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

The portals opened once again behind Yuuki Yuuki, and the irritating growls rang out once more.

Something that exists behind Yuuki Yuuki's portal is about to emerge!

The monsters that charged into the crowd earlier looked terrifying, but they were just minor characters.

But this time is different. What Yuuki Yuki is hiding is definitely not something that can be easily dealt with.

Just as the girls were on high alert, Yuuki Yukino lightly tiptoed and stomped on the ground. Her body was swallowed up by the open portal behind her, like a feather.

At the same moment, all the portals flickered like television screens that had lost power, and then disappeared completely.

The girls became even more vigilant, adopting a fighting stance and looking around, wary of Yuuki Yukino suddenly appearing from somewhere else.

But no more portals were opened, and there was nothing around except the screams of pedestrians terrified by the monster and the muffled sounds of stones and steel breaking.

"Big sister..." Hong Moli's tone was dry, as if she had done something wrong.

"Although these monsters were created by Yuuki Yukino's magic, Yuuki Yukino's own magic... has disappeared."

Hong Moli's words conveyed only one meaning.

Yuuki Yukino ran away.

Chapter 275 Returning Home

Yuuki Yuuki disappeared once again, from the magical girls' sight.

It wasn't a defeat, nor was it a backlash from its own power, and it couldn't possibly be any other mistake.

She simply passed right through the portal in front of everyone's eyes and then disappeared completely.

For the first few seconds, the girls thought that Yuuki Yukino was about to launch another attack from somewhere, so they were all on high alert and dared not move an inch in the center of the battle.

But it didn't take long; after only half a minute, they began to feel confused.

It feels like someone suddenly sends you a message late at night, as if it's something important, but then you can't get through to them no matter how you try to contact them.

With Koumari's words, "Yuki Yuki's magic has completely disappeared," the girls realized that they had likely been tricked by Yuki Yuki.

Although the threat in front of the girls was eliminated, it was only a threat to themselves; the ordinary people around them were still being ravaged by the monsters released by Yuuki Yukino.

"Forget about Yuuki Yuuki for now, let's rescue those ordinary people first. At least we can't let those monsters wreak havoc!" Tenrai Herika was the first to propose the new objective. Before the others could react, she took the lead and flew off.

"Wait..." Sakura Hanako tried to call out to Helica, but Helica had already disappeared from her sight. She could only mutter the remaining half of her sentence to herself, "I wonder if Yuuki-senpai has some other purpose."

Tsukimi Rie clenched her fist. She had lived in this city for almost a year. Even though it wasn't her birthplace, she still had some feelings for this city.

Seeing the city being destroyed, and given her personality, she didn't like to see others suffer. Even when she was corrupted before, her outbursts were only directed at Miyashita Mia and Yuuki Yuki.

From the perspective of other magical girls or even ordinary people, the damage she caused was actually the smallest among all the corrupted magical girls. If everyone hadn't gathered at the foot of the Moonsea Tower, almost no one would have known about it until the very end.

Moreover, even disregarding Tsukimi Rie's personality, Miyashita Mia is more important to her than Yuuki Enishi. The premise of helping Yuuki Enishi is that she cannot get herself into too much trouble, even though she is already in a lot of trouble.

Then Tsukimi Rie expressed her thoughts: "I agree with Tenrai Helica's suggestion. Let's stabilize the situation first, and then make further plans."

Although the phrase "take it easy" seemed a bit like wishful thinking to the girls, it was indeed one of the few efforts they could make right now.

"Once we get rid of these monsters, my reconnaissance abilities will be less affected. If you want to do it, then do it." Although Hong Moli said this, her tone also implied that she was seeking the opinions of the others.

Both the magical girls' side, which is currently considered neutral, and the corrupted magical girls' side have said so, so it's quite obvious what they're going to do next.

after a while.

The situation in Hoshimi City has stabilized to some extent. To the girls' surprise, Yuuki Enishi's approach was very similar to Asahimi's. Although the damage was extensive, there were very few civilian casualties. In fact, there were only some injured people, but absolutely no one was seriously injured or suffered fatal injuries.

Perhaps it was because they needed to absorb the negative emotions of the girls under extreme emotional states that they deliberately showed leniency, or perhaps it was due to Yuuki Enishi's compassion. Regardless of the answer, it can be considered a good thing.

However, the destruction to the city was severe. Of all the traces of battles fought by magical girls that the girls had witnessed, this was the most serious. Fortunately, the affected area was not large, and the girls' reaction was relatively timely, so the disaster was contained within a certain range.

As for what this city will become in the future, and how it should heal the wounds of this past, that is not something the girls should concern themselves with or consider.

From the evening when the magical girls stepped off the train until nightfall when they had roughly settled everything here, the girls had spent quite a while before they could finally relax.

Once she had some free time, Helica immediately began to complain unhappily: "Really, I never expected it to turn out like this, really."

