Chapter 159: Memory Sea Hundred Records

The brief chanting clearly lacked the ability to block the attack; after Hong Siyu's voice fell, the black arrow effortlessly tore through the defense line formed by blue threads and rushed before that slightly thin figure.

However, just as the arrow was about to strike, the closed notebook in Hong Siyu's hand suddenly rose into the air, blocking this fatal attack.

The hit notebook first emitted the sound of pages tearing under unbearable weight; a moment later, accompanied by a low, muffled boom, the notebook and the arrow exploded together, scattering into loose pages in the air.

Senior Cuique, watching from the side, saw her pupils shrink slightly; her clenched fist unconsciously tightened a bit, but in the end, she said nothing and simply watched this change in silence.

Since Hong Siyu had promised everything was fine, she should trust the other person. Trusting companions is the most basic quality of a magical girl.

In that instant of thought, the scattered pages underwent a change.

The originally chaotic papers did not dissipate; instead, after a brief float, they lingered in their original positions, then, as if some strange external force existed, suddenly stood upright.

Every page emitted a purple-red magical glow, its brilliance comparable even to the noon sun. Within the glow, those thin pages strangely produced layers of afterimages, and then the afterimages began to solidify.

The gradually solidifying pages moved without wind, flipping within the glow; the "swish-swish" sound of turning pages was uniform, roaring forth like a rehearsed piece of music.

Every page at this moment transformed into an independent book; blank pages revealed content amidst the orderly sound of writing. Then, all these books returned behind Hong Siyu, forming a thick wall of books.

At the very instant the book wall formed, Hong Siyu's attire had also become completely different.

A purple-pink hair ribbon passed through her purple-red hair; shimmering petal-shaped earrings swayed gently; low twin tails hanging over her shoulders fluttered in the wind; a wide waist-high collar cloak covered her chin, revealing only the slightly calm upper half of her face.

Below the cloak was a slightly fitted waist-cinched Hepburn dress; simple, clean single-breasted buttons ran from the waist, hanging several crystal pens. Dark pointed low-heeled shoes lined up beneath the dress, toes slightly drooping, floating in mid-air.

Combining Hong Siyu's earlier words, clearly, this was her Full Bloom form, named "Memory Sea Hundred Records."

However, Senior Cuique knew that "Full Bloom" should be an ability possessed only after a magical girl reached the Flower Rank; Hong Siyu, before retirement, was a magical girl stuck at the Bud Rank, and should not possess such power at all.

Being able to use a genuine Full Bloom here meant only one possibility: Hong Siyu had not only regained her transformation ability, but had also become Flower Rank after regaining it.

"See, Senior, this is my Full Bloom."

Raising her hand, an ancient and magnificent-looking book flew from the book wall into Hong Siyu's hands; she turned her head, smiling at Senior Cuique: "I am now Flower Rank; I have finally caught up to your pace."

"You..." Senior Cuique spoke after a brief pause, seemingly wanting to ask something, but before her question could be voiced, it was interrupted by another arrow.

To be precise, it was not a single arrow. It was three arrows fired simultaneously.

Amidst the vibration of the bowstring, three arrows flew in three different directions along different trajectories; in an instant, they shot to before the two of them.

"Poof!"

The sound of the arrow striking rang out, but it did not hit a person; rather, Hong Siyu's fingertips moved slightly, and several books flew from the book wall behind her, blocking the black arrows.

The attack hit but failed to take effect; the kite hovering between the buildings lowered its hands, the ink-black bow reformed into a fluid mass like ink, and looking at the majestic book wall, the corner of its mouth curled slightly upward.

"Full Bloom, is it?"

A slightly excited smile appeared on her face: "Interesting, what kind of ability could it be?"

The brief setback did not make her feel depressed; on the contrary, her fighting spirit grew even more Gao Ang alongside the ability displayed by her opponent.

"Stop playing; hurry up and unfold your Mirage Realm..."

Perched on her shoulder, Semi, showing symptoms of motion sickness due to the excessively high-speed flight and flips, covered his mouth somewhat listlessly: "Others have already used Full Bloom! How long do you plan to fight her with your blank Magic Gear?"

"I am very serious, Semi."

The kite exhaled slightly: "Precisely because I am serious enough, I must win with my own technique; this is true respect for the opponent. When using the Mirage Realm, it becomes slaughter, not a contest."

"I don't think the other side considers this a contest..." Semi grumbled unpleasantly, but before he could complain further, he saw the book wall not far away change once more; instantly, all his fur stood on end: "Be careful!"

Following this reminder from him, half the books within the book wall flew out under Hong Siyu's command, then, in perfect unison, lined up before Hong Siyu.

Like a librarian, Hong Siyu carefully counted the books before her, then faced the direction where the kite was located and gently pushed her hand; in everyone's gaze, these books, as if possessing independent consciousness, all opened, revealing pages each inscribed with completely different runes.

"The ability of Memory Sea Hundred Records, compared to Memory Records, has become broader, transcending the ordinary concept of 'things,' and can record more supernatural matters on the magic side."

