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

"You're saying you're fine, right? Stop talking now. And don't wear that conspicuous sheet anymore. Here, change into this." Nishio Reki didn't dare waste a single second, so he immediately pulled off the sheet covering Lin Jiezi.

Worried that Yuuki En might discover some clues, Nishio Reki crumpled the bed sheet up and stuffed it into the bushes. Then he handed the clothes he was holding to Hayashi Mustard.

Those were the coat and hat she bought when she was still hiding her identity. As for sunglasses and other items, they were also in there. She had worn them once before when she was following Yuuki Yuki.

Because these aren't clothes that someone like Hayashi Mustard would wear, they might have an unexpected effect. To avoid being seen by Yuuki Yuki, Nishio Reki went to great lengths.

Nishio Reki also changed into the school uniform of Tsukimi Middle School and covered his hair with a hat. Although the effect was limited, he could not be directly exposed to Yuuki Yuki's eyes.

Seeing Lin Jiezi put on his coat, Nishio Reki didn't linger for a moment, grabbed Lin Jiezi and ran out.

After seeing Nishio Reki appear, Hayashi Keko felt a little relieved and spoke more fluently.

"What's going on? Why did you tell me to hide? I... I did as you said. Was it Yuuki Yukina? Is Yuuki Yukina trying to take me away?"

"Don't you know perfectly well that you can't control any of your original power right now? Don't even think about suddenly gaining power when you face Yuuki Yuki. This isn't a manga. Before Yuuki Yuki notices, run as far away as you can!"

Nishio Reki kept telling Hayashi Mustard to run, but her legs wouldn't obey her commands.

Damn it, aside from the school trip when everyone had to fight against Urouge Mashiro after a long day of walking, I don't think I've ever worked this hard. Even during that big battle a while ago, I didn't fight this hard.

An ordinary person's body really holds them back.

"Run, run how far? Where are we going? Where are we running to?" Lin Jiezi asked, jogging alongside Nishio Reki.

Yes, where to go is a good question.

Now, monsters scattered by Yuuki Enishi are everywhere: terrifying hunters that resemble water snakes but have wings, Shatak birds that look like both bats and pterosaurs flying all over the sky, and giant moon beasts dragging their pale bodies as they crawl on the ground...

They wander through every corner of the city, but they just wander.

Nishio Reki reasonably suspects that these monsters are not so kind, and may just be spies planted by Yuuki Yuki to find Lin Jiezi's whereabouts. They did nothing to prevent them from causing damage to the person Yuuki Yuki is looking for.

But their unintentional destruction, or even just their appearance before people's eyes, can cause irreversible damage and sow deep fear in people's hearts.

"Nishio... classmate..." Because Nishio Reki was lost in thought and did not answer her question, Hayashi Keiko timidly called Nishio Reki's name again.

Seeing that Nishio Reki was looking at her, Hayashi Keiko finally dared to ask, "Where...are we going..."

"I don't know, let's run first and see what happens," Nishio Reki mumbled.

Previously, Nishio Reki either listened to his own memories, listened to Yuuki Yukino, or discussed countermeasures with everyone, and rarely made his own choices.

So, where can I go?

"babble--"

As Nishio Reki was deep in thought, Hayashi Mustard's scream interrupted her train of thought, making Nishio Reki somewhat irritated.

But before she could criticize Lin Jiezi, she herself almost let out the same scream.

The thing that made Lin Jiezi scream was right in the middle of the road.

She should be a person, at least that's how Nishio Reki appears at first glance, but upon closer inspection, one can discover the differences between her and a human.

Her body was covered in scales that shimmered in the streetlights, making her look like a mermaid emerging from the sea. But mermaids don't have large webbed feet, nor do they stare at you with expressionless faces.

Yuki Yuki's neighborhood wasn't remote, but most of the pedestrians had already fled, making Yuki Yuki and Lin Jiezi stand out conspicuously in its eyes.

It's obvious without even guessing that this thing is related to Yuuki Yuuki; at least no magical girl's costume would look this ugly.

What Hayashi Mustard and Nishio Reki were afraid of was not the thing's appearance, since it looked so much like a human; at most, they only felt a sense of eeriness and disgust.

But because it looked so much like a person, by the time the girls realized its abnormality, it was too late to run away.

They have also been discovered.

The evidence was that the humanoid creature with scales and webbed feet raised its head toward them and then took a step.

pat.

The wet, soft webbed feet made a very clear, sticky sound on the asphalt road, like a wild beast licking the flesh of its prey.

Pat-pat-pat-pat-pat.