Her transformation had long since been undone, but they were currently in a rather secluded location where, under normal circumstances, no one would bother them, so Helica could freely complain a few times.

But her complaints ended there.

However, Tsukimi Rie was still somewhat uncomfortable. Everyone could tell that she had something to say, but because of her status, she was the most awkward person there, so she hadn't said anything.

Hong Moli sat on a bench with her eyes closed, leaning against Bai Gui Qianyou, seemingly deep in thought. However, everyone else knew that she was using her abilities to gather the auras of the magical girls in the city.

From the moment the battle ended, Koumori couldn't find any of Yuuki Yukino's magic power, as if she no longer existed in Hoshimi City.

This was the same result she got when she tried to collect Yuuki Yuki's magic power in Tsukishima City. At that time, Koumari's answer was that Yuuki Yuki was very likely blocking her own magic power, or even leaving Tsukishima City directly.

Her answer remained the same this time. To prevent her senses from failing, she needed to concentrate. The other magical girls didn't disturb her, and didn't even transform, just to avoid affecting Koumori's search for clues about Yuuki Yukino.

"No, it still won't work." After a long while, Hong Moli opened her eyes and shook her head at everyone.

"What a pity. I thought everyone would find Yuuki-senpai right away, which would save everyone a lot of effort. But now it seems we're back to square one. If I were even slightly stronger, maybe Inuyama-senpai could have kept Yuuki-senpai here..."

Sakura Hanako muttered under her breath. Yuuki Yuki had escaped from their sight and caused so much destruction, which made her, a magical girl who was rarely useful in direct combat, feel quite disappointed.

"No, it's impossible, absolutely impossible." Inuyama Tomoe immediately shook her head.

The surroundings were so quiet that Sakura Hanako's mutterings were naturally overheard by Inuyama Tomoe.

Before Sakura Hanako could say anything, Baqi preemptively explained.

"Msisha, let's just call this a rather special skill. Although it's always been a fusion between me and Xiaoyuan, I don't actually need Xiaoyuan to be with me. As long as I have Xiaoyuan's magic, that's enough. It's just that the state it presents is slightly different, but the essence is the same."

Helica, on the other hand, was quite cooperative: "And then? Why are you suddenly bringing this up now?"

“When I bit Xiaoyuan, during that magic plunder, how much magic do you think I could have extracted? If Yumehara Sumireko hadn’t created the opportunity for me, and Xiaoyuan’s attention hadn’t been diverted, I wouldn’t have succeeded at all. So I couldn’t stay in that state for too long. Once Xiaoyuan’s magic was used up, we’d be finished. Otherwise, why do you think I would have wanted to finish this so quickly?” Baqi rolled her eyes at Helica.

Sitting quietly in her chair, Hyakki Chiyu continued, "And wasn't it just a bluff by my elder sister at that time? Although she said that Yuuki Yukina was bluffing, she was actually referring to herself as well. It wouldn't be easy for her to really finish the fight quickly and determine a winner with Yuuki Yukina."

Baqi sighed: "Yes, that's absolutely right. And actually, it wasn't easy for me to give you time and finally save you. Although the Three Pillar Gods' wands aren't much stronger than ours in terms of power, their abilities are just too annoying. And Xiaoyuan's fighting style is so strange. It's already difficult enough to scare her. To think that we can keep or even defeat Xiaoyuan like Sakura Hanako said is a bit naive."

Indeed, there was something that Baqi hadn't expected. She thought that after scaring Yuki Yuki, she would have more opportunities to communicate, but she never thought that Yuki Yuki would turn around and run away.

After Baqi finished speaking, the girls fell silent.

Just as Sakura Hanako said, the girls have come full circle and returned to where they started.

How to find Yuuki Yuki, how to subdue her and bring her back, and how to deal with the power within her—these are all questions.

Compared to when they first got off the train, the city now has an additional mess left by the battle.

That's absolutely the worst thing ever.

Seeing that no one spoke, Mizuno Yu had no choice but to step in and take charge.

"What do we do now?"

Helica crossed her arms and gazed at the night view of the city that had just experienced a catastrophe: "Let's find a place to stay and then discuss this further."

As she spoke, Herika glanced at Tsukimi Rie beside her and added, "There's another very important matter. We also need to confirm Miyashita Mia's safety. I don't think Yuuki Yukino would kill Miyashita Mia, and Miyashita Mia might also know some things that we don't."

Herlica's words seemed to be for everyone's sake, but in fact, there was also a selfish motive in them—to help Tsukimi Rie. Everyone saw through it but didn't say anything.

Indeed, with Yuuki Yuuki nowhere to be found, it is most important to first confirm the situation.

But before everyone could go looking for Miyashita Mia, Miyashita Mia called Tsukimi Rie's cell phone.

