio Reki's visit did not seem abrupt to Herika's mother.

Herika's mother looked surprised when she heard that Nishio Reki was planning to look for Herika.

"Tianlei went to another city for intensive training and tutoring to prepare for her college entrance exam. As her friend, didn't you know that?"

Intensive training and tutoring? How could such a thing exist? No one has seen Herika since she stormed out of St. Eternal Academy!

While Nishio Reki was trying to figure out how to explain things to Helica's mother and get away with it, Helica's mother complained a few times instead.

"Sigh, this kid is really something. He didn't even tell his friends about going out for training. He's so impulsive and has caused you trouble."

The matter was dropped, and no one could find Helica's whereabouts.

Just when everyone thought Helica was going to follow Yuuki Yuuki's example and disappear, Helica took the initiative to send a message.

The message was posted in the Nijisanji activity group on the third day after Helica's disappearance, and it contained only one sentence.

"I'm going to find Yuuki Yukino. If I can't find her, I won't come back."

Others in the group also took this opportunity to raise questions.

Why did Helica suddenly do this? Where was she going to look for help? Did she have a plan? Did she need help from others? Helica didn't answer any of these questions, only leaving one more sentence.

"If you're not going to find Yuuki Yukino, I'll go myself."

Chapter 255 No Return

"If you're not going to find Yuuki Yukino, then I'll go myself!"

Herika's story ends there, and there has been no further news of her.

But when everyone learned that Tenrai Herika was not in any danger, but had instead gone out to find Yuuki Yuuki in a fit of pique, most of them breathed a sigh of relief.

Although Helica has a terrible personality, she has matured a lot compared to before. However, she sometimes does things that make people worry, but overall she is fine on her own.

Besides, she's a magical girl, so there aren't many things that can threaten her; Yuuki Yuuki's target has never been Helika the Thunder God, so from any perspective, Helika won't encounter any danger, it's only she who brings danger to others.

In the following days, others also called and messaged Helica, but each time they either received a busy signal or were directly hung up by Helica, and she never replied to any of the messages sent to her.

Perhaps Helica came back after hitting a wall?

That's what everyone thinks.

But the others were well aware of Helica's stubbornness, and they were indeed worried that Helica might really never come back if she didn't find Yuuki Yuki.

More than a week passed in this dragging manner before some changes finally occurred.

That day will be memorable for many people. Before the start of summer, Yuehai City experienced a heavy rain that lasted from the evening of the previous day until the next, causing the city, which had just begun to warm up, to fall back into the embrace of cold.

That day should have been an ordinary day. The girls were sitting in the Rainbow Club's activity room eating lunch, complaining about the bad weather of the past two days, and talking about how Hayashi Mustard had been trying to control her primordial power, but as a non-magical girl, she had made absolutely no progress.

The sound of rain, which had been blocked by the window, suddenly became clear when the door to the activity room was pushed open with a creaking sound.

Helica stood at the doorway, her jacket—practical for movement but completely out of character for her typical elementary school boyish style—soaked in water and clinging to her body, the outline of her white shirt faintly visible beneath.

Helica walked into the activity room without a word, her messy hair hanging over her forehead making it impossible to see what her expression was at that moment.

Rainwater dripping from the hem of her coat left dark stains on the ground. Herlica's blonde hair, disheveled and wet, clung to her cheeks and clothes, with water droplets still clinging to the ends.

The ripples in the bottled drink in Nishio Reki's hand gradually subsided, the fried pork cutlet that Inuyama Baki was holding between her chopsticks fell back into the bento box, and the packaging of the bread in Hayashi Keiko's hand made a sharp sound as she inadvertently exerted force.

The room fell silent for a moment, with only the sound of Helica's footsteps and water dripping on the floor clearly audible.

“Senior Tenrai…” Sakura Hanako stood up from the table, the chair creaking as it scraped against the floor. This sudden sound only made the already heavy atmosphere in the room even more suffocating.

