"Ahead!"
After leaving those witches to Red Ponytail and Felicia, Kohin, Yachiyo, and Tsuruno continued forward. They quickly passed through a dark corridor and entered a spacious hall at the end. There, the three of them soon saw the paper dolls they had seen before, and in the midst of them, something that looked like a faucet was gurgling with spring water.
"That must be the true form of the rumor!"
Seeing the creature, Yachiyo gripped the long spear tightly.
"Let’s go, Kohin, Tsuruno!"
"Yes!"
Perceiving the presence of danger, the paper dolls suddenly split in the middle, and a large swarm of familiar spirits, resembling flying insects, swarmed out from within, rushing toward the trio. Quickly, both sides engaged in battle.
Meanwhile, within the barrier, the battle between Felicia and the witch continued.
"Uwaaahhh!!!"
At this moment, Felicia was in a frenzy, furiously swinging the hammer in her hands, smashing down hard on the witch in front of her. She seemed completely unconcerned, only attacking, attacking, and attacking.
"Kill, kill all the witches!!"
Roaring, Felicia raised the giant hammer again. Flames suddenly erupted from the back of her hammer, and then Felicia, with the massive hammer, descended like a human rocket, smashing down once more among the witches, shattering two of them rushing toward her.
But at the same time, two other giant witches on the other side took the opportunity to pounce, opening their mouths towards Felicia—only to be reduced to ash in a flash of fire.
"Can’t you calm down a bit?"
Having burned two witches with one slash, Red Ponytail also arrived by Felicia’s side, casually knocking another witch behind her into the sky.
"If you continue like this, you’ll only give the witches an opportunity, and it will be worse then!"
"Stop nagging!"
However, Felicia completely ignored Red Ponytail’s warning, roaring again as she charged forward with her hammer raised high.
"All witches must be killed, every one of them! The witch that killed my mom and dad might be among them, so I need to kill them all!!! That’s why I became a Magical Girl!!!"
"......."
Hearing Felicia’s roar, Red Ponytail slightly frowned. The reason was simple—she had detected a contradiction in Felicia’s words.
"Your parents were killed by witches?!"
"That’s right, a witch killed my parents, so I’m going to kill all the witches!"
"........Then, what wish did you make?"
"......"
At this moment, Felicia’s movements suddenly halted. She gripped the giant hammer tightly, her eyes blank.
"The wish I made... the wish I made was.........."
Saying this, Felicia suddenly grasped her head and screamed.
"My... my wish, my wish is... ahhhh!!!!"
Just as I suspected, something’s wrong!
Seeing Felicia’s pained expression in front of her, Red Ponytail’s face darkened. She hurried to Felicia’s side, grabbing her and leaping backward, out of the battlefield. The witches following closely behind hadn’t even had a chance to activate their abilities before they were chopped into pieces by the knights of Farron, wielding their greatswords.
"Uh... uh......."
At this moment, Felicia was already in a semi-conscious state. Red Ponytail placed her on the ground and continued to watch her. From the surface, Felicia’s thoughts seemed unproblematic; however, Red Ponytail found a contradiction. Of course, if Felicia’s parents were killed by witches after she had become a Magical Girl, then it could be brushed off. But Felicia clearly stated that she became a Magical Girl because of her parents’ death.
So, the question arises: what wish did she make to QB?
Given that Felicia made the wish after her parents were killed, the scope of the wish should be pretty clear. It could only be for her parents’ resurrection or to kill all witches. From Felicia’s obsession, the latter seems likely; however, the reality is that Felicia did not make such a wish, otherwise, she wouldn’t still be searching for the witch that killed her parents.
Then what kind of wish could she have made?
"Boom!!"
While Red Ponytail pondered, the original barrier disappeared following the elimination of the last witch. Simultaneously, a loud rumble echoed from the depths of the distant passage. Immediately afterward, Red Ponytail sensed that the strange interference enveloping Kamihama City weakened slightly.
Whew... this feels much better.
Red Ponytail shook her head and then shook her hands. Finally, the network had transitioned from 2G back to 3G speed. Although not fully restored, it was much improved than before.
Soon enough, Red Ponytail saw Yachiyo, Kohin, and Tsuruno returning from the other side of the passage. Upon seeing Red Ponytail standing there, Tsuruno cheerfully waved.
"Master Red Ponytail! We did it!"
"... I sensed it."
Red Ponytail nodded, while Tsuruno ran over with a beaming face, gesticulating as she spoke to her.
"You won’t believe how we eliminated that creature. Yachiyo and I originally couldn’t hurt it at all. Then Kohin came up with a plan, had Yachiyo knock the creature towards her, and then she pierced it with a single arrow. It was amazing!"
"Not really..."
Hearing Tsuruno’s praise, Kohin smiled a little shyly.
"At that moment, I just had a spark of inspiration and thought it might work..."
"But it did work, and that’s what counts."
Yachiyo’s expression softened, and she glanced around. Noticing the twins and Felicia lying on the ground, her brow furrowed.
"What’s going on here?"
"I gave those twins a little punishment, and as for Felicia... she has some issues similar to Kohin’s. We’ll discuss it later."
"... Huh?"
Upon hearing this, Kohin was momentarily stunned, while Yachiyo nodded.
"Alright then... what should we do now?"
As she spoke, Yachiyo glanced at the twins. At the moment, their faces were pale, their eyes blank, and their pupils completely unfocused. It was unclear what they had endured, but judging by their rigid expressions, they certainly faced some unimaginable and terrifying ordeal.
