Chapter 124: The Fierce Battle

"The Gem Scepter... the sapphire... so that's how it is."

Not far from the battlefield, when Xia Liang heard what Moss said, she couldn't help but murmur in realization.

Just now, while Cuique and Moss were fighting, she and Lin Xiaolu had not been idle; instead, they took the opportunity to rescue Bai Jingxuan, who had been knocked down.

Bai Jingxuan's injuries were not light; when Moss dealt with her, she held nothing back, so much so that a single magic bullet knocked her unconscious, and she has remained in a coma ever since. Fortunately, her breathing was still steady, and her condition was not too severe.

"What? How did the Gem Scepter come up?"

Lin Xiaolu, standing nearby and supporting Bai Jingxuan who lay on the ground, looked up after hearing Xia Liang's words with a blank expression: "Who is Cornflower? Is she also a former teammate of Cuique and Mom?"

Clearly, she was still completely out of the loop.

"Cornflower... is the name of the last remaining sapphire on Her Majesty's scepter."

Before Xia Liang could explain anything, Mo Ke suddenly spoke up: "Her Majesty's scepter once had five gems: ruby, emerald, sapphire, diamond, and cat's eye. Later, she bestowed four of them upon the magical girls she chose, and those magical girls thus became the Gem Scepters. Only the sapphire remained unsent for a long time, always staying on Her Majesty's scepter."

"The name of the gem... you mean..."

Only then did Lin Xiaolu belatedly open her mouth wide: "The 'Cornflower' they mentioned is actually Cuique's..."

"Yes, if Junior Senior accepts the identity of the Gem Scepter, then her current codename should be 'Cornflower'."

Xia Liang also looked at the battlefield not far away with a complex expression: "But, I still feel there is something strange about this explanation..."

The girls' discussion failed to affect the actual course of the battle.

Purple-black and azure magic continued to clash fiercely in the high sky; the assault between Masterpieces and techniques never ceased. If Cuique had not deliberately drawn the battlefield into the sky, the districts on the ground would long ago have been leveled.

Facing Moss's accusations, Cuique remained unmoved; rather, her expression had long since become cold to the extreme, and Moss's words would no longer change her view in the slightest:

"You scum, only your moral bottom line and your intelligence capabilities surprise me."

"I refused the Sapphire Scepter, you are right; my dissatisfaction with the arrogance of the Kingdom's Court is indeed true. But do you, such scum, deserve to accuse others?"

Blue threads re-congealed in Cuique's hands, the light manifesting as a pair of dual swords; she looked up, her voice icy: "I will say it again: do not make me laugh."

"If everything you say is true, then your daughter was a respectable magical girl, and perhaps you once were a competent Strategist Bureau warrior. But none of that has any relation to who you are now."

"Treating ordinary lives as straw; taking the persistence of the upright as playthings. From the moment you stole the lives of the innocent, you have had only the appearance of a human; in reality, you are merely a monster."

"You keep saying how much your daughter sacrificed, how you grieve for her. If you truly cared about her efforts, if you truly could not accept her fate, then when you raised your blade against those innocent, kind magical girls, did you still have your daughter in your heart?"

Splitting apart the magic bullet about to strike her, Cuique said coldly: "Do not insult others' sacrifices anymore; you are not worthy."

Hearing such words, Moss laughed again. But it was not the calm smile from before; it was a manic, hysterical laughter filled with ruthlessness and madness.

"Hahaha! You actually want to mention my daughter to me?"

"My daughter is dead! She died completely in the Great Beast Calamity and can never return! Since she is no longer here, what does it matter to me whether the remaining people in this world are sinful or good?"

She opened her eyes wide; the light in her now-cloudy pupils was utterly gone, and her face fierce as she said: "I have only one daughter; what are the rest of those ants and meat-pigs? Their lives, in my eyes, have not a single bit of value."

Black and blue magic intertwined.

"... Then, my view was not wrong at all."

Halting her flight, Cuique lifted her Masterpiece in mid-air; waves of magic surged once more: "You are indeed nothing but thorough scum, with not a shred of value to understand."

"Understand? I do not need your understanding."

Moss raised her head and laughed: "An actor only needs to perform on stage according to the director's instructions; I never thought you could understand my true intentions."

"The stage, the audience, and the lead actors are all in place; the pre-show proclamation has ended. Now, it is time to present the true performance."

Beneath the purple-black pillar of light, the remnants of beasts, which had gradually grown quiet, had somehow floated up above Moss's head long ago.

