Chapter 123: Interrogation

Senior Cuique's arrival clearly did not surprise Moses; the bright smile still on her face proved that.

She could also see that Senior Cuique's state was different from before, yet even facing the sky-filling threads of magic power and the substantial magic radiance, her expression did not change in the slightest.

Indeed, she inexplicably began to applaud.

"After waiting so long, the main protagonist of our play has finally arrived."

Moses said with a somewhat frivolous tone, "But it seems you liked the 'gifts' I left for you so much that you wasted quite a bit of time on them. I never thought you would like the little trinkets I made on a whim so much."

"You call them... you call those people 'gifts'?"

Senior Cuique looked at Moses with a calm face, showing no trace of joy or sorrow: "That is truly a joke that makes one completely unable to laugh."

"This is not a joke."

Moses shook her head: "Have you not realized that on them, I have shown you a new possibility? That is an existence never seen before, combining human taming with the magic power of the Mutilated Beasts, making them the most suitable mass-produced high-quality food; have you not been moved?"

"All I can see is a group of miserable lives that you have toyed with and desecrated."

Senior Cuique's fingers moved slightly, yet she still showed no emotional fluctuation, looking at Moses with indifference: "Now tell me, what have you done to Hong Siyu... no, what have you done to the ordinary people of the Anomaly Strategy Bureau?"

"What did I do? Can you not see?"

Moses widened her eyes as if very surprised: "The stitching of Mutilated Beasts to humans, the superposition of life traits; is this not an obvious matter?"

"Simply stitching Mutilated Beasts onto human bodies cannot create such a desecrated existence."

Senior Cuique stared at Moses: "You directly embedded the magic power source of the Mutilated Beasts into human bodies, using the most violent method to completely alter their physical and soul structures; this is not a superposition of life, you are manufacturing degraded Mutilated Beasts."

"It is simply because mortals are too weak."

Moses smiled faintly: "What I bestowed upon them was the prototype of the Beast's viscera, only slightly uncontrollable. If they could possess magic power and a soul superior to the Mutilated Beasts, they could utilize this power in reverse without being transformed by the Mutilated Beasts' magic power."

"You know perfectly well that is impossible."

Senior Cuique's expression grew colder: "The magic power and soul strength of ordinary humans are not even a fraction of those of the Mutilated Beasts; by doing this, you are killing them in another way."

"Who says otherwise?"

Moses remained composed: "But what of it? Do you have any feelings for the livestock on a farm?"

"Did you see the little one behind me? To feed it, even if we slaughtered all the wild Mutilated Beasts in Fang Ting City, or even the entire southern region of the Donghua State Domain, and added those incompetent magical girls, it would still be completely insufficient."

"To truly supply it with sufficient nutrition, we need to use artificial magic power sources to produce such 'meat pigs'; only such 'meat pigs' can satisfy this little one's dietary needs."

"I spent a full two years; if not for such a great technological innovation, even with my status, scouring all the magic power resources this state domain could provide would not have been enough to achieve such results. Is such a great technology not worth us being moved by?"

As soon as her words fell, several blue threads of magic power suddenly sliced from her side toward her neck, but were blocked by Moses's left hand wrapped in magic power.

"Getting anxious already?" Moses asked slowly and deliberately.

"Because I do not want to waste time here listening to your nonsense."

Senior Cuique manipulated the threads of magic power with her fingers: "Then why did you turn Hong Siyu into that? If, as you say, it was to find food for the Mutilated Beasts, why did you torture her like that for two years?"

"Torture? You mean Miss Hong?"

Moses said with some surprise: "You actually think that was torture?"

Swish! Clang!

Senior Cuique's threads of magic power sliced toward Moses's vital points once again, but were blocked once more.

"I said I did not want to listen to your nonsense," Senior Cuique said coldly, staring at her.

"Then you have wronged me, because for me, this was actually a very meaningful experiment."

Moses shook her head and continued to answer with a smile: "I have always been curious about the difference between retired magical girls and ordinary people; if they, having lost their magic power sources, were to obtain a magic power source again, would they still be able to regain their power?"

