Toyokawa Shoko doesn't want to become a witch

She finally understood why Miaomeng, despite wearing such high-end clothes, always had an lingering...sham smell about her.

I hope they don't actually become destitute just to buy these things.

Meow Dream: Hello, I can help you spend your money.

"Alright." Xiangzi pushed the cat dream out of his mind and cleared his throat. "This is another entrance/exit, which is why I called you here."

"Another entrance?" Meow Dream tilted her head. "I thought the barrier was in the pine forest."

Xiangzi waved to them, signaling them to follow, and then shouted into the air.

"Kyubi."

A white, doll-like creature darted out of the grass and followed at Xiangzi's feet.

The moment it appeared, Chu Hua, Hai Ling, and Miao Meng all showed expressions of extreme disgust.

"Wow, why are you still carrying this guy around!" Meow Dream pointed at Kyubey, looking disgusted. "Can't we just kill it?"

Xiangzi spread his hands and said it was fine, but he would have to wait a while.

Walking along the clean and tidy street, Xiangzi headed towards a secluded corner near the skyscraper, explaining to them as he went why he had called out Qubi.

Investigating the records that were lost for unknown reasons was Qubi's job, so during this period, the work of collecting information was not done by Xiangzi alone; Qubi also made a considerable contribution.

Magical girls are created by them, so their ability to perceive magic and control every detail is terrifyingly strong. Xiangzi uses it as his search engine, calling it out to ask questions whenever he needs to.

My footsteps finally stopped in front of a shop that had closed down due to poor management and had not yet found a new tenant. The shop used to be a coffee shop, but all the chairs outside had been removed. From here, you could see the magnificent view of the Reed Plain skyscrapers as soon as you looked up. It was a very nice location.

Unfortunately, the rent was too expensive, and the previous owner couldn't afford it and left.

Xiangzi gripped the doorknob, turned around, and asked.

"Now we have good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear?"

“Bad news.” The other three said in unison.

“Then here’s the bad news.” Xiangzi shrugged. “How much do you know about the loosening of the Nirvana Barrier?”

"The Nirvana Barrier has recently shown signs of weakening; the number of exits has increased significantly, and the rate of magic leakage has also increased, making it easier to detect," Qiu Bi stated truthfully. "Toyokawa Shoko, if you want to solve this problem on your own, you'd better hurry. It will be very difficult without signing a contract with me..."

brush--

The light of the knife flashed.

Hailing sheathed her sword.

Cupid's head fell to the ground.

Chu Hua hadn't even thrown the one-handed sword he'd pulled from the Soul Gem yet.

Xiangzi and Miaomeng stared wide-eyed at Hailing's nonchalant movements.

They didn't see Hailing draw her sword; they only saw her sheathing it.

Chu Hua did see it, but that was all.

“Sorry, I beat you to it.” Hailing raised her eyes. “If you have anything to tell us, just say it yourself. I don’t want to see this guy.”

"..." Xiangzi sighed softly, "It means that Nirvana may be about to enter the next incubation stage."

She opened the glass door of the abandoned shop and went inside first.

The three people following behind discovered that the door, which looked ordinary from the outside, seemed to turn the world upside down after they stepped across a certain line.

Instead of walking into the door, they walked out of the door and onto the street.

Opposite this door, where the Reed Plain Skyscraper once stood, is an old-fashioned kendo dojo, standing out like a product of two different worlds from the surrounding high-tech streets.

The Tale of Nirvana: Keep Your True Self: Chapter 105 Hey, what's wrong with you!

The dojo was just across the street. They waited at a traffic light on the side of the road.

“I have some good news to share,” Xiangzi said as they walked. “The increased progress of Nirvana incubation has made the barrier more unstable, and there are more entrances and exits. This is the closest entrance to Timoris’ territory.”

"...I don't think this is good news at all." Miao Meng curled her lips downwards. "Does it mean that this broken barrier is really built on top of the reed plain?"

Xiangzi nodded in agreement.

"Moreover, the more unstable the barrier is, the greater the probability of it being broken. As for Nirvana, it wants to break free from its cocoon. As for Yushina, she wants to find Nirvana. Only we are caught in the middle, pleasing neither side."

Xiangzi smiled sarcastically.

"The game difficulty will increase over time."

"You can still laugh?" Miao Meng said with a dark face and a pursed lip.

"Finding joy in hardship is nothing to be ashamed of," Xiangzi said, then stopped in his tracks.

The dojo occupies a very large area, completely taking up the land that originally belonged to the skyscraper.

However, the huge dojo was completely empty.

Logically, as part of the barrier, the ghosts should automatically fill any empty space that needs to be filled. If it's a place for visitors, there will be ghosts eating and ghosts working as waiters. If it's a movie theater, there will be ghosts watching movies and ghosts showing movies.

Banks are filled using this mechanism.

The same would happen if the White Queen's building didn't have so many pawns.

But Timoris' gym is an exception. You can feel how desolate it is just across the street, and if you get closer, you'll wonder if it's one of those unlucky tourist attractions that went bankrupt as soon as it was built.

"Timoris' territory allows only one person to enter at a time, and there is only one familiar, Timoris, inside."

Xiangzi explained.

"It should be the strongest of all the boss familiars. Chu Hua tried to fight it one-on-one, but the result was..."

Xiangzi shrugged.

Chu Hua, standing to the side, turned her head away shyly and said in a low voice.

"I can't beat it..."

Chu Hua's fighting style is more open and aggressive. Every movement involves connecting all the muscles in her body into a continuous path of force, leaving no room for restraint. When facing most witches who are much larger than herself, her bold fighting style makes it easier for her to launch effective attacks.