The perforated flesh cocoon surrounding it had been discarded near the pillar of light not far away; the remnant beast that emerged from the cocoon had actually shrunk considerably, its entire body clean, with white fur on its body trembling slightly. It was like a newly hatched flying insect just breaking from its cocoon, waiting only to spread its wings after waking.

The remnant beast floated there silently, hovering at a distance of only one arm's length above Moss's head, as if waiting for her next move.

"Cornflower, if you experienced that Great Beast Calamity, you should understand."

Raising her hand to touch the remnant beast above her head, Moss continued: "Just as life in this world has never been equal, remnant beasts and remnant beasts have never been equal either."

Cuique paid no attention to her words at all.

When she saw that newly hatched remnant beast hovering above Moss's head, she wordlessly activated the Masterpiece in her hand, surged forward, and struck fiercely at Moss's neck.

However, the Masterpiece, which had never failed before, dissolved before it could reach Moss.

"Still don't understand? You cannot stop it! The ritual was completed the moment I appeared here!"

The smile on Moss's face carried a bit of ruthlessness and a bit of triumphant arrogance: "The power of the Beast Lord has descended upon me; next, it is time for you to behold the glory belonging to the Lord."

At this moment, the purple-black pillar of light finally revealed its true form: it was a massive altar situated on the ground, upon which lay countless intricate runes and various magic materials radiating strong magical fluctuations.

With just one glance, Cuique saw the flesh and blood of remnant beasts among the mountainous materials, and mixed within them... the Heart Gems of magical girls.

"By the Lord's grace, I bow and thank the great power of the Beast; in the era of the strong devouring the weak, I shall be the final victor!"

Moss chanted loudly as if in an aria, then proclaimed aloud:

"This is the time to weed out traitors and punish rebels!"

Thump.

As her words fell, the newborn remnant beast above her head subtly heaved its body, emitting a sound like a heartbeat.

Thump.

The light on the altar grew strong once more, completely enveloping Moss and that remnant beast in the radiance of magic.

Thump.

—"Aaaaaahhhhhhh!"

A roar utterly unlike a human's erupted from Moss's mouth; her human skin began to crack and peel away layer by layer, revealing tendons and muscles with visible blood vessels.

Her entire body turned to flying ash amidst the pulsing like a heartbeat; then, the ashes circled from within the radiance, like a dark nebula.

Massive, tawny, furry wings unfolded from the pillar of light; patterns of unspeakable evil were depicted upon the wings, and merely looking at them made one feel nauseous.

Fierce, white-gray, slender jointed limbs extended from the pillar of light; countless interlocking sharp spikes protruded from the limbs, and merely waving them was terrifying.

A body tens of meters tall slowly emerged from the pillar of light; a pair of massive compound eyes shimmered with purple-black light, looking down at Cuique on the ground.

A giant moth floated in the air, hovering above the entire city.

It was already early morning when the booming sound woke the people who had fallen into a deep sleep. Many whose dwellings were closer to the central district rolled out of bed, could not help but open their windows, and looked out, seeing the giant moth in the sky.

"Wow! What is that?"

"Filming a movie? Special effects?"

"That's a Ruined Beast, right? No, do Ruined Beasts really get that big?"

The people who had just woken up did not realize the severity of the situation. In fact, because no Ruined Beasts had appeared in Fang Ting City for several years, and the disturbances in recent months had been promptly handled by the new generation of squads, many had long since forgotten what it felt like to be attacked by a Ruined Beast.

But this confusion was destined not to last long.

Because soon, people discovered that besides the giant moth in the sky, countless Ruined Beasts had begun to move within the city.

From ordinary moths to Ruined Beasts several meters tall, starting from the city center, swarms of Ruined Beasts began to sweep across the entire Fang Ting City.

In an instant, the original doubts and jokes all turned into screams and wails.

The night after the Full Moon Festival, which should have been filled with a peaceful and tranquil atmosphere, was thus destroyed in one stroke.

Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang, who had originally been outside the battlefield, immediately forced themselves to rally their spirits and began fighting the low-level Ruined Beasts that suddenly appeared. Yet for two Magical Girls to face mountains and seas of Ruined Beasts and clear them quickly was an impossible task.

Moreover, they also had to spare attention to protect the unconscious Bai Jingxuan and the combat-incapable Moke, so they could only focus on defense, fighting while retreating.

"Is that big guy in the sky that stinky old hag transformed?"

