Chapter 933: Confession

In the evening, Lingyun sat at the table by the window; before him was a cup of tea emitting a faint mist. Opposite Lingyun, there was another cup of tea.

"Brother, do you think Akemi Homura will come?" Ruoxi asked, resting her chin on her hands with some curiosity.

"There is over an eighty percent chance she will," Lingyun said calmly.

"Is that so?" A mysterious light flickered in Ruoxi's eyes, as if she were planning something.

"You, don't go thinking about pulling Akemi Homura into the Cloud Realm too; she still has a more important mission." Lingyun extended a finger and lightly flicked Ruoxi's forehead.

"Ouch—" Ruoxi reached out to cover the spot Lingyun had flicked, looking at Lingyun with a face full of protest.

Just at this moment, a slight fluctuation in time arrived. Ruoxi looked calmly toward a spot not far away, where a young girl was approaching. Seeing Akemi Homura arrive, Ruoxi's figure gradually faded, slowly disappearing into the Void.

"Teacher." Akemi Homura came before Lingyun and bowed slightly to him.

"Sit," Lingyun said with a smile.

Akemi Homura sat down opposite Lingyun, then picked up the tea in her hand and took a small sip.

After drinking the tea, Akemi Homura could not help but widen her eyes; she actually felt as if some kind of change had occurred in her body. Ever since she became a Magical Girl, this current body was actually no longer her original one, but more like a tool used for combat. That a tool could undergo such a change was something she had never imagined.

"As expected, student Akemi Homura, your body has a huge problem!" Lingyun sighed slightly and said.

Hearing Lingyun's words, Akemi Homura's body could not help but tremble.

"Teacher..."

"Alright, we will discuss this matter later; I have a more important question now. I want to know, is there any connection between the monster in that Barrier earlier and you beings who call yourselves Magical Girls?" Lingyun paused the previous topic and turned to ask about another matter.

"Teacher, you... why do you say that?" A trace of surprise could not help but appear on Akemi Homura's face.

"Why do I say that? Look there!" Lingyun pointed his finger in one direction.

Akemi Homura followed the direction Lingyun pointed and happened to see a rose. Upon seeing this rose, Akemi Homura could not help but think of the Witch of Roses that had been destroyed by Tomoe Mami earlier.

"Teacher, this is?"

"Watch closely!"

As Lingyun spoke, the flower on the rose gently opened. Inside the blooming rose, a tiny young girl was actually sleeping.

"She, who is she?" Akemi Homura could not help but widen her eyes.

"She is what you call a Witch. I discovered that there seems to be an aura on her similar to yours, which is why I wanted to ask," Lingyun said calmly.

"This..." Seeing the young girl sleeping inside the rose, the look Akemi Homura cast toward Lingyun already carried a trace of complexity.

"Teacher, actually I am not the Supernatural Being you speak of. The name we use for ourselves is Magical Girl, and what Tomoe Mami and the others defeated earlier is what we call a Witch." Since she had already decided to seek help from Lingyun, Akemi Homura no longer concealed it.

"Magical Girl? That sounds like a very loving term!" Lingyun's tone carried a trace of strangeness.

"A so-called Magical Girl is a girl who has signed a Contract with Kyubey and exchanged a wish for a miracle. After becoming a Magical Girl, one must fight against the Witches hiding in the shadows. And when the pollution of a Magical Girl's Soul Gem reaches its limit, transforming from hope into despair, she will turn into a Witch..." When she reached this point, Akemi Homura's tone also carried a trace of helplessness.

"A girl signs a Contract with Kyubey to become a Magical Girl, only to eventually fall into becoming a Witch and be hunted down by other Magical Girls; that really is a sorrowful fate. This way, some of the information I collected can be verified," Lingyun said calmly.

"What information did Teacher collect?" Akemi Homura asked with some curiosity.

"In this world, there lingers an extremely massive amount of resentment, and this resentment is directed precisely at that little beast you call Kyubey. However, that little beast seems to be protected by some kind of power, and these resentments cannot affect it. I was initially curious why there would be such massive resentment in this world; if all the Witches in this world were caused by it single-handedly, then that would explain it." Lingyun's fingers tapped lightly on the tabletop.

Immediately, he wrote the four characters for 'Magical Girl' on the table, then casually wiped away the middle two characters. Seeing the remaining two characters, Akemi Homura's heart skipped a beat, for those two characters were none other than 'Witch'.

"It looks as if it were destined from the very beginning. By the way, student Akemi Homura, could you let me see that gem on your hand?" Lingyun said suddenly.

Hearing Lingyun say this, Akemi Homura subconsciously protected the back of her hand.

"If I am not mistaken, this gem is the real student Akemi Homura. And this thing you have before me now, well, barely counts as a body; it is more like a tool-like existence," Lingyun's words made Akemi Homura's body stiffen.

"Teacher is indeed Teacher; you even saw through this kind of thing." A bitter smile appeared on Akemi Homura's face, and then she nodded. "To tell the truth, when I found out about this, it took me a very long time to recover as well!"

"I told you before, didn't I? If the soul leaves the body, it is a very dangerous thing. If every one of you Magical Girls is like this, then becoming a Witch must be an irreversible thing!" Lingyun said.

"What does Teacher mean by this?" A trace of anxiety could not help but appear on Akemi Homura's face.

"I have been to a Witch Barrier before. In the Witch Barrier, I felt powerful negative energy. If an unguarded soul stays in such an environment for a long time, what will happen?" Lingyun's words made Akemi Homura's face turn pale instantly.

"So that's how it is?" Akemi Homura could not help but clench her fists.

"No, no, no, that is not the most important part. Do you remember the source of a Magical Girl's magic?" Lingyun asked.

"The source of a Magical Girl's magic is naturally the Soul Gem!"

"Correct! Then, what happens when there is a massive consumption of magic?"

Hearing this question, Akemi Homura subconsciously looked at Lingyun, a terrifying guess rising in her heart.

"Just like how we need to eat when we are hungry, when the power of the Soul Gem is over-consumed, it will naturally absorb the surrounding power to recover its loss. When the Soul Gem absorbs power, it doesn't pick what is good or what is bad; it will just swallow everything indiscriminately. Even though a Grief Seed can temporarily absorb the filth within a Soul Gem, that is nothing more than drinking poison to quench thirst; it will only sink deeper and deeper," Lingyun stated a terrifying fact to Akemi Homura.

Hearing Lingyun's words, Akemi Homura's face turned pale instantly, and her body seemed to lose its strength, slumping into the chair.