"Miss Hong was a very valuable experimental material for me, allowing me to figure this matter out."

"I imitated the magic power source of the Mutilated Beasts into a structure similar to a Heart Gem, stuffed it into the empty space left by Miss Hong's original magic power source, wanting to see if she could become a magical girl relying on the Mutilated Beasts' magic power—just like those bastards of Claw Mark."

"But the facts proved that a retired magical girl indeed no longer possesses the traits of a magical girl. Not only did she not die immediately after being forcibly embedded with the Mutilated Beasts' magic power source like an ordinary magical girl; instead, she integrated the magic power source very well, becoming a Mutilated Beast in the true sense."

Moses said this, spreading her palms flat, quite proudly: "The experimental results show that a retired magical girl is indeed just an ordinary person; except for retaining some self-awareness, she has no difference from the other 'meat pigs'."

"In this regard, I should also thank Miss Hong; her existence allowed me to solve a confusion I had for a long time. You magical girls are indeed beautiful 'treasures'."

Clang!

The threads of magic power condensed into a sword-blade-like masterpiece; Senior Cuique controlled her magic armor to fight Moses, with purple-black and deep-blue magic power splashing everywhere. Countless magic bullets collided in the air, and they parried each other with movements too fast for ordinary people to see, for a time unable to determine a winner.

"You are truly an unadulterated scum, Moses."

Senior Cuique spoke word by word: "No, I have seen more than one person from Black Ember Dawn in this period; you are all real scum."

"Please do not use such a lowly word as 'scum' to describe us."

Moses showed a cold sneer: "Being born in this world, becoming an ordinary human, is the greatest sorrow."

"If it were not for the existence of scum like you, where would the sorrow come from?"

Senior Cuique turned the magic armor in her hand into a long spear and swept it toward Moses: "Thugs and villains mocking the suffering of victims; do not make me laugh!"

"Do you think the root cause is us?"

Moses parried Senior Cuique's attack and counterattacked with a backhand: "Without Black Ember Dawn, beasts and magical girls would still exist in this world; countless mortals would still be slaughtered by wild Mutilated Beasts or affected by combat magic power; in the face of the power of magic, the weak lives of mortals have no meaning!"

"Magical girls are fighting on behalf of people! They are expelling and subduing Mutilated Beasts, maintaining the stability of this world; why do you shift the blame onto the magical girls!"

Senior Cuique blocked Moses's counterattack with her masterpiece shield while controlling more threads to restrict Moses's movements: "Is your daughter not also a magical girl? Before each of them obtained power, they were ordinary girls; they paid their most precious youth, even their lives, to protect others! Do you not understand that!"

"... Why is it that when other people's daughters pay, it is their youth, but when my daughter pays, it is her life?"

Moses's voice suddenly turned cold.

She raised her hand, and the spell pattern in her hand suddenly transformed; magic power creations resembling circular saws replaced the previous waves and suddenly sliced toward Senior Cuique: "Why is it that other people's daughters do not need to pay anything, while my daughter must pay everything for this fight that will never end?"

"I have never figured out this question; can you answer me, Cornflower?"

"I worked in the Anomaly Strategy Bureau organization for so many years, rising from the lowest-level employee to become a top leader; moving from a small city in the Western Region all the way to your Donghua State Domain, I have seen too many, too many magical girls."

"Too many girls became magical girls with good wishes, yet under the corruption of power and authority, they became incredibly arrogant, looking down on everyone, and in the end, still did not need to pay any price."

"But my daughter, my only treasure, she carried this original intention through to the end, executing it until the very last moment."

"She would advise me to understand those arrogant and domineering magical girls; she would advise me to understand that lofty Kingdom Wang Ting; she would kindly get along with everyone in our Anomaly Strategy Bureau; she would save every innocent person who encountered a Mutilated Beast at any cost."

"However, it was precisely such a Magical Girl, one you take for granted in your understanding, who died in the Great Beast Calamity of nineteen years ago, crushed by the ruthless tide of ferocious beasts, with only her shattered Heart Gem left to be recovered."