Driving away the Ruined Beasts around her by manipulating silver-white mana, Lin Xiaolu gritted her teeth: "Damn it! If only I could use my Magic Armor again, I would definitely go up and beat her up!"

"You can't win."

Moke, lying on her shoulder, sighed helplessly: "Your perception is too poor; you still haven't realized that is a Molting stage?"

"Molting?"

"It is Molting! It is the evolutionary stage of Ruined Beasts! Have you forgotten that already?"

"The one above the pupa?"

"There are only four stages in total; how could it be anything else?"

Moke patted Lin Xiaolu's shoulder: "You really are an idiot!"

"Hah? You just remember a bit more trivia than me; what are you so smug about?"

"Trivia? Hmph, do you know what the biggest difference between a Molting and an ordinary Ruined Beast is?"

"What is it?"

"..."

"Why did you suddenly go mute? Don't play coy, you empty-headed fairy!"

—"The biggest difference is that we have completely mastered our own 'Rules'."

A strange voice suddenly appeared in Lin Xiaolu's mind, causing her brain to throb with pain.

She widened her eyes and looked to the side, seeing that the giant moth had somehow been hovering above her head, its sinister compound eyes looking down at her from high in the sky.

In that instant, Lin Xiaolu felt she almost forgot to breathe.

She saw that Ruined Beast extend a jointed limb, a limb covered in sharp spikes falling straight toward her. But for the Ruined Beast, it was merely a limb; to Lin Xiaolu, it looked like a falling giant tree, leaving no room to dodge.

—"Don't even think about it!"

Another voice sounded from the sky.

Azure mana surged wildly. Senior Cuique, carrying mana of immense momentum, followed closely behind the Ruined Beast. Grasping her Magic Armor, she rushed down like a streak of light, striking the Ruined Beast's body.

Whether because her movement was too fast or because the Ruined Beast failed to notice her attack, this time Senior Cuique's masterpiece encountered almost no obstruction, striking the Ruined Beast with incredible ease.

Mana streams burst forth from the blade of the masterpiece, launching several additional attacks on the giant moth. Blue light pierced straight through the Ruined Beast's body, emerging from its back.

Senior Cuique's attack nearly split the giant moth in two.

"Senior Cuique!"

Lin Xiaolu finally caught her breath. Seeing the Ruined Beast, whose mere aura had made breathing difficult for her, injured so easily by Senior Cuique, a hint of joy unconsciously appeared on her face.

But this joy did not have time to turn into words of gratitude.

Because almost at the same moment Senior Cuique's mana blade cut through the Ruined Beast, the azure light vanished completely.

Whether it was the blade light that had pierced the moth's body, or the mana threads and masterpiece constructed by Senior Cuique, or even the mana she had unintentionally revealed, everything disappeared.

The mana stream that should have split the Ruined Beast's body turned into nothingness, as if it had never existed, leaving no injury on the Ruined Beast whatsoever.

"Do you feel the gap, Cornflower?"

The Ruined Beast's voice directly flooded into the minds of the few present. It seemed to be laughing arrogantly: "Hehe, but crushing you completely right now would be too boring. The performance has just begun; struggle a bit more."

The mana of extinction flowed once more.

As the Ruined Beast's words fell, the azure mana that had vanished into thin air reappeared before everyone's eyes. Only this time, it was the Ruined Beast using it.

And this process, though it seemed long, actually took less than a single breath. All the released mana had been stolen. Senior Cuique had not yet had time to react to what happened and could only try to reorganize her formation, wanting to condense her Magic Armor and spell structures once more to form her own defense line.

But this was still too slow.

After disappearing and reappearing, the blade of the masterpiece formed by the threads simply reversed its direction of attack. At a speed no one could see clearly, it struck Senior Cuique heavily.

Senior Cuique's masterpiece was woven with the standard of killing power capable of slaying Ruined Beasts above the Pupa stage. Whether it was the sharpness of its blade or the spell structures interwoven within, the basic standard was to easily cut open a pupa shell.

In terms of pure physical defense, Ruined Beasts were far superior to Magical Girls. This meant that an attack capable of wounding a Pupa-level Ruined Beast could certainly injure a Leaf-level, or even some Bud-level Magical Girls whose physical strength was insufficient.

And at this moment, in order to inflict damage on the Ruined Beast before her, which had obviously reached the Molting stage, and to save Lin Xiaolu in time, Senior Cuique had no room to hold back at all.

—"Senior Cuique!"

Amidst Lin Xiaolu's cry of alarm, the blade of the masterpiece easily pierced the small body in the air.

(End of Chapter)