Chapter 158: Hundred Martial

An unexpected reinforcement surged into the battlefield, the still-present purple-red light screen making the scene eerily dreamlike. Cuique blinked, confirmed thrice she wasn't hallucinating, then spoke in stunned disbelief:

"Zhao Yan? Is it really you?"

She didn't know if this was the "reinforcement" Lü Sè had mentioned—if it was, it was far too shocking. She had never once imagined this person could be Hong Siyu.

After all, less than a month had passed since the Moon Festival incident; Hong Siyu had only been sent to the Nation for treatment this very month. For her to return to Fang Ting City now was beyond Cuique's expectations.

More crucially, Hong Siyu should no longer possess the ability to become a Magical Girl.

As a retired Magical Girl, her magic source should have long fallen into dormancy, and her Magical Girl power already returned. Moreover, she had once been controlled by Mo Si, even partially transformed into a Beast of Corruption—under such torment, it was unthinkable she could become a Magical Girl again.

Yet reality outweighed all logic: the hands supporting her thighs were solid, the face before her was undeniably real—the girl who should have existed only in memory stood here before them.

"It's really me, Senior."

The arms holding her slowly released, letting her feet touch the ground. The girl in purple-red attire bowed her head slightly: "I'm back. And I'm sorry—I'm late."

"How can you…"

"Shh. Let's save the reunion for later. Once this is over, I'll explain everything."

Perhaps due to the earlier intimacy, Hong Siyu looked slightly uneasy. She held the book horizontally before Cuique, gently interrupting her unspoken question:

"Right now, we must deal with the enemy before us."

As she spoke, she turned her head toward Yuan, her expression shifting from gentle to taut.

"…."

Yet Yuan showed no emotional reaction to the newcomer's words. Instead, she mused aloud at the codename Hong Siyu had given: "So codenames have reached four digits now?"

"Your focus is way too weird! Pay attention to the fight!"

Semi corrected from beside her: "Besides, four-digit codenames were already common forty years ago. Haven't you noticed many Magical Girls inside the Claw have the same numbering?"

"Who ever listens to others' certification numbers anyway?"

Yuan waved her hand dismissively: "As for focusing on the fight—no need to remind me."

"Be careful—if she's a Character Card, she might activate some strange Mirage Realm. You could easily get caught off guard."

Semi emphasized anxiously: "End this quickly. If more reinforcements show up, we're done for."

"Relax. I never intended to underestimate my opponent."

Yuan subtly adjusted her stance. Her still-dazed eyes, clouded by alcohol, sharpened again: "Even a lion uses full strength against a rabbit."

The atmosphere in the reception room grew tense. Neither side spoke. Then—BOOM! —Yuan vanished from her spot. Her fist, moving faster than any human could perceive, struck directly at Hong Siyu's face. Behind her, the intact wall shattered instantly.

Glass, concrete, bricks, rebar—all structural elements of the wall—were pulverized into dust. The debris hung in the air like smog, slowly drifting downward.

Before her fist stood an immensely thick magical barrier.

To call it a "magical barrier" was inadequate—it was, in appearance, a solid wall of magic. Over half a meter thick, it completely blocked the force of Yuan's punch. Only the space behind the barrier remained untouched; the entire reception room was otherwise destroyed.

Hong Siyu opened her palm, revealing an open notebook. On its magic-formed pages, rows of runes glowed with strange radiance. These lights formed the wall before her, halting Yuan's attack.

"Not bad."

Unimpressed by her incomplete strike, Yuan grinned—her lingering drunkenness now edged with predatory delight. She stepped back, relaxed her fist, let her wrist dip slightly, then struck again—this time, just before impact, she twisted her wrist and unleashed sudden, concentrated force.

WHOOSH!

The punch landed. The seemingly indestructible barrier cracked open with a massive fissure. Yuan struck again—then again—each blow hammering the same spot in rapid succession. The thick magical wall collapsed in a thunderous crash.