The humanoid creature swung its arms, raised its head high, and began to run wildly toward the two girls who were still stunned.

Chapter 278 Nowhere to Escape

The heavy greatsword, engraved with gleaming runes, whistled through the air as it cleaved down on the head of the serpentine monster that lunged at them with its gaping maw. The seemingly sturdy serpent was sliced ​​in two like a sheet of paper by the greatsword in the girl's hand.

The giant snake, split in two, struggled to fall from the air and crashed heavily onto the street, its remaining half of its head writhing and digging aimlessly at the ground.

Apart from the magical energy emanating from the broken surface like smoke, nothing else that caused physical discomfort flowed out.

The giant snake's struggles gradually subsided, disintegrating into elusive magical light points in the horrified gazes of the onlookers, while the magical girl who had severed the giant snake was long gone.

"Master, I don't understand why you're doing all this unnecessary stuff."

Kuroba Laishi wiped non-existent bloodstains from the greatsword with his elbow, and asked Seishin, who was holding a scythe burning with pale flames in one hand in front of him.

"Don't you understand why I protect these ordinary people?" Sheng Shiyin retorted.

Kuroba Rise swallowed the saliva that had spilled from her throat. Seishine answered her question with a question, which in a sense indicated that her question had been somewhat impolite.

But Kuroba Laisei still answered honestly, "Yes."

Saintess wielded her scythe, slicing open the belly of a pterosaur-like monster that lunged at her. She glanced out of the corner of her eye at Yuuki En's retinue as they plummeted before replying:

"Because this is our duty. Although the church no longer exists, we have protected the peace of Moonsea City and the primordial power for countless years. Now that the power has been lost, Moonsea City has fallen into chaos. Although I don't know what I can do, I feel that at least continuing to fulfill this duty is not wrong."

Kuroba Laishi nodded slightly, though Seishin didn't notice her little gesture.

"So, what about the other nuns?" Saint Shiyin asked, no longer dwelling on the previous topic.

“They are both protecting the Dean and Vice Dean. They no longer have the strength to fight Yuuki Yuuki, and if Yuuki Yuuki comes after them, they will have no way to protect themselves. Therefore, the nuns of the Holy Temple believe that they need protection,” Kuroba Laishi replied respectfully.

"Idiots." Sheng Shiyin cursed, swallowing back even more vulgar words, but her tone became more helpless and disappointed: "Yuki Yui's target can't be the two of them, how can these idiots not even understand something like this?"

Seeing Seishin's angry expression, Kuroba Laisei dared not speak, silently wielding his greatsword in place of her reply.

"Never mind." After a long pause, Saint Shion sighed helplessly. "Now that the church is gone, they can't fulfill any of their duties. Besides, they never obeyed me anyway, so let them be. What about the other magical girls?"

“A large portion of the other magical girls have already been mobilized and are fighting against Yuuki Yuuki’s familiars, but some have not yet made a move,” Nishio Reki replied.

"What kind of answer is that? A large part, and a part, who understands what you're saying?" Sheng Shiyin grabbed a handful of hair, and before Hei Yu Laisheng could speak, Sheng Shiyin raised her hand to interrupt her:

"I didn't mean to blame you. Anyway, the nuns protecting Moonsea City haven't done anything, but a bunch of magical girls, even corrupted magical girls, have suddenly appeared to protect Moonsea City. Tsk, how ridiculous. Forget about that. Let's do as much as we can, prioritize our own safety, and not risk our lives."

At this moment, Kuroba Rise was finally able to ask the question he had initially posed: "Master, but there's something I don't understand. You said that Yuuki Yukino's goal wasn't them, but now that the situation is so chaotic, Yuuki Yukino only showed herself and then disappeared without a trace. So what do you mean by her...?"

"What is her purpose? It's obvious. She probably didn't think about it when she only had a third of the power. Now, the entire Primordial Darkness is in her body. I have also briefly experienced the feeling of having power, more than once. It's not so easy to resist that temptation."

Saint Shiyin chuckled and looked up at the sky.

Countless monsters still hovered in the sky above Moonsea City. Even though they had killed many of them, their numbers did not seem to have decreased much.

"Right now, she's probably plotting something somewhere, somewhere, to get that power."

……

Yuehai City, roadside.

Still wearing his work clothes, with his hands in his somewhat dirty pockets, Rongshan Deng strode towards a bench located by a flower bed.

A pink-haired girl was sitting on a public bench with her legs crossed, leaning against the backrest, sipping a round popsicle in her hand. She seemed completely oblivious to the footsteps of the molten mountain lantern, going about her own business.

