Chapter 954

"Mm, I'm truly satisfied!" Sakura Kyoko patted her stomach, her eyes filled with a look of contentment.

The others present looked toward Sakura Kyoko with some helplessness; it seemed that among everyone present, Sakura Kyoko was the one who had eaten the most.

"It looks like coming to this city was indeed the most correct choice!" Sakura Kyoko collapsed onto the sofa like a salted fish.

"You, you really are still the same!" Tomoe Mami looked at Sakura Kyoko's appearance, a trace of helplessness flashing in her eyes.

Sakura Kyoko waved her hand, then slowly closed her eyes, seemingly resting. Tomoe Mami sighed softly, then looked in Lingyun's direction.

"Come with me." Lingyun said softly.

"Okay." Tomoe Mami nodded, then followed Lingyun into the room.

"Does Mami-san have something to ask the teacher about?" Kaname Madoka asked Akemi Homura beside her, feeling a bit strange.

"It must be something important." Akemi Homura said somewhat perfunctorily.

After Lingyun closed the door, Tomoe Mami stared fixedly at Lingyun, a trace of sorrow seemingly flashing in her eyes.

"Teacher, is that dream I had before real?"

"Just as you saw in your dream, this kind of thing is indeed real!" Lingyun had no intention of hiding it from Tomoe Mami.

"Ho, how could it be like this..." A trace of despair flashed in Tomoe Mami's eyes. "Clearly, I believed in it so much, why did it turn into this? If, if I had known from the beginning that a Magical Girl would turn into a Witch, then, then it would have been better if Magical Girls didn't exist at all!"

Tears streaming down her face, Tomoe Mami conjured a flintlock, took out her Soul Gem with her right hand, and fired a shot directly at her own Soul Gem.

She knew that with Lingyun here, it was absolutely impossible for her to harm anyone else, so the only way she could face this situation was to destroy herself. She did not want to end up in the tragic situation of becoming a Witch; just thinking of the appearance of the Witch she had seen in her dream made Tomoe Mami's soul tremble.

Lingyun watched Tomoe Mami's actions but had no intention of stopping her; instead, the moment Tomoe Mami pulled out the flintlock, he directly cast an Array to isolate the sound inside the room.

The moment the Array was cast, Tokisaki Kurumi subconsciously glanced at Lingyun's room, then withdrew her gaze.

"Ding—"

A crisp sound rang out suddenly, and Tomoe Mami looked at the Soul Gem in her hand in astonishment. Over her Soul Gem, a layer of faint yellow light had covered it at some unknown time. Her bullet struck this yellow light and failed to shake it in the slightest; instead, it was deflected away.

"Th, how could this be?" Tomoe Mami looked at the Soul Gem in her hand in astonishment.

She had no idea that her Soul Gem was so hard that it could even deflect her own flintlock bullet.

It was only at this moment that she felt an incomparably fearful emotion rise from the bottom of her heart, sweeping through her entire body and mind. The flintlock in Tomoe Mami's hand dropped to the floor with a clatter, and the hand holding the Soul Gem trembled incessantly, until finally, her whole body slowly slumped to the ground.

"Do you know fear now?" Lingyun asked softly, looking at Tomoe Mami who had collapsed powerlessly to the ground.

"I, I..." Tomoe Mami's body trembled violently, a trace of relief at having survived a disaster flashing in her eyes.

Inside her Soul Gem, a black, ominous color was constantly expanding, but it was quickly suppressed by the yellow light.

"Didn't I say before that I had set up an insurance policy under your Soul Gems? That was for this exact situation! Also, don't carry everything on your own shoulders; now, you still have me, your teacher, in front of you!" Lingyun said.

"But, that's a Witch, a Witch!" Tomoe Mami shouted in terror.

Recalling that every Witch she had eliminated before was once a Magical Girl, Tomoe Mami felt as if she were carrying a heavy burden. Especially since she had once wanted to drag Kaname Madoka and Sayaka into this terrifying Hell, she felt her heart trembling.

Especially since Sayaka had previously said happily that she had become a Magical Girl and could now fight side-by-side with Tomoe Mami, and that she wanted to become a partner of justice, she felt her heart grow even heavier.

"Actually, you don't need to be this desperate. After all, despair is the greatest catalyst for a Magical Girl to become a Witch. Besides, even if you do become a Witch, I still have some methods to pull you back!" Lingyun reached out and helped Tomoe Mami up.

Tomoe Mami leaned limply against Lingyun, her tone filled with weakness: "Really? Teacher, you aren't lying to me?"

"Of course I'm not lying to you. Do you remember Bebe?" Lingyun helped Tomoe Mami sit down on a chair.

"Bebe?"

"That is Momoe Nagisa, the girl who was by my side earlier. Take a guess, what was that girl's previous identity?" Lingyun said with a smile.

"That child, that child..." Tomoe Mami couldn't help but recall the scene she had seen in the Witch Barrier of the Sweets Witch, her eyes widening to their limit. "You mean, that child is the Sweets Witch?"

Seeing Tomoe Mami's look of disbelief, Lingyun nodded slightly. "That's right, she is the Sweets Witch, but she has now recovered her form as a Magical Girl."

Tomoe Mami felt her head was in a whirl; to her, such a thing was simply absurd, but a glimmer of hope still existed in her heart, hoping that this was true.

"By the way, there is another child who wants to say hello to you!" Lingyun waved toward the window.

Tomoe Mami looked toward the window and happened to see an incomparably magnificent rose slowly blooming in her direction. Upon seeing this rose, she seemed to see a young girl smiling and waving at her.

"Teacher, who is she?" Tomoe Mami asked with a trace of astonishment in her eyes.

"That's right, she is the Rose Witch! However, her condition was truly too severe at the time, so she cannot appear before us in human form for the time being," Lingyun said. "I am telling you this because I want you to know that you don't need to feel despair because Magical Girls can turn into Witches; I will stand behind you and protect you all!"

"Teacher!" Tomoe Mami suddenly threw herself into Lingyun's arms and hugged him tightly, as if venting her helplessness.

Lingyun smiled and stroked Tomoe Mami's head, comforting her in silence.