"Her death was not uncommon amidst the Great Beast Calamity; after all, so many Magical Girls perished in that disaster. She paid with her life for her ideals. I grieve, yet I respect her will."

"But."

Moston paused. Gazing at Senior Cuique, who flew and maneuvered amidst countless circular saws, skillfully approaching their side, she said coldly, "Your Magical Kingdom has completely failed to remember her merits."

"No honor for the martyr, no posthumous title for the sacrificed, not even the most basic subsidy for a fallen Magical Girl has been delivered to my hands."

"Her sacrifice simply failed to attract the attention of those so-called 'colleagues' within the Kingdom."

"I wanted to contact the Bureau of Magical Affairs, but no one was willing to pay me any heed; I wanted to seek an audience with the Wang Ting, but I was deemed unworthy of being received; I found the Investigation Bureau, but even after I persuaded a Magical Girl there to speak on my behalf, with the Investigation Bureau backing me, this matter still yielded no result."

"In contrast, those Magical Girls who escaped the Great Beast Calamity, who did not participate in the battle and hid in the rear. They gave nothing, yet still possess power superior to ordinary humans, and still possess vibrant lives. Yet they enjoy the adoration of the ignorant masses, becoming 'heroes' in the mouths of others."

"They gave nothing, yet can easily trample upon my head, humiliating and trampling everything of mine. Even though I gave everything to the so-called 'protection', the so-called 'justice'!"

"I, a high-ranking official of the Heterodox Strategy Bureau, even back then had worked for the Heterodox Strategy Bureau for nearly twenty years, pouring infinite heart and time into protecting the city; my daughter, a noble, pure Magical Girl, she was so lovely and pitiful, giving everything for the so-called identity of a Magical Girl."

"The Wang Ting of the Magical Kingdom was unwilling to cast even a glance at people like us."

"A hypocritical, incompetent, corrupt, and arrogant Kingdom; in its gaze, there is simply no place for us!"

The smile on her face vanished completely; all that could be seen was endless anger. She shouted loudly at Cornflower, "Tell me, Cornflower, what necessity is there for such a Magical Girl to exist?"

"Deceiving young girls into becoming Magical Girls with dreams and hope, utilizing them in an infinitely cold and indifferent manner, and finally letting them go at will—what necessity is there for such a Magical Kingdom to exist?"

"You believe beasts are barbaric, are destruction, are synonymous with slaughter; then what of Magical Girls and the Magical Kingdom? Are you not yourselves synonymous with arrogance, oppression, and indifference?"

"I am unwilling! I cannot tolerate such usurpers and scoundrels occupying my daughter's merits, and even insulting her sacrifice. But I have no power, no power to take revenge on the hypocritical Wang Ting, on the arrogant Magical Girls!"

"Only the Lord's grace, only the power of beasts, can allow mortals to transcend themselves, can allow us to contend with Magical Girls!"

"You ask why I cannot understand the sacrifices of Magical Girls? Now I ask you: why can you not understand the suffering of mortals in this world?"

"In the Great Beast Calamity of nineteen years ago, did you not see those Magical Girls who sacrificed themselves in vain, did you not see those innocents who died miserably, did you not see that pretentious, perfunctory Kingdom Wang Ting?"

"How many people in the Material Realm paid with their lives to resist this disaster; even you yourself made countless sacrifices to save the current Fang Ting City."

"Did you not see? Did you not doubt? Did you not resent?"

"If not, then why, at that time, did you refuse the appointment by QUEEN?"

"Why did you become the only one in this world to refuse the position of the Sapphire Scepter, to abandon the possibility of the Sapphire Scepter, to abandon enjoying the fruits of your own merits, a Magical Girl?"

Gazing at Senior Cuique who had already slain her way to her front, Moston's voice shifted from agitation to calm, yet she continued to question with incomparable clarity:

"Cornflower, my lord, who was granted the name of the final gem upon the QUEEN Scepter, yet voluntarily abandoned everything?"

(End of this chapter)