Sakura Hanako felt a light pinch on the hem of her clothes. The only person sitting next to her was Mizuno Yu. This insignificant gesture made Sakura Hanako bite her lip and swallow the words she was about to say.

The curtains in the activity room were lifted by a corner by the cold wind blowing in from outside, but it didn't seem to make people feel colder than the physical chill emanating from Helica.

Herlica walked straight to the seat that usually belonged to Yuuki Yuuki, her wet clothes leaving a trail of winding watermarks on the floor.

Helica pulled out a chair and sat down. Her soaked clothes immediately made an unpleasant, sticky sound, and it seemed that a few trickles of water were squeezed out from the hem of her clothes as she moved.

Lin Jiezi, who was very close to Helica, could already smell the earthy odor and the unique scent of grass and leaves on Helica.

Inuyama Tomoe silently appeared beside Tenrai Helica, offering her the towel, but Helica pushed it away without a word.

Inuyama Baki glanced at Herika, placed the towel in her hand on the table next to Herika, and then silently retreated as she had arrived.

Helica hesitated for a moment before raising her hand to grab the towel that Baki had placed beside her. As she raised her hand, something the size of a cherry slipped between her fingers.

Herlica's seemingly lifeless eyes flickered, and many people saw that she experienced a tremendous emotional fluctuation at that moment.

Although it sounds strange, this change in their eyes made them truly feel that Herika was still alive.

They also saw clearly that what Helica was clutching was a crumpled piece of paper, completely soaked by the rainwater from Helica's wet hands. It seemed that something had been written on it, but now it looked more like a lump of dried paste, making it impossible to discern its original purpose.

At the same time, Helica also used a towel to wipe most of the rain off her face.

Just as Helica put down the towel in her hand and let it hang naturally in front of her knees, Inuyama Baki's voice rang out at the right time.

"Have you found Xiaoyuan?"

This question was asked without any beating around the bush, and was even more direct than what Sakura Hanako had wanted to ask earlier.

Everyone held their breath, not only because Inuyama Tomoe's question was so direct, which could be like cutting open a wound and exposing bloody flesh to Tenrai Herika, who was clearly in a state of shock; but also because everyone was curious about the answer and wanted to know what Tenrai Herika had gone through on this trip.

Herlica's fingers tightened suddenly, her shoulders trembled slightly, and the towel was twisted into creases in her palm. The sound of water being squeezed from the damp cotton towel was like a girl's sobs.

Did Helica cry? No one could tell. Even if she did shed tears, they were probably mixed with the raindrops on her face.

But her red eyes at least proved that she had indeed cried.

The question of Inuyama Hatsuki still lingered in the damp air. Amidst the rustling of clothes, Sakura Hanako rose from her chair once more, but this time she faced Inuyama Hatsuki.

She had just opened her mouth when she felt Mizuno Yu's fingers hook around the hem of her school uniform again. This time it wasn't a light pull, but a forceful tug—the almost warning force instantly choked her.

At this time when everyone had questions, everyone felt that they shouldn't speak rashly. A strange atmosphere filled the Rainbow Club's activity room, giving rise to an even stranger silence.

"Herrica Tenrai." Inuyama Tomoe called out Herrica Tenrai's name, syllable by syllable, then asked her in an even slower voice, "Have you found Yuuki Yukino?"

creak.

Suddenly, Helica got up from her chair, the chair leg dragging against the ground with a piercing groan. Lin Jiezi, sitting next to her, could feel the water droplets splashed from Helica's wet clothes and hitting the back of her hand because of the large movement.

Helica stood up and glared angrily at Inuyama Tomoe, but Inuyama Tomoe glared back at her in the same way.

Sakura Hanako lowered her voice to almost inaudible herself and whispered in Mizuno Yu's ear, "The atmosphere seems even more awkward now. Is it really okay not to stop it?"