Having destroyed Hong Siyu's barrier, Yuan showed no expression. She merely curled her finger, lifted her lips slightly, and said to Hong Siyu:

"Again."

No sooner had she spoken than the space around her twisted violently. Several magic lances, their origin unknown, flashed past her sides.

These shaped lances appeared abruptly and vanished just as suddenly—unlike ordinary spells, they left no trace. Their trajectories were deceptively erratic. Yet Yuan simply shifted her body slightly, evading them effortlessly.

Having dodged this round, she turned again toward Hong Siyu—but before she could speak, countless streams of chaotic magic rained down from above, engulfing her completely.

BOOM—

The blinding flash of magical light nearly blinded Cuique.

And this was only the beginning. After the chaotic streams came spatial distortion; after spatial distortion came soul rays; after soul rays came hypnotic curses; after curses came binding seals… Spells erupted nonstop in the cramped room, one after another, turning the surroundings into ruins within an instant.

Yet Yuan moved swiftly—her body supple as boneless, contorting in impossible ways to weave through the spells. She dodged the endless array of techniques, burst out of the reception room, and soared into the sky above the Yì Cè Bureau's building, racing at high speed.

Facing this, Hong Siyu gripped her notebook tightly, her expression tense—but her hands moved without hesitation. She flipped pages rapidly. Each time she tapped one, a magical spell far exceeding normal specifications erupted instantly. No incantation. No gestures. Not even rune notation required. These spells appeared as if they had always existed, summoned at her whim.

And Cuique knew—this was Hong Siyu's Magic Gear: "Memory Record."

"Memory Record" appeared exactly as the notebook in Hong Siyu's hands: an ordinary-looking notebook. When first acquired, it had no special ability at all—capable only of letting the user write text on its pages.

Yet this didn't make it a useless Magic Gear. Quite the opposite: its potential was immense. Anything recorded by the user on its pages could be magically reproduced, provided the user had sufficient magic.

"Anything" included, but was not limited to, mundane small objects—stones, pencils, lipstick. It also included supernatural magical spells: any technique recorded by Hong Siyu in "Memory Record" could be instantly reproduced through magic.

Of course, this reproduction had limits. The reproduced object could never exceed the user's memory or recorded strength. If insufficient magic was supplied, the reproduction's fidelity dropped drastically—resulting in something that looked right but felt wrong, felt right but looked wrong, or simply emerged as a pile of mud.

This meant Hong Siyu initially had no combat capability after acquiring the Magic Gear: her magic was too weak to reproduce anything meaningful.

It wasn't until near Cuique's retirement that "Memory Record" underwent a transformation in Hong Siyu's hands.

With Hong Siyu's promotion to Ye-level, granting her the ability to learn and construct spells, "Memory Record" instantly became an extremely powerful spellcasting booster. With it, Hong Siyu's spell-learning process was far simpler than other Magical Girls'. While others spent tedious effort constructing and fixing their standard spells, Hong Siyu merely needed to record the spells she learned and understood—then use them with far superior familiarity and efficiency.

Moreover, she could continuously optimize her spells. Take that seemingly exaggerated magical barrier, for example: if today she used one percent less magic to cast it, she could record that variation in "Memory Record" to update the original. Tomorrow, if she made the barrier five percent thicker, she could record that too… Over time, every spell recorded in "Memory Record" became an optimized, perfected product far exceeding standard specifications.

Such a Magical Girl, who treated high-power spells like ordinary magic beams, had a common designation in the Nation: "Artillery."

Hong Siyu—or rather, Zhao Yan—was among the elite of "Artillery" Magical Girls.

In the ruined reception room of the Yì Cè Bureau, Hong Siyu's gaze remained locked on Yuan, watching every movement. Countless spells burst like fireworks in the air, unleashing relentless, suffocating firepower that drew passersby on the ground to stop and stare.

Even Yuan, confident in her agility, struggled to keep up under the continuous barrage. Worse still, she carried Semi—this black cat spirit, now utterly terrified.