However, it is not very suitable against Timoris, who is less than three meters tall and still falls within the humanoid category, and whose combat skills are incredibly proficient.

"So that's why I'm needed to step in, is that right?"

Hailing nodded and pushed open the wooden door of the dojo.

The heavy wooden door creaked open, revealing the ancient-style dojo behind it.

“That… Timoris is carrying a Zen staff, and he probably uses some kind of ancient staff technique,” ​​Chu Hua added. “It looks big, but it’s very agile. Don’t be fooled by its appearance.”

"I understand. Is there anything else you'd like to say?"

Xiangzi thought for a moment, shook his head, and simply said, "Be careful."

Hailing gave a thumbs-up without any expression, a glint of light flashing in her turquoise eyes.

In an instant, a wave of confidence swept over the other three, blowing their hair back into waves. Xiangzi was forced to squint by the overflowing confidence, and could even faintly hear the crashing of the waves against the seawall and the cawing of the seagulls.

With a clang.

The wooden door closed automatically, and the wave-like confidence vanished like the receding tide.

The three people's hair was once again bound by gravity and hung down.

The streets have become quiet again.

Xiangzi silently lowered his head, took out a chocolate bar from his pocket, unwrapped it, broke off a piece, and handed it to Chuhua.

Chu Hua tacitly accepted the chocolate and popped it into her mouth.

Neither of them had eaten lunch, and their stomachs were a little empty. The chocolate bars were just bought at a convenience store by the roadside.

"I feel like she's not quite the person I remember." Miao Meng's lips twitched. "Is it just my imagination?"

"...Probably not." Xiangzi blinked blankly. "Such a reassuring thumb."

“Yeah… if this feeling really is called ‘security,’” Miaomeng shrugged and sighed helplessly, “I feel like it’s more like…”

Before those two words could be uttered, Miaomeng and Xiangzi stuffed chocolate into each other's mouths.

"Well?!"

"Shh..." Xiangzi tilted his head back and looked into Miaomeng's eyes, "Don't say those two words."

"why?"

"If I say it, Hailing's image may be irreparable."

"..."

Miao Meng imagined Hai Ling giving them a thumbs-up with a confident smile, and shuddered.

"you're right......"

—rolling around

The sound of something rolling came from not far away. A sphere wrapped in black seaweed rolled down the steps and into Miaomeng's sight.

Then, Miaomeng met Hailing's empty eyes.

What you call a sphere wrapped in black seaweed? That's a head, Hailing's head!

"Ah—! Hailing, how did you get so fast!"

Meow Dream once again transformed into the world-famous painting "The Scream," with its soul floating out of its mouth and striking the same screaming pose as its original form.

"What do you mean by dead or alive? That's not me."

"Who else could this be but you? This is you!"

"Then who is talking to you?"

Hai Ling stood at the doorway, one hand resting on the scabbard, the katana in her right hand still dripping blood.

With a twist and a flick of her wrist, the blood on the blade splattered onto the ground. Hai Ling twirled the blade, the silver tip drawing a beautiful arc in the air before returning to its sheath.

Looking at Xiangzi with eyes as deep as an ancient well, Hailing said calmly:

"I have fulfilled your request on schedule."

Xiangzi gave her a thumbs up.

Hai Ling rubbed her chin, about to say something, when suddenly a slight stinging pain came from her waist.

She looked down.

Just as Xiangzi had described, a witch's kiss appeared on her right side, brushing against the slightly protruding lines of her abdominal muscles.

She gave a knowing look, and swallowed back the question she had wanted to ask earlier.

So this is what 'a lifetime' means?

She originally wanted to ask what exactly "a lifetime" meant.

There's no need to ask anymore.

Following the appearance of the white light, the boundary of Nirvana was covered.

The Tale of Nirvana: Keep Your True Self: Chapter 106 So why do we need windmills?

when----

The bells emanating from the center of the barrier resounded throughout the entire city.

The white light disappeared, and Xiangzi opened his eyes again.

"Ah..." Xiangzi squinted at the sun in the sky and sighed deeply.

What greeted my eyes was no longer the bright sunshine of eight o'clock in the morning, but the orange-yellow sunset that was nearing its end.

Sunlight bathed everything in sight, turning all the scenery into a monotonous orange-yellow hue with only light and shadow distinctions. The original Timoris dojo had also been transformed, with towering buildings blocking out most of the dim sunlight. The original sense of separation had disappeared, and it had completely blended into the vast city.

Sunlight streamed through the gaps between the skyscrapers and into Xiangzi's eyes. She squinted, tilted her head back, and carefully examined the dojo that had been transformed into a skyscraper.

The lane separating them had changed from four lanes to an exaggerated eight lanes, increasing the distance by dozens of meters. Standing where Xiangzi was now, she looked up and could vaguely see the Japanese-style old buildings on the top floor of the skyscraper.

The crimson-painted wooden pillars form a grid of supports on the top floor, like tree roots creeping up the top of the skyscraper, supporting the 70-meter-high castle tower—Reed Castle.

Nearly a century ago, that building was burned to the ground in a war, leaving nothing behind. Now, the Reed Castle has been built on its ruins. As for the original Reed Castle, Xiangzi had only seen it in his textbooks and knew that it was one of the symbols of ancient ruling power. Now, Timoris has moved it intact to the top floor of the skyscraper. The square wooden frame imitates the structure of Kiyomizu-dera Temple, rooting the castle tower on the skyscraper.