As Touka Moroyama got closer, Yuuki Yukina finally took a full bite of her popsicle, turned her head back, and gestured with her chin towards Touka Moroyama, which could be considered a greeting.

Without saying a word, Lance walked over to Yuuki Yuuki's side and sat down next to her with his hands in his pockets.

Next, Laughing Mountain pressed all her weight onto the back of the chair, causing it to wobble noticeably. Then, she imitated Yuuki Enishi by crossing her legs, though perhaps in a more undignified manner.

"This place you chose isn't like you at all. I thought magical girls liked to go to high places. Moonsea Tower, don't you guys always gather there when something happens? Why not this time?" Lava Mountain Lantern took her hand out of her pocket and rested it on the back of the chair.

"But you still found me, didn't you?" Yuuki Yuki snapped her popsicle in half and mumbled through her teeth, biting the stick inside.

“If you don’t want to, I’ll have to put in some effort.” Rongshan Deng glanced at the city, which was already in chaos, and wiggled his toes.

She meant it would take some effort, not that it would be completely impossible to find; that's the kind of confidence that Rongshan Deng has now.

"So what? You turned Yuehai City upside down, and you just sat here watching by yourself?"

Yuuki Yukina shrugged: "Even if I wanted to keep causing trouble, you probably couldn't agree. You'd always have to come and fight me, no matter what, no matter what I'm doing, you'd definitely do it."

“Yeah, that’s true.” Lungyama also shrugged, then raised his head even higher: “Before anyone else can stop you, I definitely have to learn from you first, right? If I miss this opportunity, it might not be so easy to find another one like this.”

"Sigh." Yuuki Yui couldn't help but sigh, "That's exactly what I'm worried about, so the first problem to deal with is still you."

"Oh? Deal with it?" Laughter couldn't help but laugh out loud. His hand, which was resting on the bench, suddenly tightened and gripped the back of the chair firmly, as if he wanted to pull Yuki Yuki into his arms as well.

Of course, it's impossible for Lancelot to do such a thing, but Yuuki Eri is indeed under her control.

“Yes.” Yuuki Yui showed no fear whatsoever: “Deal with it.”

……

The strange man with the leg-like spirit Qi San leaned back, maintaining a somewhat comical but more eerie posture as he ran wildly towards Nishio Reki and Hayashi Mustard.

Lin Jiezi was so frightened that she trembled like a leaf and froze on the spot, staring wide-eyed at the scaled man who was constantly approaching her, his pupils magnified.

Just before Lin Jiezi's mind went completely blank, she felt Nishio Reki pull her hand hard and shout at her, "What are you doing? Run!"

Lin Jiezi turned around subconsciously, but was pulled by Nishio Reki and they started running wildly. Even though she didn't know why she was doing this, it was the only thing she could do and wanted to do.

For the first few steps, Nishio Reki was still holding onto Hayashi Keiko, but as time went on, the two realized that this posture was not suitable for running, so they let go of each other and swung their arms to speed up their run.

After running for more than ten meters, Lin Jiezi suddenly woke up from her daze and ran even harder, almost leaving Nishio Reki behind.

That's not Nishio Reki's fault.

Having already run one lap, Nishio Reki felt like his legs were made of noodles. The cool air rushed into his throat, making it dry, hoarse, and painful. He was moving forward entirely on instinct, and it felt as if his alveoli were on fire with every breath. Just running like this made Nishio Reki feel like a bomb that could explode at any moment.

But as soon as he heard the sticky, hurried footsteps getting closer and closer behind him, Nishio Reki didn't dare to stop.

"Where did she go? I... I feel... a little... dangerous!" Lin Jiezi shouted loudly, having already wanted to turn around to look at the monster chasing her more than once.

Nishio Reki shouted to stop the other person: "Don't turn around! Keep running!"

You must not have any distracting thoughts. Do not think about whether Yuki En already knows Lin Jiezi's location, do not consider whether you are in danger, and do not even look at the location of that strange scaly person.

Any distracting thoughts can disturb one's mind, causing one to make a trivial mistake somewhere, which, like a chain reaction of meshing gears, leads one to a completely different outcome.

Focus on the present, that is, only pay attention to what you can do right now.

Nishio Ryū glanced at the road ahead and immediately began to quickly draw a map in his mind, relying on his memories of growing up in the neighborhood.

"Ahead! Turn right!" Nishio Reki called out, taking the lead as he turned into a narrow alley, and casually pulled Lin Jiezi along, causing Lin Jiezi to stumble and make a sharp turn.