"Let’s take them back for interrogation. These two are considered high-ranking members of that organization. We just need to find out the organization’s base, then storm it and wipe it out."
"Is it really okay to do this? It’s a bit too much, isn’t it...?"
Upon hearing Red Ponytail’s response, Kohin felt somewhat uneasy, but Red Ponytail shook her head.
"Too much? Is it us being too much, or is it those who spread rumors and lure others? What they want to do is their freedom, but it shouldn’t be at the cost of ordinary people. We don’t require Magical Girls to serve the public, but harming ordinary people is a different issue."
At this point, Red Ponytail sneered. She never appreciated the so-called redemption in Japanese animation, with its tragic pasts and bullied characters—those aren’t excuses.
In simple terms, suppose there’s a girl bullied by school violence, who finally couldn’t take it and jumped off a building, turning into an Evil Spirit. Even for Red Ponytail, her revenge scope must be permissible.
Firstly, it’s reasonable for her to retaliate against those who bullied her; it’s only fair.
Those students who stood by while she was bullied, and teachers who only thought of keeping the peace, are also to some extent deserving of their fate, not worthy of sympathy. On another level, if the Evil Spirit limited her revenge to the whole school, Red Ponytail could accept it.
But if the Evil Spirit chose to retaliate against the daughter of the friend’s husband of the boss of the company of the student who bullied her, that’s a different story. After all, the latter has no connection with the Evil Spirit’s life and didn’t cause any impact.
And what the Wings of Margis are doing is the same. They are not targeting specific individuals but spreading rumors and performing large-scale AOE attacks on unspecified groups, showing a complete disregard for who gets hurt. This behavior is clearly not what Magical Girls should do, so as the Divine Envoy of the God of Magical Girls, Red Ponytail decisively took action.
"That’s right."
Yachiyo also nodded.
"I also believe Red Ponytail is right. It doesn’t matter what these people want to do; what’s important is their actions have harmed many people... This is unacceptable."
"........."
Now even Kohin had no words. She understood the logic, but felt the approach was somewhat excessive. But reminded by Red Ponytail and Yachiyo, Kohin quickly recalled the victims of the rumors—although most returned safely, their inexplicable disappearances worried their families greatly, and some even reported to the police...
"Tsuruno, capture them."
At this moment, Yachiyo stepped forward, reaching out to grab the twins in front, when suddenly a voice came from deep within.
"What on earth is happening?!"
"—————!!"
Hearing the voice, Yachiyo froze, raising her head, eyes wide with disbelief staring ahead. Soon, the door opened slowly, and a Magical Girl with short silver hair, accompanied by four figures in black cloaks, appeared before everyone.
Seeing this Magical Girl, Yachiyo stood there dumbfounded, softly calling out.
"Meidong..."
"Meidong...!!"
In contrast to Yachiyo, Tsuruno was obviously more excited, almost cheerfully rushing over and jumping into the arms of the silver-haired Magical Girl.
"Is it really Meidong? Is it really really Meidong? You’re back, that’s wonderful!"
"Mi Huyou?"
Looking at the girl in front, Red Ponytail furrowed her brows, then glanced at Kohin beside her, seeing she too appeared thoughtful, and asked in a low voice.
"Hey, who is this Mi Huyou?"
"She seems to be Miss Yachiyo’s good friend."
Kohin’s expression was also complex.
"Previously, Miss Yachiyo wrote her name at the Word Spirit Shrine. From what she said back then, she and Miss Yachiyo have been friends for a long time..."
"Oh..."
Red Ponytail nodded, glancing at Yachiyo, then at Kohin, and finally at Mi Huyou opposite, before turning on her portable music player, letting the song play in her ears.
"Only laughter for the new, does anyone hear the old’s tears, love, two words, so tough. Should you seek clarity or pretend to be ignorant, knowing more or less is never satisfying..."
This song fits the current scene pretty well.
"Are you really Meidong?"
Yachiyo seemed to have composed herself, glaring at Meidong and asking in a low voice, to which Meidong smiled faintly.
"Yes, it’s really me this time, Little Eight. I never expected you’d go to the Word Spirit Shrine to find me. As a close friend, I’m really happy."
"That’s all thanks to your Kamihama City rumor files."
Yachiyo eyed Meidong with vigilance.
"And now... have you joined Margis too? Why? Why did you leave me?!"
"Yes."
Meidong nodded.
"I’m now also part of the Wings of Margis, and if you’re speaking of leaving, it must be..."
At this point, Meidong paused for a moment, once again looking at Yachiyo.
"If you intend to join the Wings of Margis, I’ll be very welcoming, because we genuinely aim to save Magical Girls."
"Do you really think so?"
"Of course, Little Eight, you’re strong, but... I dream of escaping this fate."
As she said this, Meidong raised her head, looking at the twins lying on the ground.
"Can you give these two children back to me? They are my current companions and very important friends to me."
"In that case, why don’t you stay too."
Red Ponytail finally spoke, staring at Meidong with a slight smirk.
"Seems your status in the organization is higher than these two girls, so if we capture you, we should be able to learn the location of Margis, right?"
"Unfortunately, that’s impossible."
With Meidong’s words, followed by a flash of silver light.
"Meidong?"
Looking at the circular blade in front of her neck, Tsuruno froze entirely, while Meidong gazed at Yachiyo with sorrowful eyes.
"Sorry, Little Eight, I don’t want this either, but... please give those two children back to me, or I’ll have to take Tsuruno away."

Comments

Loading...