Hong Siyu counted the books before her and spoke softly, introducing: "Compared to before, when only ordinary objects and spells could be recorded, Memory Sea Hundred Records can restore illusory environments, scenes, and even events. Moreover, its recording principle has changed compared to Memory Records; I do not need to understand the essence of that thing; I only need to record it according to what I have seen and known, and the function within the memory will naturally be restored."

"Although recording this way, even a hair's breadth off, will cause the final reproduced thing to differ from the original by a thousand miles, at least it looks the same on the surface."

Her voice was not loud, and with the barrier of the book wall before her, these words could not reach the kite's ears at all; clearly, her purpose in speaking them was to explain to Senior Cuique:

"Unfortunately, Senior, it came too late; the current me actually didn't have time to record enough things on it, so I could only grab some things from the Nation's data in a last-minute panic."

"What did you record before you came?" Although Senior Cuique was full of doubts, she knew this was not the time for idle chat, so she looked toward the book wall not far away and went straight to the point.

"Magic Gear."

"Magic Gear?"

"Yes." Hong Siyu answered briefly, "Selected from the recorded data, dozens of types of Magic Gear."

Accompanying her utterance of this sentence, the orderly book wall before her changed once more. Within the open pages, items of various forms emerged.

At first glance, most of these items were quite ordinary, small objects from daily life, or some common weapons. However, after Hong Siyu's introduction, Senior Cuique understood the essence of these items—Magic Gear.

Among these Magic Gear, some were very familiar to her, all originating from the hands of some famous magical girls in the past; others were quite unfamiliar, obviously found by Hong Siyu from the Nation's data.

"Condensed Void, Flame Prison, Wheel Knot..."

On the other side, the kite simply called out the names of some of the Magic Gear.

Looking at the Magic Gear emerging from the pages, her originally slightly puzzled expression revealed a bit of understanding; immediately following was even stronger interest: "So, after Full Bloom one can copy others' Magic Gear? Not bad of an ability."

"These Magic Gear... could they all be the real thing?"

Unlike the kite's completely unthreatened posture, Semi's thinking was obviously more pessimistic: "If they are all the real thing, are we going to end our lives here?"

"Whether they are the real thing, we will know after fighting."

The black-and-white double pupils appeared once more within her eyes; the kite took a deep breath, and a misty breath exhaled from her mouth and nose: "There are quite a few old rivals in here; don't let them be just show pieces, or I will be very disappointed."

After saying this, she pushed hard with both feet, leaping off the wall of the office building on the other side, and charged straight toward the direction where Hong Siyu was located.

The battle resumed from here.

Although the Magic Gear appearing from the books had no one to wield them, they moved under Hong Siyu's command, all flying toward the direction where the kite was. The special abilities possessed by these Magic Gear were also triggered simultaneously; for a moment, various magical fluctuations became a chaotic mess, making it impossible to see the scene within their encirclement.

At the same time, a large number of pedestrians had gathered on the streets outside the Special Strategy Bureau; the battle in the high sky made too much commotion, so these people could not help but stop and watch, wanting to see what exactly had happened at the Special Strategy Bureau.

To disperse these gathered pedestrians, a large number of Security Department employees were sent to the main gate of the Special Strategy Bureau, beginning to forcibly drive away this crowd of onlookers to prevent them from suffering any impact.

On the other side, a notice sent directly by the Director had also reached the hands of every employee at the Special Strategy Bureau—magical girls are fighting enemies on the upper floors of the main office building; all department employees are requested to evacuate orderly to safe positions.

Probably because the main base was raided by the Black Ash Dawn a month ago, most employees had developed immunity to such matters and did not show much emotion of surprise.

However, among the evacuating staff, some had sharp eyes—they looked up at the sky as they left the main office building, saw explosions like fireworks, yet did not see the imagined remnants of the beast.

As for what questions these people might raise, it was no longer within the magical girls' consideration.

Flame, Lei Ting, wind vortices—magical apparatus abilities exploded in rapid succession, dazzling the eye; these were merely the more easily identifiable ones, while the more concealed ones were countless.

Yuan wielded a liquid weapon resembling ink wash, her magical apparatus, "Bai Wu," shifting into various forms in her hands—sometimes a sword, sometimes a knife, sometimes a spear, sometimes a dagger… She fought with a flurry of weapons against the magical apparatuses, the metallic clashing sounds ringing incessantly.

The special abilities inherent to the magical apparatuses blended into the white mist surrounding her, unable to penetrate her vicinity, forced to swirl uselessly outside.

As the fight dragged on, what had initially seemed a one-sided battle gradually reached equilibrium; Yuan's movements among the magical apparatuses grew increasingly effortless and graceful, increasingly fluid. Had her originally tattered dao robe not now been reduced to rags, no one could have guessed she was fighting.

Her movements were less like combat and more like "performing martial arts."

No matter what weapon she faced, she countered it with a weapon that negated it; no matter what object appeared before her, she perceived it as a weapon. Flanking attacks and chaotic strikes could not disrupt her rhythm—she carved out a vacuum of space within the layered encirclement of magical apparatuses, alone.