Actually, the reason why Miya Miya went missing is very simple: she was drained of her magic by Yuuki Yuuki, and then she fainted. The magic in Hoshimi City is also extremely thin, so when she woke up, she found that a day and a night had passed.

Compared to the innocent aunt she attacked when she lost control, Miyashita Miya's unconsciousness lasted for a relatively short time (the time between her fainting spells and her dream-inducing moments in the 1980s).

So the two sides immediately found a place to meet. Before finding a place to rest, they randomly found a restaurant to fill their stomachs, and then listened to Miyashita Mia recount the situation.

She noticed that Yuuki Yui hadn't gotten up. When she went to check on her, she found that Yuuki Yui's magic power was completely depleted. After she helped Yuuki Yui replenish her magic power, Yuuki Yui immediately subdued her and stole a lot of her magic power. Later, after helping Tsukimi Rie escape, Yuuki Yui drained her magic power again, and then she fainted and has been unconscious ever since.

Now, we can basically confirm everyone's thoughts: for Yuuki Yuuki herself, and not the one occupying her body, her situation should be like this.

When she sensed that she might lose control, she emptied her magic, and in that state, her body was used by others to do all sorts of things.

While everyone remained silent, Helica stepped forward to liven up the atmosphere.

"But actually, the situation hasn't gotten that bad. Yuuki Yuuki was just defeated by us, so her magic power was naturally depleted. We are all magical girls, so we can find ways to replenish each other's magic power. In Hoshimi City, where magic power is extremely scarce, even if we deplete it, we can still completely deplete the magic power in Yuuki Yuuki's body. As for what happens to her, she still has to listen to us, doesn't she?"

“That makes sense. Let’s rest for a bit and then continue looking for Xiaoyuan.” Ba Qi agreed, then took out her phone to look for nearby hotels where everyone could stay overnight.

But before Baqi could unlock her phone, it started vibrating on its own, and Nishio Reki's name popped up.

It's perfectly normal for Nishio Reki, who couldn't come to Hoshimi City with the magical girls, to call and check on their situation.

Moreover, something just happened in Hoshimi City. The magical girls' exaggerated battle took place at the entrance of the station, so there must have been news about it online. It's perfectly reasonable for Nishio Reki to call at this time.

Baqi answered the phone casually and turned on the speakerphone. Before Nishio Reki could speak, Baqi began to report the situation: "Hello? Nishio Reki? We have arrived in Hoshimi City and met with Yui. The situation is a bit complicated, but don't worry, we have a solution."

"I'm not asking about the situation over there!"

Nishio Reki's roar came from the other end of the phone. Even though Baqi's phone volume wasn't high, it still made her eardrums hurt.

But then, Nishio Reki began to gasp for breath, whether from anger or exhaustion, it was unclear.

However, her tone was off, and many people immediately noticed that Nishio Reki's state and tone were abnormal, indicating that there was something else going on.

Even Baqi was a little stunned by Nishio Reki's outburst. It took her a while to blink and clear her confused eyes. Then she grabbed the phone without asking any more questions.

"What's wrong? Why did you call me?"

On the other end of the phone came a gasp from Nishio Reki, as if he were making a decision.

"You've all been fooled! It's Xiaoyuan! Xiaoyuan is back in Yuehai City now!"

Chapter 276 She Blooms Brilliantly in the Night

Night fell as expected in Moonsea City. The darkness flowed through the city like blueberry sauce poured over shaved ice, gradually coloring the entire city.

The automatic doors of the convenience store jingled as a girl, returning home after a club activity, slowly walked out carrying a whole bag of snacks, accompanied by the "Welcome!" notification sound; an office worker in a suit, briefcase tucked under one hand, brushed past a student who lived next door and was about to leave; rainwater, not yet completely dried, reflected the lights and signs on the coffee shop's signboard.

Today is just another ordinary day. No matter what insurmountable things people are thinking about, the night and the future will arrive as promised, and tomorrow will be a sunny day.

Summer is coming.

Sakura Nana, who was leaning against the railing at the entrance of the live house, looked up at the sky that was not yet completely shrouded in darkness, felt the slightly irritating hot wind blowing on her body, and couldn't help but sigh to herself.

"Oh, you're right." Tianyin was still as carefree as ever, leaning against the railing on the other side, gazing at the same sky as Sakura Nana: "I'm going to middle school soon, and I'm getting a little excited about it. I wonder what kind of classmates I'll meet then?"

Before opening the shop, Shirogane, who had been spending time with everyone enjoying the breeze, put her arms around her shoulders and comforted them: "Amane, your personality will be fine no matter where you go. I'm just a little worried about Yuzuru. He's always so quiet. Will he be able to make any friends?"

When mentioned, Yuzuru turned his head away awkwardly, completely unresponsive to Shirogane Rei's words.

"Oh dear, don't say that. Everyone has their own personality, right?" Tianyin laughed heartily. Although no one knew what she was laughing about, her carefree smile always gave people a relaxed feeling.