"Think of something, idiot!"

It clung tightly to Yuan's shoulder, narrowly dodging a spell mid-flight, its fur partially scraped off: "Stop playing around! If you keep this up, I'm done for!"

"I know, I know… but it's hard to close the distance."

Yuan twisted through the air, muttering: "You know my spellcraft level. Asking me to counter while closing in? That's asking too much."

"Then use the Mirage Realm! Use your Demon Armor!"

Semy meowed loudly, "Just finish her off quickly! Or I'll go back and report you to the Chief!"

"Using my Mirage Realm against a turret like this Young Lady would be too boring."

Dodging a curse that nearly grazed her forehead, Yuan angled down to land on the outer wall of the Bureau of Unconventional Strategies. Pushing off the glass wall with both feet, she shot out from the encirclement of several magic beams: "However, since the opponent has gone this far, I suppose I should also show some strength in return."

As she finished speaking, a stream of ink-black liquid metal coiled up her arm. The pitch-black metal flowed like ink, carving traces in the air as if painting, gradually solidifying between her fingers and palms.

This liquid metal, whose purpose was unknown, had been circling around Yuan before, but she had no intention of using it for combat, only occasionally employing it to block attacks. Now, however, she seemed finally willing to reveal its utility.

Twisting her body in mid-air and inverting herself, Yuan hung suspended as if frozen, her body facing the direction where Hong Siyu was located.

She spread her arms, gradually increasing the distance between her hands, one in front and one behind. Then, the ink-black metal outlined a black bow between her palms.

"Hundred Weapons, draw the bow."

Her lips parted slightly, and a fletching appeared on the bowstring of the black bow as if an ink stroke had been added. The arrow, seeming painted into existence, shifted from void to solid; merely solidifying on the bow caused the surrounding temperature to seem to drop significantly.

Then, without the slightest hesitation, she released her hand. The instant she let go, the arrow shot out with a "whoosh," flying straight toward Hong Siyu's throat.

The distance between the two seemed vast, but was actually less than a hundred meters. None of the numerous spells in between could block the arrow's assault, so that in merely an instant, the arrow had already flown to Hong Siyu's front.

Although it was merely a slender arrow, the ominous magic enveloping its arrowhead was enough to command anyone's attention. From Senior Cuique's perspective, the magic on this arrow far exceeded the Bud level, undoubtedly reaching the Flower level; its terrifying magical intensity was enough to make one's heart tremble.

If this arrow hit the Bureau of Unconventional Strategies, let alone the Bureau's building, not a single living soul would remain in this entire district; and if it hit a person, even a Magical Girl, destroying her true form and taking her life would present no difficulty whatsoever.

She knew only too well that Hong Siyu had been merely at the Bud level until her retirement; there was absolutely no way she could withstand this arrow. If she simply allowed it to hit, the result would undoubtedly be fatal.

Recognizing the lethality of this attack, Senior Cuique summoned her Demon Armor almost at the same instant, unhesitatingly placing it in front of Hong Siyu to block it, while simultaneously using her threads to try and pull her aside, thereby dodging this terrifying strike.

However, before the threads could even touch Hong Siyu, she heard a somewhat gentle voice of comfort.

"It's alright, Senior. She can't hurt me."

Within the purple-red magic barrier, Hong Siyu, holding her notebook, turned her face. A serene smile carried a confident radiance that Senior Cuique had never seen before. Looking at Senior Cuique, she said earnestly, "I said it before: I have returned, so I will absolutely never let you get hurt again."

After saying this, she raised her head, her gaze meeting the incoming black arrow. She closed the notebook with one hand and slightly parted her lips:

— "Morning Glory, Great Flourishing Bloom, Hundred Records of the Sea of Memories."

Thanks to the Alliance Leader Shili-1005, thanks to the Helmsman Tian Sheng Di Yang, and thanks to the tycoon.

(End of this chapter)