In contrast to her casual ease, Hong Siyu's expression grew solemn.

The magical apparatuses surrounding Yuan had failed to achieve merit for a long time, while the books before her grew increasingly ethereal, gradually retreating toward the state of mere pages.

This trend became more pronounced with time; when the battle lasted roughly five minutes, Hong Siyu finally let out a muffled grunt, and all the books before her vanished.

Along with the books, the magical apparatuses surrounding Yuan also vanished.

Yuan, who had been immersed in the fierce battle, noticed this—seeing the magical apparatuses before her dissolve, she retracted her hand with a hint of dissatisfaction, shouldering the black longsword formed by her magical apparatus, and said to Hong Siyu: "Is that it? No more?"

Hearing her words, Senior Cuique slightly furrowed her brow.

Throughout the entire battle, Yuan had never activated her own Mirage Realm, yet had withstood Hong Siyu's attacks using only the most basic form of her magical apparatus.

This certainly demonstrated her exceptional combat technique, but also revealed one thing—her magical energy was immense.

The Blossom Awakening of a magical girl grants tremendous enhancement to her magical energy; even though Hong Siyu had just achieved Blossom Level and her Awakening ability was still immature, the boost to her original magical energy would not be less than fivefold.

Five times the magical energy of a novice Blossom Level user still only equaled Yuan's normal state—sufficient to illustrate how terrifying her magical energy was.

"Um… because I'm still not very skilled with my ability, I can only maintain the reappearance of magical apparatuses for about five minutes…"

Hong Siyu awkwardly explained to Senior Cuique: "If I practiced more, it shouldn't be just this short a duration."

"Using magical apparatuses to fight her isn't a good choice," Senior Cuique mused aloud. "Clearly, her close-combat ability is strong. If those magical apparatuses' abilities can't affect her, it's just pure melee."

"It seems my choice was wrong."

Hong Siyu looked apologetically at Senior Cuique: "I thought magical apparatuses were the quickest way to form combat power, so before we set out, I recorded only magical apparatuses—but they seem useless against her…"

"Magical apparatuses are indeed a vital component of a magical girl's combat power, but more important is the user's development and understanding of them. Merely replicating a magical apparatus—even if the abilities are identical—makes it extremely difficult to unleash its original owner's full potential."

Senior Cuique shook her head: "This path won't work. Can you still replicate anything else?"

"I haven't recorded anything yet…"

Hong Siyu whispered: "But I can still use the spell formulas recorded in my 'Memory Record.'"

"Spell formulas will also have limited effect on her—you should have noticed, there's something wrong with the white mist around her."

Senior Cuique, who had observed the entire battle, calmly analyzed: "Your spell formulas aren't entirely ineffective against her, but those that should have worked were either dodged by her or largely neutralized by the white mist."

"Mm." Hong Siyu nodded reluctantly.

"So right now, we're still just stalling for time."

Senior Cuique sighed helplessly: "The enemy is even more troublesome than expected… I wonder what tricks Grandmother Emerald still has…"

"Actually, when I came, I met the Chief."

Before Senior Cuique could finish speaking, Hong Siyu interrupted her, nervously tugging at the hem of her cloak, her voice soft: "I discussed a method with her—it might help you."

"Help me?"

Senior Cuique blinked, puzzled: "Isn't that what we're already doing?"

"Not quite, because… I actually have something I haven't shown you yet."

Hong Siyu lowered her head, pulled a book from the nearby bookshelf, and handed it to Senior Cuique: "I originally wanted to defeat the enemy myself, to leave you with a good impression—but it seems it didn't work. So while I still have magical energy, I'll give this to you. This… is probably our last resort."

"What method?"

"Senior, you just said that the power of a magical apparatus ultimately depends on its user, right?"

"Correct. What of it?"

"Then, even if I could replicate countless magical apparatuses, without the original user's experience, I can't bring them to their peak—or even reveal their true power."

Hong Siyu placed one hand on the book's cover, her voice hesitant: "The only solution is to let the original owner of the magical apparatus use it."

As she spoke, she gently opened the book's cover—and a blindingly intense light erupted from the book in Senior Cuique's hands.

Senior Cuique lowered her head slightly, and through the glow of magical energy, she saw what materialized; her previously calm expression froze, disbelief rising as she lifted her gaze.

It was a small pair of tailor's shears.

No larger than Senior Cuique's palm, yet exquisitely crafted, covered in intricate patterns.

The shears appeared slightly ethereal, yet their weight and texture in her hand were profoundly real and familiar. Purple-red magical energy flowed through the intricate patterns, as if revealing their origin—but when Senior Cuique gripped them, that magical energy, not her own, instantly became as obedient as an extension of her arm.

"I'm not familiar with its other form, so I could never replicate it—but I remember this magical apparatus clearly."

Hong Siyu released her grip, her smile unchanged: "It saved me from despair—so if it simply vanished, it would be a shame."

"You used it to save me. Now, let me briefly return it to you."

"Let my magical apparatus become yours, Senior."

(End of Chapter)